Hello There, Do You Still Know Me?. Laurie B. Arnold
“How is it possible that my stomach’s growling like a garbage disposal? We still get dinner, right?” Violet asked.
“Of course. Otherwise it wouldn’t be a backwards dinner,” Rosalie Claire said.
After we’d eaten plates of rice, black beans, and fresh snapper caught that day in the sea, we headed to the yellow bungalow. Violet and I shared the double bed in the guest room and Noah flopped down on a futon on the floor.
“Could you stay here the whole year instead of going back to New Mexico?” Noah asked as he pulled up his covers. “You’d be able to surf every day after school.”
The thought made my heart feel as warm as the noonday sun.
“Admit it, Madison. It would be awesome. Then I could visit you during every single school vacation.” Violet yawned, tired from all the time she’d spent in the ocean.
I agreed it would be super awesome. From the second I arrived at La Posada Encantada, I’d felt as light as air. I couldn’t remember feeling that way since before my mom died.
Leroy sailed onto the bed, sandwiched between Violet and me, and promptly fell asleep. The three of us yawned in unison, listening to the crashing waves on the shore, the whoosh-whoosh-whoosh of the ceiling fan, and the rat-a-tat-tat of Leroy’s snores keeping the beat like a snare drum. Finally, we nodded off, first Violet, then Noah, then me.
I don’t know how long I’d been asleep, or even if I’d dreamed, when a wild racket jolted me awake.
Someone was yelling my name.
I crept out of bed and peered through the window into the moonlit night.
Outside in the stone courtyard stood my grandmother, Florida Brown. She lugged a suitcase large enough to fit half the contents of a department store.
Before I could answer, she collapsed onto the ground in a dead faint.
By the time Rosalie Claire and I got my grandmother into the bed in Room Four, she’d come to and didn’t remember fainting.
“My goodness, let’s not make a fuss. It’s only a tiny touch of exhaustion, probably because getting here was an utter nightmare. I made a teensy mistake and accidentally told the taxi driver to take me to the wrong town three hours in the opposite direction.” Florida yawned and her eyelids grew heavy. “Oh my, this bed feels divine.”
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Rosalie Claire’s eyebrows knit together with worry.
“Did you faint because of your headaches?” I asked.
“I’m perfectly fine.” Florida’s voice sounded thin and tired. “I just wanted to see you, Madison.” She clutched my hand and drifted to sleep.
I went back to my room and slipped quietly into bed so I wouldn’t wake Violet. It was a surprise and a comfort to know my grandmother had missed me. I tried falling back asleep, but Leroy’s snores, the crashing of the waves, and my worries about Florida kept me up until the sky turned light on the horizon.
I didn’t wake up until ten o’clock, after dreaming about Florida fainting in every imaginable place. She’d fallen off building rooftops, from craggy cliffs, and even into a giant bathtub full of green Jell-O.
Violet, Noah, Rosalie Claire, and I went to Thomas’s Café for a late breakfast of icy watermelon juice and gallo pinto, a combination of rice, black beans, onions, peppers, and salsa with tortillas. We were eating on the patio beneath the shade of the feathery palm trees when Florida sashayed in, movie star-style. She was back to her old glamorous self. Every dyed red hair had been teased and sprayed into place. Her ruby lipstick was drawn on in a perfect pout. The second she spotted us she lit up. I almost kicked myself for losing sleep worrying about her half the night. She looked as if she felt better than ever.
“Well isn’t this the most adorable place! I already feel like a new person. Must be the salty sea breeze. It will be just the thing to keep my complexion moisturized.”
She slipped into the wicker chair beside me.
“Oh, that coffee smells heavenly! Honey, could you pour Florida a nice full cup?”
For the record, I wasn’t allowed to call my grandmother anything other than Florida because the word “grandma” made her feel old.
As I was about to pour her coffee, Thomas swooped in with a fresh pot, his eyes twinkling as he bowed.
“Our V.I.P. guest deserves only the best. Fresh coffee hot off the press for our visiting royalty. And Madam, you certainly don’t look old enough to be anyone’s grandmother.”
“Well, aren’t you the most divinely observant man?” Florida gushed.
Thomas winked at Rosalie Claire before returning to the kitchen. I’m pretty sure she’d given him the heads up that he’d have an easier time with Florida if he buttered her up with compliments.
Florida sipped her coffee, chattering about her favorite beauty products, the nosy new neighbors who’d bought Rosalie Claire’s old house next door, and how her best friend Patsy had gotten fat.
Nobody could get a word in up, down, or sideways.
Finally, Rosalie Claire cupped her hand on top of Florida’s. “It’s wonderful you’ve come all this way to see Madison. How long will you be staying?”
“Oh, not long.” Her mouth pressed into a hard red line. “Actually, I have no idea.” Then she stared off at the Pacific Ocean.
“Is something else going on, Florida?” Rosalie Claire looked at her with those warm brown sugar eyes that made even the most hardcore liar want to take the witness stand and tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
My grandmother twisted her napkin.
“Is Jack OK?” Rosalie Claire wondered.
“Jack? Oh, he’s fine.” The flatness in her voice made it sound as if she didn’t mean it.
“Is something wrong with Grandpa Jack?” My grandfather lived a couple of hours away from Truth or Consequences, although he was never far from his phone. He kept me sane whenever Florida went off the edge. If something was wrong with him, I wouldn’t know what to do.
“No, he’s fine.” She exhaled a sad sigh. “The day after you left for summer vacation, he moved back in with me as an experiment. But after two-and-a-half months I deserve an angel’s halo for putting up with Mr. Can’t-Do-Anything-Right. I’m sure he’s thrilled that I’m gone.”
Florida drained her coffee, stuffed her balled-up napkin in the empty cup, and forced a smile.
“We’re all going to have ourselves a barrel of fun, aren’t we, honey? In fact, this place is so charming, maybe I’ll stay with you and your adorable little friends for the rest of your vacation!”
Violet rolled her eyes and kicked my shin under the table.
Noah shot me a look, waiting to see what I’d do.
And me? I sat there, in a state of shock. My grandmother had just crashed my summer vacation. I felt like jumping onto my surfboard and riding it far away across the sea.
We abandoned our surfing plan because Florida insisted that we show her the sights of Jacó.