Before Time Runs Out

Chapter 19

Ethel spent half of the vacation down at the beach, Carmelita sitting nearby under an umbrella as she tried to teach Lancelot to swim, even making a sandcastle and setting him on top of it. Of course, he was not amused and would shake his fur of sand as soon as Ethel had picked him up, showing his displeasure with her. Carmelita kept her arm around Ethel's waist whenever they walked somewhere, keeping her close to her no matter what the occasion was. She would hold her hands whenever her tremors flared up and would do the simplest of tasks for her such as buttoning her dress or tying a ribbon into her hair.

"It's weird to think that we're already halfway through July." Ethel sat on the floor in her sundress, Lancelot sitting on her lap as she colored in some of the coloring books that Carmelita had gotten her.

"I know," Carmelita lit a cigarette and took a breath of the sweet smoke, before exhaling. "I can't wait to get home so that I can paint some more. Unfortunately, photos take forever, otherwise, I would have hundreds of them all over the walls of my office." Carmelita watched Ethel from the chair she was in, taking note of her dropping the crayon she had in her hand before she leaned over to pick it up and continued coloring. She was completely outside the lines, as she tried to stay in the lines of the drawing, but her hand would shake a tad too much for her to be able to.

"I used to be much better at this." Ethel mumbled as she furrowed her brows.

"You also didn't use to have a crippling muscle disease that slowly kills you so that may be adding to your problem."

"Maybe." Carmelita snuffed her cigarette out before going and sitting down next to Ethel, carefully gripping her hand, and guiding her. She hated watching her struggle, and Ethel hated having her help her with simple things. Carmelita kept her thumb pressed against one of Ethel's pressure points in her hand, forcing her to relax so that her hand would not suddenly jerk across the page, although there was already evidence of that happening.

"I need to get back to my library at home so that I can help you with this," Ethel laid her head on Carmelita's shoulder, listening to her speak. "I hate seeing you upset with yourself for something you have no control over." Carmelita took the crayon from Ethel's hand and set it down, and they both looked at the messed-up smear of colors mixed with Carmelita's neat and precise lines of color.

"Well, that looks dreadful."

"Really? I was thinking of framing it."

"Why on earth would you want to frame that? It looks worse than what I could do at three years old."

"Because we did it together," Carmelita planted a kiss on Ethel's forehead, setting the drawing down and embracing her tightly. "Spending time with you is what matters to me." Carmelita cupped Ethel's chin with her hand, planting a warm kiss on her lips. They were interrupted by Elise coming and setting a tray of tea down on the coffee table, and Lancelot climbed out of Ethel's lap to go and greet her.

"If you two would like to go home earlier than the end of august we can. Especially with both of your conditions, the sooner we can solve them the better, although Carmelita's problem is much simpler than yours." Elise sat down next to Ethel, pulling Lancelot up onto her lap.

"You keep saying that he's my cat, but you seem to like him quite a bit," Ethel reached over and pet his head. "Besides, for someone of my age, this stupid disease can take much longer to kill me than it did for my mother."

"But it could also take you out within two years." Carmelita wrapped an arm around Ethel's shoulders, leaning her head against hers.

"I'm sure in all of those books you have that you can find something to cure her without her ending up like me," Elise handed Ethel one of the cups of tea she had poured earlier as she spoke. "Although, it isn't bad being like this. It does not bother me at least, but a lot of foods would taste fairly bland. I still can't get back into drinking coffee since it messed up my taste so bad when I made a contract with you." Elise narrowed her eyes at Carmelita, who in return could not help but laugh. Ethel could not help but smile at Carmelita, and in return, she kissed her on the cheek.