Prelude to Silence

by Linda Faulkner

  “True,” Ashley conceded. “But my mother couldn’t have another baby after I was born. You know, it’s not like you can go to Walmart and pick one off the shelf.” Ashley looked up and met Anne’s gaze. “Then I lost Mom when I was eleven. We were having such a great time waterskiing. I was in the water only minutes before it happened. Mom had just signaled she was ready to be pulled up when another boat ran right into her. I always thought my father, if he’d had a choice, would have wanted me to die that day instead of my mother. They loved each other so much. When you think about it, maybe we do have something in common.”

  Anne was not about to let Ashley get the better of her. “No, we don’t! Take Christmas, for example. When I was little, my Christmas dinner was in a cereal box. That is, if I could find one. And presents? Well, Santa doesn’t come to cheap, run down motels. Instead of presents I got promises that next year would be better. Over and over again. All I got were empty promises.” She paused to collect herself after re-living memories that still haunted her. “At least you had gifts under some fancy tree, all the money in the world and a family.”

  “Not really. After that, my father was almost never there. He missed my mother and put me completely out of his mind. Not long ago he met a woman who’s only fourteen years older than I am and they got married. Now they travel the world together. I still don’t see much of him. I guess, like you, I’m just a reminder of what was lost.” Ashley withdrew into her private thoughts for a few moments and finally broke the silence. “What about your mom?”

  “She was never there either. She was always strung out on the pills she took and booze. I don’t remember much about the night I lost my mother. They said I was wandering alone in a grocery store at midnight and somebody called the police. They thought I was lying when I couldn’t tell them where I lived. I had to show them where we were staying. How was I supposed to know my address when it was always changing? Later they told me my mother died. I went from one foster home to the next. They did their best to break me because I wouldn’t cry. So they hit me all the harder when they thought I broke their stupid rules. Most of the time I didn’t even know what I’d done wrong.”

  “Didn’t anyone check on you?” Ashley asked, unable to hide her disbelief. “You must have told somebody about it.”

  “I begged for help, but they didn’t believe me. I ran away a lot and was labeled a troublemaker. Finally, they sent me to live with Mona and Joe Anderson. Thanks to Joe, I started playing the flute. Joe died a few months ago of a heart attack. When I auditioned for the scholarship you got, my whole life depended on winning. No scholarship. No college. Luckily, somebody set up a trust fund for me. I have no idea where that money came from.”

  “Could it be your grandmother?”

  “Who knows? She didn’t want my mother and I’m sure she couldn’t care less about me. Maybe they killed her off years ago.” Anne regarded Ashley with a dead calm expression, Mona’s last words echoing in her mind. You’re nothing, Missy. Nothing! “I have no family and I have no home,” she added. “Why would anybody give a damn about me?”

  Ashley stared down at the floor and then looked up again with tears in her eyes. The words she spoke next left Anne completely disarmed.

  “I heard you play at the auditions. You should have won.”

  CHAPTER 4

  Anne mulled over their conversation for a few days and began to realize Ashley wasn’t a snob at all. She was very withdrawn, like some kids Anne met who were physically or emotionally abused. Relations between them were still subdued. They said “Hi” to one another but that was about it.

  Emma came over Friday afternoon. “Ready?” she asked, bouncing into the room. “I’m starved.”

  Anne hesitated, glancing at Emma and then looking back at Ashley. “How would you like to go out for an awesome burger and fries?” she asked. “Dorm food gets pretty boring after awhile.”

  Ashley’s eyes shone so brightly they could have lit up the whole city of Chicago. “Sure!”

  Emma gave Anne a ‘thumbs up’ while Ashley grabbed her purse.

  The waiter recognized them immediately. “Ah, I see there will be three lovely ladies this evening.” He looked back and forth at Anne and Ashley, studying them with interest. “Are you sisters?”

  “Oh, no,” they both insisted. “We never met until recently.”

  “How strange. I see a very strong resemblance,” he observed. “Surely you must be related.”

  Emma studied their faces a moment. “Yeah, I see it, too. Wouldn’t it be funny if you’re descended from the same family tree, or maybe way back in history your ancestors belonged to the same clan or whatever?”

  Ashley opened the menu and her eyes widened. “Wow! Twenty-five dollars for a hamburger?”

  Anne burst out laughing. It sounded so strange coming from a rich kid. “I said the same thing myself, but they’re worth it.”

  Ashley relished every bite of her dinner down to the last of the french fries, scooping up even the tiniest morsels. “I can’t believe it! That was so awesome!”

  Anne leaned forward, resting one elbow on the table. “When was the last time you had a hamburger and fries?”

  “We never had them at home. Mom and I used to go out and get a burger when my father was away on business. After she died, my governess planned my meals. It was all healthy stuff: low sodium, low sugar, low fat, and worst of all, low taste.”

  “Yuck!” Emma tightened the corners of her mouth into a grimace, pushing her plate toward Ashley. “Have some more fries, girl. You are seriously low on junk food.”

  “I sure got tired of eating that same old diet, week after week. If I complained, I was lectured about how it was all carefully prepared with the finest and freshest ingredients. Reminds me of a song my grandmother liked. It was about a poor man who worked hard and dreamed of becoming rich. He finally did, but he wasn’t happy getting anything and everything he wanted at the snap of a finger. The song went something like, ‘When you can have steak every night of the week, sometimes ‘Beans Taste Fine.’ That was the title of the song.”

  They spent the rest of the evening laughing and getting to know one another. There was a message from John Dusek for Anne when they returned to the dorm. Anne had just signed up for cell phone service and meant to give him her number. She dialed his home phone.

  “Dusek residence, Cherie speaking.”

  “Cherie! I’ve been meaning to call. It’s Anne.”

  “Anne! So good to hear your voice. John is anxious to talk to you.”

  John greeted her with questions about how things were going at school. Finally, he gave Anne the latest news. “I wanted to let you know Pastor Ingram left town. He made off with all the church funds. It’s a good thing you stood your ground.”

  Anne sat leaned back in her desk chair, realizing all her suspicions were now validated. “Never did think too much of that preacher. I could tell he was up to no good. So what about Mona? Does she still blame me for ruining her life?”

  “I doubt it, but people hate to admit they’re wrong. I wouldn’t expect too much in the way an apology. She’s in seclusion. I just felt I should tell you.”

  Anne appreciated his concern, and though she had no desire to contact Mona, she felt a badly for her. “I guess she can’t win for losing. None of this would have happened if Joe was still alive.”

  “Have you made any friends there?” John asked.

  “Yes, I have. Emma Kowalski is a piano major. We’ve been friends since the first day. And my roommate is Ashley Montgomery, the one who got the scholarship. At first I hated her. Then I found out she’s actually pretty nice.”

  Emma, Ashley and Anne soon became inseparable. Emma volunteered to accompany them for their flute juries at the end of the semester and to help with Music Theory. “Also,” she added, “You’re going to have to take elementary piano. So, if you have any
problems, I happen to be a whiz at the keyboard.”

  Mrs. Albright sent a message the following week asking Anne to come to her office. She was all smiles when she announced, “We have an opening now, if you want to change rooms. One of our students decided to transfer to another school.”

  “Not interested!” Anne told her without hesitation. “Wouldn’t dream of having another roommate. You were right, you know. We do have a lot in common.”

  Mrs. Albright seemed surprised, but pleased. “Good! Then we’ll leave things as they are.”

  Anne looked her straight in the eye. “Damn right, we will!”

  “You know something?” Mrs. Albright confessed with a thoughtful smile, “I really admire you, Anne Marie Clark.”

  On Friday afternoon Emma entered their room proclaiming, “After dorm food every night, fries taste fine. Let’s vacate this place for some real food.”

  Over dinner the girls noticed three young men sitting across the room. They kept glancing over their way and appeared to be discussing something. Finally, one of them sauntered over to their table. “Hi. Mind if the three of us join you for coffee or a soda?”

  They shrugged their assent. “Sure. Why not?”

  “I’m Pete Bogard. This is Tom Reinhart and Mitch Randolph,” he said, introducing his friends who joined him.

  Once they settled in their chairs, Anne began sizing them up. All three were good looking and appeared to be physically fit. Tom had blond hair and the tall, muscular build of a Kentucky farm boy. Pete was a bit shorter with a shock of curly brown hair and brown eyes that sparkled at the sight of Emma. Mitch’s dark brown hair framed his handsome face and square jaw perfectly. He gazed at her with the most incredible blue eyes she’d ever seen. Anne looked away, embarrassed by his obvious interest.

  “Do you go to Lakeshore?” Anne asked them.

  “Northwestern,” Tom answered with obvious pride. “We come here because they have the best burgers in the whole Midwest.”

  “And if you’re over twenty-one,” Mitch added, “You can wash it down with a beer.”

  Anne noticed Pete still couldn’t keep his eyes off Emma, while Tom rattled on about Evanston and what a boring college town it is. “The founder of the Women’s Christian Temperance Movement came from Evanston, so the town is dry. It’s a real Dead Zone,” he complained.

  Conversation then turned to family, a subject Anne avoided at all cost. She gazed off in the distance, barely listening while Ashley withdrew completely.

  Mitch turned to Anne. “You look kind of familiar. Have I seen you somewhere before?”

  “Nope. Never been north of the Mississippi River until last summer.”

  “What’s your major?”

  “Music.”

  Mitch continued to probe despite her terse replies. “Does musical talent run in your family?”

  “No.”

  “Lakeshore tuition is pretty high. You’re lucky your family can afford to send you there. What does your dad do for a living?”

  Anne bolted upright, her eyes flashing with indignation. “None of your damn business!” She jumped up from her seat, turned away and headed toward the restroom.

  Mitch watched in amazement as she hurried out of sight. He searched the faces of everyone left at the table with a bewildered look. “Whoa! Where did I go wrong, here?”

  “Sore subject,” Emma explained. “She doesn’t have a family.”

  “Are you kidding? None at all?” Pete frowned in disbelief. “I thought everybody has at least some family.”

  “Her mother was given up for adoption because her grandmother disappeared and might have gone into the Witness Protection Program. Nobody knows for sure what happened,” Emma explained. “Anne told me her grandmother’s name was fake on her mother’s birth certificate and the father was listed as ‘unknown.’ Anne’s father died in an accident and her mother committed suicide. Bottom line: she has no family at all.”

  “No wonder she went off like that,” Mitch said, beginning to grasp the situation.

  Pete turned to Emma and changed the subject. “I’d like to call you sometime, if you don’t mind. Could you give me your cell number?”

  “Sure.” Emma found a scrap of paper and jotted it down.

  From then on they talked about school and their plans for the future. Mitch told them he was in his second year of law school. Pete was majoring in journalism. Tom, now in his senior year, planned to go to medical school and specialize in Sports Medicine.

  Anne returned minutes later but remained standing. “I think we need to get back to the dorm.”

  They gathered their things and headed out the door. Mitch ran after them and drew Anne aside. “Look, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to be pushy.”

  “Don’t fret about it.”

  Friends?” he asked, raising his eyebrows hopefully.

  “Apology accepted,” Anne conceded, though she really wished Mitch would disappear down a rat hole somewhere. “But friendship is totally not happening.”

  His expression faded into a look of disappointment. “Okay. Again, I’m sorry.”

  Anne felt a twinge of regret as he stepped back inside the restaurant.

  After they arrived back at the dorm, the subject of the three students came up.

  “I think Pete is really hot. What do you think?” Emma asked.

  “Oh, he’s hot for sure,” Anne agreed with a smirk. “And I noticed he couldn’t take his eyes off you. That man is hooked.”

  “What about Mitch? He seemed pretty interested in you. Maybe you should give the guy a chance. He’s going to law school, by the way.”

  “Law school? Seriously? After putting his foot in his mouth, that’s strike two.” Anne shot back. “I hate lawyers! I’ve seen more than one of them miss a court date because they knew they’d be paid by the county anyway. One time a lady who was trying to help me got really angry when the lawyer missed the first court date, claiming he had a case in the city and couldn’t make it. She told me the courthouse had been evacuated that day because of some problem with the air conditioning. All cases were cancelled and everybody knew it. He lied.”

  “Wouldn’t that be contempt of court?” Ashley asked.

  “Are you kidding? The judges bought their lame excuses. Everyone was fat, dumb and happy with loads of money filling their pockets. So the message I got came through loud and clear: They couldn’t care less about me. And for the record, if he was majoring in psychology, that would be strike three. I have no use for shrinks.”

  “Hey! The good news is we’re only on strike two,” Emma said with a knowing grin. “The game isn’t over yet.”

  On Friday afternoon, Anne and Ashley slammed their books shut and headed to Giovanni’s with Emma. Anne noticed the three students from Northwestern weren’t there and felt vaguely disappointed for some reason.

  “Pete asked me out tomorrow night,” Emma told them over dinner. “We’re going to a movie.”

  Ashley held up two ketchup-laden fries and voiced her approval. “Awesome!”

  The next evening Emma came to see them before she left for her date. “How do I look?” she asked, pivoting around in a circle. “My outfit is casual, but neat. Don’t want to seem like I’m trying too hard.”

  “Oh please.” Anne rolled her eyes. “That man would like you in a Purina Chicken Chow sack.”

  Emma halted in place. “Do they still make those?”

  “Not anymore. The feed bags now are nothing like the old burlap ones from years ago. I did see one in an antique shop.”

  “I’ll bet you can get one on eBay,” Emma said, waving as she headed out the door. “Wish me luck.”

  Anne and Ashley exchanged bemused smiles. “As if she needs it.”

  Emma returned just before 11p.m. Her eyes had a faraway, dreamy look and she seemed to be almost floatin
g on air.

  “How did it go?” Ashley inquired.

  “Wow!” was all she could say.

  Anne shook her head in amusement and cupped her hands around her mouth to amplify her words. “Earth to Emma. Come in for a landing and tell us all about it.”

  The next Friday Pete joined them for dinner. His intrusion on their weekly outing annoyed Anne. “So, where are the other two Musketeers?” she asked, making no attempt to hide her irritation.

  “Musketeers?” Pete echoed, chuckling at the nickname. “Tom had a date and Mitch decided to study. You probably scared him off.”

  Anne shrugged, giving a show of indifference. “Just as well.”

  “Emma was telling me about you,” Pete revealed, “and it gave me a great idea. I’d like to research the Mob in the 70’s and 80’s to see if I can come up with anything that might be connected to you.”

  “Don’t bother!” Anne insisted, her voice razor sharp. She paused to take in a deep breath, realizing she’d overreacted and softened her tone. “It would be a monumental waste of your time, Pete. All I have is my mother’s birth certificate, but it won’t do you any good. The name of her mother is phony and the father is listed as ‘unknown.’”

  Pete grew more animated by the minute. “I know, but there might be records concerning trials and who testified against Mob bosses. That would narrow the field down a bit. Who knows what I might find? There are a lot of colorful characters from that era. No matter what happens, it would be an amazing project for one of my classes.”

  Anne was still leery of the whole idea but since Pete obviously adored Emma, she gave in. “Okay. But you’ll never get anywhere with it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”