“Made it through,” Celeste said. “Maybe all I’ve got now. Nothing else left to me.”
“Do you remember me this time?” a voice asked.
“I do,” Celeste replied. “May have lost everything else, but I still have that.”
“You must have known you weren’t done,” said the voice, “or figured it out before you settled. Mind you, I’d have found you sooner or later, but it’s best not to have so much ground to make up. Especially with how far you’ve come this time. We’ll find whatever you’ve lost.”
Celeste could already feel herself returning, like a drained pool refilled by small springs. Old memories seeping back in, presenting themselves like in a receiving line. What did the voice mean. “What have I lost? I can’t recall.”
“That’s for another day. You feel that warmth on your eyes? Open them up now. See? It’s all yours Celeste. Everything is still yours to see and touch. She’s come from the other side to collect you.”
There was a glow on her eyelids. A little hope that came shining in on them from beyond; faint at first but glowing brighter, until she opened her eyes and saw the dazzling light full on. It blinded her to all else for a moment until her eyes and her heart grew accustomed to it, and then she could see a face behind the candle.
“You found me,” she whispered. “It wasn’t easy getting out.”
Strength returned as she saw her surroundings. Saw without recognizing—the roof of a porch and the flap of the window screen she had slashed through to climb out. Her right hand still clutched a fine old letter opener. Gabrielle pushed her way through the screen, her face drawn from fear, but also relief. Unable to speak, she crouched for a time beside Celeste, holding her as if she was a child before carefully leading her back to the window and carrying her through to the bedroom and settling her back into bed.
“Where am I?” Celeste asked. “I was…” She didn’t know how to finish.
“Hattiesburg.”
“Hattiesburg?” Celeste whispered. She knew the name but had never been there.
“We brought you here, Virgil and I did. Do you remember Virgil? He’s a friend who came to stay with us through the storm and the flood.”
“Flood.”
“The levees gave way and the Lower Ninth was flooded. I don’t know for sure how bad it was for the rest of the city. But Virgil had a boat and we brought you out. We came across the lake under the bridge. Parts of it are down from the storm.”
“We crossed the bridge?”
“We followed it across the lake. You didn’t speak for the longest time, and then, only to his dog Sam. You stayed close to her the whole time and she stuck with you. All we could think to do was get across the lake and make for 59. Maybe get up to Birmingham where your cousin lives. Or to a hospital. I couldn’t tell how you were. You weren’t hurt that we could tell, but…”
“I saw the bridge. Had to walk a long way.”
“It was a while before we could catch a ride so you did walk. I couldn’t see how you managed. We wanted to carry you, but you said you had to walk it yourself.”
“Had to take the other way around, didn’t we?”
“We did,” Gabrielle said. “Ran into a local policeman who wouldn’t let us come into or through his little mess of a town. He made us go around, even seeing how you were. You said which way we should go. Told it to Samantha, and turned out you were right, since we ran into a State Trooper who sent a friend of his to drive us here to Hattiesburg. A Mr. Neilsen.”
“Mr. Nebo,” Celeste whispered.
“He brought us here to this house and it turned out they knew you from years ago. Elizabeth and Ellen. Twin sisters you helped out when they were girls. Do you remember that?”
“My twins.”
“It’s like you were guiding us here somehow, but I thought you’d never been up this way before. Never outside of New Orleans. Is that right?”
“Not since I found the Twins. Not since…Audrey.”
“I’d hoped you’d do better once we got you here and settled. They even managed to find a doctor who could come see you.”
“Just too old.”
Gabrielle struggled to speak. “There were times I thought I’d lost you.”
“But you looked and found me,” Celeste said. “Suppose I knew someone would.”
“At least you recognize me now,” Gabrielle said. “You do, don’t you.”
“I remember you. You’re my Gabrielle.”
“I’m your Gabrielle and I mean to look after you as you’ve looked after me all these years. I can’t say what we’ll find when we get back, but that’s to wonder about tomorrow. Not tonight.”
“Not tonight,” Celeste repeated. She knew what she would find if she went back. Everything had been stripped from her there. Only thing left was what she had with her right here and now in this place she’d never been to before in her long life.
“Will you sleep if I stay with you?” Gabrielle asked. Celeste could hear how tired she was. Too tired and afraid.
“Best if you go back down to Virgil. I’ll stay put and sleep now.”
“If you’re sure.” Gabrielle searched Celeste’s face. Read deep into her eyes.
Celeste nodded. “Took a lot of steps to get up here. I need a good deep sleep, with dreams to fill me back up again.” She let her eyes close, releasing Gabrielle to go on to her own sleep.
Epilogue - Wake
She woke well before hint of dawn as she always had, while moonlight still played with shadows across her window. But it wasn’t moonlight or habit that woke her, it was a visitor. Virgil’s dog Sam had quietly padded upstairs and pushed the door open enough to enter Celeste’s room, slipping up to the bed and resting her muzzle near Celeste’s face. The dog’s soft, moist breath stirred Celeste out of a dream of salt air. Gently moving air. Beneficial. Not like the scent of flood.
“I remember you,” Celeste whispered. “Virgil calls you Sam. Short for Samantha. And I’m Celeste. No need to shorten that. I’m short enough already. Guess Gabrielle must have left the door ajar.” She found the dog’s ear. Stroked it with one finger. “Both without a home for now, but I’d put money on you finding one first, if I was a betting woman.”
There was just enough light to see the dog’s nose twitching subtly. Reading.
“Different smells than in New Orleans. But you’ll be back there soon enough. Dogs always seem to find their way home. All four feet and a nose to the road. That right?”
The dog stretched to get nose to nose. Celeste didn’t move away, her head comfortable where it was on the soft pillow.
“My oldest friend told me I should keep looking for the one who was lost. There’re a few she might have meant by that, and maybe she meant them all. But maybe that’s to be home for me, if that makes sense. Just looking.”
The dog didn’t say one way or the other.
“One storm brings me in from wherever I was before, another flings me out of childhood. Betsy shoves me out of fear and now where is this one sending me? Thought it might have been to an After Life, but what sort? Maybe to finding what’s lost. Maybe to see Paris, like Pappa said I should. That sounds nice but not till I rest up and gather myself. A tall order, Sam. Maybe it’s too late for such grand things. Maybe I should settle for a soft pillow and a new friend.”
She patted the mattress lightly.
“Climb up and sleep here if you like. I won’t tell the Twins, in case they don’t allow it.”
The dog took the cue and climbed up easily; stepping over Celeste to stretch out against her back.
“Settle down and sleep a bit more now. We’re alive, and that’s somewhere to start.”
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Child of the Storm Page 27