Five Seconds

Ex to See

Andy

           The phone rang once before it was answered.

           "You forgot to phone me yesterday," my aunt greeted.

           "I'm sorry Aunty!"

           Everyday around this time I would phone her to catch up on things, and just listen to her voice. I didn't realize how much I missed home until Aunty would tell me all the crazy antics of the day.

           "The city is swallowing you already. I told you, suburbs. Not downtown, only a crazy person would live in the heart of Vancouver. Downtown is too busy for real living. There's no time to stop and smell the roses. Literally!"

           "Aunty, the suburbs are for families."

           "At least their dogs have yards."

           I took a deep breath. There really was no way to stop Aunty when she went off on a tangent. Although she supported my move, she supported moving to the smaller cities outside of Vancouver more.

           "Anyways Aunty, I'm sorry I didn't phone last night. I was just busy. I had unplanned plans."

           "You!" she exclaimed. "You did something that you didn't plan out? The city is changing you, but I didn't expect it to change that."

           "The city isn't changing me, I just, met a guy."

           Aunty hesitated before saying, "A boy? You have a boyfriend already?"

           "No, no—not yet at least. But he came over yesterday and we had dinner together and he's really nice and funny and I think he'd be a really good decision. He's a new beginning and he's just what I need. My life can be complete again."

           Aunty was quiet for a moment. "You think having a boyfriend will complete your life?"

           "Yeah... he'll make everything okay again."

           "What is this boy going to make right again?" Aunty ridiculed. "No boy is going to make anything right."

           "Aunty don't be mean." As much as I loved her and worshipped her words, sometimes they stung, and this was one of those times. "He's the only one in this city who's bothered to learn about me. He's a good guy, he cares about me."

           "Is that the actual truth or just the one you've conjured up in your brain? Andy, you have to make sure you truly like him and not just the idea of him. Not everyone in the world is worth the trouble."

           I had so much to say, but I learned quickly that I should never feed words to my aunt that she could use one day to tell me so. I decided on a neutral answer. "I'll be smart Aunty. I promise." I really did mean it—there was no way I would ever throw caution to the wind. I just wasn't holding back on my optimism.

           The conversation ventured off. Yesterday a raccoon got into the neighbour's garbage and the debris stretched across four properties. Aunty said that if Newt was still up there the raccoon never would've done it, but was still happy he was with me to help me in the city. I still felt guilty nonetheless. She also said the lake was unnaturally warm for a late September day, and spent the afternoon dangling her feet off the dock.

           "Anyways," she wrapped up. "The neighbours have invited me over for dinner, and want me to bring the margarita machine. I started having flashbacks of my days travelling the Baja. You know, I really do hope you go out and have fun in the city. There's nothing like a good bar crawl with a few of your closest. Just remember: no tequila. It makes your clothes fall off."