Rising Above

by Genevieve Fortin

  “You didn’t. We’ll be fine,” Ana said reassuringly before she covered her hand on the bed. Her palm was warm and soft. Her fingers were long and easily enveloped her entire hand. The sound of water swishing around in the basement confirmed their fear. There wasn’t much to ruin down there, except for the laundry room. The washer and dryer were ancient, but they still worked. Until now.

  “Well, the good news is that we won’t hear another window break in the basement,” she said as she shook her head, trying to chase away thoughts of the damages being done under her bedroom floor.

  “We won’t?”

  “Nope. There are only two windows down there and they’ve both been smashed already.”

  “Oh, well, that’s a glass half full way to look at it, I guess.” Ana shrugged and they glanced at each other before they laughed. Melodie fixed her gaze on Ana’s green eyes. They were darker in the candlelight, and she found a glimpse of peace in them.

  “I’m grasping at straws here. Please help me. Tell me our place will still be standing in the morning.”

  “It will. The tide will go down soon. We’re in the worst of it now. I promise.”

  Ana squeezed the hand she still covered and Melodie believed her. Ana was stating facts, and she’d never found science so comforting. “Is that why you’re so calm? Because you understand exactly what’s happening right now and how it’s happening?”

  “It helps, but I’m not all that calm inside. There are always variables we can’t predict. I guess I’m grasping at straws too. Except my straws are the things science has taught me. Like the fact that the tide reached its highest point a few minutes ago and it has to start going down soon. That’s the way tides work.”

  “I like your straws better than mine.” They chuckled again and Melodie moved closer to Ana. She turned her hand under Ana’s so she could entwine their fingers together again and she rested her head on her shoulder. “Tell me more.”

  “More about what?” she asked as she rubbed Melodie’s hand with her thumb.

  “More about science. Tell me again why you think we need to move away from the coastline. Call me crazy, but I suddenly feel more open to the idea now that the sea broke into my basement.”

  Ana laughed quietly, her shoulders moving up and down. Melodie closed her eyes and let her head bounce with the movement, finding solace in it.

  Ana remained quiet for a few seconds after she’d stopped laughing. She didn’t want another fight. Not now. She barely had enough energy for the fight that was already going on inside her. The battle to remain calm and strong. To be there for Melodie. She didn’t want to take advantage of Melodie’s vulnerability to convert her to her beliefs, but she did want to appease her, which talking seemed to do. So she decided to proceed with caution. “I really don’t see what else we can do. The protective walls they talked about in your article, they’re not here now. They can’t help us tonight, and even if we started working on plans and financing tomorrow, I don’t think anyone could build them before the next storm either.”

  She waited for a reaction. When none came, she took a deep breath and continued, keeping her voice low, her tone even. “But to me what’s most important is that we’re here now, in this mess, because we didn’t respect the sea in the first place. We built our homes too close to it. We destroyed its beaches. I really have a problem with fixing what we’ve done by being even more disrespectful. By building huge walls or other structures that will mess with the sea in even worse ways. And for what? For our own little comfort? The problem with humans is that we think we belong everywhere and everything on this earth belongs to us. But it’s not true. We need to learn from our errors. We need to learn to back off.” She waited again until Melodie finally lifted her head from her shoulder and met her gaze. She didn’t seem angry, and she didn’t let go of her hand, which she saw as a good sign.

  “So by moving away we wouldn’t be running away. We’d be backing off. Giving back to the sea what belonged to her in the first place.”

  Ana smiled at Melodie’s use of “her.” The sea was female in French. La mer. She loved how everything had a gender in French, but she loved that the sea was female most of all. “Exactly.”

  Melodie let go of her hand only long enough to face her. She sat cross-legged and carefully placed the pink robe on her lap to ensure nothing above her knees would be exposed. Ana was grateful she didn’t seem to worry about tightening the robe on her chest to cover the cleavage Ana glanced at as discreetly as she could while Melodie took her hand back and caressed her arm.

  Ana wondered if she was this touchy-feely all the time and with everyone or if it was due to the situation. Or to her. She decided it was probably the way she was. Yvonne was the same way. They were an affectionate family, something she’d never known. She couldn’t help thinking, however, that the circles Melodie was now tracing on her arm were much more intimate than Yvonne’s casual hugs or pats on the back. “You see, I can understand things when I really want to,” Melodie said with a coy grin that, mixed with the movement of her fingers on her arm, sent a jolt of pleasure down her stomach.

  “I do see,” she admitted as she took another glimpse of Melodie’s deep cleavage. She noticed a large freckle on the inner side of one breast and swallowed.

  “But what if we wake up tomorrow and everyone on the planet stops using gas. What then? Could we keep the sea from rising if we did that?”

  The question startled Ana and she raised her gaze to meet Melodie’s inquiring expression. Just in time, she thought. She didn’t know what she would have done next, but she’d definitely been about to do something she could have regretted. She cleared her throat before she answered. “I wish that would happen. It needs to happen if we ever want the earth to start cooling down again. That said, even if we stopped using all fossil fuels tomorrow, it would take centuries before the planet cooled down again, decades before the climate simply stabilized. Don’t get me wrong, stopping fossil fuel usage to stabilize temperatures in a few decades is still worth it. It’s necessary, but it won’t keep the sea from rising to levels we’re not equipped to deal with. We’re past that, unfortunately.”

  Melodie held her gaze and she tried to read her expression, tried to guess if she would blow up in fury any time soon. Instead, she sighed and smoothly declared, “Anyone ever told you you’re a real party pooper?”

  “All the time. I call it realistic.” They chuckled and Ana took Melodie’s hands in hers, holding them firmly before she added. “But I’m not a defeatist. I still think we can get it together and do the right thing. For Thomas. For his kids and his grandkids.”

  Melodie smiled. She wasn’t sure what she’d think in the morning, but right now everything Ana said made perfect sense. She trusted her judgement, appreciated her honesty, and admired her faith in humanity. Melodie didn’t have much faith in anything. Certainly not in humanity. But in this moment she felt like she could put her faith in Ana. She listened for the sound of water moving in the basement and heard nothing. Waves were no longer hitting the back wall of the inn. Winds were still powerful, but the sea had started to withdraw. “It sounds like you were right. The tide is going down.”

  “It is,” Ana repeated as she let go of her hands. “The worst of it is over now. Do you want to go check out the damages?”

  She made a move to get off the bed but Melodie stopped her by grabbing her arm. “No. It can wait until morning. We won’t see much of anything in the middle of the night. Besides, I’d rather try to get some sleep.”

  “All right. I’ll leave you to it then.”

  As Ana started getting up again, winds made the window crack and startled Melodie. She instinctively tightened her grasp on Ana’s arm instead of letting her go. “Would you mind staying? I know I’m being a baby, but I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep alone tonight.”

  Ana settled back on the bed and smiled at her. “Sure. No problem. Lie down. I’ll put you to sleep with my science stories.”

 
; Melodie snorted a laugh but obeyed. Ana blew out the candles before she lay on her back next to her. Without thinking about it or giving Ana a chance to protest, she wiggled closer to her and placed her head on her chest. “If you don’t mind, I think this will work better.”

  “Oh, okay,” Ana whispered before she wrapped her arm around her shoulders. Melodie could hear Ana’s heart beat faster for a few seconds before it slowed again. She put her hand on Ana’s stomach and closed her eyes. She let the rhythm of her pulse and breathing soothe her. They were strong and steady, and soon she drifted to sleep.

  Chapter Twenty

  Ana woke up to the sound of a French tune. She recognized Edith Piaf’s voice and wondered where it could be coming from until she realized the song was accompanied by a vibrating noise on the wooden nightstand. Melodie’s cell phone. Melodie. She looked down and was shocked to find they were still in the same position. At first she’d been too aware of the weight of Melodie’s head on her chest and the subtle movement of her hand on her stomach to go to sleep. She’d focused on remaining immobile and stoic. But then she’d finally relaxed and fallen asleep to the sound of Melodie’s light snoring.

  Sunlight was now coming through the curtains and Edith Piaf was insistent, repeating Non, je ne regrette rien over and over again. Ana looked at Melodie’s small hand resting peacefully a few inches from the beluga on her chest, and she thought that she didn’t regret anything about last night either, except perhaps what she was about to do.

  She lightly jerked her shoulder and tapped Melodie’s hand to wake her up. “Hey, your phone is ringing,” she whispered.

  “What?” she groaned in response.

  “Your phone. It’s probably your grandmother. She must be worried sick.”

  “Oh fuck,” she said more clearly before she sat straight up in bed and reached for her phone. Ana took advantage of the distraction to get up and escape to the bathroom. Melodie might feel awkward about their sleepover now that the storm was long gone and Ana didn’t want to face that possibility. She didn’t want to know if the closeness they’d found through the storm would vanish now that things were back to normal. She didn’t want to find out if Melodie would go back to hating her and everything she stood for this morning as easily as she’d relied on her through the night. She didn’t want to know because it would hurt. She’d let her guard down to do the right thing, to keep her promise to Yvonne, and she might have to pay for it now.

  She closed the bathroom door and flipped up the light switch only to realize the power was still out. She cracked open the door so she wouldn’t be in complete darkness as she emptied her bladder. “No, I just woke up,” she heard Melodie say in the other room. She expected to hear her speak French but she chose English, obviously for her sake, which could only be a good sign. She held her breath. “I’ll check it out now and I’ll call you back.” A silence followed before she added, “Yeah, Ana is fine too. She’s still with me. I’m so glad she was here.” Ana let out a sigh of relief as soon as she heard the words. Apparently she was still in Melodie’s good graces. “All right, I’ll call you back in a bit.”

  Ana barely had time to pull her pants back on and flush the toilet before Melodie pushed the door open. “She can’t get here this morning. Apparently some trees fell down and blocked the road. Is the power back on?”

  “No,” Ana managed to answer despite her total shock at Melodie’s intrusion on her privacy. At least she was talking to her, she reminded herself. She seemed as comfortable in her presence as she’d been last night. She washed her hands with cold water. “I’ll let you do what you need to do in here and then maybe we can go check out the extent of the damages?”

  “Yes, that’d be great. I need to report back to Mammie in the next hour or so.”

  “Sounds like a plan. I’ll wait in the other room.” She smiled as she walked sideways to get past Melodie in the doorway, but she grabbed her hand to stop her.

  Her touch was not the same as when she’d grabbed her arm the night before, panicked and terrified. This morning’s touch was gentler, softer, and it sent shivers through her fingertips up her arm. She looked into her blue eyes, also softer than they’d been the night before. Melodie smiled and cocked her head in the most adorable way. “Thank you for staying with me last night. I don’t know what I would have done without you.” She punctuated her gratitude with a kiss on her cheek and Ana felt her entire face heat up under the innocent peck.

  “No worries.” There’s no other place I’d rather be, she wanted to add. Instead, she continued into the bedroom and sat on the bed, patiently waiting.

  They began their inspection in the basement, where they expected the worst damage would be. Ana led the way, holding the flashlight in the dark staircase and Melodie followed closely. Once they stood at the bottom of the stairs, Ana swept the space with the light, and Melodie sighed before she started crying quietly. Most of the water had already left the basement, channeled through the drain that was located in the middle of the concrete floor for that purpose, but the sea had definitely left its mark. A greyish film-like substance covered the floors and part of the walls. The smell of kelp, which Melodie usually identified as the scent of home, was so strong it became nauseating. Drawn to the light and fresh air coming through the two small openings left by the broken windows, Melodie walked toward the north side of the basement, but Ana blocked her way by extending her arm in front of her. “There’s glass everywhere. You could get hurt.”

  “Right,” she agreed in a broken whisper.

  “Let’s go back upstairs and see what it looks like outside,” Ana proposed as she offered her hand. Melodie held on to it as she climbed the narrow staircase behind Ana. She couldn’t get out of that space fast enough. They’d seen all there was to see already, except for the washer and dryer, which they wouldn’t be able to test until the power came back anyway. She took a deep breath as soon as they got to the first floor. “Are you okay?” Ana asked as she let go of her hand and turned off the flashlight.

  “Yeah, but I couldn’t breathe down there.”

  “The smell is pretty bad, but the damages don’t look too bad. We’ll have to replace the windows and clean up everything. Perhaps replace the laundry equipment. Your grandmother has insurance, right?”

  “Yes. It costs a fortune, but we do have it.”

  “Good. Ready to go outside?”

  Melodie nodded. They went back to Melodie’s room to retrieve their raincoats and boots and left the flashlight on the bed. Melodie glanced at the wrinkled sheets and wished she could go back to feeling safe and warm in Ana’s arms instead of facing reality. She saw Ana look in the direction of the bed as well and noticed a blush cover her face when she realized she’d been caught. She wondered if Ana shared her wishes and felt her own cheeks heat up at the possibility.

  As soon as they stepped outside, they walked into a thick spray mist and a taste of salt settled on her lips. They made their way to the back of the inn where the same greyish substance covered the entire porch and patio furniture. A few chairs had been thrown off and landed on the beach. The white paint covering the porch and the cedar siding of the inn had been damaged in several places, and the wood of two posts had been dinged, probably because of the chairs. Without exchanging a word, Melodie and Ana gathered the stray furniture back onto the porch. The residue the sea had left on them was thick and greasy. Once every chair was back where it belonged, they turned to each other. “What do you think?” she asked Ana.

  Ana sighed, showing a sign of discouragement for the first time. “The entire porch will need to be sanded and painted. Same for the wall. Some posts and maybe parts of the floor and railing will need to be replaced. But I don’t know much about carpentry. That’s just my opinion.”

  “I think you’re right. I’ll ask my dad to take a look.”

  “Your father is a carpenter?”

  “The best there is, when he’s not too drunk to work.”

  Ana smiled with compassio
n and Melodie shrugged in reply before she turned to the sea. She was almost quiet today, as beautiful as ever, but she couldn’t look at her the same way she had all her life. She didn’t trust her, and she wondered if she could trust her again someday. She’d never been able to trust Aurelie again after her betrayal. Melodie was surprised at the thought. Logically, she knew both situations didn’t compare. The sea hadn’t lied to her or cheated on her. She’d simply behaved the way she was meant to behave. She didn’t owe her anything. Ana was right: it was up to her to get out of her way. Yet this morning, as she looked at the mess her beloved sea had left behind her, she couldn’t help but feel betrayed.

  Ana watched closely as Melodie contemplated the Saint-Laurent. She appeared to be in some sort of trance, as if she was communicating with the waves. Oceans and sea levels had been part of her work, her obsession, for years, but she understood in that moment that all of her scientific studies would never compare to the bond that existed between Melodie and the sea. Her heart tightened as she realized for the first time what the retreat strategy she proposed truly meant to the woman standing next to her. It was as if she’d suggested Melodie had to leave a member of her family, or even part of herself behind. And Ana had done it so coldly, stating simple scientific evidence, without taking her feelings into consideration. Melodie had been right to think she might be heartless. She’d also been right when she’d implied that she didn’t have any relationship of her own that could come close to Melodie’s rapport to the sea. Ana had never known this kind of bond with anything or anyone. Not even her mother.

  She watched tears on Melodie’s cheeks and wrapped her arm around her shoulders to comfort her. Melodie immediately turned to her, wrapped her arms around her waist and sobbed quietly against her shoulder. Taken by surprise, Ana stayed immobile for a few seconds before instinct took over and she caressed her hair and back in a soothing motion. When the crying subsided, she dared to whisper, “We should go call your grandmother before she worries too much.”