Cherry Two

Part 3

Chapter 1

Twenty five years later, Surrey, England

James Nameth lay beside his wife, Kate, in the dark, staring into nothingness. He knew by her breathing cycle she couldn't sleep.

The forty-year-old parents confronted a familiar problem. Their daughter, Calley, now almost sixteen, grew increasingly restless each day. Suddenly James knew her from a different place—from a different time. A distant echo he dare not think about. He tried shutting out the obvious, but the signs were square in his face every time she came close. Already almost as tall as himself, with bright blue eyes and an engaging smile, Calley had begun morphing into a grade 'A' heartbreaker before his eyes... and in her sweet oblivion the painful memories she invoked hurt him like hell.

She'd matured into a most attractive girl. Her figure although still developing, seemed to lose its pre-pubescent gangliness almost overnight, leaving in its wake the beginnings of a young woman, full of grace, poise and self-confidence. Not so unlike her tragic American namesake.

James also knew how his Uncle Robert must have felt all those years ago. He reflected on one blessing: at least the problem of a beautiful, restless teenage daughter was not compounded by a broken marriage. They were solid parents with few money worries and time to spend with their children. Kate was four years older than himself. Not a big gap, but enough to make her uneasy when he tried to explain the special intimate relationship that had existed between a teenage boy and his beautiful cousins, on that other planet called California.

At some point he'd taken the plunge and spilled it all out. His wife now understood most, if not all, about the fateful summer that propelled a shattered boy into her life. James harbored no burning desire to go back and retrace steps he wished he had never taken in the first place. The healing, although complete, should not turn into a mental sore to be picked at.

Conversely Calley had become obsessed.

Peter, her younger brother, would gleefully run to either parent whenever he spotted the girl pawing over the special photo album—which she did at regular intervals.

Her questions had become more incessant with each confrontation.

What was Calley like? Why was I named after her? Why was she killed? Who killed her? Where is her grave?

One question always remained in reserve—never dared into the open—but always on the tip of her impudent tongue. She knew without asking. James saw both question and answer in her eyes. In her mind she'd decided they had done it—gone all the way-her teenage dad and the stunning, often scantily clad girl in those fading Polaroid shots. Was it incest? A gray area to be sure. Each time James wheeled that ugly car out of storage and drove with Kate to a car show, he knew Calley's mind went further into overdrive. No doubt she'd try to picture the back seat—entwined bodies, perhaps only snogging at first, then naked. Her dad, exactly the same age as herself, screwing an American nympho dollybird he'd barely met. It certainly wasn't British... but it was bloody true.

"Calley wants to go over there this summer," he said quietly. "I don't see how we can stop her."

He felt his wife stir under the quilt. "I know. Isn't she still too young for a big trip like that?"

James sighed. "I was too young. She's determined. She already emailed Sonia about it. Of course Sonia is delighted. It's as though her tragic sister has been reborn in our daughter. Sonia wants us all to go, but I can't face it. All those memories."

"Aren't you a little bit curious?"

He turned his head to the side. A trace amount of blue light backlit the profile of Kate's face from the ill-fitting drapes. "They're memories I don't want any more. I should have burned that damn album instead of keeping it all these years."

Clearly Kate wasn't altogether buying this. "Then why do you stay in touch? Isn't Sonia part of those memories, too?"

He had no pat answer. Part of him wanted to face the demons-to once and for all expel them from a distorted memory. Another part shuddered at the prospect, pushing it all as far away as it would go. He sighed again. "Sonia wasn't to blame for my mess. She forgave me, but I'll never forgive myself for being such a young fool. All of it such a long time ago."

"It reads differently to me, Jim." Her hand found his pajama-clad arm under the covers. "Your Uncle Robert was the fool. He created the mess, not you."

They clasped hands. "Do I let her go?"

Kate tucked closer to him. "We won't get any peace unless we do. This is her adventure—we've had ours—the past twenty-five years."

"Had? Don't you mean still having?" James rolled to the side and took hold of her face.

***

Peter came through the door from the hallway and slipped into bed beside Calley. She'd let him do this overtly since they were both toddlers, but now he did it far more secretly. The girl teetered on the brink of full womanhood and knew her brother, at ten, could find other reasons to share her bed besides the extra warmth of a close body on a winter night.

"They're doing it again," he whispered. "I could hear them."

"Get back to your own bed. You're disgusting, spying like that."

He giggled impudently and tried to tickle Calley's leg. "Bet yoooou do it with your boyfriends."

"Piss off! It's none of your business." She tried to tuck the covers tight around herself so the boy had no direct access.

"If you don't let me touch it I'll fart in the bed."

She started giggling along with him. "You're worse than disgusting. Go away, little boy."

"What if I said my dick had grown big—then you'd let me stay?"

Calley flung the bedclothes aside. "That's it!" She came around the bed in her flowing nightdress and grabbed his arms. "Out! And stay out." The door closed louder than it should, likely arousing attention from across the hall.

When she'd settled back, in the gloom from the tiny nightlight, her mind started working overtime. The subject never varied—the first day her namesake wandered into James's life. It had all started in the pub. The Cock and Fox. Her father still owned a part share, but seldom paid it much attention. He wasn't interested—not the same way she was.

These days Calley easily passed for twenty when she slutted up in makeup and tight clothes. Getting into pubs presented no challenge at all, even the London ones that had adult entertainment. The Cock and Fox wasn't like that—no wandering strippers with stools balanced on their heads—a hardcore drinker's pub, pure and simple.

Her eyes closed. What had he seen that first day Calley Nameth walked into his life; so soon after his parents—the grandparents she would never know—had died in a violent mass of twisted steel? The crappy photos in the album only told half the story—a tenth of the story. Why won't he open up? She paraded the images in her mind, hoping to find a clue before the counterfeit dreams of sleep surrounded her.

I hope you will like the new Calley and her adventures.

A special thanks to all my readers and especially to those who comment and vote. Cherry Two will be posted to completion. There will be two new chapters per week, planned for Tuesdays and Fridays whenever possible.