Fall to Pieces

Chapter 8

In Boston she caught her connecting flight to Bangor, Maine. The plane was uncrowded, and this time Hermione had two seats to herslef. She sat by the window and leafed through the magazines provided by the airline. Shortly after take-off, an elderly man lurched down the aisle toward the toilets in the back of the plane. He was shaking, and the woman directly beheind him kept a firm grip on his shoulders. She was wearing a gray skirt and white blouse but it had the official air of someone in uniform. Maybe a daughter, thought Hermione idly.But probably a nurse. Was the old guy going to be sick?

Hermione watched them pass. Ten minutes later they made their slow way up the aisle again and came to a halt next to Hermione's seat, their passage blocked by a woman reaching for her sweater in the overhead compartment. The man peered down at Hermione and said hello.

"Hello" She rsponded with a smile.

"A plane's no proper place for a man nor a beast." He told her."I prefer to travel by boat myself. Don't you?"

"I like solid ground best of all." She answered with a smile. He reminded her of somoebody, somebody she liked, but she couldn't think who. The old man nodded, then hesitated as if he'd like to settle in next to her for a good chat, but as the woman in the aisle put on her sweater and sat down again, his companion directed him to their seats just in front of Hermione.

Hermione wondered fleetingly weather he lived in Maine or was just going to visit, then dismissed him from her thoughts. She turned back to the window. There wasn't much to see-just a steadily darkening sky.

The plane circled over Bangor, then touched down smoothlyand stop at the terminal. Hermione reached up into the overhead compartment for her blue backpack. The old man asked her to hand down his carry-on bag, as well. She glanced down at the top of his head with a smile. "Don't get up," she said." Just tell me which one it is."

"Black leather satchel," He said. He coughed; it sounded like a bark. Hermione carefully lifted the back bag down and set it on his lap. "It's got all my medicine inside. I won't make it home without it."

"He'll be fine," said the woman, speaking for the first time. "Likes to make a bit of a fuss, thats all."

The old man winked at Hermione. "somebody meeting you here, my girl?"

"Yes," she told him. "My dad."

The man nodded. She said good-bye and moved down the aisle. It was funny, she tought, how many poeple you come into contact with in a lifetime-or even a day- who don't matter to you at all. You'll never see them again. They don't have any impact on your life, nor you on theirs. And yet sometimes a random encounter turns out to be one of the most important moments of your life.

It had happen like that for John and Paulette- a chance encounter on a plane when John was flying home from a business trip to California and Paulette was traveling from her home in California to New York to atten a friend's wedding. Fate had seated them next to each other. Paulette inadvertently splashed her apple juice on John's lap when the plane hit turbulence, and he dumped a forkful of chicken kiev into her sleeve. They apparently had a marvelous time mopping up an apoliogizing-and were married a few months later. Hermione hoped he'd be happier with Paulette then he'd been with Jenny.

Hermione parents had been deivorced for 5 years when John met Paulette. In all that time he rarely dated. They married out in California on Valentine's day, almost on the spur of the moment, without telling their families until afterwards.

Could that be Paulette now? A short, slim woman wearing jeans and a green T-shirt was waving frantically as Hermione walked down the ramp to the gate. The woman was small-boned, with Red shoulder length hair. Yes it had to Paulette-Hermione recognized her from the wedding pictures John had sent. But where was he?

"Hermione? Hermione!" Paulette ran forward and embraced her, squeezing tightly. She was a full head shorter then Hermione, "at last."

Hermione stepped back, smiling politely. "Hello, Paulette. Where's my dad?"

"Oh, dear, I don't want you to panic, but there's been a accident." Her voice was high and breathless, and Hermione felt a sudden image of her father dead from some terrible car crash.

"Oh, no-"

"He fall off a ladder this afternoon while we were pulling down the old wallpaper in the dinning room and broke his left ankle. Poor baby." She looked up at Hermione with round blue eyes while passengers moved around them toward the baggage claim. "God, you're tall! johnny said you were, of course, but I didn't know he ment really tall." She giggled." And such brown eyes. I love your long hair. Do you ever do french braids? I'll fix your hair for you tomorrow if you like."

Relieved that John was still alive, Hermone ignored the comments about her appearance. Jenny always said people shouldn't make perosnal remarks. "So is Dad in a cast?" She asked.

"You can be the very first person to sign it. We were at the hospital for ages today. Johnny's in bed, waiting to see you. We'd no sooner got back from the hospital then it was time for me to leave for the airport."

"But is Dad all right?" asked Hermione. "Can he walk with crutches?" They started moving along with the crowd, heading towards the baggage claim to pick up Hermione's suitcases.

"Oh, he'll be able to hobble around, my poor Johnny. But not tonight. The doctor gave him some sort of really strong painkiller, and it has kind of knocked him out. I mean, he wasn't in any condition to drive all the way down to Bangor, and he might be asleep by the time we get home. But he's estatic that you're coming to stay." She reached over and squeezed Hermione's arm. "And so am I"

"Poor Dad," said Hermione. She realized she'd never seen John sick or ingured. "Well, I'll help take down the rest of the wallpaper, that's something i can do."

"That be super." Said Paulette. "You'll be able to reach almost as high as Johnny. But we don't want you to work too much while you're here. After your horrible accident, you probably need some R and R. Thats rest and relaxation. We want you to have fun."

"Thanks." Hermione saw her blue suitcases drop from the conveyor belt onto the baggage carousel and moved forward to pick them up. She noticed the old man standing with the dour woman and waved to them. The man looked confussed. The woman moved closer to the conveyor belt, searching for their bags.

"Here let me help you," said Paulette, reaching for one of Hermione suitcases.

"No, I'm fine."

"Well, give me the backpack, then," she said and giggled. "I may be tiny compared to you, but I'm strong as a packhorse. At least that's what Johnny says, and he knows everything about me!"

'Spare me the details, please'. Hermione followed Paulette out to the parking lot. Paulette took her keys out of her back pocket and unlocked the side door of a blue van.

"Here we are," she said, shoving aside rolls of wallpaper. Hermione lifted her suitcases inside next to several gallon-size cans of paint. "Lets hit the road." Paulette dropped Hermione's backpack insde and slammed the door. "It's a long drive, and I know you want to see your dad as soon as you can."

Hermione sat in front next to Paulette. They drove away from Bangor airport and headed northeast, up toward the coast. "Did you look Hibben up on a map?" Ask Paulette. "You probably couldn't find it! We're out on the edge of nowhere."

"Dad said it was pretty remote."

"Up here, unless your family has been here handred years, forget it. Your a foreigner. It takes some time geting used to."

Hermione murmured something in response. The fatigue that had pressed down on her so heavily at home assailed her again as they left the highway and drove along a narrow road through what seemed to be miles of dense forest.

"Would you just look at the trees?" Paulette said brightly. "I still cant get over how much of Maine is mostly forest. Two minutes out of a city and you're in the wilderness, pratically. There's bears in the woods. And, would you believe, moose?"

Hermione yawned, then covered her mouth." Sorry. I'm just so sleepy."

"Go ahead and have a nap, then. We'll be on Route 9 till we get to Machias. Then we have to go further over the coast, to starboard. Even then, it'll be a drive. Hibben is tucked between Bucks Harbor and Benson. I mean, barely on the map. You'll see. Way north, and then so far east, we're just about the first people in all America to see the sunrise each morning."

Hermione feigned sleep while Paulette rabbited on and on. The young woman's high, breathless voice rose and fell in a quick cadence almost like a song. Soon Hermione really did sleep, or figured she must have, because in no time at all, it seemed, she opened her eyes and found they were on a winding road. She could smell the sharp salt smell of the ocean even through the closed windows. Paulette's voice was still going strong:

"Well, theres a wharf, with a little pebbly beach, but the villagers keep thier fishing boats there, and the ferry docks there, too. So it's kind of not the best place to swim...But you won't be wanting to swim anway, right? I hope you won't feel afraid with so much water around."

Hermione couldnt see well in the dark van, but she sensed Paulette was peering over at her with worry. "No, as long as I don't have to go swimming in it, water's fine."

Suddenly the van lurched to the left and started up a rutted road. "We've got to do something about this," said Paulette. "Maybe gravel? Or should we pave it? What do you think?"

"Is this the road to your house?" asked Hermione."I didn't even see the town."

"Hibben's just farther along that road, but we turned off to go along the headland. We'll be home in a sec. Watch now-you'll see the house."

Hermione straightened up in her seat. They had left the coast road and were jerking along a dirt road lined with evergreen tress. Hermione could see them outside the van window, black shapes whipping back and forth in the sea wind that reached all the way up here in the headland. Ahead of them were trees gave way to a tangle of overgrown grass. And rising out of the dark grass was the house.

It was a massive shadow with stone steps leading up to a wide porch in front. Lights burned in several windows like a lighthouse beacons through the night.

Hermione's contentment vanished.

"We've got to buy a tractor mower to deal with all this grass," Paulette was saying. "Another thing to put on my list."

Hermione watched the blowing grass pressed and her hands to her mouth to contain her sudden cry of-something. Fear? Not exactly. But as they stopped in front of the porch and Paulette cut the engine, Hermione felt her body trembling slightly and thought: 'I've been here before!'