“Very lovely,” Elizabeth said. “So, how long have you lived in Kitchener?”
“Only a few weeks,” Garnet replied. Five weeks to the day, to be exact.
“And how do you like it?”
Garnet shrugged. “I miss my friends.”
“Of course.” Elizabeth nodded with understanding. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
Garnet shook her head. “No. It’s just me and my mom. My parents got divorced when I was seven and my dad travels all over the world for his job. I don’t see him much.”
“I see,” Elizabeth replied. “So, I suppose you miss him a little, too?”
Garnet shrugged. “Hardly. He calls sometimes and I saw him last year when he was in Toronto. But it’s really not that much different from when I was a kid. He was never around much then, either.”
Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed. “How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I’ll be sixteen in September.”
“Somehow you seem older than your years.” Elizabeth set the empty glass down on the coffee table, then pursed her lips as she glanced at her watch. “Well, I’d best be going home.” She stood up and leaned on her cane to steady herself. “Thank you for the water.”
“Would you like me to walk with you?” Garnet asked.
“Oh, I couldn’t trouble you, dear. I’ll be fine.”
“It would be no trouble. I’d like to go with you,” Garnet found herself insisting, surprising even herself with her interest in this woman. What was the matter with her? Why did she care? This woman was a total stranger in a city she had so far found to be only unfriendly. And yet she felt inexplicably drawn to her.
Elizabeth tilted her head. “All right then. If you’d like to, let’s go.”
Garnet matched the woman’s snail-like pace as they walked under the shade of the tall oaks and maples that lined the streets in this part of the city. The houses were at least a hundred years old, each one unique and different from the one next to it. Her mother told her that houses like this once stood where Garnet’s townhouse was, until a developer knocked them down a few years ago and built a modern condominium complex in their place.
“This is it,” Elizabeth said when they reached one of the houses in a quiet cul-de-sac just a few doors away from Victoria Park.
Garnet looked up at the facade that greeted them. “You live here?”
“I do,” Elizabeth panted as she strained to make it up the four wide steps of the stone verandah that wrapped around the left side of the house. “It’s been my home since 1940, but that still hasn’t been enough time to — never mind,” she finished, suddenly tight-lipped.
The grand red-brick house was three storeys tall, including the attic space. White paint was beginning to flake on the balcony over the verandah and on the gingerbread trim decorating the gables, but overall, the house appeared to be in fairly good shape. The upper panes of the windows still held the original stained glass. A brass lion knocker adorned the heavy oak front door.
Elizabeth opened her purse and pushed aside the bulky envelope with the wad of hundred-dollar notes. “Here we are,” she said, pulling out her keys. No sooner had she unlocked the door than a yellow-brown cat appeared in the hall to greet her with a low meow and nudged at Elizabeth’s ankles with affection. “Hello, Ginger. How’s my pet? She’s the first loyal cat I’ve ever owned,” Elizabeth confided.
“Do you think you’ll be all right?” Garnet asked, noticing how flushed the woman’s face had become again just from the walk home.
“I’ll be fine. There’s nothing to worry about. Now that I’m home, I’ll put my feet up and have a rest. I’ll be as good as new.”
Garnet wasn’t so convinced and found herself saying, “Why don’t I leave you my number? You can call me if you don’t feel well. Do you have any paper?” She could hardly believe her own ears. What in the world was wrong with her? She hadn’t made any friends in five weeks at school and here she was, offering her phone number to an old lady she had only just met. Had she become that desperate for a friend?
“I do. Just a moment,” Elizabeth said. She rummaged through her purse, pulling up several dogeared receipts. The bulky envelope, which had pushed itself up, unexpectedly jumped out and fell at Garnet’s feet. She bent down and handed it back to Elizabeth.
“Oh, thank you, dear,” Elizabeth said, frowning at it before she shoved it back into her purse.
The question was on the tip of Garnet’s tongue: why was Elizabeth carrying around so much cash? She was dying to ask her, but she supposed it was really none of her business.
Elizabeth handed her a pen and one of the old receipts. Garnet quickly scribbled her name and phone number before handing them back to her.
“Now, if you’re not feeling good, call me. I’ll drop by sometime tomorrow and see how you’re doing,” Garnet said.
Elizabeth’s face brightened. “Well, I’d enjoy that very much. But don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Thank you for taking care of me and seeing that I arrived home safely. Not many people nowadays would take the time.”
Garnet said goodbye and headed home. She was still worried about Elizabeth.
A ray of morning sunshine streamed between the slats and into Garnet’s eyes. “Stupid blinds,” she muttered. They had ruined a perfectly good Saturday morning sleep-in. She turned her head and squinted at the clock on her night stand. Nine o’clock. She yawned and stretched before she rolled out of bed.
Downstairs, her mother was already up, sitting in her bathrobe, pecking away at the computer on the desk in the dining room. An empty space occupied the middle of the room where a table should have been.
“Good morning, Garnet,” her mother said. Her eyes, the same shade of violet as Garnet’s, looked over the top of the dark-framed glasses that she wore for reading and working on the computer. Her hair, unlike Garnet’s, was straight and cut short. It used to be brown before she started dying it auburn to cover the grey.
“Morning, Mom.” Garnet sat down in the chair beside her and looked at the screen. “Still searching for that skeleton in your closet?”
“Oh, Garnet! Why do you say it that way?” Garnet’s mother had recently discovered that her father, whom she had never known and thought to be dead, could still be alive. Using his name, she had begun an Internet search to seek any information she might find about him.
Garnet giggled. “You know I’m just kidding.”
Her mother clucked her tongue and rose from the chair. “Do you want to use the computer while I go make some breakfast?”
“Sure.”
“What would you like?”
“French toast.”
“Okay.”
Garnet took her mother’s seat and clicked on her email. She hoped there would be one today and silently cheered when she saw there was. It was from Amy, her best friend. They had been sending emails every day since Garnet had moved. Well, almost every day. It was more like every two to three days now. In fact, Garnet calculated, it had actually been a week since she had last received one. She had sent Amy two in the meantime. She wondered what kept Amy so busy that she didn’t reply sooner. The emails were her only link left to any friendships at all. Especially since she had not yet made any new friends at school.
Garnet noted the time this last email had been sent. Last night at midnight. When Garnet had already been in bed for two hours.
Hey, Garnet!