by Cinda Swans
The Boxfield Elm
By Cinda Swans
Copyright © 2013
Blue Ribbon Books
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.
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Chapter 1
The dish soap by her aunt's kitchen sink was lemon-verbena scented, and when Bri squeezed some onto the bright blue sponge, a pleasant, green-colored smell wafted through the kitchen. She took a deep breath, carefully sudsing and rinsing one of the shining, globular wine glasses.
Living in her Aunt Claire's apartment for six weeks, Bri had already broken three glasses on the fancy stone sink. Each time, she felt a twinge of guilt. But really, Claire probably won't care too much.
Bri was house-sitting for her Aunt Claire - or, that's what Claire called it. Really, it was more of a favor to Bri. Recently graduated from college in North Carolina, Bri had been restless and worried about her future. She and her aunt Claire had never been particularly close - Claire was fashionable and wealthy, a successful opera singer with a mysterious, exciting life. Bri, on the other hand, had always been calm and serious. She felt shy and a little intimidated by her gorgeous and prosperous aunt. But Bri's mother had passed Claire's number on to her and encouraged her to talk with her aunt, and Claire had been so warm and generous! She explained that she'd be in Paris for the next six months, working on a production. She'd be happy to have Bri live in her Boston apartment, watering the plants and feeding the cat.
The apartment was much fancier than anywhere Bri had ever lived. There was a doorman out front - sometimes napping, but always friendly. The apartment had gleaming white carpets and white couches, which made Bri nervous she'd spill something on them. There were tall orchids and luscious rubber trees in each room. There were tiny succulents growing in little ceramic pots in the bathroom. There were ferns and vines creeping over the pillars on either side of the wide doorframes. There were exotic plants that Claire had listed off to Bri by names which had washed over her like a foreign language. Luckily, Bri loved taking care of plants, even if she wasn't sure what most of them were.
In the living-room, there was a grand piano and a tall china cabinet with crystal cups and porcelain knick-nacks. Everywhere, there were little things from Claire's travels, gifts from lovers and fans.
Bri set the rinsed wine glass carefully in the dish rack and dried her hands on the linen cloth which was folded delicately on the counter.
There was a buzzing sound from the intercom panel by the front door, and Bri went over to answer it. She pressed the little button, and her friend Josie's voice answered, "I'm here!" through the statick-y little box. Bri hit the button that would let the doorman know to let her up.
A few moments later, Bri opened the door, and Josie stepped in with a big grin on her face and a bottle of wine in her hand. "Hi!" she said, cheerily.
"Hi!" said Bri. "Come in!"
Josie was a few inches shorter than Bri, and she had long, thick, black hair and brown eyes. She wore big silver earrings and played bass guitar in a local band. She was wearing a dark denim jacket and black jeans, and her face was full of light. Bri and Josie had only known each other for a month, but they had made fast friends. They rode the same bus to their jobs every day - Bri to a non-profit office, Josie to a fancy cafe where she waitressed. It wasn't long before they spotted each other and started talking. Now they made plans to hang out a couple nights out of the week.
Josie followed Bri into the glistening apartment and marveled again. She had come over a few times already, but the place still filled her with a sense of wonder. "God," she said. "This place is crazy."
"Tell me about it," said Bri. "I live here!" she laughed.
They went into the kitchen, and Bri took the wine glasses out of the drying rack. Josie opened a couple drawers until she found a corkscrew, a heavy, brass contraption with delicate floral engraving. "Geez," she said. "Does your aunt have anything that's not nice?"
"Nothing I've found, so far," said Bri.
"Well, we can pretend that this wine is as fancy as the glasses we're going to drink it out of," she said, opening the bottle of cheap white wine.
"Are you hungry?" asked Bri.
"A little," said Josie. "But I figured we could eat out?"
Bri shrugged, opening the stainless steel refrigerator. She'd been working for a couple weeks now, and had gotten her first two paychecks. Since she didn't have to worry about rent, her finances were in okay shape, but she wasn't used to the idea of eating out as often as Josie seemed to be.
She pulled some hummus and pita bread out of the fridge and set them on a nice tray, making the cheap food seem more luxurious than it was. "Let's sit?" she suggested.
The kitchen had a short bar which divided it from the living room, with four tall stools all around. Blanco, Claire's cat, always slept on the third one. She and Josie sat down across from each other with their glasses of wine, and Bri put the plate of food between them.
"How was your day?" she asked Josie.
"Okay," she answered, sipping on the wine. "Kind of weird."
"Oh?" asked Bri. "Why's that?"
"I don't know. Neptune's entering retrograde," she said, as if that explained something important. She swiped a piece of the pita bread into the hummus and munched on it.
"Huh," said Bri, trying to pretend she understood what Josie was saying.
"So . . . Neptune, the planet, like, right now, where Neptune is in relation to the earth just means that there's just lots of, like, excess psychic energy around, like, everyone's intuition is on overdrive," she paused to take another bite. "And, like, if you don't listen to what it's telling you or whatever, then things get kind of out of balance."
"Huh," said Bri again. She was interested in Josie's astrological explanations for everyday phenomena, but she wasn't sure that she was completely sold on it. It seemed to her like a way of explaining things that would happen anyway. But Josie talked about it so often that Bri was starting to think about it even when Josie wasn't there. "So what is your intuition telling you?"
"Nothing yet," said Josie, gulping big sips from her glass of wine. "But something is going to happen tonight."
Bri laughed. "Like what?" she said, taking a cue from Josie to drink more from her own, still-full glass.
"Like with you, I think," said Josie. "And the past. The re-beginning of something you forgot about."
Her friend's answer prickled the hairs on the back of Bri's pale, slender neck. She laughed again, not wanting to take Josie seriously. But the prickly feeling lingered, even as they changed topics of conversation, chatting about their jobs, about Josie's upcoming show with her new band, Josie asking Bri more questions about her aunt.
But the whole time, she was wondering, What from her past could possibly show up tonight?
Or maybe, who?
She tried to run through a list of people she might run into: she had heard that Colin had moved to the city with his girlfriend, who was from Seattle. David and Laurie had gotten an apartment in Jamaica Plain, hadn't they? Maybe she'd see Michael's sister Alice, who she'd never met, but she lived with her girlfriend in Allston and was a bartender somewhere trendy and probably nearby.
Who else could she possibly run in to?
Would it be a boy, Bri wondered? Was it going to be a romantic thing?
Josie, of course, would run into a lot of
people - no matter where they went - since she knew practically everyone, from playing music and from being a waitress. Sometimes it was overwhelming to go out with her - Bri didn't know a soul, and felt shy. But Josie was always so nice about introducing her to people, and gradually Bri was starting to imagine that it might be possible to make some friends in her new home.
After two and a half glasses of wine each, Bri said, "So, where shall we go?"
"I was thinking we'd go to Our House," said Josie. "The bar, that is. They have half price pitchers of good beer on Thursday nights."
"Good thing or bad thing I have Fridays off?"
"Well," said Josie, "We'll just have to find out."
So Bri got up and went to her bedroom to get her things to go out. She wanted a sweater - it was still cool at night, not far enough into summer for the nights to be warm yet. There was a big, antique mirror over the heavy mahogany dresser. She looked at herself, and Bri saw her uncertainty about everything. It seemed to glimmer around behind her pale freckles and light, auburn hair that became wispy in moist air. She looked at herself through her own hazel eyes, and thought about "Neptune," in "retrograde." What did that even mean? Probably nothing. But she kind of wanted it to mean something - she wanted a big, interesting change to happen. Even after only a month of working her pleasant not-quite-full-time office job at a sizable nonprofit in downtown Boston, she was afraid she'd get bored soon.
What could happen next?
What did she want to have happen?
She didn’t have any ideas, but she was sure that graduating from college was a let-down. She was single, young, educated, pretty, and employed, and yet, nothing seemed particularly exciting.
Maybe tonight that would change.
Bri opened one of the drawers in the giant bathroom - it was full of her aunt's left-behind make-up. So much of it looked barely-touched, and all of it was expensive. She found a shade of fiery orange-red lipstick. Bri rarely wore make-up, and if she did it was usually only a little swipe of mascara. But something told her that it might be the right night for a little extra spice.
She grabbed her purse and headed out to find Josie studying one of Claire's exotic plants - by the window in a medium sized pot, separated a little from the others. "What is this plant?" Josie asked.
Bri shrugged, trying to remember the name her aunt had told her. "It's a...like, an African violet, maybe, I think? Or it's a . . . a bird-of-paradise, or something? I can't really remember."
"Hm," said Josie.
"Why?" said Bri.
"No reason, really. Just, it looks different than it did the last time I was here, doesn't it?"
Bri went over to look more closely, imaging that the wine had made them both silly. But when she bent closer, she saw that the leaves of the plant had become an opalescent, whitish-green tone. The flower, which used to be the palest pink, was now the color of fire. She bent over it to take in its scent — it smelled musky and green and warm and like honey and cayenne all at the same time. "Woah," she said. "Holy crap."
She looked up at Josie, who was watching her smell the strange plant. "Your lipstick is the same color as the flower!" she laughed.
"Huh," said Bri, drawing away. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled a little bit again. "I don't know what the hell this plant is. It's so gorgeous."
"Well, your lipstick looks fantastic. And your aunt Claire sure has some crazy stuff in here”, said Josie, shaking her head. She had her purse over her shoulder already and moved toward the door.
"Yep," agreed Bri. "I don't know."
They stepped out the heavy door, which clicked shut behind them. They went down the lushly carpeted hall to the elevator, and its gleaming golden doors yawned open for them. They took it down to the lobby and Bri waved to Mike, the doorman, as they walked past.
"Y'all going out now?" he asked.
"Be back late!" said Josie.
"Ugh," said Bri. "I hope not too late."
The doorman laughed and smiled. "Well, I'll be here, either way."
Bri and Josie whisked through the set of double doors and out onto the street. The night was still warm, and the air felt moist and smelled like the city and the sea.
"Do you want to just walk there?" asked Josie.
"Or take the bus? No, that would be silly. It's so nice out. Let's just hoof it."
Josie nodded, and the two settled into a brisk walking pace. It felt nice to walk beside her beautiful new friend, and comfortable to grow quiet as they moved down the city streets, both of them thinking their private thoughts for the long-ish walk before they'd step inside the noisy bar.
Bri breathed in the city smell deeply, and she felt a wave of happiness about being back in the Boston area, back in her home state. There was something familiar about everything, and she appreciated that a lot in a time of such uncertainty about her life. She was grateful for the job a family friend had helped her find, but it was only a little more than part-time, and she had a feeling that it was going to be short lived. She had double majored in English and Anthropology in college, and some days her brain felt like a hamster running on a too-small wheel as she filed documents and drafted stock letters to donors.
Plus, she was lonely. She tried not to admit it to herself, because it seemed stupid. But it had been nearly a year since she'd dated anyone seriously. She'd gone out a few times with guys before she moved away from her little college town in North Carolina, and they'd been fairly attractive, gentle, outdoorsy types, and always nice to her. But she hadn't really let herself get emotionally involved with anyone since Paul. Paul, who she dated all through college, and who she still thought about so often. But when she thought of him, it was always with some confused mess of bittersweet longing and regret - which mostly told her that she was ready to get swept off her feet by someone new.
Who would it be?
Would she meet him tonight? Is that what Josie had been talking about?
They were sauntering down Mass. Ave now, and the street was busy and alive around them. Bri felt pretty, walking next to Josie, and people in the street seemed to smile at them like it made sense for them to be walking together. There was always an air of something sweet and magical around Josie - the world seemed to always have space for her. It was comforting to be around, thought Bri.
Chapter 2
It was the intense, glowing blue of a stranger's eyes that knocked Bri out of her thoughtless, walking reverie. The man had been walking on the same sidewalk in the opposite direction from Bri, and he veered towards her a little so that they both had to stop in front of each other.
Startled, she tried to say, "Excuse me," out of politeness, even though it had clearly been the man's intention to step into her path. But the intensity of his eyes made her words linger half-formed on her tongue.
The man had shaggy grey hair, and a worn-looking button-down shirt with worn-looking pants. He looked like he might either live on the street, or be from some earlier time - like a farmer out in the countryside. He didn't seem crazy, exactly, but Bri was taken aback. He was definitely strange. She couldn't look away from his eyes, which seemed to be seeing straight into her brain.
"You know," said the man, quietly.
Bri struggled to regain her speech, so she took a weird, long moment before she said, "What?"
"You know," the man repeated. He seemed to be smiling slightly, without really moving his lips. "You know about us, don't you?"
"Know about who?" said Bri. "I don't know you? What?" She suddenly became aware that Josie was still there, too, by her side. As if the man really could see into her brain, he broke eye contact with her to look over at Josie, who gazed back at him steadily.
"Ah," said the man. "She doesn't know us, but she knows about some things, huh." He looked back at Bri as if he were waiting for an answer from her.
Bri looked at Josie and laughed nervously. "Listen sir," she said, "Um, sorry. We, uh, have to go." She started to step around him, but somehow he caught her eye o
ne last time.
"Listen," he said, "You're important, okay? So keep listening. Some people will talk to you, and you have to listen, okay?"
Bri couldn't help but nod in agreement, while she was looking into his strange, other-worldly eyes. It was like a whole universe lived inside of this old man's eyes. Josie put a comforting hand on Bri's shoulder, and the two of them stepped out of the old man's path. He smiled gently, and Bri felt his gaze still, even as they turned their backs on him and started to walk.
"That was really weird," said Bri. "Ah, that was so weird. What the hell?"
"See what I'm saying?" said Josie. "Something weird is in the air today, I wasn't kidding."
"Oh come on!" laughed Bri. "You can't mean that you think that a crazy old man stopped us because Jupiter is upside-down or something?"
They arrived at the cross-walk for Huntington Ave, and Bri looked back to see the old man, who should still have been walking within eye-sight.
He wasn't there.
She felt goose-bumps rise on her arms, but she also felt like everyone was just being silly. Maybe living in a city was hard in ways she'd forgotten to think about - strange, misty-eyed people wandering around on the streets, unfamiliar men stopping you to tell you some weird thing that didn't make sense.
"Not Jupiter," said Josie. "Neptune. Anyway I'm not saying because, I'm just saying . . . “she stopped. They crossed the street quickly, making for the last blocks before the bar. Then Josie threw her head back and laughed, which was a gorgeous, comforting sight to see. "I don't know what I'm saying," she laughed. "It actually doesn't really matter. The world is just a goofy place sometimes."
"Geez," said Bri, jabbing her friend in the arm a little bit. "You're just a goofy person sometimes, huh?"
"Well," said Josie. She was getting that look on her face - a light, focused smile - which meant she'd already spotted a few people she knew standing outside the bar. "I should hope so. You should probably be goofier, you know?" she said, laughing gently at Bri's seriousness.
