Sebastian Cabot took a deep breath and swung open the door to his parents’ unit. He’d been there before of course, more often than his brother Matthew, who was often away on buying trips for the business. But knowing that their mother and father would never come through the door again choked him up. He’d thought that he was all over the tears but he found them coming at him out of the blue and over the least likely things. At other times, he seemed too sad to cry any more. Wondering how long his grief would last, he set down his suitcase and listened to the silence. No greetings, no hugs. In that moment he knew he could never live there. Matthew had suggested that they keep the condo; it would be a place for Sebastian to live and a place for Matthew to stay when he came to town. But it would have to be another place, as far as he was concerned.
I’d never get over this feeling, thought Sebastian. He decided to talk to Matthew about it again, first chance he had. Maybe Matthew would feel the same way too when he got here. They were in daily contact since the plane crash that had wiped out their parents lives, their family life. Now they had to decide so many personal and business matters.
What was that old quote? He searched his memory and came up with part of it. It went something like, ‘All happy families are the same but unhappy ones are different.’ That wasn’t quite right; he would have to look it up. In the meantime, he would just grit his teeth and hope for no ghosts while he was staying here. He believed in ghosts even though he had never seen one.
The next day, as he passed through the lobby on his way to Cathay Imports, a woman rose from her chair, extending her hand, and spoke to him, “Hello, you must be one of the Cabot boys. My name is Ivy James. I knew your parents—my unit is on the same floor and we often visited back and forth—and I want to extend my sincerest condolences. Such a terrible thing to have happened.”
“Thank you, Mrs. James. I’m Sebastian. I’m here to settle up some of their affairs, staying in their unit. My brother Matthew is still in the Orient.”
“Perhaps then, if it’s convenient for you, you could come over to supper with me one evening and we could talk.”
“That’s very kind of you. It might be some comfort to talk with someone here who knew them well. They said they had made some friends here but the names didn’t really register, as I’d never met any of them myself. My brother and I are great travelers, you see.”
“A family trait?”
“Too true.”
And a few nights later, Sebastian came for supper, bearing a set of four wine glasses and a bottle of Merlot. “Please accept the glasses as a memento of my folks,” he offered.
“Many thanks, Sebastian. These are lovely.” she smiled appreciatively. “We’ll use two of them with supper, shall we? And if you would open the wine?”
“And now, how are you and your brother doing?” she asked as they sat down over salad. “When my husband died, at first it was all so… well, busy, and then, it was so empty. When you are accustomed to a routine with someone, all these extremes are very wearing.”
“Well I can tell you that I’m not really enjoying staying in the place, in the empty, alone sort of way you mean. And I’m used to living alone. And even though it’s very nice, it can certainly not in any way be described as empty. They were collectors, an occupational hazard for sure. There are all those personal effects that will have to be gone through and sorted out. I’m waiting for Matthew before starting on that.” he told her.
“I do remember some of their things from my visits there, old maps on the walls and several globes. I used to tell them that my place was decorated only with my yarn stash, a collection of hooks and needles, and a cat.” and she waved a hand around her, indicating their surroundings. “To each his own, I guess.”
As she brought a steaming dish of lasagna to the table, Sebastian said, “I see that you also have a lot of books. Maybe you can help me to remember a quote that’s slipped my mind. Something about happy and unhappy families?”
“Let’s look it up, though funny you should mention happy families. It’s the name of a card game we’re currently learning to play.” She thumbed through the pages of her book of quotations. “Here we are,” she read aloud,” ‘All happy families resemble one another, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way’. It’s from Tolstoy.” she concluded.
“Ours seems to have gone from one to the other.” Sebastian sighed.
“So you think that you will sell the unit?” she gently asked.
“That’s certainly my preference at this point. I may have to talk Matthew into it. Don’t suppose you could recommend anybody to help us get it ready for sale?”
“Gervase would certainly be able to suggest several people. He’s always willing to help. I think I remember your mother saying that you were working somewhere close by? Would you be the one most likely to be involved in the sale?”
“It would probably be me, yes. Matthew worked directly with my parents. I did for some time but decided it wasn’t for me, not full-time anyway. I was more interested in the traveling than in the business end of it. Right now I have a position at a nearby college, teaching cartography. I’m trying it to find out if I can settle down” he said, “or if I am destined to be a wanderer.”
“Is there such a thing as a freelance cartographer?” she wondered. “Don’t you have to be in a lab with all kinds of special equipment these days?”
“Mapping software, information systems…certainly for teaching tools, yes. Of course, the day of the hardy explorer singlehandedly charting coastlines is long gone but there are other paths to entrepreneurship. I may be on one of those.”
“And in very good company. This runs in my family too, in my sons. One of our residents is a freelance journalist, and accountant on the side, who made the jump to self-employment recently. He’s our association treasurer also. He and I are good chums. I’ll introduce you; I would guess he is about your age, might be some company for you while you’re here. ”
“Well, thanks for your company and the home cooking too, Mrs. James. And I will ask Gervase for his advice. Who knows? I may end up back at the store in spite of myself.”
“Remember if you need another sorter when that time comes that I’m right down the hall and happy to help.”
That time did come. Once Matthew and Sebastian had decided what to do with things, there remained the work of packing it all up. Mrs. James started to give them a hand with some of the more personal items while a service, touted by Gervase as very competent, was scheduled to come in to handle the rest of the removal. Gervase also suggested that they set up appointments to interview several realtors to determine what kind of listing services they wanted. Mrs. James told them that she had worked with one when she bought her unit and recommended that they be sure to speak with him, as he knew the building very well.
The brothers decided to get started on these interviews while Matthew was still in town. They scheduled back-to back appointments with three realtors to meet in the unit the following Monday morning.