SYDNEY, Like usual, the restaurant was packed.
Every table was occupied. Each chair was being used.
Mia sat at the bar drawing cats and rainbows. She was already done with her homework.
Loretta checked on her every few minutes. In-between her mothering moments, she took orders for teas and delivered the tea to the tables. While doing all this, she tried to listen to Hayden and Zachary's performance as much as possible.
Zachary said. "Just in case some of you are in the dark about the Arcide, we feel it's our duty to warn you."
Hayden chimed in. "Or you may end up in darkness." He wiggled his fingers, widened his eyes, and grunted like a zombie.
"Beware," Zachary said.
Loretta looked around to get a feel of the audience’s reaction.
Most of them laughed. No one looked worried. It was similar to the reaction people had to the world ending in 2012. For the most part, it was a big joke. She wondered when the Arcide horror movies would begin. Who would star in them? George Clooney? Sandra Bullock? Jennifer Lawrence?
Loretta realized something as she brewed a pot of apple ginseng tea. She might be in the movie! Could she? After all, it was her mother who first made the announcement. Their family was kind of in the middle of all this; not to mention they played a big part in the story because of the restaurant.
Now that she thought of it. Phillip played a big part as well. And he was her brother-in-law.
Loretta wondered what it would be like to see an actress playing her in a movie.
***
The restaurant had cleared out a bit. The twin's performance had ended.
Loretta waited for Mia to ask to be taken home. It usually happened around this time.
No one was asking for tea at this point.
Loretta decided to take a moment to check her email.
There was one from Christina. Loretta hadn’t heard from her friend in almost two weeks. Now that she saw the email, she wished she had taken the effort to reach out again. Yes, she had responded to Christina's last email, and it was Christina that owed her an email. But Loretta knew she was having problems, and she should have worked harder to make sure things were okay.
Loretta clicked on the email and read.
Hi Loretta!
I'm sorry I haven't written in awhile. Things are still rough here, but they're getting better. At least I hope they are. I should stop being so mysterious and just tell what's going on. It can't hurt, and maybe you can offer some advice.
I'm going to assume you read that article about your mother. You know the Arcide she spoke about? Well, I believe it's been attacking us. I've gotten sick from it, and Kayla has as well. We've had a week hiatus from the terror which is nice. I'm trying to enjoy it, but it's hard because we don't know when it's going to strike again.
Do you know what it reminds me of? You know when your child has a stomach bug…it's like after they vomit, and you're trying to entertain them and relax while knowing soon there will be another attack, and you're going to have to do another whole round of cleaning.
I think we're going to be okay. We've got an arsenal of witchy wonders—candles, gemstones, happy thoughts. I'm thinking of trying some tea. Since you're the expert, maybe you have some ideas for ingredients that ward off evil. Do I sound completely ridiculous? I hope not.
Enough about me! How are you? William? The restaurant? How's Mia? Are you still worried about her not having enough friends? From what you say, she reminds me so much of Kayla. I can't call Kayla a social butterfly. In fact, her best friend is a spirit. I'm not sure if I've told you that or not. I wish we lived in Sydney or you guys lived in Hawaii, so we could get the girls together!
Anyway, take care!
Love, Christina
Now Loretta felt even more guilty. Here she was laughing along with others about the Arcide, while Christina's family was being attacked by it.
Though maybe….
Sometimes people imagined things, or they blew them out of proportion.
No. Loretta stopped herself. She knew her friend. They'd been writing to each other since their girls were toddlers.
Christina was low-key. She wasn’t a drama queen. She wouldn't make things up. If she believed there was a problem, there was a problem.
Still. That didn’t mean the Arcide was a threat to humankind. Christina might not blow things out of proportion but that didn’t mean the same thing applied to Loretta's mother.
***
The idea came to Loretta just as she and Mia were about to leave.
What if they FaceTimed Christina and Kayla? Maybe the kids could be video-chat friends.
It was funny that they had talked through email for so many years and had never taken things a step further.
Well, it was never too late.
Should they call now?
What was the time difference?
Maybe they should wait until they got home?
Loretta tried to figure it out in her head. Okay. So it was 5 am in Atlanta where her sister lived. Hawaii was how many hours back?
Or was it forward?
No, it was back.
She wasn’t sure by how much.
She'd have to look it up.
Loretta did that with her phone. It was 11 pm. Way too late. They'd have to try tomorrow. For now, though, she'd write an email. Or at least she'd get it started. If Mia asked to go home, she could save the draft and continue it later.
***
Christina wrote an email, expressing sympathy and concern over the Arcide.
She didn’t know any evil-fighting teas but promised to look into that.
She skipped answering questions about her life and instead dove into the whole FaceTime thing.
I really want to talk to you, and I think it will be great for the girls to "meet" but I'm also nervous. What do you think about it? Do you want to give it a try?
***
She finished the email; then pressed send.
Afterward, she felt stupid for admitting she was nervous.
She expected Christina to maybe feel the same, but why would she? She FaceTimed her husband who died years ago. Talking to a living online friend would probably be nothing to her.
***
Mia finally asked to go. It was close to 9.
Just as they were about to leave, she got an email back from Christina. Wow. She was up really late.
Christina said only one thing. Let's talk now! It would be fantastic to hear from you! (And she provided her phone number).
Now? It was past midnight there.
Well, that was fine. Apparently, they were on a very late schedule.
"Mummy, can we go please."
"Mia, how would you like to talk to Kayla? Remember my friend in Hawaii?"
"I thought Kayla's mum was your friend.
"Yes. You know what I mean."
Mia shrugged her shoulders.
"So what do you think? Do you want to talk to her?"
"No, thanks."
Loretta was taken aback. She wasn't expecting that. For some reason. She assumed Mia would be excited. It was kind of ridiculous of her to assume that, though. Mia had never been one to seek out conversations with kids her own age.
"Well, I'm going to talk to Kayla's mom. Then if you change your mind, you can talk to Kayla."
"I'm not going to change my mind."
"That's fine." Loretta tried hard not to sound exasperated.
"Can we go home now?"
"After we call?"
"Why don't you call after we go home and after I go to bed?"
It would be a reasonable request if it weren't for the time zone thing. "It'll be too late to call them then."
Mia glared at her. "Well, it's late for me, and this is a school night. Did you forget that?"
"I don't like your attitude," Loretta snapped. Then she felt terrible. What she really didn't like was her own parenting. "Look Mia. I'm sorry. This is very important to Mummy. Let me call. You can do what you used to do….put your pajamas on and sleep on the mat? Okay? I think we still have some pajamas here. Don't we?"
"Don't talk about yourself in third person," Mia said. "I hate when you do that."
Loretta couldn’t help but laugh a little. "Sorry. But can you sleep here for a while?"
"My teeth."
"I think we still have a toothbrush for you here."
Mia sighed. "Fine."
Loretta didn’t feel triumphant in winning. It was really awful that they were getting home each night past nine. Mia usually wasn’t asleep until ten-thirty or eleven. Then she had to wake up at around seven-thirty to get ready for school on time. Was that enough sleep for a seven-year-old?
Loretta did the math. It was only eight hours. She guessed kids that young were supposed to get more sleep than that.
She had an idea….one that she should have thought of long ago. "How about this," she said to Mia. "We're going to get home late tonight. And I'm sorry. But tomorrow, I'll pick you up from school, and we'll go straight home."
"No restaurant?" Mia looked so happy which made Loretta feel incredibly guilty.
"No restaurant."
Mia jumped up and down and cheered.
A few customers looked over at them. They smiled at the mother and child. They would probably stop smiling if they knew Loretta was such a terrible parent.
"Can we go to the park tomorrow?" Mia asked.
"If it's not too cold. We'll look at the weather."
"Yes! Yes! Thank you. Thank you!"
"Or maybe…" she'd have to ask about this one. "We'll go visit Grandma."
Mia cheered even louder and threw her arms around Loretta. "Let's do that even if the weather is nice. I can always play in Grandma's garden."
"Well, we'll need to ask Grandma."
"When does she ever say no to spending time with me?"
Loretta laughed. "Never."
"Okay. So go make your FaceTime call."
***
Loretta decided to do it in the office.
Mia didn’t join her. She could hear her daughter prancing around the restaurant. Happiness had made her lose her tiredness.
Christina answered very quickly. "Hello!" Loretta could see she was in bed. Christina wore a t-shirt; her dark brown hair pulled back in a ponytail.
"Aren't you supposed to say G'Day mate…or something like that?" Christina said.
Well, then you should be saying aloha!
Christina laughed. "Aloha."
"G'day."
They both laughed, and then they seemed to have nothing to say. FaceTime awkwardness.
Loretta heard footsteps and a child laughing. "Is that Kayla?"
"Yeah. We're on a late schedule. It's summer break, and we...well, I'm a bad mom."
Loretta laughed. "Join the club." Why was it always such a relief to find parents who might be just as screwed up as you?
"You don't have any accent," Christina said. "Oh, but you're not originally from there. Right? I always forget that."
"My sister sometimes says I have a bit of one."
"I'll listen out for it," Christina said.
"I think for the most part I sound American."
"You do." Christina agreed.
Then more silence.
"So…." Loretta said.
"Where's Mia?"
"She's running around the restaurant. I think she's a bit shy."
"Kayla can be like that sometimes." Christina said.
With that, Kayla popped onto the screen for a quick look. She waved, giggled, and then disappeared.
"Let's play hide and go seek!" she said. Then: "Please! Mommy's FaceTiming her Australian. We're not going to bed anytime soon…Really!? Yay!"
"Albert!" Christina said.. Then she turns back to Loretta. "Sorry about all that."
"It's amazing to me that Kayla can talk to her dad without the Internet." Loretta had actually known about Kayla’s ability before the whole big thing happened. Christina hadn't presented it as fact—Hey, my daughter's a medium. There's no doubt. You better believe it. They had just been talking about parenting stuff. Challenges. Christina had told her that Kayla talked to her dead father. She had said something like, Sometimes I believe it's true.
Loretta had written back. Maybe it is. You never know. Loretta had tried to keep an open mind about things. She had thought it could be Kayla having an overactive imagination, but she had also believed it could be much more.
And look. She had been right.
"It's nice she can do it," Christina said. "Though it can be annoying when the three of them have conversations, and I hear only one side of it."
"Do you feel left out?" Loretta asked.
Christina thought for a moment; then said, "You know what? I do. Is that terrible of me?"
Loretta shook her head. "No, not at all."
Christina smiled. "Thanks."
Mia came into the office. "Are you done yet?"
"I'll be done in a minute." Quietly, to Loretta, she said. "Or two."
"Hi Mia!" Christina called out.
Mia came over and put herself on the screen. She stared at Christina.
"Mia," Loretta hoped her daughter wasn’t going to be rude or worse yet…a brat. "Do you want to say hi?"
"Hi!"
"Kayla, come say hello to Mia."
"I'm hiding!"
"Please say hello. Then you can go back to hiding."
Kayla groaned. "Never mind. Lenora found me."
"Are spirits good at hide and seek?" Loretta asked.
"She's playing hide and seek with ghosts?" Mia asked.
"Yeah, Mia," Christina said. "Is that a bit nuts?"
"I think it's very cool," Mia said. "I wish I had a ghost friend."
"I have two," Kayla said. "Well, one is my dad. But he's also my friend. He died when I was three."
"My dad's alive," Mia said, almost as if it were a failure. "But he might have a heart attack or blow up someday."
Loretta bursts out laughing. She couldn’t help it.
To her relief, Christina laughed too. They both struggled to stop. "We're evil," Loretta said.
"We are," Christina agreed. "Who needs the Arcide?"
Loretta figured it was good Christina could joke about it. If she could joke about it…well, then maybe it wasn’t that bad.
"I don't have ghost friends," Mia said to Kayla. "But I do have ghosts on our TV at the restaurants. They're sort of my friends. But they're famous, and famous people are busy. They rarely give me the time of day. But they do know my name. And sometimes I show them my drawings and my dance steps."
"I dance too," Kayla said. "I dance with Lenora sometimes. And I also draw!"
"You girls have so much in common!" Loretta said. "Maybe you can be friends."
"Maybe," Mia said. Then to Kayla she said. "There's this girl in my class who can draw the snowman from Frozen. perfectly. Really. You can't tell the difference between her work and the real thing."
"Wow," Kayla said.
"But she's a bit of a show off about it."
"Show offs are annoying," Kayla said.
"I know," Mia said. "Tell me about it."
"Hey, have you read Harry Potter?"
"Not yet!" Mia said. "But I want to. I saw the first three movies, and I loved them."
"You have to read the book!" Kayla said. It's so good!"
Mia turned to Loretta. "Can we read them?"
"Sure," Loretta said. She was the right age. Wasn’t she? Well, Kayla's the same age, and she was reading it.
Then Loretta heard someone sniffling. Crying. It was coming from the screen, not the restaurant.
"What's wrong, Mommy?"
It was Christina who was crying.
"Are you okay?" Loretta said, hoping this wasn’t an Arcide type thing.
"I'm fine," Christina said and showed her tear-stained face on the screen. "Sorry. I'm just getting a little emotional. Do you know what I mean. The kids and….I think you know what I mean? Right?"
Loretta nodded and then her own tears started flowing. She knew exactly what Christina meant. It was being friends for so many years and then seeing their two daughters talking like this. And the fact that both girls had trouble making friends. It was kind of like a small miracle. Or at least a blessing.
"Mummy!" Mia said. "Stop your crying." She giggled a bit, obviously embarrassed by the strange display of emotions.
Loretta pulled Mia close to her and hugged her. Then she kissed her on the forehead. She watched as Christina did the same with her daughter. They then continued their talk. It went on for quite awhile.
Sometimes Kayla and Mia talked while Christina and Loretta listened. Other times, Loretta and Christina had time to talk alone, because Kayla ran off to play with her dad and friend, and Mia then went to help her dad. The restaurant was closed now, so he was cleaning.
At one point, William came into the office, and Loretta introduced him to Christina and Kayla.
"My dad's here too," Kayla said. "You can't see him. But he can hear you."
Loretta, Mia, and William all called out hello to Albert.
Then Loretta remembered Lenora and said hello to her as well.
Christian smiled at this.
Kayla said,"She says hi back!"
***
William and Loretta left the restaurant at the same time, which they hadn’t done in awhile. But they had to drive separately, because they both had their cars there.
When they got to their building, William picked up sleeping-Mia, and carried her upstairs to her bedroom. Loretta waited for him in the hall.
When he came out, he pulled her into his arms. "Thank you for being so supportive with all of this," he said.
"You don't need to thank me," she replied.
He kissed her.
"I'm going to make some tea," she said. "Do you want some?"
"Please," he said.
He collapsed on the couch as she put the pot on the stove.
"Hey," she called out.
"Yeah?"
"Can you please try not to blow up or have a heart attack. At least not any time soon."
"I'll try my best," he called back to her.
"Thank you." She came over and sat next to him. She leaned her head on his shoulder.
He played with strands of her hair. She loved when he did that, sometimes even more than she loved sex. Though sex was very nice as well.
"If I fall asleep, you get the tea."
"Let's get a servant," he said. "They can get the tea."
"And rub our feet," she said.
"And play with your hair.," he offered
"No," she said. "I like when you do it."
He kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks," he said.
"For what?"
"Making me feel needed."
"You are needed," she said; then got up to check on the tea.
Go Back to Chapter Thirty-Nine
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