Orlando, My Hero by Rebekah Jennings (management books to read .txt) š
- Author: Rebekah Jennings
Book online Ā«Orlando, My Hero by Rebekah Jennings (management books to read .txt) šĀ». Author Rebekah Jennings
Jen sat at their kitchen table early Sunday morning, drinking coffee and smoking; a ceaseless habit of late. She ran her finger across the glossy page of her āCosmoā magazine. Not the whole page, and not indiscriminately. It was the face of Orlando Bloom that drew her attention. She remembered him fondly as the brave elf, Legolas Greenleaf with his sharp, blue eyes. His long, white hair so similar to the tail of the striking Palomino horse. At first, when Jen found out that Orlando possessed naturally dark features, in direct opposition to the face sheād come to love, there had been immense disappointment, but now she preferred him that way. Orlando was her hero and her true love. In fact, over the recent weeks it would be fair to say, he became her everything.
āWhatās wrong with you, Jen?ā Gabriella asked, emerging from their dark, quiet hallway.
āHey.ā Jen turned toward Gab with a smile.
āHave you been up all night?ā Gabriella waved at the smoky kitchen air, a sour look on her face; then purposefully and sternly, opened the kitchen window and the back door attached to the kitchen.
āYou know I havenāt been able to sleep lately. Itās these long summer nights, too hot.ā
Jenās attention went back to her magazine. Gab switched on the kettle.
āHmm, itās not normal, Jen. First, you spend months in bed, and now you donāt sleep at all. When was the last time you slept?ā
āAbout a week.ā
āThatās what I thought.ā Gab shook her head.
Preparing herself tea she studied Jen. āWhat are you looking at, anyway?ā
Jen lifted the magazine, making the cover visible.
āI didnāt think you had money to buy magazines? You certainly havenāt any for the rent.ā
āI know. I felt bad about it, but then I knew youād understand.ā
āUnderstand what?ā
Jen lifted the Cosmo again but this time turned it round to show Gabriella a picture of Orlando.
āI donāt get it.ā
āOrlando,ā Jen pointed at him.
āStill donāt get it.ā
āWhen Iāve watched āLord of the Ringsā, recently...ā
āObsessively,ā Gabriella said pointedly.
āWell, Iāve realised...ā Jen looked up at the ceiling, āit just occurred to me, really.ā
āWhat did?ā
āOrlandoās been leaving messages for me. He wants me to meet him in California.ā
āWhatās wrong with you, Jen?ā
āNothing,ā Jenās smile disappeared, āyouāre so out of touch with things, Gaby. You really shit me, sometimes.ā
āItās you whoās changed, recently, Jen. All winter youāre comatose. Then bang, just like that youāre a walking piece of sunshine, all āno sleep for me, Iām superhuman. Watch me while I wear may knickers on the outside and use my cape to fly to another country.ā Gab emphasised her diatribe with silence. Not too much, just thirty seconds, then, āCan you hear yourself? Youāre blaming your sleeplessness on the summer nights, yet last summer you were fine. Youāre talking about meeting Orlando Bloom in another country. I think you need help. Youāre not well.ā
āI donāt need anything. I feel great now; fantastic even. Iāve spent the past few nights thinking about starting a business when I get there.ā
āWhere, California? How will you
get to California?ā
āOrlandoās arranged a ticket for me. Heās so wonderful.ā Jenās brown eyes sparkled incongruent to her angled annoyance. āI told you, I knew my day would come. I dreamed of a hero who would save me from my life and now itās happening.ā
āYou donāt even have a passport.ā
Gabriella squinted at Jen as if to extract a deeper insight from her appearance or words. āIām ringing Mum.ā
Jen moved quickly from the table, her cigarette pressed tightly between her fingers.
āPlease donāt, Gabriella. Come one, Iām fine.ā
Stepping back, Gabriella coughed, āI thought we agreed no smoking in the house,ā she fanned her face. āItās not normal to not
be able to sleep, Jen.ā
āYouāve already made things hard between me and Mum. God, it took ages to get her off my back last time when you rang her about my āso calledā depression, as you put it. Why do you always have to ruin everything? You love making me look bad to her.ā Jen stubbed out her cigarette and immediately lit another. She sat back at the table and ran her finger over Orlandoās face; the squareness of his jaw, the curl in his hair. āDonāt worry about me, Iāll be fine.ā
Gabriella took her tea from the kitchen and headed with purpose to her bedroom, portable phone in hand; her stomach heavy with anxiety and sorrow.
āWhatās happening to you, Jen?ā She whispered to the air-conditioned room. Gab didnāt want to phone their mother. She sat on the edge of her bed, head bowed, phone pointing to her forehead; pressing into the skin.
Jen finished her coffee and cigarette, and snatched her magazine from the table. The atmosphere spoke to her this morning. She felt the messages from all around. Orlandoās voice was all about her. Not audibly but inside her. Hard to explain to anybody else, but he was there nonetheless. Right now she felt him warning her, āGet out nowā. It was urgent, she knew that as surely as she knew, this very moment, Gabriella would be on the phone to Mum. Jen wasted no time. She made her way to her own room, not to change or shower; there was no time for that. Her thrice-worn tracksuit pants and ever-yellowing fingers werenāt given a thought as she located Orlandoās candle and left the house.
Gabriella had their mum on the phone.
āSomethingās wrong with Jen, Mum. I canāt explain it exactly but sheās lost her mind. She thinks Orlando Bloomās sending her a message through the TV, telling her to go to California to be with him. Itās bizarre.ā
āIs that her new boyfriend? She always liked those Spanish types.ā
āNo, heās not her boyfriend. Heās a Hollywood actor, Mum. She thinks heās sending her messages through āThe Lord of the Ringsā, one of his movies.ā
Then, a sound caught Gabriellaās ears. Was that her car?
āWait a second, Mum.ā
Gabriella called out to Jen but there was no reply.
āI think sheās left the house, Mum,ā Gabriella moved through the house, the portable phone still to her ear. When in the lounge, she opened the drapes. The summer sunlight strained her eyes and the hot air from behind the curtains pressed against her face. Gab noticed immediately, Jen had taken her car.
Jen drove with the window down so her cigarette smoke would be caught by the wind. Catching a glimpse of herself in the rear-view mirror, at her unkempt hair, Jen decided Orlando would understand, after all it was him urging her to leave so suddenly. What hero wouldnāt understand? Jen headed toward Melbourne, on her way to the Tullamarine Airport. Her eyes darted about, her fingers tapped on the steering wheel to the beat of the radio.
She noticed a cop car and her heart beat a speedy cadence as she slowed a little. Fingers twitching, she turned her face away from the road feigning interest in the Yarra River, until the copperās car passed. A tic in her eyelid returned; it had come and gone over the past day or so. Things will work out. She knew this; knew it like you know when youāre in love. It couldnāt be described in any other way. She just knew.
On the Monash Freeway, Jen drove confidently. Soon sheād see Orlando. Heād hold her in his arms. Theyād laugh and talk and sit together at cafĆ©s. Sheād ask him if he still had his āLegolasā wig. Maybe heād wear it for her along with Legolasā blue contact lenses.
Jen quickly tilted left to grab her handbag from the passenger seat. She might not have had time to shower and change, to eat or apply makeup, but she did have time to prepare the ritual for her voyage. She needed to light Orlandoās candle. The flame would bring the essence of him to her; heād help her through the congested roads of Melbourne. Heād help her at the airport; through customs and onto the plane. Heād help her when she had to explain to the airport ticketing counter that heād arranged her flight. Heād help the staff find the ticket number needed to assure her trip.
Jenās eyes flicked from the road to her bag as she searched it. Locating the candle, she transferred it to her right hand, with a cigarette still firmly in her grip and then tossed her handbag on the passenger seat. She still sucked on her cigarette. Smoke trailed up her cheek and into her right eye. Blinking hard Jen pressed her eyelid closed with one of her hands.
āOw, ow, ow.ā Her eye throbbed. Tears blurred the right-eyes vision. Her left hand, candle ensconced within, still rested against the steering wheel.
āShit.ā
She needed her lighter. The whole thing became a juggling act with her candle in the same hand she was driving with, her cigarette in her mouth; eye squinted and her other hand searching her pockets. Front and back.
āYes,ā she said and extracted the lighter, but as she did this, pain erupted in her lips. Her cigarette had almost burned down and the heat was now too close to her lips. Intentionally dropping the lighter, her hand came up to her mouth but pain forced her lips to open prematurely, dropping the cigarette. Jen took quick stock of the road and then frantically looked about the floor and seat for the smouldering cigarette. It sat between her legs burning a hole into her thin tracksuit pants.
The sound of screeching tires invaded her ears but there was no time to respond, not even a millisecond to lift her eyes to the road. The car jolted fiercely, her head thrown back. Holding the steering wheel tightly with both hands, Jen felt the dimensions of her car, the space around her shifted, as though the steering wheel moved closer, back, closer like wobbling jelly. It seemed her ears had stopped working. Silence fell around her like fog.
Stunned, Jen sat staring out at the traffic, the other cars, and the people as she realised her location in the middle of the intersection. An unknown person knocked on her window. She tried to unwind it but it wouldnāt budge. The door was stuck, too. A siren could be heard in the distance. Jen looked to her lap; the cigarette had gone out now. Picking it up, revealed two burn holes; one in each leg of her tracksuit pants. She felt pain from the burns, but otherwise was fine. Jen retrieved her handbag, lighter and Orlandoās candle. She needed him now more than ever? Hurriedly she lit his candle, focussing her thought on him as she did so. Moments later the ambulance and several police cars arrived.
āIām fine, Iām okay,ā Jen reassured the medic, āI have to hurry, I need to get to the airport.ā She couldnāt stand still; shifting her weight from one foot to the other, cigarette between her hand.
āNo, you must let us do our job. We need to make sure youāre okay.ā The medic eyed her lit candle and frowned.
Jen refused treatment. The driver of the other vehicle was transported to hospital in a serious condition. The police wanted a statement from Jen. According to
Comments (0)