The Intrusion

Fourteen

[Jordan]

I stand in the pouring rain outside the Aquarium in Stanley Park, waiting for Andy and his sister. It's around 12:55pm. It should have only been a twenty-minute walk over here, but I left my apartment at noon.

To kill time, I took the long way here—past a set of totem poles in a picnic grove that usually has tons of people laughing and eating and dozens of children playing on a Saturday afternoon. But today, the park is dreary and empty. The only people I've seen at all are a couple of families darting from their cars to the cover of the Aquarium lobby and one very determined jogger.

I haven't been able to stop thinking about what Andy told me about his dream. His dream about me. His dream about the shadow figure. The same shadow figure I saw.

Could it have been a coincidence? Could it have possibly be that?

A little voice in the back of my head repeats over and over again (and I'm pretty sure it's the voice of my mother): There's no such thing as coincidences, Jordan. No. Such. Thing.

But that's what it has to be, because the alternative isn't possible.

I'm working myself up too much. I need to push this out of my head until I can talk to Andy some more about his dream.

Poor Andy. I hope he's feeling better today and that he doesn't stand me up. I wouldn't blame him if he did, especially since he might be very hungover this morning and not up for going out in the rain.

I shift back and forth on my feet, trying to keep warm as I wonder why I didn't wait inside. 

Finally, after what feels like forever, Andy and a woman who I assume must be his sister come up from the walking path over a glistening green hill. Even from this distance I can see the family resemblance between the two of them. Same blonde hair, thin build—they almost look like they could be twins, but from the way she walks with him and the way he talked about her last night, I get the impression she is his older sister.

"Andy!" I call to him through the pouring rain once they are within earshot, lifting my hand up to wave.

Andy nods at me and waves in recognition and the two walk over.

"Hey Jordan," Andy says once they are both standing in front of me. I give him the warmest smile I can muster in this miserably cold rain. He forces a smile back at me and then looks down at his feet. I can't tell if he is angry at me about last night or if he is just embarrassed.

I look to his sister. She makes eye contact with me and gives me what is either a poorly executed smile or a smirk, and then nudges her brother in the arm.

"Oh, this is my sister Alice," he finally introduces her.

"Hey," his sister says to me with a nod. I feel like she is about to put out her hand for me to shake it, but she doesn't. She just keeps both hands firmly secured in the pockets of her jacket.

"I'm Jordan," I say to her.

"I know," she says, smiling at me coolly.

"Well, should we go in?" I finally suggest after she stares me down for a silent thirty seconds.

"Yeah, sounds good," Alice replies. "No use standing out in the rain any longer."

We enter the aquarium and I chat with Alice for a bit as we wait in line to buy tickets. Andy's gone quiet. He looks like he is focusing very hard on not vomiting.

"So you aren't Canadian," Alice states as we wait. "Where are you from?"

"The US," I reply. "New York, originally. But I work in California now. I'm just here in Vancouver for two months for work."

"Oh, California," she says. "Where in California?"

"Long Beach," I reply.

"Hmm," she thinks. "It sounds familiar. Where is that, exactly?"

"It's right near LA," I reply.

"Los Angeles," she muses, as though it is some mystical land out of a fantasy story or something. "Do you like LA?"

"To be honest, I don't really spend much time in LA," I respond.

"No? Isn't that where Hollywood is?"

"Yeah," I say.

"Have you seen the big Hollywood sign?"

"Yeah. I did a lot of sight-seeing when I first moved out there, but it gets old after a while."

"True," she responds thoughtfully. "How long have you been living out there?"

"Since I graduated college, so I guess almost three years now."

"Hmm." She nods. "So, Andy told me you are a structural engineer." She looks to her brother, obviously trying to engage him in the conversation, but he still doesn't seem interested. He stares at a spot on the floor. I've heard it's effective to stare at a specific spot when you are trying to balance on one foot. Perhaps it works if you are trying not to vomit, too.

"Right, I'm a structural engineer," I say, pulling myself back to the conversation. "I design bridges. What about you? What do you do?"

"I'm a Nuclear engineer," she replies with a complacent nod.

"Wow," I say.

She laughs and tosses her hair back behind her shoulder. "And they all said I was too beautiful to be an engineer," she jokes. "I'm sure you've gotten that all the time yourself, Jordan." She gives me a wink.

I'm not sure what to do with this. Alice is certainly easier to talk to than her brother, but I'm not sure if she's any less weird.

We stand in silence for the rest of the wait. Finally we get up to the front of the line and purchase our tickets. The girl working at the counter gives us each a guide map of the Aquarium.

"Do you guys want to look at the reef section first?" Andy asks, finally breaking the silence as he examines the map.

"Sure," Alice responds. "That sounds like a good idea."

We mosey around the Aquarium for a while, pausing to look at each tank as we go. I'm content to just look at the fish and watch them swim around in circles. It's kind of relaxing. Alice seems content at first, but after glaring through the inch-thick glass of the tenth or eleventh tank we've seen, she seems to get bored of the whole thing. As we continue further into the heart of the aquarium, she quietly makes remarks to me about which fish she thinks is the "boss" of each tank and which fish are his "bitches". Usually the largest fish in the tank is the boss, but sometimes it's just one that she thinks looks extra spunky. I think she's mostly just doing it to keep herself entertained, but I laugh along anyway to humor her.

"Jordan, do you know where Andy is?" she finally asks me calmly right after I have spotted the third of the eleven seahorses that are supposedly lurking in the dimly lit tank we are peering into.

"Oh," I pause for a second. To be honest, I had completely forgotten about him. I can't even remember the last tank he was with us for. I turn away from the seahorse tank and scan the small room. A couple stands quietly in front of the ultra-violet reef tank at the far end of the room. A mother tries to silence her two noisy kids shouting about all the "Nemo's" in the anemone tank in the room we just left. Other than that, the room is empty.

"We must have just left him in the last room." I subconsciously inch my way away from Alice and back towards the previous room, realizing this might finally be my chance to talk to Andy alone. "I'll go back and get him."