Last Window: The Secret of Cape West Part #90 - Admiring the View Outside the Window

Part 90: Admiring the View Outside the Window

Music: Razzle Dazzle

Despite what it looks, Kyle didn't actually visit Ed.

Music stops

Merry Christmas!

Music: Mulling It Over

Waking up doesn't feel so bad, this time. I can still feel some drink from last night sloshing around in my stomach, but as I drag myself out of bed and feel a draft of cool air, I soon feel better, like I can actually face the day. I open the blinds and stare out of the window.

The sunlight beyond the window is dazzling as it reflects off the leftover droplets of water.

I lean against the galss and take a moment to absorb what I'm seeing. Suddenly the song that I heard last night, "Promise", pops into my head for some reason. I pause. Why did it provoke such a nostalgic feeling in me when I heard it?

I must've heard it somewhere before.

Music: Heating Up

I try to unclutter my memories and recover the one that includes that song. At last, a memory from 25 years ago emerges and I recall the streets at night. That's it! The song I heard on the radio then... It was "Promise"!

Music: Distant Memory

I awoke suddenly at night only to hear the sound made by the falling rain. I left my bed and slipped behind the curtain. If I stood on the tips of my toes, I could just about see through the window. The glass was slightly foggy so I had to use the sleeve of my pyjamas to wipe it. My sleeve was wet through, but I could finally see outside. What I saw was the purple-lit glow of the Manhattan night. I'd vowed that I wouldn't ever enjoy living there. I didn't know anyone, it was too cold... But for the first time, I found something I appreciated about the place. I wanted my mom to see that view. I cautiously opened the door to the neighbouring room.

Realisation came to me in an instant. Mom had been staring at the same view as I had. I remember telling her that I thought it looked beautiful. Mom came over, wrapped her arms around me and just stood there beside me. There was a faint sound coming from the small radio Mom kept beside the bed.

She said that my dad loved this song. As I looked up, my eyes met those of Mom. Then, for the first time since we arrived in that town, Mom looked different. Her eyes were brimming with tears. So that was how I knew that song. It was the song playing on the radio in our apartment.

Music: Heating Up

As usual, we start the day with a phone call. It's either that or a door knock.

Mom.

Music: Ace of Diamonds

Yeah, no change there. What's on your mind?

Nothing really. I just thought you'd be out.

Sorry to disappoint.

Don't take everything as a joke, Kyle. I just felt like I should call you, that's all. I didn't really have anything to say, though.

Mom... (You're worrying me, Mom. Why call if you thought I was going to be out? That's what I want to say to her, but decided to keep it to myself instead.)

I got your package by the way. That baseball... It was the one Dad bought me all those years ago, wasn't it?

So you remembered.

Vaguely. I remember Dad and I used to play catch with it.

That ball was very precious to your father. I think the reason was that you told him you wanted to be a baseball player.

Your father kept that ball so that each time he looked at it, He could see your smiling face telling him you wanted to be a pro one day.

Kids say the craziest things. I don't remember that key, though. Was that the key Dad used for the car?

No, it wasn't.

Then what is it?

When the case came back from the police, it was inside. It was there together with the baseball. I haven't got a clue what it's for. But I have the feeling it represents something that he wanted you to have.

Mom... There's something I've been meaning to ask for a while now... And I think now's the time.

What is it? What do you want to ask me?

What?

He was in a less than respectable career...so why did you agree to marry him?

Music stops

Well, I... I fell in love. That's why. I fell in love with him and never wanted to be apart.

...

Music: Contemplation

The first time I met him was at the hospital where I worked. I was the one in charge of tending to the wounds he came in with.

So it was a classic case of patient and nurse falling in love.

Yes, I suppose it was. When I met him, he was a total stranger. But I did know one thing. I know that he was bearing a secret of some kind and that, if it ever came out, I wouldn't be able to stay with him. That's why I was prepared to be content without knowing.

When did you find out what his secret was?

About two years after you'd been born. He came clean about precisely what he did for a living.

You mean he told you about the safecracking?

Yes.

Kyle...

Maybe if you had, we wouldn't have had to live off the money he earned by ripping people off, and he wouldn't have wound up dead seven years later!

It's not like that, Kyle.

Then what is it like?

After you were born, your father... He wanted to make a clean break and give up that line of work. But his associates weren't happy with his decision. And he...

Music stops

So he just kept on cracking safes! How can you just forgive him like that?

Kyle...

(After hearing me shout down the phone at her, Mom drifts into a strange silence. Maybe it's because this was the first time we've ever discussed Dad so openly. I'm starting to regret bringing the subject up in the first place.)