Читать книгу The Vision - Linda Blum - Страница 8

It had been a tiresome first day for Judy at of her new job. She was operating on very little sleep, so her energy level was low. What made matters worse, was the edginess that still remained after yesterday’s visit at her uncle’s. She tried desperately to push the situation out of her mind and concentrate on the work at hand. At least, she never had any bad dreams last night to add to the mix.

After a morning of photographing small children, she was glad to do an adult shoot. She never realized how exhausting taking pictures of children could be. Trying to get them to smile at times was a feat in itself. Especially when some parents expected their children, even the really young ones, to give picture perfect smiles for the camera every time. The energy created from this pressure to perform drained Judy, as well as the children. In the end a power struggle erupted so no smiles were given, parents became upset and Judy got frustrated. The situation was utterly ridiculous to her.

What added to her annoyance even more was the company’s policy on scheduling shoots. Not much time was allocated in the camera room for picture taking. Their reasoning behind this was that children’s attention spans were short, so if they wouldn’t cooperate within the allotted time, than the whole process became futile. At first Judy thought this sounded reasonable. Being a mother she knew Jay would not sit still for long periods either, but after awhile she started to feel that their policy held more of a corporate view than a customer service one.

Trying to keep up with this pace was brutal. At one point she checked the appointment book and noticed the sheets were full. This meant very little time was assigned for employee breaks, or even the chance to get caught up when the shoots ran longer than expected. This created agitated staff and angry customers, which in turn affected the quality of the photography.

Judy began preparing the room for the mother/daughter shoot. She surveyed the room with a critical eye making sure the props and backgrounds were all in place. Martha entered briefly glancing around the room giving Judy a nod of approval before introducing Helen and Lynn. When Judy got them positioned, a twinge of longing for her own mother surged within her. She pushed the feeling aside and tried to focus on her job.

As the camera started clicking, Judy produced beautiful pictures of their mother/daughter connection. When the shoot was done, both Helen and Lynn were ushered over to the sales table to review them. Ann, their salesperson, did her spiel in hopes of a big sale. Her pitch paid off, as the women purchased many portraits. As Judy looked at the screen, she envisioned herself with her mother. Visions of them smiling and the closeness they once shared flooded her thoughts. It wasn’t until the images disappeared from the screen, that Judy was brought back to reality. The realization struck her that it was just a daydream and nothing more.

Her gaze strayed to the clock on the wall and she realized it was time to go home. She headed towards the employee’s room relieved that the day was finally over. She grabbed her purse and coat and started for her car.

The drive home was slow. Judy was trying to shake her sullen mood when her cellphone rang.

“Hi, ho Judy.”

Hope’s cheerful voice chimed over her cell.

“I was calling to see if you were on your way yet.”

A guilty feeling came over Judy when she realized she forgot about their dinner plans.

“I’ll be another ten minutes,” Judy estimated, looking at the car clock.

“See you soon.”

Judy hung up and quickly dialed Ren.

“Hello.”

“Hi, it’s me.”

“Hi there hot stuff, what’s up?” he said huskily.

“I forgot I made dinner plans with Hope tonight,” Judy started.

“Not a problem,” Ren replied. “You two have fun. Jay and I can fend for ourselves.”

“Thanks,” Judy sighed. “Can I talk to Jay?”

“Sure.”

Judy heard Ren yell for Jay. When he got to the phone she heard the muffled sounds of voices and the shuffle of the phone.

“Hi Mom,” he said breathlessly.

“Hi sweetie,” she said. “I probably won’t be home before you go to bed so mommy wanted to talk to you.”

“Awe,” Jay whined. “Can I stay up until you get home? ”

“You know you can’t. You have school tomorrow.”

Judy could hear sniffling on the other end.

“But mom,” he whimpered. “I can’t get to sleep without you.”

Ren was back on the phone.

“Give me a minute and I’ll speak to him,” he said.

When Jay returned to the phone he didn’t seem upset anymore. Judy spoke with him for a bit before his dad came back on the line.

“What did you say to change his mood?” Judy questioned.

“I told him he could have a sleep over in our room tonight. That way when you got home he would be close to you,” he answered.

Judy thanked him before hanging up.

Her dinner with Hope turned out to be lots of fun. They went to a new vegetarian restaurant that just opened on the south side of the city. Hope had informed Judy, when they were deciding where to dine, that she was now on a meatless diet. Her announcement wasn’t surprising, since she tended to make drastic changes in her life and spring it on Judy without any warning.

To Judy’s surprise the food was great and the atmosphere was relaxing. Hope’s company, as always, was enjoyable as well as entertaining. Besides altering her diet, it seemed she was also changing her choice in men. Judy laughed endlessly as she listened to her friend recount her latest dates. She had been seeing a succession of men lately, each one with very diverse personalities. It appeared that she liked variety as it added spice to her life. Unfortunately, spice wasn’t exactly what she got. Her dates consisted of men who were possessive, aggressive and regressive. Some, to her dislike, were sodomites, masochists, into ménage a trois and even married, not that she was aware of it at the time. Then there were the select few that enjoyed the golden shower treatment and cross-dressing. She did on occasion have what she considered normal outings with men, but then never heard from again. She was becoming discouraged and vowed to stop dating for now.

Judy was thankful she was married, after listening to her friend point out the pitfalls of dating. It sounded like it had become too weird and possibly a bit dangerous for her liking.

“I liked your ice cream man,” Judy paused. “Too bad he went to jail.”

Hope dated Ted, who owned a variety store/ice cream shop. She stopped by one day for an ice cream and it was love at first sight, or so she thought until Ted was arrested for running a drug operation from his store. Hope ended the romance against Ted’s wishes.

“See, I’m a loser magnet,” Hope whined.

“No you’re not.”

“Well it sure feels that way.”

“You’re just hitting a rough patch right now, but one day you’ll find someone,” Judy assured.

Hope sighed. “I hope so.”

Hope didn’t want to discuss her dating woes anymore, so she turned the conversation over to Judy’s

new job. Judy told her about the difficulties she encountered taking pictures of children, the unruly parents and the ridiculous corporate policies. She also expressed her concerns about Marta.

“Why are you working there?” Hope asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You are impossible!” she exclaimed. “You know you’ll end up quitting, you always do.”

“We need the money,” she replied quietly.

Hope stopped to take a nip of her drink. Once she felt the effects of the alcohol calming her exasperated nerves, she continued.

“You know when you get intuitions about someone it’s usually for a good reason. My advice is quit before it’s too late.”

Judy felt flustered. A part of her wanted to quit yet the mounting bills made her stay. This inward struggle had gone on for so long that it was hard for Judy to rationalize what to do.

Life was like one big game. Everyone’s world revolved around survival, status in society, and obtaining things. The one who had the most power, money and commodities at the end was the winner. But was anyone really a winner trying to follow this way of living? It seemed pathetic when you really thought about it, yet since the world operated in this fashion many followed the status quo without really questioning it.

Judy’s inquisitive nature often pondered why life was this way, especially when she was young. When she asked the adults around her, she never received a satisfactory answer. The only response given was “That’s just the way it is”. This reply irritated her as she found it to be lame and compliant. What about dreams and desires? Did everyone just give up on these for the sake of a pay cheque?

“Maybe Ren is right,” Judy sighed. “Maybe I do have an attitude problem.”

Hope smiled in response. “I disagree.”

“I seem to be the only one who doesn’t want to work forty plus hours at a job I detest in order to survive.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Hope questioned.

“Nothing, I guess. Yet when I start talking to others about this I get the impression they think I’m weird.”

“You’re not weird,” Hope replied strongly. “Most people probably agree with you, but are too damn scared to admit you’re right.”

Even though her friend reassured her that she was normal, Judy felt far from it. All her life she never felt like she fit in anywhere. Her views on life and her second sight made it difficult. Over the years she tried in vain to conform to the society ways, but found something always pissed her off, making her turn her back from a system that irritated her.

Like now for example; her job was frustrating and her intuition was telling her to quit yet her mind berated herself for this. She always felt torn between the responsibilities of life versus her desire to do something she enjoyed. She wanted more. She wanted to take the risks needed to fulfill her dreams, whatever those were. Judy had been concentrating so much on making a living over the years that any dreams and desires were pushed to the side. She, like everyone else, got sucked into this lifestyle without realizing it.

“You know I’m really getting sick of this life,” Judy whined. “Why is it that everyone has to work so hard to put a roof over their head, get food to eat and put clothes on their body. These things should automatically be given to everyone. Shit, we pay enough in taxes, where is the money all going?”

“That’s a good question,” Hope commented.

After criticizing the government for their ineptness at spending taxpayer’s money wisely, they turned the conversation over to a less aggravating topic.

“Jude, you promised you would fill me in on the other night. What happened?” Hope asked.

Judy recounted the vision she had of the accident and about the mental message she sent to Jay. Hope listened on with interest. When Judy was done, she sensed there was more.

“What else happened?”

“Nothing,” she stammered.

Hope eyed her suspiciously. “Don’t give me that.”

Judy couldn’t get over how her friend was aware something else was bothering her.

“What are you, psychic?” Judy teased.

“I think I’ve been hanging around you too long.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Judy said absently.

“So what else is up?”

Hope knew she must have struck a nerve when she saw the colour drain from Judy’s face. She watched with interest as the napkin in her friend’s hand was shred vigorously into tiny pieces and noted the troubled look in her eyes.

She laid a gentle hand on her arm. “Please tell me what’s bothering you.”

Judy looked into her friend’s eyes and only saw concern. They had always confided in each other in their times of trouble, relying on the other’s strengths and encouragement to get through things. This time, however, Judy wasn’t sure how she was going to explain this one?

She took a deep breath before beginning.

“My Aunt Sally showed up at my uncle’s yesterday.”

“Dead Aunt Sally?” Hope questioned.

Judy nodded. “Her spirit showed up to tell me that my mother’s murderer is being revealed to me.”

“What!” Hope bellowed.