Sunday, August 28, 2005
{ 3:17 PM }
fiction
[the instant they met.gabe's eyes made elise swoon. then she shared a day with him tat would change the rest of her life.]
life seems pretty darn good. elise jus stared at the gleaming sun as it slips further and further down the sky.
she's thinking about how her 48-year-old motheris due to have her accidental secong child any day now. it made her wonder if her maternity-distracted parents will let her take the truck down to town if she promised to be back soon and not talk to strange boys. when all of a sudden there's a guy about her age not even 10 feet away.
hi'.he said. giving a floppy little wave
uh hi'. she replied, not knowing what to make of the guy with curly brownish hair tat's gone a little too long without a trim. he's kind of thin and pale for july.
the creeping twilight obscures the colour of his eyes. elise hoped they're green.
green eyes made her swoon.
so,um,name?' elise hear her asking. she had no clue who is he is.
it's gabe.' he strides right on over, grinning. he has green eyes!
nice to meet you.'EL'.
L'? he repeats
um.no,not quite.elise, i just go El since it's short and sweet.'
then, a woman's voice sounds out from somewhere in the depths of the forests that surround their house, her voice echoing over the lapping waters of the lake.
Gaaayyyaaabbbeee'
my mum.' he cringes. 'it was great to meet you'
yeah.pleasure's all mine.'elise responded
so,well. gotta run,see ya.'he says, slipping into the gathering shadows and vanishing.
breakfast passes without incident the next morning. elise is always the one to start the conversation at the table. 'i was wondering if i could just sort of, like commune with nature today,walk around you know.' elise felt that the words are trite and forced.
that sounds great.' smiles mum. 'go right ahead, wear sunscreen okay?' she concludes.
cool,mum,thanks.'
after eons of traipsing thru the mosquito-infested woods, elise finally arrived at gabe's painfully run-down house. she raised her hand to knock, when suddenly the door swings open, only to reveal, it not gabe.
a platinum blonde squints at her, her skin weathered and wrinkled.
yeah?' she barked.
this is not what elise was expecting. she sort of had this idea that someone as intriguing and pupp-dog cute as gabe would live in a palatial log cabin on landscaped grounds,flanked by gorgeous parents.
well,do you..well, are you..? she nervously shifting her weight from one foot to another.
then, gabe appears. an greek angel compared to his mother.
heys.' he says. hey.' elise replied brilliantly.
'mum, this is elise.' he explains as he grabs a brown paper bag off a grungy plastic table. 'we'll be back sometime later..so..'
'wadever'.she grunts. 'not like there's anyway you two could get into trouble out here in the middle of nowhere..' 'so,bye,mum' gabe continues,desperately trying to segue. she says nothing.
they are far away from the shack, gabe let out an audible sigh.
is she always like. . .' elise asked. 'yep.'he answers. 'sorry.' she says. 'thanks, but i'm used to it.'gabe replies.
so,um, wad ya wanna do? i shld have called or smth.' elise said.
'no prob. i kinda knew u're coming. we could maybe have a picnic if you want.i made the sanwiches and grapes and brownies.well, i didnt quite make the grapes you know.'
'aww.so adorable.'
'that sounds fab,'elise responded. 'we've a little sailboat, we could maybe take it out a ways and eat on the water.' gabe hesitates for a moment. 'im game'. he says.
they finally reached elise house. past the bushes, onto the sand, into the water they go.
elise asked gabe 'ever done this before?' 'cant say tat i have', he admits.
'well, the most important part for you to rem is just to move over to the other side of the boat when i tell you,okay?' it's really fun once you get the hang of it.' gabe smiles. it made elise melt.
shoot. elise suddenly realised the life jackets are piled up on the beach. she was about to ask gabe if he'd be okay not going back to pick'em up, when out of the blue gabe says 'i think ur eyes are so intense.'
oh.my.gosh.
'urs too.'elise finally say. 'with the greenness and everything.' eloquent.
'really?'
by the time, they've gotten pretty far from the house and now is the decent time as any to drop anchor.
elise just have this feeling,this sweet,sweet feeling. she doesnt think its true love, but its true wadever it is.
so, what do you wan to do? as in when you grow up.'she inquire.
good qn'. he half laughs. 'smth. . .smth quiet'.
'come agn?'. 'you know smth where i can jus sort if be by myself and write or think about things.'
'yeah,i agree.'
elise then ask about collegues leaving the details open. gabe shrugs,looking out at the water.'i have the grades,i guess. but the money's not really there.'
impulsively, elise lean over and kiss him. just a little peck on his almost stubbly cheek.
as she scoot back to her seat, she steal a glance at his perfect eyes.
rain finally starts to fall then. it speeds up,the drops getting fatter and fatter. now they sting as they slap onto her head and hands.
gabe's eyes are still beautiful,and now there's smth else there too. something scared, something that wanted to stay hidden but is being forced out.
its fine.jus stay low,i've to turn us arnd,move when i tell you okay?'
he stares at her.
the wind's so strong now and the sky's so dark and sick,the water's the same.
'you showed me that not everyone's like them. i can see it in ur eyes.'
and she's thinking to herself that she know exactly what he means and that they will be fine--
then,a monster gust of wind pulls back the boom and swings it forward again,and there's no time to move,and there's no time to warn him, and there's no time to think, and there's just no time.
elise blink groggily-the bright,sun-drenched room slowly coming to focus. the white-washed walls reflect the morning rays,making her eyes water and she had to squeeze them shut again. her mum is conversing with an incorporeal voice.
'honey,are you waking up? how do you feel?'. the words seem to spill out of her.
as elise raise her hand to rub the grit out of her eyes and notice a white plaster encases her arm from wrist to elbow.
her mum strokes the baby's flaxen hair and grins down at her.
'El,'ve a sister!'
whats her name?'elise asked.
'we cant decide.'says her mum.
'was. . .'her voice start to shudder.'were the ppl okay? i mean no one was hurt,were they?
i mean it wasnt a hurricane,ppl don die on lakes rite?'
well.'mum says,biting her lips.'we almost lost you.it was so close'.
'the boat's wrecked,totally wrecked.'she shook her head.
'sorry.' quietly she begin to think that if gabe's okay, there's no need to tell her about the little lake escapade,no need to worry her about her carousing with the neighbour boy tat day after they met.
and there was that boy.'she says suddenly.'i dun know his name.' elise froze.
'his parents found him a couple of hours ago,they think that maybe he went out to make sure their rowboat was tied up out in the water and the storm caught him by surprise- he couldnt swim. . .can you imagine living by the lake and not being able to swim?'
'no.'elise whisper.'is he. . .'
'he drowned.really sad huh? i guess he was about ur age. . .but don worry about that and don even think about that right nw.we're glad u're okay.'elise's mum leans down and kisses her cheek.
'here,you wanna hold her?jus make sure you watch her head.oh, i cried when i first saw her too. ur dad even got a little misty.can u imagine? it was pretty amazing.:)'
she lays the warm and soft bundle on elise's broken arm.
a salty tear drops off her chin and lands on her newborn sister cheek.
'gabriella.'elise murmur as she kissed her petal-soft forehead.
'gabriella?'repeats her mum.'yes,that's it.it suits her.'
elise say nothing more. she don know what to do. she think she don know what is going to happen.she don know anything anymore.
she searched for gabriella's clear green eyes for an answer but find none. only childlike innocence and wisdom she's far to young to posses.
