Looking Through Windows

When Paths Converge and Lives Collide

Sally had two calls that night; one that she had been hoping and praying for, and another that she would have dreaded if she’d ever allowed herself to consider the possibility. As it was, the second call had to take precedence. That was just the way life went. You could only put other people’s needs first for so long. Family had to trump everything else.

“There’s been an accident.”

Sadie’s blood ran cold and her grip on the phone turned her knuckles white. Tom was dead. A heart attack. That was the only possible scenario she could think of. Her mind had already gone into panic mode when the nurse went into particulars, so she was missing out on crucial information. Such as, Tom wasn’t really dead. It took a patient repeat from the nurse to drive that news home with Sadie. He was banged up from a car accident, but alive. His sister was already on her way. Sadie questioned why she hadn’t warranted the first call, being his wife and all, and the nurse patiently explained that her colleague had made the call to his sister at the same time. Tom had them both listed as emergency contacts, after all. They must be overstaffed tonight, Sadie thought and tamped down the urge to harrumph. Instead, she said she would be there as soon as she got a sitter for the kids. They were fast asleep, worn out from running around the house, working off the sugar high, but they were too young to be left alone. At least she thought so. Maybe some people wouldn’t think twice about leaving an eight-year-old and a ten-year-old unsupervised, but she did.

She thought about who to call. Sally was already on her way to the hospital, and Carole could barely be trusted to take care of her own kids, let alone someone else’s. Sally may be too blinded by sibling devotion to see it, but Sadie wasn’t. Carole was a mess, and it was only a matter of time before she would break into little shards.

Sadie shook off the thoughts of Tom’s family. She didn’t much like them on a good day. She could ask Peter to check on the kids… She almost laughed at the notion. Yeah, she could just imagine him and his perfect wife with their perfect kids sitting politely in her living room, silently judging. No thank you. There was only one person left to call. Sadie could only hope she didn’t have other plans.

Elsa had been staring at the same empty page for what seemed like hours. She had the words in her head, screaming to let them out, but she couldn’t put them down on paper. That would be acknowledging them. She wouldn’t. Instead, she tried writing down what she saw around her. It wasn’t long before she drifted into something else, though.

Empty window sill, bare and naked
Where have all the pictures gone?
Where are the smiling faces and crooked teeth?
No mementos or captured moments in time
A life not lived with nothing to show for it
And this is where it ends

Her cell phone suddenly came to life and Elsa checked the display. Who would be calling her at this hour? It was a local number, but not one listed in her phonebook. Then again, she didn’t have that many people in her contacts list to begin with.

“Hello?”

“Oh, Elsa, so glad I caught you,” the woman on the other end said without preamble. “This is Mrs. Hatfield. Tom has been in an accident and I need someone to sit with the kids while I go to the hospital. Would you mind coming over to the house? I just want to stop by real quick, and I have no-one else to call. You’d be a life saver.“

Elsa sat gaping. She’d only spoken to Tom’s wife on a few occasions, and now she was being roped into babysitting? And what kind of accident? Was he all right? He could be a tough boss sometimes, but she didn’t sit around hoping he’d get hurt.

“Elsa?”

There was no saying no. What excuse could she possibly give? ‘Sorry, I’m busy wallowing in my miserable life’?