Carpe Bead'em (5 page)

It was my idea to give each other a
Buddha on special occasions. I love feng shui. I made our apartment as
spiritually free-floating as I could.

I had a map of our bagua and placed all
sorts of good-luck Chinese pieces around to create a flow to our chi. With the
help of water features, bamboo, candles, coins, and red ribbons, I’ve created a
harmony to our apartment. Now I’m going to have to do this all over again!

Only one problem, there isn’t enough
feng shui in the world to give me peace about revisiting my past.

“I want to thank each and every one of
you for coming to see me off,” I say. “I didn’t realize it took me leaving for
us all to get together.”

Someone yells out how they came for the
free drinks, making everyone laughs.

“Very funny. Seriously, I couldn’t ask
for better friends. I’m not going to bother you with opening all these
wonderful going away gifts. Besides, Lucy told me that I can’t move anything
because once you move out of a place, you can’t move back in for three years.”

“Let me guess, Granny?” someone calls
out.

“Yes. Granny.” I smile at Lucy who acts
shy and innocent. “And I’m only going to be gone a few months, not years.”

Her Granny’s superstition is trickling
in all of us.

“Thank you.” I whisper in Prudence’s
ear. “I can’t believe you put this together.” I step back and put my hands
together and bow. “Namaste.”

“You are welcome.” She takes my hand. Her
nose curls in disgusts. “What is that?”

I look down at my right knuckle. A big
red bump the size of a dime. It sorta looks like a boil. I put my finger on it.
It doesn’t hurt. It quickly leaves my mind when I pick up the drink from the
floating waitress who’s obviously trying to dodge me.

“Are you okay?” Prudence can tell something
isn’t sitting well with me. 

“I feel a little bit queasy.” I put my
hand on the person closest to me. Those beautiful hazel eyes stare back at me. I
gush like a school-girl. “Bo.”

“I’ll take her home,” Bo says.

He walks me to the door and I want to to
protest, but nothing will come out. I can’t leave my party this early. I want
to stay and be with my girlfriends. The butterflies, in my stomach, float
around when I imagine three months without them. They are my family. They’re
there when I need them. I know it sounds silly, but sometimes I just want nothing
more than to be around them.

It’s nice to be able to sit and not talk
or even feel like we have to talk. There aren’t too many friendships around
like this.

“Come on, Hallie.” Bo prompts me to keep
walking.

“I can’t leave.” I babble like an idiot,
“I want to stay here and look at them.”

“You have a big day ahead of you.” Bo is
the voice of reason and the picture of perfection. “You need to sleep off the
alcohol you’ve consumed.”

“Hallie, you’re only going to be gone
for three months.” Of course Georgia has to be the one to stand up to me. The
“mom” of the group. “We’re still going to have our girls’ night in and we’re
going to visit.” She cups her hands around my face and kisses the tip of my
nose.

“We love you.” Prudence stands behind
her.

“Bo is right.” Lucy looks at Bo and back
to me. “You’ve had a little too much to drink and you need to go to bed so you
can drive safely tomorrow.”

With my head tucked like a good little
girl, I let Bo lead the way.

Chapter Ten

A piece of paper next to my pillow
scratches me when I roll over to shield my eyes from the sun dotting through
the blinds. 

Ignoring the gigantic red bump staring
at me from my knuckle, I read the note.

Hallie,

Please call me as soon as you get
settled in Cincinnati. It’s really important that I talk to you.

Bo

Embarrassment creeps across my cheeks as
I slowly remember the turn of events from last night. The ever-so-well-mannered
Bo tucked me into bed, fully clothed, and talked me into sleeping off my
drunken stupor.

If Bo wants me to call him as soon as I
get settled in Cincinnati, then I haven’t totally scared him off.

It’s something I’m going to have to
think about. I’m not sure I’ll be able to grant him his wish. Its bad enough I
have to go back to face my past. I’m not about to let my past slide into my
future. I’m going to get these three months over and come back to my life.

Hesitant, it takes every bone in my body
to put the first pair of shoes in the waiting boxes.

Summer items, shoes and a few lay-around
outfits are the only items I’m going to pack. I figure when I’m not at work,
I’ll be depressed in my bed, jogging, or on my five-hour journeys back to visit
my peeps in Chicago.

“I don’t think your Solara is going to
hold much more.” Lucy picks up my Prada sandals and dangles them in the air. “I
don’t think these are going to fit.”

“If they don’t, I can hold them.”  I snatch
them and slip them back in the bag. 

“Hello?” Georgia and Prudence announce
their entrance.

“Isn’t she gone yet?” Georgia pats her
pregnant belly. “I’m ready to have fun without her,” she sarcastically blurted.

“I guess Sam will let anyone up, huh?” I
laugh walking down the hall.

“We came to see you off.” Tears build up
in Prudence’s eyes. “I can’t believe I have to boycott Gucci for three months.”

“Are you tearing up because you won’t be
shopping?” I tease. “You can come to the Cincinnati store and pick out whatever
you like.”

I hug her tight and hope it will make
the ache go away. But it doesn’t. It only deepens.

“How soon can I come?” Lucy asks.

There’s an unwritten bond between us.
Lucy is my rock, Prudence is my fun and Georgia is my voice of reason.

Georgia hands me the most beautiful feng
shui book tied with a pretty red polka dot ribbon. “You need all the good chi
that you can get,” she says.

Man, she’s right. These days, I’d take
all the luck I can get.

“Oh, I almost forgot,”
I say, totally lying
my ass off.

I’ve been waiting for this moment.
I pull the
envelopes out of my bag and hand them out.  

“We wouldn’t miss it.” Georgia’s smile
lights up the room.

“I wanted to make sure we continued our
monthly girls’ night in.” A warm glow ran through me.

All three begin to squeal when they
realize the gift I’ve given them.

“How did you afford this?” Lucy’s mouth
dropped.

I’d already given her three months’ of
rent. She didn’t want to take it, but I made her.

“My advance,” I stood there with pride
since I’m usually the one that can’t afford such things.

“I’m totally in the wrong field.”
Prudence laughs. “Do they need a good lawyer?”

“It’s time for me to get on the road.” I
avoid my friend’s faces, and pick up my last box.

If I look at them, the water-works will
start and won’t quit until I get to Cincinnati.

“We’re going to send you off without us
watching you leave.” Lucy squeezes me with a big hug. “Granny said never to
watch a friend leave or you’re watching them leave for good and I need you here
with me.”

“There is no way I’m going to let you
watch, because I
am
coming back with or without Granny’s advice on my
side.” There have been a lot of Granny’s superstitions I’ve taken to heart. But
this one is one I’m not going to question.

Reluctantly I bow my head and accept my
fate. I lug myself to the elevator and hesitate before I push the down arrow. I
turn to look back and all three girls quickly jump back in my apartment and
shut the door. Even though they say they won’t watch, I know their hearts can’t
hold them back.

The ride down the elevator makes me sick
to my stomach. I feel like I left my heart on the fifty-first floor. My mind is
racing a million miles a minute. Three months away from my friends, and from Bo,
is going to seem like an eternity.

I look at the image staring back at me
from the elevator mirror.
There’s a sparkle in my eyes that I can’t explain. 
 

I can’t help but have an eerie feeling.
I begin to wonder how three months away is going change my life. I get a sneaky
suspicion that the girl staring back at me may not be the same girl who will
return.

“Thank you, Sam.” He is waiting by the
door for me.  

“I got you a coffee from Addicted to the
Bean.” He hands me the cup. “We sure are going to miss your morning runs.”

“I’ll be back in no time.”

Cincinnati is my past. My home is in
Chicago. My life is here. With both my parents gone, Aunt Grace is all that’s
left there. I’m sure she will outlive me.

As much as I want to, I refrain from
looking back when I pull out of the parking garage. I resist the urge to drive
down Michigan Avenue, the Magnificent Mile. The heartbeat of the city. I’m sure
it is already full of people. That isn’t going to happen in Cincinnati. It’s a
conservative city.

I’m leaving an extremely hot city for
the wonderful allergies that come with Cincinnati. Maybe I’ll get such bad hay
fever that I’ll have to call in sick all the time and they’ll fire me.

I hold Bo’s note tight. With the top
down and music going, I get comfortable for the five-hour drive.

Week Two

Beads…the
ultimate stress reliever.

Author Unknown

Chapter Eleven

“Who’s there?” the voice snapped
sharply.

You have got to be kidding me. My Uncle
Jimmy is bent over, his butt crack showing, using a scrub brush on the concrete
steps leading up to their shotgun apartment building. That’s the last sight I
need to see on my first night home.

“It’s me, Hallie, Uncle Jimmy.” I yell
over the traffic behind me, trying not to look at his nasty crack.

Uncle Jimmy is Aunt Grace’s lame old
fourth husband who really isn’t related to me at all. He came into the picture,
but was never around. He floats in and out of drunkenness.

“This damn buggy place. Bugs all over.
Drunks throw up and I gotta clean it up.” He throws the brush in the stale
bucket of water. “Step over me. Your Aunt Grace is upstairs.”

It makes me laugh how he always calls
her “my” Aunt Grace.

The stench of the building forces me to
breathe in and out of my mouth. Maybe I should’ve gone to my new apartment
before I came to visit. Maybe I shouldn’t have come at all. Not only will I
have to plug in my Clapper as soon as I get there, but I won’t sleep for all
the night terrors I’ll have about Uncle Jimmy’s nasty crack.

They sure could fix this place up, I
stand in the tattered building where I grew up. The three-story building has total
of twelve apartments that Aunt Grace is responsible for.

The once vibrant red carpet that runs
down the hallway is now black and bald in most spots. The gorgeous dark
woodwork is now dull and nicked up. Aunt Grace’s apartment number is hanging by
a thumb tack. I roll my eyes.
How in the hell did I escape such a place?
I pat my Prada and knock on the door.

“Aunt Grace.” I tap again, careful not
to knock off the number plate.

The television is so loud that I have to
knock louder and my knuckles turn red.

“What?” she screams in a cranky get-the-hell-out
voice that’s all too familiar.

“It’s me Hallie, Aunt Grace.” I hear a
chair squeak.

“Hold on, honey. I need to put my teeth
in.” I never know what’s going to come out of Aunt Grace’s mouth. Now I have to
worry about what’s going in, too.

To the chagrin of my parents, Aunt Grace
told me all about the birds and the bees. Unfortunately she did it without my
parents knowing, only to find out when the school principal told them she had
received several parent complaints about “their daughter” telling stories at
recess about an inappropriate topic. The way I figured it, we all had a right
to know where we came from.

“Wow. You look great.” I pat Aunt Grace
on the back trying not to hug her. I don’t want to take any unwanted bugs to my
new pad.

But she doesn’t look great. She is thin
and pale. Not the boisterous Italian body I’m use to.

“Let me look at you.” She holds my arms
out to my side.

It is hard not to stare at the crooked
black wig on top her head, showing off a little of her gray wiry hair. I’m still
shocked by how frail she looks.

Her fox stole rests on her shoulder with
the tail neatly tucked in the teeth of the fox’s mouth. There is more skin than
fur on the pelt. I can imagine Aunt Grace sitting around in her chair petting
the fox like a real pet.