August 30, 1941
Dylan arrived in Pearl Harbour at the end of August. A beautiful day.
The US military did not want his father to lose another son, Brandon was officially missing but in fact his plane had been seen crashing over Rouen. Dylan had seen it with his own eyes.
From that moment Dylan had no longer wanted to fly, if he could not fly with him then he would no longer take off in flight.
The Colonel gave him his condolences and then asked him where he would like to go, Dylan said Pearl Harbour and to the US military it seemed like a good compromise.
He didn't go to his father, he had promised that he would take care of Brandon and instead he had failed.
He would not be able to look him in the eye, he tried several times to write him a letter, one that Brandon wrote every month but the result was a thousand sheets torn and thrown to the ground with debts of words.
When Brenda saw him get off the plane she immediately realized that it wasn't the same Dylan she had seen leaving.
She selfishly thought he was happy that he had returned.
She quickly understood that it would be difficult to reach Dylan in the place of the heart where he was, but Brenda loved him, she really loved him.
She ran towards him and hugged him tightly.
They both closed their eyes.
Dylan broke down into a desperate cry that Brenda didn't want to stop because she knew that Dylan hadn't cried until then, that he had held everything back, and that thing had begun to grow to overflow and eventually became uncontrollable. They were together and everything else would settle down.
Steve and David went to greet him. The three hugged each other tightly, as if they were survivors but the truth is that all the soldiers were survivors.
Brenda had prepared dinner for Dylan, they had taken a small house above the promontory, it was windy, the flowers were colorful, the sea was right below them.
Dylan held her hand all the time and Brenda didn't ask questions because she knew that at that moment the questions would have no answer.
The thing that broke Dylan was that his brother's body was somewhere, in the Rouen countryside, the countryside occupied by the Germans, and that the Germans had recognized the body and made it slaughter meat, and this for Dylan was unbearable: it was his brother.
Sometimes Brenda would surprise him crying, silently, in front of the cliff, and then Brenda barefoot would sit next to him, and say nothing.
She caressed his hair. She smiled at him.
"The guys have thought of something but they are not sure if they will propose it to you"
Dylan turned his gaze and looked at her.
'What?' He said in a low voice.
"They would like to do a little ceremony for Brandon, here, in front of the sea, but only if you agree."
Dylan looked at the sea.
"Brandon loved the sea," he said softly, "we didn't have it near the house, there was a river and every summer we went there from morning to night. Brandon and I and sometimes we brought some girls" Dylan turned around and smiled winking at Brenda.
Brenda also smiled at him.
"Brandon would love to be greeted with the sea"
XX
Barcelona- Spain 90s
Wintur had been in Barcelona for a week.
Daniel turned on immediately, he was feverish to show Brenda every single corner as they passed from one part of the city to the other.
Those months together had restored a balance between them. They knew they couldn't be together, that they didn't feel ready, that the first time had been a failure, it had been nice but a failure.
Daniel realized that Brenda needed to metabolize on her own, her new life, Dylan.
Damn Dylan.
For the moment he had managed to bring her back to Europe, he had managed to buy time with her.
"My mother would like to meet you," Daniel said as Brenda sat reading the script.
'What?'
"It's not an engagement, but I told her about you and she would like to get to know you, after all I met your parents and your brother..." Daniel made sweet eyes "please"
Brenda was hesitant "I don't know Daniel, I have a lot of respect for the parents, for the family in general"
Daniel made the rounds around her and sat next to her "do you want the truth?"
Brenda didn't understand but was interested to the truth.
"I listen to you"
"Clara is getting married. My mother told me this on the phone this morning"
Brenda got it, she knew very well that that news had taken Daniel's breath away as she had been breathless for so long since she had left Los Angeles "i'm sorry" she said.
"That's not the worst part," Daniel smiled bitterly.
"No?"
"No" Daniel shook his head "she is getting marry with my brother, isn't that unbelievable?"
"Oh Daniel..."
Brenda could see the tears wetting Daniel's eyes.
"I don't blame them, I betrayed her, I left without saying a word, for a long time I didn't talk to my family, she and my brother became close , they didn't know how to say it and they didn't know that I would come back"
Brenda stroked his hair.
Daniel turned to her "yet it hurts damn much"
The tears were there, hanging like little lights on an autumn evening.
"I have to go to my family, I can't pretend I'm not here, I didn't want to go alone," Daniel said.
Brenda looked at him and then hugged Daniel tightly.
XX
New York 90s
Colin had understood that Kelly was a source of money for him, she had money to spend, she was almost always the one who gave the money for cocaine, in return she lived at his house in New York and she seemed to have no intention of going back to Los Angeles, it was as if there was nothing left for her there.
For these reasons Los Angeles was coming to her, Donna and Clare would come that afternoon. Colin helped Kelly clean the house, put it back in order.
Kelly prepared her photographs on the table, she wanted to show them to Clare and Donna.
A few weeks earlier she had met Andrea for a few hours but they had met in a bar on the east side. She didn't want to show her the mess in the house she lived in and Kelly suspected that Andrea had noticed something.
That's why she wanted to distract Clare and Donna with stories of her wonderful summer.
Damn it. To hell with this bullshit. She had to get something. And immediately. SHe needed to cheer up.
She went to open the drawer and realized that it was all over. They had no more coke.
"Colin... you took my share too," she shouted.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Colin said bored.
Kelly walked out of the room "you took my share too. Remember that I pay for cocaine, not you, it's my stuff"
Colin was caught up in a moment of anger, snapped up and grabbed her by the arm, twisting it a little.
"Never address me like that again," Colin said
"You hurt me ..."
Colin let go of his grip on her arm and took his jacket.
"Where are you going?" Kelly asked.
"To buy you some stuff"
Colin came out slamming the door.
Kelly stood in the middle of the room and her only thought was that Colin would come back before the girls arrived.
XX
Barcelona -Spain 90s.
Daniel's mother greeted Brenda with a big smile. Her name was Carmen. She was sturdy but had a magnificent face, two magnetic and green eyes like Daniel's.
Brenda thought Carmen was afraid she wouldn't see her son again so she had organized a wonderful party for him. The table had been set up outside with a very white tablecloth and lilies on the table.
Daniel was supposed to be from a wealthy family. A couple of waiters and service staff were running around Carmen. His father's name was Pedro. They greeted themselves with a hug, perhaps he too was afraid of not seeing his son again.
Brenda wasn't sure what Daniel had said about her, a friend? His girlfriend? It wasn't important at the time.
She knew Daniel's pain very well, it was her own pain when she sat at the table with Dylan and Kelly when Kelly was Dylan's girlfriend.
Since she knew that pain well, she didn't want to leave him alone, as she wouldn't want to be alone.
The news of Clara's wedding had been difficult.
Revealing to Daniel that his brother Simon was the groom had been terrible.
Carmen, however, loved both of her children. She had seen Daniel's escape and Simon's falling in love up close and was left unarmed by them.
Clare and Sìmon arrived shortly. When they entered they held hands but as soon as Clara laid her eyes on Daniel she took her hand from Sìmon's. Brenda looked at Daniel, rested her hand behind his back. She wanted to tell him that she was there.
Daniel shook his brother's hand and then kissed Clara on the cheek and Brenda saw, the moment when his lips touched her cheek and her eyes closed.
She was really beautiful, dark blond hair, brown eyes, important breasts.
She looked like a doll.
Brenda smiled at her. She was introduced as a friend. After all, it was what she was. A friend of Daniel's, a theater colleague. Someone to help him not be alone.
Carmen passed her eyes from one child to another and understood first what was already clear to Brenda.
Daniel wouldn't go to the wedding and that was the last time he would see him at her house.
XX
New York 90s
Andrea had warned Clare and Donna. She had told them that something was wrong with Kelly.
Clare and Donna had taken the first flight to New York, had tried to tell Andrea to alert Brandon, and Andrea had tried.
Brandon had stiffened, didn't want to talk about her, and Andrea was afraid to go further.
Donna and Clare walked out of the hotel and took a taxi.
"I'm sure Andrea is too dramatic," Donna said with her optimism.
"I don't know, but we're about to find out," Clare replied, "what did you say to Joe?"
"Joe is such an understanding and lovable person, he understood right away"
"Identical to Ray," Clare snorted.
"Can we not talk about Ray?"
"With great pleasure," Clare said.
They arrived under Kelly's palace and the one who opened the door was an agitated, hyperactive Kelly. Donna had a hard time recogenizing her. The hair was dirty and she didn't have a thread of makeup.
"I wasn't expecting you so soon, sorry"
"We said we were coming at four," Clare replied, looking around, "it's four o'clock"
The friends greeted each other with a strange hug.
Kelly thought she was going to go crazy. Colin had gone out and hadn't come back and she felt the need to take something, she couldn't put her thoughts together, Clare and Donna were talking but to her they looked like two squawches, she couldn't understand what they were saying.
"What's going on with you?" Kelly understood Clare's question and looked up and noticed that her eyes were on her.
"Nothing," Kelly replied, shrugging her shoulders.
'Are you taking anything?' Clare had no problem dealing with her directly.
Kelly began to stiffen.
"Did you come to judge me?"
"No," Donna replied, trying to calm her spirits, "no, we've come to see how you're doing"
Kelly and Clare kept their eyes on each other.
"How are you doing with Steve?" Kelly said maliciously, "I heard he's dating a different girl every night."
Clare lowered her eyes.
The Steve argument was painful for her. She had tried to get back in touch with him. especially after she learned that Steve was very committed to the summer program, but Steve didn't answer her on the phone and didn't want to know anything about her.
Clare would have liked to hurt Kelly.
"Maybe we should calm down," Clare replied. They had come to New York to help her "why don't you show us some of your photos?"
'Do you really care?'
"Of course" Clare nodded, she needed time to study Kelly up close, Andrea hadn't overdo it, Kelly was really in Bad conditions.
They calmed down, the girls talked about the latest news in Los Angeles. About Ginger, a friend of Valerie from Buffalo who had come to live for the summer at the Walsh house, about Jim and Cindy who had moved to Hong Kong.
"I can't wait for Brandon to come back, seeing that house without them seems like a world I don't know," Donna sighed.
She quickly noticed that he had named Brandon and Kelly's gaze had suddenly lowered and stuck.
"Sorry," Donna said in a low voice.
Kelly shrugged her shoulders.
The girls invited Kelly to leave New York and leave a few days with them, to Houston, to change the air, to do something together.
Kelly refused and began to look nervously at the watch.
Colin had taken the money and hadn't come back and she was going crazy.
XX
02 September 1941
Steve and David had brought some bottles of beer, Brandon's favorite, Brenda had added pen and paper, because he loved to write, the girls brought yellow and white Hibiscus necklaces.
They put everything on top of a small bamboo raft that Steve had built.
The fire of the bonfire crackled behind them. There were no dry eyes.
Dylan left Brenda's hand and took a step forward.
He knew that was an important moment. The detachment from his brother, the possibility of slowly resuming his life.
He took a folded sheet of paper in his pocket. He cleared his voice.
"My brother's name was Brandon.
I'm sure he loved me as much as I loved him, even though sometimes we didn't tell each other. He proved to me and he didn't like to get lost in useless words.
I don't remember a single day without him, and now the days all seem the same. Without that light that has accompanied me to this day.
But I remember that the first moment we looked at each other, it's as if we had always been brothers.
My mother used to say that love, in whatever form, is just that: two souls that recognize each other, among billions of souls.
Dylan paused a little and looked at Brenda.
Then he looked at the paper again and continued reading.
My brother will no longer fall in love, he will not become a writer, he will no longer see any football matches, my brother will not marry, he will not have children, my brother will be twenty years old forever.
And this is what breaks my heart the most but I know that he has been loved so much, and still loved so much.
Sometimes I would find my brother in front of the window, he would look at an indefinite point and I would ask him what he was thinking, he would turn around, look at me and answer "nothing, I'm in peace".
Those moments of melancholy now make me cry. I would give anything so I could take you back Brandon.
We shared everything, from the first moment: the games, the bed, the parents. The stunts. He was a perfect accomplice, he never spied and gave me absolute confidence.
Every time I proposed something to him he was always ready to follow me as if he never had better things to do than to be with me.
I was his best and he was mine.
I miss him more than anything else in the world. His cheerfulness was contagious and he always knew what to do. On the other hand, I feel lost.
He shared the pain with me and multiplied the love with me.
Few were there as Brandon was there for me.
My brother had dignity, he was loyal, he was brave, he could forgive and he loved people.
I was learning from him.
He was the best brother I could have.
Brothers are not chosen, but if they could be chosen, in a thousand other lives,I would choose him.
He was my brother.
I will always love you, Brandon. If you need me I will never be too far away.
Dylan left the letter on the raft and then broke down into a desperate and liberating cry as David and Steve released the raft into the sea and everyone watched it move away in the dark.
XX
Duclair -Normania- France
02 September 1941
The sound of the wind woke Brandon up.
It had been closed in that basement for over two weeks.
He remembered little, he remembered that his plane had been hit. He remembered that he was crashing. He remembered being able to parachute while his plane was on fire. He had found himself in the dark, in a forest. He remembered staring at the stars for a long time, losing consciousness several times. He thought he was in a territory full of furious Germans, they would find him, they would recognize the English uniform, they would kill him like a dog.
He had both legs broken. It was impossible to move and the pain was terrible.
He remembered the men speaking in a sweet and unknown language and then the hands taking him away.
Then he woke up in that basement.
Somewhere in Normandy.
A girl came every day to medicate him, and to feed him.
Her name was Kylianne.
He had Americanized in Kel or Kelly and she had not protested.
Brandon heard the door open.
Kel's sweet face appeared from behind the door.
He spoke quite fluent English, with a few mistakes and the French accent that made everything softer.
She would sit next to him, check his wounds.
In the first few days she had tried to explain to Brandon what had happened to him, it was she who had told him how they had saved him.
The days passed and Kelly and Brandon established a special relationship. She told him about life outside that cellar. Any news. He waited for her for hours as if it were a matter of survival.
"Today the Germans searched the house of the Valois," Kelly told him as she feed him , "it is possible that they will come here too."
Brandon opened his eyes wide. She smiled at him.
"But you have to be calm because if you don't make noise there are two walls before you can find this room"
Brandon nodded.
"I have to warn my brother, my family," Brandon tried to say.
Kel looked at him with a very sweet look "ce n'est pas possible... the city is occupied by the Germans, they check the mail and phone calls, a letter to America would be seen immediately".
Brandon looked down, he was afraid that his brother had been knocked down too, he had no news, he couldn't move, it was a nightmare.
"Je suis desolèe," Kelly said.
The girl lived in that house with her mother-in-law, Isabel. A wealthy woman who controlled everything, every coin, every rent and hated the Germans beyond all limits.
His son Pierre had left for the war in the French army and did not know where he was and the Germans had invaded his country and behaved without any dignity this annoyed Isabel. Kelly had only been married for a few months when Pierre had left, and had known nothing since then.
The wedding had been a construction.
"Marry him and you'll have a life without thinking about money anymore," her mother had told her, "we're going to have any more problems" and Kel had let others impose their choices on her. She had even believed she could love Pierre. She hadn't had the time.
When Brandon was found Isabel agreed to hide him in the house, hoping that her merciful gesture would turn into someone who could help Pierre wherever he was.
Kelly was allowed to bring him food, and to check his wounds.
Isabel was in charge of Brandon's hygiene. She was a widow, she was old. Nothing she hadn't already seen.
Kelly liked to take care of Brandon. He was American. He was a pilot. She liked him to tell her what America was like, the things he had seen, and Brandon would tell her everything, talk slowly for Kel to understand, she would teach him French in return, and tell him the news about the world of metal that outside lit fires and spread death.
The Valois, the Chambert, the Blugny, all local families that Brandon did not know but that Kel described and often made him laugh. He would spend hours listening to her.
"Today I can stay longer," Kel said, "my mother-in-law went to Rouen to collect the rents."
They were young and lonely in the world.
Thursday was the most beautiful day.
