Canary Island Song

by Robin Jones Gunn

  “You know, my stepmother used to be the same way. She enjoyed cooking a big meal and gathering everyone together to eat. It’s one of the things I remember about her.”

  “I heard that she recently passed away,” Tikki said. “I’m really sorry, Bryan. Losing a parent is absolutely the worst, isn’t it?”

  Carolyn felt a grab in her stomach as Bryan drove them toward Old Town. The grab wasn’t because of the downhill traffic. It was because she rarely had heard Tikki speak so openly about losing her dad. Carolyn wondered if Bryan had that effect on Tikki. She had noticed that her cousin Rosa was surprisingly open with him at the family gathering last night. It seemed that people found they could let down their guard around Bryan and say what they really felt.

  Tikki talked about how much she missed her dad and how hard it had been growing up without him during high school. Bryan listened appreciatively. “Your dad sounds like he is an amazing man.”

  “Was an amazing man,” Tikki corrected him.

  “I like to say ‘is’ because the core of who Jeff is, his soul, is still very much alive. It’s just no longer on this planet.”

  Tikki seemed to like Bryan’s thought. She caught Carolyn’s eye and gave her a comforting smile. They were all quiet for a moment, and then Tikki asked Bryan about his stepmother.

  “I didn’t know my stepmother very well. The only time I ever saw her was the summer I was here before college. I spent as little time as possible at her house. Which is ironic because now she has left the house to me. It’s sort of a last twist of a dart, though, because she left the house to me and the land to my stepsister.”

  Carolyn turned to him. “I had the impression she left you the house and the land.”

  “No. Did I tell you that?”

  Carolyn tried to remember. The information probably came from Aunt Isobel’s report of the cleaning woman’s version. She knew little of the facts and didn’t want to probe.

  “I misunderstood. Sorry.”

  “No need to apologize. It’s been complicated, so I thought maybe I’d miscommunicated. The house was left to me, but the land was left to Angelina. She offered me a firm price right away for the house to buy me out. I considered going ahead with the arrangement, but I decided to take my time and have it appraised first. That’s why I’m on my way to the meeting this morning. It’s the first step to settle the terms of the agreement.”

  As they entered the old part of town, Tikki made the same sort of observations Carolyn had on her first day. Tikki pointed out the butcher shop with chickens hanging inside in front of the large windows. She commented on the narrow streets and all the sandstone-colored buildings.

  Bryan pulled out his phone and handed it to Carolyn so she could help him navigate his way down the narrow streets past a variety of dusty shops and into a parking structure.

  “The Columbus Museum is about three blocks from here,” he said, as they climbed out of the car. “I thought I’d walk down there with you and then come back here for my meeting. When the meeting is over, I’ll join you at the museum.”

  “Can I make a suggestion?” Tikki asked. “How would it be if Mom and I went with you to your meeting and waited in the lobby? That way we could all go together to the museum because, no offense, Mom, but Bryan’s Spanish is a whole lot better than yours. If you and I get stuck someplace and nobody speaks English, we couldn’t pull together a complete sentence.”

  Bryan looked at Carolyn. “It’s fine with me. As long as you don’t find waiting in the lobby too boring. I thought you might rather see the museum.”

  “My mom is the one who is going to enjoy the museum. She’s the history buff. I’m more interested in seeing inside an office building and how they conduct real estate business over here.”

  “That’s right. Your mom told me you work in a bank’s loan department.”

  “Actually, I just took a new position at a different bank. I’m the assistant branch manager.”

  “Then, by all means, you should come with me. I’m sure it will be an experience for all of us. And to be honest, I appreciate the company.”

  The building they entered was a fairly modern structure, six stories, in the middle of a row of office buildings that looked like something constructed post–World War II. Exiting the elevator on the fifth floor, they walked down the polished, white-tiled floors and entered through the propped open door.

  A young woman sitting up perfectly straight at the front desk greeted them formally. She had her hair pulled back in a neatly styled bun and wore a simple blue blouse. Bryan gave her his name, and she motioned for them to be seated on the straight-back, chrome-legged chairs lined up on either side of an end table where a few magazines were stacked next to an ashtray.

  The woman rose with a manila file folder in her hand and walked to one of the two closed office doors. She wore her pressed cotton blouse tucked into the waist of a navy blue pencil skirt with a hemline just above her knees. Carolyn noticed the woman’s matching navy blue pumps. Her prim appearance reminded Carolyn of how in this culture women dressed conservatively but then went topless on the beach. She was sure incongruities existed in the United States, but here they seemed more obvious to her.

  The woman tapped on the closed door located several feet behind her desk. She let herself in, barely opening the door wide enough for them to see who might be on the other side. Carolyn wondered if this was how the elementary students at her school felt when they were called into the principal’s office.

  “Listen,” Tikki whispered.

  “Do you guys hear that?” She nodded her head toward the open door they had entered as if there were something down the hallway Carolyn and Bryan were supposed to hear.

  Carolyn caught the faint sound of something tapping unevenly. “What is that?”

  “Typewriters. When was the last time you heard that? I’d guess at least three of them are going. It’s like we’ve stepped back in time. I mean, talk about going old school. It feels like everything around us should fade to black and white.”

  The office door opened, and the secretary held it as hospitably as a flight attendant, waiting for Bryan to enter. The door closed, and Carolyn and Tikki were alone with the tapping typewriters and the secretary in the pencil skirt.

  “How long do you think he’ll be in there?” Tikki whispered.

  Before Carolyn could answer, they heard raised voices coming from behind the closed door.

  Tikki and Carolyn exchanged looks of alarm. “That’s not how we do business where I work,” Tikki said. “What do you think is going on in there?”

  Carolyn sat perfectly still, listening, trying to catch any Spanish words she could.

  The door opened, and Bryan stepped out with a look of determination and his square jaw set. Carolyn and Tikki rose, ready to follow him out. A middle-aged man wearing a linen business suit and noticeably shiny black shoes stepped out after Bryan with a scowl on his smooth face. As soon as the man noticed Carolyn and Tikki, his expression lightened. He looked them over and said something to Bryan, who paused in his exit only long enough to reply in Spanish and reach for both Tikki’s arm and Carolyn’s to escort them out.

  Tikki pulled back from Bryan’s reach. “Are you sure you need to leave like this? It’s a business transaction, right?” She turned to the man, who now looked as if he might start laughing any minute. “I’m confident the two of you can come to more of an agreement than this.”

  “Calladita se ve más bonita,” the man said.

  Carolyn caught the word “bonita” and knew that meant “pretty.” Tikki seemed to go with that single word as well and offered the businessman a broad smile in return and replied, “Gracias.”

  The man broke into a demeaning smirk, and Carolyn knew they needed to leave. This time she was the one who reached for Tikki’s arm and ushered her out of the door with Bryan right behind them. Carolyn walked quickly, sensing the imbalance in the situation. She had intervened more than once with volatile situations betwee
n parents and the principal in her job at Mill Creek Elementary. She knew when it was time to help someone exit the building.

  Bryan didn’t speak until they were down the elevator and out on the street, still walking at a fast clip.

  “I probably shouldn’t have said anything,” Tikki said. “Sorry. My training for the bank just took over. I saw it as an opportunity to preserve negotiations by introducing a third party.”

  When neither Carolyn nor Bryan responded right away, Tikki said, “I guess they don’t do business here quite the same way. At least he lightened up a little and said something about Mom and me being pretty.”

  “I don’t think that’s what he was saying,” Carolyn said.

  “Are you sure? Bryan, do you know what he said?”

  “Yes, but I don’t want to tell you.”

  “Come on! You have to tell me. What did he say?”

  Bryan slowed his pace. His jaw looked more relaxed. He glanced at Tikki. “I’ll tell you, but you won’t like it.”

  “I can handle it. What did he say?”

  “He said, literally, ‘You look prettier when you’re quiet.’”

  Tikki looked stunned. “You can’t say things like that to potential clients.”

  “We’re not potential clients of his. Definitely not.”

  “I just can’t believe someone who runs a business, any sort of business, would treat a complete stranger like that.”

  “I wasn’t exactly a complete stranger.”

  “Are you saying you met him before, and he still treated you that way?”

  “Let’s just say that we weren’t formally introduced at our first meeting. He knows my stepsister.”

  Carolyn connected the dots and quietly said to Bryan, “Was he at your stepmother’s house the day you returned to the island?”

  Bryan nodded and kept walking. In a low voice he said, “Of all the gin joints …”

  Carolyn caught the Casablanca reference and knew what Bryan meant. Of all the appraisers on the island that Bryan could meet with, he had ended up walking into the office of the man who was having an affair with Angelina.

  “I wonder if my mom or one of my aunts could recommend another appraiser for you.”

  “That would be great.” Bryan let out a huff of air and seemed to relax. “Nothing is ever as easy as you think it’s going to be, is it?”

  “That’s for sure,” Tikki agreed.

  The three of them had stepped into a cobblestone plaza where the buildings along the narrow walkways were painted a soothing shade of sunset yellow. Tikki seemed enraptured.

  “What is this place?” Tikki pulled out her cell phone and stopped to take a photo of one of the buildings.

  “This is the Vegueta section of the Old Town. Come here; you’re going to love this.” He led them down an alley and around a corner where they all stopped in unison, and Carolyn exclaimed, “Oh, look at that! How beautiful.”

  The morning light streamed through the narrow space between the old buildings and hit just right on a simple plaza fountain. From the center of the fountain rose an old but sturdy pillar that supported a bowl from which the water spilled into the pool below.

  Behind the fountain was a large building with a stunning, ornate doorway that reached up to the second story. The facade was carved out of a green stone with lots of curves and raised relief work in the shape of what looked like leaves. On two pedestals on either side of the huge entry sat two small statues that, from a distance, looked like some sort of fierce animal holding up a shield.

  “That’s the Casa de Colón,” Bryan said. “That building was the home of the governor of this island, Gran Canaria. Part of the building has been turned into the Museo Colón. The assumption is that Christopher Columbus, or Cristóbal Colón, stayed in this house while repairs were made to his ships before his great voyage.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Tikki stood still, taking in the whole plaza. Carolyn recognized the look in her daughter’s eyes. It was that breakthrough moment when she realized she was on the other side of the world and standing in a place where history had unfolded hundreds of years ago. “This is amazing. When you asked if I wanted to go to a museum, I didn’t picture anything like this. Look at that fountain. Is that elegant or what?”

  Tikki took more photos just as a refreshing breeze came their way and tossed the silver beads of water from the fountain into the air, as if daring her to catch their escape with her trigger-happy finger.

  Bryan drew closer to the fountain, and Carolyn joined him. They were only a few feet away when the loveliest thing happened. A single bird flew over them and lighted on the edge of the fountain bowl. A moment later a second bird joined the first, and together they sipped from the flowing water.

  “Stay right there,” Tikki said. “Now slowly turn and face me. Smile!”

  Carolyn heard the rustling of the birds’ wings as they flew off together into the sunlight. She stepped away from Bryan and Tikki, curious to see what was down the next alley. The birds were nowhere to be seen, but a simple structure caught her attention. It was painted a deep mustard yellow for the first five feet up the front. After that first rise of color, the building was painted white and had gray rectangular stones inset from above the tall wooden doors all the way to the roof. A small, mission-style bell hung inside a rounded alcove, and above the alcove was a simple cross.

  Carolyn returned to the fountain where Bryan and Tikki were both taking photos with their cell phones, comparing the angles and the exceptional morning light.

  “It looks like a chapel is around the corner. Do either of you want to see it with me?”

  Bryan and Tikki joined her, and together they walked over to read the elaborate sign posted to the side of the wooden doors. Tikki read the words,

  EN ESTE SANTO LUGAR

  ORO

  COLÓN

  1492

  “What does that mean?” Tikki asked. “Oro means ‘gold,’ right?”

  “Not in this case.” Bryan had the best sort of smile. All the tension from the encounter at the office was gone from his expression. “Here it means ‘prayed.’ The sign says, ‘In this holy place prayed Colón,’ as in Columbus.”

  “Are you telling me that Christopher Columbus came to this chapel when he was on the Canary Islands?” Tikki asked.

  “Apparently so. I don’t suppose anyone can prove it. But what a profound image this place conveys. Before embarking on his journey into uncharted waters, Columbus came to this chapel to pray.” Bryan tried the door and found it locked. “I wish we could go inside.”

  “Can we?” Tikki asked. “I’d love to see inside.”

  “No, the door is locked. I wonder if it’s still used for worship. Wouldn’t that be something? To pray in the same chapel where Columbus prayed.”

  Carolyn was finding it hard to come up with the right words to say in response to Bryan and Tikki’s shared delight. She had always enjoyed history. Being here, stumbling on this “holy place,” felt like she had come upon a treasure chest. She wanted to open it and go inside as much as they did. It thrilled her to think, as Bryan had said, that while unknown worlds awaited Columbus on the other side of the Atlantic, before he set sail, he came here, to this humble chapel, and he prayed.

  Tikki snapped more pictures. Bryan pulled out his phone and paused to read the screen. “I need to return this call,” he said. “I’ll just be a minute.” He stepped a short way across the cobblestone square and stood under an old gnarled bougainvillea bush that covered him like a canopy.

  “Stand by the door, Mom. I’ll take your picture.”

  Carolyn posed, and as she held her smile, the doors behind her made a creaking noise. She turned and saw the face of a short, elderly woman peering out into the brightness of the plaza.

  Tikki seized the opportunity to fumble with an unmatched assortment of Spanish words in an attempt to see if they could enter.

  “Sí, sí.” The woman opened to them, and the sacred place swallowed them
whole. In the darkened, gold-embellished chapel, Carolyn could smell the beeswax of the flickering candles lined in straight rows at the front altar. She and Tikki stood in shared reverence, not moving from the back where they stood next to the elderly woman.

  She said something to them and then walked a few feet down the center aisle, picked up a dusting cloth, and went back to her labor of love, rubbing oil into the pews. The faint scent of lemon rose from her efforts.

  “Oh, I miss Daddy right now so much.” Tikki’s whispered confession surprised Carolyn. It seemed out of context from what they were experiencing. For Carolyn, this was like stepping into world history. Apparently for Tikki the moment awoke something different. Something hidden away in her personal history.

  “Why do you say that, honey?”

  Tikki linked her arm in Carolyn’s, bit her lower lip, and blinked. Then, releasing her mom, she took small steps forward down the ancient aisle. “I miss Dad because of this.” She took another measured step forward and then another, heading toward the altar with her hands clasped over her stomach.

  Carolyn understood. Jeff wouldn’t be there to walk his baby girl down the aisle and give her away one day, some day, on her wedding day.

  “I know, sweetheart,” she whispered. “I know. I’m so sorry.”

  The two women let out a shared sigh of lingering sorrow.

  “Not that it seems to matter at the moment, since I’ve eliminated my only prospect.” Tikki wiped her tears. “It’s just that I really loved Matthew. I know that I loved him, Mom.”

  Carolyn wrapped her arms around Tikki and stroked her hair as her daughter cried out the sorrow of her loss. In the same way that Carolyn’s mother had offered Carolyn her presence and her unflinching, grace-infused shelter that night in her bed as Carolyn wept, Carolyn followed the path of wisdom and offered a shoulder for her daughter to cry on.

  And that was enough.

  “Al buen entendedor, pocas palabras bastan.”

  “To the good ‘understander,’ few words are needed.”

  FOR THE REST of that day and all of the next, Carolyn felt like everything in her life was put on hold. Her first few days on the island, when she was with her mother, Carolyn seemed to move ahead in great leaps, reconciling hurts from her past and feeling hopeful for the future. The time she had spent with Bryan had opened up a wellspring of healing and given her bursts of energy and glimmers of loveliness.