When she turned around she was very surprised to see a stranger right behind her. - Well, she thought, this is a public place, but that close ... Very strange ...
The stranger hurriedly averted his eyes, but he looked so confused that it was obvious that he had been staring at her. For a split second their eyes met and she felt that this man wasn't a stranger at all, no, she knew him, only she had forgotten where they had met.
- Perhaps someone from my childhood, she thought to herself, someone from school. When thinking that thought her mouth made an involuntary movement like she had bitten in something less than tasty.
When she got home and sat browsing the books she had taken out at the library the doorbell rang. She didn't expect any visits so she decided to ignore it. After some minutes it stopped and she smiled satisfied, but then she got a shock: The head of the stranger from the library appeared by her window. It simply dived out from a cluster of tall plants hiding his body. When she saw that he noticed her sitting there in her comfortable chair, reading something highbrow stuff about Swedish literature, she got annoyed and sent him a barrage of stern looks. Was she really to answer his call just because he had the audacity to peer in at her window?
The face outside the window was all smiles and it was obvious that he had no intentions to go away. With a sigh she rose to her feet and went to the door where he, nimble footed as he must be, already stood, ready to greet her.
"I'm sorry to disturb you," he said, "I'm Andrew Jamison. I got your address from Aunt B and cousin Cecil gave me your photo."
She looked at him, very surprised, or rather quite bewildered. What was he talking about?
"Didn't they tell you that I was coming?"
"No, I must admit that I've never heard them mention you."
"Oh, well, I'm the son of Crystal ... I'm your brother."
"What!" she exclaimed. She stared at him in disbelief, but then it dawned upon her that there WAS a Crystal somewhere in her life: The slutty bitch-husband-stealing-thief-whore Crystal. Oh yes, now she remembered that branch of the family, but she had never heard of an Andrew Jamison or any siblings to herself. "Yes, I admit that I'm confused, but you better come on in ..." She nearly added "As the neighbours are so damn nosy", but actually, so was she.
He smiled a most friendly and polite smile as he stepped into her parlour. - Quite a charmer, she thought, looking at him with suspicion. All her life she had been suspicious of all too charming people as that was what she had been taught: "Don't trust those with flashy, white teeth all over their faces," her mother used to say, "especially not when they wriggle their hips and make their bottoms dance at each step." This man was everything her mother had warned her against: Handsome and charming. Flashy in every sense of the word.
While she cooked coffée for him he orbited around her in the kitchen, looking at everything and commenting some of it. "Eh, Susan," he said, "that wonderful garden you have, was it laid out by Steven Jamison?"
"I don't know," she answered, trying to remember who that was.
"He was my uncle, he introduced my mother to your father." He looked quite nostalgic saying that and she nearly let out some catty remarks of married men being introduced to sexy sluts, but she stopped herself from commenting.
When they were seated he whipped out a pile of photoes, presenting her for his family as if it would please her to see his mother with her father. "This is Eliza," he said and pointed at a somewhat stocky, younger lady, "she is our sister."
"What!" she exclaimed, "How many are there of you?"
"We are four children, didn't you know that you had siblings?"
"No, all I know is that my father left me and my mother for some ... eh, someone else. After that we didn't talk about him."
"Oh," he said, "and you didn't expect to see me because your aunt B or cousin Cecil didn't tell you? Strange - well, I hope that we can get to know each other better and perhaps become friends."
She forced herself to smile politely. After having seen all his pictures and ignoring his suggestion that she showed him hers she told him that she was very busy and also had an appointment. He looked disappointed, but didn't say anything except thanked her for her hospitality and also invited her to see him and her other siblings. She accepted his card with a polite, but not friendly smile. He didn't complain, but stayed the same charming fellow, looking a little less happy than when he came, but without being a nuisance.
She saw him walk down the garden path and again it struck her how handsome and friendly he was. Then she went back into her dining room where she took his card and ripped it apart into many minute pieces which she let fall into the paper waste basket. - See him and all those siblings - the progeny of the slut and the man who let down her and her mother? Oh no, not in this life time. Besides, they probably just wanted her money ...
The next day he phoned her and left a message on her answering machine. She ignored it and then deleted it. So she did with the next messages he left on her machine.
However, sometimes she came to think of his handsome, eager and friendly face over the photoes and she felt a sting of remorse. She had learnt to hate his mother and didn't even know whether she had died or was still alive, also she hadn't been told of the death of her father. What had happened to these people?
After about a week she felt sure that she should answer his next call. Actually, she felt that this unexpected brother of hers would become an asset to her life, that he had worth in himself as a human being. The card was gone and the had deleted the messages so she didn't have any clues to his whereabouts. She had asked aunt B and cousin Cecil, but they didn't know so she was rather lost when one day the doorbell rang quite unexpectedly.
Outside the door stood a pretty, young lady. "I'm Elizabeth," she said as if she ought to have known her name. "I'm your sister and I have news for you."
"Oh," she said, quite friendly, "come on in."
When they sat at the coffée table Elizabeth said: "I know that Andrew visited you and that you didn't return his calls, but something has happened ...."
"Yes," she said, "I was very surprised to see him as I didn't know of my siblings. He was very sweet and friendly. Showed me pictures ..."
"Unfortunately, something has happened to him ..."
"I had decided that I would look him up ..."
Elizabeths face showed some strange, grieving feeling, but she pulled herself together and then she said: "Andrew died in a car accident one week ago."
"What???!!!"
"Yes, it's very sad and all of us miss him terribly ..."
She realized that so did she. "I didn't know him and was stunned by his coming here, but that's a shock," she said and groped for her handkerchief, tears coming down her cheeks. "I had planned to find him and invite him for dinner to get to know him better. Actually, I liked him a lot, only I was shocked at his visit."
"We understand that," Elizabeth said. "It's a pity you didn't get to know him, also because he was so interested in you being his big sister and all. The three of us that are left never thought of looking you up, but he did, actually for some time."
"What a pity, I would have loved to know him better. Too late now, but would you and the other two be interested in visiting me?"
"All of us are leaving, we don't live here, but in New York. Our Mom left us an inheritance ... a book publishing firm and some bookstores which we will turn into something more modern."
She was genuinely surprised. The whore left publishing firms and bookstores? How could that be?
"Yes, she was very clever in business as in life. When our father died" - Susan kept quiet, not wishing to let her know that she didn't even know that - we were all so small, but she managed. Andrew resembled her a lot. So clever and also so friendly. And goodlooking."
"Oh yes, that he was," Susan said. "Very charming and friendly."
After Elizabeth left - without giving her her card - she felt a surge of bereavement. She found some photos of her mother and stared inquisitively at them. "A pity," she said, "even though she "stole" your husband, she wasn't what you made her out to be - and you robbed me of a brother. Nah, of four siblings." The feeling of sorrow engulfed her and her tears dripped upon the photoes of the stern face of her mother.
Originally Posted On Site: 2009-05-21 06:29:48
Last Login: 05.24.12
Visits as of 12-12-07: 251
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