Short stories

Life is great

The landscape was moving before her eyes. It was possible to see the sunset on the horizon. The car wasn’t progressing very quickly. We never get to New York before the night, she thought with a sigh. Her mother strangely looked at her.

“Don’t you feel well?” her mother asked, a strange smile on her lips.

“I’m fine, mother.”

She didn’t want to argue with her. She turned her attention to the landscape. The road was too long to New York. Her uncle Jacob gave a reception for the birthday of his daughter Katia. She celebrated her twenty-one this evening. The trip was too long, dragged on as always. She hasn’t seen her cousin for quite some times. It was back when she was thirteen. They had watched the young man who took care of Jacob’s horses. He was in a clearing, completely naked. He swam in the lake. They were hidden behind a grove near the young man’s clothes. Water streamed down his tanned skin and his hair was completely soaked. Remembering this, the young girl smiled.

“Well! You smile for nothing now.”

“No, mother.”

The car stopped in front of the main gate of the impressive domain of Jacob Richardson. Passengers alighted from the vehicle. Maria, the young woman’s mother, went inside, holding the arm of Nestor, her husband. Their daughter Sarah seconded them, not wanting to upset her mother.

“Oh! Maria!” Catherine cried, the wife of their host. “Have you done a good trip? Robert didn’t make you waiting for too long?”

“Don’t worry!”

Catherine turned to her niece, a huge smile on her lips.

“Hi Sarah! Oh! How you’ve grown!”

“That’s nice, Aunt Catherine.”

“Katia is near the piano. Have a nice evening!”

The young girl got away from her aunt and her parents before they could add a single word. She went to her cousin. The latter waved her hand. She came to meet her, obviously very happy to see her after all these years. They shook briefly. Sarah wished her a happy birthday. Katia thanked, laughing.

“I don’t know why my father insisted on organizing the reception. This is stupid! I don’t know half of the people here!”

They burst out laughing. They left the house and went for a walk in the garden, chatting about the time they had lost, distant from one another. They went up in time, remembering the things they had done. They laughed as they once did. Sitting on a bench near the lake, they continued their discussion.

“Do you remember Luke Stuart?” Sarah asked, taking her hand.

“How could I forget…”

“Is he still working here?”

“He went to London when his mother became ill. Dad sent him a ticket to return to New York when his mother would be better. He’s… he died in April, four years ago. He was on board the Titanic.”

Sarah looked down, ashamed for having asked the question. The young man had died when she was fifteen years old.

“It was a shock for me too.”

“He died so tragically…”

Katia shook her hand, a forced smiled on her lips.

“Tell me a little about yourself. Are you still studying?”

“Yes, and I enjoy reading. I’m in art classes too. Since I spend my days alone, I have nobody to talk to. So that occupies my days. And you?”