A severe pounding in
her head wakes Tania in the middle of the day.
She groans as she
slowly opens her eyes; the room spinning slightly around her.
Once her vision has
steadied, she slowly rises out of bed.
Tania recalls having
a fight with her mother and going to the bar, but can’t remember much beyond
that.
The only evidence of
her drinking binge comes from the nausea that threatens her as she dresses for
the day.
Suddenly all of the
feelings that her drinking temporarily helped to suppress comes back in a wave.
George III is
gone. Tania has no hope of being visited
by his spirit again.
This time, their
goodbye is final.
Tania brushes her
hair up into a bun with tears blurring her reflection in the mirror.
“I have to get
through this,” Tania says out loud, before continuing her daytime rituals.
While Tania is
upstairs getting ready, Antwain’s friend Ralph leaves for home after losing
their chess game.
Tania walks
downstairs. The first person she sees is
Antwain.
“Hey babe, how are you feeling?” He asks.
Tania isn’t sure
why, but she has a feeling that she should be apologizing to Antwain. “I’m sorry for last night,” she says
responding based on her instincts.
“You don’t have anything to be sorry about,” Antwain answers.
Tania is not so
sure.
“Tania, maybe we can
just forget all that has happened and start over,” Antwain suggests.
“I’ll never forget
my brother…how can you even suggest that?”
“That’s not what I’m saying. I just…I really don’t know what to do or how to help Tania. But believe me, I’m really trying here.”
“I know, and I’m
sorry for pushing you away.”
Antwain smiles, “You
have nothing to be sorry for!” He insists.
He stops to think
for a moment. “Let’s get out of
here. I’m sure we could both use a
change in scenery.”
“I’m not up for any
trips right now.”
“No trip, I just want to show you something.”
“OK, let’s go,”
Tania says wondering what Antwain has in mind.
They hop in the
car. Antwain takes the wheel driving past the neighborhoods of Riverview.
Once he has passed all of the locations that Tania can think up, her curiosity
gets the best of her. “Antwain, where
are we going?”
“You’ll see,” he says amused by her child-like impatience.
Finally he stops at
a beautiful location near the mouth of the river, where it opens up and flows into a lake. Tania is immediately drawn to the beauty of
the location.
She stands
mesmerized as stars appear in the sky. Antwain runs over to join her.
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