R. Allinson: The Long Road Home

“This is crazy.”

“I know. I don’t know what to think, Tom.”

“Me either, baby.”

“Asteroid? Is this some big practical joke that’s got out of hand?” she said more shrilly than she intended.

“That would be nice, but I don’t think so. The president… and the Prime Minister’s put out a statement as well. I’ve been trying to call you, I was getting worried.”

“I’m sorry, I had no idea what was going on. I was trying to get that piece for the Nicholson’s finished. Lisa offered to look after the boys for the afternoon and I shut everything off.”

“Please don’t do that again.” His voice sounded tight.

“No, of course I won’t. I’m sorry.”

“I wish I was home.”

“Me too. When can you get back?” Her husband was only out of town for business trips once or twice a year. Of course it had to happen now.

“I’m not sure. Mike’s been on hold with the airline for ages already. Regardless, we’ll go to the airport first thing in the morning.”

“Why not now?” Claire asked. She wanted him back here as soon as possible, by her side.

“I want to check on Grandma and Pa before I go. I’m about to go out there now, actually.”

“Oh, right. Of course. Give them my love.” It had completely slipped Claire’s mind that Tom’s other grandparents lived in Vancouver.

“I will. Give the boys a hug and kiss from me, and tell them I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

“Okay. Be careful, Tom. Call me back as soon as you know what’s going on.”

“I will. I’ll see you soon.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, baby.”

Claire hung up and pulled carefully out of the driveway. She never liked driving in the snow, but she’d had to get used to it since moving to Toronto. She’d never even seen snow until she’d moved to Vancouver, but the winters on the west coast were relatively mild compared to the east. When she’d first moved to Canada on her working holiday permit, she’d imagined a freezing, snowy winter. She hadn’t counted on Vancouver’s soggy rather than snowy weather. It had only snowed three times her first winter there, and then the snow had been soft and slushy and only stuck around for a day or two. She’d been very excited to see her first snowfall, and rather surprised when her Canadian housemate had grumbled about it. The Toronto winters were much more like what she’d imagined a Canadian winter to be. She still wasn’t entirely used to actually driving in them though.

The streets were strangely quiet as Claire drove through the light snow. People were probably still finding out. Not everyone was glued to televisions or the internet. She only saw one other person on the short drive, and he was doing a relatively mundane activity of taking his dog out for a walk. She didn’t know what she’d expected. Riots in suburban Toronto? She shook her head and rubbed her face after she pulled into Lisa’s driveway.

The porch light was on. Claire knocked, and then pushed the red door open without waiting for an answer.

“Hello! It’s me.”

Noah, her eldest son, came racing down the hallway, blonde curls flying. Tristan toddled along behind him, brown eyes sparkling and a happy grin on his face.

“Mummy!”

Claire knelt down and braced herself as Noah barrelled into her. They were soon joined by Tristan falling into them.

Lisa followed behind the boys a bit more sedately. Her little dog, Max, cowered behind her ankles. Claire looked up at her and smiled weakly.

“Hey,” was all she could manage.

“Hey,” Lisa replied with an equally weak smile.

She unentangled herself from the two little boys after a long moment, giving them each a kiss and squeeze and stood up to give Lisa a hug.

“Thanks for watching them,” she said finally. She didn’t want to talk about it yet in front of the boys.

“No problem at all, they were little angels. Weren’t you, boys?”

Noah grinned up at his mother and aunt and nodded. “Yes. Molly made cake.”

“Cake! Oh my, how special. What kind of cake?” Claire asked, following him back up the hallway to the living room. She picked up Tristan and held him close, breathing in the smell of his hair. It calmed her, somewhat.

“Choco choco cake!”

“Chocolate cake?”

“Yes! Choco choco.”

“That was very nice of Molly to make for you.”

“Mummy want some?” Noah asked.

They walked into the lounge room and Claire saw the remains of the chocolate cake. It looked like Tristan had sat on it. Or fallen face first, she wasn’t sure which.

“No thank you, my darling. Not right now. Maybe later.”

“I save you some.”

“Okay. Thanks, Noah. Hi, Molly,” Claire said to her thirteen year old niece, sitting on the couch. Molly gave her the ghost of a smile. So, she knew.

“Thanks for entertaining Noah and Tristan today.”

“That’s okay,” she said quietly.

Claire didn’t know what else to say. Molly was a bright kid. She knew what this could mean.

“Can I get you to keep watching them for a bit? I need to talk to your mum without them underfoot.”

“Sure,” she said and held out her arms for Tristan. Claire passed him over and ruffled his brown curls. He looked so much like Tom.

“Thanks, Molly. Noah.” Claire knelt down in front of her eldest son. “Stay here with Molly. I’m just going to be in the kitchen with Auntie Lisa.” She wiped a bit of crumb off his cheek.

“Okay, Mummy.”

Claire stood up and watched him climb up onto the couch to snuggle up next to Molly. Molly started asking him which movie he wanted to watch next. Claire walked backwards into the kitchen, not wanting to take her eyes off the boys. Lisa was waiting for her.

Claire sank down into a chair at the kitchen table. Lisa silently pushed a mug over to her. Claire reached for it, and then held it up and sniffed it. Coffee and whiskey. She took a long sip.

“So,” Lisa said eventually.

Claire put the mug down and closed her eyes.

“I’m having a hard time processing this,” she admitted.

Lisa quirked her eyebrows. “I don’t think you’re the only one, hon.” She paused and took a sip from her own mug. “Have you talked to Tom yet?”

“Yeah, I called him straight after I spoke to you. I wish he was here. Have you talked to him?”

Lisa nodded. “Yep, he was pretty worried when he couldn’t get ahold of you. I told him you’d just switched everything off to concentrate.”

“Thanks. I can’t believe this,” Claire said. “What, I mean, how is this even possible?”

Lisa sighed deeply and took another large sip. Claire caught a whiff of Lisa’s drink — it smelled a lot stronger than hers.

“We’re insignificant,” she said.

“What do you mean?” Claire frowned.

“I just mean, when you think about it, we’re just these tiny little specks floating around on a minor planet revolving around an insignificant star in a remote part of the galaxy. We get hit by stuff all of the time. The big ones just aren’t quite so often. It’s our curse that it happens in our lifetime.” Lisa said all the while staring into her mug.

“Are you drunk?” Claire looked sideways at Lisa.

Lisa snorted. “No. I kind of wish I was though. Is Tom going to be able to get back soon? He wasn’t sure what was going on when I spoke to him.”

“Yeah, I really hope so. He’s going out to the airport in the morning. He was about to head out to see your grandparents when I talked to him.”

Lisa blinked rapidly. “I should call them.”

“How’s Molly taking the news?” Claire glanced out towards the living room where she could hear Tristan gurgling away and Molly’s quiet, soothing voice.