Try and Catch Me

The Note (2)
Yolly pulled Lia at her wrist and pressed the note on her palm. Lia unfolded the paper and found a very familiar scrawl.

‘Please look after Lia. I’m going to look for my son. He is alive.’

Other than her name, Lia did not understand the rest of what was written in the small paper. She read it a couple more times, trying to decipher its meaning. “This…” She did not know how to continue her words. It was as if there were a lot of things she wanted to say that they were all jammed at her throat. She tried again, “This is Tamara’s handwriting.”

Yolly nodded and pressed a hand on her forehead. “I was watching the mayor’s speech and then I felt someone pass something in my hand. I didn’t look fast enough. So when I did turn there was nobody else besides me other than the other people ‘round there. I get away as soon as possible to read it and well you’ve seen it too.”

“What does this mean? Is someone playing tricks on us? On me? This may be a jest. A bad one at that.”

“That was what I hoped. It would have been better if this was just a harmless trick,” Yolly sighed. “But I’ve spent all my life reading her writing that I would know right away if it was a fake. And it was her handwriting alright.”

“Then why? What is the meaning of this!? If she’s alive, then why let us believe otherwise? Why now?” ‘why why why.’ Lia felt the heat at the corner of her eyes. But she could not cry here, not in Yolly’s presence.

“That’s what I’d like to know too!” Yolly cried as she sunk back to her seat. “But she’s alive… alive!”

Lia looked straight ahead as Yolly’s shoulder shook. She still could not quite trust this piece of paper. This world was full of tricks, she had seen one not too long ago. “I won’t believe this. And what does it mean about the son?”

Yolly wiped her eyes. “Her son–he was ripped away from her after he was born, a stillborn the midwife had said. But now he was alive too!”

Lia remembered Tamara telling her of the family she lost. But if the boy was alive, where was he until now? How did Tamara know of his existence? The more she thought about it, the more absurd things were. “I cannot believe this.”

“You’ve seen her writing!”

“That’s not enough! If she really is alive, why not come sooner?” ‘Why abandon me when I needed her the most?’

“She can’t. If she is looking for her son.”

“Why!?” Lia was breathing hard now as she tried to control her feelings. There was–were–things, a lot of them, that they were keeping from her. Things she had to know and understand. But nobody’s giving her anything. She felt like pulling her hair from frustration. “What are you not telling me?”

“All this time, she never once believed that her son would die. She took care of herself and was taken care of. She believed despite all of us telling her that he was gone. Call it mother’s instinct or whatever. Believed that someone might have taken her child.”

“So you’re telling me that wherever it may lead her, she will find a way to find her son, alive or not?”

Yolly nodded wearily.

Lia leaned on the dining table, hoping for support. She had grown tired all of a sudden. It was as if watching a drama with all the tangled relations, conspiracies, and betrayals. She laughed without mirth. “This sounds like what happens to nobles or something.”

The older woman stilled and then laughed nervously along with Lia.

“I think,” Lia said carefully, “I’m going to find Tamara.”