Not A Single Word

Prologue

"Thank God, it looked like this day would never end." Faith thought to herself. It was gloomy outside and it's almost six to ten. "I hope Leila will come. We'll have a sleep over and catch up. These past few days were frantic!"

She stood at the window of her bedroom looking out at the cloudy sky. The sun was setting, not that you could see it in this weather. In this state the weather was as predictable as time. Rain, rain and some more rain. Well to be fair when it was not raining the sun felt so good on your skin and then ...it would rain again. Two hundred and sixty five days of rain and only a hundred days of no rain but not necessarily sun. She couldn't wait to discover the world, a sunny place where the sun would shine for two hundred and sixty five days and rain for less than a hundred. She wanted to discover the world and she should do it step by step. She'd never even left the city not to mention the state.

The phone rang pulling Faith from her thoughts.

"This must be Leila calling." She suspected and yelled through the open door of her room. "I'll take it mom. I think it's Leila," and threw herself over the bed to reach for the phone on the other side on the nightstand.

"Hello."

"Hello," answers an old quivering voice.

Oh no! What had she done to deserve this torture!

It's definitely not Leila. It's their elderly neighbor Mrs. Ramsey from across the street. Not again! Old Mrs. Ramsey was living alone except for her nurse and to be frank she had some very loose screws if you know what I mean. If you were ever to witness one of her conversations you'd understand. Something was undoubtedly off.

"Hello, yes?" Faith answered frustrated already suspecting what she wanted before she even began her tirade. It's the same record playing over and over and over again.

"Diane the darned girl did it again. She stole the remote." Mrs. Ramsey began as usual. And since she was half deaf she was screaming the house down in Faith's ear "I swear she stole it like she stole all my jewelries, and she is hiding your father I'm sure of it! Every time I ask her about Tony she says he's gone." She shouts.

To understand more the conversation you'd probably need to know the background. Diane is her daughter. The girl she is talking about is a nurse Diane pays to take care of Mrs. Ramsey and Tony her husband died three years earlier. After his death she started losing her mind bit by bit and she ended up needing someone to take care of her. Her daughter is a lawyer and she has her own family to mind so she pays a nurse to take care of her ailing mother. To be fair Diane is a good daughter. For all her commitments she comes and visits her mother two, sometimes three times a week.

"Mrs. Ramsey, this is the Drake's residence." Faith explained calmly. "I'll send over my father to help you look for the remote." This happens almost every time the nurse goes out to the pharmacy to get Mrs. Ramsey's medicine.

"Dear child, you're the new secretary aren't you? Is Diane there? Don't bother my little Diane, I'll tell Tony to look for it." Oh, how she makes Faith simmer. "Tony. Tony. Tony dear come help me look for the remote." She yelled but her mouth was so close to the phone, she almost blew Faith's eardrum.

"No. Mrs. Ramsey, Diane isn't here. But don't worry I'll send my dad immediately." She repeated quickly saying "goodbye" and closing the phone before Mrs. Ramsey had the chance to ask another question, which was sure to come. Faith pitied her sometimes, that poor old lady... with absolutely nothing on her mind to worry her... she envied her... everyone gives her excuses, more like free passes – "she's lost her mind" the poor thing – and she has someone to take care of her every need... she had problems like everyone in this life of course but it seems as if she escaped them because she had forgotten.