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| SOMEONE SOMEWHERE SOON WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU by Enola PART 13 Things between you and Chris are getting better and better day after day. Obviously, at the beginning you took a very cautious approach to know her little by little. She liked to spend a bit of her spare time, which it was not much, at ‘The House’ and you had to admit that you enjoyed her company. She always is very nice to you and she can’t help praising you when she eats there. She’s asked you to teach her cooking something, just simple dishes since she’s tired of frozen food and sandwiches and she’d want to eat more healthily. You don’t mind that at all; on the contrary, you have a lot of fun because she’s very willing to learn, but you have to admit that she hasn’t reached great results yet. The children too seem to like her more and more even though they still are a bit mistrustful. But she’s very patient and sweet and you realise that she is quite similar to you. Now that you’ve known her for almost 3 months it’s as if you knew her for ages. You do a lot of things together, the things you used to do with Shane before you do them with both or just with her now. At the end of July, when finally the kids don’t have to go to school, you organize some parties in the playground and you enjoy yourselves playing games and dancing. You are planning a big party for your forthcoming birthday as well within a week. Everyone, especially the children, is looking forward to it. But you aren’t at all. You don’t know how to explain that, but your birthday makes you feel a bit depressed. In fact, the morning of your birthday you wake up slightly sad. The first thing you do when you get up is going by the mirror. After having looked at yourself for a while you sing, “Happy birthday to me…Happy birthday to me…Happy fucking 26th birthday to meeee!” then you look at yourself again and shaking your head you say, “How pathetic me!” A while later, children’s voice out of your bedroom catch your attention. They are shushing each other because they don’t want you to perceive their presence without realising that in this way they are noisier. After a knock at the door you open it and you see all of them with their pyjamas still on, the tallest behind the shortest. As soon as they see you they start singing, “Happy birthday to you…Happy birthday to you…Happy birthday to Monica…Happy birthday to you!!” How sweet! Having finished their song they come closer trying to hold you all together still screaming happy birthday!!! Entering the kitchen you find Olivia, George and Shane who are preparing breakfast and before they can say anything you beg them not to sing 'happy birthday' again! They laugh and promise not to sing. They simply hold you wishing you happy birthday one after the other. You all have breakfast and afterwards you start preparing something for your party. In the meanwhile, you get some calls from your parents, your brother, friends etc.. Chris is at work and she joins you just in the early afternoon, so when she arrives the party can finally start. While everyone is outside and you have entered the kitchen because you have forgotten to take a knife to cut your birthday cake the bell rings. Who the hell is it now! You haven’t invited anyone…When you open the door you find an errand-boy, “Hello! Monica Pisano?” he asks, “Yes, it’s me!” you reply, “This is for you” he says handing you a big picnic basket, “please, could you sign this?” he adds handing you a clipboard and a pen, so you lean the basket on the floor and sign. Then you give it back to the boy together with a tip, so he leaves. You take the picnic basket again wondering what there’s in convinced that’s Shane’s gift. You realise it’s a bit heavy, but you don’t have any ideas. You go to the lounge and place it on the teatable in front of the sofa in which you sit down. Outside the basket there’s nothing apart from a big yellow ribbon. No birthday card. Before opening it you try to imagine what a picnic basket can contain…and the only answer you manage to give yourself is food obviously! Or better, you are sure the basket is full of chocolates!! Shane does know you are mad about chocolate!! So, with a grin in your face you finally open it and…no chocolates! “What’s it?” you say perplexed, “A soft toy? How can a soft toy be so heavy?” As you touch it it moves!! “Bloody hell! It’s a true dog!” you say disbelieving. It’s a black puppy more precisely, you grasp it as you want to see it better and…God! You don’t believe your eyes! You have no doubt: it’s a LABRADOR! It has a YELLOW leather dog collar with a medal shaped like a STAR…the name engraved on it is STELLA!! You know that there’s just ONE person who could have given you such a present…and this person is not Shane! You stare at her several moments still disbelieving. She suddenly yawns showing her small pink tongue, then she whines and trembles. Instinctively, you pull her towards your chest and stroke her gently shushing her. She stops whining just when her tongue finds your hand. She licks on it gently and slowly till she falls asleep some minutes later. Afterwards you notice there are two envelopes inside the basket. You stare at them for a while, then you take the biggest and in the back you read 'Please read' then you take the smallest where you read simply 'To Monica'. You manage to open it with one hand, but you don’t read the card at once. You are not sure if you want to. You know WHO he is after all. You don’t need to read it, but you don’t why you do it: As promised at Christmas. Happy Birthday! James x You let the card fall onto the floor and stroke Stella again. You can’t help thinking about the things you told James at Christmas when he said he was stroking his dog Jesse. You told him you also wanted a dog and he said 'Now I know what I have to give you for your birthday!!' Suddenly you hear Shane calling you, but you don’t reply. “Oh! Here you a…” he says entering the lounge, “Jesus! A dog!” he exclaims coming towards you, “It’s lovely!” he smiles stroking Stella, so you let him hold her in his arms and you get up and go by the window without speaking a word. “Are you OK?” asks Shane concerned, “No. I’m not at all!” you breathe shaking your head. Shane comes close to you, but he doesn’t say anything. “You knew everything, didn’t you?” you ask without looking at him, “No, I didn’t. I only knew about the letter. Nothing about…Stella” “Why is he doing this to me?” “What do you mean?” “He does know I love dogs” you say looking at him, so you grasp Stella and hold her, “Look at her Shane…she’s just a puppy… just a frightened defenceless puppy…she needs affection…how could I get rid of her?” “You must read his let…” “No…no” you cut him off shaking your head, “I can’t! Throw it away!” “But Mo…” “PLEASE! Throw it away! I don’t want to read it!” You leave the lounge quickly and join the others in the playground. As soon the kids see Stella they start screaming like mad. Also Olivia and George are very happy when they see her. They don’t mind at all her presence. They’ve told you they love dogs, they’ve had a dog, Barney, for almost 12 years and when he died a couples of years ago they and the kids suffered a lot because they were very fond of him. But as a lot of time has passed they do think it’s time to have another dog. About a week later while you’re tiding your desk you find James’s letter in one of your drawers. You immediately run downstairs to look for Shane. He’s in the kitchen where he’s tiding shopping. “What the hell is this?” you snarl throwing the letter on the table, “James’s letter!” he replies quietly, “Exactly! That’s the letter I asked you to throw away…can you tell me why I’ve found it in my room?” “Stop it!” he say slightly annoyed, “I’m getting tired…why don’t you read it once and for all? You do want to read it, don’t deny that!” “Don’t be silly! I don’t want…” “Yeah! You do want to read it otherwise YOU would throw it away. The truth is that you don’t have the guts to do it!” “So you think this! Look at me carefully” you say throwing James letter into the rubbish bin, “hope you are satisfied now!” Afterwards you leave the room. Some hours later while you are cooking dinner you open the rubbish bin to throw the potatoes skins you have just peeled. You notice that the bin is empty. You ask Olivia where is the rubbish bag that was there before and she replies George threw it into one of the big bins outside. “Why are you asking?” she inquires, “Nothing. Forget it!” During the meal you don’t speak a word. Having put all the kids to bed you go to your bedroom. You turn the light off, open the window and lie on your bed. You look outside for a while then you get up and go close to the window. The sky is clear. You haven’t seen such a beautiful sky for ages. Stars are always there shining for you. You see a shooting star. It is said that you have to make a wish when you see one. This is the first time you see one, who knows if your wish will ever come true. You close your eyes and make it all the same. Then you close the window and go back to bed. But you notice something strange on the floor near the door. You go closer and you recognise James’s letter. You know that outside your room there’s Shane. You pick it up and whisper “Thank you Shane!” No, that wasn’t your wish… PART 14 >>> <<< Enola's stories |