Day Thirty

“Brandon’s red light was flashing a minute or two ago. We don’t have long.”

Janie used her cell phone to ring Brandon. She said: “I’m sorry Brandon. I’m sorry about everything. I’m on my way over so we can work it out.” She paused while Brandon must have been responding. “I’m sure we can too. We’ll find a way to make it work.” She hung up the phone and drove off in the direction of Brandon’s house.

There was that odd sucking noise and Ivan, Steven, the birds, Ralph and Maurice left the scene. Ivan and Steven ended up in Janie’s room where a very tall and wiry man was just sliding out from under the bed she had been using.

The man looked around the room then found the note Janie had left behind. Reading it carefully, he took out his cell phone and punched in a few numbers.

“We have a situation,” whispered the man to whoever it was on the other side of the line. “That idiot Ralph never delivered the money and some woman has picked it up.”

“What’s the money for?” Ivan asked Steven.

Steven shrugged. “I couldn’t work it out myself. Ralph was some sort of go between.”

“No witnesses. I got it. Follow her. I got it.” The man hung up the phone and took out a gun. Steven and Ralph exchanged glances then followed the man out to his car and slipped in his backseat. There was no traffic on the streets except one or two other cars. It took almost no time at all for the man to catch up with Janie’s car.

The man made another phone call and waited impatiently for an answer. “I can’t shoot her from the car,” he said. “And she might lead us to the person who has it. All we need to do is deliver it. They will have no idea it’s too late.”

Again Ivan and Steven exchanged glances. “Before you ask me, don’t. I still have no idea what he’s talking about.”

The man dropped further back from Janie to avoid being detected. In the dark, they could clearly see her taillights. He had tossed the gun onto the front seat next to him and from his manner, both Ivan and Steven knew he would not hesitate in using it.

Ivan looked up at Janie’s car just in time to see Maurice charging down the street straight towards her. A second later, the car had hit Maurice and burst into flames. After the initial flash, there was no sign of Maurice.

“Jesus!” the man in driver’s seat screamed. He made a sharp turn away from the crash and sped off in a different direction. Both Ivan and Steven were in shock as they were sucked back to where the birds, Ralph and Maurice were waiting. Maurice was nursing a massive scrape on his front legs and his forehead was smouldering. The birds were flapping around in a panic while Ralph collapsed to the ground.

Ivan stood over Ralph imposingly. “Do you want to tell us what that was all about?”

Ralph put his head in his hands and groaned softly. “She didn’t stand a chance, did she?” he asked.

As if summoned, Janie emerged from what looked to be a fog. She looked around at her surroundings before her eyes rested on Ralph. He was so despondent, he failed to notice her.

“You idiot!” she screamed at him. If she hadn’t been a ghost, she could have landed a very good kick in his face.

Maurice looked at her angry face and tried to slink away in the only way a six tonne bull elephant could. “And you there!” she shouted at Maurice. “Where the hell did you come from?”

“Well as it happens, I spent my whole life in a zoo. And I—“

Janie glared at him furiously. “You wrecked my life,” she began. “You are—“

“Now hold on lady! Hold on!” said the penguin, standing between her and Maurice.

“Yeah, let’s get a few things straight,” added the flamingo.

“You are nothing but a tart!” the puffin cackled.

Janie tried to shoo the birds away but they all held their ground defiantly.

“You are a very bad girl! A bad girl!” said the penguin.

There was a television on behind them and Steven fiddled around with it before reporting back the news. “I say we leave Janie and Ralph to their eternal love,” he gave Janie a withering glance.

“Why what’s up?” asked Ivan.

“Julie’s light is flashing red. We don’t have much time.”

As he spoke, Janie and Ralph seemed to fade away, still squabbling about the money and Janie lack of fidelity.

Clarice answered her phone. “Hi Brandon! How are you feeling?” She listened carefully to what he was saying. “Are you sure?” her face was serious as if she were receiving very bad news.

Caroline was watching her intently while Nathan filled Bonnie in on his recent illness. “What’s up?” Caroline asked Clarice when she hung up her phone. To her alarm, Clarice had tears in her eyes.

“There’s been an accident,” she told them. “Brandon’s wife. She—“ Clarice couldn’t finish so she just shook her head instead. “I’m going to have to go.”

“Of course,” said Nathan, standing up. “Thank you so much for stopping by. Are you sure you’re going to be OK?”

Although Caroline was worried for Clarice she was very pleased to see how far Nathan had come. He had held up his end of the conversation so well and he didn’t seem to be as lost as he had been the last time she had seen him.

Clarice finished the coffee in one gulp. “I’m so glad you’re on the mend, Nathan but I will have to go.” She waved to Bonnie and Caroline then blew a little kiss. At the door, she stopped again to say good bye and rushed out.

As she opened the driver’s car door, she noticed something on the floor in the back that she had never noticed before. She reached back and pulled it out. It looked like an ordinary package, the kind that could arrive through the mail. It was tied up securely and marked “Barry”. It came to her that maybe it had something to do with the guy that was shot in her backseat. Whatever it was, she wanted no part of it. When she saw a trashcan, she dumped it immediately and drove on to Brandon’s house and never thought of it again.

Marvin had the best day of his life so far and he felt oddly optimistic about his future. He knew being in love was part of it but he also understood that it might be that his physical conditions was improving, he felt stronger and healthier than he could remember. Although it was late afternoon, he still felt energised and as if he had important things to achieve. Like his English homework and cooking the dinner he had promised his mom and sister.

As he was putting ingredients together to make his soon to be famous lasagne, he heard faint voices upstairs. He listened carefully. He recognised his father’s voice but there was an unfamiliar female voice. It sounded like an argument. Marvin was very used to his father and mom arguing but this was different. A door opened and suddenly he could hear what was being said.

“I don’t see how you can be mad at me,” said the strange female voice. “I never said anything about wanting more or about leaving town.”

“You are nothing more than a tease,” he father clearly said.

Marvin felt the blood rise to the surface of his cheeks. It was Amanda.

Amanda had graduated from his school the year before and had been very well known owing to her ability to cause arguments wherever she went. Marvin looked around for a place to hide. The last thing he wanted was for Amanda to see him. He wasn’t particularly keen on seeing his father in such a state either.

There was a small closet under the stairs and before either his father or Amanda came down the stairs, he hid in it.

“You can call me what you like,” said Amanda, “But fun is fun and I don’t want to be the reason your wife asks for a divorce. I don’t want to be known as a home wrecker.”

In the closet, Marvin rolled his eyes.

“That’s why I suggested leaving.” There was an edge of pleading in his father’s voice that Marvin didn’t like one little bit.

“I don’t want to leave!” Amanda shouted. “That’s the whole point! I want to stay here with my friends and family and my job!”

Again, Marvin couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Amanda worked in a fried chicken shop. Hardly a job with good prospects or paid benefits.

The front door slammed and Marvin imagined that his father had seen the last of Amanda. He couldn’t decide if this was a good thing for his parents’ marriage or not. His mother had come back but if she knew about Amanda, maybe she wouldn’t be around for long. She had a tendency to hold grudges.

Marvin stayed in the closet until he heard his father’s footsteps as he retreated to his room. There was the heavy thump of his boots dropping on the floor and the soft and faraway voices from the television or radio. When the lasagne was ready, he would surprise his father with a hot dinner and maybe he mother would stay as well.

Brandon was pale and shaky but very relieved to see Clarice. As she held him and as he told her the story of how his wife had died in the fiery crash, she had made up her mind to leave her husband. She could not go as they were any longer and it seemed cruel to do so. But neither would she start a new relationship with Brandon until her divorce was final. That would be unfair too. She wanted to be a good person, to do the right things and to do the least harm in a very tough situation. The last thing Brandon needed was to be in the centre of a love triangle when he was grieving. So when he tried to deepen their kiss, she gently untangled herself, made her excuses and said good bye. But she promised she would drop in on him again in a few days. Time, she thought as she pulled out of the driveway, was something she had a lot of.

In the hospital room where Julie had been taken after assessment, Beth and Tom hovered over their daughter. They were equally distraught but Beth had the advantage as she had family nearby. She had called Nathan first and although she wasn’t sure of Bonnie, was very grateful she and Caroline had been so eager to help her out. They would bring Nathan to say good bye to Julie. Beth tried to ring her other brother Elliot but had only gotten his sad sack son on the line. She had never liked Marvin much either and had always assumed he was just as feeble as his mother. Marvin said he would get his father and they would be at the hospital as soon as they could. Beth wasn’t going to hold her breath.

In the after world, Alfie and Lucy were holding hands as best as they could, watching things anxiously.

“It’s for the best,” Sarah had assured them. Alfie still did not like her but watching Julie writhing on the hospital bed had kept his temper in check. He thought even Beth was coming around to the idea of letting Julie go.

All Ivan could do was shake his head sadly. Even the birds had adapted a sombre mood of reverence. Maurice sat quietly in a corner, careful not to draw attention to himself.

Bonnie and Caroline arrived just as the room was darkened. The nurses did not see the point of a brightened room anymore. Julie’s suffering continued.

“OK,” Ivan said to the birds. “It’s time to do your thing.”

The birds rose solemnly, clearing their throats and turning their beady eyes to Alfie. The penguin smiled at the flamingo who in turn smiled at the puffin.

“Now Alfie,” said the puffin, cocking his head.

Alfie looked quizzically at Ivan.

“This is how we do an avian resurrection!” said the flamingo knuckle bumping the penguin. The puffin laughed in his obnoxious way.

The Emperor Penguin straightened up to his full height of four feet three inches. “It’s time for you to flock off! Flock off!”

There was a searing flash of light and a bump that was just on the wrong side of uncomfortable. Worse, there was a thumping headache and an irritating tugging on his shoulder.

“Alfie!! Alfie!!”

Alfie could just about recognise Clarice’s voice and it frightened him. What had happened to her? He groaned.

“Oh Alfie!” said Clarice again.

Suddenly, Alfie got it: he was back to life. He felt too miserable to be dead. He groaned again and tried to turn over. He hadn’t like the way his position emphasised the spread of his backside. He opened his eyes and looked straight into Clarice’s.

“Clarice,” he whispered weakly.

Clarice looked startled. “Why yes. It’s me. I didn’t realised you knew my name.” She was checking his limbs for what he assumed was for breaks.

Alfie had felt better. “I want to go to the hospital,” he told her. “What day is it?”

Clarice again looked surprised. “It’s only Monday. I was just at a friend’s house and thought as I passing by, I would just check on you. Isn’t that funny? If I didn’t stop in, you might have been here for a very long time.”

Carefully, Alfie raised his arm to look at his watch. It was not quite eleven in the morning on the same date he had fallen. Ivan was right. Time was a weird thing in the after world.

“Monday?” Alfie asked.

Clarice nodded her head. “I’ll ring an ambulance.”

“No,” said Alfie, gaining strength. “I want you to drive me. There’s someone I need to see.”

“But—“ Clarice started to protest.

“No lip out of you,” he said, sitting up. He felt like he was covered in cement as the blood redistributed in his body. Using the wall as support, he pushed himself to a standing position and looked down at himself. Thank goodness he hadn’t peed his pants or worse. He was shaky but with a little support from Clarice, she got him into the passenger seat and drove as fast as she dared to the hospital.

When they arrived, Clarice drove straight to accident and emergency. Protesting as vigorously as he could, she plopped him into a wheelchair.

“This isn’t necessary,” he said for the thousandth time.

“You just stop fussing and tell me  where you want to go.”

Alfie directed her to Julie’s room where Marvin and Elliot had just arrived. There was great tension between Elliot and Bonnie but it soon became obvious there were bigger issues going on.

Although Alfie couldn’t see the after world anymore, he imagined that as Julie took her last breath, Maurice would have chucked her playfully under the chin and welcomed her into the after world where she could dance with six tonne bull elephants and sing with strange birds. There her grandmother would guide her to make up for the fact her mother could not.

There are always tears after a death and there were many shed for Julie. But the entire family returned to Elliot and Bonnie’s house where they ate the extra large lasagne dinner Marvin had prepared because he had no idea the members of his family had far smaller appetites than he did. Which he understood to be a good thing in the whole entire scheme of things. It was good to be feeding people in a time like this, even if his Aunt Beth and Uncle Thomas had cried together, not quite able to eat yet.

After that long night, when Alfie had returned to the home he loved so much and the tea he had so yearned for, he found a postcard propped up on his bed stand. It had three bird footprints of various sizes, a hand drawn love-heart that he knew could only be from Lucy, a thumbprint that had to be from Ivan and three small ‘x’s that he believed had come from Julie. Alfie chuckled as he thought about how they had so generously used their valuable physical force points just to let him know they were watching over him.

“My feathers are well and truly ruffled,” he said in his empty room. As he fell asleep, he thought he heard the obnoxious cackle of a puffin.