Formed On Your Lips

Friday April 12th

             Liz fidgets with her skirt as she makes her way down the sidewalk towards Brew, a local coffee shop. She readjusts the clip in her dark brown hair wishing she had worn it down today instead. As she approaches the front door she reassess her image in the glass and sighs. Not at all satisfied, she enters the familiar establishment. She waits in line among the bustling atmosphere then places her usual order, a chai tea latte with soy milk, extra dirty, and one croissant. As she steps to the side watching the barista steam the soy milk she makes eye contact with Ashe, the café owner. Ashe immediately makes his way over because he knows Liz always has the best dirt on everyone in town. As he approaches he notices this glint of excitement in her eye, she must have something juicy this morning. Liz is bursting at the seams to tell someone what she saw last night. She relays the details of the prior evening.

             I was down in Stanton last night. I met my sister at the Golden Goose for dinner and we had this great seat next to the side window. As we were sitting there, a truck pulled into the parking lot across the street at Sullivan’s SteakHouse. It caught my attention because it had to be Boyd Miller’s truck. There is only one red truck like it in this area. But here’s the thing: his wife wasn’t the woman who got out of the truck. I’m almost positive it was Alicia, even though I thought they were supposed to be best friends from way back. I didn’t get a good look at the driver because of the way they were parked but the two were definitely holding hands as they entered the restaurant.

             Feeling a sense of superiority Liz grabs her latte and croissant, says her goodbyes to Ashe, making vague plans to get together soon. She exits the shop continuing down the sidewalk in the same direction. The latte is warm in her hand and the scent of cinnamon is calming. She bites into the buttery croissant making her way towards the town hall for the meeting about this Saturday’s festival in the park. She walks by a beggar on the sidewalk and is instantly filled with disgust. She will never understand how people can disregard their own dignity like that. As she approaches the steps to the historical stone building she shoves the last bite of croissant into her mouth. Inside she finds a seat next to Melissa Andrews. Melissa, much like Liz, doesn’t work. Her husband, Al, works for an accounting firm in Stanton, the next town over. Liz, unmarried, lives off royalties from a memoir penned by her late mother. It’s not much, but plenty enough to keep up her lifestyle. The big grin on her face as she takes a seat tells Melissa that this conversation is going to be filled with gritty details.

             Girl, you are not going to believe what I just found out about poor LouAnn. Her son was arrested the other night after he was found sleeping on a park bench. Her oldest, Simon, is about our age. Once the officer woke him up they realized he was strung out on drugs, probably heroin. You know how bad it’s getting. He couldn’t even sit up on the bench. I was with LouAnn when she got the call from jail the next day. He was yelling at her through the phone, like it was her fault. Can you imagine? She was in tears, as any mother would be. They’ve got him in a rehab facility down in Brookvale. LouAnn agreed to post his bail but only if he went to rehab. Bless her heart. We should definitely add them to the prayer list. I would want that if it were me.

             As the meeting begins, Liz sits back against her chair and catches the end of a conversation going on behind her. She overhears that Lydia received some bad news about a medical scan recently and was seen crying in the parking lot of the Physicians Group. Piecing together what she heard about Lydia last week Liz knows it just has to be cancer, probably breast cancer since it runs in the family. After the meeting, Liz has lunch plans with her bestie Addy at the café on the corner. She finds Addy on the patio shaded from the spring sun beaming through the trees overhead by a blue and white striped umbrella. Her pace quickens and Addy can tell Liz has gossip to spill.

             Have you heard about Lydia? I know you all are friends, so I just thought you would want to be there for her.  She has breast cancer. Apparently she got confirmation yesterday. I overheard Suzanne telling Kelsey that Lydia was crying in the parking lot of the Physicians Group offices. There is only one reason you would cry like that in public. Her mother had breast cancer. She went through chemotherapy and everything, but she is fine now or in remission as they say. I can’t imagine what Lydia must be going through. I immediately came to the conclusion that it was breast cancer because when I went for my annual mammogram at Dr. Rashad’s Lydia was in the waiting room. And now that I think of it, she looked worried.

             Over the next hour Addy listens to Liz’s version of all the town gossip. She’s known Liz since they were kids. Sitting down to a carb loaded meal, doing a little day drinking, and gossiping about everyone has always been their thing. However, Addy is starting to really see behind the facade Liz has created. Each story comes with lavish details, all of the sordid kind. Liz has always been a very social person and Addy has no real reason not to believe her, but there is a nagging feeling that something is off. Maybe this is just Liz’s overactive imagination or maybe it’s something more.

             Later that night Addy is sitting on her front porch drinking some hot tea as the sun sets. Her long legs are hidden by a tattered quilt made by her late grandmother. She fingers the loose threads and takes a sip of the piping hot tea. She swings back and forth in the old wooden porch swing thinking about everything Liz told her at lunch. Since when does Liz hang out with LouAnn? She asks herself. Not to say they aren’t friendly, they are, but she has never known them to be close. Her mind jumps to the story about Boyd being a cheater. I thought her sister was out of town this week. Seattle wasn’t it, for a nursing conference? But Liz said she was at the Golden Goose with her sister. Why would she lie about that? Addy sets her mug down and sweeps her long auburn hair up into a bun at the crown of her head. Still reeling over the details Addy recalls the situation with Lydia. Does she really have breast cancer or was Liz jumping to conclusions with little to no basis in reality. Stumped, she takes herself up to bed deciding to sleep on it.

Thursday April 11th

             Standing in the produce section, Liz closes her eyes in deep concentration. She forgot her grocery list at home again. She is trying to remember what she had written down earlier this morning. She proceeds to move slowly through the isles hoping the fully stocked shelves will help to jog her memory as she considers carefully each item her eyes land on. She moves to the end of the baking aisle and sees LouAnn stopped at the end cap talking on the phone. They are both on the volunteer committee for the upcoming festival. She doesn’t know much about LouAnn other than she has a son named Simon who is the same age as Liz, but she can tell LouAnn is visibly upset by the conversation. Eavesdropping Liz feigns an interest in the various kinds of boxed cake mixes in front of her. She hears LouAnn asking a lot of questions, but can’t seem to piece them together. However, what she is able to gather from the one-sided conversation is shocking. Suddenly the voice on the other end of the phone gets louder. LouAnn pulls the phone away from her ear as tears begin to flow silently.

Wednesday April 10th

             Liz hurries through the parking lot. She is late for her appointment with Dr. Rashad. Not that her appointments ever start on time, but she doesn’t like to keep people waiting. Liz makes it a point to always be agreeable, a purpose in life almost. Appearance was everything and second to that was an agreeable nature. These were the keys to not becoming a topic of the local gossip mill. She looks at her watch as she approaches the double doors, 2:06pm. Flustered she enters the one story brick building and signs in with the receptionist. After confirming that none of her information has changed Liz turns around and surveys the room. There are three women seated in the waiting area. One woman has a small build and short cropped hair. Sitting in the chair beside her is another woman with jet black hair pulled up into a ponytail. Liz doesn’t recognize them. The two women continue with their conversation unbothered by Liz’s presence. The woman with the ponytail is wearing some kind of uniform, EMS maybe, and is talking about a call she answered at the park. Across the small room Liz does recognize a familiar face, Lydia. The two exchange a silent head nod and smile as Liz takes a seat closest to the door. She is feeling a bit anxious today and doesn’t feel like making small talk. It’s a routine appointment, but Liz has never been comfortable in doctor’s offices. After a few minutes the nurse leads Liz back to the exam room. While they navigate the halls, she overhears another nurse talking about one of Dr. Rashad’s patients who had an abnormal scan. The woman was apparently coming back in today for a follow up appointment. Liz rolls her eyes at the thought thinking to herself that whoever the woman was would probably milk the situation for all the attention she could get. She didn’t understand how people could stoop so low at the slightest upset.

             After the doctor visit is finally over, Liz breathes a sigh of relief as she walks out into the afternoon sunshine. Feeling the warmth of the day on her exposed skin she walks through the parking lot to her car. Checking her watch she notes the time, 3:43pm. Plenty of time to head to Stanton and run a few errands before she is supposed to meet up with Al for dinner.

             At 6:58pm, Liz pulls her non-distinct white sedan into a parking spot close to the tree line at Sullivan’s SteakHouse. As she exits the car she takes notice of a dull red pick-up truck. It looked like it had seen better days based on the rust around the wheel wells and the dents along the rim of the bed. Something about the truck looks familiar but she can’t quite place it. Pushing the truck from her mind Liz walks across the street to the neighboring restaurant The Golden Goose, one of her personal favorites. When she walks into the dining room she feels her face become hot as she makes eye contact with Al Andrews. She heads towards his table and takes a seat across from him.

Saturday April 13th

             Addy and Liz are lucky enough to snag one of the small bistro table’s setup on the central lawn. All around them is a commotion of people hustling to and from the numerous vendors stationed along the paved walking loop inside the city park. Relieved to have their festival duties out of the way, both women are looking forward to relaxing and enjoying the rest of the event. Addy waves to a tall blonde with bronzed skin across the crowd of people. Smiling, she asks Liz if that is Alicia as the woman approaches. It is Alicia. The three women share greetings of delight as Alicia tells them all the jealousy inducing details of her island trip with Simon. They had returned late last night but couldn’t miss the festival. Addy takes quick note that both Alicia and Simon have been out of town for the past two weeks. Still laughing from a comment Alicia made before disappearing back into the crowd of townspeople Liz feels her phone vibrating in the back pocket of her jeans. Sliding the phone out she sees the words Dr. Rashad’s Office lit up on the screen. Addy notices the smile quickly fade from Liz’s face. Watching her friends closely she observes a slight shaking of her left hand as all color seems to drain from her body. The phone drops from her hand onto the table face up. Addy reads the screen, picks up the phone and puts it to her ear. The voice on the other end of the phone is the familiar receptionist. After a few minutes which feel like hours Addy kills the call and looks pointedly into the face of her longtime friend. Cancer. Possibly. Biopsy. Next week. Urgent.

             Liz puts on her best face and tries desperately to shake off the bad news. A few people walking by stop to greet the women briefly before continuing down to the next booth. Liz stands just as Melissa Andrews storms up to their table. Her voice is low and her posture is threatening in every way. The housewife delivers one abundantly clear message, “I know about everything, and it stops now.” Before Addy can make a word Melissa is gone just as suddenly as she appeared. Liz, frantic on the inside, desperately searches for Al in the throngs of bodies. She needs to speak with him now. Liz starts to move through the crowd when LouAnn grabs her hand out of nowhere, insisting that Liz needs to come quickly. Without giving any other option, LouAnn escorts Liz across the lawn to where a crowd of people are circling a park bench. The group seem to instinctively part making way for the two women. At the center of the crowd is one police officer and two EMS personnel. Liz’s heart stops when she sees the individual at the center. Drake, her 22 year old son is lying on the park bench vomit dripping from his mouth. Submerged under a heavy weight of disbelief Liz looks up into the blue sky. The light from the sun burns her eyes as the tears fall. She tries to make sense of everything. Her head is spinning. A quote from her mother’s memoir comes into focus and now Liz finally understands the significance, “You can manifest your most magnificent dreams or your most terrifying nightmares through the words formed on your lips.”