Before Time Runs Out

Chapter 17

It was the middle of July, and Carmelita and Ethel had finally boarded the train for their trip to Spain. Ethel had fallen asleep, strewn across Carmelita's lap with a quilt thrown over her. Carmelita had her pen out and some notebooks, writing away about something, already on her third cup of herbal tea. She had pulled the shades of their private car closed, and she worked used the kerosene lamp she had lit, its amber glow faintly illuminating the darkened car. Ethel had woken, gazing up at Carmelita with sleep-ridden eyes, before rolling over and burying her face in Carmelita's stomach.

"Are we almost there?" Ethel said in a muffled, groggy voice. Carmelita set her pen down, leaning back against the soft fabric of the seat.

"No darling I'm sorry to say that we aren't. It's going to be quite a while longer before we get there," Ethel let out a groan, rolling over so that she was laying on her stomach, and Carmelita massaged Ethel's scalp with her hand. "you're not the only one who is grumpy about that." Lancelot was curled up in the middle of the table, an extremely perturbed look upon his face as he stared at Carmelita with narrow eyes, seeming to burrow into her soul. Carmelita was stuck with an upset cat and an upset girlfriend, both of them being hungry and tired at the same time.

"How about some brunch darling?"

Ethel and Carmelita sat at the dining table in their private car of the train, Lancelot perched on Ethel's lap as she ate a large helping of eggs en cocotte with grits that she had put a generous amount of butter in and black pepper on top of, along with steamed green beans with more black pepper.

"Would you like some food with your black pepper or is that all?" Carmelita raised an eyebrow at Ethel, who smiled at her, now in a better mood than she was eating. Elise had sat down with them, reading the newspaper.

"A French navigator going by the name of Léon Delagrange took his first world flight with a female passenger."

"Finally, some publicity for women that isn't simply gossip about royal families. What else?" Carmelita took a bite of her toast, stealing a few green beans from Ethel's plate onto hers.

"The steamship Amalthea was bombed in a Swedish harbor. Killing one person and injuring twenty others." Ethel dropped her fork and it clattered on the table, her face going pale.

"Honey what's wrong?" Carmelita looked over at her, and she could see tears forming in Ethel's eyes.

"Eryl was on that ship."

Ethel had gone with Carmelita to the communication car of the train, and one of the telegraphers helped her send a telegraph to Malmö, and she waited with tears streaming down her cheeks for an answer-back. Carmelita kept an arm wrapped around her as she sat on one of the chairs, and Elise stood off to the side, feeling a tremendous amount of pity as she watched her sit in silence, her face red and blotchy from her tears. One of the telegraphers turned around in his chair, the headset partially off his ear on one side so he could hear them when talking.

"Ms. Castell, your friend is on the line at the moment. He says he's all right and wasn't injured." Carmelita pulled Ethel up from the chair and into a tight embrace, cradling her in her arms as she finally completely broke down. Carmelita mouthed a thank you to the telegrapher and he simply nodded, giving a smile. Carmelita had to pick her up and bring her back to their car from how much Ethel was crying, and she took out her handkerchief and gave it to her. The shoulder to Carmelita's dress was completely soaked from Ethel's tears, and Carmelita leaned down in front of her and cupped her face, wiping her tears away with her thumbs.

"Hey, it's going to be okay, all right? Eryl's safe and all right, he's taking a ship back to Wales so that he can get back home." Carmelita planted a kiss on her forehead, and she had finally started to calm down. She knew the train ride was not helping and the fact that Ethel had a small headache was aiding her misery. Carmelita scooped Lancelot up and set him on Ethel's lap, laying her back on the sofa and propping her head up with pillows. Carmelita laid down next to her, not caring that she had barely any room, and wrapped her arms tightly around her, stroking her hair.