Author's Note: I don't know who will read this. If you do, I hope you enjoy. I'm working on the remainder of this piece so no worries, I'll post the next part of this soon. Here is my thoughts on what should have happened after that post card. Best, Anne
November 1987
eleanor
Eleanor sat in the living room watching the rain dribble down the window pane. She occasionally brought her attention to the book in her hands, her English teacher had assigned her class Invisible Man, but much of her brain was focused elsewhere.
One of the local music stations on the radio hummed in the background. Eleanor had listened to this station before, the selections were a mix of pop, rock, and she had heard some blue grass. She was even quite fond of listening to the hosts babble between songs.
"…Here we have two tickets to U2, they will be playing at the Saint Paul Civic Center next Tuesday and Wednesday, Saint Paul's very own music venue, and we want to thank you for supporting our station by rewarding these tickets to our listeners…"
Eleanor's ears perked up and she quickly turned toward the radio across the room.
"…That's right folks, these U2 tickets can be yours! Just pick up the phone and give us a call here at the station. If you are the 37th caller you'll be seeing U2 next week…"
Eleanor almost tripped out of her chair and bounded across the living room to the kitchen, she rolled the volume dial up all the way and reached for the house phone beside the refrigerator. Her fingers were shaking with excitement as they slid across the dial to call the station's number.
"Eleanor?" Aunt Susan asked from upstairs. "Is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine!" Eleanor exclaimed, her voice cracked a little and she couldn't stop smiling. The other end was ringing.
"…We are so excited to hear from you, while we're taking your calls here's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."
Eleanor's foot tapped a mile a minute on the kitchen linoleum.
I have climbed highest mountains
I have run through fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you
"Eleanor, did you turn the volume that loud?" Uncle Geoff asked. He walked in with his briefcase in hand, his jacket soaked from the rain outside. From her perch by the phone, she nodded vigorously. The phone was still ringing.
I believe in kingdom come
When all the colors were bleeding as one
Bleeding the one
Yes, I'm still running
"Sweetie, if you have the radio that loud, how can you hear your friend on the phone?" He set his briefcase down on the kitchen table and walked over to the radio; his loafers squelched with water on the floor. He reached for the dial but before he could touch it, Eleanor yelped.
"Wait!"
"What?" He asked.
"Tickets!" She mustered incoherently and the confusion creases on her uncle's brown only deepened.
The host's voice blasted through their living room. Uncle Geoff and Eleanor held their ears while he adjusted the dial to a more humane volume.
"…Thank you so much for calling us here at MPR, we have our 37th caller and winner of the U2 tickets on the line with us. Hello? Can you introduce yourself to the MPR family?"
The host's voice had a strange echo quality to it and Eleanor wasn't sure why until she looked down at her hands at the phone.
"Hello?" The sound echoed again. "Anyone there?"
Stunned, Eleanor panicked and practically tossed the phone to Uncle Geoff, who caught it. "Y-yes, I'm here, y-yes." He stuttered.
"Congratulations!" The host announced.
Eleanor was grinning so much her face hurt. Uncle Geoff's voice bounced around the living room walls. "Thank you, what an honor!"
"So, what's your name?"
"My name is uh- Geoffrey."
"Well Geoffrey, I'm pleased to inform you that you are the 37th caller tonight and the winner of two tickets to see U2 play at the Saint Paul Civic Center next Wednesday!" Eleanor beamed.
"Well thank you very much, my niece will be so excited to hear about this."
"I bet she will!" The host laughed. "Don't go away folks, we're going to bring you great music all night long here at MPR, stay tuned!" Once the next song began to play on the radio, Uncle Geoff turned down the volume even more and motioned for Eleanor to bring him a pen and paper. The host, who's name was Nate, gave Uncle Geoff directions to the station and a time to pick up the tickets. Uncle Geoff hung up the phone and scribbled down the information on the napkin she had brought him as Aunt Susan entered the kitchen.
"What happened in here?" Aunt Susan asked with a smile. Eleanor was eagerly reading over Uncle Geoff's shoulder to see his notes.
"I believe Eleanor just won tickets to see a concert." He chuckled.
"Oh really?" Aunt Susan began moving around the kitchen to prep for dinner.
"I'm going to see U2!" Eleanor was hopping like a jumping bean and smiling from ear to ear.
"Well, congratulations!" Aunt Susan said. She picked up the napkin and looked it over. "Geoffrey, this is right by work, how about you and Eleanor go tomorrow to pick up the tickets."
"Sounds like a plan!" Eleanor replied.
Maybe her luck was starting to turn around.
park
Park and Cal were sitting in Park's living room snacking on potato chips and watching a rerun NBA game. The rain outside had blundered their plans to hang out at the basketball court after school. The storm had been brewing all morning and the showers finally began to pour down in buckets as the final school bell rang so Park and Cal's usual small talk got moved to Park's house.
Park's mom was busy with a client in the garage. The boys had spread out on the couch and left their book bags and shoes just inside the door. When a commercial came on Cal asked, "Any plans this weekend?"
Without even breaking eye contact from the TV screen he replied, "You're looking at them."
Cal smirked. "I have plans with Kim, you and Cat should tag along."
Park chewed the inside of his cheek, "We broke up a while ago actually."
"Seriously?"
Park nodded. "It was weird, too different, and I felt like I was only hurting her." It was a rebound, he thought.
"She was just alright anyway." Cal confessed and grabbed a handful of chips. "Kim got weird vibes from her too." Park turned back to the game and Cal got quiet again.
"Sorry, man. I know you're still not over her."
Park stared at the screen harder, if that was possible. He didn't want to talk about this, even with Cal. It had been six months since he received the postcard. Six months ago he got a feeling why it taken her so long to write back in the first place because he had been experiencing that writer's block for months now. His rough drafts had piled up in a box beneath his bed. No matter what he said, or maybe even promised, it wouldn't change anything. He was still here, she was still there and he still missed her. He still loved her too.
He had tried to think rationally about the situation, which was something he hadn't done, ever. Maybe if the universe truly believed they belonged together, their paths would cross again in this lifetime. Maybe they needed to be older, or the circumstances just needed to be different. Maybe in college they'd find their way back, just not now. The waiting was the worst.
"I didn't mean to bring it up, I just hadn't heard about you and Cat." Cal said quietly. He too had resorted to watching the game instead of making small talk.
"It's fine." Park said, sounding miles away.
"Park!" The sound of front door closing distracted them from the game. "Pick up this stuff, will ya?" Park's dad was home and a scuffle was heard as he tried to climb over the mess of shoes and book bags in the entry way.
Park made eye contact with Cal who nodded and they lifted themselves off the couch to clean up. Around the corner, Park's dad was hanging up his raincoat, his hair was damp and his shoes squeaked. "Hey, Cal. Long time, no see." He reached out and shook his hand.
Park's mother appeared in the hall, she smiled when she saw her husband. Park's dad wiped his shoes and gathered her in his arms, still, after all these years they couldn't keep their hands off each other.
Cal cut them off, "Hi Mr. and Mrs. Sheridan, nice to see you again. I probably should be heading home, my mom wanted me home for dinner. See you Monday, Park." He picked up his belongings and headed out the door.
"You and Cal fight?" Park's mom asked.
"No, we're just tired. There's been lots of test prep this week." Park forced a smile to try and push his thoughts from earlier aside.
"No job today?" She asked him.
"They didn't schedule me to work today."
"So help make dinner instead." She instructed as she lead them into the kitchen.
eleanor
Eleanor was so excited she could barely sleep. She had some girls at school she would tell, maybe she'd even write about it in a letter to her mom, but there was another person she wanted to talk to for hours about this concert. In the dark, Eleanor pulled out her legal pad from under the bed. No headlines, that would be too formal and too much pressure, instead she simply jotted down everything she wanted to tell her girlfriends tomorrow. She talked about her favorite songs and which ones she hoped they'd play. This time there was no paper to rip or lines to cross out, in fact Eleanor was quite pleased with how it read and decided maybe one day she would send it.
park
Kim, Cal and Park sat outside for lunch on Monday. The air was starting to chill for the winter. The metal picnic table and benches were cold to the touch and ever so often someone's teeth would briefly chatter.
"Why are we sitting outside again?" Kim asked. She picked at her homemade salad.
"Because there was a smell in the cafeteria." Cal reminded her, and wrapped his arms around her when he saw her shiver.
"It smelt like sulfur, they were making hard boiled eggs." Park said and took another bite of his usual peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Kim turned to Cal. "We could've at least eaten in the gym, babe."
"Sounds good to me." Cal picked up her lunch try and stood up. "You coming, Park?"
Park continued to eat his sandwich, "Park?" Cal asked again.
"Nah, I think I'll hang out here for a few more minutes."
Cal stopped and set down the lunch tray. Cal was having trouble spending time with him these days, Park knew that. He noticed it when there were these two little lines of creases on his brow, Park saw them more often. He was still out of it and slow, tired and broken.
"So, my cousin has work this Wednesday and can't make it to a concert so he passed on the tickets to Kim and I. You could come with us, it's out of state and a bit of a drive but we haven't had anything exciting happen since the school year started. What do you think?" Cal was looking directly at him now.
"I don't want to intrude…"
"Could you stop being the worst friend in the world, for, like, five minutes?"
Park looked up at him mid-bite.
"I already told my folks you had the Impala and could drive us so you don't have a choice in the matter, really, I just needed you to know the plan."
"You got to be kidding me." Parked found himself almost laughing.
"I would never lie to you." Kim retrieved her lunch tray and headed inside, Cal followed close behind, but not before grinning at Park. "We're skipping class, so meet at my house at one o'clock."
How could he say no to a free concert?