Away

33. Good News

Brett woke up with a huge pain in his left shoulder from sleeping in a stupid position on the couch all night.  He sits up to rub his shoulder.  It's dark outside.  He searches for his phone somewhere on the floor near the couch.  4am.  What a horrible time to wake up. 

He gently shakes Eddy's shoulder.  "Eddy.  You have to go sleep in your bed.  You will have pain tomorrow.  Eddy?"  Eddy sits up half asleep, so Brett takes him by the hand and guides him to his bedroom.  Then he stumbles his way back to get his pillows from the couch and returns to his own room. Even though he didn't make the bed, he just flonks on top and goes to sleep immediately.

When the sun wakes Eddy up later, he is confused at first. He remembers watching a movie, and now he is sleeping on his bed? He lies in bed for a while looking at the majestic Table Mountain with the sun creeping up one side. The city below looked peaceful, with very few cars moving around.

He gets up to use the bathroom and go make some coffee. As he passes Brett's room, he peeks inside. Brett was sprawled sideways on the bare mattress with his head buried in the pillows. The sun rising through the window paints golden streaks over Brett's face and hair. Almost like an angel, he thinks to himself.

He makes two cups of coffee and then brings them to Brett's room. He places it in the floor.  He removes the laundry from the chair and floor and puts it on the foot end of the bed. Then he moves the chair next to the bed and puts one cup of coffee on the chair.

"Brett", he says gently. "Bretty. Wake up, I brought you some coffee". Brett slowly opens his eyes, then stretches out like a cat, and turns around. "Too early", he says. "Dude, wake up, or I tickle you", Eddy warns. "Nooooo", Brett mumbles as he buries his head deeper into the pillows. "OK, I warned you", Eddy smiled, as he pokes one finger into Brett's ribs. That did the trick. Brett yelps and sits up immediately. "Dude, that's cruel", he says, as he smacks Eddy with a pillow.

"What time is it?", Brett asks as he takes the coffee from the chair.  Eddy sits down next to him with his coffee.  "When I checked a few minutes ago it was 8", he says.  "How did I get to my bed last night? The last thing I remember was watching a movie". Brett takes a sip of the coffee and says "I woke up at 4.  I brought you to your room even though it seemed to me you were walking in your sleep.  Now I know that you were", he laughs.

"Eddy, do you think my mom will be OK by herself today?" Brett asks.  "She said she would, but if you want to go there I'm OK with that.  I do think you should give her the chance to prove she can handle this though.  I think it will be important for her to show she can also be strong".  Brett takes another sip of his coffee.  "I guess you are right.  I'm sure she will let me know if she needs help with anything". 

"Let's make some breakfast", Eddy says as he gets up.  Brett follows him to the kitchen.  He doesn't like the kitchen.  It's small and strange and still very empty.

They didn't have any pots or pans, so they ordered some readymade pancakes when they did the grocery order. 30 seconds in the microwave is all it takes. Brett searched in the cupboards for the syrup they got, whilst Eddy heats up the pancakes. "Dude, where did you put the syrup?" he asks. "In the fridge", Eddy replies. Brett opens the fridge. No syrup. "It's not in the fridge either", he says, slightly irritated by now.  Eddy opens the fridge, and shows him the condiment drawer in the door of the fridge.  "You're welcome", he says as he gives Brett a quick kiss on the cheek.

As they sat at the strange kitchen table eating, Brett gets a message on his phone.

Brett shows the screen to Eddy as he starts putting the stuff in the sink.  They can clean it later.  Each rush to put on clean clothes.  It's extremely wrinkled, but at least it's clean.  As they get ready to leave, Eddy sees the panic in Brett's eyes.  He puts a hand on Brett's shoulder and says "Bretty, relax.  I'm sure it's nothing serious.  Look at me." Brett turns to look at Eddy.  "Breathe", he tells Brett.  "Slowly.  Again", he says.  "Feel better?"  Brett nods and smiles.  He dies actually feel more calm as they make their way downstairs to go catch a bus.

When they reach the shop, Brett hardly recognized it.  There were at least ten people in blue coveralls, packing stuff, sealing boxes, and moving boxes to trucks waiting outside.  "Ma", he says.  "What's going on?"

His mother looks up from the paperwork she was discussing with a man in a very grand suit.  "Brett, Eddy, you came.  This is Mr. Williams, from the law firm you contacted".  Brett shakes his hand. Eddy nods with a smile.  "I called them yesterday after you left and we had a long discussion.  We decided to close the shop and keep the goods in storage to sell later."  Brett was surprised.  "I'm tired of this shop, and we definitely don't need to run it for income or anything.  It's time to let it go", she says.

"We found something", she says. "Come with me."

Brett and Eddy follow her to the back storeroom. Brett could hardly believe his eyes. The boxes he shipped from Singapore! Unopened, stuck in a corner with some others he can see were shipped from China. "How are they here mom?" Brett asks. She shrugs her shoulders. "I'm not sure. I guess they got delivered sometime back when I wasn't home and your dad might have thought it was stock for the shop and told them to bring it here". Brett gives her a hug, almost crying. "Thanks, Ma. I'm so glad you found it."

"Let's go have some coffee, then I tell you everything that happened yesterday and today", she says. They walk out to the front of the shop, where she takes her handbag from behind the checkout. "We will be back in a while, Mr. Williams", she says. Together the three of them cross the road.