By: J.K. Hannaby
Louise Martin rolled over and opened her eyes. The morning sun was already above the old shed at the edge of the back yard, so without looking at her bedside clock she knew it had to be at least 8:00 a.m. Louise lay on her back stretched, feeling each muscle, hearing her joints crack. She was loathe to get up, but she had promised her friend Lina Brower that they’d have a ramble and picnic along the shore of Barber’s Bay before Lina went to Toronto to enter Princess Margaret Hospital for, they both knew, the last time.
Louise got up, pulled on her housecoat and shoved her feet into slippers and went to the bathroom, used the toilet, brushed her teeth and splashed some cold water on her face to wake herself up a little more. She went to the kitchen and poured a mug of water into her “Hot Shot”, put the mug under the spout and threw in a teabag. As she stood waiting for the noisy little machine to fill her mug with steaming hot water she thought about what she was going to make for lunch.
The telephone rang. Its loud jangling ring made Louise jump. “Shit!” she said out loud.
“Hello?”
“Hi Louise. I just wanted to make sure you’re up,” said Lina, her voice bright and chipper.
Louise groaned. “Yeah, I’m up. I was just making my cuppa. I suppose you’ve been up for hours.”
Lina laughed. “I rose with the birds as usual. What time will you be here to pick me up?”
Louise peered at the kitchen clock – it was 8:45 a.m. “I guess I can be there about ten. That’ll give us time to drive over to Barber’s Bay and have a nice long walk before we eat lunch.”
“Okay, ten,” Lina said. “Bye till then.”
After Lina hung up Louise stood with the phone receiver in her hand staring into space as her mind wandered back to the day when she’d first seen Lina. It was the summer of 1969 and the world was her oyster. It was just after Woodstock and she and three of her friends had been sitting on the tailgate of Jack’s pick-up outside the Dairy Queen talking about how amazing it must have been to be there.
An Austin Mini pulled into the parking lot and out stepped a slim dark haired girl who smiled brightly at Louise and her friends and came over to them. “Hi! I’m Lina Brower. My Mom, little brother and I just moved here from Barrie and Mom wants me to find someone who can solder a leaking pipe under the bathroom sink.”
Louise jumped as the phone receiver in her hand started beeping loudly. She quickly put it down on the cradle. She looked at her “cuppa” as it sat on the kitchen counter. Suddenly she no longer wanted it and she threw it down the sink, leaving the teabag in the strainer. She went to the fridge and started taking out things to make a lunch with.
Louise drove over to Lina’s place. Lina was sitting on the porch; she waved and got up. She picked up a paper bag that was at her feet and came to get into the car.
“I have our lunch, you know,” said Louise.
“I know, but this isn’t lunch.” Lina put the bag into the back seat, settled into the passenger seat next to Louise and shut the door.
When they got to Barber’s Bay, Louise parked the car and they got out. She picked up the bag with their lunch and Lina picked up her mystery bag. The wind had risen considerably and Lina shivered. She pulled her cardigan around her and buttoned it. Louise felt quite warm despite the wind, so she took off her jacket and gave it to Lina who shook her head at first, but took the jacket and put it on.
The two old friends walked down to the shoreline and stared at the blue water, the waves sparkled like stars in the sunlight.
“Lovely, isn’t it?” said Lina.
Louise said nothing. She watched her friend as she picked her way carefully, avoiding slippery rocks. Despite her sunny disposition, Lina was noticeably frail and her skin had taken on a greyish tinge that was still discernible under the carefully applied make-up.
Lina suddenly turned and caught Louise staring. “Stop that,” she said emphatically. “Don’t pity me. Oh, don’t try to deny it. I know you are. I’ve accepted my fate and I expect you to do the same. Now, let’s go find a place to sit down and have our lunch.”
Louise shook her head slowly. How could she not pity her old friend? Ever since that first day at the Dairy Queen, she and Lina had just “clicked”.
Louise jumped off the back of the truck and went up to Lina. “Hi. I’m Louise Martin and the three stooges here are Jack, Tom and Donny.” She took Lina by the arm and pulled her toward the Mini. “C’mon. My Dad will do your soldering for you. I’ll show you where to go.” Without waiting for a reply Louise had jumped into the Mini and off they went.
That summer had been Louise’s last free one. She had graduated from North Bay Teacher’s College in May and was to start teaching at one of the local public schools in September. Next summer she’d start working on her B.A. at Laurentian University in Sudbury, so she was just enjoying being a “kid” for as long as it lasted. Lina had told Louise that she and her Mom and little brother had moved to Timmins to be near her Mom’s family. Lina was starting work in the office at Dome Mine in three weeks. That last three weeks of freedom had kicked off a life-long friendship.
“I asked you if this was a good enough place for us to sit and eat,” Lina’s annoyed voice cut into Louise’s reverie.
Louise looked around. Lina was sitting on a flat rock behind a huge boulder that sheltered her from the wind. The sun shone down on the place making it very cozy. “Sure looks like it,” Louise said and went to sit beside Lina.
The friends chatted as they ate their ham sandwiches and Oreo cookies. Louise gathered up all of the wrappings, put them in the bag and sat on it to prevent it from blowing away in a stray breeze. Lina reached into her cardigan pocket and took out a packet of cigarettes and offered one to Louise who shook her head.
“I can’t believe you’re still smoking,” Louise said. “How can you?”
Lina shrugged. “Not much chance of me getting lung cancer now, is there. I already have terminal pancreatic cancer. So I figure I may as well have my nasty little pleasures while I can.” She lit up and blew a smoke ring into the air. She laughed.
Louise sighed. “Okay – what’s in your bag?”
Lina looked at the burning end of her cigarette for a long moment, she took a drag and blew the smoke out; she looked up at Louise. “Remember when I first met you in 1969? I told you I was with my Mom and little brother. That was just a story to misdirect people from the truth. The lady I called “Mom” was really my friend Mary who was older than me and my ‘little brother’ Darrin was really my son. My parents threw me out when I got pregnant. I went to stay with Mary until I gave birth. In the meantime Mary inherited a house here from an aunt and decided to come and live in it. She asked me to come with her. I agreed and after Darrin was born, we came here. It was the perfect place for a new start in life.”
Lina opened the bag and took out a photo album and handed it to Louise. There were pictures of Lina holding a tiny newborn baby in her arms, pictures of the baby’s first birthday and many others, as the child grew older and finally a picture of a young man in a graduation cap and gown.
Louise looked up at Lina. “Then it was your son who died in that car accident six years ago, not your brother.”
Lina took the album and placed in into the bag and folded the top down before she answered. She took a deep breath. “Yes. I was angry with him for a long time for taking away the love of my life.” She looked up, her face was calm; there were no tears. “But he is the reason I can accept my fate so well. All I can think of is that I’ll be seeing my Darrin again.”
Louise slid closer to Lina and put her arms around her friend and held her. She had millions of words swirling in her brain, but none seemed right, so she said nothing. Then, after picking up their belongings, the two friends made their way back to the car.
