War

"All I want, Nick, is for you to go down there and make sure she's ok. Send me one text that says situation not fatal and that's it. I had you booked into an open ended trip. You can stay down there as long as you want - everything inside the hotel is paid for and this credit card pays for anything else. She's hurting, Nick. This isn't about me. Or you. You know how much she loved her mother. It was complicated and now she's gone and Sylvia is all alone. Go down there, give her a hug. That's it. Please?"

Nick looked over at his bartender, who was openly eavesdropping. Her dark eyes shot a no at him, so he looked away. He'd tried for a long time to not look ahead, but that was what he was going to have to do now. "Make sure I have a black non-descript car waiting for me," he said.

****

Twilight really was the best time and this black slim car was perfect. Sylvia, a white shirt wrapped around her waist, a blue tank-top and jean shorts fashionably tight, tapped her beige sandals toward a red scooter. Her dark hair was as long and lovely as he remembered, and her thin, tight frame had nothing superfluous on it and seemed to live to stretch her small breasts upward. Her oversized shades covered the dark brown eyes which had stared into him on many walks.

Sylvia took off her sunglasses and away she went.

"Where are you going, baby?" Nick whispered and calmly turned the engine over and followed.

The house was so rundown it had become more of a shack; inside rested Reesce, a very old islander whose dark skin seemed to be on its third layer of wrinkles. A long time ago Sylvia and Nick had sat drinking rum all night while this kind and salty bartender, straight out of central casting, served them. He even let them stay after close and Sylvia paid a helluva tip to him. There was a kindness to him that Sylvia found irresistible. He seemed to look at her with father's eyes she always wished for- in her world, father's eyes had love but not a lot of connection and mother's eyes had disapproval and expectations and impossible needs. Nick knew that after any personal setbacks, romantic or career wise, she traveled down here and spent all night in Reesce's bar, drinking and tipping him insanely. But he had cancer now. Her mother died from cancer. She already had several cancer scares herself and it seemed to Sylvia after her mother died, everyone had cancer. Nick understood. He'd lost a brother to it. Nothing cuts off possibilities like losing someone you love. You don't just see their end - you see the end. Cancer was a ubiquitous reminder that you're just passing thru and no one has all the time in the world.

Sylvia pulled up to Reesce's sad home; outside stood an official looking man - he had an arrogant, professional stance that cried doctor. Sylvia reached into her back pocket and pulled out a check. The doctor man smiled for a moment and Nick could see his smile sickened Sylvia. He could see it, too, and he quickly put on his grave face. Sylvia then turned on her movie-star smile and they both went into see Reesce.

****

It took about an hour for the doctor and Sylvia to exit and when Sylvia saw Nick sitting on her scooter as if he owned it, a smile took over her that wasn't exactly full of surprise. There was something unmatched, something that couldn't be taken away or, frustratingly - added to, between them. When everything else failed, it still survived. It was always just a phone call away. In a maudlin, drunken moment, Nick had once told her that life might be worth living if it was always just one touch away, and that night she cried a little. She never told him, though.

Sylvia quickly dismissed the doctor and then ran to hug Nick. Her thin warmth fell into him and it was easy to remember how holding her was such a narcotic. "How?" she said.

"You have such a kind and caring agent."

"No!"

"He was willing to pay. I extracted both kidneys. Strange, but did you know agents are born with three kidneys? It must be the need to piss away so many lives."