The Longest Day Of The Year

It was on the news that morning as she brushed her teeth in the bathroom. June 21st. The day of the summer solstice. She could hear the reporters on the tv chattering earnestly about the longest day of the year, the day when the sun decides to take the long route through the sky and reaches the highest point, somehow resulting in longer hours of daylight than usual.

As she rinsed her toothbrush, she remembered her aunt, a woman who never got along with her mother even though they were sisters. Her aunt had led her out of their mother’s womb. They shared a face, although her mother’s face was a tired one- wrinkled and marked with years of being a doting mother and loving housewife.

Her aunt never had kids. She spent her days meditating and studying the arts. Her mother had always said there would be no one to take care of her sister when she was old and remember her when she was gone. Well, her aunt was never someone who liked to be taken care of and if anyone would remember her, the niece she taught to play the piano, and paint the sunset and the niece she helped convince her parents to let her go to school- would remember her.

She would remember how although they shared the same face, her aunt’s face was a kind one and her mother’s was not.

As she stood under the cold shower, she remembered her first summer solstice. She had heard her classmates chatting excitedly about the longest day of the year. She frowned, because why celebrate long hours of school and more heat from the sun? The night was better, the stars were beautiful and the dark was quiet, like she preferred all things to be.

That evening, she played at her aunt’s house, while her mother was at the market. She was eager for the sun to set so that she could paint it. It was her favorite thing to do. When she was done, she set up cans of different colored paint. With the sunset, you never knew if it was going to be more red than golden- and so she needed to be ready.

“It's the summer solstice today”, her aunt remarked as she helped her steady the canvass on a stand.

“And I’m glad it’s over”, the girl said.

“Oh, but why?”

“I would rather have longer nights than longer days”

Her aunt laughed. It was a beautiful laugh. She hardly ever saw her mother laugh, so she liked to see her aunt laugh because she could imagine what her mother would look like.

“You lazy child”, the woman said as she handed her a brush and moved out of the way so she could see it. 

The sun was making its way back home, to a secret place, and with it came the spread of rose-red across the sky. Her lips curved into a smile and the evening breeze cooled her skin and rustled her hair. She painted a million scarlet blooms and red velvet rays, just as it looked over the earth, and she hoped like all artists did- that her brush would be enough to capture this beauty.

The reporters on the tv had moved to other topics now. She walked out of the bathroom, down the hallway, and past eight paintings of different sunsets- some red, some orange, and some decorated with fine gold. At the end of the hallway, just between her room and the living room, she glanced at the wall clock. She still had time before work.

She smiled.

She took her time to get ready. The phone rang continuously as it did, every year on that day. She ignored it, focusing on the loose strands in her hair and how to make them stay in place. This was the hardest part of her morning. Once, a co-worker asked for the smallest thing that made her cry and she replied, “my hair”.

She grabbed her shoes to finish in the living room, with a cup of coffee by her side. As she walked out, she glanced at the wall clock again and frowned.

It had not moved.

The hand that counted the seconds was still.

Her eyes opened wide and she rushed back to the room, to check the digital clock on her nightstand. She cursed under her breath. She had a business meeting in ten minutes when she thought she had over an hour left. The sun outside had showed no signs either.

Of course, it didn’t. It was the summer solstice. It was taking its time today and she had been deceived. She opened her mouth to insult it, but closed it instantly. She did not hate the sun- not anymore.

Instead, she grabbed her bag and her shoes, deciding to wear them in the car. She ran down the little hallway and past the living room, heading straight for the door and out of the apartment. As she closed the door, she heard the reporter on the tv say enthusiastically, “It’s ten am on this fine Monday morning!”

Cusses fell out of her lips as she ran out of her apartment building and towards the car. She tossed her shoes in front of the car door and searched her bag for the car keys. By the third search, she realized it wasn’t there. She ran back inside the building with her bag.

When she got to the door and tried to push it open, she bumped into it, hitting her forehead on hardwood. The pain didn’t last long, but only because she realized something else.

The door was locked. She used an automatic lock. She needed the keys to open it from outside and the keys- well, they were lying in a bunch, right next to her car keys.

She leaned against the door and sighed. Inside, she could still hear the tv. She hadn’t even bothered to turn it off. She fished out her phone from her bag to call in late at the office. Her boss would be disappointed, so she called her favorite coworker- Tessie.

Tessie didn’t ask too many questions and that is why she loved her. She promised to cover for her, for half an hour. She thanked her before hanging up the phone to call the landlord and the leasing office.

They didn’t take long, but to her, it felt like they took years. Her hands balled into a fist and she closed her eyes to think of something, anything that could calm her down.

She remembered her aunt again, smiling over colorful flowers in her garden. Her eyes lit up as she spoke.

“The sun is very hot today”, the woman said.

“I hate it”, the girl said, crossing her arms and looking up at the sky. She squinted her eyes so she could see it- the fiery, yellow ball of gas that made her skin sting and made her sweat so much that stupid Peter in her class asked her if she had been exercising that morning when he knew very well that she hadn’t.

“It's the summer solstice”, she said, “you may not love the sun, my dear but the flowers do. Look at how beautiful it makes them”

She frowned but glanced at the flowers. They were beautiful.

The woman patted her head, “you are a flower seed, my dear”, she said, “and on this day, the sun is filling you up with so much light and power-

-Do not let the cloudless skies make you angry. Allow yourself to grow and you’ll see just how beautiful things can be, just like these flowers”

She held her hand out to see the reflection of the sunlight on her skin. That was the first day she enjoyed the sun and was sad to see it go, for it made her aunt’s flowers beautiful, it made her hair shine and when it left, the hot sun she had hated so much left her with a gift, her favorite thing- the sunset.

Speeding down the highway, she had about fifteen minutes left. It was easy to drive barefoot than it was in heels. She made a mental note to place new batteries in the wall clock when she got home.

Lost in thoughts about the meeting and hoping it would go well, despite her lateness, she did not hear the siren behind her and it was only when she glanced at her rearview mirror that she saw him, an angry police officer glaring at her car. She gritted her teeth and slowed down to park on the side of the road.

The officer knocked on her window soon enough, and she put on a fake smile to mask the frustration she was feeling. He said she had been going over the speed limit, she lied and said she hadn’t realized. She explained how late she was for an important meeting and hoped that with an innocent smile and a little begging, he would let her go. At times like this, Tessie would resort to flirting but this officer seemed to be having just as bad of a morning as she was and he would not only get angrier at her flirting but she would also die of embarrassment and remember it at 3 am in five years.

A ticket for $400 and a point on her license, he gave to her. On a normal day, she would have been moved to tears but it was the longest day of the year and if she started to cry now, then she would have no tears left for later. She was also trying not to ruin her makeup before the meeting which she was now forty-five minutes late for.

She walked into the office as confidently as she could, smiling and saying hi to a few people she recognized. She saw Tessie walking out of the boardroom and smiled at her. The woman smiled back and her heart was at ease. Nothing was wrong.

“Hey!”, Tessie said, “the meeting’s been moved to 11:30”

She grinned. Something finally went her way.

She had about forty-five minutes to spare, so she grabbed her bag, wallet, and keys and left the office. On a day like the summer solstice, she always believed in doing little things to take care of herself. That morning was easily the worst she had in a while. She didn’t have breakfast and she didn’t have her cup of coffee.

She got into her car and drove down the road until she saw the brown sign. With a smile on her face, she parked and got out of the car, taking only her wallet, phone and keys.

Inside the cafe, the aroma of honey and baked bread welcomed her as she pushed open the doors. Classical music filled her ears and from behind the counter, the barista smiled warmly at her. She smiled back as she made her order.

The air was light, the day was bright, the bread was sweet. the coffee warmed her insides the way it usually did and it didn’t seem like she didn’t have enough time anymore. She took a deep breath and another. Everything seemed right with the world again.

Her aunt loved to paint, garden and play music. The little things excited her more than the luxuries of life. Her aunt was a constant reminder to always enjoy the thrill in life and not let her mind be clouded with things she did not enjoy.

For her, one of the thrills in life was a good cup of coffee.

She ate the last piece of bread and grabbed her cup of coffee, wallet, and keys to leave. Then from the corner of her eye, she saw it- a tow truck.

Behind it, her car followed.

The panic in her chest returned as she hurried out of the cafe, yelling for them to stop. Her car had never been towed before and she had parked in the same spot she did for months since she discovered the cafe. People walking around stared at her but she didn’t care because she had missed it and watched as it was taken down the road.

She looked up at the sky, squinting her eyes to see that huge yellow ball, “really?”, she asked.

She sighed. It was a defeated sigh and she sipped her coffee as she walked, thinking of other things. The business idea she had spent weeks working on was ready to be pitched to potential investors. If she did it right, she could even get a raise. She would just have to worry about the car later.

For now, she needed to do a good job.

She did not want to be late again and so when the cup of coffee was empty, she tossed it into a trashcan nearby and ran as fast as her legs in heels could take her to the office, which was not fast enough. Disoriented and exasperated, she walked past everyone- not bothering to smile or say hello.

When she arrived at her desk to grab her laptop, she felt a pang in her chest and collapsed into the chair.

“Are you okay?”, she heard Tessie ask, but her voice sounded like it was far away, so far away.

Her portfolio and presentation were on her laptop, her laptop was in her bag and her bag was in her towed car. She bit her lips and blinked at the desk. The air was tight again, she was finding it hard to breathe. She felt lifeless. She didn’t have enough strength to fight back the tears in her eyes. She didn’t have enough strength to hope.

It was almost time for the presentation and she had nothing to show. She didn’t have her work, she didn’t have her car and she had a $400 ticket folded in her wallet.

Her phone rang and she whimpered. She didn’t want to pick up, but she needed to talk to someone, even if it was her mother

“Mama”, she said with the phone in her ear.

“Dahlia”, surprise was etched in her mother’s voice because she never picked up, not on this day. But her mother, with her tired lines under her eyes, her mother who never liked letting her do what she wanted, her mother who did not like the name ‘Dahlia’ at first because her aunt named after her own favorite flower, her mother who would have preferred she started a family than work in a city, her mother who was the most annoying woman in the world. 

She would not stop calling.

“How are you? How is your day going?”

“It’s bad mama”, she said, holding back tears, “it’s so bad”

“Are you at work? Do you have time to talk about it?”

She glanced at the little clock on her desk. She had ten minutes to spare and so she narrated the events of her morning to her mother, not missing out on one single detail. The woman stayed quiet and listened, like the little girl all those years ago would have wanted her to.

“Well”, her mother said when she had finished, “that sounds like a very bad morning Dahlia”

“I know”

“But do you know what today is?”, her mother asked and before Dahlia could respond, she answered the question herself, “it’s the summer solstice. This is not a day for your work and dreams to wither, my dear, and it is not a day for you to cower in defeat either. This is the day for growth”

She chuckled, “you sound just like auntie Mama”

There was a silent pause and then her mother said, “yes. My sister was a smart woman, wasn’t she? Perhaps I was too hard on her and too hard on you as well”

Dahlia did not respond. She had nothing to say.

“She loved the sunset, you know. Since we were children”, her mother said.

“Yes. She made me love it too”

“This is only a bad morning, my dear. There is always hope and after this long day, you will paint the most beautiful sunset in her memory”

The call ended when Tessie appeared in front of her again, telling her that it was time. She stared at her phone. It was 11:30. It had been eight years since her aunt’s death and she could not afford to have a bad day, because she could not paint when she was sad and she wanted to paint the sunset from her balcony later and hang it up on the wall in her little hallway.

A notification came into her phone, asking if she would like to backup her files on iCloud and she gasped.

“Tessie? Can I borrow your laptop please?”, she asked. Tessie nodded. She was more than happy to.

As she quickly transferred a copy of the file she had sent to her phone two nights ago to Tessie’s laptop, she felt the air get light again and she thought, maybe her aunt was watching over her on that day.

She walked into the boardroom and gave the best presentation she could. Her boss said she did great. Tessie gave her a bottle of wine as a gift. It was noon and she had the rest of her long day to go.

Her food spilled on her shirt at lunch and she had to cover up the stain with her suit. Her heels broke on the way to the bus stop after work and she limped all the way home, but it did not matter, because it was only a bad day and as she sat at the balcony, ready to paint the gift the sun had left for her aunt, she thought nothing lasts forever- not bad days, not people, not sunsets and not beauty- so she was going to appreciate everything while she had it.