Sunday – secret – wallpaper – swap – sister
curiosity – island – notebook – marathon – demand
Of the group that people referred to as “the Talberts,” there were five: Ray the father, Ruby the mother, Darren at thirteen, Carla at ten, and Tess at eight. They often forgot Rachel, Ray and Ruby’s first child, on account of her being twenty-four and also on account of her living with Ruby’s brother in Europe since eighteen, learning the family business there. But for two weeks in the summer, all six were together. The Talberts as they were known in Mocksville, NC, travelled to the old vacation home in Marathon, Greece. Typically, in Marathon they would stay, with Ruby’s brother and the extended family there, but at Rachel’s insistence, they travelled to Kea island for the weekend, and that’s where they were this Sunday afternoon.
“What are you always writing in your notebook?” Darren asked. Rachel sighed. He really does have a persistent curiosity, she thought. “It’s a secret,” she said, looking up, then past the boy to the girl who sat on a lounge chair two further down. Rachel had been put in charge of the kids while R&R were at the market. “Carla, where is your sister?” Carla just shrugged and kept reading her comic. Rachel got out of her own lounger and walked through the open glass doors from the balcony into the AirBnb. She called for the youngest with no reply. She wasn’t in the bathroom, she wasn’t on the bed. Rachel started to panic — the feeling high in her chest — until she saw har red suitcase on its side. She remembered she left it upright after she’d unpacked her things so it stood parallel to the crimson line of the wallpaper. There had been a swap with Tess’s own, whom Rachel was sharing a bed with.
“Let me stay with you!” And it really was more of a demand than a plea, when Rachel unzipped the suitcase and the little one looked up at her.
