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We split up after that, as Martha had a social outing with some of her fellow flight-school students at a nearby restaurant. Eyre and I took the LIRR back to Manhattan from the airfield, with the idea of doing some accounting and paying off our monthly business bills. Just as we got in the elevator on the way up to our dingy little 16th story office, my phone rang.
The ringtone was ominous chords from Night on Bald Mountain. Which meant my mother. We’d only spoken once in the last year, and that suited me just fine. Unfortunately, I had to take the call. If I tried to bounce her to voicemail, she’d probably do something magically horrible to my phone. Also, much as I hated to admit it, I owed her just now. If this was a chance to pay off the obligation, I’d be happy (well, happy in a teeth-clenching way) to take it.
“Mother?”
“Nora, dear. Would you be so kind as to meet me for dinner tonight? Le Bernardin, 8:00 PM.”
“I— what is this about?”
“I prefer to tell you in person,” she said. “It’s rather sensitive.”
“Okay.”
And just like that she hung up.
Back in our office, Eyre nodded as I recounted my mother’s side of the call.
“She said it was sensitive?” Eyre asked. “I think I’d better bow out, then.”
“Oh.” I was dismayed, because I’d been counting on his presence at the meal, not just for emotional support but because if he was there I imagined my mother would be less obnoxious than usual. For whatever reason: his gender, his...species, I guess, or just by dint of him not being me.
“Unless you think I should come?”
“No,” I said. “I’ll be fine.” And on consideration, maybe it would be best at that. Because if it really was something just for my ears, my mother was perfectly capable of telling Eyre he wasn’t wanted, which would mean I’d have to leave with him and never talk to her again. And pleasing as that was in prospect, it wouldn’t lead to me paying off that debt.
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Laurence Raphael Brothers is a writer and a technologist. He has published over 25 short stories in such magazines as Nature, the New Haven Review, PodCastle, and Galaxy's Edge. His WWI-era historical fantasy novel Twilight Patrol was just released by Alban Lake. For more of his stories, visit https://laurencebrothers.com/bibliography, or follow him on twitter: @lbrothers.
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