Perspective: Olivia's Story - Reunion

Chapter 1 of 7, posted 07/17/2007

Olivia fidgeted with her bracelet, turning the beads around her wrist as she sat in her father’s study. When her father had called earlier that week and asked if she could come see him that weekend, she didn’t hesitate to pack her bags and hit the road. It was a long drive from her apartment in Baltimore to the family home in Upstate New York but he sounded sad and she knew she was overdue for a visit. She was anxious to see him now but his nurse, Delia, had asked her to wait downstairs.

Her father hadn’t mentioned her brother when he called so she was surprised when he entered the study. Marcus was twelve years older and always thought he knew what was best for her. He was practically a clone of their father, Gregory – he had the same dark looks and had also chosen to follow in his footsteps professionally as an accountant. According to their father, Olivia had more in common with their mother, including her artistic abilities. Marcus, being more sensible, had been upset about Olivia’s decision to drop out of college a year short of graduation in order to work fulltime as a photographer’s assistant. Despite his certainty that she would fail, Olivia had actually been doing quite well and was working towards opening her own studio in the next few years. It had been almost a decade since the siblings had spoken and they had deliberately avoided each other on visits home. She was sure bringing them together could only mean bad news.

But now their father’s health was failing. Though the doctors had explained, Olivia didn’t quite understand the details. Apparently he had cut himself while working on his boat and the infection was not healing as quickly as they would’ve liked. However, they had him on an aggressive treatment plan and seemed optimistic.

Finally, her father’s nurse, Delia, called them into his room where he sat propped up in his bed. It had been almost a month since she had visited but she managed to convince herself he didn’t look any worse. Still, it was hard to see her usually active father conducting visits in his pajamas.

“Hey, sorry for the wait. I must’ve dozed off and Delia let me sleep. I’m crunched for time now more than I’d like before the doctor comes at noon. Anyways, go ahead and grab chairs if you want.”

As Marcus and Olivia settled into their seats, Gregory picked up his glasses from the nightstand. “I know it’s been awhile since we were all together here. And I know neither of you are dumb – I wouldn’t have asked you both to come if I had better news. The doctors told me last week that the infection is spreading. It’s also not responding to any of the treatments we’ve tried. At this point, we’re really out of options. Other than giving me pain medications, there’s not much they can do for me.”

“I realize that’s probably hard to hear – I didn’t really want to hear it either. But I remember how hard it was to plan your mother’s funeral because her death was so unexpected. Once I accepted what the doctors were telling me, I decided I should start getting things organized so it wouldn’t fall to the two of you after, well, later.”

Nobody seemed to know what to say. Olivia continued to twirl her bracelet and hoped Marcus would say something. Finally, their father continued. “I was digging through the old cabinet in my office, looking for the address of the art foundation your mother helped establish when I found some things that got me thinking. A few weeks before her accident, Lillian came to me to tell me she thought her car was acting funny. Now, she always seemed to think her car was acting funny so I didn’t think much about it. To be honest, it was tax season and I was pretty wrapped up with my work. I told her it was probably fine but she should make an appointment if she was concerned. She never mentioned it again and I forgot all about it.

“Then, shortly after the accident, I had a call from the police department about her car. They had done a quick inspection to see if anything looked out of the ordinary even though it seemed rather obvious that the rain that night had probably caused the accident. However, they did find some damage to the rear brake line. I think the term he used was just worn. Combined with the wet roads that night, any malfunction of the brakes could’ve been a major contributor to the accident. I realized then that she had been right about the car and I had ignored her. I’ve always held myself responsible for Lillian’s death.

Marcus interrupted. “We’ve heard all this before, Dad. Why bring it all up again now?”

Their father reached for a folder on his nightstand and passed it to Olivia. “Because I found this in a pile of papers from your mother’s old desk.”

Olivia opened the folder and found a handwritten receipt from Finn’s Garage. It was dated a week before the accident and among the work included was replacement of the rear brake shoes. “So she did have the car worked on? I don’t understand what this means. Did Finn cause the accident?”

Gregory shook his head. “Well, as soon as I came upon this, I called ole Finn. He’s retired now, of course, but back then his garage was just up the street from here. Marcus, you may remember, you used to hang out there after school sometimes. Anyways, I call Finn last week and ask him if he remembers doing the work. He said he did remember and there’s no way there was anything wrong with the brake system when that car left his shop.”

Marcus handed the folder back to his father. “Dad, it was over 25 years ago. Do you really think he remembers? Especially if he was replacing the shoes, he wouldn’t have even looked at the lines.”

“That’s the thing – he said he remembers specifically because Lillian was having a real fit that day. He said he looked at every inch of that car, just trying to find something wrong with it but there really wasn’t anything. She was so adamant that he finally told her he’d replace the rear shoes just so she’d feel better about it. But he said that he was really looking for something to be wrong so he would’ve noticed the lines being worn.”

“Ok, then why are you bringing all of this up now? Do you think he lied?”

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