A Chance for Charity (The Immortal Ones) (9 page)

“
Three to four page summary
of the major event, class presentations at random starting next
Monday, take notes on your classmates’ presentations,” she ticked
off a mental list as she gave her instructions. “Oh, and extra
credit will be given for authentic props, visual aids, costumes
from the era, et cetera, et cetera. Yes, you can wear a poodle
skirt or a leather jacket and jeans if you get something in the
Fifties. Please ask for help if you are unsure. This is the last
grade before the final,” she finished as the bell rang, excusing us
from History.

“
It’s President Roosevelt’s
New Deal for me,” said Rusty.

“
I got Prohibition, yeah
flapper costume,” Delilah said.

“
I got our entrance into
World War I,” Burke said.

“
California Gold Rush,”
Summer read from her paper.

They turned toward me... it was clearly my
turn to reveal my draw. But I stood silent, thinking about the
event I’d drawn.

“
Emily, what’d you get?”
Summer waved her hand in front of my face as she asked.

“
Sorry... Spacing... Pearl
Harbor,” I mumbled, “and the United States’ entrance into World War
II,” I continued.

I knew James and Catherine had opted to
relax at home that day. So when I arrived at the house after
school, I sought them out. I found them in their study, reading.
James was sitting at one end of the couch and Catherine was lying
down, her head propped with a pillow and her feet resting in his
lap. I envied the comfort and security they each felt in the
other’s presence. James looked up from his book and smiled warmly
at me.

“
Are you both enjoying your
day off from the world?” I asked.

“
We are thoroughly enjoying
it. We decided that today was a day for relaxing, nothing more,”
James answered.

“
How was your day?”
Catherine inquired.

“
Just another day spent
posing as a high school senior. My history teacher hit me with a
good one today. I get to write a paper and give a presentation on
Pearl Harbor and the U.S.’s entrance into World War II. Lucky me,”
my voice was heavy with sarcasm.

“
Oh sweetie, I know the
topic of any war does not thrill you – especially that one,”
Catherine said as she sat up.

“
Just write a thorough,
fact driven paper. You’ll do a fine job,” James
encouraged.

“
We get extra credit for
wearing a costume or bringing in an authentic prop from the time
period,” I added.

“
Well that is up to you.
I’m sure we have a few authentic things around here somewhere,”
Catherine walked over and firmly planted her hands on my shoulders.
“You decide,” she gave me a reassuring smile and hugged me
tightly.

“
I’ll think about it,” I
said as I turned to leave the room.

“
Don’t worry, you’ll do us
proud,” James encouraged again as I walked out of their study and
headed to my bedroom.

I looked at the clock. It would be at least
three hours until my, now nightly, call from Link. I needed a
movie, a sci-fi I decided. Space Aliens were the perfect thing for
me right now. I was thankful for my collection of movies. They had
a way of letting me clear my head and disappear into their fantasy
instead of dwelling on and worrying about my reality.

On Friday, Mrs. Beech again stood at the
front of the room with the same shoe box from Monday perched in her
hand.

“
This time, I have a day of
the week and a number written on each paper. There will be three
presentations per day, each day next week. If you draw
Monday-Two
, from the box,
you will be the second presentation on Monday. You will get fifteen
minutes for your presentation followed by a question and answer
period. By the end of the week we will be done with our review and
the following week is Finals Week. All papers are due Monday
though, so keep a copy for your presentation. You all get that?”
she asked, making sure we understood, “I’ll walk around the class
and you can draw your day,” she finished and started her trek
around the room.

I reached in the box, when
Mrs. Beech arrived at my desk, and drew out a folded pink slip of
paper. I opened it up and revealed the words
Friday-Two
, written in her bubbly
handwriting. Yuck! I was really hoping for Monday, bite the bullet,
get it over with ASAP. I turned around in my desk to reveal my draw
to the group. Rusty, Summer, Burke, and Delilah each showed their
pink slips of paper. Incredibly, we each drew a different day of
the week.

The next morning Link arrived at my house at
nine o’clock sharp, again, for another day of skiing. We stayed on
Meadows. I wasn’t adventurous enough to try my skills on Lift Ten.
It was a long ride to the top. That meant a long way back down. I
promised that next weekend we would ski out from my house on
Galloping Goose. That trail would bring us to the point where Lift
One (Meadows) and Lift Ten (which led to Galloping Goose plus a ton
of other trails) met. Then when we were done for the day we would
just take Lift Ten to the top again and ski down to my house. I
wouldn’t have to lug my gear anywhere. Link insisted on doing most
of the lugging, so guilt was pushing me to this decision.

We were going out to dinner later and Link
insisted that I bring a change of clothes with me so we wouldn’t
have to go back to my house after skiing. Thankfully, Link was
friends with one of the guys who worked at the ski shop by Lift
Four. That meant I didn’t have to change clothes in a bathroom, I
had drawn the line there. I was grateful for the use of their
dressing room.

After we were finished skiing, warmed up on
a steaming cup of hot chocolate, all changed, and our ski gear was
packed in the back of the SUV, I turned to Link, “Let’s get some
eats. I love that Chinese place across from the boutique. Can we go
there?”

“
If that is what the lady
wants then that is what the lady will get,” he answered as he bent
into a deep bow.

“
Stop it,” I giggled.
“Let’s go,” I said as I walked toward the passenger
side.

“
No driving of vehicles
tonight milady,” he stopped me, keeping up with his
charade.

“
Okay Mr. Knight, in
shining armor, how shall we get to the restaurant? On horseback? Or
perhaps in a carriage?” I surmised.

“
In a carriage of sorts,”
he answered and held out his arm for me to take.

He led me past the shops in Mountain Village
toward the base of the snow. We turned left on the walkway between
the base of Lift Four and the ski center where we had purchased our
season passes. He guided me up a flight of snowy metal stairs and
over to the entrance of the Gondola.

“
Your carriage awaits,”
Link smiled that brilliant smile.

“
Thank you brave knight,” I
smiled back, enjoying the game.

It was just starting to get dark as the
gondola rose up to the top of the mountain. I looked back at
Mountain Village and down at the houses below our “carriage.” The
view from up here was incredible. Why hadn’t I done this before? We
rose a thousand feet in the air and came to a transition point at
over ten thousand feet in elevation. Some people were getting out
of their gondolas, to go to dinner at the restaurant that sat at
the top. We stayed on, for the rest of the ride, down to the town
of Telluride.

As the gondola started its descent, I looked
down at the tiny town of Telluride with awe. It was breathtaking
from this height. Little lights twinkled from houses, streetlights,
and the various trees that were decorated for the Holiday Season.
It was a scene out of a picture book. How could I have lived here
this long and not experienced the true beauty of the little town,
as seen from the gondola?

“
Thank you,” I whispered to
Link. I squeezed his hand, “It’s beautiful.”

“
I know,” Link answered and
pulled my hand up to his lips.

We rode the rest of the two thousand foot
drop in silence, enjoying the beauty of Telluride, in December, at
night. After exiting the gondola we walked up to Colorado Ave. and
over to the Chinese restaurant. I glanced down at our hands,
fingers intertwined, as we walked. They looked so perfect together,
our hands, meant to be.

Our jackets were instantly removed when we
entered the warm restaurant. The small room was overly noisy from a
large party sitting in the back. I immediately ordered for the two
of us as soon as were sat at a table. War Wonton Soup for two,
House Special Double Pan Fried Noodles, and Orange Chicken – all my
favorites. To pass the time, while we waited for our meal, we
scanned the paper place mats in front of us to find out where our
birth year landed in the Chinese Zodiac and which animal was
assigned to each of us.

“
I’m a Rabbit,” Link
pointed out.

“
Oh how cute, you’re a
bunny,” I smiled at him.

“
R A B B I T,” he spelled,
“Rabbit, not bunny. What cute little animal are you?”

“
A cute little Rooster,” I
replied.

Link looked at the placemat, his expression
contemplative. “You said you’re turning eighteen in February
right?”

“
Yeah,” I answered. Oh
crap, what year did I look up? “Oh yeah, stupid me, I’m a
Monkey.”

“
Okay that makes sense,
silly monkey,” he grinned.

“
You are not disappearing
for Christmas are you? I’ve already talked it over with Aunt Rachel
and Uncle Jason, and we’ve decided you should come over to our
house. Please say yes.” I gave him my best puppy dog eyes, pleading
for his compliance.

“
I don’t want to
impose...”

“
You aren’t imposing. Say
yes,” I said and then mouthed, “Yes – Yes – Yes,” to
him.

“
Okay, okay, yes,” Link
gave in.

“
Yay,” I squealed as I
clapped my hands together.

Our waiter arrived at the table with the
soup. He placed a larger bowl in the center of the table and then
ladled soup into each of our small bowls. As he finished, another
waiter passed by carrying a tray filled with eight or more glasses
from the bar. In slow motion, it seemed, I watched as a toddler
from the large party in the back escaped his mother’s grasp and ran
between the two waiters. A stunt coordinator on a movie set
couldn’t have timed the next moment any better. The toddler bumped
our waiter off balance. He stumbled into the other waiter, carrying
the heavy tray. The tray tipped and the glasses came crashing down.
Glass shards flew in all directions, mostly hitting the two waiters
on their aprons and causing no damage to them. But a few flew into
my arms, piercing my skin.

Link’s eyes widened with concern. I
panicked, and ran for the bathroom in the back of the restaurant. I
closed the door behind me, locking it, and examined my arms. Why
couldn’t I have worn a sweater? Why the short sleeves tonight? One,
two, three... I counted six shards of glass. I carefully pulled the
first one from my skin.

“
Emily, are you alright?”
Link pounded on the door.

“
I’m fine. I just freaked,”
I answered as I pulled out the second and then the
third.

“
Open the door, I need to
see that you’re okay,” he implored.

Four...

“
Just a second,” I
breathed

Five...

“
Emily, please,” Link
begged, and his voice cracked.

Six...

I splashed water on my arms and dried them
with a paper towel. I ran some more water in the sink to remove the
few drops of blood that had escaped my wounds as I pulled out the
shards. I looked at my arms. Everything looked normal. It was going
to be fine, I lied to myself.

“
Emily,” his voice had an
edge now, panic had set in.

“
I’m fine, I promise,” I
said as I opened the door. I knew my eyes were still anxious. My
heart was beating a little too fast. “I just panicked and ran in
here to look.”

“
Show me your arms,” he
ordered.

I held them out for his inspection, “It was
nothing just a few bits of glass landed on them but no damage was
done,” I lied.

“
I saw glass in your arms,”
he insisted. “There are drops of blood on the table.”

“
Maybe they were from one
of the waiters. That little kid’s alright isn’t he?” I asked trying
to shift the focus away from me.

“
I think so,” he looked
confused again. “Are you sure you are unharmed?”

“
I am perfectly fine,” I
swore.

The waiter walked back to where we stood,
“The table is all clean now. I’m so sorry. Are you Okay? Do you
still want your food?” he asked, openly concerned.

“
I’m fine, thank you. And
yes, we will still be dining,” I answered.

We walked back to the table, where our
dinner was waiting for us. All evidence of the mishap had been
erased while I was in the restroom. Except for the soggy floor, and
the concerned faces of the patrons and staff, I could pretend
everything was as it was before. But then, there was the one overly
concerned face, sitting across from me, staring at me in disbelief.
I couldn’t pretend he would remain as he was before.

I chatted excessively about skiing, the kids
at school, and the boutique. I talked to fill the silence and the
tension that came my way, radiating from across the table. After
twenty minutes, or more, Link began to act like his old self again.
He talked about work and told me some of the funny stories about
the different people that come into the store. He told me how he
skied with Ron, a co-worker, this past week. He described the view
from the top of See Forever, one of the trails they skied together.
My worries eased some, but I could still make out the lingering
doubt that would escape from of his eyes from time to time.