Elena Davis, a staunch lass, hankering for the mysterious man behind those heart throbbing letters, finally found him after much difficulty and life changing escapades.
Despitefully, she doesn't know what is waiting for her from the most ravishing M...
There we were, standing in the hospital in front of the mortuary.
Jas could no longer stand steady. Larry held him tight. His eyes were blood red. But he didn't let a single drop of tears fall. He contained the mourning within him. And that feared me the most. No child would wish to see both of their parents lying lifeless. I didn't know why God gave him this unjust penance. It was a least-expected accident that took their lives in progress.
"We are extremely sorry for the loss. I hope you will be fine." That's what a typical doctor, who tried hard to save lives but ended up with bad news, could utter.
Joel's birthday was a joyless one this time. He didn't even care about it. His full-time job was to bring Jas back to normalcy.
It nearly took a month for us to bring Jas back from the loss. He had not yet recovered completely. But he managed to smile at times, when Joe tried some stupid, lame jokes.
Pretending to smile even when undergoing deep grief is the toughest job one could do.
Sadly, most people in the world perform this job professionally!
******
It was the first day Jas came to high school after a month of lamentation.
"We are quite late. Mr. Cooper will throw us out of the class." Larry reminded us that it's Mr. Cooper's language hour. We rushed to the class. And there he was, already engaging the grouping. He gave us a malicious look the moment we asked for excuses.
"Thank God, he let us in without any further resistance," Clara murmured as we got in.
By the time we sat in our places, he had already finished a part in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar play.
"Oh gosh! I missed the beginning." I sighed in regret.
While I tried dumping the signal of his words straight into my head, an anonymous hostile signal interrupted the transmission.
It was Joe yawning. He caught the whole class's attention since the frequency of his yawning was much higher than that of Mr. Cooper's words.
In a quick moment, I joined him.
"Yawning is more contagious than Corona," I whispered.
"To hell with you and your yawn, Joe." Clara was disgusted and joined us in our embarrassment.
Before Mr. Cooper thought of throwing us out of the room, the bell rang. It diverted our fellow classmates' attention.
"A great escape, the three of you." Larry chortled.
As soon as Mr. Cooper left, Mrs. Elliot seized the moment. She always cared for our squad a bit more than any other professor. No wonder she is our evergreen favorite!
"I hope you are doing well, Jason." She inquired of him first about anything.
Jas just nodded in agreement. He didn't want to talk about that. He avoided the chat about his late parents whenever possible. But I was not content with his simple nod.
In the evening, while parting our ways home, I had a little talk with Jas, just to check if he is okay since his way of nodding his head for Mrs. Elliot's interrogation was not a satisfying one for me.
"I am totally fine. No worries, El." That's what he mumbled.
"I'm just a call away, Jas. Remember that." I gave him a side hug and bid him bye.
I thought of accompanying him to his house. But he insisted on going alone and left sooner.
As soon as he left, Larry and I started our ride. His house is right next to mine. Yet we only ride together in the evening, since I didn't want him to have a quite long wait for me in the morning. We two would gossip about everything possible while riding.
"Do you think Jas is okay?" I questioned him since I couldn't control having that thought.
"I too had this nagging feeling. But he's behaving as if he had moved on."
"We need to look after him often," I said.
"Ok, El, see you the next day." He bid me bye as soon as we reached his house.
In quick time, I reached mine and parked my blackbird in the parking area. It started pouring the very minute I turned up.
Admiring the beauty of a little spotted towhee searching everywhere for her mom, I lost track of time. I found her in a nest at the top of an oak tree nearby. She was singing in her baby voice.
"It should be their family song," I guessed.
I didn't feel like leaving her alone there. So I waited until her mother arrived.
The moment mother Towhee set foot on it, she fed her baby with seeds and grains she found, their preferred diet in winter. Aftermath, she hugged and shielded her baby with her wings to protect from the cold.
Mothers are always mothers, despite the taxonomic classification of genus and species. I wondered.
After nurturing the moment for a while, I reached upstairs and got refreshed.
I couldn't restrain myself from having a cup of hot coffee in the rainy twilight. Enjoying every sip of it, I pursued reading Nicholas Sparks's 'A Bend in the Road'. I was pretty excited to know who killed Missy. Is it really Otis Timson who ended up hitting her? I almost lost myself in the novel when I got my mobile roaring.
"Is it El?" I heard an unfamiliar voice from Jas's mobile.
In total perplexity, I replied. "Yeah, I'm Elena speaking. And you are?"
"A boy was found hit by a truck near the sidewalk. He has been admitted to the nearby UCLA Medical Centre, the one at 16th St."
"What? Whom? Who do you mean? Is it Jas?" I couldn't stop myself from asking so many questions, all meaning the same.
"I don't know his name. I just found your number in his recent contacts. So I thought of informing you." He hung up on the call immediately.
I was unable to catch my breath for a minute. I had hundreds of thoughts running through my head. I regretted not accompanying him and hurried to the hospital.
*****
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