Section+6

The car horn awoke Adele from a dream she had been having about Rene. In her dream, Rene was teaching her how to play the violin. In reality, Adele wasn’t certain that Rene even knew how to play the violin, or any musical instrument for that matter, but it didn’t really matter. All that mattered was Rene’s long fingers gently pressing on the strings as he smiled at her through the melody of “Moonlight Bay”. Rene hit a wrong note and the instrument made a sound like a fog horn, and Adele woke up, alone in her bed. Quickly grabbing her yellow cotton robe, Adele tiptoed down the hall to the top of the stairs, crouching down to peer at the front door through the rungs in the banister. She was not supposed to be out of bed this late, especially after her escapades earlier in the night. But more importantly, she did not want her mother’s first impression of her grown-up daughter to be a sloppy, barefooted girl wear a wrinkled old nightgown. She heard voices coming from outside, as well as the pelting of rainwater on the front porch. The great wooden door swung open to reveal Harrison, soaking wet, carrying an unconscious Rachel in his arms. Behind them, a taxi driver carried Rachel’s lone suitcase, which was also dripping. This was not quite how Adele had imagined her mother’s homecoming. From down the hall she heard Gretchen beginning to stir, and she flitted back into her own room. She wasn’t able to sleep for the rest of the night. The following morning, Adele dressed in her Sunday best. She pictured herself walking in on her father laughing at one of her mother’s jokes while Gretchen served them both blueberry pancakes at the breakfast table. Instead, what she found was her father addressing Gretchen in a hushed, strained tone while nervously stirring sugar into his mug of black coffee. “Where is she?” Adele asked. She wasn’t going to pretend that she hadn’t heard her mother’s arrival the night before. Both Gretchen and her father turned towards the young girl with the same expression one would use to address a student who has just failed his final exam. It won’t be pleasant to break them the news, but it must be done. “Sweetheart, your mother is…” His voice trailed off as he looked from Adele to Gretchen and then back again, “She is very ill. She has been for some time. I mean, she should have seen a physician long ago.” His words hit Adele like freezing cold razors, numbing her, “She’s resting now, Addie, in the guest bedroom. You can go and see her if you like, but make sure you let her get her rest.” Adele approached the guest bedroom door with an optimistic mantra repeating in her head. Her father was being pessimistic. Gretchen was being overly dramatic. Her mother was just tired from her travels. She was re-adjusting to the humid Georgian weather. The door creaked open like the door of a casket. The first thing Adele noticed was Rachel’s hair, which was so lustrous and curly in all her father’s old photo albums. It now sat limp and greasy with a fevered sweat around Rachel’s pallid face. Adele sucked in a gasp of air upon seeing her mother’s drained visage. Her cheeks were sunken and yellowed. Dark circles hung beneath her closed eyes. The prescription pad and orange medical bottles sat on the nightstand, her mother’s only companions. Her eyes scanned the labels quickly. Viral infection of the uterine wall, high fever, viral infection of the pelvic muscles and bladder, toxicity found in the blood stream, painkillers. Adele eyes glossed over with tears before she could finish reading. Rachel’s suitcase was a biography of the past several years in her life. No money, car keys, house keys, or photo albums. Her clothing was stained and torn. Absent were the exotic trinkets of Adele’s childhood memories. Similarly missing were any symbols of femininity or hygiene; lipstick, hairbrush, toothbrush, soap. Adele found a roll of condoms and what looked like a feminine cleansing product in the bottom of the suitcase, right next to a little black book of names and phone numbers, none of which Adele recognized, all of whom were men. She left the room without bothering to wake her. Adele sat staring out her bedroom window, trying to cry. When nothing came, she assumed she was in some sort of shock, and resigned herself to helping Gretchen in the kitchen while her father discussed Rachel’s condition with the doctor. At three p.m., Rene called Adele’s house to see if she would like to see a movie that night. He had not yet heard of Rachel’s return. Adele accepted with lackluster enthusiasm, and spent the next several hours alternately bathing, weeping, and dressing herself for the theater. By the time Rene was ready to escort her, Adele was so exhausted she thought she might fall asleep in the theater. While the couple strolled down the dirt path leading into town, Rene sensed that something was wrong. He had barely asked her if she was feeling well before she was crying on his shoulder and he was offering her his handkerchief. She told him everything before they even reached the cinema. The movie was a romantic comedy about a sailor whose ships gets lost at sea and lands on a tropical island, where he falls in love with a native girl. It ended with their wedding, after which the girl and her sailor leave for American on a make-shift raft. The ending was meant to be a happy one, but for some reason, Adele felt a great sympathy for the girl. She had no idea where she was going, or how she would ever return to her family and her home. What if things didn’t turn out so great with the sailor? What if he was an alcoholic who beat her or cheat on her? What is she missed her father? It was all Adele could do not to cry again. But then Rene leaned in and gently whispered a joke into Adele’s ear before gently pecking her cheek, which made her smile again. When they left the theater, it was lightly drizzling. They stood under the marquee to keep dry, and the red lettering makes Rene’s orange hair glow brighter than ever. He knelt down on one knee right then and there. Maybe it was because she was feeling depressed and insecure because of her mother. Maybe it was because she wanted validation that she was attractive after being rejected by Marco the night before. Maybe it was because Rene had been looking at her with the same unconditionally loving eyes since they were children. For whatever the reason, she said yes and was kissing him within a moment. They decided to see another film, just for the heck of it. This time, it was a tragedy about a widow living alone with her cats, but Adele didn’t cry. She found it difficult to do anything but beam as she glanced back and forth between Rene’s proud grin and her glistening ring finger. Hand-in-hand, they walked to a local diner to get some ice cream before he dropped her off back at her front porch. Adele barely had time to reach the stairs when she heard the shouting from the parlor just as the clock was striking midnight. Harrison was yelling at Gretchen for being so careless and inattentive with Rachel’s care. He heard Adele come in and stopped almost immediately, not wanting to frighten his only child. He insisted that she come to his study and sit on his lap, just as she did when she was a child. With a calm and heavy voice, Harrison began to tell Adele how her mother came to pass away. It was ten-thirty p.m. when Harrison returned home from playing poker with his friends. Gretchen had put Rachel to bed by nine and was sound asleep herself by nine-thirty. He was walking down the hallway, getting ready to change into his bedclothes when he noticed Adele’s bedroom door was open, very uncommon, as Adele was a girl who appreciated her privacy. Upon pushing the door open, he saw that her jewelry boxes had been ransacked, all four of them. Before even entering the room he turned on his heel and ran into the guest bedroom, which was of course empty. Rachel’s suitcase was missing, but her medication was still sitting on the nightstand. No note accompanied her departure. Harrison telephoned the police department immediately, and then awoke Gretchen. The search party was at work for only forty minutes when they found Rachel’s body lying in the street of a neighboring town. Witnesses had seen her stepping out of a taxi and walking into a bar before emerging five minutes later and running out into traffic. She must have been delirious with the fever. Sure enough, her suitcase was filled with Adele’s finest jewelry, as well as money from Adele’s wallet, which had been lying out on her dresser. She had died instantly, the medical examiner said, with very little pain. Harrison took so much care to comfort the little girl crying on his lap that he barely noticed to diamond ring on her finger.