Vancise - Cry of an osprey: 1, #1

Based on a true story

Cry of

an

Osprey

Angie Vancise

Disclaimer

Although this novel is based on a true story, many events and characters portrayed within, are fictional.

To my brother

I love you and that is the beginning and end to everything.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

1

I

t was misty, the sun not up yet when I reached the shore. After placing my knapsack carefully on a rock, I stripped off my shorts and T-shirt and jumped in. The water of the bay was cold, only 65 degrees but normal for the island at this time of year. It felt bracing and familiaryet unfamiliar. When I came up for air, I could smell cedar, algae, damp earth.

Usually I loved swimming naked, but today I felt strangely vulnerable. When I reached the large granite rock, I climbed on it and just stood there, shivering a little, gazing back toward the shore. For how long Im not sure. It was just light enough that I could spot the place at the waters edge where Jax, Nikko, and I had posed when my cameras timer snapped that cherished picture.

I swore I heard Jax laugh.

I slipped into the water and swam back to shore, climbed out and quickly dried off after gently removing my towel from the knapsack. Drawing a deep breath, I thought about this island near Tobermory Harbour, how it had come to mean so much to my family, and to me. Ordinarily being on Flowerpot soothed me. But the sun, just coming up, was casting a sad yellow haze over the rough and rocky terrain and dulling the green of the trees. Georgian Bay, which a little later this morning would soon show off its Caribbean blues, was now an ominous grey fading out to a deep empty black.

As I pulled on my clothes, I squinted up at the small white lighthouse keepers house. No one seemed to be up yet. Id left Amelia and my kids in bed.

This was something I needed to do alone.

Picking up my knapsack, I headed for the main path, backtracking up past the house, continuing until I spotted the expansive maple tree. I climbed the eight-foot earthen cliff to another path, which brought me to a smooth flat rock set at a challenging 60-degree angle. If the incline wasnt daunting enough, the slippery algae made it more so. I remembered coaxing Jax that day. Hed laughed each time he slid back down: See, I told you I couldnt do it. But he was always game for anything. Eventually hed made it.

At the top of the rock, I slowed my pace, and reaching the oak tree where I was to turn left, I stopped for a moment. My chest constricted, and I had to force myself to breathe. Finally, I pushed a branch out of the way, and there it was before methe cliff, just visible in the mist.

I could hardly believe it had been nine months. So much had changed. For me, for all of us. It occurred to me that the island would be here long after all of us were gone.

The breeze was like an exhale, the leaves clicking like tiny maracas, as I stepped out onto the cliff top. A blue heron coasted toward the shoreline. I sat down slowly and dangled my legs off the edge, looking toward the horizon. The darkness of the bay seemed to go on forever.

I slipped the knapsack off my back and, hands trembling, rested it on the rock beside me.

2

I

cant wake your brother up! It was the way my Mom said it that made me fluff it off. She sounded confused, almost angry.

What? What do you mean? I said over the phone.

I was only half listening, wondering why Id hit snooze , and how on earth I would ever get ready in time to get Dad to his appointment in Barrie for nine. It was a 45-minute drive and it was already eight. I would have to forego a shower damn . I reached for my shirt and cradled the phone in my ear while putting my arm through a sleeve. The phone fell to the floor.

Are you there? Did you hear me? What happened, where are you?

I bent over and grabbed the phone again. Sorry, Mom, Im fine. Dropped the phone. I have to take Dad to this weird energy appointment for nine, and I slept in. Im kind of stressed. Were going to be lateWhats this about Jax? Another one of his exaggerated symptoms? Wait, Im going to put you on speaker phone.

I placed the phone on the dresser and grabbed my pants.

Rex went into Jaxs room this morning and started barking at the side of his bed, Mom said. When Bart went in to check on him and see what Rex was doing, he couldnt wake him up. We...we still cant.

I could hear a tightness in her voice, as if she was trying not to cry. In the background I heard Moms boyfriend Bart shouting at Jax to wake up, then a ruckus like he might be shaking him. Mom had met Bart on a dating site that Id set up for her. He wasnt the one I would have chosen, but that was a discussion for another time.

Is he...is he...breathing?

Yes.

Relief.

But hes not moving, and hes still not waking up.

My chest constricted.

I heard him get up at six and go to the bathroom. He was stumbling and banging into the walls. I got up to help him. He took his blood pressure meds, then went back to bed. Now hes not responding...to anything. I dont know what to do!

What the hell is going on?

My pants were on backwards. I dragged them off and turned them around. My shirt was wrinkled, and I noticed Id grabbed two different coloured socks.

I was angered by the call and wasnt sure why. Jax was taking up a lot of attention from everyone lately, and I was already late.

Mom, let me call Katie. Ill call you right back.

I threw my hair into a clip and dialled my stepsister. Katie was an Emerg nurse in Oshawa and would know what to do.

She answered on the first ring. The call was quick and to the point. I called Mom back.

Dont you go in the ambulance with him, Mom. Hes relying on us way too much lately. He needs to wake up without anyone there. Katie said this would be good for him, okay? Do you understand? She feels that he needs tough love right now.

Mom agreed. We said goodbye and I hung up the phone.

Holy, I was going to be late. Great, just what I needed: Dad on my back. Shit...Dad. How would I tell him about Jax? Dad had been saying for ages that there was more going on with my brother than we believed. Was he right?