Ashtrays to Jawbreakers: Christmas Edition Read online

  From that point on Stella learned the names of all the people in the community and began to learn the language. She learned very quickly and everyone just thought the bump on her head must have made her forget.

  The one thing she didn’t know was where she was from. Frank, who knew all the states and foreign countries, would ask her if this sounded familiar, or that sounded familiar. She just said no.

  Mary changed the gauze just like Doc Patrick told her to do and noticed how well the wound was healing. Doc Patrick said he’d stop by to take the stitches out and when he did he brought a Christmas present for Stella, a beautiful pair of warm boots. Mary explained what Christmas was and it made Stella sad that she no gift for him.

  “My gift, Stella,” Doc Patrick said, “Is you being well. That means a lot.”

  “Thank you for the boots,” Stella said, she was still nervous talking because she wasn’t sure she was saying things right; she was.

  “You’re very welcome, Stella,” Doc Patrick said and gave her a hug which she really liked.

  “I have new boots for everyone in my car. So if you need or want them come with me,” he said and headed for his car. He opened the trunk and the line of people started to form. Most everyone needed a good warm pair and he had many different sizes. Once everyone got their new boots he left to go back to the clinic. Everyone stood and waved to him as he drove off. Stella wasn’t sure what they were doing so Frank explained that when people leave you wave.

  That night Stella started having scary dreams and woke up looking around. She shared Mary’s home and saw Mary sleeping soundly so she laid back down. The nightmares wouldn’t stop and haunted her right through the New Year.

  The New Year was horrible for her. She heard loud noises that put her into a panic.

  “Mary what is that? It sounds familiar and scares me,” Stella said.

  “Those are fireworks. Other people shoot them off on some holidays,” Mary explained.

  “I don’t like them,” Stella said with tears in her eyes. “How long will they be doing fireworks?”

  “Maybe a day or two. It’s OK. You’re safe here. They can’t get to us,” Mary said trying to calm her down. “You said you remember the sound?”

  “Yes, and I have bad dreams about the sound,” Stella said and moved close to Mary who put her arms around her.

  “Do you want to talk with Doc Patrick?” Mary asked, “I can send Frank and Joe to get him.”

  “Can he help my bad dreams?” Stella asked.

  “Maybe. We’ll have to ask him,” Mary said and held her close. She saw Joe nearby and waved him over. “Can you and Frank go get Doc Patrick?” she asked.

  “Sure. Is Stella OK?” he asked. “She looks scared.”

  “Yes just real scared of the fireworks. She said she’s been having bad dream and I wand the doc to talk with her.”

  “Sure, I’ll get Frank and head out,” Joe said. Whenever anyone wanted to walk anywhere they always traveled with someone or in a group. There were people out there who have hurt and even killed one their group.

  A little while later the men returned but it was Doc Robert and not Doc Patrick who got out of the car.

  “Hello little lady,” he said. “Doc Patrick is with someone and asked me to come and see what’s wrong. He was also tall and had nice hazel eyes and a big smile like Doc Patrick. Plus Doc Robert was also a psychologist so he might be better for this instance.

  Stella was a little nervous but Mary assured her it would be all right.

  “I keep having bad dreams,” she said still cuddled up to Mary, “Those firecrackers make it worse.”

  “Well, let’s sit over here and talk for a while,” he said and pointed to a spot close enough to the barrel for them to stay warm but where they could have privacy.

  “Do you know where you’re from?” he asked.

  “No,” Stella said, “But those noises are horrible.”

  “Is that when you started having the bad dreams?”

  “Yes, when I first heard them. I was afraid to go back to sleep.”

  Doc Robert figured they started at midnight and she started with the dreams.

  “Do they sound familiar?” he asked.

  “Yes, I don’t know why,” she answered.

  He knew she had a head injury and wondered if something else was going on. Patrick said there was no fracture so that’s good. He wondered if her brain got shook around and injured. It’s hard to say and, even though they can afford an MRI they have no room for it. That would be the only thing that would tell him what he needs to know. His pocket beeped and made Stella jump. He sees and smiles.

  “This is my cell phone,” he told her, “I just got a call.”

  “Doc Patrick?”

  “Yes, how did you know?

  She just shrugged her shoulders. Doc Robert took the call and told his associate that he was speaking with her now. Then said good bye and hung up the phone.

  Stella looked at the phone and said, “That looks familiar.”

  Doc Robert handed it to her to examine and she did so intensely. She handed it back to him.

  “Almost like one I remember,” she said.

  “Did you have one?”

  “I think so, I can’t remember.”

  Doc Robert thought for a second then asked, “Do you remember anything from before Mary found you?”

  Stella thought and tried to remember. “No,” was all she said but she was starting to remember a little. She liked Doc Robert but didn’t want to say anymore just yet. Stella wanted to remember more before she did.

  “OK. How’s your head feeling?” he asked and leaned over to have a look. “It healed nicely.”

  “Mary took good care of me,” she said, “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

  “Good,” Doc Robert said, “If you remember anything let Mary know and we can talk again, OK?”

  “OK,” she said. Doc Robert got up and walked over to Mary. Stella stayed by the warm barrel.

  “I think she’s starting to remember something but won’t say,” he told Mary. Does she ever walk away from the community?”

  “No, she stays close, why?” Mary asked.

  “If she does start remembering where she was attacked she might try to go back. There might be some of her things left there that could help identify her.”

  “OK, if she wants to take a walk I’ll get Joe and Frank to come along for safety,” Mary told him. “She’s such a sweet thing. We’d like to help find her home.”

  “That would be a good thing,” Doc Robert said. He smiled and headed to his car and drove away.

  Stella got up and walked to where Mary was standing. “Can we walk outside the community?” she asked.

  “Of course we can,” Mary said realizing what Doc Robert had said is happening. “We can get Frank and Joe to come with us. Where do you want to go?”

  “I don’t think it’s far but I’m not sure. I want to go there,” Stella said pointing down one of the streets the community didn’t like to go. Mary thought maybe they should take Josh and Steve with them.

  “OK, let me get the guys and we’ll go,” Mary said and went to round up the men.

  Stella stood and stared down the street feeling like it was important for her to go there. She didn’t know why but that street looked very familiar to her. She wondered if it was where she was from.

  Mary and the four men walked up to Stella and they headed down the street. Frank had sent Paul and Stan to tell Doc Patrick what was going on.

  The group of six headed down the street following Stella. She was feeling drawn to the far corner on the right side of the street. Houses were dilapidated, some burned to the ground, some just very scary looking. There were no people around at this time and that made Mary feel better. Usually kids hung out in the better houses and would harass or beat any of the community who wandered here.

  Stella stopped two houses from the corner. “Here, I remember being here,” she said.

  �
��Why didn’t you tell Doc Robert?” Mary asked.

  “I wanted to see it for myself first,” Stella said, “I wanted to be sure it was real and not just a dream.”

  Mary nodded her head. “OK start looking around,” she said. “Stella do you think you were in any of these homes?”

  Stella looked at the sad house she was standing in front of. “I think I was in here.”

  “Frank, you take Joe and see if there’s anything in there that might help. I know it’s been a while but we might get lucky.”

  “Sure thing,” Frank said and the two men carefully went into the house but picked up a couple good branches for protection.

  Josh and Steve stayed with them. They were the tallest and strongest men they had and made Mary feel safe. The four of them started looking around the house for anything that might help identify Stella.

  Joe found what looked like a cell phone. “Hey Frank lookie here,” he said and held out the phone.

  “That’s one weird phone in’t it,” Frank said, “Might as well hang on to it.” The two went back to looking through the house. They refused to go to the second floor because the steps didn’t look steady. After a bit they went outside to show Mary what they found.

  Josh found some unusual looking clothing and took them to Mary. When Stella saw them her eyes opened very wide. “Those are mine,” she said and took them from Josh, “Where were they?”

  “Back on the side of the house, “he said and pointed in the direction to the left of the house.

  “Anything else there, Josh?” Mary asked.

  “No, just them,” he replied. “But the pocket’s ain’t got nothing in them.”

  Stella held what looked like a short jacket and matching pants close to her. She heard the fireworks again only they in her memory. She was beginning to remember, but not enough to put to words.

  “Show her the phone we found,” Frank said. Mary handed her the odd looking phone.

  “This is mine, too,” Stella said and tried to turn it on but whatever was done to it ruined it. “It won’t work anymore.”

  Steve came back but didn’t find anything. He noticed what Stella was holding and smiled. “Find something that’ll help?”

  “She recognizes the clothes and phone but whoever took the phone broke it,” Mary said. “Why don’t we go back I don’t like it here.”

  “Yeah, maybe Doc Patrick will be able to fix it and we can see who you are,” Josh said. Stella nodded and they all headed back to the safety of their community.

  By the time they got back they noticed Doc Patrick was waiting for them. He smiled and said, “Well what do you have there?”

  “This is my phone and these are my clothes,” she beamed.

  Doc Patrick took the phone and tried to turn it on.

  “It doesn’t work anymore,” Stella said. “They broke it.”

  Doc Patrick looked it over and didn’t recognize the style. There was no company name on it either.

  “Let me see your jacket,” he said and she handed it to him. He looked at it and there was no tag in it to tell him where she got it. “Do you think you took the tag out?”

  “I don’t think so,” Stella said, “Why?”

  “That could have helped us find where it was bought,” he said. The material wasn’t like anything he had ever seen or felt. It was almost like a satin but heavy like wool. “Can I take these and have someone check them out?” The color of the jacket was not familiar to him either.

  “Sure,” Stella said, “I have a nice warm coat and pants now. She handed him the pants that matched the jacket.

  “I’ll bring everything back,” he said and headed for his car. He placed the items in his back seat, got it and drove away.

  Doc Patrick called a friend and asked if she could check out some clothing one of his people found. She said yes and he packaged it and got it ready to in the mail the next day.

  Now he wanted to check out the cell phone. There was no logo or way to open it but he did see a seam between the top and bottom covers. He took a small flat head screwdriver and worked around it until he could separate them. Once done he was fascinated by the inside. It was not like anything he had seen before. The motherboard had one square unit in it and nothing else. No wires, no battery, no processor or any of the things that were found in cell phones today. It also didn’t have any plug-in ports on the outside. He checked to see if the unit in it could come out but when he tried to remove it it made a weird sound and he dropped the phone. A light came from the other side of the back that had the square unit in it and he picked it up to look at it. Nothing was there but the front screen started to brighten. He turned that over and saw a group of people posing for a picture. One of them was Stella wearing the clothing they found earlier, and he hoped if he could identify them he could find her home. He touched the screen and another picture came up but it wasn’t as pleasant as the first. The people were scared and running toward an odd looking building. As a matter of fact all the buildings looked odd. Doc Patrick wasn’t sure if he should show this to Stella just yet. He decided to see how many pictures there were and continued touching the screen.

  The pictures got much worse. Bodies were lying on the ground and he could see what he assumed were bombs dropping. He wondered if this is what made Stella, afraid of the fireworks, they reminded her of this. But there was no way for him to tell where these pictures were taken. He came to one where Stella looked terrified and was trying to say something but with no buttons he couldn’t activate the audio or video. He turned it over in his hand to check again as he turned it back he heard Stella’s voice speaking a language he didn’t recognize. She appeared to be pleading with someone but who? What was she saying? Doc Patrick decided he’d have to show it to her.

  On his way over he thought about calling Doc Robert to help with Stella and pulled over to do so. Doc Robert said he could be there in 15 minutes and that made Doc Patrick feel better. He wasn’t as in-tune to psychological circumstances as Doc Robert and didn’t want to do anything to hurt Stella. Doc Patrick put his phone away and continued on to the community.

  When he got back to the community they had three barrels burning for heat. It was getting dark and a lot colder now. He had told Mary, who was the head of the community that he and Doc Robert would buy and fix up a good size building for them. She said no. The two doctors were already doing more than they needed to.

  Doc Robert just pulls up as he’s getting out of his car. “Hey, what’s going on?”

  “I found something I want you to see before we go talk to Stella,” Doc Patrick said.

  “Sure.”

  He had put the phone back together at home. When he took it out of his pocket he touched the screen and let his partner look through the pictures. When he got to the one where Stella was speaking he pressed the lower right corner and the video started. Doc Patrick pressed the lower left corner to stop it since they couldn’t understand what she was saying.

  “That’s not a language I’ve ever heard, “Doc Robert said. “And what’s with those buildings?”

  “I haven’t got the results back from her clothing but I’m leaning at alien,” Doc Patrick said.

  Doc Robert looked at him as if he were crazy, but Doc Patrick was a well renowned science fiction writer. “Are you sure your books aren’t going to your head?”

  “No. What else could it be?” Doc Patrick asked him. “I doubt there’s a place on earth that has those kind of buildings. And the language? I want to show it to Stella and see what she does that’s why I wanted you here.”

  Doc Robert scratched his head. “Physically she’s stable. I don’t if I’d want to show her.”

  “Show me what?” Stella said making them jump. They were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn’t notice her walk up.

  “My phone! Did you get it to work Doc Patrick?” she said and grabbed the phone from Doc Robert. As she did the pictures started. Both doctors watched he reaction. When she got to the
audio/video picture she instinctively pressed the lower left corner of the phone. She watched for a minute then screamed and dropped the phone.

  Mary and a couple of the other people hurried to her side. Stella buried herself in Mary’s arms. “What happened?” Mary asked.

  Doc Robert picked up Stella’s phone and dusted the snow off of it. He looked at Mary and then said, “Stella are you all right?”

  Stella stopped crying and pulled away from Mary to wipe her eyes. “I remember now. What had happened,” She said and looked at Doc Patrick. “We were under attack and me and Krom were put in a ship and sent out. We didn’t know where. I wonder where he is?”

  “Who’s Krom, sweetie,” Mary asked and put her hand on Stella’s shoulder.

  “He’s our king,” she said and closed her eyes remembering what she wished she didn’t.

  “And he was sent with you? Are you related?” Doc Patrick asked.

  “Yes, he’s my husband,” Stella said and looked at a picture on the phone of the two of them. “I’m his queen.”

  Viv Drewa –author of “Owl of the Sipan lord”, “From the pages of grandfather’s life” and “Angler and the owl”, is a Michigan native who has enjoyed reading and writing since 1963. Though she studied medicinal chemistry at the University of Michigan her passion has always been writing. She was awarded third place for her nonfiction short story about her grandfather's escape from Poland.

  Later, she rewrote this story and was published in the "Polish American Journal" as ""From the Pages of Grandfather's Life". Viv then took creative and journalism courses to help in her transition to fulfil her dream of becoming a writer. She worked as an intern for Port Huron's 'The Times Herald", and also wrote, edited and did the layout or the Blue Water Multiple Sclerosis newsletter "Thumb Prints." She spends her free time working with physically and mentally challenged adults; a cause close to her heart.

  ©2014

  It was the Fourth of July in 2009 when my husband, James and I arrived on the island of Grand Cayman. After having a year of family tragedies along with the loss of our jobs led us to our new journey here. I was reluctant to begin this new adventure with leaving my two daughters, Angelica and Bella in the states and friends behind. Yes, it was going to be a whole new world. I had to adjust, knowing things happen for reasons and try to make the best of it. It was just James, our dog, Missy and me.