Kiran
I order a glass of wine. Dana orders a beer. She’s wearing a T-shirt that says Pluto is not a planet. Get over it.
We both stare at each other, waiting for the other to go first.
“Is Mason alone right now?” I ask.
Dana plays with the label of her bottle. “Yeah. He can be alone.”
“So he’s had rehab?”
“A lot of rehab. In fact, I think he overdoes it. He also had a two-week course with Molly. They matched them.”
“They fit well together. Why did you want to meet, Dana? Mason told me he doesn’t want anything to do with me.”
“I guess I didn’t want you to leave like that. I’m really sorry it didn’t work out and for what I said to you. Mason told me about the pact y’all made. The idea sounded so stupid to me.”
“I know, right?”
She roars in laughter. “I’m sorry. For what it’s worth, I did think it was romantic. Mostly illogical, though. Then again, I live on the cynical side of the equation.”
“Cynical side?”
“I’m a scientist.”
“Is there a chance he’ll ever see again?”
“If he eats a lot of carrots.”
“Are you really making jokes?”
“Sorry. It’s in poor taste, I know. It’s just been hard. We’ve both been trying to keep our sense of humor, even though it’s twisted. It’s highly unlikely he’ll see again. The retinas are detached. They cannot be repaired through surgery.”
It’s not until Dana hands me a napkin that I realize I’m crying. I take a long sip of water and try to stifle my feelings so I can ask her the rest of my questions. She’s patient. After a few deep breaths, I manage to speak, although my voice comes out thick and hopeless. “If Mason is self-reliant, why does he need a companion?”
“The companion deal was my idea. His stubborn ass still argues with me. It’s a companion, not a babysitter, I keep saying.”
“Why does he need one, though?”
“I might need to go away for a while.”
“You’re a marine biologist, right?”
She gives me a confused look. “Yes.”
“Mason told me you were going to school for it.”
“I graduated and found a great job in San Diego. When I got the call about Mason, I quit my job. Mason lived with me for a while in Cali until the renter’s lease was up. He wanted to move back to Goodrich. He said I should have stayed in San Diego, but there’s no way I’d leave him. I found work as a hydrologist in Charleston.”
“I’m not sure what that is.”
She waves her hand. “Most people don’t. I perform research experiments to find ways to eliminate water pollution.”
“That’s impressive.”
“It would be if we could get more funding or lobbyists or anything. As of right now, I perform the research and write papers. Tons of papers that I’m sure make very lovely fish wrap.”
I want to interrupt and ask what this has to do with the companion position, but I wait for her to continue. She takes a long drag of her beer. “That might all change, though.” Her blues eyes twinkle with excitement. “I’ve been invited to go on an expedition to Antarctica.”
“Antarctica?”
Her dimple deepens as she smiles wider. “Yeah, isn’t it amazing?”
“Not to me, but I’m happy for you. Why Antarctica?”
“It has most of the Earth’s fresh water, and the ozone is almost depleted. It’s a marine biologists dream and also a nightmare because the news is never good. Anyway, I’m able to study the effects on the indigenous fish and macro fauna there. It’ll provide some vital data about what we’re doing to our water. Or at least I hope it will. Without water, there isn’t an Earth. No blue means no green. So unless we want to live like the people of Mars, we need to get our act together.”
“Um, Dana, there are no people on Mars.”
She lifts up her bottle, holding it out in a mock toast. “And that would be my point.”
I recognize the same enthusiasm and wry sense of humor in both the Cutler children. Actually, I’m not sure if Mason has those characteristics anymore. But I can see why he’s so proud of her. She has the energy of a hundred rabbits, a brain Stephen Hawking would find sexy, and a contagious passion.
“Wow.” I hold out my glass for a real toast. “That’s incredible. I feel really lazy next to you. I think my biggest accomplishment this year is doing my own taxes.”
Dana clinks my glass. “Well, I’ve never done my own taxes so I’ll drink to that. But I’d disagree. The article you wrote about the refugees won an award, didn’t it?”
“How do you know about that?”
She shrugs. “Mason told me about it.”
“Mason reads my articles?”
She gives a slight nod, playing with the label of her bottle. “He subscribes to online magazines and has an app on his phone that reads everything out loud. About the article, I thought you had an interesting take about losing your homeland and identity.”
So maybe he read it by chance and wasn’t seeking me out. Either way, what did it really matter? The man had made his feelings clear. Dana shifts in her seat. Clearly, she isn’t comfortable revealing this bit of information about her brother. “Thank you. Tell me more about Antarctica.”
“It’s rare for someone my age to be invited, let alone raise the grant money. I passed it up at first. When Mason found out, he insisted I go. He pressured me so much I finally agreed on one condition.”
“That he agrees to a companion?”
“You are smart, just as he said. The rest of that stipulation is that I get to choose. I’m afraid his stubborn butthole self is going to fire them before I even step foot on the boat.”
I stifle a giggle. She called Mason a butthole. “How’s the search going?”
“Horrible. We can’t pay a large wage so we’re getting the worst of the riff-raff. You saw evidence of that today.”
“You mean Dorothy?”
Dana leans into the table. “I was so frustrated I told her I’d pay for the taxi on the condition she leaves straight away.” She shakes her head. “My grams would roll over in her grave at my lack of manners and southern hospitability.”
“But you have other applicants?”
“A few. I have to make a decision soon. I leave in a few days. I get we’re not paying a lot, but it seems we should have better candidates. It’s not like the job requires much, and it comes with free rent for a month. Don’t get me wrong, I still think he needs someone there because all this is still new to him. But it’s more for my peace of mind than anything. He’s very independent. But he’s also obstinate. He overdoes it. It would ease my mind to know someone was there to watch over him.”
“Just watch over him?”
“That and keep the house clean, make sure he eats more than frozen TV dinners, drive him to the VA hospital in Charleston three times a week for his therapy.” She counts off the duties on her fingers. “Oh, and show him where the North Star is.”
“The North Star?”
She responds in a one-shoulder shrug. “Don’t ask me why. I have no idea what his obsession is with that damn star. But since we’ve been back, he asks me to go out in the backyard with him and point it out.”
The fire I’ve been trying to smother all day flares once more.
Do you walk away from someone you love just because they ask you to? A smart girl who believes in self-preservation probably would.
Maybe next time I meet a girl like that I’ll ask her.
Me… I want to help him. In whatever way I can, even if it makes no sense.
An idea begins to form. I squash it like a tomato. It starts up again, growing wilder. I pull it from the ground like the unwelcomed weed it is. Still it grows. It continues long after Dana has said good night and I’m in my pajamas lying on the king-sized bed in room 203 at the Wilshire. The idea continues to beckon me while I eat a bagel from the continental breakfast. I actually scream at it to go away in the rental car on the way to the airport. Yet, instead of going the four miles to the airport, I turn around and go the forty miles back to Goodrich.