Thursday, July 20, 2006
♥ Thursday, July 20, 2006
All it Takes (:
It was the last day of band camp, and the farewell party had just ended. Strains of Mariah Carey still floated around the dancing hall. The past two weeks were a smash, what with me trying to wake my best friend, Ellyn up in the morning–she’s not really a great fan of early-wakers–and crossing a river with water that looked like milo, only it was far grosser than milo.
And it was when Ellyn and I were hanging around with the usual bunch of guitarists who we spent mornings practicing with, as well as last night’s concert–Catherine, Allyson and Queenie-when our camp counselor Mrs Kesley came over and whisked me into her office.
“ Your elder sister is on the line, ” she said, rather annoyed, with her old German accent. I heard she was from there anyway, but it was true she had an accent.
I was rather excited for a minute. But I didn’t get why Sarah, you know, of all people, on account that she’s 23, decided to play such a prank on me. Mrs Kesley was known to stare at campers who have phone calls to the office, probably so that we’ll actually feel guilty and put down the phone quick and not waste her money to buy more of those Barbie dolls I happened to chance upon in her room.
But whatever. I wasn’t going to feel guilty.
But then again, apparently, Mrs Kesley DOES stare at campers when they’re talking on the phone, even if your sister is already a 23 year old legally mature adult.
“ Hello? ” I called.
“ Rachel? ” she said after a long pause. I couldn’t be sure if she had been crying, but it sounded so, I swear. So that’s when I started to ignore Mrs Kesley’s stare.
“ Yeah. What’s wrong? ”
Another pause. A sniff. Something was definitely wrong.
“ Can you come home? Right now? ”
“ Of course, Sarah. Today’s the last day of camp, remember? What happened? ” I assured her.
A long pause, longer than any of the two. She started crying.
“ Tom, ” she managed to mutter. “ He’s…gone, Rachel. He’s gone, ”
I was about to ask her where, when it finally dawned on me. I can’t believe I was so stupid to even want to ask that question. As reality sank in I stood there, with the receiver in my hands, a gazillion thoughts rushing into my head. Thomas – her husband; my brother-in-law, the only man in the house – was dead.
“ Oh my God. It can’t be, Sarah. It can’t be, ” I said.
The crying continued. Mrs Kesley got tired of waiting, but I didn’t care. She didn’t know what was happening. How could she have stood there looking at her watch when my sister’s closest person was dead? It was not true. He couldn’t have died. NO way. It’s impossible.
“ Where’s Caitlyn? Stay with her, ok? Don’t do something you and I don’t like. I’m coming home. Right now, ” I said firmly. Although Caitlyn was only 13, she was still the least immature sister you could get.
“ Okay, ” she was still crying. “ I’ll be waiting for you, ”
I’ll be waiting for you.
I ran out of the office and looked for Ellyn. She was a few months older than me, and made sense why she had a driving license and I didn’t.
“ Why do you look like you’ve just seen a ghost? ” she turned to me.
“ Can I hitch a ride? Sarah won’t be picking me up today, ”
“ What’s wrong? ”
“ Tom’s dead, ” I paused before saying. It was hard for me, too. I couldn’t imagine how Sarah was taking it. Ellyn was as shocked as I was.
“ What are you waiting for? Get your bags and dump them in my trunk, ” she said.
We started on the way home. We used to live a few houses away, so it was really convenient. Sarah, Caitlyn and I used to go over to Ellyn’s on Saturdays before Sarah and Thomas got married and bought the house right across Ellyn’s. After that, Ellyn, Caitlyn and I spent much more time together.
On the way back I thought about a lot of things. My first heartbreak - by a guy named Todd, don't ask about him anymore, he’s a total jerk – my first mistake, my firsts. Sarah was always there along the way, since our parents died a few years ago. Sarah quit school to find a job although our parents left us some money and the house. She wanted to take care of us. She was our sister, and our mother. Sarah helped me through my most difficult times, and I knew this was a chance to make it up to her.
I planned what I would do or say, with Ellyn driving at the wheel. We arrived at my door at 5 sharp but she couldn’t park the car in the garage as Bridgette’s was already there. Bridgette came every weekend to our house, and she was Sarah’s best friend from high school. Ellyn dropped me off and went over to her garage to park the car, while I burst into the house.
There Sarah was at the kitchen, washing dishes. She always did that whenever she was unhappy, saying that it could help her take her mind off things. Caitlyn was nowhere to be found, though. Sarah saw me, and I went over to give her a hug. Although we had an age gap of 7 years, we were still the closest sisters, not forgetting Caitlyn, and to her, there was no difference between an adult and a teenager. She treated everyone the same.
She grabbed me so tight, I thought I would suffocate. She had her ponytail pulled back, and now she started to cry again. I didn’t blame her, I mean, her husband just died like that.
“Hush now, Sarah,” I assured her again. “Everything will be fine, ok? I promise. I’ll be here with you.”
And you know something? All the words I planned on saying in the car – all of them seemed to have found a hole in my brain and slid away. But I didn’t care. I would learn how to, but Sarah needed me most, not my words. Not my sooth. Sarah needed me, Rachel Lachey.
Sarah Lachey needed me.
It sounded like a weird taste in my mouth at first, but when I was hugging her in the living room, I couldn’t have felt much better about anything I had to say. This was it.
