You right, Elise? said Tom.
Yeah, Dad, she said, with the same calm and cheerful manner she'd answered the
same question with less than two minutes ago when Tom had rung for the first
time that arvo. There's only an hour's difference between Nagano and
Queensland, Dad. I'm not on the other side of the world. You've got nothing to
worry about.
Yeah, true, he said. Tell me again what you're gonna do
today, please. I like hearing you talk.
She told him again what she was about to do before
heading home to rest, after having worked all day massaging the feet and backs
of the demanding clients at the physio clinic located in the resort where the
chair lift she'd be hopping on as soon as she finished this call also was.
Dunno why I feel like something bad's gonna happen, Tom thought with mounting dread, while his daughter
repeated to him, with the same innocence as a few minutes ago, that she'd
always wanted to go on a chair lift. It goes across the beautiful and
yawning gap between the two ends of the mountain at the resort, she said
excitedly.
On Wednesdays, like today, no one uses the chair lift.
I'll have it all to myself,
she went on. She might even, she added, have a go at filming herself on her
phone. It's gonna be deadset fun. Yesterday they showed me how to use the
machine. So I'll switch it on myself and turn it off after I've done a couple
of laps.
But how are you gonna turn the machine off if you're
gonna be on one of the chairs? said Tom, alarmed.
That machine, which is called a chair lift, Dad, can
be programmed to turn itself off once the ride's done. Don't stress.
Everything's sweet as.
Tom couldn't work out if that was what was worrying
him. Maybe not.
Sorry about my old man fears.
What old man, Dad? You're heaps young. And
good-looking. My mates reckon they'd even go out with you if you lived here.
I'll tell you all about it when we see each other again in about six months.
Six months, Tom sighed.
Six months is nothing, Dad. They'll fly by.
On the other end, he wasn't getting the same
excitement she was showing, so she cushioned his situation: You've got
nothing to worry about. I live in a safe country, in a safe city. My life is
boring, but quiet. That's why today I'm gonna treat myself to this ride on the
chair lift. In a few hours, I'll send you the pics and vids. You'll drop dead
when you see the view and you'll wanna come soon.
But it wasn't Tom who died; it was her who did when,
due to an error in the chair lift's programming and the accidental and
unfortunate catching of straps and hooks, she ended up suspended hundreds of
metres from a deadly fall, her heart stopping from the shock.
After hearing the tragic news, Tom promised himself he'd never again ignore the foreboding voice that once whispered to him, with the persistence of a mozzie, the grim future that was coming; a voice that arrived from afar and, precisely because of that, wasn't quite clear.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario