Racing with the Moon

by John Faucett

Table of Contents
Part 1 appears
in this issue.

conclusion

He kissed her goodnight
A tender kiss
A flashing chance at bliss
Now late in the evening
He turned the lights down low
Thought
Oh baby
I love you so
Cocaine
Your still running around my brain
Oh, baby
I can’t get you
Out of my mind
Now the rent is
A month behind
Cocaine
You’re still running around my brain

Soon Catch fell into a deep sleep.

Awake my princess
Wipe the dreams from your eyes
Choose your day
The days divinity
The first thing that you see
Wake up
You can’t remember where it was
Has this dream stopped?
The snake was real gold
Glazed and drunken
We were afraid to touch it
The sheets were
Hot, dead, crisp and she was beside me
I run to the mirror in the bathroom
Look she’s coming in here!
I can’t live
Through each slow century of her morning
Wake up
I let my cheeks
Slide down the cool smooth tile
Feel the good cold stinging blood
Catch awoke to the
Smooth hissing snakes of rain
Sliding down
The cool jeweled glass of the window

Looking at the alarm clock, he noticed that it was three in the afternoon. Salty tears must surely be flowing down Jordonna’s face, As Catch pulled his pants on he reached for a cigarette, crumpled the empty pack, and fumbled through the ash tray, pulled out a butt. Almost a half of a cigarette he thought. Looking at the telephone, Catch lit the butt and took a deep drag. Exhaling as he picked up the telephone he dialed Jordonna’s toll-free number (888) 394-8862, but there was no answer. As the voicemail picked up he hung up the phone.

As Jordonna walked up the brick steps of her mother and father’s house, the memories filled her mind like a dam holding back the cool black water. These were the memories she kept pressed between the pages of her mind.

Thoughts of her older brother and her playing in the yard, in the hot summer; her mom would come out with big pitchers of lemonade with ice floating in the pitcher as the cool breeze blew against her face; she remembered the cold winters with snow deep within her mind, snow drifts as deep as her warm thigh. She was just about to knock on the door, when it was flung open: it was her brother.

His mouth dropped as he ran up, scooped her up in his strong arms and hugged her tightly. She loved her brother Johnny, but she hadn’t seen him in three and a half years since she and her father had that big fight.

Her dad had always smacked her mother around, but on that day the door in her mind opened. Jordonna couldn’t take it any more. On that day she ran up to her father and started slapping and punching him back, while Johnny had done the same thing he always did, just stood there and watched.

* * *

The birds fluttered and flapped their wings in Catch’s stomach as he stood by the wrought iron gate of the cemetery. His hand trembled with trepidation as he opened the latch. He stared with his eyes wide open; he was filling the blank pages of his mind. As he looked around, the caretaker, who was raking a few graves away, paused from his work to wipe his forehead. In a deep voice he said:

Did it ever occur to you,
That all skeletons laugh.
Now why!
Should a man die and laugh
For all of eternity?

As Catch continued looking around he saw this tiny gravestone with a huge bouquet of yellow roses, he bent down to read the epitaph. It read “Sixty-Five Roses” He read the date etched in time: the little boy’s name was Richard, and he had been only seven when he died of cystic fibrosis.

Sixty-five yellow roses on your grave
I placed today
Then on my knees I got and silently prayed,
No, not for you my sweetie
For I know you’re safe in heaven
But for myself and others,
Whose hearts have never mended.
I want to thank you honey and need to apologize,
I stood by your grave today and told my reasons why.
Sixty-five yellow roses” lie beautifully upon your grave
To signify the illness that took your life away.
You always knew this is the place
Where in your youth you’d lay
And all you asked and wanted is for it to be maintained.
Many people love you and many heard your plea,
For each time I come
To visit I find things placed anonymously.
Sixty-five yellow roses
I placed there today
Sixty-five roses is what took you away.

As Catch turned he realized

There’s no place to hide
When the lightning is hurled
God’s in his heaven
All that’s left of the world
Is crying

Looking at the bright white gravestones that marked the graves of his wife and seven-year old son, he knelt and said a silent prayer:

If tears could build a stairway
And memories a lane
I’d walk right up to heaven
And bring you back again.

Wiping his tears as they were rolling down his cheeks, he started to talk to his wife and son, trying to make his peace. He needed to do this. Catch told them about the accident that day, and how he had lost his memory, and how for the last couple of years he had had to start his life over, crying a tear as he told his wife that he would always love her. “Till death do us part,” he remembered the priest had said.

“But for soul mates, death not ends it.” He told her how losing his memory had changed his life, he also told her about Jordonna and how he had fallen in love again. Your mother is doing fine, she misses you honey. I swear that I will always take care of her and I know you will always take care of our son.

He mentioned to her about the little boy and sixty-five roses. Take care of him to my love; keep him close, a playmate for our son. Somehow when I played at the blues club it all came back to me. If I hadn’t lost my memory, I could never have made it. Your mom brought me back bit by bit, piece by piece.

I love her, honey, but I’ll always be in love with you. She knows that. How’s our son Chance? Here are some toys that I brought for you. Some of your action figures, Chance. Still kneeling Catch placed the toys by his son’s gravestone.

* * *

As she stood up from placing the presents on the floor, Jordonna saw her mother coming towards her, smiling. “Did you make it to the church?”

“No, Mom, I was waiting for Catch.”

“Well, where is this mystery man you have been telling me about for the past two years? You told me that you where going to invite him.”

“I did. Catch said he would be here. I waited outside for him for a bit, but...”

“He stood my baby up. What kind of man is he?”

“Mom, he has problems.”

“Yes, I see. And keeping his promises is one of them.”

“Mom! Oh, forget it. How is Dad?”

“He is fine, honey. He is upstairs having a coffee. You know how he doesn’t really care for crowds.”

“Yeah, I remember. Looks like the whole family is here!”

“Just about. Your cousin Karen drove down from New Hampshire, and Susan her sister flew in from Michigan. Your uncle Ed is with them in the living room.”

How is he doing after his heart surgery at Columbian Presbyterian hospital?”

“Good! But we had a scare a couple of months back, we thought it was his heart, but it was his blood sugar. It went haywire and he had to go into the hospital. The young woman from the radiology department, Deloris, told him that he should get a dietitian to plan his meals for a month and then he can just prepare them. The old fool! He thinks if he eats lots of oatmeal that he will be fine.”

* * *

“Jordonna, Jordonna!” She felt a hand on her arm. Turning, she looked at her mother. “Have you heard anything I’ve said?”

“Yeah, Mom, you said my cousins Karen and Susan drove in from out of state.” Jordonna turned her eyes back towards the stairs. She felt her mother gently nudging her.

“Go ahead, honey, go upstairs and see your father. Go ahead.” She turned back to her mom, gave her a kiss on her cheek, and said, “I love you. I’ll see you in a bit.”

Jordonna started to climb the stairs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. She stopped before stepping on the 7th stair; it always creaked. She took another step, 7: creak. She turned back to look downstairs at her mom. She was looking around the room at the guests. Jordonna turned around and continued climbing 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. “Dad?”

Jordonna’s mother Linda started up the stairs, pausing on the 6th stair. She stepped over the 7th stair. Stopping on the 9th stair, she held on to the railing and quietly listened, watching her daughter and the man she was still in love with.

“Dad?”

“Yeah, I’m in the den.”

“Happy 40th anniversary, Dad.”

Jordonna’s mother stepped on the 10th stair and listened intently.

“So how is it going, Dad? Okay, how about you, are you chief of police yet?”

“No, but I take New York City sergeant’s test in a couple of months.” Her father sat silently watching the TV. It was off but he wished it were on so that he didn’t have to hear his daughter talking.

“How was the ceremony, Dad?”

“Okay. Were you there?”

“No I wasn’t. I brought you and Mom a gift. It’s downstairs by the door. Dad, listen. I want to talk to you. You’re my father, and I love you. Do you want me here today?”

“Ehh” he said as he shrugged.

“Dad, do you love me? I love you.”

He shrugged again. She turned and started walking towards the empty stairs. 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8. Creak. She was crying uncontrollably by the time she reached the last stair.

She turned and saw her brother Johnny holding her mom in his arms. As she walked towards the front door Johnny’s eyes followed her. She reached for the doorknob, holding it in her hand for a second. She paused and noticed that her mother was sobbing. Johnny’s eyes continued to follow her as she opened the door and closed it behind her.

Looking down as she walked, she started down the front walkway. She stopped walking and stared at the pair of black boots in front of her. Raising her head she looked up into Catch’s face.

He opened his arms and Jordonna ran up and hugged him. He held her tightly and said. “It didn’t go well did it?”

Still hugging him she sobbed and said, “No it didn’t.”

He told her about going to the cemetery today. Jordonna stepped back a bit. I told my wife and son that I loved them. She was still looking down. Catch gently put his hand under her chin and lifted her head slightly so that he could look into her eyes, Jordonna looked into Catch’s face as he began to speak.

“Jordonna I love you. Will you marry me?”

He had never told her that he loved her before. She hugged him, wrapping her arms around him tightly. “Yes” she said, “I’m in love with you, Catch.”

This time he stepped back. Jordonna looked him in the eyes as he began to speak, “My name is Steven Lambert, and I’m a professional musician.”

Her mouth dropped as he spoke, he put his arm around her as they started walking to her car.

The bride to be
Lies in her bed
Listening
To the sounds outside
I steal her, in a dream.

Somehow when I awoke today it all came back to me like the dream stopped. Jordonna pulled out the car keys out of her pocketbook and opened the car doors.

Catch took the keys out of her hand and said, “I’ll drive, if you don’t mind.” She nodded her approval. “I might be a little bit rusty, I haven’t driven in a few years.”

She laughed as she got into the car. Jordonna looked at her mother and father’s house as they drove away and realized today she had lost her family but was about to start her own.