They spent a few hours touring the art gallery. They went to every floor and saw every piece of art that currently resided at the gallery. There were a few pieces that confused Sylvia, a few pieces that she thought were interesting, and a few pieces that really spoke to her. That being said, she felt no closer to the answer to the question that had plagued her for months. What was she going to do with her life?
She left the gallery somewhat defeated.
“So, where do we go from here?” Peter asked.
They stood on the steps of the art gallery looking down at the city of tents of the protesters.
“I don’t have any idea,” she responded.
“We could go for lunch. My treat. I know this great sushi place over on Burrard.”
“I don’t think so. I should get home. I have a lot of work to do.” She started down the steps and toward Howe Street.
He caught up to her as she reached the bottom of the stairs and started toward the bus stop. “Can I see you again?”
“I don’t know. Let me think about it.”
“How will I know when you’ve made up your mind?”
She stopped and looked at him. “You’re not going to give up, are you?”
He shook his head. “We had a good time, I thought. I’d like to do it again.”
“All right. Tomorrow, meet me at the Granville Island Market. 1:30. Don’t be late.” She looked down the street. “My bus is coming.” She fished in her purse for her wallet and pulled out the yellow bus pass. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
The 44 UBC stopped and four other people got on the bus with her. They all had similar bus passes to hers. She sat down midway on the bus by a window and watched as Peter disappeared as the bus drove away from him.
She wasn’t sure what to make of him. She found that she was suddenly suspicious of everyone since James had died. She wasn’t sure who she could trust. Her name had been in The Province and The Vancouver Sun and since then people she had barely known before were suddenly her best friend.
It took thirty minutes to get back to the house on Drummond Drive in West Vancouver. Every time she took the bus downtown, she was always grateful that it went down 4th and not 3rd. She did not want to have to go past James Cassidy Junior’s house and be reminded of how she had gotten everything and James’ family had gotten nothing. She understood why he did it now. They were all selfish, callous people. That didn’t stop her from feeling bad that they now had nothing thanks to her.
When she got back to the house, Kelly and Victor were playing in her yard with her mother. Sylvia watched the Roberts kids bundled up in their warm rain coats and winter boots as they ran around her yard playing a game of tag. She missed being with them all the time but she didn’t miss all of the other chores that came with being a housekeeper and nanny. Mrs. Roberts had been very kind to her since everything changed. She invited Sylvia over for tea and let her take the kids to the park the way she used to whenever she wanted to. Mrs. Roberts had even befriended her mother, Katherine, when she moved into the huge house with Sylvia. She wasn’t sure how she would have made it through the last few months if it hadn’t been for the advice from Mrs. Roberts and Mr. Busby, and the support of her mother.
“Hi, everyone,” she called as she came into the yard. Kelly shrieked and ran to her, jumping into her arms almost before Sylvia was ready to catch her.
“You’re home. I thought you’d never get here. I have some important news.” At eight years old, Kelly thought that the fact that it would rain tomorrow was important news.
“What’s that?” Sylvia asked.
“I got picked to say my speech in front of the whole school. It’s about killer whales, you know.”
“That’s great, Kelly. When’s the big day?”
“Next Monday. Will you come? Mrs. Kirkpatrick said that I could invite four people. I already told Mommy and Daddy. They said they would try to come if they weren’t working. And I asked your mom. She said she would be delighted.”
“I’ll be there. Nothing could keep me away.”
“Great!” Kelly squirmed to get down now that she had what she wanted.
Victor moved next to Sylvia after his sister had gotten down and started running away toward Sylvia’s mother.
“I’ll be there, too,” he said quietly. “My speech was picked as well. It’s about how bullying can affect people even as adults.”
“I can’t wait to hear it. Why don’t you go play for a while longer before we go in for some hot chocolate.”
He smiled at her and ran off to where his sister was playing with her mother. Sylvia went inside and took off her coat and hung it on the coat rack inside the door. She went into the kitchen where she put a kettle on to boil. She got the hot chocolate mix out of the cupboard and poured some into four coffee mugs. She poured a generous amount of milk into two of the cups and then added the boiled water.
When the hot chocolate was ready she called the kids in. The kids sat at the table to drink their hot chocolates and Katherine asked how the trip to the art gallery had gone.
“Not bad. But I still don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t think art is going to be a good direction for me. I just don’t know what I should do. I could do anything but now I have too many choices.”
“When you were little, you wanted to help people. I understand you were going for a business degree because you thought it would help you get a good job. But I knew that it wasn’t what was going to make you happy. You just need to figure out what makes you happy and then turn that into a career. You have the ability to do that now.”
Sylvia sighed and leaned against the counter, watching the kids drink their hot chocolate. “I know. But there are so many things that deserve attention. What should I focus on? James left me his estate, I want to do something good with the opportunity he gave me.”
“So you didn’t get anything from the art exhibit?”
Sylvia shook her head. “No. But I did meet someone. He seems nice and I’m seeing him again tomorrow.”
“A boy?”
“Mom, he was older than me. He had to be at least twenty seven. I don’t think he can be called a boy anymore.”
Katherine laughed. “When you get to be my age, everyone under the age of forty is a boy or a girl. So tell me about this boy you met.”
“I think he was interested in me, but I don’t know. Ever since the articles ran in the papers there have been a lot of people who seem to be interested in me but are really only interested in my money. Peter didn’t mention it at all though, so he may not have realized who I am. I hope not anyway.”
Kelly set her cup down with a thunk and pronounced, “I’m done! Can we play the Wii now?”
“What do you do with your cup when you’re finished with it?” Sylvia asked.
Kelly sighed heavily and climbed down from her chair. She took her cup from the table and put it in the sink. Then she turned to look at Sylvia expectantly.
“You can go play now. Thank you for putting your cup away.”
The little girl smiled a large, gap-toothed smile and raced off to the play room where the Wii was set up on a sixty inch flat screen television. James had decorated this room with the games and toys after he met Sylvia, Victor, and Kelly. Sylvia suspected that he had been lonely and wanted them to want to spend time there. They hadn’t needed him to buy the expensive things for them, but he didn’t know another way to act at the time. He only understood people who sold their love as a commodity.
Victor finished his drink slowly and got up to put it away. He carefully set the cup down in the sink upside down so that the last drips would drain into the sink.
“Thank you for putting your cup away, Victor.”
He smiled, too and went to play with his sister.
“You’re very good with them,” Katherine said as they followed the kids into the play room.
Sylvia shrugged. “They like to be able to do things for themselves. It gives them independence. But more than that, they like to know that someone is watching and is appreciative. The Roberts’ are good people, but they don’t seem to have enough time for their children.”
Kelly had put Just Dance 3 into the game console and was already dancing like a maniac. Victor was dancing as well. When Sylvia had met the kids, Victor wouldn’t have ever played a game like Just Dance. He would have sat and watched Kelly have all the fun. Slowly, Sylvia had got him to participate as well.
After they had danced themselves into exhaustion Sylvia looked at the time. “Okay, guys, it’s time to go home.”
“Awww! But why?” Kelly asked.
Victor had been about to go for his shoes and jacket, but Kelly’s protest stopped him.
“Because your mom is home now and she will want to see you and ask about your day.”
Kelly pouted but went for her shoes and jacket. Victor, seeing his sister’s attempt at staying defeated, went as well.
There had been a time when Sylvia first started when she had used a similar line to get the kids to see their mother and Kelly had protested by saying that her mother didn’t care how her day had gone. They went downstairs and saw Mrs. Roberts and she had listened with divided attention while the kids told her about their day. That night, Sylvia had told Mrs. Roberts what Kelly had said and immediately things began to change. Mrs. Roberts listened closely to her children now.
Sylvia put her own shoes and jacket on and walked the kids to their house. Mrs. Roberts came to the door to let them in.
“Hi guys, your dinner is just about ready, why don’t you go wash up and then you can tell me about your day?”
Both Kelly and Victor hugged their mother and went to do as she asked without complaint.
“Sylvia, you don’t have any idea how much I appreciate you still watching the kids during the day. I feel so much more comfortable knowing they’re with someone I trust. And you’ve helped them so much.”
“It’s no problem at all. Really. My mother and I love to have them. I understand why James always invited us over now. The house is far too big for just the two of us.”
“You’re not thinking of moving, are you?”
“Not right now, no, but maybe in the future. I’m still making a lot of decisions. I wanted to mention though that the kids invited me and my mother to their speech readings. We both said we’d come, but I wanted to make sure it was okay with you, as well.”
Mrs. Roberts laughed. “Of course it is. I was the one who prompted the kids to ask. They were afraid Katherine would say no.”
Sylvia smiled. “But not that I’d say no. I see they understand me well.”
“They do. Well, I should go. They’ll be at the table waiting. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Sylvia walked back to her house. On the way she looked up at the three story structure and wondered again how she had come to own something so absurdly expensive. The house was worth over fifteen million dollars. An old Victorian house sitting on a 38,000 square foot lot, it had six bedrooms and eight bathrooms. She still hadn’t figured out what to do with it. It was far too big for only her and her mother.
She knew she would have to make some decisions soon. She only had a few more weeks before she had to choose her classes for the winter semester at UBC. By that time, she hoped she will have figured it out.
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