It's a Little Alone
It was a crisp, pastel-colored Saturday morning when Greg turned up on her doorstep bearing bountiful news and breakfast pastries. Kate's eyes widened with delight at the sight of freshly-baked Danish, scones and muffins. "Jesus McKenzie, you're going to have a pretty sizeable arse if you continue on at this rate!" she caught herself thinking. This led her to a warm memory of her granny, lovingly chastising her as a child: "You eat like a bird!" and Kate's ever cheeky response was always "What kind of bird?" and her Gran, each time would name a different species of bird whereby compelling Kate to find its picture in the encyclopedias she coveted.
She came back into focus as Greg excitedly rattled off the highlights of his current life. His presentation to the Board of Counsel on the illegal dumping of toxic waste and the equally insidious pilfering of sea-life of the ocean along Somalian shores was well received. His mum's cancer was in remission and his baby sister was carrying her first child! He was over the moon at being an uncle alongside fostering Kate's dream of being a Mum!
Kate managed to side-step any talk of Caroline with the intrusion of time…she needed to be off to collect her Mum for their visit with her Dad.
Kate and Mona were greeted warmly by the staff at the Center and were happily led through the sterile corridors to her Dad's suite. An open smile careened across her face as she soaked in the magnificence of his transformative face.
The tension in the atmosphere was briefly alleviated when Kate asked, "Dad, how are you feeling?" and he responded by wriggling his ten, long fingers in the air "Oh, you know…with my fingers." It was like meeting a beautiful stranger for the very first time…the way he looked at Mona and back at Kate and concluding that Kate "Must have been a very clever girl because your Mum shows no signs of worry over you." Kate flashed a bashful smile, but couldn't help gleaning the disappointment in her Mum's eyes that the once devoted husband and doting father now viewed them as mere acquaintances.
Alone at home in her cottage after leaving her mum with her auntie Vivian, Kate delicately tucked an orange into the cavity of the chicken she'd got from the farmer's market on her way home and wistfully sang along to the verses of the tune emanating from her speaker-box…a float, a drift, a flight, a wing, a hawk, a quail, the promise of spring…she adored the compositions of Tom Jobim…and the dance in Caroline's eyes, sad or otherwise…and the river bank talks of the waters of March, it's the promise of life, it's the joy in your heart …Kate was stuck with a certain sadness. "How had it come to be that the most joyous time of my life is filled with such heartache?" She was jarred from her despair by the tone of her mobile ringing. "Mum dialing up with more internet discoveries" she presumed.
"Hello?" Kate answered the unidentified caller curiously.
"Ms. McKenzie?"
"Yes?" Kate answered all ears.
"It's Lawrence…Lawrence Elliot…"
A brief, overdue update.