Killing Me Softly (#Wattys2016)

NINE

NINE

Sondra looked at the meter and handed the driver a twenty before she got out in front of her building. She waved to the doorman, and as she rode upstairs in the elevator, she was alternately preoccupied by thoughts of Tracy and of her documentary.

She had been working on the narration and it wasn't gelling the way she wanted it to. It was Friday night and she'd spent the day enveloped in the solitude of the New York Public Library, clacking away at her laptop, creating and discarding draft after draft of the script. She decided to take the weekend off from working and let her mental battery recharge.

Sondra opened her door, her rubbery legs threatening to drop her in a bundle in the doorway. She had just lain down on the cranberry colored couch, when her cell phone rang from across the room. She groaned, peeling herself off the couch to go in search of her purse.

"Hi, daddy."

"Hey, honey. I was just thinking about you, thought I'd call." Gordon Ellis paused. "What's wrong?"

"Working non-stop and I'm just fried."

"How's it coming?"

"I'm taking a few days away from it so I can make it flow the way I want it to."

"How's everything else?"

"Okay. How are you?"

"Oh, you know, busy as always."

"You and mommy are way too active for me. Book clubs, golf outings, cooking classes. You guys give me a headache," Sondra said as she picked at the fuzz balls on her faded black sweatpants.

"What can I say? We're not ready for you to roll us into the old folks' home just yet."

"No chance of that, the way you two keep going. Did mommy tell you I went through Tracy's things?"

"Oh, yeah, she said there were a few things you were going to send us."

"Yeah." Sondra was quiet for a second. "Have you all talked to Phillip lately?" she blurted out.

"Once in a while. Actually, he called us not too long ago."

"How is he?"

"Well... he called to let us know he'd gotten remarried."

Sondra almost fell off the couch. "What? How could he do that?"

"Sonny, it's been over a year."

Maybe it was because she'd just finished reading her sister's passionate retelling of their courtship, but it bothered Sondra to know Phillip had moved on. "It's... it just seems so soon I guess," Sondra muttered, still stunned.

"She was his high school sweetheart and I guess they reconnected after he moved back to Michigan. In fact, he sent us a nice letter and picture of him and his new wife. They looked very happy."

"Where in Michigan is he?"

"Detroit, where he grew up. Moved back when his mother got sick, wound up staying."

Tracy remembered that Phillip's mother had been too sick to attend the wedding. In fact, he didn't have any family there. His father had died while he was in college, and like his parents Phillip was an only child. Therefore, he had no cousins, no aunts, and no uncles. Between the Ellis family and the Brauns, Sondra had relatives coming out of her ears.

"Well, what did the letter say?"

"Just a very nice note about how much he loved Tracy, but that he knew she'd want him to be happy. I'll have your mother send it to you. Maybe it will help."

"Help what?"

Gordon sighed. "Well, you haven't had the time to grieve like we have. I mean, being away from us, working on your film. I just think it might help with part of the process."

Sondra pursed her lips and closed her eyes. "Maybe."

"Sonny... I can get away for a few days, come and see you. It's been a while."

"Oh, Daddy, I'm going to be so busy trying to finish this film. I promise, as soon as I'm done, I'll come out for a long visit. At least a month."

"I'm holding you to that. We really want to see our girl."

"I know, I know and like I said, as soon as I'm done, I'll be on the next plane. Promise." She paused. "I love you."

"I love you too. We'll talk to you soon."

"Bye, Daddy. Oh, and don't forget to have mommy send me that letter."

"I won't. Bye."