I’m on the sofa. Pulling the faux fur throw up to my chin to be cozy, I expose my perimenopausal feet, then reach for the remote control. The front window wall of blinds rises simultaneously exposing the sun scorched grasses, the shoreline of driftwood, and the Salish Sea. The waves are coming in. Romeo approaches and stands looking, then sits in our worn brown leather chair.

Romeo: How’d you sleep?

Juliet: Good.

A moment. Like a windup doll turned one rotation, I don’t engage at full throttle in the mornings. Another moment. Another.

J: You?

R: Ok.

R: Had the weirdest dream.

I gaze forward. Blank. Still zero. There’s no volunteering from him. I think about that for a second, then dismiss it. Okay…I will ask.

J: So, did you want to tell me about it?

R: It was the weirdest dream.

Pause.

R: Just kinda crazy.

R: Your mom was in it. And your Uncle Johnny. I saw your mom first and thought, ‘Oh, there’s your mom.’ Then, I thought, ‘And there’s Uncle Johnny with her.’  They were getting ready to go to the moon. Don’t ask me why the moon! Ha! Didn’t make any sense, and they didn’t go there anyways, but that’s where they were all lined up to go.

J: Do you even know what my Uncle Johnny looks like?

R: No, I don’t think so. I don’t think I’ve ever met him. Or even seen a picture of him. But I just knew. I saw him and thought, ‘There’s Uncle Johnny.’ When I realized it was your mom and Uncle Johnny, I thought, ‘Hey, where are you?’ I looked around but you weren’t in it.

J: Funny, my mom and Uncle Johnny. And that YOU would dream about them….maybe they are thinking of each other, or she is thinking about him being on the ‘other side’ now, or he is thinking of her, when he’s in the astral realm now.

I watch the waves for a while.

J: I still think he always loved her. After Daddy died. And before. It’s like the two of them were joined in some lifetime prior. Then, he came in to meet her again, but too young to be with her, and then my dad married her instead, his older brother that he loved so much. Both of them were so affected when Daddy died. Crushed. Him, rushing over to their house minutes too late before they told her it was so, and witnessing it all. Her, fainting. The fall, the end of that chapter of her life, and the start of its consequences, thereafter. Then, he never forgave my Uncle Bill that broke the news to her that day. Never spoke to him for two years, he said. Well, that’s what he told Win that day when they spoke about it at her house.  All these decades later, they meet at Win’s house that afternoon. Talk about this and that, and then noticing Win’s picture of Daddy on the ledge, Johnny brings forward what happened on ‘the day that Mike died.’ Then on to talk of other things. This fellow met that woman and she isn’t sure if she’s going to be with him or not, briefly, casually, chit chat about the latest goings on. Then, down. She falls, again. No response. Slumps her head in silence. Them, wondering. Kidding, joking. Wondering if she is strangely mad about something they’ve said. Johnny saying, awkwardly, perhaps he should leave now? If he’s offended her. Him, wondering. Her, having a stroke. Head down. Staring. Silenced inside.

They said something loosened in her heart. That’s what Dr. Butcher said in the hospital. Something loosened in her heart and made its way to her head and lodged there, causing the stroke. Well, it was that way. That edge of sorrow she kept there for so long, that finally let a piece of itself go. Stopping everything in its tracks. Win never said anything when I left her that phone message, saying this was the connection to the stroke…mom and Uncle Johnny. And their connection that was held so deep when Daddy died.

R: Yea.

R: Anyways, it was just a crazy dream. (Sigh.) Them together and going to the moon.

Romeo gets up, leaves the room and heads outside. I see him out the window. I’m up, too. Tom, our realtor, calls. We have a showing Wednesday. Today? Yes. In a few hours. The direction for the day rearranged. We head into our well established cleaning and staging routine inside and outside the house. Hope sets in, but there’s less attachment to it now. It’s becoming routine; duty without attachment. Romeo loads the yard clippings and recycleables into the back of the truck. He puts Syl into her cat carrier, and lifts her onto the back seat, then parks both vehicles outside the gate. I set the lights on throughout the house, check everything…twice. Romeo follows me through the house, checking the details in his own way. They’ll be here in 1/2 hour. We’re ready to go.

Standing outside the gate.

J: Wanna meet at Oh So Yummy for lunch? I’m not sure if it’s open as there was a sign posted on it the other day, remember?

R: Yea. It was closed Tuesday but it’s open today.

I get in the car. Romeo is a few minutes behind me. We see each other downtown, and walk together to Oh So Yummy. The sign on the door says it’s closed till Thursday.

R: Wanna go with me to the dump?

J: That sounds exciting.

R: Well, it’s just that I have all the yard stuff and I can get rid of it now, then we’ll have room to fill the bins again.

J: Yup. K.

I jump in the truck. Syl is as good as gold in the back. How’d she get this good after how bad she used to be when she was younger? We take the turn onto the highway, passing Creekmore coffeehouse and Coombs junction.

J: I want to stop at the record store on our way back, k?

We arrive at the recycle depot. Romeo gets out and systematically empties the containers here and there, separating variations of plastic into defined areas. I’m kinda impressed. I haven’t been here with him for a while. He’s taken over this task now and seems kinda proud of it. So unlike him, the him I used to think he was. I stay in the truck and open the door to Syl’s kennel. She pokes her head out into the opened space, and puts a paw forward but then sits back and doesn’t come out. Wow. Age really does bring wisdom. Romeo returns and says I’d better close her kennel door. He’s nervous she will come out. She won’t.

We arrive at the dump. The woman at the weigh gate says Hi! as if she knows Romeo well. She also says, ‘Oh, you have a date with you today?!’ Romeo laughs. I’m silent. We back up into the unloading bays and Romeo jumps out of the truck and unloads it. The girl, no, woman, who works in the recycle bays walks over to where we are at: Yard Waste, and says Hello! to Romeo and something else that I don’t hear. She’s got her hair in long pigtails and is wearing overalls. She’s like a young girl going on 60ish. Romeo gets back in the truck and we are back onto the highway.

He slows down and signals right.

J: Oh, you remembered? I forgot. Thanks! I wouldn’t have thought you would stop if I didn’t remember. Cool.

It’s fun to look in the store. They have a great collection of used records, but also many artisan and locally made items that are interesting to look at. I see a T shirt that I think Jan will like for his birthday.

J: Do you have this in M?

R: What’s the difference between these two Led Zeppelin albums?

The clerk is a somewhat nice guy, half on, half off (HOHO). He only responds to what he wants to, one thing at a time. He ignores Romeo, leaving him standing there, awkwardly. He starts to flip the records again, after a moment.

HOHO: Not with that logo on it, but I have the T and I can print the logo on it in about an hour, if you want to come back for it?

J: Sure, that’s great.

HOHO: Now, I can answer your question about the records…(He heads over to where Romeo is standing.)

We leave the store pledging to return to pickup the T after the realtor showing is over.

R: Wanna go to Coombs for a bite?

J: Do you mean the Coombs Market? Sure.

It’s busy at the market but we manage to order and find a table. We’re not in a hurry and it’s nice to relax a bit after the mad rush of cleaning house. We chit chat and people watch. The music in the background begins to play a song that I recognize.

J: Gosh, we used to play this song forever when we were little. It was a favourite of my mother’s. She had the album. (Singing) In 1814 we took a little trip, down the Mississippi to the Mighty Mississip, we took a lil bacon and we took a lil beans, and we blah blah blah blah blah blah to the town of New Orleans…we-ell we…fired our guns but the British kept a’coming…hahaha

R: Really? I’ve never heard it before? Who sings it?

J: Hmm….Horton.

R: Horton? What’s the first name?

J: Can’t remember.

R: Did you kids play that or was it your mother’s?

J: Oh, it was my mother’s. She used to play record albums in the house all the time, then we would play them too. We loved them! Knew all the words to every song. I was very young then.

J: Johnny

R: What?

J: Johnny Horton. His name was Johnny Horton. I can see the album cover now as I remember it.

Romeo leans back in his chair. Then, forward again.

R: Wanna hear something crazy?

I wait.

R: I was browsing through the albums in the record store just now. You know, flipping them one by one. There was a small section in another corner I happened to notice, just a few, and they were kind of difficult to look at, stuck tight between the cupboard ends, so I had to flip them only slightly and then look at each one, tilting my head, like this. I saw ‘Johnny’ and thought it might be a record I recognized…but then it wasn’t. You know what it was?

J: What?

R: Johnny Horton.

J: No way?

R: Yup. I remember it because I didn’t know the name. It was strange how it was in a totally different area and that I noticed to go over there and check it out and now here we are and you say ‘Johnny Horton’.

J: Crazy.  Crazy that I even noticed the song playing as I never noticed any of the others. Cool! And then all that stuff with my mom in your dream and my Uncle Johnny! And her loving Johnny Horton’s music! Hahaha  Pretty cool! I’m not sure what it’s all about but I love that it’s happening!

We finish up and get in the truck to drive back home, passing the record store again. Yowza! I see the store sign.

J: Hey! You know what’s also crazy?!

R: What?

J: Where did we go?

R: To the record store?

J: Yea, but what’s it called?

R: Dunno

J: MOON RECORDS! Hahaha  Just like in your dream, they were going to the moon! You said it didn’t make any sense, but it was Moon’s Records!

R: Crazy!

We sit in silence. You can feel the feeling we are both sharing. The joy of crossing over somewhere new; ‘it’ communicating with us.

J: What’s really weird is that it was your dream, but it was me who wanted to go to the record store. Then, it was you who saw the vinyl, but me who heard it in the market. We’re both tangled in it.

Pause.  The wheels of contemplation stay turning.

R: It’s like we are laying tracks as we live out our lives.

J: Yea, like tracks on a record! Haha

J: Hey, do you know what those stores are called, where the record store is? You know, they’re the ones on the opposite side of the bridge. The tourists don’t frequent there because they only go to what they can easily see so they stay on the obvious side and miss all the cool stores…like Moon’s Records. Do u know what those stores are called?! (I’m excited inside and smiling big now. Synchronicity makes me come alive.)

R: What?

J: They’re called The Other Side!

R: Crazy!

 

 

 

The phone rings. It’s Tom.

T: Sorry, the showing WASN’T actually today. Not sure how that got confused. It was scheduled for Wednesday, but was supposed to be Thursday. So, exactly the same time, but tomorrow.