What Kate Forgot
“Lit Up — May’s Prompt: Nostalgia”
Two months ago
Kate was lingering as she took a look out the spectacular picture windows in her high rise luxury apartment on Michigan Ave. The sun glistened off the metals on the sky scrapers lining the streets below. The pinging of her cell snapped her out of her reverie. As she had planned to be out the door fifteen minutes before, she hesitated prior to answering the unknown phone call. She did however pick up and greeted the unfamiliar voice on the call. Mr. Bruce Anderson, who was the current owner of her Grandparents retirement home in Northern Michigan, was contacting her about a mystery box found buried in the yard. Landscapers had recently discovered this while doing a major landscaping project. He wondered if she wanted it sent to her or would she like to come and pick it up and see the property after a twenty year absence. She told him she would get back to him after speaking with her younger sister.
Friday
Kate’s nerves were frazzled, the train would leave, whether she was on it or not. She needed to have the Fitzpatrick brief in her hand in the next ten minutes or she would not meet the deadline Mr. Chase had set, canceling a long overdue mini vacation.
“ Kelly? Step in, please,”Kate said into the intercom.
The forlorn face of her young assistant was the last thing she needed to deal with this afternoon. All day, Kelly frowned and waited for Kate to ask her what was bothering her.
“Ms. Jackson…?”Kelly attempted to question her boss but was interrupted.
“I need you to find out why the Fitzpatrick brief is not ready for me to drop off on my way to Union Station. Robertson was told specifically when I needed it and that was almost an hour ago.” Kate demanded and waved Kelly off.
Kelly knew at least part of the reason Kate was uptight about her trip: Jackie, the younger sister. It had been several years since they had been together. Not knowing all the details but enough to know, Kate needed this trip but stressed about it anyway. Well, Kelly thought, I might as well go face Mr. Robertson and get it over because today was NOT going to be the day, she could talk to Kate about what had happened with him two days ago.
An hour later
The train was packed to the brim and to her right, the woman’s loud snoring broke through the supposed noise blocking headphones. Kate tried closing her eyes, hoping sleep could give her reprieve. Not to be, she tried to walk through the schedule for the next two days. Then she remembered who would be picking her up and driving her north. Jackie and schedules were mere acquaintances. 2:00 sometimes meant 4:00, “I’ll be there in a few minutes, might end up almost an hour.”
Five hours later
Jackie, unbelievably, was already waiting outside the train station. Kate stepped down off the train, dragging her bag behind her, knowing her appearance was not up to her usual standards and needing to get to the restroom as quickly as she could to relieve herself, she nodded toward her sister and kept walking into the station. Jackie followed Kate into the station and waited outside the restroom. When the door opened, Katie no longer appeared travel bedraggled, all was back to the perfection she always showed the world.
“Jackie dear, thanks so much for being here to meet my train. What are the dinner plans? I didn’t eat on the train, “Kate asked.
“ Ken made a delicious meal which be on the table when we arrive,” Jackie replied.
“ Oh, I see. I had hoped we could head downtown and eat at one of those cute places across from the University.”
“Well, I guess Ken…”
“It’s fine It’s been a long week and I’m actually feeling quite tired. “
Saturday
Kate woke without an alarm at 4:45am as she had her entire adult life. Laying on the unfamiliar pillow, in the unfamiliar bed and bedroom, she closed her eyes and tried to envision her own lovely room, with soft satin sheets of highest thread count and dozens of intricately designed bed pillows. She lived a wonderful life, not necessarily as happy as she had hoped life would make her but she had everything she had ever wanted.
Later that day
She stepped out of the car, feeling the hot tar through the soles of her sandals. Looking first toward the garage which stood open, housing two shiny and waxed Lincoln Continentals with HIS and HERS license plates. Everything in the garage was placed in an orderly manner, not a screwdriver out of place.
Walking to the left side of the garage, she continued a few feet past, seeing the houses built, abutting the chain link fence, fifty yards behind. From there she noticed the manicured lot of freshly mowed grass, edged in slate stones. Kate stepped about six feet further, along the pebbled path to the right side of the grand front entrance. Flowering trees of many varieties peppered the yard.
She raised her head from the delicate petals, strewn in a circle around the base. Looking ahead, the path appeared to continue all the way around to the back of the house but she stopped, turning her head to the right and away from the house. It had been so long since she had been here, intellectually, she had know there would be changes but this one…
A few minutes later
When she opened her eyes, she immediately attempted to rise from the damp grass underneath her.
The man kneeling down beside her gently placed a hand on her rising shoulder, pushing her back to the ground and saying, “I think you need to wait a bit and take your time getting up. You fainted and were out several minutes. Do you remember that happening?”
Once upon a time, up north in a deep and dark forest in the woods of northern Michigan, a retirement home is built. It was located at the bottom of a glen of wildflowers angled toward a hill of hand planted pines. In order to reach this property by vehicle, a turn is made onto the crushed stones of the gravel road. The road is enveloped by the enormous green leaved trees that provide an awning over the road. There is mixture of road dust and flower pollen.
The sound of tires crushing the gravel are joined by bird calls and animals scurrying out of the way. The hues of reddish orange Indian paintbrush flowers are commingled with lavender flowered clover and as the baby’s breath compliments a floral arranged bouquet, the outstretched Queen Anne’s Lace adds to the beauty of the wildflowers. In the space between the double wide garage that has been tucked in among the trees and the house, a stone walkway has been laid.
The modest home, built by friends and family, featured a barn red wooden wrap around porch. The sweet fern aroma is a smell that gives off such a calming effect and to pull the timothy grass stalk and suck on the heart;both provide a lasting effect. After inhaling deeply, she takes in other smells, the wood burning stone fireplace and the faint smell of her favorite food coming from inside the open sliding door and looked out on the glade full of wild flowers and baby pine trees with a slightly crooked worn path in the grassy field.
About halfway up the path, just off to the right side, was the salt block where a nervous doe had come with her two fawns, to lick a little and then trot off through the glade to the adjacent farm and into the deeper part of the woods.
“Yes, I know exactly what has happened here,” Kate replied, closing her eyes again.
