Nevertheless, the city has made significant contributions towards arts and literature, to the point of becoming a UNESCO City of Literature. It is home to three Nobel Laureates, William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw and Samuel Beckett alongside numerous other well-known figures such as Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift and Bram Stoker. Cinematic hotshots such as Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Gabriel Byrne also call Dublin home.
It is currently estimated that more than 50% of Dublin’s population is aged below twenty-five years, allowing it to have a bustling nightlife, fast paced work style and a wide range of competitive businesses. Every other corner of the city is lined with designer boutiques, shopping arcades and high scale restaurants. The local government is set to spend $920 million towards further developing the city centre and its surrounding areas, welcoming the opportunity for foreign investment from corporate giants such as MoonStar, amongst others.
Located at the newly developed Point Village of Dublin, Moonstar Dublin was an upcoming property for the chain. Only recently completed, it would be open to public from New Year’s day onwards. As they made final preparations to their outlook and feverishly added finishing touches towards the excellent service standard expected of them, the property currently housed selected senior MoonStar management and their guests.
As the moonlight threw itself across one of these bedroom suites, two figures were seen lying in bed. One was trying to sleep, tossing and turning while the other looked on, torn between the urge to interrupt a bad dream or to let her sleep uninterrupted. Thomas gently put his arm around Cathy and squeezed her as if to say, ‘Wake up, you’re not alone.'
With a slight jump, Cathy woke up, her body trembling. Beads of sweat trickled down the sides of her face. She peered into Thomas’ concerned face.
“Hey Sweets, I’m sorry ... I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“No, it’s fine. I was having a bad dream.”
“I didn’t know what else to do ... how else to help. How bad was it?
“I don’t know ... it was the same thing over and over again. Dad in my room. Me fighting him off ... and the way he always came back no matter how or where I stabbed him,” Cathy said.
More relaxed now, she welcomed Thomas’ interruption. As untrue as the frequent bad dreams were, she often felt a stabbing fear that one day her dreams would give way to reality and she would find herself back where she had started, in her bedroom with her father.
“You know that’s not true. He’s gone Cat, for good. As sure as the summer sun, he’s gone.”
“I know, Tom Tom ... just tell me that you love me,” her voice was soft, her eyes pleaded with his as he looked down at her.
Thomas pulled her closer towards him, his nostrils drowning in the mixture of her scents.
“I love you very much and you already know that. Nothing will change how much I love you.”
“I love you too, Tom Tom.”
After a long deep breath, Cathy paused, comforted at having his arms around her.
“Hey, do you think we would make good parents?” she asked.
“Wow ... where did that come from? I guess, I mean it won’t be perfect but we’d cope. We always do.”
Thomas looked at the woman curled up next to him, his chin rested on her forehead as her fingers drew imaginary patterns on his chest. It was a rarity for Cathy to ask a question without any particular intention. At the same time, he knew if he pushed too much, he might never get an answer.
“You’re afraid I’ll become him, aren’t you? That if we have a daughter, I would do to her everything your father did to you,” he said. His voice was a mere whisper but his words slowly captured Cathy’s worst nightmare.
“I never said that,” came the abrupt reply.
“I think you just implied it, Sweets. We have been together ... as a couple for almost seven years. I have known you all my life and yet you still hesitate to love me completely. There must be a reason Cat and I’ll wait for you as long as it takes.”
“What if you’re not the reason Tom Tom? What if I’m scared about whom I will turn out to be? What if my daughter came to me for help and I turned her away because I wasn’t bothered to make the effort or didn’t care to listen?”
He felt Cathy shiver slightly as tears slowly streamed down her face. Her past was a difficult one for either of them to deal with and these were the times he wished he could have done more.
“I would never have wished all of this on you or anyone else and I know life seems more complicated than it should be but like I always keep telling you ... I’ll take this journey with you. Let me be strong for you, Cat. God knows you’re strong enough for everyone else.”
He felt her soft lips on his, as they embraced. Her arms wrapped tightly around him. She continued to lay awake as he ran his fingers through her red locks.
“When you first came back to me, I was just so excited to have you in my life again that nothing else mattered. But I do have questions, Cat. You have ignored them for so long and even if you can’t answer all of them, one at a time would be great. I know its beginning to sound like a chorus but ...”
“Ummm ... I sense you already have a question in mind.”
“I came to visit you when you were in pri ... when you were away. Every few months, our birthdays, Christmas ... and always they would say that you were not allowed visitors. But this one guard slipped and he said you had been taken away about two years after you had been arrested, where did you go?”
As he waited, he saw her shift uneasily. Cathy sighed.
“Mostly it was training. Different countries for language training, they checked our mental strength with numerous tests and exercises, sometimes we were joined by other trainees, mostly I was alone ... I finished school, did my degree while working as an intern with MoonStar Corporate and then I came back to you. After that you know what happened ... it’s really hard to summarise all of it into just one sentence or one particular incident, Tom. I went everywhere I was told, sometimes barely realising where I was.”
“And were there others? ... you know? ... other men?” His voice had a slight break but even if it made no difference now, he needed to know.
“Yes ... there were. It wasn’t love or anything remotely close, it was as though I just had someone I could call or be with without explaining my past ... and you ... were there others?”
Deep down she had always loved him, the day he had kissed her on her thirteenth birthday and had promised to take care of her for the rest of her life, she knew he was different from her father. She knew it was more than a childhood promise but life had intervened, initially offering doubt and then clarity. And now, she could think of nothing that could tear them apart.
“Yeah ... two, maybe three but no one special. I would come so close to thinking I had found the right person then I would think of you ... I don’t know ... None of the pieces seemed to fit until you came back. And somehow I knew you would always come back,” he said as he bent to kiss her forehead.
“You know, we can’t go on like this forever. We have given a whole new meaning to the concept of commuting couples. I want to be there for you every morning when you wake up,” Cathy said, slinking closer to him.
“Cat, I am where you are. I don’t like our current arrangement as well but it’s up to you. If you don’t want us to stay at your apartment at MoonStar Vegas, we can always work something out.”
“Arrrgghh, sometimes I wish I could just leave MoonStar and stay put in one place. All the travelling really gets to me and can you imagine it when we have kids and their schooling ...”
“Okay Sweets, I think you’re getting way ahead of yourself. All this talk of kids is getting to me. Is there something else you’re trying to tell me?” Thomas interrupted her.
“Like what? I’m pregnant? Of course not. I was just thinking about the future I guess,” Cathy giggled.
A long silence passed between the lovers as they each comforted themselves in the simple knowledge
of the other's presence. Yet each was engrossed in numerous questions, darting in their minds trying to steer clear of the future, focusing on the present and somehow always ending in the past.
“Hey Tom, there’s this other dream I’ve been having. A really strange one. I’m in the middle of this huge sandstorm and there is a cloud of red dust rolling above me. I’m holding onto a wooden door, I think it’s a room or maybe a house. Pretty sure I’m trying to get in and I can’t. I hear people calling my name but I can’t get to them. It’s creepy,” Cathy said making a desperate attempt to divert his attention from the past.
“Maybe it’s symbolic. You are the sandstorm and people are running to take cover from you. It’s like when you go to a hotel for an inspection, I bet they are terrified of you. Like earlier, the guy at the check-in counter when you arrived. he was ready to have a heart attack the way he was going,” Thomas said, as he felt Cathy elbow him.
Then, after a few moments of silence, he spoke again.
“Good try at changing the subject but I have one last question, for now. Remember, when you told me all that spy stuff, how do they find you? As in how do they know which hotel you’re at or that you haven’t run away?”
Cathy looked up at him and slowly fingered the blue pendant on her chain.
“It’s a tracking device, there were other options, fancy gadgets but I chose the pendant. Plus, I’m convinced someone very high up in MoonStar works with them, reports to them. I just can’t be sure who it is, yet.”
“Ah okay, now we can change the subject. It’s Christmas day Sweets, well its past 6:00 a.m. and since we’re up and rambling about kids and sandstorms, would you like your Christmas present?"
“Of course I would! Let’s go get something to eat as well,” Cathy said as she got out of bed.
“Mmmmm, let’s do something crazy. We could have wine, brownies and ice-cream for breakfast and then I could whip up a proper Christmas feast for the two of us, the Tom Tom way of course.”
He leaned over to kiss her, pulling her close and savouring the moment.
'One day all this mystery would end and all the complications would untangle,' he told himself. But until then, he would not allow her past to take her away from him. After all, she was the one who had brought up marriage. Maybe, she was ready.
“So am I getting that book collection I wanted or is it that glass chess set?” Cathy giggled, as she walked behind the sofa and reached for the red parcel she had hidden there, her present for him. It was the telephoto lens he had talked about for months.
Deep down, she knew the one thing he wanted the most was the one thing she could not give, all of her.
WASHINGTON DC, USA
February 2010
Formerly known as the District of Columbia, Washington DC was declared as the national capital for the United States of America in July 1790. Since then, it has been home to many historical events. One of the district’s most prominent historical disasters was the Burning of Washington on 24 August 1814 when British forces invaded the district and burnt most of the buildings including the White House. Rebuilding was a lengthy process and what the world sees as the current state of Washington DC was completed decades later in 1868.
Fires ravaged its streets again after the assassination of the prominent Dr. Martin Luther King with as many as four commercial streets suffering severe losses and not seeing complete restoration until after 1995. It is also believed that the devastation of 9/11 that hit the Twin Towers in New York was destined for Washington DC but passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 had fought the hijackers off and the plane had crashed in Pennsylvania instead.
At least seventy historical landmarks showcase the various stages of progress the district has made. Some of these landmarks include the Tidal Basin, an entire row of Cherry Blossom Trees gifted to the USA by Japan; the National Archives Building which securely houses the country’s Declaration of Independence and the Library of Congress, the largest library in the world with close to two hundred million books and reading materials.
The district continues to remain a canvas for various artistic expressions in the form of the National Symphony Orchestra, John F. Kennedy Centre for Performing Arts, the Warner Theatre, Arena Stage and Ford’s Theatre which also endures prominent tourist attraction for being the site where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.
Resident population in the district may be less than a million people but they enjoy a bustling night scene owing to numerous clubs, cafes and at least three hundred luxury properties located in various corners of the city.
It was at the Northwest corner of Washington DC, late one evening that Cathy stood in a guest room, looking out the window.
“You must be thinking I was stupid enough to have brought all of this on myself,” said the lady sitting on the sofa.
The woman's white silk blouse had a slight rip, her skirt had a huge wine stain and her hair, earlier tied in a French knot was now a mess. At fifty-four years of age, save for a few crow's feet at the corners of her eyes, she barely looked her years. This was Annabelle Rice. Until two hours ago, she had been one of the most popular marriage experts in town. A public speaker and best-selling author, she had organised hundreds of seminars filled with tips on staying happily married.
Each seminar cost an average of $1850 per person for a two hour session. Some couples viewed her sessions as a last resort to seek happiness in their marriage and saved for months before being able to afford the opportunities she offered to keep their marriages intact.
After spending their hard earned savings on her, finding out that her own marriage was nothing but a convenient agreement, disheartened some of her followers. And to find out further that her husband was actually being paid to stay married to her, drove at least one customer raging mad.
It had been past 9:00 p.m. when a small dinner crowd lingered at the main restaurant, The Arrows Lounge had started to receive more guests for evening cocktails and chatter could be heard all around the lobby area of MoonStar Washington DC.
Cathy and the property’s Front Office Manager, Erin were just about to start their dinner when they saw a woman throwing herself at Annabelle and wrestling her onto the floor. Much to their horror, plates and wine glasses shattered in all directions. Between stunned associates and guests, Security was summoned and the two women were separated.
While Annabelle was escorted to her suite, the other woman, Alice was taken to the Security office. She claimed that she and her husband had attended Annabelle’s sessions for the past three months and had spent more than $7,000 on Annabelle’s CDs, books, seminars and private counseling sessions.
While searching for additional material online, she had come across a YouTube video of Annabelle’s husband Colin picking up two college students at the West Flamingo Road in Vegas. Both girls sat in their car as he was seen talking to them, his head peering through the driver's side window, offering a clear view of his face. One of the girls recognised him as, "the husband of the lady my mom listens to".
Colin had responded to this statement with, “Oh, that old hag. I’m not her real husband. She pays me, I show up. Trust me, I don’t get any fringe benefits. Plus, she’s not even my type. But you and your friend here, now we can have some fun and it will be our little secret.”
Having already signed up for this week’s seminars held at MoonStar Washington DC, Alice had made her way to the property with the intention of confronting Annabelle about the video. However, she said she completely ‘lost it’ when she saw Annabelle sitting down to an expensive dinner, oblivious to the fact that her lies had been uncovered.
“All these years, even before Bill and I had started to see her, I hung on to every word that stupid woman said. My poor Bill had to work extra hours just so we could afford the sessions and then I find out, it’s all lies. And there she was, sitting her pretty ass in a fancy restaurant with her bloody Chanel bag and Gucci suit. I just lost control,” she cried to the Security officers who were tryin
g to make sense of the situation.
Cathy moved away from the window and sat opposite Annabelle, contemplating the past two hours. After a quick update from Security and making sure that the guests at the restaurant were being attended to, she had come to the suite to check on Annabelle. She had found the speaker sitting on the sofa wearing the same clothes and gulping wine straight out the bottle.
When Cathy offered her a hot drink she had quipped, “No, I need to enjoy this moment. My happy days are finally over.”
Annabelle refused to press any charges against Alice and even promised reimbursement for the damages at the restaurant. While neither woman would be arrested, Cathy knew that Annabelle had plenty of explaining to do, for her own sake and for her customers.
“I’m not here to judge you and in my line of work, I completely understand how impressions are everything. But you will have to deal with this in the open, Ms. Rice,” Cathy said.
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