The Clouds Are Always Moving

Chapter 1

2018

Jamie bolts out of her room. Like fast. Super fast. Her cat, Sprite is meowing on the other side of the house and that means one thing - Jamie is late for the day. And she now has to get into The Mask action - Weirdly elastic body parts and whatnot (no offence to Jim Carrey, lovely man, he is). Sprite falls gracefully onto the ground and jingle - jangles behind her as she walks.

Credence, her next door neighbour (yes, Credence), would have rung the doorbell a gazillion times by now and considering Jamie has not opened the door, would have thought her to be dead. She doesn't understand why Credence would think of her as dead. It is dreadful how old she thinks Jamie is. She was only 66... Not going to die anytime soon. Hopefully.

She might not have died, but her dog, Droop, yes that is his name, might have passed away in the short period of time she had slept late. Till how late had she slept? She glances at the clock in front of her. Blimey, it's 9:30 already. No wonder Sprite was wailing loud enough to raise the dead. For that reason, maybe Droop would still be alive.

The thing is, Jamie thinks, that Droop doesn't want to die. And in his lifetime, he probably won't. Just someday, he'll droop so much, that he'll go straight from life to death. That is her theory anyway. She goes to the pantry looking for her dog, while her cat muddles her footsteps by coming in the way.

She doesn't find him there and marches straight to the kitchen to pull out a bowl of food for her cat and could-be-dead basset hound. It's like Schrödinger's cat with him most of the time.
And voilà! Curled under the counter of her kitchen, in a way that one can't see him from a distance (how does he do that? She wants to learn how to do that!), is her dog, Droop.

"Congratulations, dog. Not Droop-dead, I see." Jamie mutters as he sluggishly drags himself to his bowl. Jamie can swear the dog rolls its eyes at her. And Sprite smirks at the dog. Win-win for everyone it seems.

Just as she propels herself in the general direction of her bedroom, a sharp trilling sound echoes in the house. Both animals roll their eyes. She picks up the phone."Hello?"

"Elllllaaaaaaaaa!!!" Credence, for some reason, insists on calling Jamie by her middle name. "Dear me, I was frightened, darling, absolutely frightened! I'm so glad you're aliiivvvee!!! What happened? Why did you not answer the doorbell? Has something happened? You a'right, you? Shall I come over?"

"Of course I'm alive!" Jamie snaps back. "I overslept is all. Had a little too much fun at last night's party, I guess. I just woke up. Knowing you, you probably are standing outside the door-"

"Ah yes! You know me so well! Did you feed the animals? If you didn't, I could. Open the door fast and then we'll talk." Credence first interrupted her and then cut the call. Jamie walks to the front door and pulls it open.

Credence enters, her back straight and body upright, as usual. Credence does not really live up to the stereotype of her name. She has sleek, straight black hair almost always pulled up in a ponytail. She believes it makes her more efficient. Jamie believes in the same thing and follows it sternly, as well. The only difference is that au contraire to Credence's straight hair, Jamie has a mop of curly light brown hair on her head, that ss 'acceleratingly' turning white, she believes. Credence is almost always dressed in a skirt and a shirt, or a dress, or pants and a shirt. She has never just simply appeared in pyjamas or shorts and casual t-shirts, even though Jamie had told her multiple times that 'mi casa su casa' and all that bullshit. Credence had turned to her and deadpanned, "I dress like this at home, too, Ella." Jamie wisely never brought it up ever since.

She marches straight into the kitchen, her ponytail swinging behind her. In her arms, she carries a folder, filled with papers. Credence is 18, but Jamie has never really seen her go to school... Not that she doubted the girl's intellectual capabilities. She seems to be at Jamie's house half the time and all around the city the rest of the time. At least, that is her reasoning behind being perpetually fashionably dressed. "Snap, snap, Ella! The world could end at any time. I could meet so many people anywhere, have to keep my appearances up, capisce?" She'd say. Jamie would laugh and say, "I'm 66, and the earth's still green and fresh in front of me." Credence would just roll her eyes and continue talking... As she is doing now. And, Jamie has no idea what she's saying, so she just nods her head solemnly, sipping her tea to prevent herself from having to say anything.

The girl bends down to pet Sprite and Droop. Sprite purrs into her hand. Jamie had never seen Sprite take to anyone as she had taken to Credence and Jamie had been quite shocked when she had walked in the first time and the feline had twirled and purred and pranced around the girl as if Cat God had walked in. And a teensy weensy bit betrayed. Even Droop had given her more of a reaction than he gave his old woman. He lifted his head on the first day she walked in. Lifted it. 'Dear me', was all Jamie thought. 'Who is this girl?'

Jamie attempts at looking interested at whatever is going on while sipping her tea. Credence keeps gesturing at the folder next to her, so the topic must clearly be about the folder.
"What a lovely colour your folder is! Also extremely smart! Where did you buy it? I must buy it immediately, just remembered, I have to clear up some pages." Jamie exclaims, pointlessly.

Credence looks at Jamie as one would a drunk person. "A'right, Ella, no need to get so excited. It is only a folder."

Ah! Blimey! The conversation is not about the beauty of her plain Jane torn folder after all.

"Aaanndd, as I was saying, we must do it today !"

"Why, of course, darling! Let me finish my cuppa and we shall leave. After I get ready and comb my hair a bit." Jamie nods over the rim of her teacup, solemnly.

Credence, who is sitting behind the counter, near the dining table, cross-legged, petting the animals, turns around and stands in one swift movement. Her eyes are filled with childish glee and her hands are clasped in front of her. "You're agreeing? Oh jolly! What a wonderful day it is! Isn't it, Sprite? Whatd'ya say Droop?" The animals obviously don't respond to her. But they sure as hell look like they want to. Which is quite contrary to the woman's reaction.

Her face scrunches up and she looks at the young girl carefully. She wonders what she has just agreed to, she wonders whether she should just ask what they were talking about, she wonders whether showing that she wasn't really paying attention would hurt the girl's feeling. And then she realized that her 66 years of experience of life had taught her that: yes, it would hurt her feelings; no, she shouldn't show that she wasn't paying attention and that she should definitely not ask what they were talking about.

Later on, she wonders whether this is what led to it all... Her decision to not ask Credence what was going on would change everything.

They walk out a half hour later, Jamie in a white hat, light blue t-shirt and white jeans gracing her slightly plump figure. She has paired this with slightly red flats and her bag. Credence emerges from behind her, closing the door shut. She has on a white dress shirt, a navy blue skirt, and a bag. She comes without a coat, thankfully, on this blissfully wonderful day.

An adventure was slowly being formed, set in stone as their paths curved and turned.