Day Twenty Nine

She didn’t know what to say and decided the best way forward was to play it by ear. The children didn’t look like they had aged too much in the week or so that she had been gone.

An alarm went off which Caroline took from her pocket and switched off. She looked at her mother and levelled her voice so it didn’t sound like a criticism. “I have to go visit Uncle Nathan. He’s been unwell and me and my friend Clarice have been looking after him.”

“Oh. Do you need help?” The name seemed familiar although she could not quite place it.

Beside her, Lucy prompted her, whispering in a ghostly voice. “Give her a ride to Nathan’s. Give her a ride to Nathan’s.” Lucy had no idea if Bonnie could hear her.

“I’m good,” said Caroline.

“I can give you a ride, if you like?”

Following in Ivan’s example, Lucy punched the air. Humans could hear her! It was how she could use her physical force points—how long had she been searching for her special talent? She couldn’t wait to tell Alfie and the others. Finally, she was good for something besides ghosting around and eavesdropping on other people’s conversations.

“OK,” said Caroline.

Lucy whispered: “Ask Marvin if he’s happy,”

Bonnie picked up her keys then turned to Marvin. “You know Marvin, I’ve often wondered if you’re OK. I mean I’ve hardly seen you these days. I just got to know, are you happy?”

To her utter surprise, Marvin offered her a full on megawatt smile. “Mom, I’m good. Really good. I’ll tell you more about it later when you get back. Maybe I could cook dinner?”

It was his mother’s turn to smile. “I’d really like that.”

Lucy had no idea how her physical points worked or if she had any left but she thought she would try to say one more thing. “Suggest a family get together.”

“You know, we should have a family reunion,” said Caroline. “I don’t think we’ve all been together since Grandma Lucy died.”

Bonnie looked thoughtful “Let’s just see how we go, ok?”

They said good bye to Marvin and made their way out the front door.

Bonnie was thoughtful as she drove. It had been a very strange few weeks. Being back in the family home made her miss Elliot and certainly the children. Why did Elliot have to be such an idiot? Didn’t they have everything they had ever wanted? Times were tough when they had just gotten married. After all she had been pregnant with Marvin at such a young age and Caroline had come along shortly afterwards. They worked hard, sure. But they scrimped and save and put their energies together.

Amanda! Bonnie found it hard to believe Elliot could be so stupid as to get together with someone so young. She herself was hardly old! Yes, she was pushing forty but she wasn’t in bad shape. Getting divorced frightened her and made her feel as if she had failed miserably at life. She knew some women could come to terms with such a fate but she didn’t think she could go through with it. Bonnie had friends she had grown up with whose parents had divorced. It was all about awkward arrangements and reaching compromises, pretending everything was OK and continually worrying that one parent was going to be put out by the arrangements.

“So what’s going to happen?” Caroline asked quietly.

For a few minutes, Bonnie simply concentrated on her driving. She didn’t want to answer Caroline until she was certain of her feeling. And then she realised she was never going to be certain of them. Beside her, the landscape rolled by. If she got divorced, that wouldn’t change. The world would still be here but she would have to move to a different house, maybe even out of the city. How would she feel if she ran into Elliot and Amanda on a daily basis or worse, by surprise?

“I don’t know, babe,” she answered her daughter. “I know how I’d like things to be but that might not be how things turn out.” She pulled into Nathan’s driveway just as another woman was getting out of her car. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Caroline wave to her and for a dreadful moment, thought this might be Amanda. It was the nurse’s uniform that assured her it could not ben.

The gravel crunched as the car pulled up next to Clarice’s car. The nurse was smiling at Bonnie as if she knew her. Bonnie had barely put the car into park when Caroline rushed out and hugged the nurse with something like great affection. It made Bonnie feel bad: Caroline had not hugged her like that.

“Mom, this is Clarice,” Caroline said proudly. “She helps me look after Nathan. Makes sure he takes his medication and looks after himself.” She gave Clarice one more squeeze before letting her go to shake hands with her mother.

“I’m so glad to meet you,” Clarice said. She looked Bonnie straight in the eyes. There was so much confusion in her, Clarice thought. If Nathan could just stabilise, she might be able to sit down with her and have a good talk. From what Caroline had said about, a lot of hurt had built up over the past couple years and Bonnie was intelligent enough to overcome this hurt if given enough space to work it all through.

The three of them went into the house to check on Nathan. Bonnie was surprised that Clarice had keys but then , she had been out of the scene for a few weeks and if Marvin was anything to go by, a lot had happened during her absence.

There was a collective sigh from Caroline and Clarice when they got inside. Bonnie thought the decorating left a little to be desired but all else looked pretty well. Nathan himself could be heard singing to himself from what Bonnie assumed was the kitchen.

“Nathan’s been a bit wobbly these past few months,” Clarice whispered. “His moods have been very up and down so he’s taking a little medication to smooth over the edges.”

“I see,” said Bonnie.

Nathan came out of the kitchen bearing three mugs of coffee on a tray. When he saw Bonnie, he nearly dropped them. Thinking she should have called first, she was about to make her excuses and leave. Perhaps Elliot had been talking to Nathan. She didn’t want to know what Nathan thought.

“I’ll just go make another cup!” Nathan said as he put the tray down.

“I’m OK,” said Bonnie. “Honestly, I’ve had enough caffeine for the day.” She must have had five cups of coffee over a very breakfast as she thought about what she was going to do.

Nathan motioned for them to sit down.

“You look so much better,” said Caroline. Although there were still substantial bags under his eyes, he did not have the empty haunted look about him anymore. And the house had found a happy medium between hideously messy and hideously neat.

“I feel better too,” he said as he sipped his coffee. “Like I’ve come back from a really stressful holiday.”

Clarice’s cell phone rang and she excused herself to answer when she saw it was Nathan.

 

Janie tearfully looked at what remained of Ralph’s things. He had left a change of clothes and a few toiletries in a small duffle bag at her hotel and this was all she had left of him. She wasn’t completely sure where he lived but the police had told her she wouldn’t be able to get in anyway. Everything else of his had been confiscated by the police. Probably if they knew she had a few of his belongings, these too would be confiscated. She had not quite processed the fact that he was gone. And under such stupid circumstances too. How could he go and get himself shot in the back of some stranger’s car? The whole thing was so absurd she would have laughed if she hadn’t known Ralph was never going to come back to her.

As she looked at her things, it dawned on her that these remaining belongings might have a clue about what had actually happened. His death might mean she would eventually return to Brandon—she still loved Brandon after all—but if she knew what had happened to Ralph she could move forward. Janie turned the bag inside out and shook the clothes one by one and went through the pockets of the jeans followed by the pockets in his shirts. The only thing that came out of the pockets was a pair of reading glasses. When the bag was empty, she accidently removed the bottom layer of the bag and found a letter.

She turned the letter over and over. There was no writing on the envelope and yet it seemed too heavy for a letter. Carefully, she opened it and was shocked to find several one-hundred dollar bills along with a note.

The note said:

Delivery to West car park, red beat up Camero

Ask for Barry

Janie pocketed the money and put the duffle bag and the rest of Ralph’s belongings in her suitcase. Then she closed it and checked out of the hotel.

In the after world, Maurice, the birds and Ivan were giving Ralph a hard time. They were all having a hard time standing up for laughing.

Ivan found it particularly hysterical that Ralph had mistaken Calrice’s beat up car for a Camero.

“That will teach you to leave your reading glasses behind!” he snorted.

“I can’t believe she just took my money,” Ralph said sadly, shaking his head. “I mean, did she look tearful to you? We had some good times together,” he said defensively.

“I’m sure you did! Sure you did!” said the penguin.

“Bet you had a real hoot!” cackled the flamingo.

Steven dropped into their conversation. “Guys, I can see you’re having fun but Janie is being followed by a few very unsavoury characters.” He looked pointedly at Ralph. “I might have said leave her to them but she’s leading them directly to Brandon.”

They all looked at each other.

“I thought the love doctor got it wrong! Got it wrong!” the penguin said.

“He didn’t get it wrong. We just have to get Janie out of the way.”

“Oh no,” said Ivan. “I don’t like the way this sounds.!