Chapter 16
Someone Else’s Words
(Ó 2010)
(Ó 2010)
Windsor Ontario Airport
Logan purchased a ticket for an Air Canada shuttle flight that would take him to Toronto, once there he would catch a connecting flight that would travel directly to Havana, Cuba. Both flights he booked for himself were for first class seating. If he was going to leave the continent, he was going to do so in some comfort and luxury.
The advantage of his French citizenship and passport let him travel freely to the small communist island that was illegal still for the citizens of the United States.
He sat and waited at his gate. There were flights to Toronto practically every hour and this one was set to board in about a little more than thirty minutes. He looked to his watch and then searched around for a pay telephone; there was one just out in the passageway near the gate. He went over to the phone pulled out his leather valet and retrieved one of the international calling cards. He began to punch in the numbers and then the codes printed on the card. He waited a few seconds then heard a ringing tone on the other end.
“Hello, this is Benjamin Sebastian.” The man answered with a distinct British accent.
“Mr. Sebastian? This is Logan Morrow.”
“Mr. Morrow! How are you sir?”
“I’m just fine thank you, did you receive my e-mail?”
“Yes sir I did and I’m taking care of everything that we pre arranged right now as we speak. I’m only sorry to say that I will miss you as my client.” Mr. Sebastian said in a sincere tone.
“And I will miss your service also sir, however our friendship will always be there.” Logan answered.
“So, when shall I be expecting you sir.”
“I’m in Canada right now, catching a flight to Toronto. From there I’m going to be spending a few days in Havana for a little ‘R&R’ as they say, from there I will catch a plane to George Town.”
“Then I will see you then sir everything will be ready to finalize.”
“Have my European credit cards been activated?”
“Yes Mr. Morrow, all you have to do is call and confirm.”
“I’ll do that when I arrive in Toronto then, thank you very much Mr. Sebastian. I’m sorry but I have to make this short, I’ll try calling you from Havana, if not, I’ll see you when I arrive in George Town.”
“Have a good flight then sir.” Mr. Sebastian said, “Good-bye.”
“Good-bye, I’ll be seeing you soon.” Logan then hung up the phone and returned to his gate just in time for the boarding of the plane to begin. He picked up his bag and got into the line to board the aircraft. He showed the attendant his ticket and made his way to the plane. It was an Air Canada propeller driven shuttlecraft. It was a small sized aircraft, just enough for about 75 people.
He came to his seat in the first class row and stored his bag and jacket in the overhead compartment. His seat was next to the window; he sat down, buckled the seatbelt and began to relax. He watched as all the other passengers’ boards, it took no time at all it seemed because the aircraft was so small. Soon, everyone was settled and the propellers began to whine as their engines began to roar to life. All four engines were then up and running and the aircraft then was starting to be pushed backwards by the ground truck.
Then the engines roared louder and the plane began to move forward on its own towards the runway. The pilot came on the intercom and informed everyone that there were no other aircraft on the runway and that they will begin takeoff as soon as they reached the taxiway.
Therefore, they did, once the plane turned onto the runway, the engines were throttled to full power and the plane began to gain speed. Soon it had enough speed to have the air build under the wings and Logan felt the wheels leave the ground. Outside of his window, he first saw the beginnings of the city of Windsor, then the Detroit River and the city of Detroit. Then the plane banked to the left, and America disappeared from view.
Logan then closed his eyes, he was now on his way to Toronto - - -
- - - It was now Wednesday afternoon, and Logan was now in the fourth day of trying to make some sort of contact with Lily. He just wanted to talk to her and explain. On the Sunday after his football practice with Jean-Luc and the other policemen on their soccer club, Jean advised Logan to tell her the truth of where he was and what he was doing, no matter how preposterous it may have sounded. It was the truth, and if need be, Jean-Luc would be there to tell her also.
He was standing around the corner at the end of the boulevard from Clive’s Coiffeurs, occasionally he would peer around the corner of the building he was standing by and he would see he at her chair by the window helping one of her clients. She had already made it well known that she did not want to speak to him.
On Monday, he called her at Clive’s from his apartment, when she heard his voice, she hung up on him. He called again from the police headquarters, she hung up on him. He called again from the “war room”, this time Cosette answered and she told him, “I am very sorry Logan, but Lily says to tell you that she does not to speak with you.”
Tuesday evening he was standing waiting for her at the front of the entrance to her apartment. She came walking up, saw him, and stopped in her tracks. She then took a deep breath and walked up to him and said, “Logan, please, go away. I refuse to have another man like Charles in my life, stalking me and such. Step aside and let me go home.”
He stepped aside without saying a word and watched her as she entered her building and disappeared through the door. He began to walk away slowly, when he reached the corner her turned and looked up to the third floor where her window was. He saw her standing there looking down at him. He stood for a second and just gazed back at her.
She then slowly closed her curtains and was gone from sight.
Now this time he was going to confront her. He decided he was going to just walk into Clive’s and demand she speak with him. He conjured up his courage, which for him was something entirely new to him. He never had to conjure courage before. He just received his orders and jumped right into battle without thinking.
He began to walk briskly towards Clive’s, his heart pounding and his breathing heavy. His vision focused on Lily whose back was turned to him now. However, Lily did see Logan coming through the mirror in front of her chair; she saw the way he walked and the expression on his face. She turned quickly and stepped to the window and when Logan saw the expression of fear and concern on her face, he stopped dead in his path. She looked at him and slowly nodded, ‘no’. She then drew down the blind and covered the window, disappearing behind it.
He thought to himself, “What’s the use? I can’t force her to speak or even talk to me. She’s right, if I do that, then I’m no better than that dipshit Charles.”
‘Something’ .
‘Something’ was coming over him. He began to feel a warmth on his shoulders, then to the sides of his face, and then on the middle of his forehead. ‘Something’ was bringing comfort to him, and he stopped walking and felt this warmth and solace. ‘Something’ had his attention and making him feel like everything is going to be all right.
He began to sense this something, and then in a few seconds he began to smell the aroma of something sweet, something beautiful.
Logan gradually opened his eyes; he was standing in the middle of the sidewalk halfway down the avenue. The aroma was coming directly from his right and when he turned his head, he was looking through the open door of a florist’s shop. There looking at him towards the back was a short and stout woman with silver hair that she wore up in a bun. She was wearing a long dress and an apron, trimming the thorns from some roses on the table in front of her.
She was looking at Logan and said “Bonjour.”
“Bonjour.” Logan replied. He felt that he had to enter the shop and he did so.
“Is there something that I can help you with young man?” She asked, speaking to him in French.
“Oh, I don’t know if you could be able to help me.” He replied, both now speaking in French.
“Well why do you not try telling me young man, maybe I can help.” She said smiling warmly.
“Well Madame, if you could show me how I can make up to a woman that I have angered, then you would be of great assistance.” He said in a joking matter.
“Young man, look around you,” she said laughing, “I am in the business of ‘making up’.”
Logan indeed looked around and said, “Well yes, I suppose you are.”
“Why do you not then tell me about it?” She said.
Without going into any detail of where he had been, Logan told the woman just of how he met Lily, saw her two nights in a row, promised to meet her the next evening, only to be called out of town for something very important and was not able to contact her for over four days. He felt comfortable talking to her; it was like when he would talk to his grandmother. He told the woman that he had feelings for her even though he had just met her, and he felt that the feelings were becoming mutual. Now, things were a mess, she won’t talk to him, and he feels terrible for everything and he took all the blame.
“Well then young man, I do believe that there is a way to mend this,” she said, “here, come with me.” She then went back to her desk where she was trimming the roses. She inspected all of them and chose what she believed were the three best of the entire bunch. She trimmed off the thorns and cut the stems a little shorter. “Tell me, do you know what her favorite color may be by chance?”
“As a matter of fact I do,” Logan answered, “it’s lavender.”
She took the roses then and added some sprigs of Babies Breath, then tied the small bouquet together beautifully with a strand of lavender ribbon. “There it is, beautiful, no?”
“It is beautiful, yes.”
“Now, you will need a card, follow me.” She said motioning him to follow.
They came to a display of greeting cards and she picked one that was lavender in color, on the front was an illustration of a field of flowers and it came with a lavender colored envelope. “Here, this one will work for you perfectly.”
Logan took the card from here and examined the front; he then opened it and saw that it was blank inside. “There’s nothing written in it.”
“Oh young man, why would you want to rely on someone else’s words to say what you need to say to this woman? Write your feelings and your thoughts, that is what will matter, what is you will say, it matters that it is coming from you.” She reached into the pocket of her apron, took out an ink pen, and handed it to Logan, “Here then, go ahead, take a few minutes and write what you need to say.”
She then left Logan alone there as she went back to her desk.
He looked at the blank inside of the card and began to write:
Lily,
I know that you never want to see or speak to me again.
I just want you to know how terrible I feel and of how
sorry I am for putting you through what I did.
There is an explanation for all of this, even though
you would find it hard to believe, I would like to have
just the chance to tell you. If you believe me or not
that will be up to you. But at least I will have
told you. And if you still never want to see me
again afterwards, then that’s the way you shall have it.
Hope to hear from you,
Logan
He then added his address and home phone number after his name. He placed it in the envelope and went over to the woman at her desk.
“Logan.”
She went into a small room behind her desk and came out with a short lavender colored candle that was lit, set also had what appeared to be a metal stamp.
“This is sealing wax, just to add that little extra touch.” She dripped the wax on the back of the envelope into a small puddle where the lip of the envelope rested. She then applied the metal stamp where it left a masculine looking letter ‘L’ in the wax. She blew on the wax to cool it.
She then handed the card along with the small bouquet to Logan and said, “There young man, that should do the trick.”
He held the card in one and the bouquet in the other and asked, “You think this is all it will take? She is pretty angry you know and the whole situation is somewhat complex.”
“Sometimes the most difficult of situations are solved by the simplest of things and the smallest of efforts.” She said smiling to him.
“How much do I owe you?”
“Three francs.”
Logan paid her and asked, “It could be all made alright just with these?”
“Yes, amazing is it not? Go now young man, everything will work out for you.”
Logan turned and went for the door, he stopped at the exit, turned to the old woman, smiled and said, “Thank you very much Madame. Even if it does not work out, you have made me feel better at least.”
“Au revoir.” she said waving.
Logan then left the flower shop and headed back for Clive’s. He felt much better and a little more confident until, he turned the corner. He saw that the blind had still been drawn in the front window. He crossed the street to the side the salon was on and he began to hesitate and have second thoughts. He planned on walking into the salon and just handing the card and bouquet to Lily and quietly walk away. However, he began to think of “what if’s”, such as what if she gets angry and screams at him to leave. On the other hand, “what if” she just takes the card, rips it up and throws the flowers in his face. “what if” this and “what if” that. He stopped about two doors away from the salon and began to ponder all these “what ifs.”
He was thinking about forgetting the whole thing when he heard a familiar voice from behind him say, “Hello Logan!”
Logan turned around to find Bricey standing behind him; he was holding a small white bag from a local bakery near the salon. He then quickly answered in him in English, “Oh, hello Bricey. How are you feeling? You get over that little incident last week okay?”
“Of course, thanks to you.” Bricey answered flirtatiously. “Still trying to see Lillian?”
“Yeah, but I’m afraid it’s no use,” Logan said sadly, “she doesn’t want anything to do with me I suppose, and I can’t say that I blame her.”
Bricey rolled his eyes, “Well, for someone whom she does not want to have anything to do with, she sure can not shut up about you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You have been the number one subject with her since she met you.” He placed his free hand on his hip, “Even since the other night when you reappeared out of nowhere, she still speaks of you.”
“I can imagine what she’s saying,” Logan said, “probably about what an ass I am.”
“Yes, her choice of words may not me flattering but,” and he placed his hand on Logan’s forearm as if to comfort him, “look on the bright side dear, you are still the number one subject.” Bricey was surprised that Logan did not flinched when he touched his arm.
Logan stood quiet for a second and looked to the ground, “There is an explanation for this, you know that don’t you?”
“I’m sure there is, but you are just going to have to the one give it to her.”
“The explanation is so far fetched; she’s not going to believe me.”
“If it is the truth, then that is all you can rely on.” He shook Logan’s arm, Logan looked up to him, “It is the truth, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then if it is then it will not matter if she believes you or not.” Bricey looked at the card and flowers in his hands, “Are those for her?”
“Yeah,” Logan said quietly, “I thought I’d give it a shot.”
“This is for her too,” Bricey said holding up the bag, “croissants to go with her tea.”
Logan looked up and down the street and then to the salon, the blind still drawn down, he looked to Bricey and asked, “Could you do me a favor?”
“Sure, what is it?”
Logan held up the card and bouquet, “Could you give these to her for me? I’m afraid if I go in there, it might start a scene. I almost stormed in there a little while ago and she sort of stopped me. Besides, if you give them to her, there’s a good chance she won’t tear up the card and throw the flowers in your face. She’s just so pissed off at me.”
“You do not think that it would be better if you did yourself Logan?”
Logan looked down to the sidewalk again; he let out a sigh and looked up to Bricey. His expression was one of sad sincerity. “To tell you the truth Bricey, I not very good at this type of thing.”
“What thing is that?”
“This thing … this love thing … this romance thing … I’m just not that good at it … not good at all. I really haven’t had that much experience in it through my life if you must know. I just don’t know how the game is played.”
Bricey took the card and flowers from Logan’s hands, “Alright then Logan, I shall give them to her, and I shall make sure she reads the card and not tear it up. I shall do for this you; it is the least I can do for what you have done for me.”
Logan placed his hand on Bricey’s shoulder, “Thanks Bricey, I really appreciate it if you could get them to her.” He looked once more to the salon, “I guess I should be going then, good-bye Bricey.”
“Good-bye Logan, I hope this all works out for you.”
Logan turned and left his new friend, Bricey turned to make his way back to the salon. He took just a couple of steps when Logan called to him, “Hey Bricey!”
Bricey turned, “Yes, Logan?”
“Have you ever notice that she doesn’t blink her eyes?” Logan asked him.
“Does not blink her eyes? I do not understand.”
“Yeah, that she doesn’t blink her eyes like you and I do, or the way everyone else does, do you know what I mean? You know, we just blink them fast and normal. When Lily looks at you, she like slowly open and closes her eyes at you, as you know, in slow motion. Damn! When she does that, it gives me goose bumps.” Logan then turned and crossed the street.
Bricey watched him as he vanished around the corner; he then walked back to the salon with the small bag of croissants and the gifts from Logan. He took the steps up to the entry of the salon and strolled over to Lily’s chair where she was just finishing up with her client. He handed the bag with the croissants to her and had a smile on his face.
“Thank you Bricey.” She said, and then looked to the card and bouquet in his hands, “What on earth is that?”
“They are for you,” he answered, handing them over to her, “they are from Logan.”
She glanced at him in surprise, “Logan! When did you see him?”
“Just a minute ago, down the sidewalk. He was just standing there holding these. He asked if I might do him a favor and give these to you.”
“Why wouldn’t he bring them himself?” She asked sternly.
“He said that he did not want to take the chance of creating any scene in here, he knows how angry you are.”
She placed the bag of croissants on her chair and took the roses and card from Bricey. She examined the small bouquet and brought them up to her nose to smell their aroma. She then caressed the lavender ribbon with her fingers, then looked up and saw that she had the attention of every person in the salon. “I love roses.” She said to them timidly. She then went to the cabinet at her station and took from it a short clear drinking glass, turned on the faucet in front of her chair, filled it halfway and placed the roses in the now makeshift vase, being careful to place the ribbon outside the glass so that it wouldn’t get wet. She then retrieved a pair of her scissors and used them as a letter opener for the card, for she did not want to break the wax seal. Once opened she used her fingernails to pull the card from its envelope, she opened and read it.
She read his words and as she did, she felt her anger for him begin to slowly drain away from inside herself, she let out a long, slow sigh from her nose and then looked up to see everyone looking directly at her. They all were silent and still, waiting for her reaction or if she were going to say anything.
“He says that he’s sorry for putting me through everything and for making me angry.” She said to all of them, “He says that he also can explain everything.” She turned, hiding her lips with the card, she stepped over to where the roses were, bent down to them and smelled their aroma again.
She caressed the ribbon again with her fingertips and looked to the card, “Lavender,” she whispered to herself, “he remembered about lavender.”
She opened the card to read it again; and now she began to grow very curious. What could it have been? What circumstances could he have been involved with? What explanation could be so preposterous that he was convinced that she would never believe it?
She saw his address and phone number at the bottom of his message, making a mental note of it. She then stepped over to the window and pulled up the blind to look out onto the busy boulevard. She looked in both directions hoping to see Logan, but he was no where to be seen - - -
Logan adjusted his seat, his belt was already fastened; he looked out his window to see the suburbs that lead into Toronto. It was now just 7:30 PM local time and he had a couple of hours to get his connecting flight to Havana.
He thought of everyone back in Chicago, going about his or her nightly routines. If all was well, then everything should be just normal at this time. To them he just had some personal business and should be back at his desk in the morning.
However, that was not going to happen. Logan figured that by the time anyone should start to think anything was wrong, he would be in his room at the Hotel Santa Isabel in Havana, Cuba.
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