The Pelican

EARLY APRIL - ON THE CLOCK...

CHAPTER 1 - JULIA

The SUV was winding its way south on Highway 1, a road cut deeply into the mountains along the rugged Northern California Coast. No wonder its beauty attracted thousands of tourists each year, yearning for a taste of California freedom in their rental convertibles.

Rays of sun were cutting through the clouds, casting a glistening shine onto patches of water, while a dozen or so surfers in wetsuits were sitting on their boards beyond the breakers, just waiting for a chance to drop into the next wave.

Julia stared out of the passenger side window as if the right thing to say was floating somewhere on the waves in between the surfboards. Eventually, she turned to Rachel, the one friend she had always been able to count on, no matter how long they hadn't heard from each other or how much trouble she was in.

"Thanks for doing this Rach."

"Didn't leave me much of a choice now, did you?" Rachel wasn't even trying to hide her sarcasm.

Giving it to each other straight like this was one of the things Julia had always valued most about their relationship. No matter how heated an argument got, their friendship always stood above it.

"It's not as if I had a choice either. Besides, we've been through this already." That was only partly true. Julia knew very well that the twenty-minute conversation on the phone just hours earlier wasn't going to be the end of it.

"Yes, but I obviously didn't get through to you. This isn't fair—not to Mel, Mark, and Tom—or me." Rachel took her eyes off the road just long enough to shoot Julia a look full of hurt and anger.

"It's not fair to any of us, least of all me. But this is my choice and the best one for all of us," Julia said just sternly enough for Rachel to leave it be, at least for now.

"I just wish you would let me help you. You're my best friend for Pete's sake, there's got to be something they can do?!"

"Well, there isn't. End of story." Julia quickly turned away to look out of the side window again, partly to keep from breaking out in tears, partly to underline the fact that for her the discussion was over, at least for now.

A container ship in the distance was heading north to the port of Oakland; the containers stacked on deck in a patchwork of colors like a gigantic version of the Rubik's cube her son Mark had been obsessed with when he was ten years old.

CHAPTER 2 - TEN HOURS EARLIER

Julia's shaking hands pulled open a drawer of neatly folded lingerie. While she would usually have selected a single silky piece, slowly and deliberately, her manicured fingers never stopped. Instead, they scooped up the piles in one hasty motion.

Like a robot running through a program, she mechanically continued to pack up her belongings, dropping them into her opened suitcase on the bed; a black hole swallowing the remnants of her life as she had known it.

She moved swiftly between the closet and the suitcase, back and forth, each time passing a row of picture frames on the chest of drawers... Filled with happy, cheerful faces, the photos told the story of a full and, by all accounts, happy life. If history repeating itself wasn't already killing her, leaving her family certainly would. Except in Julia's mind, she didn't have another choice.

She picked up a frame, pressed it against her chest, closed her eyes and inhaled deeply as if she could feel Tom's comforting arms, Mel's warm cheeks, and Mark's soft hair through the cold glass. She let herself sink into the bed. How could this be happening? Yes, she had always known there was a chance and yes, she knew with the same certainty that this was the right thing to do. Still, that knowledge did not outweigh the pain and anger she felt at this very moment. She took one more tender look at the picture and gently ran her fingers over the happy faces of her husband and children.