Posted by maybelle | Posted in Poetry & Fiction | Posted on 12-10-2009
Tags: Short Story
“Carey?”
“After 3 months, you finally found me. What do you want?”
My already broken heart must have died after hearing the coldness in her voice. But I managed to speak.
“I want you back.”
And she snorted. “Do you remember what you said when I asked for us to walk here?” She asked me but she continued. “You said yes, but I have to wait until dawn. That we have to set our next date at dawn so we can walk in a public place such as this. I knew then, that you were different which was why I canceled that date. I also knew that this was the last place and time you’ll look for me.”
She was right, I was only here because I didn’t have the energy to sleep last night. I was waiting for her, night after night here, and she’s here now. I would have smiled at the memory and irony of it all but I knew she wasn’t finished. She turned to look at me. If I have any heart left in me, it was now utterly gone. Her pained expression is death all over and what she was saying wasn’t making any sense.
“You can’t have what you want this time.”
She walked away and I didn’t know what to say.
“Are you going to take a cab home? where are you going?”
“No, I’ll drive away from you. That’s what I’ll do.”
And she was gone.
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“Mrs Windth?” I said as I open the door. I should have called her Mother, Mom or Ma but I never got used to it. Even if it has been 3 years that I’ve been her daughter in law.
“Yes, that’s me.” She said walking past me and taking the sofa.
Surprised as I was. “You should have told me you were coming. I would have come to you instead.”
“In normal circumstances, that would have been the case. This is a pathetic building.” She said and I can’t help but smile. Knowing my mother-in-law, that’s mild.
“Do you want anything? Water? Juice?”
“What do you think of me? Old?” she snapped. “I’m not the begging type, Carey and I came here out of my own accord. My son is an idiot. He’s the most stupid person I know.”
I guess my silence meant that I’m listening because she continued.
“My 40 years of marriage with my husband wasn’t all fortune nor smiles. I can even say that I’ve seen him least compared to his secretary or his bodyguard. There were times when I’d see him only twice or thrice a year. It was like spending time with a stranger everytime he’s home. I remember one time I was really fed up and wanted to leave him. What difference would it make? I guess he wouldn’t even notice. Dev wouldn’t remember he was only a month old. Joseph was 10. Well, since you met me, you could say I went back. I realized that the kids need me and I used my husband’s absence to my advantage. I have more time for my kids and as you can see, I’m where I am now. My kids are like me, or like my husband, take your pick. And well, I don’t know how, the few times I’ll see my husband, he has more stories to tell me, more experiences and it will be like that again when I see him. It is not a normal married life but it’s my life. Nobody has the right to tell me it’s wrong nor does anyone has the right to tell me it’s pathetic, at least to my knowledge. I’ll have them killed if they do.”
She turned to face me, this time.
“I don’t know what you’ll take from what I tell you but it was only two months that he didn’t come home to you. I’ve been living this life for more than half of my life now and it has always worked.” She then, stood up and started for the door. She must have taken longer to climb up the 5 floor building than her stay in the house. “And this is where I take my leave.” She announced.
“Mrs. Windth…” I called out before she was out. “Thank you for sharing,” I started. “…but I’m not you.”
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“Do you have any heart left in you? He could have died!” That would have been exactly what Mrs. Windth would tell me once he see Dev in the hospital and I would have said, “I don’t know. I wouldn’t know. Dev took out my heart from me one afternoon in his office.”
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“Mr. Windth?” I said as I opened the door. Why does my In-laws’ visit often catch me by surprise? He made his way smoothly into my small bungaloo. I could tell that if not for a much important matter, he would have scrutinized everything about my house.
“Dev wouldn’t say where he found you and the cab you called can’t distinctly remember where he picked up an unconscious man, advised by someone to bring him to a hospital and call a certain number. Either he just have a poor memory or you must have paid him a lot for his silence.”
That was his way of greeting. He sat down and I gave him tea.
“Well, I knew it was the prior because we drove around each street and subdivision in the area until we located this place. As you know, took 2 months.”
I would have thought that knowing him and his connections, it would only take a day to find me. He’s either keeping this issue quiet or he’s hands on.
“How is he?” I didn’t realize the question until it was out of my lips.
“Has been in the hospital since. Doctors couldn’t help him, wouldn’t eat, sleeps most of the day, you can’t even talk to him. I didn’t come here for him. I’m not the begging type Carey, you should know.” He said casually. “I came for business.”
“Oh..” was all I could say.
“I have a building-on-progress and it turned on me. Suddenly, the money I was expecting wasn’t coming in, my investors backed out and the people I hired were rallying against me. What will you do if you were me? Will you leave the half-built building and bail out?”
The picture he’s giving me wasn’t making any sense because he wouldn’t have such a small issue as this and he wouldn’t come here and ask me about it. Nonetheless, I replied.
“Of course not. Business is business, I’ll probably try to see how it can be saved, will try to keep things going, hire new people, convert it into a smaller building, find a new contractor or something, it depends on what are the factors involved. Do you have paperwork?” I guess that’s as formal as I could be.
“That wouldn’t be necessary.” He said surprising me for he was turning to leave. Two months of searching and not more than 5 minutes in my house. How reasonable.
At my porch, before he walked towards the waiting car on my yard, he said, “Marriage is like business. You don’t just bail out specially when you’ve invested so much. You just keep on trying and convert it into something new.”
=========================================
He was half-awake when I entered his room. I could hear the beeping sound of his heart rate and could trace the pattern of his beating heart. It was healthy but he looked pale. He seemed to have seen me come in because he squinted his eyes, sat up a little as I approach him. The beeping sound was erratic. He was looking for the plug to turn it off and was hammering his fist into the machine to make it stop but it wouldn’t. Finally, he pulled out the plugs on his chest, a dead beep sound emerges and pushed the machine down from its place to destroy it. Not too long after, a nurse came in and saw us.
“Mr. Windth, are you okay?” She said as her voice trails off.
He didn’t take his eyes off of me and just replied, “Just give me 10 minutes alone, please” His voice was coarse, as if his throat was pretty dry.
“But Mr Windth…” The nurse started. He briefly broke his eye contact with me and looked at the nurse sharply.
“I don’t need you here right now, please get out.”
It seemed like eternity for neither of us spoke and he was just looking at me and I, at him. Then I smiled.
“I could have sworn the machine is broken but I’m still hearing erratic heartbeats from you.” This time I could tell he was stunned. I looked at the machine and continued, “That’s going to cost what, thousands?” I sat at the side of his bed and looked at him again. His face was like a big question mark. “You might want to rethink what you told the nurse because I’m not going anywhere.”
“You came through.” He said softly and his eyes looked pretty droggy. “Don’t leave again, please.” He told me.
“I’m not going anywhere.” I said.
I must have dozed off myself because I woke up at someone’s hand stroking my hair and I looked up.
“I thought I was dreaming.” He said. “You really are here.”
I sat up and he gave me a really tight hug and whispered, “are you really?”
“Yes.”
The door then opened and it was Mr and Mrs Windth.
“I wonder why they make the windows one-way. Have you guys been there all this time” Dev said.
“Your 10 minutes was up hours ago.” Mrs Windth said.
“I guess you guys were eavesdropping.” Dev said.
“No we weren’t, you were shouting.” Mrs Windth said defensively.
“The nurse said you’ve had more color today than the color you’ve had since you were here. Figured that’s a good sign already so we went in.” Mr Windth said.
“Okay, I was just asking Carey here what made her come.” Dev asked as he turned to me.
“Oh, that.. “ I said. “Well, someone made me think about business…” and I started the story. I knew then that everything was going to be alright for now.
Mr and Mrs Windth must have figured we need time to be alone because they turned to leave even if they just got in. Mrs Windth said though, “Dev, did I ever tell you that my and your dad’s marriage was arranged?” Mr Windth continued, “Yes, it was for business. But it turned out quite well, don’t you think?” And Mrs Windth added, “It was the reason why I have strong faith with the two of you. Yours were the only marriage that was of your own choice. Your brothers/sisters were like mine.”