Friday, April 02, 2010

Farewell








As every night since Kate left out on honeymoon, Laura went to her apartment to water the plants and feed Osiris. She opened the door and turned on the lights. Kate was sitting on the sofa, plunged into shadows. She was staring at the TV - which was turned off - with the cat laying on her lap. Laura was surprised, and barely managed to ask her why she had arrived home one week earlier. Kate did not answer, but sobbed her heart out. Laura sat beside her and asked about James, trying to guess if they had have an argument. She asked Kate why she was crying, why she did not tell her she was coming back before, and why James was not with her. But Kate remained oblivious to the questions. Laura tried to catch her attention in several ways. She asked Kate if she wanted to be left alone, or if she wanted something to eat. She tried to comfort her by saying that Osiris was purring, which meant he was happy to see her, and that she sould be happy to see him too. In order to make Kate stop crying, Laura told her that cats absorb everything: would it be good or bad. She made her a silly jokes, as if she had seen Nessie, or if she had remembered to bring a bottle with snow. But Kate seemed to be somewhere else, and said nothing. Laura stroke Kate's hair, dried her tears, held her. But it was all in vain; Kate did not even look at her. Laura turned on the TV, and to kill time started to water the plants. When she was at the balcony her mobile phone rung. She had left it inside the bag, on a chair. She harried up and managed to pick it up. It was James. That morning they had gone skiing. After a while in the mountain Kate had a breakdown. The doctors said it was a heart attack. When she arrived at the hospital she was dead.