Healing Tea

by Sheila Horgan

  “There are no stupid questions.” I said it, but really, there are stupid questions. Comedians have been making a living pointing them out for years.

  Teagan continued. “If we went to all this trouble not to be seen leaving, how do we get back in without being seen?”

  “Good point.”

  Elsa laughed. “I will give you my cell number. Call me when you get back, and I will meet you right here.”

  Teagan took out her phone and traded contact information with Elsa. “We probably won’t be back until dark.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want a car?”

  “I think we’re good. Thanks.”

  Elsa pointed us in the right direction, and we were off.

  I know that I have made fun of Teagan in the past because she uses her phone for everything. She has every kind of app you can think of.

  The girl is so dependent on her phone that she carries an emergency backup battery to use.

  But the really sad part is, she carries an emergency backup for her backup.

  Today, that particular proclivity came in handy.

  With her phone and several apps she already had or acquired en route, we figured out where to catch the train.

  We figured out where to get off the train.

  We figured out step-by-step directions.

  We figured out where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see.

  We figured out how to get back and even how many steps we took.

  It was a great day.

  Very long story — over eighteen thousand steps — short, we saw so much stuff, I don’t even know where to start.

  We got lost a couple of times. Well, to be truthful, I’m not sure we were ever really found.

  We saw M&M’s World. I think that’s where they had a glass bridge Teagan made me walk across. I’m not fond of heights. I’m not fond of looking like an idiot in public — you know, falling to the ground in prayers of gratitude that the bridge didn’t collapse while I was walking across it. So all I need to say is I am here to tell the tale, and there were no breaking news stories about bridge collapse in New York today.

  Hershey’s was not to be outdone. The façade on the front of the building is amazing. The lady I was talking to, while Teagan gained seven pounds sniffing in all that Hershey’s smell, said it is the biggest in Time Square.

  Teagan is now the proud owner of Hershey Kiss Christmas tree ornaments.

  When we were in the Disney store, I picked up a few things for Evelyn, and Teagan grabbed a couple of things for Joynessa. I was kind of proud of her. I know how hard the whole Jessie’s baby thing has been, but she seems to be really trying to build a good life with Jessie, and part of that is being good to Joynessa. Besides, if she were a jerk to a baby, no matter what the circumstances, my mother would haunt her for the rest of her days.

  We talked to a lady at the Museum of Modern Art. She was telling us about a wish tree outside. Teagan wanted to go find it. I couldn’t. I just flashed back on what Daddy had said about Mom dying in his arms and telling her that every one of her wishes had come true, and all of a sudden my energy was gone. I didn’t want to cry in public. I’ve done enough of that.

  “What’s up? You went from happy to some really dark place.”

  “Just thinking of Mom’s wishes.”

  “That should make you smile. How many people can say that every one of their wishes has come true?”

  I hate it when Teagan reads my mind. She knew exactly what I was thinking.

  “I know, but…”

  “Once you say ‘but,’ the part before that doesn’t count. There was a time when you were terminally optimistic, Cara. When people made fun of you because you could find the silver lining in anything.”

  “There’s no silver lining in losing Mom.”

  “True, but there is a silver lining in having had her in the first place. All that she taught us. We had more from her in the time we had her than anyone I know has had from their mother no matter how long she has lived. That’s what I’m concentrating on. I want people to think of me when I’m gone the way people think of Mom.”

  “You aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, Teagan.”

  “True, I hope, but it took Mom a lifetime to build her legacy.”

  “Legacy?”

  “We all have one. I just want mine to be more like Mom’s than some others I could think of.”

  “True. Okay, I’m not going to do this. I wanted to have fun in New York. Let’s go find a cup of tea.”

  “Let’s go find someplace to eat. I’m starving.”

  I thought we would end up in a restaurant, but can I just say that the people in New York have brought mobile eating to a whole new level? We got food from a food cart. I assumed it would be like the old movie jokes where you get a hot dog that has been sitting in dirty water for an undignified period of time. No, we ate food created by some very famous chef who used to work in one of the highest-rated restaurants in New York.

  Teagan likes fancier food than I do, so she was in seventh heaven, but what I had was good, too.

  We sat on stone benches and ate quickly because there were so many people. We figured they wanted a place to sit, too.

  Oh, and about all the people — they walk fast. Really fast. Teagan and I have been teased all our lives about how fast we walk, especially Teagan. She has short legs and has to take a step and a half for every one of mine. Her foot action is quick, but the people of New York, they bring it to a whole other level. Even the old people walk fast. And God help you if you hold up traffic.

  There was a street vendor with about fifty bazillion purses hanging off a cart. Another with jewelry. There were people, mostly delivery trucks I think, double-parked and other people mad about it. There were work crews going under the ground and others working over your head, and when it was time to cross the street, you’d better be paying attention. There was scaffolding everywhere for a city that seems to never be still.

  Every step you took, you got a new smell and a new sight. The buildings are so tall you can’t even see the sky.

  I don’t know how people drive in that area.

  I don’t know how they live so close together.

  We wandered around for the whole day.

  Panic set in when Teagan looked at the time on her phone, and it dawned on us that we were supposed to be back to meet the stylist.

  Elsa called about two minutes later to tell us the stylist’s assistant had already dropped our stuff off, was confident it would all fit, and there was no rush to get home. She also asked if we would be eating in and suggested we might want to be dressed for dinner at about eight thirty. Rumor among those who know was we might have a drop-in visitor.

  I’d ask her about all that when we got back.

  We made it back no problem. I think I’d love to have a subway system at home. Except, of course, if you try to dig more than about ten or fifteen feet down, you are in the water table, so you’d drown. Details.

  Mom and Daddy told us about the system around London. They went all over the place in “the tube.” Mom said it was the most convenient way she’d ever traveled. People were in a hurry, but they were kind, and all the stations were clean, although not all of them seemed to be handicap friendly. Her favorite thing was when the train didn’t match up to the platform; instead of saying “watch your step” like we do here, they say “mind the gap.” It made Mom smile every time.

  I guess what they say is true. After a little time has passed. After you have started to heal a little. All these things come rushing at you when you aren’t even paying attention.

  The only thing that kind of got to me on the subway in New York was when I saw a really old man standing a couple of people up from us. He was kind of frail and not really steady on his feet. No one got up and offered him a seat. I couldn’t believe it. What is happening in this world?

  When we got back, we split up and headed for the showers. Teagan took a little bit longer than me, but t
hen she looked better than me when she was done, but only by a smidge, if I do say so myself.

  Teagan’s dress was made of a heavy silk-like fabric with really pronounced slubs. It was just a tiny bit off-white with black accents. The neckline was square, all the way to her shoulders on the sides, and showed plenty of cleavage. The top of the dress was supertailored and fit Teagan exactly. It had short poofy sleeves and black triangle accents on both the sleeves and all the way around the bottom of the slightly poofy skirt. I’m not doing it justice, but it’s a beautiful dress, and Teagan wears it well. She was wearing medium high heels in black with a peep toe, and the waist of the dress was cinched in with a wide black belt, the buckle of which matched her earrings.

  “You look great!”

  “So do you, dingle… sorry. I promised not to call you that.”

  “I do like this. It has a seventies feel.” I twirled.

  I was wearing a maxi dress. Remember those dresses they used to have where the dress was attached to a necklace, then just did a simple line from your neck down under your arms and was really low-cut in the back? That pretty much describes my dress. It is made of really beautiful lightweight fabric that moves so well when you’re walking. I made about seven circuits of the library before I settled down. On the dress, there’s this really pretty knot work with bronze medallions interspersed in exactly the right places so that they draw your eye to my face and my collarbones. The matching shoes have the same medallions.

  It is amazing what the right clothes will do.

  Everything about you looks different when you’re wearing the right clothes.

  I was just about to say that to Teagan, a confession that would prove she’s been right all these years, when Elsa came into the library. “You have guests.”

  Teagan looked at me and mouthed the word Who?

  Elsa smiled. “Adeline’s daughter Talbot, her husband Greg, and both Adeline’s son Granville and his wife Piper have all just happened by. I’ve not seen them since Adeline was last here.”

  Teagan nodded.

  I grinned. “Teagan, follow my lead and say something that you won’t say in front of anyone else we meet on this trip. Something that will stick in their minds.”

  “Like what?”

  “Figure something out.”

  “Why me?”

  “You got free clothes. Think of something.”

  “I’ll think of something.”

  I won’t bore you with all the details, because as an evening in with family goes, tonight was about the most boring I’ve ever endured. Talbot and Granville are pains in the butt, and their spouses elevate snobbery to an art form, but there was one moment that almost caused me to swallow my tongue.

  Teagan decided on the bit of something she would work into the conversation to see if it got back to the people in Tampa. She mentioned how I attended her wedding shower just weeks ago, and at the insistence of all present there, I had been goaded onstage and had done a rather interesting exotic dance. Nothing like a striptease or such, but still, she insisted that I may have missed my calling.

  Granville looked intrigued.

  Talbot looked at me like I was something that was perhaps stuck on the bottom of her shoe from a recent trip to a dog park.

  What I found most interesting was they never asked once what we were doing in town or what our relation to Adeline is. Either they already know who I am and what I was doing there, or they didn’t care. Which I’m sure means that they already knew.

  It was so strange spending the better part of two hours talking to four people and saying absolutely nothing of any importance or interest.

  When I thought about it, my name isn’t that common, so it doesn’t surprise me that it may have come up in Adeline’s family. Even in total innocence. Adeline’s grandson Christian has been around me enough to maybe mention me in passing.

  I do find it interesting they didn’t ask what we were doing in town. That set off a warning bell or two.

  And if they know who I am, and I’m parading around in expensive clothes and acting like a lady of the manor, they’ve got to be asking themselves why Adeline would allow that.

  Of course, if they know who I am, they are aware I saved Adeline’s life not all that long ago, and they might figure I was being treated better than your run-of-the-mill assistant.

  I’d have to think about it.

  Elsa appeared just in time to walk the visitors to the door. She gave me a look that I assumed meant we should stay in the room we were in and allow her to walk them out. We did that.

  Once they were gone, and the door was closed behind them, Teagan wondered aloud if we should go out and get a drink since we both looked fabulous. It was kind of late by the time they left, but what the hell, aren’t we supposed to be on an adventure?

  Elsa said there was a lovely little place about three doors down.

  Teagan and I walked in and fell in love.

  The place was beautiful, reasonably quiet, staggeringly expensive, and just the perfect end to our day.

  I had a frozen margarita. I don’t drink very often, and when you don’t drink, you never really develop a palate for the taste of alcohol. I know I like the taste of a frozen margarita, even if I’ve never finished one. Teagan usually drinks beer, but when she ordered, she sounded like she actually knew what she was talking about. She asked our server what he suggested. He was flirting with her, a lot. He said he would take her question as a challenge and suggested that he was up for the challenge from her, whatever that challenge might be.

  Teagan laughed and said, “What comes to mind first is an Angry Leprechaun.”

  The server seemed to know what that was, but Teagan moved on to the next drink almost immediately.

  “I think I’ll have a Baby Guinness, please.”

  Once the server was gone, I made a stupid comment. “I knew you would go for beer.”

  “There is no beer in a Baby Guinness, Cara. A Baby Guinness is a shot glass just over half filled with Kahlua and topped with Baileys. It looks like a tiny little glass of Guinness, which is why they call it that.”

  “That sounds like a serious drink.”

  “We aren’t driving.”

  Teagan laughed at my reaction, which I admit was a little bit confused meets a whole lot scandalized.

  “When did you start drinking?”

  “I never stopped.” She laughed again.

  I didn’t even have anything to say. Our mother had been killed by a drunk driver, and all of a sudden my sister is drinking?

  “Oh. Calm. Down. Dingleberry. I know what you’re thinking. I’ve never gotten behind the wheel of a car even after smelling alcohol. I’m not a drunk. I just wanted to see the look on your face, and you know what? It was worth it. How does someone your age get to be so old?”

  “I’m not old. I’m mature.”

  “You’re edging up to matronly, dingleberry.”

  “Stop calling me that!”

  “Why so sensitive about it all of a sudden?”

  “I have this vision of Evelyn calling me that when she gets old enough to talk.”

  “Fine, but I’ve called you that since we were kids. We both know why. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

  “I know, I just think it is time for a new name. Maybe something a little less disgusting.”

  “But it won’t be the same. There won’t be a history. You are the traditional one.”

  “Some traditions need to die.”

  “Okay, I’ll think of something else, but you need to know I don’t approve.”

  “I’m okay with that, Teagan.”

  “Besides, wasn’t the whole dingleberry thing your idea in the first place?”

  “I was young. I had no clue. It wasn’t until we were older that I even knew what a dingleberry really was, and by then I had been desensitized to all the ridicule.”

  “So, what you’re saying is it has actually been a character builder and you owe me.”

  “Shut
up, Teagan.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  The drinks arrived. I’ve gotta say, mine was really good, and Teagan’s was disgusting. She liked it, but then, she’s nuts.

  Teagan ordered a second drink. I have no idea what it was, but it was pretty. She said it was strong, and she drank it slowly.

  I probably don’t need to mention that by the time we were walking back to Adeline’s, we were pretty goofy. Put alcohol in two girls who really don’t drink much, and it’s pretty pathetic how quickly we act crapulous. That’s a real word. I looked it up once. It means that you overindulge. Don’t you love language?

  The people behind the desk in the lobby smiled when we came in. I’m sure they’ve seen much worse, but it was obvious we were having a really good night.

  We got upstairs and were greeted by Elsa.

  She offered us tea and coffee.

  We declined.

  Instead, we invited Elsa to play games with us.

  It was her turn to decline.

  So, if you have two slightly tipsy sisters playing games in the middle of the night in the outrageously beautiful home of an overly generous boss, what game do you play?

  Old Maid with a twist.

  Teagan and her stupid bright ideas.

  We grabbed a deck of playing cards. I was searching for one of the queens to take out, when Teagan stopped me.

  There were a bunch of different decks of playing cards.

  She decided what we would do is add extra queens to the deck and instead of playing until the queen stands alone we would answer a question about why we are still single.

  Each of us has a man we are totally in love with who has asked us to marry him, so why aren’t we married?

  So we’re gonna play Old Maid meets Truth or Dare, without the Dare, and maybe a little bit of Girl Talk thrown in.

  I don’t think my mother ever threw away a board game — or a card game, for that matter — so we played them all when we were kids.

  Teagan dealt out the cards.

  I was sorting all my pairs when she reached up and grabbed my cards.

  “Just tell me three reasons you think I should marry Jessie.”

  “Easy. He is perfect for you, he thinks you are perfect for him, and the rest of the world hasn’t figured out yet that he’s insane, which he must be to think you are perfect.”