Greyness and Glitters

Mary closed the living room window with a firm gesture and sat back on the sofa next to Lou. As she started to rub her back, Lou broke down into tears.

“Shh,” Mary said, "Shh, it's over."

“It’s not!” Lou exploded. “You should have seen him, with his hairy hands, jumping on me!”

“But you're safe now, you're here with me."

“I did everything right, okay? I never drive by night, I always draw the partition, I use three phones, I even have a knife in the glove box, I … I don’t deserve that.”

Lou hid her face and started sobbing again.

“I should have never bought that taxi in the first place – that was stupid.”

“He didn’t touch you, did he?”

“No," Lou rubbed her running nose. "There was the partition and I... I run fast."

“Well, then…”

Lou darted up at her and repeated, "'Well then'?"

Mary kept silent and Lou shook her head staring at her.

“I need a shower,” Lou finally said and stood up from the sofa.

“Sure. It's at the end of the corridor, on your left."

*

'He didn’t touch you, did he?'

'Shh-Shh.'

'Things happen for a reason.'

'There, there.'

Always the same non-sense with Mary. 

Always. 

Steam swelled over the rosy bathroom and watching it, Lou wished it could gulp them all down - she, that bloody day, and her stupid friend. 

Her skin was already red but Lou rubbed it stronger with the loofah glove.

Just because she lived in a mellow bubble, Mary thought she had the power to enlighten minds. Well, guess what, Mary? 

“You don’t!” Lou shouted out.

And the hot water absorbed her words.

Mary knew Lou’s number one fear was to end up like her parents. Wasted youth, wasted life, half-empty glasses and empty bottles - she knew that.

So how could she not see that every single door smashed in Lou’s face reminded her that she was racing down the Highway of Fate.

How?

*

Lou crashed onto Mary’s bed - her monologue still on in her mind. If it were a vinyl, it would have spun at the speed of light and projected fire sparks everywhere.

Psh, psh – Lou imitated the sparks with her little fingers.

She rolled onto the pillows that covered the bed and looked around at Mary's room, a temple of hygge, candles and fluff.

How did Mary acquire that flat so quickly, by the way?

Where did she find the money to buy something in the city centre?

Well, no surprise there.

Mary was always up to something. Opportunities popped in her life like bubbles begging to be played with. 

Meanwhile, Lou chased down ghosts and argued her throat out over the price of a ride to the airport with shady clients. Bubbles did appear in her life too, but they smelt of cheap soap and burnt her eyes as they splashed into her face.

A knock on the bedroom's door made Lou startle and she closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep on the bed. Mary entered the room, luminous in her nightdress, and tiptoed around to perform what seemed to be her night ritual. She didn't seem to feel guilty for her faux-pas trying to comfort Lou.

Did she ever get concerned? Lou wondered. Did she ever make mistakes?

No.

She smelt of perfection and tangerine.

*

Mary’s bed and walls trembled as a train roared above their heads and Lou hid under the blanket, groaning and swearing. Mary did not reply, she was in the shower, in a faraway land. 

As Lou ducked her head out, she noticed that a fresco with golden peacocks and intertwining grapevines covered the ceiling of the bedroom. It was beautiful.

Still half-asleep, she climbed atop the dresser and stretched on her tipped toes to feel its texture and touch its relief. It smelt of fresh paint and left blue glitters on her fingers.  

Had Mary painted it herself?

Lou jump down from the dresser as she heard her friend unlock the bathroom’s door. 

Mary entered with curlers in her hair and a toothbrush in her mouth. Without noticing Lou’s artificial pose by the dresser, she said seriously, “You need to shut that taxi business.” 

She went on detailing a new life plan for Lou – as if anything in Lou's life could be planned - and Lou watched her flip through dresses, jackets, and fluff in her closet. 

“I'm sure Uncle Fred can help,” Mary concluded as she slipped on a sequins dress that highlighted her golden curls and tan. 

She suddenly froze, opening big eyes.

“Have you seen my lenses?"

“Your lenses?”

“My special lenses, I had them a minute ago," Mary said rummaging around, "I have an important meeting today, I need them.”

“I didn’t know you were into spells and charms.” Lou said with a mischievous smile as her friend crawled across the room feeling the floor.  

“Uncle Fred gave them to me after Dad passed away.” Mary stood back up to search the shelves. “Help me, instead of standing there.” 

"You're fine," Lou said and yawned, "I’m sure your little cute dress will do.”

*

Lou had forgotten about how the death of Mary's dad had impacted her. Hers leaving her life hadn't made any difference but Mary was close to her family and she did collapse after that. Lou rinsed her face, thinking that at least Mary still had her uncle, Fred, a resourceful man you could trust.

Lou opened the drawers of the bathroom cabinet in search of the moisturising cream that smelt of tangerine. She found a little box with glitters nested in a corner of the drawer. It looked expensive but instead of cream, it contained two tiny translucent cups.

Mary's lenses.

As Lou put them on, the bathroom shattered into dozens of tiny geometric figures that fell apart and reassembled to form a new mosaic. Glittery waves soon arose from the tiles on the floor, swelling and rolling back and forth across the walls, as if directed by an invisible puppeteer.

Really?

In the round terrarium that throned over the cabinet, white flowers bloomed and displayed a smell of tide and sand. Even Lou's skin looked tanned, almost golden, through the lenses and she stared at her hands blankly for minutes.

Was that Mary's secret?

Lou walked back to the bedroom to inspect the peacock fresco more closely but her eyes fell onto Mary’s closet where velvet jackets, red loafers, and silk scarves sparkled just like gems.

Lou slipped on a white linen dress from Mary's closet and arranged her hair into a low bun in the mirror.

She looked so different.

She looked gorgeous.

No.

Victorious.

She spun and the dress floated around her. High and higher as if it could make her fly. Lou opened her arms and spun faster, giggling for the first time in a long time.

She needed to go out. She needed to see the sunlight. To meet people.

Lou dashed out of the room and grabbed her bag and shoes from the floor, rushing out with a determined beam.

But she soon stopped in the staircase of the building and returned.

She swapped her pale bag and shoes for Mary’s golden sandals and bag. 

They looked fancier with Mary's dress.

*

Outside, a line of silk trees waved in unison to a faraway melody, forming a tunnel of shade with their fresh leaves. Lou attuned her ear to the floating music notes and followed them until she reached a halted carrousel.

She stepped onto the empty ride and towards a grey horse in the centre. She wanted to see if, with Mary's lenses on, she could spin the carousel started. But the showman shouted from his cabin and interrupted her experiment - the ride wouldn't open before the afternoon.

"I'll open the Flying Chairs ride in a minute," he said, locking his cabin with a rotted rope. “It’s a good spot to admire the bay.”

“You mean the grey?” Lou said cockily while walking away. "I'll pass, thank you."

The lenses shimmered under her lids and the colour of the sky turned into an intense blue, as if switched on, and a pinch of excitement traversed her chest. Lou turned round towards the showman.

“I usually give this to kids who are afraid." He said, seemingly confident he had guessed what was the underlying issue. He handled her a small egg that shone with pearl scales and looked like it had been drawn by Faberge himself. “It’s only plastic,” the showman added as he noticed the spark in Lou's eyes. “But you can keep it.”

Lou sat down on a flying chair and fastened the rusty belt against her stomach. Four people were seated around the ride, far from her, with relaxed shoulders and serene smiles. Lou pressed the egg in her hand and she soon felt her feet leaving off the floor and the breeze lifting up her dress. She wriggled her sandals in the void and winced with delectable apprehension as they started to spin.

From up there, in the golden light of the sun and against the intense blueness of the sky, the city glowed like a stain of oil spilled over the valley. Lou could still smell the sweet scent of the silk trees further down and felt both connected to the sky and to the earth on her rusty chair.

As the chairs spun faster, she closed her eyes and emitted little sounds. Of amusement, long-awaited pleasure and, perhaps, even excitement. As she dared to open her arms to embrace the wind, she squeezed the egg tighter in her thin fist and laughed.

She too had found her charm.

*

Since buying her taxi business, with the help of Mary five years ago, Lou had barely ever spent time in the city center. She now wanted to make up for that. 

The silk tree alley, on its other end, stretched towards a canopy that sheltered a tropical garden. Musical fountains sprang from side to side by its entrance, entertaining amused children and excited adults.

Under the giant dome of the canopy, palm trees, ferns and lines of hibiscus stood in a mist that blended with the scent of sandalwood and wet stones. 

Lou wandered through the alleys, stuffing sugary clouds in her mouth and marvelling at a quietness that even the laughter of kids could not disturb. 

“Tourist?” a woman in a uniform asked, throwing an envious glance at her dress.

Lou proudly tossed her hair backwards and replied that, although she was born and raised in the city, she never visited the centre due to her busy schedule as a taxi driver. She felt confident enough to add she was surprised she still knew how to walk. 

The woman laughed and handed her a booklet.

“Here, you’ll find a list of all the shops and activities available around the station."

“Is this the train station?”

“Yes! They refurbished it last year.”

The woman beamed with a commercial smile and hinted at a large banner Lou hadn't noticed by a fountain. On it, smiling men in suits and grey hair crossed their arms with pride in sign of achievement. At the center, amongst them, a woman with a hand on her hip: Mary.

“Brilliant, isn’t it?” the woman said clapping her hands. 

Mary's architecture firm had worked on the new train station project? And she hadn't told Lou?

Lou stared at the banner in silence - she was back to her insignificant self.

"Are you okay, Sir?” the uniform woman said and interrupted Lou's train of thoughts.

A man was leaning against a bench nearby, sweaty and panting.

“I need to…. I … airport…my plane…”

“This is the train station, Sir. The airport is on the other side of the city. Quite far, I must say.”

“I… late ...how can I...?”

“You need a taxi, I suppose. Oh, but this lady is a taxi driver. She can certainly help?"

As Lou and the panting man made eye contact, she noticed a scar on his nose. Just like the man who had tried to assault her the day before in her taxi.

Although she knew it was not him, her head started to spin and the palm trees to blur. The mist became a thick smoke and kids laughter sharp cries.

“Are you okay, Miss?”

“Miss?”

She searched the pockets of the dress for the comforting egg, but it was gone. Her heart started to pound in her chest and she felt she was about to throw up. Without understanding how, she found herself running away from the two silhouettes, into the thick smoke and through the sharp cries of the station.

Train wheels squeaked on a railway somewhere and silhouettes flooded in her direction like a tidal wave. She kept running and running without knowing why and where.

And, suddenly, Mary's sandals made her slid.

Lou's body got propelled forward and she crashed down onto the brand-new pavement. An electric shock flashed her elbow and chin as her light body smashed the floor.

“Miss? Are you okay?”

Someone touched her shoulder and she pushed them away. People were getting close to her, thousands of hands. She crunched fingers and slapped a leg. She wanted to scream but the taste of blood in her mouth wouldn't let her. So when a firm hand grabbed her from the waist and carried her to the side, she didn’t resist. 

The person sat her down by a pole and said something she didn’t hear - her monologue had started again in her head. That same old song, about the greyness in her life and the glitters in her friend's. Her only friend, the one at the center of banners, the one at the center of everything.

Lou wiped her tears and as she slowly came back to herself she realised she was alone. The person who had brought her next to the pole, far from the crowd had vanished. Why? Had she scared them? Without even saying a word?

Lou cleaned the blood off her chin with the white dress and gripped the pole rising fragilely on her skinned legs. What a stupid idea. She grabbed Mary's bag from the floor and tried to climb down the concrete where the deserter had left her.

“Wait, I'm back, I'm back!” a voice shouted in her back. It was the man with the scar, he was running in her direction with plasters and alcohol. “The pharmacy was in a different hall. Sorry it took so long...”

The lenses did their trick again and, as he handed her the plasters, his dark shoes turned into bare feet standing in sheer water. 

Enough. 

That non-sense had all happened because of Mary's lenses. Lou pushed the man to the side and removed them from her eyes.

“I wanted to see what it was like to sail through life. Just for one day. And now look at me," she said, "you don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?”

“You’re not alone in this," the man replied hinting at the large clock overhanging the platform, "I've just missed my flight.”

He added something but his voice seemed far away as a grey veil started to cover the station now that Lou had removed the lenses. The golden glow of the day had vanished, replaced by an icy light.

As Lou removed the white dress and threw it into the nearest bin, the words pronounced by the man finally reached her brain.

“Was your flight important?”

“I’m giving a music concert tonight.”

“Where about?”

“Six hours away.”

He seemed embarrassed looking at her in her slip but she didn't care for something in her mind had clicked.

“Follow me,” she said.

*

Her taxi was still there, parked astride on the side, just like she had left it before running to her friend's place the day before. 

With her fingerprint, Lou opened the car and started the engine. 

While the man sat down behind her, Lou drew the partition that had failed her on her last ride and tried to figure the fastest route to the highway. It was all unlikely to work out but she wanted to try. 

She took shortcuts towards Azalea Boulevard as the main road was not an option at that time of the day. And she suddenly remembered the last trick played by the lenses: her passenger standing bare feet in the water. Aha! 

They should try the port. 

Lou made an abrupt left and accelerated towards the port, an industrial area she barely knew. The last time she had heard of it was for the construction of the new Marine Road. It hadn’t been inaugurated yet, but it was supposed to connect the city to larger towns up north. 

Oh.  

The new Marine Road. 

That should do.

Its entrance was blocked with a four red tags without any supervision. Lou got off the car and managed to displace them without difficulty. Only plastic, she thought, just like the egg. 

She slipped back in and embarked on the smooth asphalt of the empty Marine Road.

“You don't put them back?” the passenger asked, half surprised, half amused. 

“We don’t have time for that,” Lou said smiling at him in the mirror.

From the empty road that sloped upwards, the city looked like a puddle of dullness and frenzy. The sky looked dense despite the thin beams that transpierced it here and there. But there was something Lou cherished about the greyness of the bay, she now understood. She had grown in that city and it was part of her.

Lou scrolled down the windows to let the wind in and turned on the radio. 

Melancholy Hill by Gorillaz was playing.