Nostalgia Ch. 04

Author's Note: I'm beginning to think that I have an odd fondness for summer and beaches.

***

It was a freezer, a long, black freezer kept on the floor of a medium-sized room that had no windows, but there were dim lights.

The only door opened. A large pair of hiking boots passed the boundary between the room and what was beyond. Those boots were worn by a very tall person with ankle-length, tightly curled hair the color of blood. There was a loose, faded, and paint-stained pair of jeans. A white button up shirt with rolled up sleeves, it revealed tanned arms with firm muscles. There was an oval shaped face, a somewhat long nose, and a pair of dark blue eyes that were almost dead.

The person closed the door and walked over to the freezer. Although the hips themselves appeared feminine, this person did not walk with the swaying gait that many women used. This person walked quickly and with no desire to appear beautiful.

A hand with short fingernails, darkened by soil and perhaps something else, claimed the freezer's handle. The lid was pulled up with a slight pop and an electric hum.

Inside, there was the body of a handsome young black man. There were bloody bandages wrapped around his throat, his waist, and his arms.

The red-haired person's free hand rose up. The fingernails ... they extended ... grew ... until they were sharp looking claws.

The hand swung to one side.

The claws sunk into the redhead's bare wrist.

Of course, blood spurted and trickled down.

***

A refreshing afternoon's jog.

That was exactly what she thought she needed.

Ana put on her gray sweatpants with her attached phone case, black sports bra, red tank top, and her worn and dirty sneakers. It wasn't a long drive to the park, but it was a nice one. She passed old and new buildings, each one with their own story.

Once she was safely parked, she got out, locked the door, and went off at a gentle pace. There was no need to start off with a bang.

Children were playing on playground equipment. That was wholesome and sweet, a nice thing to notice. Some people were walking their dogs, also wholesome and sweet, except for the types that weren't well trained. Goodness, those types of dogs loved to bark and snap their teeth at anything! Why were they usually the smaller breeds? Was it because people don't often train the smaller ones, because they think their misbehavior is often cute?

Ana kept her breath steady. Her black ponytail swung back and forth. Sweat dropped and slipped around her flesh. Her brain was relaxing, cleaning out all the worries in the world, at least until they'd return.

Her world was happy for a time.

When she was tired, she sat on a bench under a tree and wiped at her face and neck. Then she looked at her phone for a while. She had a surprisingly good connection. She read a few threads in certain gaming forums. Her eyebrows lowered at one thread. Someone was complaining about how a certain female character sat down on the ground with a different animation from her male equivalent.

Seriously? Of all the things to bitch about?!

Maybe she should get into video game design. She already had a few game engines on her PC. She had only played around with them, but maybe she could make a visual novel or an RPG. She wouldn't even have to hire an artist for the visual part. Not every game needed 3D animation; 2D was just fine.

But, that sounded like a lot of time, effort, and risk without enough reward.

Ana decided to look at her business email. There were a few new things to read, but nothing upsetting. Everything was going along smoothly.

She spent a bit more time playing a pointless, casual app game. Why? Because sometimes her brain needed something foolish. By the time she was bored of it, the sky was multicolored, signaling sunset.

Wow. She really stayed a while, huh?

Ana put her phone away and stood up.

Brisk and merry, she walked down a pathway.

And eventually, on another bench, she happened to see a hunched over man, opening and closing a lighter again and again.

"Hm?" Ana paused to examine him more carefully. He was wearing gray slacks, a matching blazer, and a white shirt. A straw pork pie hat was on his head, but it couldn't hide the fluffy, long black hair that rested on his shoulders.

That ... was a pretty ugly hat, but at least it wasn't a trilby or a fedora. Ana hated those hats.

She blinked ... and then she gasped.

Holy crap! Vlad Dalca!

Carefully, she approached. Then she bent over a little and softly announced her presence. "Hey. Mr. Dalca? Are you okay?"

Click! The lighter was closed a final time. He tucked it into a pocket in his slacks. Then he looked up at Ana with a face that wasn't mean. It was miserable. His eyes and cheeks were glossy from tears. There was a noticeable blush.

His voice was astonished, but quietly so, because apparent weeping had nearly strangled him. "Ah ... Ana?" He quickly put his hat in his lap.

Were they on a first name basis now? Ana chose not to make a sarcastic or rude comment. "You look like someone ran over your pet dog. What's wrong?"

A corner of his lips twitched. Then he pulled a handkerchief from inside his blazer and patted his face. "It's not something I should explain."

Ana nodded and sweetly said, "It's a personal issue, right?"

With a big, nearly demeaning sniff, Vlad Dalca folded his handkerchief and put it away. "That's right, and I don't want to burden you with such difficult things."

Standing straight, Ana laced her fingers together and told him, "Well, if you don't want to talk about your problems, that's fine, but would you at least let me sit beside you? Sometimes, the best way to feel better is to have someone near you."

Vlad Dalca leaned back against the bench's metallic back support. He stretched his great legs as he spoke. "I'd love to have you sit beside me. Stay as long as you wish."

Ana plopped herself down and gave him a tolerant expression, her smile placid. "Does your son know you're upset?"

"Certainly. He asked me to go somewhere."

"I'm guessing he didn't want you to hide in your room and pout."

"How did you know that?"

Ana looked up to the sky and scratched at her cheek. "Uhm ... I don't know. Maybe ...?" She shrugged. "When my dad's sad, he stays in one room and pouts, but it's not healthy to do that for very long." A sigh. "I just assumed you might be the same way ... even though you're two different people."

"You have fine instincts."

"Maybe." Ana tugged out her phone. "Do you want to look at some videos? I have lots of data left, and I just use wifi when I'm at home."

He turned his head to give her a jaded, uncaring look. "Why are the Internet connections in America so slow and expensive?"

Ana looked down at her screen and tried to get a certain app to pop up. "I don't know. Feels like a crime, doesn't it?" She loaded up an old video of a foal chasing a grown man around. "Look at this. It's so cute!" She held her phone up to his face.

Vlad humored her for a moment, letting his eyes go to the screen and giving a dry chuckle. Then he waved her phone away, but he looked a bit more assembled than before. "So, how have you been well?"

"Fine, really."

One of his eyebrows hopped up, but it went back down just as quickly. "You're beautiful. Why won't you complain?"

Ana snorted and grinned. "I don't care what you say. That's not my role."

"Yes it is." He put his hat right back onto his head. "How can I solve your problems if I don't know what they are?"

"Oh, so you think you're supposed to solve my problems?" Ana hoped he was teasing her again. She put her fingers under her tank top so she could adjust one of her bra's straps. "Why?"

"Because I'm a man, and when a woman complains, a man should try to help her."

Ana's bra strap was stretched and snapped against her body. "On the devil! You owe me nothing. In this matter, one's physical sex is completely irrelevant." She put her phone back in its case.

One of Vlad's arms rose and bent. His palm went to his nape. He looked up at the darkening sky, murmuring something that sounded like, "That's sensible."

"You aren't going to say any more funny and stupid things?" Ana ran her fingernails against her scalp, making lines between hunks of sweaty hair. "Now I'm disappointed."

He turned his head to look at her again. "I wish you'd say something stupid so I could laugh at it."

"Hmmmmmm?" Unsure at first of what would be stupid enough to make him laugh, Ana tapped her chin with her finger joints. "Uhhhmm ... Capitalism makes people poor?"

He folded his arms and gave a sigh so great that his entire body, as thick as it was, moved with his breath. His tone was wooden for a moment. "You've betrayed your country. You should die."

"Don't turn me into a martyr. That will only strengthen the movement." She leaned her torso towards Vlad, and then she patted his arm with her fingertips, smiling all the while. "I guess I'm no good at making you laugh."

"Don't judge yourself so harshly. In time, I'm certain that you'll have me laughing."

That dark and sweet cologne was returning to Ana's senses as she looked at those green eyes, drenching her brain in feelings she didn't expect to have. Happiness and regret, wonder and patience, hope and melancholy, all sorts of odd emotions were pricking her heart. It made no sense, but it had her breathing as if this was the most romantic scene in the world.

Niagara Falls, dinner at a fine dining restaurant, a picnic under a cherry blossom tree, hot coffee shared on a snowy day, horseback riding against acutely beautiful scenery, she might as well have been doing something like one of those options.

Her eyelids fluttered. Her heart was putting out a thrilled rhythm. Her skin was lightly buzzing.

And she didn't know what to do about any of that.

"Well," Ana said with a voice that was hastily stitched together, "if that happens, I'll smile."

For a strange, surreal moment, Ana thought Vlad's face was smoother, younger by fifteen years, and his eyes twinkled.

And he still smelled so good!

"Ana?"

She blinked. "Hm? Yes?"

"I don't think we should stay any longer. It's dark."

She looked around.

Oh. It was night. There were outdoor lamps, but it was still pretty dark. When had that happened?

Ana stood up. "I didn't mean to keep you for so long. I'm sorry."

His hand rose in a stiff, negative gesture, like a traffic warden or a crossing guard. Then, he stood up too. "I should apologize. I'm the one who held you into the darkness."

That sounded like something else, but Ana didn't know what that something else was, and she didn't want to know.

Or did she want to know?

Ana shivered as if someone had dumped ice water on her back.

If Vlad noticed that, he was certainly polite enough to pretend he didn't. He bent his arm, pointing the elbow at her, and said, "Take my arm and stay close to me. I'll walk you to your car."

Ana blushed at that. "Huh? Do you really want me to take your arm?"

"I'd be less apprehensive if you did."

Ana sighed and admitted to him, "It might be safer." She used her hand to point in the appropriate direction. "My car's that way." She curled her hand on his arm and put her other hand there too. He felt as thick as he looked, and really tight.

It wasn't a very long walk. It barely lasted a few minutes. When she was at her car, she thanked him, released him, and got into the driver's seat. Then she waved at him.

Vlad Dalca stood there and watched her drive away.

***

Time went on. Eventually, Ana got a phone call from her father. He suggested a summer vacation, planned in advance, at a popular lake in one of the southern states. It would feel just like a coastal beach, at least that was his opinion, and at an overall cheaper cost than going to the destination from their previous year.

Instead of staying at a hotel, they could rent one of the "cabins" or "cottages," but they were actually manufactured houses/trailers. If they were ordinary residences, a lower income family might call such a building a house. The interiors were apparently very nice, though.

The lake wasn't the only attraction in the area. There was a very small amusement park with childish, small rides and no roller coasters. There was also a video game arcade with a little food shop. A few playful mini golf parks were around. So were quite a few restaurants and gift shops. A few minutes away from the lake, there were various other things to lure a tourist's interest.

The main issue would be the distance, around five hundred miles with air travel.

If money was truly a problem, Ana thought, then why don't they just go to one of the beaches in their home state?

Her dad soon confessed that this was actually Mihai Dalca's idea. He'd seen rednecks on the Internet eating boiled peanuts (how and why was that even a thing?), barbecue (wait, so that's a food and not just a cooking method?), thick and fluffy biscuits (the sort that look like they could choke you), and fried green tomatoes (why would anyone even do that to a tomato, and why green ones?). Instead of patiently making these things himself or ordering some canned varieties, Mihai said he'd love to go to a southern state to get food from the locals.

So the Dalcas wanted to come too?

Would it even be wise for her to go, then?

Ana wasn't sure. She certainly liked the Dalcas, at least. They seemed like okay people. They never did anything to hurt her.

But she was worried about several things, all of them involving Vlad Dalca.

She didn't want to see him in a bathing suit.

She didn't want to play games with him.

She didn't want to eat charcoal grilled burgers and hot dogs with him.

And she didn't want many other things like that.

Because they all seemed highly enjoyable and peaceful, far too much fun.

"It sounds like a good time," Ana told her father, "but I'm not sure if I can go. I've been on a roll lately, you know? Been cranking page after page out."

"Oh, Goosey, you'll burn out by the time it's time to go."

That was true, but Ana wouldn't directly admit it.

"I guess I'll go with you guys, then."

***

Sitting on a bar stool in a luxurious, traditional kitchen with brown, white, and cream colors, Mihai Dalca was calmly reading the local newspaper. The sun was warm and cheerful, but the room had a powerful air conditioner running on high and all the windows were covered by old fashioned, flowery curtains. He was taking a sip from a glass of chocolate milk when he heard footsteps slapping against the shiny tile flooring. The feet were bare, apparently.

"Hey, Mihai?!"

Excited, yet also flat. Out of tune, but smooth at times. A nonsensical voice.

Putting his glass down, Mihai turned to look at the person.

Bouncy, untamed hair, curled and red, on a woman that was taller than quite a few men.

Mihai answered, "Yeah?"

There was a large lollipop in her mouth, big enough to cost fifty cents or more, but she spoke clearly. "Did you make your vacation plans yet?"

No matter what language she spoke, she always sounded like a foreigner.

Mihai nodded. "Yeah. We'll be really far away."

One of her hands swept up and into her hair. Her blue eyes were annoyed. "I need some scissors."

Mihai gestured towards one of the drawers in the room. "There should be some in there."

The woman went to that drawer immediately. She searched the interior, and then she pulled up a pair of common kitchen shears. Right at that drawer, the woman took the length of her curls into one hand and then crudely cut most her hair off, letting the red locks lightly pat the floor around her tanned feet. The ends of her new, somewhat uneven hairstyle barely touched her shoulders.

Mihai took another swallow of his milk. "Do you want something to eat?"

She put the shears away and closed the drawer. "I've already eaten half your food." There was no guilt in her voice. She might as well have been discussing the most boring thing in the world. "Do you want any help packing?"

"No thanks."

"Okay. Well, make sure you pack extra underwear and check your shits." The woman yawned into her fist. Then, she walked over to the marble countertop that Mihai sat at. She hopped up onto the cold surface with a BAM, right on her stomach. Her head turned to one side. Her eyes closed. Drool leaked from her mouth. Her lollipop nearly fell out.

She was already dozing off.

Mihai got up, taking his glass of milk and newspaper.

***

Funny thing, it felt like a tropical paradise. For good few minutes, Ana stood on a path of dark wooden planks, slightly elevated from the sand, and admired the salty, refreshing area. There were a few somewhat crooked trees in the water ahead. The wooden bridge became a dock as it stretched out onto that glittering lake. Children were splashing around, clinging to their colorful toy floats. Some people were making sand castles. Some others were sunbathing. In the distance, some people were riding on boats or Jet Skis.

Ana put her luggage inside a trailer that was brown and plain on the outside. The inside was bright and sweet smelling. There were two bedrooms on the opposite ends. Her parents claimed the room with the king sized bed. Ana was left with a bedroom with two smaller beds. Thankfully, they weren't too small.

Once they were finished settling into the trailer, the trio went outside to see a rented vehicle drive up to a unit next to theirs. It looked like a very nice van.

They knew who it was.

Mihai Dalca jumped out of the car, thick Ziploc bags in his fingers. They were full of moist peanuts. He was grinning as he cried out to the Davises, "I found boiled peanuts!"

Kennedy put her hand to her cheek and said with half a laugh, "I can see that."

Mihai's sandals ground onto the driveway as he marched over to the Davises. "I saw a cardboard sign leaning on a street sign. It said, 'Boiled Peanuts for Sale.' I had to stop and get some." He held one of his bags out before Mason. Then he dropped it right into Mason's hands. "Want to go to that burger shack back there?" He was referring to a business they had seen on the way over.

"Uh, sure." Mason wiggled his fingertips into the bumpy bag, giving the peanuts a distrustful look. "Just let us know when you're ready."

At this point, Ana was going back into the unit. She had different plans. She wanted to check out the arcade. She looked through her luggage to find some sunscreen and rub it in any exposed skin, just in case she wanted to go for a walk on the sand later. Might as well get a cloth beach bag in order too. She heard her father come in and put the peanuts in the fridge. Did those things really need to be refrigerated? Ana didn't really know.

"Hey, Dad?" She put her bag's handle over her shoulder and slipped on a pair of large sunglasses. "I'm going to the arcade. I think it's a short walk away."

Mason shrugged at her. "Okay Goosey, but before you go, I should warn you about the new neighbors."

"Huh?" Ana took a white sunhat from her bag and put it on. "What are you talking about?"

And then, an interruption. A woman's loud voice, just outside the unit, calling out, "Hiiiiiiiii Mihaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiii!!"

"Oh. My. God." Ana couldn't help it. She said those three words, despite a lack of belief in any god, and she stared at a window that had horizontally arranged blinds and a diaphanous white curtain framed by open, blue curtains.

Mason's voice had an unexpected dent in it. "The Williamsons are here. Just found out."

"What? Did the Dalcas ask them to come?"

"Mihai swore that they didn't. Jennifer asked Mihai about their vacation plans, and he told them, but that's all."

"Sooooo ... we're in the middle of the Dalcas and the Williamsons?" Ana tried not to sound mean. She sighed. "Well, at least you'll get to spend more time with Mr. Williamson. He's a nice guy."