Part 7: Goodbyes
Aura Thundera
deonii@yahoo.com
See part 1 for disclaimer. For the full text of the poem that I used as Keith's song, read my poem "The Road Home".
The bus ride back to San Pueblo was uneventful. Keith sat next to Cabe, his arm resting tenderly around her shoulders. Neither spoke much, and they simply concentrated on the scenery outside. It was late on Sunday afternoon when they finally arrived back in San Pueblo. The other kids began unloading the bus, but Keith stayed by Cabe's side.
"Mom, I'm going to walk Cabe home," Keith yelled. Shirley nodded, and motioned him to go.
Danny bestowed a scowl upon Keith. "That's not fair. How come he doesn't have to help us unload?"
"Danny, he has other things to do. You'll understand, someday," Shirley told her son. "Now, get back to work."
As they left the bustle of the Partridge yard behind, Keith looked at Cabe. "I don't suppose I've managed to convince you to stay in San Pueblo this weekend."
Cabe bowed her head. "No, Keith." Tears clung to the ends of her eyelashes, for all she tried to keep them from falling.
"You're crying," Keith said, his voice tender. "Why are you hurting yourself like this?"
"Because," Cabe said, turning away from him. "I gave my promise that I would go home again."
"Who? Who did you promise?"
"My friends and my grandmother."
"You can still stay. They will understand." Keith's voice was low and velvety, tempting Cabe to leave behind her old dreams and build a new set in San Pueblo with Keith.
"No, I can't. I won't go back on my word. Besides, Keith, what we have is wonderful, but who knows how long it will last? In a year or two you or I might decide that we aren't right for each other anymore and move on. I'll be left here in San Pueblo, wondering why I gave up my dreams to stay!"
"That's not going to happen, Cabe!" Keith said. "You are the right one for me, I know it!"
"How do you know it, Keith?" Cabe asked. "I've known you for only a few weeks. I can't make a decision based on a relationship that short. I have to put my dreams that have proved their solidity before new ones. If it really is true love, Keith, we'll know that I must return. And if it is, I will come back, I promise."
"You promise?" Keith asked eagerly.
"I promise I will return if our love stands the test of being apart. But it may not. One or both of us might move on, and then I won't come back to San Pueblo."
"I suppose that I'll have to take that." Keith said. "I'll make sure that we won't draw apart, I promise. And I'll bring you home again, because your home is going to be here."
"We'll see, Keith. I'm not promising to return no matter what, Keith. Remember that. I'll come back if we can prove that there is no one else that we can love like we love each other."
"I'll prove it, I swear," Keith said. He leaned in and planted a long, sweet kiss on Cabe's lips.
"Just remember, Keith, that I'm leaving after school on Friday and driving home. It will be our last chance to say goodbye to each other."
"I'll remember," Keith said, his face sad. "Just don't you forget that I'm going to see you off." Keith kissed her again, before they reached Cabe's house. "Have a good night's sleep."
Cabe parted sadly from Keith and walked up the steps to the porch of her house. When she turned around and looked back, Keith had dissappeared down Sycamore Lane. She choked back her tears and opened the front door.
"How did it go?" Tara asked.
"It was fun. Keith, Laurie and I had a lot of fun." Cabe said.
"Then why do you sound like you're about to cry? You and Keith didn't get into a fight, did you? Or do anything else that you regret?"
Cabe swallowed another sob. "No."
"You're going to miss him, aren't you?"
"Oh, Mom, I am. I don't know what to do. I told Keith that this wouldn't last, that we would both move on to other people and that I would be sorry I had stayed."
"You don't sound so sure of that."
"I was when I said it. Now I'm not sure at all, and I know I'll miss him when I get home again."
"You can stay with us and go to San Pueblo University."
"But what if Keith and I break up? I'll be sorry that I stayed!"
Tara's heart was breaking for her daughter. She wished that she could solve Cabe's problems, either send Keith to Penn State or move the college to her daughter. "If you break up you could transfer to Penn State."
"They probably won't accept all my credits."
"Then decide which is more important: your school or your love for Keith."
"You're not making this any easier!" Cabe screamed, and stomped up the stairs to her room, where she could cry out her frustrations in peace.
Over the next few days, Cabe said goodbye to the friends that she had made during her short residence. Most were sorry to see her go and tried to convince her to stay. Even Mary, who was Cabe's friend again after she had gotten over her jealousy, wanted Cabe to stay.
Cabe's room had become a mess of boxes and bags. Cabe began to fear that she wouldn't be able to fit it all into her car and would have to leave the convertible behind in San Pueblo. However, when she began to pack the car, she discovered that it held a surprising amount of cargo.
Keith spent as much of his free time as he could with Cabe, helping her pack. He held her and stole kisses whenever he could, refusing to act as 'just a friend'. He intended to act as her boyfriend as long as she was near. Keith was an invaluable help in packing her car; his experience at packing all of his family's equipment into the bus came in handy. In the end, between the two of them, they managed to pack up everything that Cabe wanted to take along.
Thursday evening, Keith seemed resigned to the fact that Cabe was leaving. He refused to leave her side, his big hazel eyes glimmering with unshed tears even as he joked with her. All night, Keith pretended nothing was wrong, and Cabe pretended to believe it, but the shadow of her departure marred what would otherwise have been a beautiful evening. In the end, Mark had to throw Keith out of the house so that Cabe could go to sleep.
Cabe cried herself to sleep. And even when she slept, her dreams tormented her. Keith was down a well, on the other side of a wall, somewhere. And she couldn't reach him. Keith was in pain, in terrible pain, she knew, and she couldn't save him. She was miles away, and couldn't reach him to ease the pain that broke her own heart as well as his.
The next morning, Cabe dragged herself to school. The sky was gray and overcast, and spitting small raindrops. The day was as miserable as her mood.
Keith greeted her in algebra with a wobbly smile and shining eyes that told her that he too was holding back tears.
"I'll meet you...outside your house," Keith said, his voice quivering. "After school."
"No," Cabe said. "Walk with me and hold my hand, one last time. Please?"
"All right."
Cabe met Keith outside the front door of the school. Wordlessly, he took her hand in his and began walking toward Sycamore Lane. As they rounded the corner away from the school, the sun came out from behind the clouds. The golden light caught in Keith's mane, giving him a halo. Suddenly, he had never looked better. The blue and green print of his shirt brought out the green of his eyes, which were looking at her with a misty, loving expression.
Cabe flung her arms around Keith and kissed him, for what she knew would be their last passionate kiss. She felt his hands caressing her back, even as her fingers slid into his silky hair. Keith was the first to release the kiss, but he didn't release her from his strong arms.
"Look," Keith said, his voice choked. "A rainbow."
And so it was. The brightest rainbow Cabe had ever seen arched high over San Pueblo.
"Come on," Cabe said, after they had stared for a few moments in awe. "I have to get on the road soon or I'll never make it to my hotel in Laughlin anytime reasonable tonight."
Keith gripped her hand again, and they walked side by side to Cabe's house. Mark had already pulled her car out into the driveway. Both Mark and Tara were waiting to say goodbye to their daughter.
Tara pulled her daughter in for a hug, leaving Keith standing by himself and looking lost.
"Bye Mom," Cabe said softly.
Mark wrapped his daughter in a bear hug. "Hey, kid. You sure you'll be okay on the drive?"
"Just fine, Dad. I did it to get here, remember?"
"You just stay away from those slot machines in Laughlin, you hear? You're underage, and I don't want a call from the Nevada cops!" Mark joked.
Cabe managed to laugh, before turning back to Keith.
"I guess this is it, huh?" Keith said.
"You knew you'd have to say a final goodbye sometime, Keith. It's now. Look, Mom wrote down Grandma's address and phone number for you. We won't be completely out of touch."
"It's just that before now, I could pretend that this wasn't going to happen. There was always a chance that you would change your mind. Now there is none." Keith's voice cracked.
Cabe put her hand over his mouth. "No more words." She kissed him full on the mouth, relishing the feel of his hair brushing silkily against her face and the soft movements of his warm lips.
It felt like an eternity to both of them before Cabe pulled away. And the moment she turned and walked toward the car, she wanted nothing more than to decide that it had been too short and go back for another goodbye kiss. But if I walk back and kiss him again, Cabe thought, I'll keep doing that forever. Walking back and forth and kissing Keith. Because it's never going to be long enough.
Cabe got in the car and backed slowly out of the driveway before shifting into gear and driving away down Sycamore Lane. Two tears trailed down Keith's face as he watched Cabe's car dissappear down the road, the rainbow forming a perfect arch overhead. He was waving, he knew, through a dim haze of tears, because there was nothing else left that he could do.
"Keith?" Tara asked, softly. "You're welcome to stay for dinner. The house is going to feel awfully empty without Cabe around."
Keith shook his head, and slowly walked down Sycamore Lane toward his house. Same old picket fence, same old bus. It just all looked dull and dead to him. Even the rainbow was beginning to fade away. Keith went in, ignoring Danny and Laurie, and Shirley wisely kept Chris and Tracy from bothering their elder brother. She knew that Cabe had meant more to her son than any other girl, and that this heartbreak wouldn't be healed quickly.
Keith went upstairs and locked the door of his room behind him. He picked up his old acoustic guitar and sat on his bed, looking out the window at the dying rainbow through the beads of rain that clung to the glass. With nowhere to turn and no one who could soothe his heartbreak but Cabe, Keith turned to his music.
Slowly, tenatively, he began to fit chords to words. His voice was soft and melodic, but breaking here and there as his emotions threatened to overwhelm him. Alone in his room, Keith sang out his heartbreak.
"What road, what road, what road
Can lead you home, and leave me behind?
What road, what road, what road,
Leads you to your dreams, and leaves me behind?
You wrote your grandmother a note
Asking to live with her this year
So you could follow a dream
You wanted to go to school
But you forgot to reckon
On your crazy heart..."
Outside her son's room, Shirley resisted the impulse to open the door and try to comfort Keith. The sad lament of his song cut her heart open to hear it, but she knew that Keith wouldn't welcome the intrusion. Instead, she headed downstairs for a tissue, hoping that Cabe would soon come to her senses and return.
Keith watched as the rainbow faded out of existence, his arms folded over his guitar. The moment that its colors vanished completely, he put his head down on his arms and cried. The rainclouds rolled in again, and rain beat against the glass, mocking his tears.
Cabe was gone.