Tern House, chapter 1

Tern House
Chapter 1
The possible title of the chapter: "You'll have a baby in next February"
Where: University Hospital of Alquitran City

Helen

I heard some rattling through my sleep. Was it the room service? I didn't remember I would've ordered such.
I opened my eyes. There was a window on the left. On the right was a green curtain. The wall was white. The inner ceiling was white. On the other side of the room were green curtains similar to the one on my right. What was this place? I started to remember the events of the recent past. I remembered leaving Resin Hill by train for Alquitran. I had stayed at Hotel Paragon and left the next morning towards the university to listen to the lectures. I remembered going back to the hotel and having dinner. Then I had gone to bed and woke up again in the morning. But I certainly hadn't woken up from here. What had happened in the meantime? I remembered going to the university again yesterday morning. I had listened to the morning lectures and left for lunch. I nearly sat up in excitement when I remembered how I had tasted my salmon sandwich, had a pain attack and passed out. Then I had woken up on the floor of the university dining hall and had been transferred to the ambulance. That's how I ended up here.
"Good, you're awake," a voice said. I looked up. A man looked at me.
"Come on, breakfast is here. The doctor comes at nine."
I got up and tried to walk. My legs carried me. I went to the toilet across the hallway and returned back to my room.
I tasted some bread from the tray. Then I waited for five minutes to see, if my body rejected food, but nothing happened.
I took another bite and waited for another five minutes. Still nothing happened. Whatever had caused my symptoms, the doctors had evicted it. I could eat again. And I ate with voracious appetite. Not one single bite of food was left after I was finished.
I looked at the clock. Half past eight. Good. I could rest for a while before the doctor's arrival.
I went to the toilet again and returned to my bed.
A woman walked in. Dark hair flowed in a cloud the color of pine bark over her shoulders and reached halfway down her back.She wore brown, braided cardigan with long sleeves, blue jeans and simple, brown, walking shoes. At first I thought she was the doctor who had forgotten to put on her white coat. She walked closer to me, and I recognized her.
Carol Dalston!
What was she doing here? She should have been at the university teaching his students the intricacies of writing. Instead, she was here, next to my hospital bed.
"Hi Helen," she said and smiled.
"Hi Carol," I said.
"The dean told me to come here. It seems you're better."
"You're right, I feel better. Whatever that stomach bug was, the doctors seem to have found a cure for it. It's gone now. I can eat again without fear of throwing up everything five minutes after eating."
"That's good news," Carol said. "Listen, the dean, Peter and I had a little meeting yesterday after you were carried into the ambulance and brought here. You'd better get back to Resin Hill as soon as the doctor discharges you. Peter and I will copy the lecture notes for you. You don't have to worry about that. Now just focus on getting better so you can get stronger for your trip home."
I listened in dismay to Carol's words. I wouldn't be able to go back to university. The whole trip had been in vain. I had managed to spend only one whole day in the university lecture hall. The good thing about this was that I would get copies of what the lecturers had said from Carol and Peter, but I would have preferred to have been there to write my own notes. I had been so sure that I would be able to spend three peaceful days at the university and on the way home think about what I had heard and how I would apply it in my work. Now I would miss all the lectures today. On top of that, my suitcase was still at the Hotel Paragon. Would I get them again when the doctor discharged me? Would my hotel room door still open then? I doubted it.
"If that's what the dean says, I can't but obey," I told Carol, trying to hide my disappointment to the news she brought me.
A third woman stepped in. She wore a long, white coat. Straw blond, short hair framed her face. As soon as Carol noticed her arrival, she grabbed her bag and retreated to the door.
"I must rush back to the university. I promised my students I make just a quick visit. Get well soon."
"Thanks, I will," I replied.
Carol disappeared into the hallway and the smiling doctor came to me with a nurse.
“Congratulations,” the doctor said. “You’re pregnant."
Pregnant? Was I pregnant? If that was the case, the child must have already died because of the drugs I had been given in the ambulance and here.
"If I was pregnant, the baby must have died by now," I said. "I've been given so much those medicines."
"No, the baby is fine," the doctor said. "We changed the medicines you got as soon as we realized what was the reason of the symptoms."
“You should take it easy for a few days and avoid traveling,” said the nurse who had remained silent until now.”Do you have any relatives in Alquitrán? We can't discharge you, if you have nowhere to go. Resin Hill is way too far for you right now.”
Now I had my chance to get in touch with April! I hated to lie to the nice doctor, but this was my only chance.
“Yes, I have a distant relative, April Seanor. She has invited me to meet her, but I’m a teacher and live in Resin Hill, and April lives in Novillo, so we don’t meet often.”
“Well, now you have a good reason to catch her and tell her the news. I’m sure she’ll be over the moon.”
The nurse and the doctor left.
I picked up the phone from the table on my bedside. If April didn't pick up the phone now, I wouldn’t know what to do.
“Miss Seanor,” the familiar voice said from the other end.
”April, hi! It’s me, Helen. The Helen from that needlework course, back when you were a five-grader. I know this is weird, but please, listen what I have to say. I need your help. I am at the hospital in Alquitrán.”
“I remember you, even if only like through a fog. Why are you there?” she asked.
“I got a terrible pain attack, and the staff of Alquitrán University called an ambulance that brought me here yesterday. The university people were afraid this is a stomach bactery, and that's what I believed myself, until I just heard I’m pregnant.”
“Congratulations. How far are you?”
“Thank you. I just found out about this, so this little one won’t be born before the next February. The doctor said as soon as the pain is under control I can go home. I live in Resin Hill, and it’s far away from Alquitrán. Could I stay at your Uncle’s place a day or two? I should avoid stress now.”
“Well, if Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Jason agree, I see no reason why you couldn’t come here. But I must talk to them first. I let you know as soon as I can.”
“Thank you, April. I won’t forget this.”
I closed my eyes. One part of the trip was behind me now, but no one knew how many I had ahead of me yet.
When I had collapsed in the lunchroom of Alquitrán University, I had been worried sick about how this would end. Now I saw I worried for nothing. I’d meet April, just like I had planned to do a long time ago, but not in these circumstances.
Ten minutes later April texted me: “They said yes. You can come here. My uncle Jason will come and pick you up as soon as the doctors allow it.”
# # #
April had said her uncle Jason would come to pick me up, so I sat down to wait for him. I didn’t know how far he might be. I knew I could trust April, but what about her uncle Jason? Could I trust him?
Maybe Jason didn’t know Alquitrán as well as April believed. I took a deep breath. Take it easy, Helen. You’ll be fine. He’ll come.
The ward’s door opened. The man who stepped in had no beard or moustache. His hair was dark. Still his skin had not many wrinkles. Could that be Jason?
I took a deep breath and stood up, hoping I wouldn’t collapse again. The man noticed it and walked towards me. Stay put, little one. Stay put, I spoke to the baby in my mind.
“Helen Fountain?” the man asked in deep voice.
“That’s me.” My throat felt raspy. “You must be Jason. I heard you’d come to pick me up. I’m ready to go.”
“That’s right. April is my niece. Let’s go then,” Jason said. “My car is outside.”
Jason led me through the hall of the ward, into the elevator, a few floors down, out of the elevator, across the big hall and out through the door of the hospital.
“I’m not alone. I have a friend with me, Sean Eland. He’s a writing buddy of April’s.”
We walked across the parking lot, until Jason stopped next to silver gray Toyota Camry. He looked at me and seemed as if a lightning had hit him. "Helen, where's your suitcase? No person with sense will travel without a suitcase from Resin Hill to Alquitrán."
"I don't have it with me. It's in Hotel Paragon. This hospital visit messed up my whole time in Alquitrán. We must go there first so I can get my suitcase back."
Jason nodded. "So hotel Paragon is our next stop. The back seat is all yours.”
I climbed in. Jason settled behind the wheel and started the engine. I sighed and shook my head. First this pregnancy messed up my only chance to get more education concerning my work, and now I had to bother almost a total stranger because of my suitcase. This trip had been full of obsticles. I couldn't wonder, what my next obsticle would be. It had become clear to me this wouldn't be any fun trip, even if I had left from Resin Hill believing I'd have good time with my colleagues and go back home tired but happy. Now I was only tired, not happy.
Jason decided he could come with me in case I'd faint.
In ten minutes we were back at the car with my suitcase. Jason put my suitcase into the trunk. I climbed back on the back seat and put my seatbelt on. "You'll get food soon, little one. Just hang on a little bit longer," I spoke to the baby and stroked my abdomen.
Jason started to drive towards the Tern House.
“Don’t worry, we can house three guests. You can sleep upstairs. I know the room is bare, but the Tern House is just an old farm, so there isn’t that much room. It’s a family home. My great - grandparents bought it a long time ago. Our family has owned it since then. That house has seen the birth and death of many generations."
“It sounds like the Tern House is full of history,” I said.
“It is,” Jason said. “Our family appreciates it a lot. Or at least I do. But it seems none of my siblings is willing to study the history of this family further with me. I am getting old. Someone must pick up after me.”
The man sitting on the right front seat turned to look at me so that I could see him. He had gray hair and thin moustache and beard. He didn’t wear glasses. I believed him to be around Jason’s age. He struggled to get his right hand through the hole between the seats.
“I’m Sean Eland.”
I shook his hand. “Helen Fountain. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Jason told me you are April’s writing buddy.”
Sean raised his eyebrows. “How do you know April?”
“I was her teacher on a summer needlework course years ago.”
“April has a needlework project with her even now. I saw her stitching it,” Sean said.
I smiled. “It may be stamped needlepoint project. April loves them.”
Sean frowned.
“Stamped canvas is a sort of fabric where the picture is printed on it. You don’t need to but grab the needle and get going,” I said. I believed the world of needlework being totally unfamiliar to Sean and Jason. But on the other hand, April or I couldn’t fix any engine.
“So that’s why you’re here,” Sean said. “April invited me here to help her with her writing, but she mentioned nothing about you. She is pretty creative, but certain elements of her stories defy logic.”
“Have you helped her to edit the stories?”
“I’ve tried,” Sean said. “But I feel she’s not ready or willing to make the changes I suggest. She can't tell necessary and unnecessary details apart.”
Jason drove forward through the city and its’ many traffic lights, until he turned to a small lane near the Airport of Alquitrán. We passed many wooden houses on the right side and brick houses on the left side. Then the dusty lane ended, and Jason stopped the car.
“Do you see that red building made of wood on the left?” he asked.
I nodded.
“Just walk through the opening you will see on its’ left side,” Jason said. “You get straight to the yard of the Tern House. You can’t get lost.”
“Thank you for bringing me here. I would’ve never found this on my own.”
I released my seatbelt and opened the door but noticed that Sean had released himself of his seatbelt.
“Hey, we had a plan to see the shore,” Jason said.
“Helen needs her suitcase. I risk nothing with a pregnant woman, who hasn't eaten for days,” Sean said.
He opened the trunk and lifted my suitcase down.
“Thank you,” I said.
“No problem,” Sean said. "I think I'll walk you to the door. You haven't eaten for days."
Sean took my suitcase and walked through the hole between two low, red buildings with me, as Jason had told to do. I was happy my suitcase had wheels, so Sean didn’t need to carry it. He could pull it even it wasn’t as easy on ground as it was on asphalt.
The yard was small. The main house formed one side. Opposite the main house I could see an old outbuilding with a very visible, wooden ramp. The outbuilding had yellow double doors, red walls and white corner boards. The lawn had some bald spots in front of the outbuilding straight opposite the main house, but if one didn't count them, the lawn was fresh and green, just like every summer.
The main house itself was made of orange-red painted wood. Its corner boards were white, same as the outer frames of the windows. The lattice divided the big window into six smaller squares.
My heart pounded in my chest. Would April be here? Why wasn’t she here to greet me? Had this been a wise idea after all? I took some calming, deep breaths. No, this was my only choice. I’d spend a calm vacation and return home with the little surprise I carried with me.
"Thank you," I told Sean as soon as we had reached the main house's big, yellow door with white corner boards.
"It's nothing," Sean replied.
CHAPTER 1 ENDS HERE