After I finished my shower and changed into clean clothes, I made my way to the kitchen. Amanda was in the kitchen making some coffee and cereal.
"Good morning!" She greeted me.
"Good morning!" I said cheerily. "How are you today?"
"I'm great!" She replied. "Today's my day off, so it's going to be a great day!"
"Glad to hear." I said with a smile as I grabbed the bag of oats from the cupboard and began my search for the smaller metal pot.
"What are your plans for the day?" Amanda asked me.
"I have to take it easy today." I began, as I located the measuring cups. "I also have to take a long nap. I have the ritual tonight."
I measured water into the pot and set it on the stovetop.
"Wait, so which ritual is this?" She asked.
"The one that marks the transition from spring to summer. Tomorrow is the first day of summer." I was waiting for the water to boil.
"Oh, ok." Amanda said. "So, when will you be leaving for that?"
"I have to leave here at least an hour before sunset." I informed her as I stirred the oats into the boiling water. "And I won't be back until a bit after sunrise tomorrow morning."
"Ok." She said thoughtfully. "Want to watch a movie with me a bit later?" It was evident she had yet to change out of pjs or brush her hair. "I have to shower and get ready first."
"Sure." I answered. "I'd love to. What are we going to watch?" I stirred the oats again and reduced the heat on the burner to low.
"I don't know, there are a couple different ones I was thinking of."
"What about 'Never forget me'?" I asked her. Knowing the movie based on a true story was one of her favourites.
It was a sad drama, and one of the main male leads dies in a terrorist attack in the end, but I knew I could handle it. I felt stable and sturdy and thought I could make it through the movie without crying.
"Oh, sure!" She said with a smile. "Are you sure you are ok watching that one?"
I laughed. "Of course, I am. I will only cry if you start crying; I won't be able to help it then."
Amanda took her coffee and cereal to the table and began to eat. I put some water in a glass and added a squirt of lemon juice. After scooping my oatmeal in a bowl, I broke some walnut halves over top and with a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg and a fistful of raisins, my breakfast was ready.
I carried oatmeal and water to the table and sat myself down. As we ate, we discussed how the previous evening's work went for Amanda.
She told me about how she did makeup for a group of young ladies who were going to their friends' sweet 16 party. Then, after that, she did nails for a hairdresser who she commonly worked with and also considered her friend.
So, I inevitably got caught up on all the stuff going on in the hairdresser's life and how Amanda helped her brainstorm through a relationship problem. All I could think was that I am lucky to not have an eccentric, menopausal mother- in-law.
Once we were both finished breakfast, we worked together to wash and dry the dishes. Then, Amanda was just about to go back upstairs when I called out to her.
"Hey!" She turned around. "Have you seen Saoirse? Is she even home?"
"No." She replied. "She never came home. I think something big went down at the hospital, based on the text she sent me. She's probably trying to keep someone alive."
"Ok. Thanks." I said. "I just wondered that's all."
"Well, I'm going to go get that shower." Amanda stated.
"Alright." I said as she disappeared up the stairs.
I walked back to the kitchen and opened the fridge. I located the can of cat food with its white plastic lid and grabbed the cats' dish.
I got a fork and after taking off the lid, struck the side of the can three times with the fork. The resounding ding, ding, ding, was like an official summons; there was a flash of fast-moving fur, and then at my feet was a cat.
He slinked himself in figure eights, winding around my legs as I scooped some food from can to dish. Growing impatient he meows loudly, before flopping his body on the floor, on my feet.
I looked down at the stripy body. A tabby cat with stripes of light and dark brown on a body that looked mainly caramel, accented here and there with touches of white and a chestnut brown so dark it almost looked black.
I laughed at his ridiculousness.
"Here." I said as I led him over to the place he was usually fed and sat down his dish. The cat ate in a very messy way. I just shook my head and headed in the direction on the stairs.
Once I had made my way to my room, I opened my favourite book. It may seem surprising, but it was a book of relatively few words; in fact there were more pictures than words.
It was a book made by English Heritage and showed all the places around the world that were considered historically important and were protected by governments. I loved the fact that the sale of these books helped generate money to pay for the preservation and restoration of these places.
I could spend hours looking at the images in this book. I sat on the bed and began to flip through the pages. A pyramid in South America, one of the tallest waterfalls in Africa, a native buffalo jump in Canada, the oldest known European settlement in the United States, a Viking burial in Greenland, a Stonehenge in England. I stopped on a page depicting a temple in India.
I loved the pictures, but to the places shown in them; the ones I had been to, somehow the pictures, as beautiful as they were, could never do justice. I could stare at this picture of the temple all day and it would never match my memory of having been there.
But yet, somehow, the pictures were like old friends. We shared secrets; I knew them, and they knew me. They were the fastest way to trigger memories of the places I had been. I could again picture the details of places and faces I almost feared I had forgotten.
I hadn't even realized that I was lost in reminiscing. Playing in my head, was the time I spent travelling around India, of all I had done and seen.
I had experienced a good part of the world before I came to settle where I was now. For three years, I wandered the earth, a nomad, and had only been settled here these past two.
Actually, it might be just over two and a half years now. My concept of time seemed to be more fluid than that of the humans.
I was brought back to the present moment by Amanda, who was currently knocking on the door jamb. "Hey. I was just wondering if you still wanted to watch a movie?"
I smiled at her and set my book aside, on a folded blanket at the end of the bed. "Yes, if you are ready, we could watch it now."
"Alright." She said happily. "I'll grab my laptop and meet you in the living room."
I got up from the bed and picked up my book, returning it to its place on the shelf before I scooped up the blanket and made my way to the living room.