INITIUM NOVUM: Part 1 by Casper Greysun Read Free Book Online Page A

rings later, her phone call is being
redirected to Hector’s voicemail. This relieves her. She had no
desire whatsoever to talk to her husband; not enough time has
elapsed between now and the morning when she last interacted with
him. A brief interaction it was too, over breakfast which he
scarfed down hurriedly as she sipped her coffee, watching him eat
like an animal. A kiss on the top of her head later and Hector was
rushing out of the door and into his Dodge Charger, still chewing
his eggs and toast, leaving her where she sat, at the table in
front of her own plate, her hopes of sharing a nice breakfast with
her husband deflated yet again.
    It takes Ruth a few more minutes, but she
finally gains the courage to call the one person she wishes to
speak to more than anyone. While she didn’t quite expect her sister
to pick up, hearing her voicemail message comes as a bit of a
surprise to her. Feeling worse than being flat left at breakfast,
she decides that she’ll roll another joint in a little while. It’ll
be hours until Hector comes back from work, which leaves her with
more than enough time to air the apartment out and rid it of the
scent of her leisurely activity. Although, at times she toys with
the idea of letting him catch her in the act, she doesn’t. She
wouldn’t want to place him in a conflict of interest due to his
career. Yet, the prospect of scandal has an allure that she cannot
deny.
    Striking another match, she listens to the
rest of the voicemail, hoping that she’ll hear her sister’s voice
when the music stops playing, but the music plays until the very
end of the voicemail message, right up until the beep.
     
    Nobody can tell ya
    There’s only one song worth
singing
    They may try and sell
ya
    Cause it hangs them up
    To see someone like you
    You gotta make your own kind of
music
    Sing your own special
song
    Make your own kind of
music
    Even if nobody else sings
along
     
    Ruth puts the phone down, and takes a deep
breath. By the time she’s done exhaling, she’s already crushed
nearly an entire gram of weed. The gram breaks up well enough to
form three heavy joints from it. She doesn’t need that much pot to
feel good. She knows this. Not that it’ll stop her from smoking all
of it just to fill the time, and more importantly than time, to
fill the void.
    Halfway through her second joint, she decides
on calling her sister again. She presses the call button but the
attempt fails due to a network communication error.
    “That’s weird,” Ruth says to herself. “I
always get good service here.”
    After examining her phone and seeing that the
device has full bars, she becomes confused as to why it has no
reception. Maybe it’s a sign from beyond, she thinks. Of course,
she isn’t entirely wrong. Not to say that she’s right either. There
is a reason for her phone malfunctioning and it is not a case of
damaged hardware of any sort. The phone, a gift from Hector,
represents something to Ruth. It represents that Hector is capable
of moments of unexpected sweetness. Given that Ruth’s sister and
Hector do not mesh well, she gives considerable thought to the
ironic belief that maybe Hector’s sweetness could never connect her
with her sister. This brings her far closer to the truth than her
previous suspicion that a higher force had been issuing signs and
hints about her attempts at reuniting with her sister.
    The phone was brought by Hector to keep Ruth
from asking questions regarding his whereabouts earlier that
particular evening. That very night he presented the gift to his
wife, his excuse was that he was buying her a new phone. The truth
is that Hector was late because he was with another woman, buying
that woman a new phone. As a matter of fact, if Ruth had done just
a little snooping she would have found his credit card statement
listing two phones, one full price, one free. It had been part of a
buy one, get one free promotional deal. Ruth had gotten the free
phone, the secondary