My Dear Bitch. V#2 An Unwelcome Person. Margie Fillin

Stacy to buy a beach house there so many times. – Nick gave his wife a disapproving look.

      – Please dear, stop, forget. I know it’s a great place to live in, but money… – Stacy shrugged her shoulders and asked me. – Vika, you have been to France and Italy, haven’t you? Dan told you travelled a lot.

      – I have. And Santa Barbara reminds me of Europe. It’s true that in America one can find a piece from any part of the world. So, one early morning my husband woke me up by singing “Happy Birthday to You!”

      – Happy Birthday, dear Vika! Happy B-day to You! Wake up, wake up! Did I promise to celebrate? So, today we are going to Santa Barbara, dear. My mom allowed me to rent her car for the whole day. Pontiac is at our disposal!

      And in a couple of hours we were almost there: the last miles on US101.

      – Look up, guys, – Dan exclaimed while driving. – Santa Barbara’s Moreton Bay Fig tree!

      To tell the truth, I was highly impressed by seeing that tree from the car. At last I was finally woken up.

      – Is that gigantic fig tree, the one that grew up from suddenly thrown seed 130 years ago?

      – Exactly. Someone brought that seed from Australia. – Daniel confirmed.

      – And I‘ve read that Moreton Big Fig has one of the largest total shaded areas of any tree in North America. – Slava also woke up.

      – Yes. 20,000 square feet of shaded areas, guys; believe or not, but it’s the fact. We, little boys, had a dream to re-count the quantity of those square feet, but no one could do that. – Dan laughed and then seriously said, addressing to me. – We won’t stop here now, ok? We’ll go straight to State Street. Is it okay?

      – Sure, – I agreed as I remembered that at any moment Miriam could call Daniel to demand to return her favorite Pontiac.

      – Mom has already called, – Dan said as if he took the words right out of my mouth. – I missed her phone calls, but she left several voice messages. As soon as we park a car we’ll listen to them.