Chapter 14

Amber Jane Eddison

April

Amber Jane Eddison stumbled into her apartment, kicked the door closed with her foot, dropped the bags on the floor and collapsed backwards onto the futon. She scraped her shoes off, freed her long blond hair from its braid and tossed her keys onto the coffee table, where they slid off the far end. She snuggled into the depths of her fuzzy coat and considered pulling a blanket over her and taking a nap then and there. Hunger alone deterred her. What a day. The best part of her job was dealing with people. The worst part of her job also was dealing with people. Sometimes the same people.

Lasagna. Lasagna tonight, and fudge if she had enough confectioner’s sugar. She probably made more chocolate than was healthy, considering that she ate most of it herself.

AJ lived in a studio apartment near downtown Philadelphia. It bore all the marks of a temporary residence: bare walls, cramped, messy from insufficient space. The kitchen was decent, however, which was the important thing. And it was clean, even if such could not be said of the neighborhood outside.

Amber Jane was shorter than her sister Liz, but they had the same voluminous blonde hair. And while they shared the piercing blue eyes, AJ’s features were sharp and pronounced in what was almost, but not quite, a harsh beauty. Lately, these features often revealed an abiding weariness.

She had stumbled through the door at around 9 PM. Working as assistant music director at a big church with multiple services meant that Sundays were always strenuous, but this one had seemed exceptional. Heated discussions had taken place this evening, and she hated “heated discussions.” Fortunately, tonight her own involvement had been only marginal.

She sighed. She had been warned about how emotionally demanding her position could be, but now she got to experience it firsthand. She normally loved it; she had to remember that. She just had to remember the kids. She loved the kids.

Maybe it was too late for lasagna, after all. Leftovers tonight.

She swung around to a sitting position, and a firm knock came at the door. Three solid, evenly spaced thunks. AJ opened the door and gazed up at the towering figure of Mrs. Jacobiak. AJ gave her a smile; she deserved that much. “Salutations! Come in?”

Mrs. Jacobiak beamed down at her, crooked yellowed teeth arrayed into a beautiful smile under the shadow of her enormous hat. “Dear, you look tired! It is late. We will come back tomorrow.” The Russian accent was strong with this one. She turned to leave and revealed her three children huddled behind her on the landing.

“Impossible!” said AJ. “Come, come!” She motioned the kids in. They grinned and scampered into her studio. It was messy, but they were used to it. One of them, Angela, stopped to give her a hug around the waist. “Aha, thank you!” said AJ, tousling her hair. Angela ran past her to join her siblings on the futon.

“We heard you come home, and they wanted to come by and say hello!” said Mrs. Jacobiak as though announcing this to the world at large. She smiled over AJ’s head at her children. “They were sad to miss their lessons this week.”

“A tragedy. I am sorry!”

“Do not be sorry. I know you have had hard week. That is why I brought borsh.”

AJ’s eyes widened. “Verily? Oh, that was unnecessary.”

Mrs. Jacobiak smiled down at her, her eyes twinkling beneath the wings of her huge felt hat. “Here.” She reached into her cavernous carpet bag, which always contained whatever she required at the moment. (AJ had described her to Liz as a Russian Mary Poppins.) She revealed a large plastic Tupperware container with a sealed lid, as well as a half dozen homemade biscuits in a ziplock bag.

“ Borsh and biscuits? ” said AJ . “Thank you so much!”

“You are welcome, dear.”

AJ smiled as she retrieved the gifts. She took them to the kitchen, hoisting them in victory as she passed the children. “Now I have all your soup! What will you do now? Ahaha!” The youngest one, six-year-old Ana, giggled at her.

“Will we have lessons this week?” asked Nicholas, the oldest at ten years old.

“Verily.” said AJ as she retrieved a flat pan from the freezer. “And they will be extra special this week.” She removed the cool tinfoil from the pan of fudge and took it over to the children on the couch. They cheered as she let them each take a square. “This kind has walnuts,” she said, trying out her Russian on the word ‘walnuts.’ She looked at the beaming Mrs. Jacobiak in the doorway. “Did I say that right?”

“Close enough, dear,” she said. “Come now, children, can’t you see she is tired? You’ll see her Friday.” This was met with halfhearted protests, but the kids jumped up off the couch and filed back outside. AJ followed them to the door. She offered Mrs. Jacobiak a piece of fudge, but the matron declined.

“I might be going home soon,” AJ informed her. “But I’ll be back by Friday.”

“Stay safe, dear,” Mrs. Jacobiak said, clasping AJ’s hands in hers. She then turned and strode down the landing to their apartment at the other end. Her children followed like ducklings, turning to wave goodbye to AJ.

AJ smiled and laughed to herself as she closed the door. They had “heard her come home!” No doubt one of the kids had been put on watch to alert Mrs. Jacobiak the moment AJ arrived. Mrs. Jacobiak knew it had been a hard day for AJ. As one of the secretaries at church, she knew all about the heated discussions.

And her borsh was delicious. AJ’s stomach grumbled at her just from thinking about it. She locked the door and put a bowl of borsh in the microwave, helping herself to a piece of fudge on the way over.

She checked her phone while the microwave ran, finding a few messages from friends and a quick update from Liz. The delicious smell of the beet soup filled her apartment.

AJ was eight years older than her step-sister Elizabeth. The age difference had always prevented them from having a lot in common, but now Liz was growing up, and AJ found more and more that she enjoyed being with her little sister. Liz was so funny! And she didn’t have many friends, except for those long-distance ones that came out for her birthday.

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AJ called up Liz. It barely rang once before it was picked up.

“ AJ ?” said Liz .

“ And none other. ”

“You’re eating something. What are you eating?” Elizabeth sounded like a cop grilling a convict in the interrogation room.

“What makes—how do you know I’m eating something?”

“You’re always eating something when you call. You only call me when you’re in your kitchen making food.”

AJ stifled a laugh.

“I was actually about to call you,” said Liz.

“Verily?”

“Verily. Have you received any strange messages lately? Possibly delivered via Youtube.”

“Negative, dear sister. My only eccentric correspondences are from you.”

“Do you know anything about ‘shape and sky?’ Or October Industries?”

“Liz, what are you on about? No, I am ignorant of those things. Is something going on over there?”

“Not yet.” She sounded serious.

“Everything okay with mom?” asked AJ.

“She’s fine, I guess. Not here at the moment. Do you think you’ll be coming home this week?”

“Verily. I’m leaving tomorrow. After I get some sleep! My day has been calamitous, Elizabeth. I am on the brink of utter psychological collapse.”

“Oh, that sounds inconvenient. What happened?”

“I’ll tell you all about it when I come over, okay? And you can tell me all about October skies or whatever.” AJ didn’t want to begin eating soup while she talked on the phone, but it smelled so good . She thought she detected something faintly nutty in the flavor profile. She turned to grab a drink out of the fridge and just caught sight of a large white object as it flashed past her knees. She yelped in surprise and leaped back, nearly upsetting the precious bowl of borsh.

“What? What happened?” asked Liz, alarmed.

AJ tried to calm down. She put a hand to her chest and felt her heart racing. “Oh. Ha. Nothing. It was just…Callie almost destroyed me.”

“Oh, she’s there now? I didn’t know she visited you much.”

“She does not. That’s why…yikes, sorry. My heart’s on the run. Hey, one of the Jacobiak kids is allergic to cats!”

“That’s okay. I’m pretty sure Callie is hypo-allergenic. She doesn’t shed.”

“Hmm. Well, she better not get comfortable! I’m not supposed to have pets.” AJ watched as Callie hopped up onto the couch and curled up into a fluffy white mass. “Although…it would be nice to have her around from time to time.” The cuddling potential for Callie was overwhelming. And sometimes AJ just needed a good cuddle.

“Oh hey,” said AJ, “do you by any chance have, uh, Mike’s number?”

“Mike?” asked Liz. “Jim’s brother?”

“Yeah. “

“Why, yes. Yes, I do. Why do you ask?” Liz was smiling.

“Hey, what’s with that tone?”

“Tone? There is no tone. Toneless voice over here. Not a hint of insinuation whatsoever in this suggestive-tone-free-zone. You must be imagining things.”

“You are being preposterous. I just want to ask him something.”

“Oh. What?”

“What?”

“What do you mean what? I want to know what you want to ask him.”

“It is none of your business, Liz!”

“Why didn’t you get his number when you talked to him at my birthday?”

“Liz, you are unmanageable. I’ll just find him online. Whatever. See you this week.”

“Bye.”

“Bye!”

AJ cut the connection and shook her head. It wasn’t like that! She just had questions for Michael. About Jimothy. About one of Jimothy’s paintings. The one sitting in her closet.

She finally dug into the soup. It was, of course, delicious, as were the biscuits, which turned out to have spicy potato filling. AJ watched Callie nap peacefully on the couch as she ate. But she was thinking about a dream she had been having. A dream, and a song, and painting.