In the morning, before my son and his wife woke up at home, an employee of the cruise company told me that my place had already been given to someone else.
It was six o’clock. The phone was vibrating on the stone kitchen counter, while I was drinking coffee and touching with my fingers Arthur’s old, copper-worn compass. My husband had bought this compass for the trip to Alaska. For years it had lain on the kitchen shelf, and every time I looked toward it, I heard Arthur’s words: “One day I will still take you where the ice looks like mountains.”
I found a message from Chloe on the phone.
“We have made a decision. You are not coming to Alaska. My mother only wants to be with the family.”
I read it three times.
I did not cry. I simply watched the steam from the coffee and felt the cup growing cold in my hand.
The trip had been Arthur’s last wish. Before the illness finally defeated him, he lay by the hospital window and told me:
“Louisa, do not postpone it because of me. If I cannot go, you go anyway.”
But I did not want to go alone. So I invited Mark and Chloe. Their parents too. I booked an expensive six-person suite and paid fifty-five thousand dollars from my savings.
They lived in the same house. They had moved in “temporarily” eighteen months ago. Their clothes were piled on my armchairs, Mark’s game consoles occupied the living room, and Chloe’s car blocked my garage every day. I bought groceries, washed the shared rooms, and paid the utility bills.
And now their family no longer included me.
The family tablet lay on the table. Chloe never logged out of her account. I turned on the screen and opened the reservation.
When I looked at the passenger list, my breath caught. My name was no longer there. In its place stood Chloe’s younger sister.
Mark, Chloe, her parents, and her sister were going. Only I was missing—the woman whose husband had conceived this trip and whose card had paid for everything.
I returned the tablet exactly to its place.
At eight o’clock Mark came downstairs. He was rubbing his eyes. Chloe was wearing expensive exercise clothes and looked as if she had slept well.
I was frying bacon.
“I saw your message,” I said.
Chloe picked up an apple.
“Louisa, this is simply family logistics.”
“Why did you change my name in the reservation?”
She shrugged.
“My mother has difficulty feeling comfortable around you. Besides, the cold would affect her joints badly.”
I looked at Mark.
“Do you think so too?”
He stared at the floor.
“Mom, Chloe’s family needs a little time together.”
“And what did I receive in exchange for this trip?”
Mark smiled awkwardly.
“We’ll bring you a souvenir.”
Arthur had wanted to see Alaska. And now they were offering me a magnet.
My silence reassured them. They thought I would back down again.
When the cars drove out of the yard, I entered Arthur’s study. The copper compass lay on the desk. Beside it, I wrote down the cruise company’s number.
“I want to cancel the reservation,” I told the operator.
“The entire reservation?”
“The entire thing.”
The sound of the keyboard was heard for several seconds.
“The full amount will be refunded to you. Are you sure?”
I looked at the compass.
“Completely.”
Within forty-eight hours the money would be returned to me. Then I called another company and booked a balcony cabin on the same route, on the same day.
Only one passenger.
Louisa Franklin.
In the evening I packed Chloe’s coats into boxes. Mark’s things too. When they returned in the morning, a new lock would be waiting for them at the house.
But before they returned, I had one more call to make. A sealed folder lay in Arthur’s room, and when I put its key to the keyhole, car headlights lit up behind the door…
I stopped the key in the lock. The headlights immediately went out. The car belonged to a neighbor, but my heart did not calm down for a long time.
The house documents were kept in the folder. The property was registered only in my name. Mark had never mentioned this, while Chloe had probably thought that free living would continue forever.
I called attorney Irakli.
“If I ask them to leave, how much time do they have?” I asked.
“If there is no lease agreement, you will need written notice. But the locks cannot be changed before they return.”
“Then prepare the notice today.”
That night I looked at the house as if I were seeing it for the first time. Arthur’s photograph hung on the wall. The same copper compass could be seen in his hand.
The next morning Mark wrote to me: “I hope you will not create an awkward situation. Our flight is in the evening.”
I sent him only one word: “Enjoy.”
Irakli sent me a message. The document was ready. It said that their things would be waiting for them in the yard and that they would no longer be able to enter the house.
In the evening Chloe called me from the airport.
“Louisa, why isn’t the key working?”
“Which key?”
“The house key. We are at the door.”
I sat down in the hallway. Arthur’s compass shone in my hand.
“Chloe, you are not home yet.”
Silence fell.
Then she asked in a whisper:
“Then whose suitcases are standing in the yard?…”
“Mine,” I said, and opened the door-camera recording.
The screen showed five o’clock in the evening. A truck was entering the yard. The workers were carefully placing Chloe’s bags, Mark’s consoles, and their boxes of clothes on the sidewalk. Not one item was damaged. Each box had an adhesive note attached to it.
“Chloe.” “Mark.”
“You cannot do this!” Chloe shouted into the phone.
“I have already done it.”
“This is our house!”
“No. This is my house. You lived here temporarily, and the time is over.”
Mark took the phone from her.
“Mom, please, do not make this more difficult.”
“I did not make it more difficult. You changed the reservation that I paid for.”
“You are still going to Alaska, aren’t you?” His voice trembled.
“I am going.”
Chloe asked in shock:
“Alone?”
“Yes. On the same day. In the same direction.”
For several seconds nobody spoke.
“You planned all this?” Mark said.
“No. You yourselves told me that I did not belong in your family. I simply believed you.”
I handed the phone to Irakli. He read them the official notice and explained that the things had been moved safely and that the entrance was locked with a new lock.
Chloe was no longer shouting.
“What will my mother say?”
“Probably what you were telling me. That it is better for the family.”
I ended the call.
The next morning the ship left the harbor. Fog had settled on the balcony door. I held Arthur’s compass in my hand, and for the first time in years being alone did not seem like emptiness.
A short message from the captain appeared on the phone: “Your reservation is confirmed. However, your family members have sent a complaint to the company and are requesting a refund.”
At that very moment Irakli called me.
“Louisa, this is only the beginning. Mark signed a document that he did not tell you about. If this document is genuine, they may claim that they had permission to sell the house.”
“Mark signed?”
“Yes. But more important than the signature is who sent it to the notary. And this person can be seen in the camera connected to your house.”
“Who is it?”
Irakli was silent for several seconds.
“The person who was supposed to go to the airport together with your son’s family. And he is now entering your study directly…”
მარკმა საკუთარი ხმა მოისმინა და გაფითრდა…
მეგონა, ყველაფერი მხოლოდ უსამართლო მოგზაურობით დაიწყო. მაგრამ ფინალმა მაჩვენა, რამდენად შორს შეიძლება წავიდეს ადამიანი, როცა სხვის მოთმინებას სისუსტედ მიიჩნევს.
„მე მართლა ასე ვთქვი?“
და ოთახში ვეღარავინ ამოიღო ხმა.
👇 ისტორიის ფინალი უკვე გახსნილია
