Valley of Despair - part 1
Mamma Gloria’s makes the best cauliflower soup, but they don’t deliver. They use a purple variety for the base, then add forbidden black rice, shredded chicken, and coconut milk. It isn’t the ingredients that make it delicious, it’s the woman who cooks it. She doesn’t have magic in the traditional sense, but the things she does in her kitchen–well, let’s just say she doesn’t make food so much as meals that can bring even the loneliest individual back home. It was Vi’s favorite place to eat, and every Saturday night she would take her foster children Charlotte and Charles there for dinner. That was what Charlotte needed right now, a taste of home, but Mamma Gloria’s doesn’t deliver and Vi was dead, so Charlotte had to make do with curried green cauliflower soup from The Dancing Rabbit instead.
She had made a bed in her closet, nestled a cooler between her skirts and suit pants, and set up a swipe pad on top of her shoe rack. As long as the food and the movies kept coming she was content.
Her swipe pad chimed, her delivery has arrived. Charlotte began to get up but changed her mind. Charles would be home in an hour, he’d see the food and bring it to her. There was no rush and she was tired.
***
Charles knocked on Charlotte’s closet door. He was trying not to worry, but he was knocking on his sister’s closet, so that made it hard. “I’ve got your food, but I think it’s cold. “
The sound startled Charlotte. She didn’t remember falling asleep, but she also didn’t remember being awake. Her entire being was encapsulated in the thought that Charles would bring her food, and now he was here. “Thanks,” she yawned, ignoring her pending existential crisis. “I’ll get it later.”
Charles held back his anger. He was tired and wanted to be done with his day. His sister and Vi were the caretakers, he was charming, and that wasn’t getting him anywhere at the moment. “You’re not even going to open the door?”
It was hard to say no to Charles. Charlotte wanted to all the time, but it was just easier to give him what he wanted. Today, even that required more energy than she had to spare. “I’m just so tired, and I have work on Monday.”
“Of course,” Charles returned with an impressive lack of empathy. “You need to get up in six days. How rude of me to disturb your slumber.”
She had no defense against sarcasm. Charles knew that and it was a dirty trick to pull. Charlotte opened the door. Her ponytail had half come undone and she was in the same moth-eaten pink sweats she had been wearing all week, but none of that was a surprise to her brother. “Happy now?”
Charles sighed and walked toward the kitchen. If she wasn’t his sister and he wasn’t living there rent-free he would have moved out. “I am going to heat this up and you are going to eat.”
“I’m not hungry,” Charlotte replied.
“But you ordered it?”
“That was hours ago.”
Charles glared at his sister. If his exasperation wasn’t clear on his face it was strikingly so in his tone. “How long is this going to go on Lottie? It’s been a month.”
Charlotte sat down at the kitchen table and laid her head down. She was in her usual spot, but Vi’s was empty, and instead of almond oil, the table smelled of spilled milk and cereal. “Like I said, I’m going back to work on Monday.”
“Like this?”
“What choice do I have? I’ve used all my bereavement pay, all my vacation pay, and all my sick pay, if I don’t go back they are going to fire me.”
Charles didn’t say anything. Vi was the one who had the answers, he was the one with the outrageous ideas, and Charlotte was the one who made it all work. Without Vi, all he had were pipe dreams. “Wait, didn’t you get that policy through your company… misery insurance?”
Charlotte looked her brother straight in the eyes. “I am not going on a pilgrimage to the Valley of Despair!”
“Then why did you get the insurance?” Charles loved her sister, but he didn’t understand her.
Charlotte sputtered. “It was a bundle. You pay less for the package, no one actually uses it. Why do you think my company offers it?”
“I’m not going to argue with you,” Charles countered. There was no point in debating with a sister, she could out-argue him in her sleep, but there’s an advantage to being charming. “It just seems like such a waste…”
“I hate traveling. The food is weird. Everyone’s a stranger. Just getting through the day is a struggle.”
Charles nodded. “You’re right. Monday, you’ll get dressed and go to work. It’ll be good. It will give you a chance to catch up with your coworkers. They’ll want to offer their condolences. And your boss will be keeping an eye on you, making sure it’s not too much for you… Well, I’m going to bed. Enjoy your soup.”
The curry and the fat had congealed on top of her cauliflower soup. Even if she was hungry, there was no way she would eat it now. She longed for Mama Gloria’s but it was so far away, and no one was going to go get it for her.
