Chapter Two, Episode Ninety-One ~ An Impasse ~ Situationally Theirs

An Impasse

“What is it you need to know, Em? I don’t have much time to talk.” Jeremy, almost ready to leave for the hospital, patted his pockets for keys, his readers..... he almost missed Emelina’s phone call. “I’m putting you on speaker phone……I have to get my lunch from the fridge and I’m late already. My pager ~ that’s what I’m forgetting.” All Emelina heard was dead space, then the opening and closing of the refrigerator door. A distant muttering…. “there it is” Silence again then “Now. What were you saying? Something about Michael and the jogging track?…….I really do have to get moving Em……. No I’m not off next week. Chris ~ you know, Dr. Brown ~ has Covid. Everyone’s schedules have been turned upside down…….I’m off, Em. Love you! I’ll call you ~ or maybe text you ~ later. ….. Kisses.”

~~~~~

Frustrated and disappointed, Em just stared at her phone. She had promised Dez she’d tell her more about the so-called history of the jogging track. Knowing her sister, she wouldn’t be upset.

“Em! Did you talk to Jeremy last night like you said? He’ll be out here next week, right?….What. You didn’t get to talk with him?” Her sister was quiet. “No, I called him this morning and just listened to the racket he was making. He was racing off to work. He won’t be out next week. All their schedules have been changed because one of the main doctors is off with Covid.”

Emelina was right. Her sister was barely fazed. “Not a problem, Em. That gives us more time to……..:” Annoyed, she cut Dez off mid-sentence. “Time for what? Walking about the track again? Seeing what ‘clues’ Michael might have left? For who?” The more she talked the angrier she got. She felt like she was in the middle of something that she hadn’t asked for. It had just been about what Dez had shown her. The balance sheet for the orchard and apiary looked like they were going broke. That took her to Digby and then to Mr. Jordan. All of a sudden, she was listening to Michael’s will again, and for the first time. “Let’s just leave it alone Dez. Let the ten years run out and let Samuel take over that land.”

Dez felt her stomach tighten. Everything had been going so well for over two years. She was starting to feel like she had a family again. She’d given up her apartment for Martha’s duplex on the Estate. She had no more control out here than she had sharing their bedroom when they were teens. She had no savings to speak of, no real job and her sister was paying her rent. If she couldn’t make the orchard and apiary pay, those would be lost to her too. Her mood had sunk to match her sister’s mood. She was crazy to think about a Walking Writing workshop, “I’m sorry, Em. I guess I just got too excited. I’m going into town ~ I’ve got an interview for a part-time job this afternoon.”

“Dez, let me just live with all this for a while. I just don’t know what we’ll be able to do and I do want the two of us to work together on it. I don’t want our old teenage rivalries to interfere. After all, I think we’ve both come a long way. This last two years especially.”

Dez had turned to leave. Stopped and turned back to face her sister. “You’re right, Em. We need to get past this. Work it out. Take some space.” She could feel her mood lifting. “I will go to that job interview. You need to take whatever time you need. This is your property………” She held up her hand. “No, Em. It is. We can work together with ideas. My work is to earn some money and pay my way. I won’t be a drag on your life.”

“And I won’t be the bossy big sister I was so long ago.”

~~~~~

“Of two sisters one is always the watcher, one the dancer.”

~ Louise Gluck