[See Cowboy's Last Ride.]
They entered the condo, drenched and laughing, having gotten caught in a storm on the way back from grocery shopping. The rain obviously hadn't soddened their spirits.
"Seriously, Ma, you need to get a car," Faith laughed as she placed her bags on the kitchen counter. Puddles pooled on the surface as the girl began pulling groceries from the bag.
Her mother came up beside her, putting her own bags down on the counter. "You just want an excuse for me to buy a Lamborghnini like your Uncle Neil's."
Faith grinned, "Weeellll, now that you mention it, Ma..."
"Wait 'til you're 16, love," Syl chuckled, "You know I'm quite happy with my Kawosaki."
"Well, we should have taken your bike then, so we wouldn't have spent so much time in the rain."
"Then we would've only been able to buy half as much groceries. I want to make sure you've got everything you need before I leave." She pulled out a carton of eggs, inspected it, then drained into the sink the rainwater that had leaked into the packaging.
Faith stacked some canned goods into the cupboard, as she shook her head with a smile. "Ma, I'm 14 now. I'm not a kid anymore. I can take care of myself." And I could always order pizza if I had to, she thought to herself.
Her mother seemed to read her mind. "I'm not going to have you living off of take-out pizza while I'm gone, love." Opening the fridge, she placed the still slightly waterlogged egg carton on a shelf.
As she returned to the counter to get more groceries, Syl playfully bumped her daughter out of the way. "Now, go dry yourself off. I can finish up here. You don't wanna spend your first time on your own sick with pneumonia or something, do ya?"
Laughing, Faith ran off to her bedroom to dry off and get changed.
Suddenly, Syl heard her cel phone ringing in another room; she hadn't realized she had forgotten it while they were out. "Faith! Could you get that?"
Hurried footsteps stumbled around the other end of the condo, before the ringing stopped. A moment later, Faith returned with a towel draped over her shoulders and a silent phone in her hand. "Sorry, Ma. I didn't catch it in ti--"
The phone began ringing again.
"Never mind. Here you go, Ma." The girl laughed and tossed the phone to her mother.
Quickly putting down a head of lettuce, Syl deftly caught the cel in her hands and flipped it open with a smile.
"Hello... yes, speaking..."
There was a long pause as the person on the other end began to speak at length. Faith watched in worried silence as her mother's mood plummeted like a bird shot out of the sky.
"I... I see... Yes, tha-thank you for calling. Thank you."
With unsteady hands, Syl closed her phone and slowly put it down. Closing her eyes, she began to shake and leaned on the counter for support.
"Ma? Who was that?" The girl bit her lip in concern.
Tears fell on the counter, mixing with the puddles left by the wet grocery bags. Syl tried to speak, but all that came out was a sob.
Tenatively, Faith walked around the counter and hugged her mother. "Ma, talk to me. What's wrong? What happened?"
Syl cried a long time before she finally spoke. That had been Neil's PA on the phone. When she finally managed to tell Faith why he had called, they were both crying.
Wild Horses (Aniela)
-
Sighing, Aniela leaned into Goliath, resting her chin on her folded arms as
she lay them against the crest of his neck. His ears twitched as he
detected he...
14 years ago
She knew if there was one person in the world that would be as worried as she was, it would be Syl.
ReplyDeleteBeth picked up the phone and dialed Syl's number. Just hearing her voice mail on the other made her voice break.
'Syl... it's me. Please call me....' were the only words that she could mutter, without losing it completely.
She woke with a start from a nightmare about a lightless, airless death and looked around. The room was dark except for a sliver of light peeking through the window. After taking a moment for her eyes to adjust to the low lighting, she began to make out the shapes in the empty room: the coffee table, the couch she sat on and her daughter curled up asleep beside her.
ReplyDeleteRising, she stretched then headed for the linen closet. She returned with a blanket, which she gently draped over the sleeping girl. Unconsciously, Faith moaned and grabbed at the edge of the fabric and pulled it close.
They had stayed up late by the phone waiting for news, any news. But the only person who called after Neil's PA was their old friend, Katie, returning an earlier call, and she hadn't heard the news yet. This left Syl the awkward task of telling her what had happened.
Passing through the kitchen felt like sleeping walking in the darkness. The empty grocery bags from their shopping trip, now dry, lay on the counter and floor. After putting the last of the groceries away, they hadn't any motivation to put away anything else.
Fumbling to fill a kettle with water for some tea, she left it on the counter. Then she paused, as if in a daze, and mechanically began to pick up the stray bags.
When she returned to the living room, she caught a light on her cel phone blinking on the coffee table, indicating a message. She didn't recall it ringing since she had awoken up. Someone must have called while they were asleep.
When it dawned on her that this someone might have some news, quietly she rushed over and snatched her phone from the table. She stood by the window that overlooked the sea and watched the dawn creep on the horizon, as she listened to the voice message. Further up the beach, in the direction of Neil's beachhouse, she could see search lights still scouring the area. If they found something, anything, she wouldn't be here for it; she had to catch the first flight out of Rio in a couple of hours.
From the tone of the familiar voice that had left the short message, Syl guessed if there were any news, it wasn't good. But the fact that someone remembered to call she found oddly comforting.
Leaning on the window, she dialed.
"Hi, Beth. It's me." Syl paused, surprised how empty, hollow and numb, her own voice sounded as she spoke. "I'm guessing you heard. Has anything new come up yet?"