The Letter

Seven

The siblings could have sworn that they would never hear either of their parents say those words. Home, like Rachel would always say, was housed in their hearts. This gave them comfort in the toughest of times. Jeff, for one, needed his wife now more than ever. Though he had expressed bravado with the suggestion that they go home, he was more than scared of going home.

Yolks had been a dreaded name in their family for as long as they could remember. Sometime a long time ago, Rachel’s younger brother had managed to find them in one of their past homes with some package, and much to her dismay, her husband discarded it.

Jeff realized he had a lot on his mind as the noise in the background slowly saturated his brain. He hadn’t gone home in as long as he could remember, and the sudden thought of it brought nothing but distress. He had a lot of fun memories of home and the friends and family he grew up with, most of whom abandoned him when it went south. He didn’t blame them anyway. When he saw the gift, his hate-filled heart did its thing. What they didn’t know was that he had gone far out of town to dispose of it. That was very low of him, no doubt.

They had stopped moving. Why did they stop, he wondered. He was so consumed in his thoughts that he didn’t know they had reached his restaurant. His daughter was saying something, the strength to pick out the words still eluded him.

‘’Dad?’’

‘’Yeah baby”, he managed to get out

‘’I was asking you if you wanted to pick up anything before we left”

He hadn’t thought this through. Frankly, he didn’t know what to pack for a journey such as this. They lived on the upper floor of his restaurant and had to go get personal effects, but nothing else came to mind. But he couldn’t bring himself to do anything. He just wanted to float. Steve, noticing his dazed state, gave him a gentle nudge on his arm. He looked at his eldest son like it was for the first time. They weren’t as close as they used to be or even as they should, but at that moment, he understood him the most. Leaving home had always been a passion for Steve but Jeff wouldn’t let him. Nobody was as careless as his first child. If he did anything, there was no telling what would happen to the rest of them. So, for someone who always wanted to leave, he knew what it felt like to never want to return home.

They went upstairs eventually. The house seemed in just as sour a mood as they were. Emily, reading the room, did the honours. With the help of the motherly instinct she had grown into, she picked up a sizable travelling bag and proceeded to pack some essentials, with the name of each person in mind. When she got to Lance’s room, she picked up the things he might need. With no intention of lingering, she headed out. On her way, she caught sight of a book on his table. They would definitely find him so why not get him the book. The hope felt good. Picking it up, she proceeded to leave the room but something fell out of the book, and that stopped her. It was a folded paper with a date on it. Looking around again to be sure it fell from that exact book, she opened it and saw a phone number. Seeing as everything meant something, she headed out excitedly.

Bumping into Steve, who was behind her, she showed him the paper.

‘’That’s today’s date, Emmy’’ he said, confirming what she already knew.

‘’Should we show Dad?’’ she asked. He had been pretty shaken in the past hour

He asked from behind them ‘’Show me what?’’. What it was still was in plain sight, so there was no hiding it. Looking at the paper in her hand, he asked again ‘’Show me what?’’

‘’Emmy found a note in Lance’s book with today’s date and a phone number’’. He explained, pointing in the general direction of his sister, who realized her cue to give the man the paper.

With the note in hand, Jeff stared speechless for a while, and clearing his throat, he declared ‘’This number or whatever it is, will not go through, I believe you both know that.’’ He didn’t see a need to give anyone false hope. Looking at Emmy, he demanded ‘’Are you done packing?’’

Simultaneously weighing what she had and looking around the house, she nodded positively. There was no need to pack too much, she was coming home soon, that much she knew.

Locking the house, they set out for the airport. Seeing as neither of them had been on this trip or bothered to learn the course, they left the booking to their father. He wasn’t very tech savvy but knew the barest minimum, that much he showed as he used his phone to do the needful. Facing his children, he announced that their flight was in an hour’s time.

‘’Would we make it? That’s barely enough time?’’ wondered Emmy.

‘’We are going to Yolks. You’ll see for yourself. It is not often visited so we shouldn’t experience any delay’’ he stated.

‘’I have a question, Dad’’ Emmy said.

Taking the cue, he replied ‘’You were expecting something not on the map, something secretive, not so?’’ Following her nod, he continued ‘’Where we are headed is a town in a much bigger town. I know you don't understand but you will soon.’’ he stopped as his son called their attention.

Steve was quick to hail a cab. Greq’s local airport was about 20 minutes away, 15 if they were lucky. It was a small town, not a lot happened. No surprise, they got there in less than they thought.

Upon arrival, everything else followed due process. The airport wasn’t a very big one but still had the usual hustle and bustle. But when they located their terminal, it was as scanty as declared earlier. As her father handled the procedure, a man of average height who appeared to be the airport manager scurried hurriedly past them, with a much taller man at his tail. They caught the glances of those around, both siblings included. The other man looked in their direction and quickly looked away as the manager was shouting orders to whatever worker was unlucky enough to cross his path. She realized she hadn’t looked at her phone since the madness of the day. Fishing it out, she found that it was as usual, no calls or texts, nothing. She had a total of four callers, one was by her side, the other in front, another missing, and the last one was dead. So no calls. There was a scuffle in front of her. Preoccupied, she hadn’t noticed the men appear in front of her.

‘’Make this happen, lady’’ the manager yelled. He was short of breath. On a good day, that would have made people laugh, but he was too tired to care. The customer comes first and this particular one would easily top that.

‘’It is against due procedure, sir’’ she begged.

‘’This is Yolks we are talking about and on a multi-city flight. For Pete’s sake, nobody would even notice.’’ his tone had not changed much.

Now visibly shaken, the attendant looked around for help that would not come. For some reason, the other man was amused. The smirk on his face was not invisible, surely the lady was seeing this but still accorded him respect. Emily was more than disgusted but was in no mood to let it bother her. Being a constant recipient of injustice, she couldn’t bear to see another being dished. But now was not the time.

‘’Let’s go, guys’’ her father said as he tugged at her arm.

Unconsciously, she looked back and saw the man following her every step. She had to straighten her hair. Never had she ever felt so self-conscious. Remembering what he did to the attendant, she loathed the man for doing this to her.