35 Candles - The Sequel of « **Dancing on a Purple Cloud ** »

Phone Trap

My phone had not stopped ringing since open office hours. I must have been glued to those incoming calls for more than a few hours straight. I needed to pee, my first cup of coffee was not even half sipped and I'd been scribbling incomprehensible doodles mixed up with dates, names and calculations. The last thing I needed was a third caller on my cellular. I had been reluctant to take it out of my inside pocket because I knew it would inevitably ring if I did.
- « Mrs Jackson, I totally understand what you're saying but we had already agreed on the final price. There's no debate. $300 000 is my last offer. I'll let you think a few more minutes about it while I take this other call. » I pressed the on-hold button and picked  the other line for the second time.
-« So, Michael? Where were we? What do you say then? We split the costs and make a 10 year investment on this one at the very least. This bloody Louisiana 1500 square feet property truly deserves a second chance! » I looked absent-mindedly outside my office window. The morning mist had started to dissipate and a sunny spell was blooming from behind the pine trees.
I've been working unceasingly for 2 months and I was praying to close these deals by midday. I had 4 more to go and my  pre-ordered lunch was going to turn into my early dinner again. I was used to it but I wished on a God given let-up.
The sudden vibration of my cellphone against the wooden armrest gave me the jitters.
-« What the...Oh, for Christ's sake!? What now? ...What?...No, Michael. I was thinking out loud. Gotta probably have to take this. Hold on a sec...OK?! » I checked the caller ID and my daughter's smiling face appeared on the device.
She knew I was at work and the rules had not changed in 4 years. No unnecessary phone calls during office hours unless it was an emergency. I prayed it wasn't anything to do with my new born grand baby Himani, my son's hazardous road trips or my ex husband's unfaltering embarrassing actions.
-« Hey Sweetie!? What's going on? Everything OK? » I did not hear Carole at first but I could see she was watching TV as I pressed face time mode.
I did not make-out all the words at first in between baby Himani's hungry cries but within a few seconds as my daughter turned up the sound it all came back to me as frozen slap.

-« Mama, Mama? Are you there? » My daughter called me as I was completely dumbfounded and in shock following this unexpected news.
- « Ye...ah...I... » Only hatched words came out from my paralyzed lips.
I gazed at my phone switchboard which was intermittently blinking from my previous business conversations. The lights got blurred as baby tears were forming at the corners of my eyes and my throat tightened. I was trying to rewind what the journalist had just announced but it was so unreal that every time I tried it faded by mid sentence and came back to the very beginning just like a broken record.
-« Hold on honey... Michael? I'm sorry ...I'll have to call you back ...later...Ok? Mrs Jackson...Sorry...I'm really ...sorry to have to put you on hold this long but I'll have to...get back to you... Ok? ... I need to get...this.» For something I thought would never happened, I watched the lights come out one after the other without even feeling bad about it.
-« Mama, are you OK? » Carole was now facing me. I had put myself on mute but never got back to her.
This news flash had definitely disconnected all my mental wires and threw my whole self back to earth like an asteroid impact.
-« I think I need...A break. » I said to myself.
-« Mama, I gotta go change Himani. I'll call you back in a bit, all right?» Carole had to go back to her young mummy's duties.
-« Yes. Later... » Carole had already hung up.

*~~*

I don't remember driving back home, taking my clothes off and putting myself to bed. It was the morning after and I literally felt all the side effects of waking from an anesthesia. My head was spinning, I had apparently bumped my legs against my open drawers trying to run to the toilets for severe nausea and bile vomiting. It had been years that I had not called in sick. Even my secretary had me repeat my words twice to make sure I wasn't making fun of her.
-« Mrs Johnson? Are you sure about this? 2 weeks? » Claire was insisting.
-« Yes, Claire! You're not mishearing. 2 weeks! Don't worry, I'll call all my pending clients myself before the week-end is over. I'll call you back in between. I just have urgent matters to take care of. » I tried to reassure my secretary from having a heart attack and help her get some well deserved time off as well from the office.
-« If you say so. I pray you get some rest too. It's time you take care of yourself. » Claire had always been so loyal and such a hardworking person.
-« Thank you Claire. Do not forget to set the alarm before you leave the office and hand the second set of keys to the janitor.
-« OK, bye Mrs Johnson. » I could hear she was worried.
- « Bye Claire! »I felt partly relieved.

*~~*

I had not left my bed in 24 hours. I had briefly freshen up but was totally incapable of getting myself together after hearing that Prince had actually passed away. What had happened? I knew I hadn't followed his career in a while and even less listened to his new music in those past years. It felt so unreal. Beyond normalcy. I always felt the man held the truth of immortality in his hands. He had always transpired life and music. I had probably missed a few chapters or lost some important pieces of the puzzle. It didn't felt right. I was picturing this whole situation like an unfinished drawing. I didn't know anything about his last shows, relationships or whereabouts. I had randomly heard on the radio a week prior that his plane had made an unexpected turn and fast descent to Moline's airport after he had caught the flu and had been found unconscious. I remember praying he would recover fast and go on about being his usual self again rocking his Purple star routine.
My time with him had suddenly re-emerged but not in the best way. It felt like a booster shot. More than a decade ago, I had buried myself in my own comfort world and almost forgot about this part of my life. I selfishly went on with pursuing a career I hardly ever planned compared to where I was originally coming from. The time frame we met and spent together had collapsed under an invisibility cape by common consent.