The Clash
Chapter One: "Nobody's Home"
She wants to go home, but nobody's home. That's where she lies, broken inside. –Avril Lavigne
Sharei was tired. She was always tired. Not quite asleep, but in a trance, she stared out the train window at nothing in particular, dozing off.
"Mommy?" questioned a small voice grabbing her attention.
Sharei turned around quickly, rubbing her eyes. "Mmm?", acknowledging the small girl in the seat across from her.
"What's a-a-acid?" obviously sounding a word out.
"Acid? What? Where do you see that?" asked Sharei looking around at the advertisements on the train.
The 5 year-old shook her head, pointing to her mother's shirt. "A-C-I-D. A-a-cid."
Sharei looked down and with an exasperated laugh realized that her tee read: "Drop acid, not bombs". "It's um…it's nothing really, Cate." she replied with a smile to reassure her curious daughter. Satisfied with the answer for now, the child smiled back.
The two rode in silence for awhile, making sure not to disturb their other companion, a baby of less than a year, asleep in Sharei's arms. Eventually, they all gave in and closed their eyes.
In the morning, the sun's bright light shone through the window and the train jerked to a halt. Now awake, Sharei made sure that she had all of her belongings. Not that there was much to have. A large purse, a duffel bag and Cate's backpack held everything.
The train opened it's doors and the bustle of Toronto's station filled the air.
"C'mon, c'mon now." Sharei hurried Cate along, playfully nudging her back with the duffel. They exited their car and stepped onto the platform, still tired from their trip but in awe of the myriad of newsstands, phone booths and fast food restaurants.
"Let's go, Cate. Off to the side, out of the crowd. We've got to get everything together." Sharei said gently, guiding Cate to a small empty table near a coffee stand.
"I'm hungry." said Cate a bit crankily.
"Hmm, we'll see what we can do about that." Sharei winked at her daughter and got up and walked to the coffee stand. "Excuse me, how much are the large danishes?" she asked the clerk behind the counter. He looked up; "Uh, three seventy-five."
"Oh," she answered disappointed. She didn't have four dollars. "Well, um…just a muffin then."
The clerk noticed her disappointed look and her glance that wandered over to a table where a small girl was sitting alone.
"Alright. Well, that'll be two-nineteen"
Sharei pulled out a single and a bunch of coins. "Okay," she counted out loud nervously. "Two-fifteen. Umm..you don't usually cut muffins in half, do you?"
He smirked. The dark haired clerk was maybe a bit younger than she and Sharei couldn't help but feel drawn to him. "Well, it's not standard procedure but…" he reached into the "Give a penny, take a penny" jar near the register and pulled out four coins. "this is."
"Oh God, thanks!" she said sincerely and took the bag from him. "You're a lifesaver…Craig!" She had noticed his name tag.
Walking back to the table, Sharei was satisfied. She sat down, adjacent to Cate, baby still in her arms and smiled. "Open the bag, sweetie."
Cate opened the paper bag and took out the blueberry muffin. Starving, she quickly took a large bite.
"Hey, hey, wait a minute! We've got to share that!"
"But, there's more!" the girl argued.
"What?" Sharei was puzzled and took the bag back and peered inside. At the bottom of the bag was a large cherry danish.
"Oh, alright. Eat up!"
She smiled to herself and then turned around and caught Craig's eye. "Thank you" she mouthed to him.
He smiled back at her, nodded and went back to work.
The girls were completely satisfied with their snack. Even Thalia, the baby enjoyed a full bottle filled with the individual cups of milk offered for free next to the sugar packets. They found a phone booth with a directory book inside. Sharei had become quite accustomed to holding a baby and looking after a five year old and their belongings while doing other tasks and so she quickly turned to the C section of the book while she held the telephone against her shoulder. She flipped through the pages and mumbled to herself. "Cameron, Cameron…Tracker Cameron!"
Not having much money, Sharei decided to take her chances calling collect. She entered the number and spoke her name clearly while the company dialed the Cameron residence.
"We're sorry," a pre-recorded woman's voice said into her ear. "Your call could not be completed because there is no answer on the other line. Please try your call again later."
Sharei slammed down the receiver. "Dammit!" She closed her eyes, breathed in and composed herself. Turning around, she faced Cate and smiled. "Oh well…Nobody's home. We'll try again later."