The Mender

Ravine Path

"Esri's back in la-la land," teased Luka. "Somebody looks at her and she starts a whole conspiracy."

"But, did you see what happened?" Esri asked.

"Yes, Solithh looked at us and nodded," said Ada. "C'mon, let's go. It's not that big a deal."

The encounter with Solithh disturbed Esri. "You know, you two are right. I am kind of out of it today. I'm going to skip the library. Sorry, I didn't sleep so well last night.  I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Sure, Es. You ok? You're not mad at us or anything, are you?" asked Ada.

"No, no, not at all. Never with you two, you know that," said Esri as she walked away.

Luka looked at Ada, "Now, that's almost weirder than seeing Solithh."

"Yeah. She's definitely not herself. Maybe she dreamt about her mom last night, I know Esri still gets these waves of missing her mom even though it's a long time since she died. I know I would sure miss mine," said Ada.

"Me too," said Luka.

Esri took the long way home, detouring through Taylor Creek ravine. She needed to clear her head and figure out what had just happened.

If Ada and Luka had seen what Esri saw, they would not have dismissed the Solithh encounter as something minor. During the several seconds that Solithh nodded at them, Esri saw a flaming vapor flare-up and pulsate around Solithh. Esri was certain that Solithh's stare was aimed directly at Esri, as if Solithh was sending her some kind of message.

The crazy, intense cave-people dream was bad enough. Now seeing flames pulsating from an old lady in her neighbourhood made Esri wonder if she was having some kind of mental breakdown.

The pathway through the wooded Taylor Creek ravine was Esri's ruminating place. The trail connected to Toronto's extensive ravine network. The dense foliage in the ravine largely muffled the city's sights and sounds. Right now Taylor Creek was a vibrant fluttering spectacle as the leaves were at their peak of fall colour.

Esri took her time, but was still early getting her little sister who stayed with a neighbor after school a few floors above them in the apartment building.

"How come you're so early?" Jilly complained. "Nasima and me just started being princesses-es-es"

"Nasima and I," Esri corrected and turned to Farhana, Nasima's mother. "I came home early today. But I guess I've interrupted fashion hour. Thanks for picking up Jilly. She loves coming here."

Farhana replied, "It's no problem. You know that, Esri. The girls keep each other totally occupied. My manager gave me some more fabric ends she can't sell so they're all excited today. They're already planning their Halloween costumes." She turned to Jilly, "I'll see you tomorrow after school, Jilly. You and Nasima still have lots of time before Halloween."

Esri and Jilly walked down the several flights of stairs to their apartment.

When he came home from work, Joe gave Esri a big hug. "You ok, kiddo? How was school? Were you kind of tired after that bad dream?"

"I'm fine."

"Sure?"

"Sure," Esri mumbled.

"Thanks for making supper."

"Sure."

They had a quiet evening. Joe read Jilly her bedtime story and came back in the living room. Esri had a book in her hands but it didn't offer the distraction she was hoping for. She had been staring at the same page for a long time. She looked up at her dad and realized that maybe she wasn't the only one having an off day. "Something bothering you, Dad?"

Joe smiled, "Sometimes you're so like your mom, the way you read my mind."

Unbidden, tears sprang into Esri eyes, "I miss her so much, Dad."

"Oh honey, I didn't mean to make you cry." He sat and put his arm around her. "I miss her too."

"She was so wonderful, always smiling and happy. Even at the end, we'd still sing together in the hospital. It makes me so sad that Jilly doesn't really remember Mom." Esri couldn't stop her tears.

"Yeah, Jilly was barely two when Sofie died. I've thought about that a lot. In some ways it helps us, Esri, because Jilly is just Jilly, a happy kid, getting on with life. Jilly doesn't carry the same sadness you and I have about missing your Mom. You know what Sofie would want us to do . . ."

"Start making some lemonade from all these lemons lying around. She was good at that, wasn't she?" Esri said. "I haven't cried about Mom in a long time. I don't know why I am tonight."

"It's ok. We keep carrying people with us, even long after they're gone. It's a way to have them with us for a while. But we're still doing ok, aren't we?" Joe said. "You had a rough night last night, so you're probably kind of worn out. Why don't you go on to bed?"

"Ok, Dad. I'll read in bed for a while." Esri got up and walked toward her bedroom. "Will you come turn out the light if I fall asleep?"

"Of course, honey. See you in the morning."

Esri turned back, "Love you." When Esri got in bed she remembered that she hadn't found out what was bothering her Dad - probably money.

As soon as she fell asleep, she began gasping for air.