FIVE
“You did what?!” Jill’s voice rang through the phone.
“I know, I know. It was stupid, it was crazy, and I shouldn’t have done it,” Lily said, pacing around her apartment like a wild animal. In the two hours since she’d left the museum, she had gone back and forth about her decision. During the cab ride home, she had been excited about getting to know Khaled. But when she arrived home, reality kicked in and she feared she had made a terrible mistake.
“No, no, no, no… It was exactly the right thing to do!” Jill squealed with delight. “Girl! You never do anything spontaneously. I’m surprised you haven’t booked the date you’re going to fall in love! Sometimes you gotta throw all that rigidity to the wind and fly by the seat of your pants!”
“Yeah, I know, it’s just that what if—”
“No ‘what ifs.’ Just go with it. That’s what being spontaneous is all about. You take what’s coming and enjoy the ride. And from what you’ve said about this guy, it sounds like it will be an enjoyable ride, indeed.”
“But I wasn’t completely truthful with him,” said Lily.
“How untruthful were you?”
Lily exhaled. “I kind of gave him the impression that I’m from a royal family.”
Jill laughed through the phone. “Wow! Did you come right out and say that? Or did you just say things that could have been construed that way? There’s a big difference, you know.”
Lily thought about the semantics of what her friend was saying. “Well, I didn’t make it clear one way or the other.”
“There you go!” said Jill. “You weren’t entirely untruthful. You just told a little white lie. Heck, it probably wasn’t even your fault. And besides. Who cares? It led to the invitation of a lifetime! Seriously Lily, when will you ever get the opportunity to do something like this again?”
Lily vacillated as she watched the city lights twinkle in the distance. From her West Loop apartment, she was able to glimpse the Aon Center and Two Prudential Plaza, two of Chicago’s tallest buildings. The lights danced in the wind and she remembered the chill she had felt sitting on top of the Field Museum. She thought about how she had misled Khaled. But then, she thought about how she felt when they kissed and the warmth of his embrace.
“Okay, okay I’ll go,” she said with a newfound resolve.
Jill yelled happily through the phone. “That’s what I’m talking about, girl! Ever since I’ve known you, all you’ve done is work like a dog. You’re so concerned with everyone else, with making them happy, with not inconveniencing them, that you forget that you need to take some time for yourself. You deserve happiness, too, you know.”
“I know,” Lily said, but she didn’t really believe it. She didn’t know why, but she never felt like she was meant for fairy tale kind of happiness. She knew she could achieve whatever she set her mind too. And she had no doubt that with her intelligence and perseverance, she would go far. But love? Like, head over heels, sweep you off your feet sort of love? Lily always thought that was for other people. But a vacation? She could handle that.
“Thanks Jill,” she said to her friend. “I’ll keep you posted on what’s going on. In the meantime, can you swing by and water the plants while I’m gone?”
Jill laughed at Lily’s request. She knew that Lily didn’t have any live plants. She might have been a master history buff, but a horticulturist she was definitely not.
“You mean pick up the mail?” Jill asked, knowing that’s what her friend had meant.
“Yeah, thanks. You’re the best. I’ll text you when I get wherever it is I’m going.”
“Okay. And Lily? Remember to have fun. This isn’t an assignment. It’s a vacation.”
Lily smiled and said goodbye to Jill. She put the phone down and gazed out at the Chicago night. The trees lining her street were shedding leaves quickly as the wind spun them wildly. She turned back to her apartment and went to her bedroom to pack. But what was she packing for? She didn’t even know where she was going? She figured she’d hope for the best – warm weather, maybe even tropical – and plan for the worst.
She took her suitcase out of her closet and heaved it up on her bed. She unzipped it and stopped when she saw the card lying in the empty suitcase. Lily picked it up and looked at it. She hadn’t used the suitcase since she going home for her grandmother’s funeral the previous year.
Lily’s grandmother Dora was her hero. She was an adventurer who had traveled the world and defied all female stereotypes of her time. Lily had been very close to her grandmother and Dora had spent many afternoons telling Lily wild stories about her travels. That was when Lily had felt the first twinges of wanting to get out of her small Missouri town. Grandma Dora introduced her to so many amazing sights, sounds and experiences through her stories. Lily wanted to experience it all.
Dora had been an activist in the women’s lib movement of the 1960s. She went to rallies, protested against war and traveled the globe with the Peace Corps. She married a Vietnam vet and they had Lily’s mother, Betty. But that didn’t slow Dora down. She learned to fly a plane when she was in her forties and when Betty was grown and Dora’s husband had passed, she flew to Costa Rica and took up surfing. She lived a while there, returning for brief periods to Missouri to visit. It was during these visits over the years that she and Lily formed an untenable bond.
When Lily left for college, Dora had just returned from three months in Africa. She didn’t know it at the time, but it was to be her last trip. While there, she had contracted a virus that progressively sapped her strength. Over the next few years, her health had declined. Lily had kept in touch with Dora while at school and in Chicago, but Alzheimer’s had set in and Dora was not always Dora. The last time the two had spoken had been a week before Dora died, just after Lily lost her job at the museum.
“Now you listen here,” Dora had said, a hint of her previous spark returning momentarily. “Don’t you let this get you down. It’s a setback, just a setback, you hear me?”
“Yes, Gramma, I hear you.”
“When I was getting my pilot’s license, I got delayed three times. Did I ever tell you that?”
“Yes Gramma, you did,” Lily said politely, but that didn’t stop Dora.
“Well, I’m gonna tell you again. The first time was when I was tending bar. I had a big event to go to and I was supposed to take my test the next day. I had to take a bus back from the event and the bus broke down. So I missed the test. The second time was when your mother got sick. I think it was right after you were born. She got the flu so bad and your daddy was on the road. So I had to come take care of you.”
Lily swallowed hard. She had loved it when Dora told those stories. Even though she had been a baby when this occurred, she swore she could remember Dora taking care of her that time.
Dora went on. “The third time, the third time they told me that I didn’t have enough flying hours. They just didn’t want a woman getting her pilot’s license. But I did have enough hours, I did take the test and I passed it!”
Lily listened as Dora’s tone reverberated with excitement. She was so grateful to have Dora in her life, she was inspired by her.
“Just keep your chin up, Peanut. And don’t ever stop living your life.”
Those were the last words Dora had said on that phone call; the last that she ever spoke to Lily.
Lily lifted the memorial card out of the suitcase and looked at it. The front held a picture of Dora in her mid-fifties, standing next to her bi-plane. On the back of the card was a copy of her obituary, which read like an action adventure story.
“Don’t ever stop living your life…” Lily said out loud as she took the card and placed it on her nightstand. “Don’t you worry, Gr
amma, I won’t.”
Without further ado, Lily turned around, went to her dresser and started packing.