Real.Doc - Part 1 - Cesar (English Version)

Empty nest syndrome

I was sitting in the garden when Mary-Anne approached, holding a tray.

"I brought lemonade," she said, catching my attention. "May I join you?"

"Sure," I replied.

She pulled up a chair and settled in comfortably beside me, facing the same direction. After a moment of silence, she remarked, "It sure is beautiful out here."

"Yep," I agreed absently.

After a brief pause, she continued, "How much do you know about my son?"

"Enough, I think," I said, glancing at her curiously.

She waited a moment, then pressed on, "I heard you had a daughter once."

This comment definitely caught me off guard. With everything that had been happening, I didn't expect anyone to bring that up.

"Les killed her," she said with unnerving calm, taking a sip of her lemonade. I was stunned, staring at her. The matter-of-fact way she spoke left me speechless.

She continued, "The same thing happened to my son."

I was shocked by this last statement. What did she mean by that? As far as I knew, she only had one son, Chaos. But then I remembered the day I left Chaos alone with Les. I never knew the outcome of that meeting, but I had assumed both had come out alive. Just as I felt the need to know more, Rony appeared.

"What are you girls chatting about?" he asked.

Mary-Anne smiled and extended her hand to him. "We are finding common ground."

"Great," he said, not sounding entirely convinced, but he sat down with us anyway. "Lilly, mind if we have a word about Cesar?"

"Would you like me to leave?" Mary-Anne asked.

"No, please," I said. "Stay." After all, since she had defended me from Cesar, I wanted her present for any discussion related to him.

"Okay..." Rony said, looking a bit confused. "I believe he needs another healing."

"I agree."

"He's on another binge."

"Yep."

"So I was wondering if you'd like to do the honors this time."

I found that suggestion unexpected but somewhat logical.

"Sure."

"I'll place a gun under your mattress... feel free to use it when you get a chance."

"Okay," I said.

Mary-Anne looked surprised at Rony's suggestion, but she nodded in agreement.

"Seems like everything aligns," she said.

"Yep," I concurred.

Soon, Rony noticed that our drinks were non-alcoholic and quickly decided to remedy that. When he went inside to fetch a bottle of something stronger, I took advantage of the privacy to ask Mary-Anne, "Where is your son?"

She smiled, her red lipstick vivid against her light pink silk blouse adorned with floral patterns, and replied, "He went out... something about the Jeep..." Rony was already returning, and she finished, "...but that's not my son."

That revelation left me even more bewildered. Both Chaos and Mary-Anne seemed to be deceiving me, but why?

"What?"

"Empty nest syndrome," she concluded, but then Rony arrived, and I thought it best not to say anything more. He brought vodka and mixed it into our drinks. I downed the contents of my glass in one go and then poured myself another.

In the midst of this, Mary-Anne invited Rony to go out with her... they mentioned visiting a flower shop. They asked if I wanted to join them, but I declined, preferring to stay behind and continue my journey towards an alcoholic stupor.