Ready or Not

“Is everything all wrapped up?” Lucy asked, reclining on the comfiest chair on the deck adjacent to the pier- a seat her plump ass had not left in the five days they had been at the lake.  The locale had been on our bucket list for some time; but with COVID, and then life, getting in the way, we were fortunate to be able to finally get together.

After an eventful, but mostly drama-free few days, most of us cousins were avoiding the reality of our departure from the rented cabin in the morning.  I, however, had assumed myself to the unofficial mom role, since the eldest Lucy had assumed her position in her chair and hadn’t left, no matter what activity we tried to get her to do with us. 

“I think so,” I huffed, flopping down on an adirondack chair next to her, forgetting until the last second that this was the chair with the faulty back leg.  The leg of the chair bent, thumping my seat onto the deck.  I scrunched my face with anticipated pain that fortunately never came, and relaxed into the slightly tilted, but more stable somehow, position overlooking the sun getting ready to set over the lake.  

“Hey, Dani, your chair’s broke,” Katie chuckled, walking down towards us.  I gave her a mom-like stare, which made sense because I was almost old enough to be her mom.  She smiled back.  “Thanks for hiding the last iced tea for me behind the lettuce.”

“Well, you’re the only one who can’t drink, so it’s only fair.  And I told you no one would look behind a vegetable.  Use this trick to help save some of your own food from your roommates this year.”

“Well we need to finish the rest of the alcohol tonight,” Lucy chimed in behind her sunglasses and floppy hat.  “No one besides you is going to be sober tonight.”

Katie and I exchanged subtle looks.  We all had gotten good at ignoring Lucy these past few days, not letting her sloth, bad attitude, and excuses get the best of us.  Honestly, it had all gone better than anticipated. 

Just then, Mckenzie and Gillian walked up, cooler in tow.  

“This is everything that needs to go!” Mckenzie beamed.  We have enough to last us most of the night.  Unless Katie wants to join us?”

“No thanks,” Katie quickly answered to my relief.  “I’ll wait until my first college party.”

“Well, it would be better if you started to build up your tolerance now,” Gillian added.  “You don’t want to be taken advantage of.”

“Or she could just not drink at all in college,” I chimed in.  The thought of smart, responsible, level-headed Katie getting plastered at some frat house disturbed me to my core.  

Mckenzie and Gillian shrugged and smiled in response.   This had been the tone all week; I was insanely glad that we could all agree to disagree.  The past few days really had been the best.  It was nice to finally get away from my husband and young children.  The cousins and I have always been close, and this was just the trip to let loose, even if Lucy had been a bit of a sourpuss.  Everyone had done their part, cooking and doing dishes, driving the boat, coming up with fun ideas, paying for food or booze that was needed.  Everyone except Lucy; her excuses were a mile long, but I was truly thankful she came.  Her life as a self-absorbed shut-in back home wasn’t doing her health any favors.  At least here she was a shut-in outside and talked to us each day.

As we chatted on the deck, watching the sun set, I lamented going back to reality tomorrow.  We would get home with enough time for me to start taking care of the mounds of dishes and laundry that no doubt would be there waiting for me.  

“What’s up, Dani?” Gillian asked.  “You are spacing out big time there.”

“Nothing,” I sputtered, glad to be pulled back to reality.  “I’m just thinking of the mounds of work to be done back at home.”

“Well, stop!” Mckenzie chimed in. “Enjoy this amazing sunset!”

We all shut up at that point and glared at the amazing ball of light  finally descending over the lake.  It was the highlight of every day; no matter what kind of excursion we completed on the water or in town, every night for the past 4 we ended up right here on this deck to watch the sunset together.  Once the mosquitoes got to be too much we would go inside to continue drinking and playing board games together until the wee hours of the morning.  Or until Lucy yelled at us to stop so she could get some sleep. 

It had probably been about 15 minutes or so of complete peace and twilight; the mockingbird that Katie had correctly identified the first night had made its way to a neighboring tree again, and crickets and locusts were audible, adding to the symphony of water splashing onto the piers and boats sloshing in their docks.  We all were savoring these last few minutes of tranquility.  

“Hey, someone get me a drink,” Lucy stammered louder than necessary, indicating her sobriety had already gone downhill.  Gillian tossed her one, which promptly bounced off the tips of her slowly moving fingers and into my lap. 

“Hey, thanks!”

“That was a l-lousy toss.”

Gillian passed another can down the line of all of us, ending at Lucy who was able to pop the can open, drawing a big pull on the ember inside.  If she kept this pace up, it might be a long night.  

“I don’t want to go back to reality tomorrow,”  Lucy stammered.  In the fading light, it was difficult to see her face, but her voice seemed to quiver. 

“Dude,” Mckenzie added.  “Not you, too!  Do we need to cut you off because of your bad attitude?”  

I noticed Lucy’s eyes started to fill with tears.  Or was that what was left of the light reflecting off of the lake?

“Hey Mac,” I whispered.  “Let her be.”

“Well she’s been the laziest person on this trip!  Sure, you’ve haven’t stopped us from having fun Lucy, but at the same time you haven’t really contributed anything but allowing us to cater to your every whim and physical ailments that I think are just all in your head.  There.  I said it.”

“You think Lucy’s pain is psychosomatic?” Katie inquired.  

“Now you have the courage to say something, when it’s too dark to look me in the face!” Lucy yelled. “That’s why I didn’t want to come on this trip!  You guys think I’m always faking!  You don’t know what it’s like to be in this crappy body that’s falling apart all over!”

“Yeah, but you haven’t really done much to put yourself on the right path,” Gillian calmly offered.  “Sometimes, from our end, it looks like you have given up.  And that’s not you.  You used to pride yourself on how tough you were- the fights you used to get into with your sisters, the time you fought off a would-be mugger. We don’t want to see you in this state.”

Lucy’s face lit up.  “It’s just so… hard.”  

“Look, we can’t even imagine, Lucy.  None of us have been through anything like this.  But we can’t help you until you help yourself, too. Talk to someone, try to take some sort of step forward.”

Maybe because it had been quite a few months, maybe even a year, since I really had seen Lucy smile, because it seemed to brighten her entire face.  I looked around; everyone else seemed to be happier, too.  But then I noticed Katie’s face fall. 

“What the hell is happening?”  It was unlike Katie to cuss in front of us.  “Why is the sun getting higher in the sky?”  She rubbed her eyes, pulling up the weather app on her phone.  “Sunset should be almost over by this time.  It’s almost completely above the horizon again.”

We all looked at the sun.  It was almost too bright to look at.  Everyone started bringing up information on their phones, checking their smart watches.  The sun should most certainly should have been much, much lower than it was at that moment.  We were all struck dumb by the event.  

I looked around, hoping to find another person on one of the neighboring docks or piers.  Maybe we were going crazy?  What was in that beer we had been drinking?  

We all turned to each other, our faces wide with weirdness.

“My phone now says 7:30,” Katie quietly muttered.  

“My smartwatch, too, added Mckenzie.  

“This can’t be right,” I stammered.  “There’s a couple of clocks in the house.  Let’s go check those.”

The four of us marched into the house, while Lucy just raised her beer in salute and stayed put.  

“These clocks say 7:30!” Katie hollered, the first one to barge into the cabin.  

“Wait, wait,” Gillian mumbled.  “Our phones say the sun should have set.  We SAW the sun set.  It was dark when we were finally voicing the truth to Lucy!  Am I the only one who saw that?

“No, we all did,” Mckenzie quietly offered.  

I looked outside.  Lucy hadn’t moved an inch, but the sun was almost too high to look at now.  Things were happening too fast.  

“Now my phone says the time is 6:00!  It’s only been a couple of minutes!” Katie shrieked.  

“Let’s go back outside,” Mckenzie said. 

We all shrugged in agreement and walked back down to the lake.  Our next door neighbor, a young man we had made small talk with all week, was outside grilling.  

“Hey, ladies!  Can I cook up some burgers for you?”

“Well, you know, if you’re-” Lucy began.

“Na, we’re good!” Mckenzie yelled back.  “Thanks, man!”

“Actually, sir?  Could you tell us what time it is?”  I inquired.

“Just before 5.”

“Thanks.”

“Allright, well I’m heading inside.  Take it easy!”  He disappeared into his cabin, waving his spatula in salute.

“Let’s just sit down,” I offered.

 “Lucy, haven’t you noticed anything funny about the sun since we’ve been inside?”  I asked.  

“Like what?”

“Like it completely set, it was dark, and now you can’t even look at it.”

“You’re nuts.  Hand me another.”

Katie started, but the three of us gave her a look that quickly deflated her movements.  

“When you and Mckenzie were going at it, it was dark out,” Gillian began.  “Don’t you remember?  I do, because it seemed to ease the situation a bit, the situation being a bit masked.”

Lucy actually paused.  “Was that today?”

“Yeah, it was,” Katie slowly answered.

Katie’s youth seemed to sober Lucy up.  

“Now that you mention it, the sun is too high.  When hot stuff next door was cooking, I noticed the shadows on his arms highlighted his muscles.  Those shadows on the deck are now gone.  Oh man, how much have I had to drink?  Maybe you guys are right.  I should cut myself off.”  Lucy shook her head as if the alcohol would fly out her ears. 

“It’s not just you,” I told Lucy.  The neighbor isn’t affected by this, just us.”  Just then, to confirm my suspicions, a speedboat we had frequently seen flew by with some tubers in tow, screaming cries of jubilation in the hot, high summer sun. 

“It’s getting faster,” Gillian said.  I swear it’s only been 20 minutes max.  Definitely not 6 or 7 hours.  My phone says 1:30.”

 We kept checking our phones nonstop the entire time.  None of us wanted to take our eyes off of the sun or the outside surroundings.  After what was probably only about an hour or two (we guessed), the clock and sun stopped racing backwards at 8am, and things seemed to normalize.  

“Hey, you guys are up early?  Or should I say still up from last night?”  Our neighbor guy chuckled, mug of coffee in hand.  

“Good morning, sir.  We are just fine, thanks!” Lucy yelled back.  “Just trying to get an early start on this pleasant day!” 

The man seemed to be taken aback, but he recovered nicely.  The four of us widened our eyes to her, too.  We hadn’t heard such a good attitude out of her the entire time we had been here.  

“Ok my watch says “8:03,” Katie sighed, “but the date is still the same.”

“So you’re saying we just went back in time?” Mckenzie asked.  

“Looks like it,” Gillian added.  “My phone says the same thing.”

“Well, it looks like we have one more day here!  Let’s unpack!” Lucy jumped up, and I jumped forward, thinking she was falling.  But she had just received a burst of energy from some unknown source.  

“Katie, you’re young.  Find a good breakfast spot on your phone.  My treat.”

Katie whipped out her phone, while the rest of us started to walk back to the cabin.

“Where are you guys going?”  Lucy was all of a sudden on the pier. “We’re going to go somewhere where we can take the boat!”

Katie squealed while tapping at her phone, beating us to help Lucy take the cover off.  We went out for breakfast, which turned into cruising on the lake and adjacent river, which turned into tubing and water skiing, which ended up placing us back on the deck to watch the sunset again that evening.   All with Lucy in tow instead of making excuses and getting drunk at the cabin.  

“So what do you think’s gonna happen?” Gillian asked.  

“I don’t know, but I would like to say something before the sun starts to kiss this vacation goodbye.” Lucy interjected.  All day, she had been by our side during activities, participating when she could.  All without complaints, all without judgment.   Now, Lucy was center stage, and we were all happier for it instead of anticipating another bitch fest.  

She raised her can.  “I get that I have been a pain in the ass the past year.  I got sick, then mentally sick on top of that, which turned into even more physical ailments.  I haven’t taken care of myself like I should.  Before, I relied on my youth to get me through things, and when that was gone, I didn’t know what to do.  I have gotten stuck in this cycle, and it’s been so-so hard to break through.”  Lucy’s voice began to falter, but she forged on.  “These past few days have given me the courage to try and try again, with the help of my cousins.  Thanks.  Thanks for never giving up on me.  I know that this has taken me longer than it should have, and I owe you guys.”

We all linked hands.  No words were needed.  

“What if this happens again?” I asked everyone.

“I’d be ok with that,” Katie said.

“I wouldn’t,” Lucy answered.  “You need to start your life, kiddo.”

“We will see,” Gillian added.

“Whatever happens, I’m down for it,” said Mckenzie.

“Me too,” I said, and I believed it.