seashell

Cape spear. A small town on the coast of Canada on an island called Newfoundland. In this town, there is a neighborhood with a street and a house. On this street, the fog hangs low to the ground on misty days in October. Five people – the Patterson family – live on this street in this house: A mother, Father, Grandmother, a young girl, and a teenage boy. The mother's name is Eileen. Eilleen works at an old lighthouse and museum dedicated to the old town of Cape Spear. The father’s name is Keith. Keith works down near the shore on the Canada Coast Guard. The youngest of the two children, Macey, is eight years old, with her birthday on the 16th of October. And the eldest of the children, Julian, works part-time at the lighthouse with maintenance. The grandmother, Elizabeth, stays at the home and spends her days staring out the window at the seagulls and fog.

 This story starts with Macey tiptoeing down the rickety carpeted stairs in their house.

“We keep them from school and tell them in the morning.” said Keith, “Because I don’t know how long mom has after finding the infection has grown.” 

“ yes, Keith, you’re right, but this will break their little hearts, especially Macey. Her birthday is in three weeks.” Eilleen pointed out.

“ I dont think mom has three weeks in her.” Keith said, “Especially with the scare we had last week. It's just not fair. Mom can't leave just after Dad. It’s cra-” 

“ Hi sweety, why are you still up?” Eilleen asked.

In a whispered voice, Macey said she was getting a cup of water. Her dad got her a cup of water and re-tucked her into bed, reentering the living room where his wife was waiting. 

“ I think Macey knows, Eilleen.”

“There is nothing we can do until the morning, Keith.”

The pair walked upstairs to their bedroom and had a restless night with worries about their children and grandmother.

Keith got up at about 6 a.m., walked to the kitchen, and made himself some coffee. Staring out the window, his son Julian walked downstairs sleepily to start preparing the food for his family as it was his turn to cook breakfast.

  “Oh, hi dad, why are you up?”

“Couldn't sleep, that’s all, hop in the truck with me. Let’s go for a drive.”

“ O-ok, where are we going?” asked Julian.

“ I dont know yet, kiddo, but I think our journey will entail some Timmies.” chuckled Keith.

They walked out to the truck dressed in pajama pants and oversized sweaters. The air was cold and damp, the ground dewy as they hopped up into the pickup, splattered with old muddy marks. Once in the vehicle with the seat warmers on, they drove down the street around the corner and pulled up to Tim Hortons for coffee and doughnuts for the family with a small hot chocolate for Macey. Driving up to the lighthouse in the weary morning, Julian and his father stepped out of the car overlooking the face of the cliff, watching the sea crash into the rocky shore far below, mist spraying up and the water washing away. “ I’ve got something to tell you, Jooj. It's about your grandmother, she is not doing very well, the meningitis has spread to her brain. We dont think she has much longer. The doctors called last night and said she needed to come into the hospital and stay there for a while. We do not know how much longer she has. I need your help getting her to the hospital and cleaning her room. Macey does not know yet. We are going to tell her once we get back, OK? Any questions, Jooj?” Keith asked. 

“ No.  D’you think she will make it to Macey’s birthday?”

“ We dont think so,” Keith said as he and Julian returned to the car with their steaming coffee in hand.

 The drive back was silent. Julian had a cold lump in his stomach, and every bump in the road made it feel twice as heavy. The two walk into the house, kicking off their shoes and sitting on the couch to wait for everyone else to get up in their own time.

At about 8 o’clock, Macey woke up, and her mother got up a little while later.  Soon they were all sat around the kitchen table drinking coffee and eating donuts, when the parents told their children what was happening and that they could stay in their PJs today and wouldn’t have to do chores, like they usually did.

Keith drove his mother to the hospital in town, while back home Macey played with her dollies, Eilleen baked some cookies, and Julian painted in his room. Everybody acted as though things were okay and they tried to go about business as usual, but their hearts just weren’t into it.  Days go by, Elizabeth gets no better, and the Pattersons visit their grandmother everyday, watching her slowly fade with the sickness.  A few more days pass, and they get a call that their grandmother, Elizabeth, has died. The next few weeks were tough on the Pattersons. Macey clung on to the dolls her grandmother sewed her. Julian held the paint on his brush gingerly because he knew the brush he used was his grandmother's. The kitchen lost the scent of cookies and baked bread. Eilleen knows the recipes she used were passed down from her mother-in-law not wanting to damage the frail old paper. Keith sits in his mother's old room in the basement, holding onto the yarn used to make socks, looking at it solemnly, not wanting it to fray with time. Slowly, people return to their old lives, Julian working on the lighthouse and Macey having her playdates. Keith and Eilleen went back to work. Macey's birthday passes with an empty seat at the table meant for her grandmother.

Julian walking down a trail with his girlfriend, Winnie, in the autumn air with the red and orange leaves. The air whistled through the hair of the two people, coats clinging to one another from the gusts of wind blowing them down the path. Their shoes' rubber slapped against the wet trail, occasionally in a puddle or two. The two blissfully walk under the clouds that threaten rain. 

“I think it might rain soon, Winnie. Let's take a shortcut down to the shore. I know a place that is closed to the public but leads up to the lighthouse,” Julian said, looking over at Winne, holding his elbow.

“Okay, sounds fun; just remember, gotta be back by supper to tell my mother im staying with you for the night,” Winnie said, gazing up at Julian’s forest green eyes underneath a head of black wavy hair.

“Ok, I'll have you at my house so you can use my phone, dont worry,” Julian said, looking down at Winnie’s cold, rosy nose and freckled face.

Walking down the road to the beach, they saw a cat, a black cat. And this cat was staring at them as if he had been expecting them to arrive just now. Meowing loudly, it startled Winnie. The cat cocks its head and leaps off a nearby rock. Julian shoos the cat, and the couple walks down an unkempt trail. Julian starts to tell an old folk tale about the seashells and how if you wish hard and you wish long by the seashore, you can hear the voices of those beyond the land of life.

“If you find the right sea shells and collect the right wish, you may hear a voice. That's why you hear the sea because the captains out there on the water pass, and the widows try to wish, but their hearts are so broken they can't make the wish, so all they hear is the sea that took their lives,” said Julian gazing down at wininie’s curly blonde hair. 

They make it down to the rocky beach. Walking down the shoreline, they make it to a little alcove. The rain prickles the round oval beach rocks, slowly turning the gray pebbles black. Walking down the cave, they see a shell placed just ever so on a perch. Julian grabs the shell, listens to it, and then, turning it to Winnie's ear, she hears the waves washing over the false shoreline, crashing into the vague memory of the cliffs and mist spraying up into the imaginary air. Jullan looks at the seashell longingly. “What's wrong, juju?” asked Winnie. 

“It’s just that my grandmother loved the seashells and would tell me the story I just told you. We would walk down here, have picnics, and stay in this cave, telling stories and painting the seaside with color on our canvases.” Julian sighed. “ I just miss her, Winnie. I miss her a lot.” they continue walking down the damp cave, Winnie leaning against Julian, Julian leaning against her. 

They reach home, and Winnie calls her mother. The Pattersons and Winnie eat supper. Julian and Winnie sneak away to the lighthouse. They sneak up to the top and lie on the floor, watching the stars twinkle. Julian looks at Winnie with a starry eyed gaze. Winnie pulled out the seashell they found in the cave. “ Wanna make a wish?” Winnie asked with a mischievous glint in her voice.

“Okay,” Julian said. They start to wish. Julian holds Winnie’s hand and the seashell. He hopes to hear the voice of his grandmother, Elizabeth. The seashell gets heavier in his hand. He wishes to hear the words of love and comfort, but the seashell still gets heavier. With all her might, Winne hopes looking at the stars, wanting to see the answer in the sky. They wish to pray to the stars and heaven above that a voice, a sound, something to be in that seashell. Julian pulls the seashell to his ear. He sits in utter silence. The stars become dull, and the light fades from his face. He sinks to the floor first on his knees, then to his hands leaning against the railing overlooking the sea. Hopeless he looks at it defeated, knowing deep down nothing would happen, but there was just an ember of burning hope at the pit of his stomach. Slowly, this sense of hope started to burn in sadness and disappointment, engulfing him in the crushing waves of pain he felt that day months ago. Just as bright and fierce as ever, he grabbed the seashell, spitefully wished once more, and listened. Silence washes over him. Feeling alone in his world of blackness and sorrow, the flame inside licks at his throat and touches his eyes. Tears flowed over his face like the sea washing over the rocks in the cold, lonely ocean. These tears, like sea, extinguished the flame that tore at his insides, reducing it to a little ember now smoldering. Winnie decides that they should head back. They reach the house's stoop, open the door, and enter the quiet place—the phone rings. Julian answers.

“Hello, Patterson residence,” Julian speaks into the telephone. Dial tone —- that is what he is met with. He hangs up and walks upstairs, Winnie following close behind. They clamber into sleeping bags next to each other, both talking about their sisters and brothers, school, and the things that make life go on. Slowly, they drift off. 

Macey creeps downstairs to get a cup of water in the silent house in the dark. The phone rings. She answers. “Hello? Anyone there?” Macey asks. Some static answers her. She waits on line,  the static stops and starts again, and does that a few times. She finally hangs up and goes to bed. 

Over the next few days, the phone continues to ring, and then a dial tone or a faint buzzing answers the Pattersons. Julian listens to the seashell occasionally, and over time, he forgets about it in the bottom of his closet.  The phone continues to ring with no one on the other end, so they just take it off the line. Months go by, Christmas passes, then Easter, Julian gets his driver’s license, summer arrives, and autumn creeps around the corner with a heavy weight on the family's shoulders with everything reminding them of Elizabeth. 

Macey's birthday is today. Macey gets many gifts, cake, and phone calls from family and friends. The phone rings for what feels like the 100th time. Macey answers.

“Hello, Macey, it's me—-” The line disconnects. Macey tries to call back, but it does not work. Jillian opens his closet to get a birthday present, a pink seashell he got with his girlfriend Winne once last year. He wraps it up and places it gingerly into a box. Macey opens the gift a little while later and listens to it.

“ Oh my goddess, Jooj, how did you get a recording of Grandma Elizabeth saying happy birthday?” Macey asks in bewilderment. Julian looks at her confusedly and asks to listen, but the phone rings. He answers 

“Hello, sweety pie, it's me. I just wanted to say happy birthday.” It sounded like his grandmother. “What did the recording say?” asked Julian

“It said hello, sweety pie; it's me. I just wanted to say happy birthday,” Macey said, looking worried. Julian listens to the phone, and it says the same thing. It just repeats. He put the line on speaker and it matches the words coming from the seashell, repeating over and over in unison. His cell phone rang; he answered and hit it on speaker. It was saying the same thing. The oven beeped in the same rhythm as the phone ringing out, “Hello sweety Pie, it’s me. I just wanted to say happy birthday.” Ellien's phone rang, then Keith's, and all it said was- “hello, sweety pie, it's me. I just wanted to say happy birthday.” then it all went silent. Dial tone —----------------------