SYDNEY, In the backseat of a chauffeured car, Loretta looked out the window, while Mia chatted away with her grandmother who sat in the front seat with the driver.
Despite the mild winter chill, Mia wore her favorite yellow sandals with sparkles. She had insisted, and Loretta had decided not to fight her on it.
They planned on spending most of the day indoors, anyway.
Loretta had taken the day off from helping her husband at the restaurant; and with her mother-in-law, she was taking Mia to Darling Harbour.
In the past, Loretta had always taken the train to Wynyard station; then gone from there. Now they had money, though, so William offered to hire a driver. Loretta was fine with this, though, she felt a bit guilty about not doing what was more environmentally responsible.
She did plan on giving her daughter a small taste of public transportation, not that it helped with the environment, necessarily, but children tended to like those things. They would be dropped off at Circular Quay; then they would take the ferry from there.
This way they could see the Opera House.
"Did you hear," Brenda said, "that Darling Harbour has a place where you can pay to talk to deceased strangers."
The driver inserted himself into the conversation by shaking his head and sighing.
"Can we do that?" Mia asked.
"I don't think so, Mia." Loretta said. "It's not included on our pass."
They'd purchased the Merlin Pass which, for a single price, got them into the aquarium, Wildlife Sydney, and the wax museum. "Besides, you have Zachary and Hayden. You know, some people have no spirits to talk to."
"That's like Ursula in my class. She got sad, because we all have spirits, and she doesn't."
"Exactly," Loretta said. "So she could go to this place in Darling Harbour".
I should tell her about it," Mia said.
"That would be nice of you," Loretta replied.
"I wonder how much it costs," Brenda said.
"I bet it's not cheap," the driver said.
Loretta was tempted to say, Neither was hiring you as a driver. Instead, she gave a little laugh.
"What's so funny?" Mia asked.
"Just thinking about something."
"Thinking about what?"
Loretta tried to change the subject. "I think the last time you were in Sydney you were five. Or were you four?"
"Five," Mia said. "It was just before we went to America to see Grandma dying."
"You're quite talkative," the driver commented. He didn’t say it in an insulting way, which was good, because otherwise Loretta would be tempted to hit him. She didn’t like having violent thoughts.
"It's been about that long since I've been here as well," Brenda said
"No," Mia said. "Remember you and Grandpa went to that concert at the opera house last winter."
"Oh! I forgot about that."
"You might have Alzheimer's," Mia said. "It makes you forget things. Marsha's grandma has it."
The adults, in the car, all cracked up a bit.
"You might end up forgetting about me, so it's not that funny,"
"You're right," Loretta said. "It's not a funny disease. It's really sad. But Mia, I think Grandma’s okay."
"For now," Brenda added.
"Everyone forgets things sometimes," the driver said. "Don't you?"
"Yes," Mia said. "But I'm very young. People my age don't get Alzheimer's, so I'm not worried about it."
Mia continued to talk about various things. Loretta half listened as she looked out the window. She chided herself for not coming into the city more.
When she first moved here to be with William, they had visited Sydney almost every weekend. After a while, the visits turned monthly. The time between visits kept stretching, and by the time Mia was in their lives, they were going less than yearly.
Life was short. You had to make the best of it.
It took almost a minute for Loretta to realize that this philosophy didn’t quite apply anymore. She grinned. So yeah. Who needed to worry anymore? If worse came to worse (which wouldn’t be all that bad) she'd be an EB, for a while, and roam Sydney. She could go to the attractions for free.
Spirits didn’t need a Merlin pass.
***
After the driver dropped them off, they trotted up the steps of the Opera House. They had a few minutes before they needed to go to the wharf to catch the 10:55 ferry.
Loretta had wanted to go earlier, but Mia was a late sleeper.
"Did you know that the person who designed the Opera House wasn't Australian?" Mia asked Loretta.
"Yeah, I think I heard that," Loretta replied. Sometimes she didn’t know if she should play dumb with her daughter, so Mia could feel smart; or if doing that too much would turn Mia into a know-it-all.
"He never got to see it," Brenda added to the conversation.
"I know," Mia said with dramatic flair. "Isn't it tragic?"
They reached the top of the steps.
Mia did a twirl; then said.. "Let's take a photo!"
"Good idea," Brenda said.
Loretta looked around. A lot of other people were snapping pictures. Several of them held their tablets and iPhones up with their spirit-friends smiling from the screen. This way the spirits could be in the photo as well.
Brenda took out her mobile, and Loretta took out her camera. They took turns photographing each other with Mia.
"Now I'll take a picture of you two!" Mia said.
Loretta and her mother-in-law put their arms around each other.
Mia took a picture with her mother's camera; then with her grandmother's iPhone.
"We better get going," Loretta said. "We don't want to miss the ferry."
***
On the way to the wharf, they passed a chocolate cafe.
Loretta loved a cup of healthy herbal tea, but sometimes it was nice to splurge and have a hot chocolate or Cappuccino.
Maybe it wouldn't hurt if they went on a later ferry.
Loretta slowed down, trying to decide if they should continue rushing to the ferry or stop at the cafe.
She decided to leave it up to Mia. If Mia suggested they stop, Loretta wouldn't say no. If Mia didn’t ask, Loretta would take it to mean it wasn’t meant to be.
To her disappointment, Mia said nothing except: "Mummy, hurry, we're going to be late!"
Loretta picked up the pace.
Mia ran ahead.
"Don't go too far ahead," Loretta called out.
***
They arrived at Circular Quay and searched for the correct ferry.
It was crowded; no place to sit.
Mia didn’t seem to mind. She danced as they waited for the ferry to arrive.
Finally it did, and they boarded. They found seats inside and gave Mia the window seat.
As they passed the giant clown mouth of Luna Park, Mia announced."That's going to be my place when I die. I'm going to hang out there."
"Really," Brenda said."Did you just decide that?"
"No, I've had it planned for months." Mia said.
Loretta wondered if Mia was being truthful. "You know we can also go there when you're alive someday."
"Really?" Mia said. "Today?"
"Probably not," Loretta said. Yes, they had more money now, but there was no need to throw a huge amount away in a single day.
When they stopped at Balmain and McMahons point, Loretta looked at the lovely homes. She wondered what it would be like to live right there on the harbour. Probably wonderful. Maybe their restaurant would keep going well, and someday—
She had to admit she didn’t hate the idea. Although, then, they’d probably need to move the restaurant. Otherwise, it would be too much of a commute for William.
Loretta watched Mia looking out the window. "Do you like it here?"
"Yes," Mia said. "It's heavenly."
***
When they got off the ferry at Darling Harbour, they headed to the aquarium first.
Loretta was a bit hungry, probably from seeing the chocolate and then having to forgo it. She figured she could wait a short while and see the fish and sharks first.
Two hours later, they were still in the aquarium.
Loretta was starving and exhausted...also, embarrassed, because Brenda, who was in her seventies, had more stamina.
Mia hadn’t slowed down a bit. Her legs were full of energy; so was her mouth.
Their favorite exhibits were the leafy sea dragons and sharks; though by the time they got to the place with the sharks, Loretta longed for her bed. Helping her husband at the restaurant was less tiring than this. She couldn’t believe that they also had Wildlife Sydney and the wax museum on the agenda.
***
Before they went into the indoor wildlife park, Loretta insisted on getting something to eat. Neither Brenda nor Mia argued against this plan. They looked around for a place to eat, and Loretta was very pleased to see another chocolate cafe.
This time, Loretta didn’t leave it up to fate and her daughter to suggest eating there. She said she'd like to eat there and then hoped Brenda and her daughter didn’t have healthier plans.
"Yes!" Mia said, jumping up and down."Chocolate for lunch! Chocolate for lunch. I have the best Mummy in the world!"
Brenda and Loretta looked at each other and laughed.
In the cafe, they shared a waffle sundae and each got a Macaron—salted caramel for Loretta, chocolate banana for Mia, and pistachio for Brenda.
The food was overpriced, and they ate way too much sugar in one sitting, but Loretta refused to regret it. She'd dance a little harder next week.
***
On the walk back to Wildlife Sydney, they passed the attraction Brenda had spoken about in the car. Loretta saw that it was called Ouija Board.
A long line of people waited outside; most of them teenagers; but a few adults were there as well.
Haunting new age music played in the area.
Brenda stopped to read an informational sign near the queue. Loretta reads over her shoulder.
Ouija Board was started for those of us who long to join in the fantastic new development of spiritual connections but don't yet have adequate opportunities.
For a minimal fee, we will connect you to EB's and OS's who will be strangers at first but very likely will become your friends.
Loretta looked at the prices. $35 for a twenty minute chat and a hundred dollars for an hour.
Ludicrous!
Talk about taking advantage.
She was glad that they hadn’t exploited their restaurant patrons.
Yes, they were making more money now but only because the twins had made their restaurant more popular. They hadn’t raised menu prices, and they didn’t charge any admission fees.
They did sell merchandise. Was that exploitative?
A lot of restaurants sold merchandise. Loretta doubted it was a bad thing.
But it was bad to exploit people's need to meet friends–whether dead or alive. She wondered where all these teenagers were getting the money for this.
"Mummy, can we go?" Mia said, looking bored. "My feet are getting cold."
Loretta bit the urge to comment on Mia's choice to wear sandals. "We'll go when Grandma is ready," she said.
"I'm ready." Brenda said.
They continued their journey to Wildlife Sydney.
***
By the time they get to the Southern Cassowary, Loretta crashed from her chocolate high. Mia slowed down a bit as well. While at the aquarium, she had stopped to study and lecture about each animal; here she rushed through everything.
They got through the whole building in less than twenty minutes. It was a shame, because there was a lot to see. The good thing was, the pass gave them unlimited admission for the year, so they could come back and savor it a bit. With that in mind, Loretta wondered if they should simply skip the wax museum and do it another day.
But then she wonders, what if they didn’t come back in a year? It wasn’t like they had an impressive track record when it came to visiting the city. She decided to leave it up to her daughter and mother-in-law.
She asked.
They left it up to her.
Should they go or not go?
It took them about five minutes to decide what to do.
They decided to go, which was a mistake. The attraction was packed. It just so happened that they ended up visiting at 3:00 which was when the museum held their Chat with the Wax!
You didn’t literally chat with the wax figure. You chatted to the spirit depicted by the wax figure. And you didn’t really chat; it wasn’t a personal conversation. A crowd gathered by a large computer screen as the spirit talked about his or her life.
Today they featured Victor Chang, a heroic heart surgeon who had been tragically murdered.
Loretta saw it all from afar. It was too crowded to hear or see much. Plus, now Mia had begun to get cranky.
***
They left and walked to the ferry wharf. Mia complained about her feet and her stomach hurting.
"You shouldn't have let me eat chocolate for lunch. That's not good parenting."
Loretta accepted that blame.. She deserved it. But then she dished out some of her own. "And you shouldn't have worn sandals."
"You're right," Mia said.
Brenda smiled at both of them. "I'm partly to blame as well. I could have stopped both of you from making these horrific mistakes, and I didn't."
"So true," Loretta said. "You're a horrible mother-in-law."
"And a horrible grandma!" Mia added.
***
They got to the wharf and found they had just missed the ferry.
They had to wait twenty-minutes, and there was nowhere to sit. They stood.
Mia leaned on Loretta and closed her eyes. Loretta had a hard time dealing with the extra weight. She was close to collapsing.
Continue to Chapter Twenty-Five
Go Back to Chapter Twenty-Three
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