| |
THE BUZZING STIRRED Cici from an uneasy sleep and her right hand went instinctively to the bedside table. Without opening her eyes, she grabbed the cell phone, tapped the mute button and shoved the device under her pillow. The buzz sounded again and again until the pitch grew to a shrill ring.
“Okay, okay.” She mumbled as she sat up, tugging at her ears to ease the tinnitus, all the while knowing it would not stop until she answered. “I hear you Da. I’m on my way.”
Cecilia peeled her nightshirt over her head and flung it across the room. She shoved a pillow beneath the blanket, fluffed it a few times and tiptoed down the hall. At a glance, the bed appeared occupied. She did not bother to close the bedroom door; a closed door always stirred her mother’s suspicion. The back step creaked beneath her bare feet, a fact Cici failed to notice as she leapt.
The night sky appeared clear, other than a few Stratocumulus mounds in the south; precisely where she expected to meet her father. Cici lifted her face and propelled herself toward the stratosphere. As the streetlights below her disappeared, the lights above her grew brighter. Someday, she thought, as her hips and feet rolled in rhythm, someday I will swim all the way to Jupiter.
Shattered remnants of a contrail abruptly interrupted her fantasy. Cici halted her dolphin kick and levitated as she wiped the petroleum crystals from her face and scanned her surroundings. Oh shoot! She had travelled too far. The heaps of clouds marking her destination were hundreds of feet below her. Cici pulled herself upright, emptied her lungs, stiffened her pose and allowed herself to drop. It was a controlled drop, unlike her first solo experience.
“Da, are you there?” She called softly, moving through the dark clouds, all the while searching for her father’s unique footprints. She could see him, not more than ten feet away. Neon blue residue marking his path, but he was not alone.
The woman at his side gazed about in amusement with her hands to her mouth.
“Oh Duffy it is so much more than I imagined.... so much more!” She cried through pinched fingers, shaking her head side to side. Cici stepped out of the cloud, feeling drawn to the woman.
“Cecilia MacDougal,” her father scolded, “You are too old to prance around half naked. Have you anything to cover yourself?”
“No sir.” She answered – her face red with embarrassment as she stepped back inside the thin veil.
“Then gather the billows and make yourself a covering for there is someone I want you to meet.”
Cici hurriedly fashioned the densest particles to form a lump-filled dress, pulled damp tresses of hair forward to cover her breasts and stepped forward. “Will this do?” she asked with a timid voice.
“It will do fine.” He smiled, putting her at ease before announcing, “Cecilia this is your Aunt Mary.”
“Your daughter?” Mary asked, already knowing the answer. She moved close enough to place her hands on her niece’s shoulders. “I am sorry we did not meet before now.”
“So am I.” Cici’s words trailed, as she marveled at the transformation occurring before her eyes. The deep lines around Mary’s eyes faded, her brittle gray hair turned to soft, golden locks and the loose flesh over her neck and jaws became taut and smooth.
“Ah, see what a beauty she is Cecilia and wouldn’t you agree Clara is the spitting image of her mother?”
“I do indeed see the resemblance Da.”
“How – when would they have met Duffy?” Mary seemed perplexed, “I don’t think Clara has ever met her cousin – I would know, wouldn’t I?”
“You are correct Mary. They were not formally introduced.” Duffy spoke softly, reassuring his sister, “It is my fault – I should have seen to their meeting when they were children but—”
“Hush.” Mary interrupted, “it is as much my own fault as it is yours. I suspected you had found love and I knew you had sent the vase with the letter. I tore the letter to pieces in a fit of grief and never told a soul about your wife and child. I could see your wife, Stella, as clear as if she were standing in front of me and forgive me Duff I was so angry... I blamed her.”
“I know.” Duffy smiled, stroking her smooth hair, “None of it matters now.”
“How is she?” Mary asked, turning to Cici, “How is your mother?”
Cecilia thought for a moment, considering her mother’s past mental illness and bouts of depression. She chose not to dwell on the years of psychotic episodes, grateful instead that her mother’s mood had been stable for quite a while.
“She is fine.” Cici smiled.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.” Mary’s face appeared weary with age again as she spoke, the lines deepening around her mouth and eyes, “I should have known she would never make the first move... she didn’t have the courage to introduce herself. I am so sorry I held his death against her. She just didn’t have it in her.” Mary turned to face Duffy, “You were right, Stella has the spirit of a frightened bird but your daughter has the spirit of an eagle. It’s a shame—”
Duffy smiled, lifting his hand to Mary’s face and with a downward stroke, the motion seemed to erase her troubling thoughts and restore her youthful appearance.
“Aye, it is a shame, truly it is; tis a pity too that you must be moving on now Mary.”
“Will you be going with me?”
“Not now love, but I will see you very soon.”
“What should I expect Duff? Will they all be there?”
“Indeed they will. Everyone you’ve ever loved – all the souls that went before you. You’ll have a grand time catching up and they’ll all be so happy to see you.”
Mary’s face shone brightly at the thought, brighter than any of the spirits Cici had seen pass over the clouds. The door appeared and without another word, her aunt walked through. Cici caught only a glimpse of luminescent figures on the other side before the entry disappeared.