Dearly Departing by Geoff North (book reader for pc txt) 📕

“You sure everything’s okay?”

He nodded. “What took you so long getting here?”

Nancy glanced at her husband and Thomas winked. “Your father helped me pick the last of the raspberries.”

“Me and Alicia already picked a lot yesterday, there weren’t that many left.”

Raymond’s dad started for the house. “You kids get in the truck with your mom. I’m going to turn Gramma’s damn television down and say goodnight.”

Raymond squeezed into the front seat next to his sister. His mom sat in beside him by the passenger door. He looked up at her admiringly. For a lady that might or might not drop dead of old age before he graduated, she sure was pretty. Leaning against her, Raymond peered beyond his mother’s beautiful profile through the passenger window. The jet stream had dissipated into a wide band of puffy white.

Like ghosts, Raymond thought. They look like ghosts.

His mother leaned down and kissed the top of his head.

“You speak English?”

Ray opened his eyes and straightened up on the bench. “Pardon me?”

The pretty woman standing before him spoke again. “Sorry, I didn’t know you were having a snooze.” She held a cigarette up between her fingers. “I was just going to ask if you had a lighter.”

Ray offered up empty hands. “I don’t smoke, and I wasn’t snoozing... just daydreaming.”

She sat down next to him in the narrow space before he could slide over. Her firm buttock rubbed against him. Ray leaned forward and moved to the right. The girl’s blonde hair brushed against his face. He could smell shampoo, and he could feel the warmth of her close to him. “Don’t mind me. I’ve had way too much to drink. My friends say I get too close and chatty when I’m drunk.”

Too close, Ray thought. He hadn’t been this close to a woman since Caroline. Six years. “Tell me about it,” Ray said, trying to sound young and casual but coming across more strained and awkward. “I’ve had one too many cocktails, myself. It’s my birthday. The big five-o.”

“You’re kinda cute for an older guy.” She started to giggle, and the noise ended up snorting out from her nostrils. Ray wasn’t sure if she could even properly see him. Her eyes were beginning to cross.

What do I do now?

A young man appeared from behind the bench. “What’re you doing, Rhonda? I told you I was just going for a quick leak.”

“Relax. I was looking for a light.” Rhonda stood back up. “See you around, guy, and happy birthday!”

They stumbled back towards the lobby bar. Ray could hear her boyfriend snickering and saying something about senior citizens. Rhonda made that snorting noise again.

What’s wrong with me? She was young enough to be my daughter. Ray rubbed his aching temples. She was probably younger than Dawn. Stupid, dirty old man.

He almost followed them back into the bar. Dooley and the others would probably come looking for him if he didn’t get back soon. To hell with Dooley. Screw Calvin, and fuck Charlie. He left the bench and walked out into the night. He crossed the parking lot and started down a gravel path running the outskirts of the resort. There wasn’t much lighting beyond the exterior walls, but the moon was bright enough to show him the way.

A bus roared by less than fifty yards ahead. Ray saw something on the shoulder of the road the moment its headlights flashed by. There was a tree and something sitting next to it. Something squatting.

Something black.

It moved, and Ray saw the whites of its eyes. He stepped back, his heel caught in the gravel and he almost fell onto his rear end. A cat yowled, running out from behind the black thing and across the highway. Ray clutched at his hammering chest and moved towards the object.

It was a garbage bag. The cat’s clawing had caused it to shift.

Stupid, dirty, cowardly old man.

Ray walked back to the lobby. He steered away from the bar. Dooley and the others would have to continue celebrating his birthday without him. He went towards the elevators, tired and yearning for a good night’s sleep.

A receptionist at the front desk called him over. “Mr. Wallace? Room 4426?” Ray nodded. “I have a message from your family.”

“My family?”

“Your daughter just called. She’s says it’s important you call back.” She gave him a slip of paper with calling instructions and directed him to a corner of the lobby where the public phones were located. Ray dialled out apprehensively, wondering why Dawn would call him here on the last night of his vacation. He suspected booze and pot were becoming more of a problem for the twenty-five-year-old. She had dropped out of university the year before and had been drifting aimlessly ever since, bouncing from one crappy job to the next. And then there was that asshole ex-boyfriend. If anyone could derail someone from cleaning up their act, it was Tyler Wahl.

The phone started to ring on the other end. Guilt and fear flooded through Ray, sobering him faster than the garbage bag out in the dark. He never should’ve come to the Dominican. What kind of father was he to travel off, leaving his only child behind to suffer with her problems? She’s an alcoholic and a pot-head. What kind of dad packs up and leaves to a place where everyone is drinking and half-stoned all the time? The kind of dad that’s already checked out on life, that’s who.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Girl-of-Mine. Getting sick of shovelling snow?”

“It’s the beginning of October, Dad. You know it won’t start snowing for at least another month.”

She sounds so far away, so tired. “I know. Just wanted to remind you I’m someplace nice and warm, and you’re not.” Ray hoped she would laugh and start cursing. Dawn lived in Winnipeg, a couple hundred