At some point in the night my brain switched off enough that I was able to sleep for a few hours even if it was that twilight type that leaves one feeling as if they have been running in a race underwater. I was aware of a fair amount of noise outside my window at different stages while lying in bed which I recognized as the Friday night crowd becoming the early Saturday morning crowd moving from one venue to the next. Since our townhouse was on a street that ran the one block from Flinders to So. Dowling and then one block in the other direction from Oxford Street we were in the center of the Bermuda Triangle of the Darlinghurst nightlife. Sydney is a city that gets started late and doesn't stop until the sun rises. Darlinghurst, it turns out, is where the real partiers in Sydney spend there leisure time. It also didn't take me long to figure out that in my haste to get settled the first night we were in the unit I foolishly grabbed the bedroom that was on the street, leaving the bedroom in the back of the house, away from the street noise, to Candi. I've since chalked that up to Dad taking care of his daughter but at the time I was wondering how I could be so careless.
At a moment in the night I checked Robin's mobile phone that I still had in my possession when I felt I had reached the point of restlessness that signals one to get out of bed. 3:27 a.m. the display glared back at me in fluorescent green. Knowing my own inabilities to fight off the urge to get up and start moving about I grabbed a pair of sweatsocks to ward of the chilly floors and headed out to attempt the downward ascent of the wicked staircase. Since the boards that made up the stairs were highly polished I tread especially slowly so as to not slip and break my neck. I started the routine of the cups of instant cappuccino supplemented by toast with peanut butter. I occupied what was to become my regular place at the breakfast bar, balanced on the wobbly stool and proceeded to employ the rest of the lone box of tissues we had remaining to absorb my tears. I found that although I was able to put on the brave face for the rest of the family, most of the time, when I was alone with my thoughts the events and reality became nearly unbearable. I was feeling so frustrated. In spite of my research the previous day I had no confidence that I was on the right track. I wondered about the doctors and their commitment to our son. I worried about Robin and Melissa and Jo and Mag and Luke and Candi and Carri and Mitzi and how this tragedy would affect all of our lives forever.
Intermittently, the rain would fall softly on the patio in the back which I was facing from the breakfast bar. I could hear the revelers scurry past the doorway out the front. Knowing that the sun would be coming up in about an hour I decided to grab my jacket and head outside. Since it was mid-day Friday in California I thought I would check in with my office. Mitzi is our office manager and it would also give me an opportunity to catch up with her since until that time the only communication we had was a few minutes here and there on the telephone and an email or two from Geoff's MacBook. I knew that Candi wouldn't be stirring until much later and Jeanette was going to pick us up around 10:00 and take us shopping for some of the things we would be needing but didn't pack in our haste. I grabbed Robin's mobile phone and headed out the door since the sound echoed around our little apartment with all its hard surfaces it made more sense to make the call outdoors so as to not disturb Candi.
I locked both doors and started walking toward Flinders. I dialed the office in Palm Desert and when Mitzi answered the phone I asked her to ring me back so as to not run up the long distance charges on Robin's mobile phone. As I approached the intersection a group of men in attire that was way to skimpy for the chilly temperature exploded out of the back entrance to the "Bodyline 2000" (it's sign complete with the rainbow flag) arms around each others waists, making an incredible racket. About the time I noticed them the mobile phone was signaling me for the incoming call. I answered, and not wanting to deal with the stumbling herd ahead of me I turned up the next street. As I started to speak with Mitzi I noticed movement in a recessed doorway just ahead of me to my right. Without too much detail, what I witnessed next was a heterosexual couple involved in what I described to Luke later as my new found respect for Sydneysiders thriftiness in that they apparently didn't like to waste money on hotel rooms. I was starting to think I was trapped in a nightmare when out of the corner of my eye I saw 2 large dogs springing toward me untethered with their apparent master locking up his own door before attempting to rein in his canine friends. All of this while I am trying my best to communicate the events of the past 48 hours to my wife. Now I was convinced that I was trapped in a Stanley Kubrick film and would never escape. As I breathlessly tried to explain to Mitzi what was happening I'm sure she was thinking that I had lost my mind. I'm sure I was thinking that I had as well.
It was still dark as I found refuge in a little "Bark Park" that was at the end of the block and save for the trash collector and street sweeper that came by while I was resident there I was able to have the rest of my conversation in relative peace. Mitzi and I decided that in spite of the challenges of my being outdoors in Darlinghurst at 6 o'clock in the morning it made sense to check in at that time each day going forward as it was noon in California, albeit the day before. I headed back toward Taylor Street as I said goodbye to Mitzi and noticed the couple I had observed about 45 minutes earlier in the doorway were now standing side by side, leaning against the building, smoking cigarettes.
I decided I would head to the grocery store that was just up Oxford Street and get a few things I knew we needed in the unit. I grabbed some "real" ground coffee as I had noticed an espresso press in the cupboard among the dishes and utensils and wasn't sure if I could handle any more "instant". After selecting a few boxes of kleenex, a couple of rolls of paper towels, fruit, milk, a loaf of bread and some yogurt I figured I had all I could carry. I headed back to the townhouse with my bags of groceries and then stopped at a convenience store that provided access to a computer and the internet for $2 per 20 minutes. My business partner, Art Alvarez, and Mitzi were handling my work duties while I was away but they had agreed to send emails to identify any issues with which they needed assistance since I left everything I was assigned in an "as is" state when I rushed out of the office on Tuesday evening. I spent the next 15 minutes, or so, responding to emails on my two accounts. This phone call, walk to the grocery store and visit at the internet cafe became my routine for nearly every morning I was in Sydney.
I awakened Candi at a predetermined time and we tried out the espresso press and found it to be much more to our liking than the instant coffee. I told Candi about my adventures of the morning and she let me know how well she has slept. We then decided to take a walk to Hyde Park before having breakfast in the townhouse and waited for Jeanette to come calling. Jeanette picked us up in "Tiffany" and wheeled us downtown to the Pitt Street shopping area where there were numerous shops and department stores. Primarily, we were looking for a dress for Candi to wear to Geoff's service and then shoes to match the dress. I suppose I was along for consultation purposes only. At one point, while Candi and Jeanette were in a succession of shoe stores I propped myself up against a wall and watched the herds of people out and about on a Saturday morning go by. How could it be fair, I kept asking myself, that all these people are out shopping and seemingly without a care in the world and my son's body is in the funeral home on King Street? Surely he was less deserving than many of these people to have his life ended. I then noticed a woman in her 30's standing right in front of me mouthing the words "Are you all right?" and I suppose since I had tears streaming down my face she had every right but not wanting to explain myself I nodded my head and walked toward where I thought Jeanette and Candi had gone.
I found Candi and Jeanette in a few minutes and they indicated they wanted to visit the David Jones department store that was just up the road. Candi had found a dress but was now in search of shoes to match. I followed along and when they started toward the ladies shoe department, which was the size of a small auditorium I let them know they could find me in the Men's department. We agreed to meet at the top of the escalator in half an hour. I managed to find myself 3 shirts, I needed them badly, that were part of the "Super Saturday" sale and made my purchase, met the girls at the agreed upon time and resumed my tag along position. After a few more fruitless minutes Jeanette suggested we head to an enclosed mall shopping center that was near her home and so we found "Tiffany" and motored our way to the newest hunting ground.
After we exited the carpark into the mall I noticed a Vodaphone mobile phone store almost immediately when we entered the complex. I told the girls I would take a look in there and then stay around that area until they returned. I found a very accommodating young man in the busy Vodaphone store and asked him what he would do if he was in Sydney for a few weeks, needed to be able to communicate locally and back to California with the ability to text. He immediately suggested a Nokia phone that was smaller than any I had ever used and advised that I should load it with a $49 Prepaid "recharge". The entire cost for the phone and the recharge was $78 and upon purchasing the phone I now had my own number which both Candi and I could use for our family members to contact us and I could give Robin back her phone so that I didn't need to worry any longer about how much I was running up her bill. I had sufficient prepaid airtime such that Candi and I used the phone liberally during our trip and never had the need to recharge a second time.
After I exited the store with my bright red Vodaphone bag in hand I saw Candi and Jeanette heading toward me with shopping bags. Candi was excited that she had found 2 pair of shoes and wasn't sure which one she would keep but was going to return whichever pair she didn't after getting the opinions of some of the other ladies. Jeanette wanted to have lunch but I insisted we head over to Robin's as it was now early afternoon and we still had plenty of things to work out and were scheduled for our meeting at the Catholic Church later that afternoon. We found Tiffany just where we had left her in the carpark and headed to Bexley North.
No comments:
Post a Comment