Tandem

Raechel Harchey

The sea came into shore as little ripples that lapped at the edge of the sand. The noise was therapeutic and the rhythm resembled a lullaby as Raechel, Jack and Alpha sat side by side, looking out to sea. It was a cloudy day, with a cool breeze sweeping across the sand. Every so often, it would ruffle through Alpha's fur and he would look around as if expecting either Raechel or Jack to have run their hand through his fur.

"I didn't know you lived so close to the beach."

"It's a perk of living in the Stack, that's for sure. My parents used to drive us to this beach when my brother and I were little. We'd spend hours building sandcastles and splashing in the water. We wouldn't ever want to go home, so they'd have to bribe us off the beach with an ice cream from a little cafe just up there on the sand dune," Raechel pointed to the mounds of sand behind them. The cafe building stood empty. It was clear it had been shut for a long time judging by the piles of sand and stones against the door. "I miss those days. I'd give anything for just one more day here with them."

"You'll always have the memories. No one can ever take those away from you."

"Don't you think it's weird how you'll be somewhere doing something and one day it'll be your last time ever being there and you don't know it?"

"You've lost me."

Raechel chuckled. "Don't worry, it's just my mind wandering. It doesn't really make much sense anyway."

"Explain it. Go on, I want to hear it."

"Well, at some point I came to this beach with my family for the last time and none of us knew that we wouldn't come here again. There were no farewells or poignant moments taking in the sights and sounds for one final time. We left this place one day and didn't come back."

"There's no way you could've known what would happen."

"I know. I just wish there was some window into the future and someone could've told me all the craziness that would happen to me. I probably would've appreciated the ice cream just a little bit more."

"Was it good ice cream?"

"It was the best chocolate chip I've ever tasted." Raechel smiled at just the thought of it. She remembered how the lady at the counter would place two chocolate flakes in the top instead of one.

"I'll take your word for it but I'm more of a rum and raisin kind of guy." Jack grimaced, waiting for the inevitable rolling of the eyes he usually received whenever he revealed his favourite flavour.

"I see." Raechel raised her eyebrows.

"So, why did the cafe close?" He asked.

"The old lady who used to own it moved back home when her son got ill. She was from Brazil."

"Nobody came forward to take it over?"

"She left one November, not exactly the peak 'ice cream on beach' season. There was no interest in the business at all so she closed it up and went back home. Everyone thought that someone would eventually take it over but as you can see, it's still empty."

"That's really sad."

"Yeah it is. She was a lovely lady and she'd owned that cafe for twenty five years."

"Do you know what happened to her son?"

"No but we knew that he'd been ill for quite some time before she decided to go and take care of him. She was so desperate to go over to Brazil but he didn't want her to leave her life here just to look after him. When she left, she didn't tell him that she was coming. She just went." Raechel once again turned to the cafe building. She thought of the bunting that used to hang from the window when the hatch was open. Fabric triangles, of every colour and pattern all in a line, fluttering in the sea breeze.