Regina (7 page)

I was walking up to the house when I noticed
a little shed made of aluminum and a vegetable garden. It was so
cute! Carrots, lettuce, peppers, and some fruit were growing in
this little sectioned off garden. Inside the shed I found big
plastic bins full of mementos from when my mother and her sister
were children. Tons of old photos, dresses, shoes, report cards,
letters, keepsakes, tickets, receipts and so on. I spent at least a
couple of hours going thru the items. I’m sure Grandpa wouldn’t
mind me looking at the family stuff. I almost thought to go ask but
then I remembered he just got back from planning Grandmother
Lydia’s funeral. I’m sure this would be so minor if it wasn’t ok
with him.

My mother had been a smart kid. She had
mostly A’s on every report card. There were tons of pictures of my
mother and her sister, Rachel. They were cute girls, my mother
especially. Both had their hair in curly pigtails but Aunt Rachel
had brown hair. They had the same sweet smile. Aunt Rachel looked
as if she had a dimple on her right cheek when I saw a picture of
her smiling for school pictures. Her plump baby cheeks and one
dimple were still obvious, even as she got older. From what I
understood from the pictures, Mom obviously loved her little
sister. So why did she keep her a secret?

I continued to look thru another box with
books. This one had yearbooks in it. Oh yeah! I couldn’t wait to
see what mom looked like at my age! Ironically enough, I’d never
seen a picture before her college days. The signature pages
distracted me and I stopped to read what people wrote to my mother.
There were lots of ‘don’t change’, ‘keep in touch’, ‘have a great
summer’. But there was one entry in her senior yearbook.

Together Forever – Love Garrett

I guess my mom left someone behind or broke
up with him before she left. As far as mom told me, she graduated
High School, went to College, met daddy, graduated, married and had
me. Is there some mysterious man out there still in love with my
mother??

Before I could make a huge romantic drama out
of this in my head, a picture fell out of the yearbook. It was
dated after mom graduated High School, August 1988. It was a
picture of my mother and some man I didn’t know. They were dressed
in wedding clothes.

Did my mother get married before she met my
father? I analyzed every detail of that photo, but it wouldn’t give
me an answer. I couldn’t ask anyone about it, at least I thought I
couldn’t. Maybe later? I decided that would be best to ask mom
after she buries her mother and in private.

The sun was starting to burn the little shed
and I was mighty thirsty, so I started putting everything back into
the box. I was more than shocked when my mother’s report card from
Austin Community College dropped out of her yearbook as well. It
was only one report card but it answered most of my questions.

According to the report card, Mom earned 36
credits from the college starting from the fall of 1990 till the
summer of 1992. It appears she might have qualified for credits to
graduate because something was stamped below the grades about
contacting the office for graduation requirements. But she told me
she graduated from the University of Nevada in 1995. She even has a
College diploma hanging in her office in the City. In fact, so does
daddy. Supposedly, that’s how they met. They told me mom left Lee
the day after her high school graduation for Las Vegas. In fact,
she recalled how much of a struggle it was to save the money for
the plane ticket and to live in Vegas for two months before school
started. So this doesn’t make sense. It kinda seems as if she lied
about her past.

Was she ashamed? Did she think she had to lie
so that daddy and I wouldn’t think less of her? I couldn’t think of
answer so I kept those questions set aside for when I could ask.
Before I left, I made a snap decision to take the picture of my
mother and the unknown man along with the college report card. I
don’t know why I did this because it caused me a lot of trouble
later.

My warm hands began to put everything back
when a piece of paper at the bottom of the tub cut my finger.
Stupid paper! That stung! Out of habit, I brought my cut finger to
my mouth. With my other hand, I peeled the paper from the bottom
and brought it up to read.

It was handwritten. The dainty letters flowed
together like a beautiful musical composition. It was dated October
of 1990. I could feel the sorrow dripping from this letter.

My Dear Baby girl,

If you are reading this letter, then I am
gone. Gone into my next life without you. My concern is for you, my
darling daughter, and your future.

As you leave behind childhood, you will find
a new person waiting for you in the future. Your emotions will run
away with you and anger will settle itself into your heart. Don’t
let it. Above all, always remember that you are capable of love and
compassion. Avoid the hatred in your heart and respond to the love
you desperately need.

When you find this letter, run! Find Lady
Bird, a little town on the Texas coast. A young man who calls
himself Pirate will be waiting for you, he will take you home. Run
fast my darling.

I loved you with every breath I took.

Love, your mother Rachel

Well….ok. This is strange. Was this written
from mom’s sister Rachel? I didn’t know if it was a family name. My
fingers caressed the paper; it felt crisp and brand new. I guess I
can file this one under mysterious. In the end, I took the letter
as well. I wanted to read it again and try to get a better
understanding of it. I’m sure it would be okay to ask my Grandpa
once a little time has passed. Once everything was put back in its
neat order, I put my discoveries in my back pocket and left the
shed. At least I hoped I put everything back as I found it.

I went home around six and snuck in thru the
sunroom. If I was careful, I could go into Grandpa’s bathroom and
out the living room without disturbing him. I was pretty sure dad
was in the kitchen, making dinner. I wanted to avoid him at all
costs.

My hand was on the door when my grandfather
called out from behind me.

“Regina?” He asked.

I squealed with surprise and spun around. My
sweet grandfather was standing in his overalls, looking at me with
concern. “We haven’t seen you since we came back.”

“Oh! Sorry Grandpa, you scared me!” I gasped,
holding my hand to my chest. “I was out in the pasture and the
lake. I wanted to give you and mom some peace after you
returned.”

“Lake? What lake?” Grandpa asked.

“The lake behind the house.” I said pointing
to the back.

“Oh you mean the tank in the front yard!”
Grandpa laughed. “Regina, this is the back of the house. I built
this sun porch as an add-on. But the door in the living room is the
front door. And that lake out yonder is a tank, not a lake.”

“Oh, ok.” I said while shaking my head. The
house layout now made sense to me. “What’s the difference between a
tank and a lake?”

“Someone dug out the ground and let nature
fill a tank up. A lake is all nature made.” He answered.

I laughed and we went inside for dinner.

If dad still felt the same anger as before,
he didn’t show it at dinner. Rather than be snotty, he was nice to
me. Kind of like the dad I use to have before we came here. No one
mentioned the fact that Aunt Rachel or her kids existed. I wanted
to talk to Grandpa about it privately, but after dinner he went to
bed. That was strange. At dinner we realized we have a love of
staying up to watch old Dr. Who episodes. I thought we were going
to watch one tonight.

Left with my parents at the dinner table, I
became a little frightened though I don’t know why. Ever since
dad’s mysterious freak out today, I’ve felt on edge with them.

“So, your daughter asked me an interesting
question today.” My father’s voice came out light and full of
humor. He reached over to my mother. His fingers started entwining
with hers as he said this.

“Really? Well, what interesting thing did she
ask?”

I wanted to shout that I was in the room but
they knew I was in here. It was weird watching them talk about me
as if I wasn’t in the room. They started talking lovingly to each
other too. It was starting to gross me out!

“She wanted to know about Rachel.”

“Rachel? What made her ask about Rachel?” The
conversation was still maintained between the two of them.

“A local girl brought it up today at the
store. Regina says she wants to know her family.”

Their eyes were locked. I felt as if I
disrupted them during their private time. But I was starting to get
mad at the whole situation: the dreams about the town, being away
from home, missing my friends, Jeff ignoring me, my parents’ weird
behavior and to top it all off, she lied to me about everything
that had to do with her life.

“Oh and don’t forget lying to me about it. I
mean, lying to Regina about it.” I snapped in my best New Yorker
tone. Two could play this weird game.

They turned their heads slowly in my
direction as if I dared interrupt them while they were having their
moment. Their eyes were darker than normal and their smiles were
eerie, like they knew a spectacular secret that I was unaware of.
Chills ran up my spine as they looked at me. I wanted to shrink
back in my seat from the strangeness of the situation.

“No one lied to you, sweetie.”

“But I asked you both before about siblings.
Both of you said you were only children. Why didn’t you tell me
about Rachel?” I softened my tone and matched my eyes with moms.
“Mom, I’ll always love you. No matter what you do or have done,
I’ll always love you and support you.”

Her fake, clownish smile was starting to get
to me. They were still holding hands, palms rubbing together. I
chose to ignore their hands and kept my eyes focused on them.

“That was so lovely, honey, but I think you
misunderstood. I told you I had a sister a long time ago. We never
really got along before, even as kids. No big deal.”

Did aliens come to earth and take my real
parents? She was lying and every person in this room knew it. Those
pictures showed me two happy little girls who loved each other, it
was very evident! I wanted to be angry with them about lying to me
to cover up their lies but I didn’t want to aggravate the
situation. We would be leaving soon and this place would be a
distant memory. There was absolutely no way I would ever come back
here! Besides, I was pretty creped out by them and wanted to escape
the situation as quickly as I could. At least mom knew I loved her
and she could tell me anything if she wanted to.

I nodded my head ok and excused myself from
the table.

Chapter Nine

The knocking was loud and beginning to bother
Camille Clemmens in apartment home 2A. She was resting in her
favorite pastel pink easy chair, her feet up watching her favorite
cooking show. The show amused her. After all, why shouldn’t the
Chef yell at idiotic people for sending out raw or bad tasting
food? Plus, she just loved it when he kicked people out of the
kitchen.

It was a little after eight pm and Camille
was ready to spend the rest of the day catching up with Chef and
his band of bad cooks. The knocking was getting loud and starting
to annoy Camille.

“Mr. and Mrs. Roth?” Came a voice muffled by
the door.

Camille’s ears perked up. Someone was
knocking at the Roth’s home across the way. Her eye peaked out the
peep hole in the heavy oak door. Her hand rested on the glossy
stained wood while she steadied herself.

It was a woman, dressed in a grey tweed skirt
suit. Camille squinted to get a better look at the woman, but it
was no use, the lady was too far away. She thought for a second.
Should she go out there?

“Regina? Are you ok?” The lady called out
after knocking again.

Logic told Camille to unlock her door, which
she did. The Palamark was one of the safest and prestigious
apartment homes in the upper West side! The building was composed
of seven floors, two apartments on each floor. It was a new
building, less than 10 years old. Security wasn’t an issue because
the doormen were very precise and you were only allowed up if you
had preauthorization from the apartment occupant. If company comes
unannounced, your must be verbally approved by the tenant in order
to be allowed into the elevator or stairs. Nothing would work
without authorization, the elevator wouldn’t come down and the
steel door to the stairwell wouldn’t unlock. Camille wasn’t too
concerned when she opened the door.

“Mr. and Mrs. Roth? Regina?” She said again,
this time much louder.

“Hello?” Her frail, older voice rippled
across the marble vestibule.

The woman stopped and spun slowly on her
heals to face the old, snoopy neighbor. She was short, much shorter
than expected by the old woman. Her hair was long, brown and pinned
to one side with a blue ribbon. The ribbon gave color to the plain
tweed suit. It seemed crude, but it worked for this woman. She gave
a perfect white smile at Camille as she spun around and started
walking towards her. Her grey skirt didn’t rustle when she walked
but her dark blue shoes clicked on the marble. Her young, slim
figure approached Camille.

“Hi, I’m looking for Mr. and Mrs. Roth. I
have an appointment with them and Regina.” Her blue eyes were full
of sincerity and concern.

Camille didn’t feel a threat from this woman
but living in New York gave her the experience to never
underestimate anyone.

“Well, they’re not here. Which young man let
up?” Camille asked suspiciously.

“Evan, I was in their log. The Roth’s are
expecting me. I’m Carrie Lisban.” She lied, her voice softer. Her
real name was Lady Sarah Lordview. “I’m an interviewer with Crosby
College. I have an appointment with Regina and her parents today
regarding her admission to our college after graduation.”