Chapter Twelve

The overwrought branches of the banyan tree encompassed and intertwined with everything that could be seen within the pale seas of deep green leaves. The apex of could not be seen. No matter how much was tried to crane one’s own neck is would remain hidden and spirited beyond sight.. Blending in with the leaves and foliage far too well, too well buried within the shifting blades of ever changing colors and shades of light that could be deciphered in the space between seconds. Yourself, nor anyone else that you could possibly have known could have seen beyond where the branches arched away from view. Hiding the world beyond them and sheltering all within in their warm and shaded embrace.

At the base of this monolithic sapling of possibilities, was a doorway. A simple formed structure of wood and steel, with a small frosted glass window mounted at the top most section of the doorway. Allowing a distorted view of the world inside. A sign was hanging next to the doorway, though the words on it are far from legible, having been worn away from countless years passing through the doorway with each newcomer and visitor that came and went as those that travel there are wont to do at their own discretions. Inside, if one were waiting patiently at the doorway to enter, could be heard sounds of people, crowding around one another and together within a space of indeterminate size and density. All of them with hushed conversations, talking away the remainder of their time with one another. All in joyous merriment and reunion. Or so one would extrapolate without any further proof.

It was drizzling outside the bar, reminding him of a recent memory that splashed out of his head as soon as he went inside the doorway. The tree had even held it open for him. Shaking off his dark coat, spilling droplets on the already wet carpet, he was surprised to see that the bar was full of people, far more so than he had expected with the hushed muted noises that trickled out through the doorway. Damp coats were already hanging on a rack beside the door, with umbrellas leaning loosely against them, also dripping and pattering softly more water still onto the floor. Looking around he saw a woman waving to him, becoming him to come over.

“Good to see you, Nate.” She said, hugging him. “Doing alright? You look so skinny. Have you been eating enough?”

“Hey Aunt June,” Nate shrugged and looked around the room again, all of the small conversations suddenly felt so close, and so very much real, “Hanging in there. Kind of busy in here today?”

She smiled up at him. Even sitting down he was still taller than she was. “Yeah. Place gets busier, and busier everyday it seems. Everything okay? You look a bit lost, someone you know or something?” Her face was filled with wild curiosity, watching Nate’s eyes drifting over the people around them.

He did indeed look lost and more than a touch confused. Nate stared at several people in the room. They looked, like people that he had known. He knew them. He was sure of it. Then their faces and names flashed alive and well in his mind. “That’s Peter and Marshall!”

“Want to say hi to them?” Aunt June asked, taking a drink of her beer. “I can stay right here if you do. I don’t mind. Don’t mind at all.”

“No, no, that’s alright.” That was odd, Nate thought. “Just, could have sworn…”

“Sworn what?” She asked, raising an eyebrow askance she turned back and watched the people Nate stared at as well. Her mouth curved itself as a cats would when presented with a curiosity that was all theirs to do with as they’d pleased. As if she knew the answers to what was whittling around in Nate’s mind.

“Nothing. It’s not important.” He waved off the thoughts. Letting it drift away unheeded. “It’s good to see you though. How’ve you been? I don’t think I’ve actually seen you in a bit.”

She shrugged, retaining the catlike appearance around her jawline and the furrows of skin around her eyes, “Been better. And it has been a spell, hasn’t it? But we’re doing okay. The royal we I mean. Been bored, mostly. Didn’t think that was how it went. You eventually get tired of hearing the same things over, and over again. Not in a bad way. Just that, you know how it all plays out. And that’s not bad, just repetitive is all. The monotony is what makes it so boring. And another thing on that, not everyone listens to the repeating record of everything as it plays out. If they had done any bit of listening then they’d notice how much they were repeating everything so often. Might even be able to do something about it all. Maybe make something different happen out of the same old things.” She let out a tiny sigh, no louder than a kitten would have done, and smiled on. “Enough about all of that. How are you? Heard you were seeing somebody? Finally! They nice to you and listen whenever you talk? You always hated when people didn’t listen to your ideas. And you always had or rather have, so many wonderful ideas to share with anyone willing to listen to them.”

“I suppose, I am happy. All things considering,” Nate grinned. “You’d like her. A bit headstrong and a little judgmental. But way smarter than I am. Then again, who isn’t?” Someone walking past their table caught his attention again, the same creeping thought burrowed deeper inside of his head, just on the edges of his mind where he could plainly see it peeking out at him.

“I wish you weren’t always so hard on yourself, Nate. You’re plenty smart as it is. You always were. Case in point, you’ve been here five minutes and are already catching on to what’s going on here. Took me a lot longer than that when I started coming here. Then again, you are just visiting. Maybe that’s part of why you can spot the differences faster than it normally takes other people to.”

“What do you mean, catching on?”

“You’ll figure it out in a minute. With or without me saying anything else about it. You don’t need me spoiling anything and telling you. You just keep on watching everyone like you always do.” She ordered another drink from a familiar face behind the bar. He had soft, yet dark colored looking hair, his deep eyes seemed to penetrate into Nate’s thoughts as he watched without saying a word. The bartender handed Aunt June her drink with a friendly smile and a quick wink. “Even George here looks familiar to you. You only met him what, twice. Both times were when you were really little. You couldn’t have been older than two, maybe three. You always were something, kiddo. You always really were. Always working things out and solving things before you were expected to. Such an overachieving showoff sometimes.”

“They’re… everyone is…,” Nate began, stopping himself to find the words. To find better words to connect his mind to what he needed to say aloud.

“Yeah?” June Merryweather leaned forward, encouraging and beckoning him to finish the thought right where he had left it before them. “They’re…?”

“They’re- they’re all people who’ve died.” Nate spun around and around on the stool, craning his neck to see everyone individually around the room. Letting himself remember everyone, one at a time. “Peter died when I was in elementary school. George behind the bar died in a car accident, I remember you were crying.”

“That I did. He was always such a nice man.”

“And Mr. Marshall passed away with pneumonia too, that was years ago. And Lara, she died. I don’t remember how, but I heard about that after high school. She’s the one in the corner over there. We shared a math class together.”

“Glad you remember them. You were always good at that, buddy.” She smiled at him. And he remembered. He remembered why he hadn’t seen Aunt June in a while. He remembered what had happened to June Merryweather. And how very much he missed her.

“This is a dream, isn’t it?”

She tilted her head, giving him a funny look, “What is a dream, anyways, kiddo? It always confused me how they get paired up with hopes. ‘Hopes and dreams’, a silly thing to say. I don’t know what this is for you, a dream, a visit from some old ghost, or something I don’t have a word for. Bet it would be a French word if there even is one for whatever this is. I suspect that it would end up being a different word for each person that comes here. Just be happy, Nathan. That’s all anyone ever wants for anyone else anyways,” she finished off her second drink and got up from her stool. She stretched out and light popping could be heard along her joints and back. “You’re not dead. You should know that. We’ll talk some more some other time. This was a lovely and nice gift to experience with you. I love you, Nathan.”

She walked over to the doorway, and opened it.

“Love you too, and all that stuffs.” Nate mouthed the words as he woke up. A dark beam of early morning sunlight leaking out from the blinds etched across the room and across his face. He wiped a tear from his eye and he sat up. Margo was snoring away in her own uninterrupted dream filled sleep.

It was barren out on the part of the beach Nate parked at. Especially that early in the morning, the local tourist hadn’t been able to crowd into all of the southernmost parking areas, not just yet. Some spots would fill up within the next few hours, regardless of how prudent and early one made oneself. Construction further along the island roads bottlenecked the traffic in the area, making navigating its thin, and very much outdated, streets a nightmare for everyone passing through later on in the day. Nate found the spot he was looking for with extreme ease; he had been to this beach dozens of times as a child, and avoided it aggressively as an adult. Until recently he had no desire to visit or spend much time with sand between his toes or in his hair.

Regardless of the time between his childhood and now, all that had passed by him in the blinking lights of a digital clock, he knew this beach better than anything else he had known in his life. And after all of these years of being alive, he finally enjoyed that fact.

Julie was pulling up beside him in her small pickup truck before he got out of his car.

“Mornin’, I picked up some chips and beer on the way over here,” Nate pointed to the bags sprawled out and laying all over his backseat. He was lucky nothing had opened and spilled out, that would have been just awful.

“Awesome, awesome! I’ve got a few things of burgers and hot dogs sitting in the cooler. Should be enough to tide everyone over. As long as a ton of people don’t end up showing up.” Julie pulled her shoulders closer together, before adding, “Kind of chilly, isn’t it? Think it’ll warm up in a bit? I’m cold here in my thin and poorly chosen clothes and swimsuit.”

“It’s supposed to warm up a little around noon. Maybe to the mid-seventies to low eighties, but it’s going to be chilly for the rest of this week. Here, take this,” Nate handed her a spare overshirt from his car before helping to offload supplies on the nearest park benches. “You’ve got a lighter for the charcoal, right?”

“Who do you think I am?” Julie asked with indignation in her squeaky voice, hands akimbo at her hips, “I, sir, am offended at the very rude notion you would even dare to ask such a rude thing of me. It is not like, I don’t know, I’d almost forgotten to get one and had to pick up a lighter on the way here this morning. What, what, hah, what on earth would give you that wild, wild notion. Haha. Okay, full disclosure here buddy. I almost forgot and stopped at the gas station right before the bridge. Those monsters charged me so much for a lighter. A lousy lighter is way cheaper at the store than the gas station which is my fun fact of the morning.” Julie handed him a pink lighter with a kitten on it. “This was the only one I liked, the rest had ladies in bikinis on them.” She scrunched up her face. “What kind of weirdo would want one of those? Guys are gross.”

“Some ladies might like those sorts of things after all. So, how much was it?”

“I don’t know.” Julie shrugged, and tightened her newly borrowed overshirt closer around her. “Like four bucks, I think? I also got a few other things while I was there. Either way it was highway robbery. Literally. Highway. Robbery.”

“I see. I think we’ll hold off on starting the grill until people start arriving.” Nate set the cooler beside the table and opened up a small bag of chips and started eating.

“Up to you. I’d say we can start cooking around eleven at the latest. Unless, unless, and hear me out, I’m cold.”

“You make some good points there.” Nate began dumping the charcoal onto the grill, and used a stray stick to loosen the pile so that it wasn’t all stacked up in one spot. He then grabbed some sections of the paper towel roll and crumpled them up, tucking them among side the now dispersed pile of charcoal with the same stick. He lit another piece of paper towel and carefully placed it near the center. It took a moment of staring at the poor little fire, flickering in and out of life with the wind getting in its brief way. After a moment it ended up catching and spreading itself amongst the other crumpled bits of paper towels, the fire working out well enough that Nate hadn’t needed to add any lighter fluid to it. Not yet anyways. “There you go, Julie. Nice and warm for you and the soon to be cooked burgers and dogs.”

“Thank you! You’re the best. Always so good to me when I need anything.” Julie sat across from him and rubbed her hands together, blowing on them for spread some warmth. “How’d you sleep last night?”

“Like a rock. Just had some weird dreams is all. But what else is new?”, he shrugged and ate some more chips before rolling the bag closed. “You?”

“A little, mostly up and worried about how you were doing. I was going to call but I didn’t want to wake you. I know it would have been okay. I don’t need you to tell me that. I just, I just worry is all. I’m glad you finally slept though. And like a rock at that too. So tell me, what were your dreams about? No, seriously. I really am curious. What could you, Nate the great and sorrowful, possibly dream about that you would call weird?”

They talked for a while like this before other people started showing up. John and Ashley showed up together, as well as some people from the funeral that Nate hadn’t seen in years. Cousins he hadn’t seen since childhood, more than a few he was certain were not actually cousin but were welcomed as such all the same. There were several uncles that gossiped about cars, and sports, and more than a little more than they should have about politics. Aunts that he didn’t think were related to anyone came and gathered in the fringed parts of the picnic areas, taking over more tables than would have been necessary given the shade from the pine trees overhead. And more friends of his aunt that he had never heard of or met before then. Everyone filled out the empty spaces along the park area of the beach. Some people had brought along a football and a frisbee that were quickly tossed around. It began to look like a standard cookout that you would find anywhere in the world where people showed up for free food and beer.

After a while, people moved out and onto the beach itself. It was too cold to go swimming, and no one was brave enough to think otherwise, instead they ran and played in the chilled sand that quickly began to warm up in the early rising sun. All and all, it had all turned out into being a fun day that eased on by with the motivation of a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Before Nate realized how much time had truly passed with everyone there, it was already nearing sunset, with the day drawing the curtains towards its chilly end. They had spent nearly all day there. The day had been pleasant and nice and lovely, just unwinding with everyone there made it wonderful to suffer through. Nate had wished for more stories about his aunt to have been circulated and added on to, but this was fine all the same. Everyone grieves in a different way. And his aunt didn’t have in writing that she had wanted anyone to talk too much about her behind her back, even if she was dead it may have gotten back to her somehow. Safer to not talk about her too much if that was the case.

Nate walked out towards the water’s edge, and sat down just beyond the reach of the tide. He watched the sun drifting downwards and melting into a wild series of colors, pooling out of reds and oranges that mixed the sky in a wave of fading warmth, and felt a small sense of relief well up in his chest and soul. Everything would be alright.

He could see it now; all it would take is time. Clearly, it all seemed to be, laid out from end to end before him in his mind. All that needed to happen was just to let the pain wash out with the tendrils of the lapping tide. It would take time, and after that had passed on down and into the ocean, it would all become just fine. As long as he didn’t screw things up with Julie, or get lost in his own head for that matter. They could make it work out in the end, together. They’d be happy. She seemed to like him well enough to meet all of his relatives. The living and the dead one, technically.

He didn’t feel a need to worry so much anymore. All that was left to do, was to simply try and live his life. Just trying was the hardest part of being happy.

And without realizing it, he was smiling. He wouldn’t let his aunt down. He didn’t let the little changes in the world around him bother him anymore. The dog’s collar hadn’t changed shape, color, or studs in the last few days. Not that he had noticed at least. Everything felt right, even if it was all still a little bit sad. And it would be, for a while longer at that. Though it would pass.

All he had to do was try to be happy…the rest would be easy…

The End

Chapter Twelve

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