...Two weeks later, the phone rang again, Ruth’s chipper voice on the other end.
Noah didn’t even answer; he hung up, tossing the phone across the room. It hit the TV, made a loud cracking noise. Not
that there was anyone to hear it; Jane had left for New York three days ago and Taylor was spending the night at a friend’s.
Noah groped in the dark for his pants.
“Lillie,” Noah growled when he found her standing in front of their old house
over on Lake Ave. She sat on the old tire swing, surely unsafe now since the rope hadn’t been replaced since Noah was
a teenager, gazing ahead of her at the woods. She wore a skirt tonight, one of the brown concoctions she’d find at the
Wal-Mart down the highway on the way to Portland. She wore her snow boots with it, bright purple Uggs that must have easily
weighed ten pounds per foot. She had one of the old ski hats with the rainbow stripes pulled down almost to her eyes and her
hair fell in a haphazard braid down her back. “Lillie, come on, I don’t have time for this,” Noah said.
“We have all the time in the world,” Lillie whispered. “All we have
is time. Lots and lots of time.” She kicked her feet, set the swing moving.
Noah could hear the first stirrings of life there in the woods, the first chirpings of
birds. The sun wasn’t up yet but they knew, as nature had taught them, that it was just over the horizon.
Lillie twisted so that she was swinging, facing Noah. “Where’s Taylor? And
why don’t you call anymore?”
“Lillie, enough’s enough. You’re a big enough girl, a woman now, and
you understand it’s wrong to go walking alone at night.”
Lillie frowned. “It’s going to rain.”
Noah looked up. The clouds did look heavy. “Lillie, it will always rain. For the
rest of your life, it will always rain. You don’t have to be in it every time.”
“Will you stand in the rain with me, Noah?”
Noah sighed. “Lillie. I have to go home.”
Lillie raised a brow, a look that made her look her 32 years. “Am I problem, Noah?
For you, for Mom? Not me, Lillie, a problem, but is my problem a problem?”
“No, Lillie. You’re not a problem. You’re problem isn’t a problem.”
“I don’t want to be a problem. I want to live with you someday. And Taylor.
Taylor wants me to live with him too.”
“You will, Lillie, you will.”
“Stand in the rain with me, Noah. Like when we were kids. Like when Dad was alive.”
She climbed off the swing, moved out into the yard. She was silent for a while, simply looking up at the sky. Then she turned
and looked him straight in the eye. “It was easier when Dad was alive. When Dad was alive, I didn’t need to stand
in the rain as often.”
“Why do you need to now?”
“Because he’s in it. In the rain, I mean.” Lillie took a deep breath.
“It’s coming.” And sure enough, within moments, the skies opened up and the rain fell down in gentle splats
against the ground. “You and me, Noah,” Lillie said with a giggle. “It’ll always be you and me.”
“Yes, Lillie, it will always be you and me.”
“Stand with me in the rain, Noah. Come and stand with me.” She came over,
pulled on his hand. Noah let himself be led out from under the tree and into the water. “Turn your face towards it,”
Lillie whispered, linking fingers. She closed her eyes and the smile on her face was the largest he’d ever seen.
Noah turned his face up to the sky and let the rain fall down on him.
Sleep
Take me to a place where I know I can be
Drifting through my darkening velvet ebony
Show me where the sunset stains the purple sky
Let the sound of silence slowly send us high
I watch the waves of peaceful haze wash over you
Skim the shore of stillness, let it draw you through
You coast along the boulevard of gentle breeze
And journey through the misty blue with ever ease
Sometimes when in paradise, it can open
up the mind
Because, when in sometimes paradise,
Everything's alright.
