by Suzy Turner
CHAPTER FIVE
I didn't have to wait. The moment I stepped out into the arrivals hall with my luggage, I heard someone calling out my name. My eyes searched the crowd until they stopped on a young man who waved avidly at me. I tried to smile but probably failed.
“Lillian? Is that you? I wasn't sure if I'd recognise you from the photo... you look very different! It's the hair, I guess. Although you're a lot younger in the photo. Anyway, Gabriel - I mean your grand-father - couldn't make it as you know and so he asked me to pick you up. I'm Benjamin. It's great to finally meet you,” he gushed.
“Hi,” was all I could muster as he delved into his pocket and pulled out a photo of what looked a little (and I mean a little) like me from when I was just a baby. He turned the image to show me and I laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of it.
“Er... I'd like to think I've changed, a lot. I'm amazed you recognised me at all,” I said, starting to feel comfortable with the stranger, but wondering where the photo had come from. It wasn't one I was familiar with. That said, no photo would be one I was familiar with. We didn't have any family photos at all.
Together we laughed as Benjamin easily lifted my bag from the luggage trolley and asked me to follow him. I stumbled behind him, not sure what to say as we walked through the car park until we stopped in front of a large dark green, slightly rusty pick-up truck.
Luckily Benjamin was the chatty type so I needn't have worried. All I had to do was listen and give the occasional reply.
“I hope you don't get travel sickness as we've quite a long drive ahead of us,” he said as we climbed into the pick-up and he started the engine.
“I don't think so... I was okay in the taxi and on the plane so I guess not.”
“You mean that's the only time you've ever travelled anywhere?” he asked, surprised, as I nodded in response.
“Well then, sit back and enjoy the trip. I'm sure you'll be impressed with what you see. Canada, especially this part of the country, is pretty awesome. There's lots to see.”
I made myself as comfortable as possible as he made small talk as we drove out of the airport towards our destination. I listened while I looked out the window at the dramatic ocean views, enjoying the moment until he broached the subject I had been dreading: my parents.
“So, Lillian...” it was coming.
“Please Benjamin... call me Lilly. Nobody has called me Lillian since, since, well probably since that photo was taken.”
He laughed and nodded, “Okay, Lilly, but only if you call me Ben.”
We smiled and were both silent for a moment but I knew he was going to try and ask me again.
“Lilly. I just wanted to say how sorry I am about your parents going missing. I can't imagine what you must be going through. It must be absolutely awful...”
I didn't really know how to respond. So I chose not to.
“It's okay. I get it. If you don't want to talk about it, that is. You barely know me after all,” he said with a sad smile as he pulled onto a busy motorway.
Feeling a little guilty, I nodded, “Why don't you tell me about you then?”
“Not a heck of a lot to say, really,” he took a breath before continuing, “my name you now know. I'm twenty-seven years old. I've lived in the same town pretty much all my life. I've recently opened a vet practice on the outskirts of town. Yes, I'm the local vet, in case you were wondering why the truck is covered in dog hair. What else would you like to know?”
“Brothers, sisters?” I queried.
“Oh, yeah. I have a younger brother, Oliver, who'll be seventeen,” Ben looked at his watch, “in about thirty-six hours,” he laughed. “I think your grand-father is hoping you'll join the party, the day after tomorrow. Nothing grand. Just family and a few friends. I guess he's hoping you'll make some friends of your own.”
I cringed slightly and Ben noticed. “Sorry, too soon, I guess. You know, everyone will completely understand if you'd rather not join in. You need some time to settle in and chill out and... er... never mind.”
I nodded. I didn't think Ben had the slightest clue how grateful I was. At the same time, I wondered who he meant by 'everyone' but I didn't ask. I thought about what he said about making some new friends and I sighed quietly, remembering my sheltered life in England with so few friends. What if people didn't like me? Having never made any other friends it was hard for me to imagine meeting people and being all... well... friendly. But then this life was going to be completely different from my old life. Perhaps I'd fit in perfectly. Perhaps I could change. I struggled with the thought.
It was just after midday and the sky started to cloud over. I hadn't noticed how cold it was. I shivered.
Ben immediately whacked up the heat without saying a word.
We drove in silence for quite a while until I noticed we were approaching a ferry terminal. It dawned on me then that I had barely asked any questions, not even the most important one.
“You know, Ben, I haven't got the faintest idea where we're going.”
“I love your accent, Lilly. It's so damn cute... just give me a sec while I sort out the ferry ticket,” he wound down his window and while he chatted to the friendly lady with a big grin in the ticket booth and paid for our crossing, I read the signs around us and concluded we were going to a place called Langdale.
“Is that where you live? Where I'll be living? Langdale?” I asked as he wound the window back up again.
“No, we need to get a second ferry afterwards up to Powell River – that's where we're going.”
I felt like such a child asking silly questions. I wish I had known more about this journey before it had begun.
“Sorry, I just haven't got a clue,” I choked, as I felt as if those tears might emerge again.
Luckily I managed to hold them at bay, and offer what was probably my most pathetic smile yet.
“Don't be sorry, Lilly. It's not your fault that nobody shared any of this with you. It's such a shame, really. It would have been great for you and your grand-father if you'd been able to meet each other before... and under better circumstances.”
Ben was so kind. Just from this short trip, I knew that we would become friends. My first Canadian friend. I also got the impression that he understood me. More than anybody had understood me since the vanishing. Probably more than anybody had understood me at all. Ever. In my life. Why he could possibly understand what I was going through was beyond me, though. But I just had the feeling that he did, probably more than December had done over the past few weeks.
I hoped that I would find everyone in Powell River as understanding and kind as him. If they were, I would have no problem making those friends I was so worried about.
