Vista

tricks

Lena was the only one I knew who could turn a jewel into any form of person she wanted. Bejeweled to bejewel, was what she usually called it.

After she started recovering from her divorce, she was slowly getting back into the young and crazy woman she was when she was younger. Denis usually described her as the kind of woman who would steal everyone's attention at the club. She danced with red lipsticks and drank from men's glasses. It was before she ever became a fashion designer and business tycoon, and even the pieces of jewelry she wore at that time were totally unmatched. She always thought to be the only person of her kind. She thought the best things should belong to her and she knew that was how the world needed to treat her.

During the time she was recovering, she did a lot of thinking. But when she was becoming happier, she was slowly getting back to the person she was when she was younger.

"Son?"

"Mum. Hi."

"Hey, son."

"Is everything okay?" She sat beside me. She looked better and I wanted to keep taking care of her until she could be on her feet again.

"Yeah, mum. I've just been very worried."

"Mind to share?"

I shook my head. "I'm not sure. Maybe I can let this slide." I wasn't very sure she would love to hear that I saw my dad.

"Okay", she shrugged and rose again. When she had gone some distance, she spoke again.

"Son? Whatever the case, please do not visit your father. It's the last thing I need right now. A call from him would take me back to the doctor. And a threat would make me restart my treatment."

My heart ached. "Sure, Mum." I faked a smile. She returned the smile and left my bedroom.

A lot of work right there.

I had to stop him from calling. Whatever hour of the day it was.

Because Mother was becoming very relaxed, she started using her phone very often. I had to find a way to clone her phone to monitor her call logs.

"I'm in trouble, man."

"Bridget? Take this to the kitchen, please. Just give her a new phone, man."

"She's become as cunny as a youth. I was thinking of cloning her mobile system."

Opening his eyes in disbelief, he fist-bumped me. I raked my hands in my hair.

"Such a genius, you Cheshire."

"There's a lot of work to do here, man. I'll have to get a new phone, take both to the repairer, get them to download everything in the new phone, and then PAY THEM."

"Money has never been your problem."

"Yeah, it is now because the system might fail at one point and these technicians out here are damn crazy."

"So you're not even ready to bear the risk. That's not what you should be thinking about right now. First, how do you get her phone for a whole day?"

"Goddammit."

He sipped. Then spoke again. "Simple. Remove fundamental configurations from it. When it misbehaves, she'll call you to check it for her. Then promise to take it to the phone repair shop for her."

"You're my brain when Em's not around I swear."

"I just keep wondering what's wrong with you all this while. You've been reasoning with your œsophage."

"I thought you repented from making silly jokes."

"Holy Spirit keeps quiet on that one."

The first time I removed her operating system, she took it to the phone repair store when I was at work. I decided to do it again.

"E. My phone's been misbehaving. It's the second time this has happened. I can't have calls. It's terrible."

"Hm. I see. Your operating system is out. Can't launch the home screen."

"I'm tired."

"I can take it to a friend to fix. He's a pretty good guy at this stuff."

She hesitated but finally let me go with it.

When we did the needful, it was 10 pm when I brought her phone.

"Problem solved."

"Thank you, Son. You must be very tired. How's your day?"

I smiled. "You remind me so much of Em."

"You miss her?"

"Of course! We're talking about my wife!"

She lifted her finger while staring at mine. "I see no ring."

I fished out the ring from my pocket. She cupped her mouth with her hand like she was the one being proposed to.

"Mum, stop!" I whined.

"I can't wait to have grandchildren."

"I can't wait for you to have them too, Mum."

We discussed about Em for as long as we could.

It was about midnight when I forgot that I was supposed to have devotion with Emily.

"Hey."

"Hey."

With all the emotions stirred up within me from the discussions with Lena, I felt like I was drunk.

"I miss you."

"You're up late."

"Thinking about you."

"I see what this is. One of those evenings when you could've followed me around the apartment."

I laughed.

"I miss you too, though. We didn't have meditation yesterday."

"Yeah. My day's been pretty long. I stepped out of the snow at 10 p.m."

"Wanna talk about it?"

I explained everything to her. Visiting my dad, finding a way to stop him from calling Lena. She was quiet the whole time.

"Are you not going to be furious hearing that I visited Mr. Cheshire?"

"Furious?" She scoffed. "Why? You miss him. You went to see how he was faring and that's no problem. And oh, please. He's your dad, not just some Mr Cheshire. You are Mr. Cheshire."

"I can call you my best friend anytime and any day."

"Stop making me develop feelings for you!"

"You did already. Exactly one year back."

"Oh," she screamed. "I'm so sorry, dunno how I forgot."

I smiled but didn't say anything.

"How's Lena?"

"Doing great. Slowly replacing you."

"Ah, I'm coming back soon."

"How was your day?"

"Well, not bad. It's 5 days to Christmas and I've never felt this cold before in my entire life. I met this cute guy today while shopping and I've not been able to get him out of my head. He looks a lot like you."

"Hm. I see what this is." She laughed, and I joined. She was talking about her wallpaper.

"I feel so much better. Talking to you always makes me feel better."

"That's the same for me."

"I've been wanting to tell you about what's going on here but you were quite excited when you arrived in Brussels and every time we were on call something always popped up."

"Ethan, it's going to be okay. I know that you know it. We're going to be fine."

I nodded and sighed, releasing my fists after a long while.