Stacie Screamed

Stacie Screamed

Stacie had climbed very wearily to the top observation of the twenty-storied building in which she now lived. As she took the last few painful steps, Stacie noticed that no one else was up there.

"Great! I am alone at last," she said out aloud to nobody in particular. "I am however definitely not alone when I make the following statement, but I am going to say it even if no one else can hear me." Walking over to the guard rail, she gripped it tightly and then screamed with all her might. "Stop the world I want to get off this ride. I can't do anything else for anybody. I want to be left alone. I need my space."

Her week had been one from hell and Stacie was literally, tired, in the full use of the mental association of the words. People had come from seemingly nowhere and asked her for advice or assistance with different things. Her volunteer work with the soup kitchen was increasing and next week they had asked her to learn a new aspect of the work and now she was going to be a supervisor of a team on seven people.

An answer came on the wind that blew around the high rise buildings that crammed and hemmed in her landscape. "It's the same thought as mine. If you ever find out how, please oh please let me know."

Taken by complete surprise Stacie looked all around the surrounding building's rooftops, but could see no one. She then began to look at all the windows that she could see, but no one that she saw was looking in her direction.

"I will let you know," she screamed out or rather spoke and laughed at the words as they came out.

"Thank you," came the voice back again. "I'll be waiting. See you at the bus stop. Bye for now."

"Who are you?" she called again.

However, this time there was no answer. She stood for quite a while just letting the breeze waft gently about her. The days of summer were great for this where she was. If the wind prevailed from the opposite direction, it was possible to taste the salt from the Pacific Ocean as it swirled into Cook Straight and merged with the Tasman Sea. Just the thought of this often sent wild fantasy thoughts through the mind of Stacie.

After about an hour of standing and watching the gulls flying back out towards the sea area in the next suburb she had had enough of the roof top, and began the long trek back down to her second level apartment. The apartment was not large as some luxurious million dollar Oriental Bay ones were, but neither was it small and pokey. Two bedrooms, a kitchen/dining area, bathroom, and a separate lounge were all she needed for herself.

After she entered, she went and prepared a basic tea for one. Potatoes, peas, corn, carrots were on the plate already because she preferred these raw, and when they were boiling nicely, she put the chops on to cook under the griller. During tea, she had a nice glass of red wine and for Stacie this meal was a feast in itself. She sat and thought for a long time about the voice on the wind and began to imagine all sorts of different people scenarios. She thought that this might one day make a wonderful base for a romantic novel, and wrote down all the details in her diary.

As soon as the dishes were done and put away, she turned on the radio just in time to hear the start of a particular radio show that she liked to listen to. This show was all about the old songs from the seventies and eighties. She had often wondered why there were not more radio stations playing this mixture, and as the tunes played, she sang along to them all and even remembered the words.

Then the last one came on and she was riveted to her seat, because the intro was what she had wanted to hear for a very long time. Before the end came on, she was crying softly to herself. ‘I must be going senile,' she thought. At the end of the piece, the announcer mentioned the title and artist. ‘Last Day of June,' by Bobby Goldsborough.

"If only I had known," she said into the air. "All those years ago, and all those countless record shop assistants who did not know what the tune that I was singing to them was."

Her mind drifted then back to the old days of her youth. Her story was almost unbelievably short and sad in one way. Her parents had died when she was very young and her guardian parent's did not teach her the facts of life, and these she had to find out behind the bicycle sheds. As she grew up the first real inclination of what truly went on in life outside cosseted walls was this song about a boy meeting a girl and then walking away as a man. The song went a long way to explain that people had sex together and if mutually agreeable, it was great. That was the sum total of any formal passing on of the facts of life; the rest she learnt by way of pain and mistakes along the road of life.

This song held for memories that were good. This had allowed her to break out of the trap that she might have found herself in had she stayed longer with those sudo-parents who were her great grandparent's age. They had lived in another world and another time or so it seemed to a very young girl.

With those and other thoughts going through her mind about lost romances and lost innocence of youth she drifted off into a pleasant sleep, and slept soundly not waking up once during the night.

The next morning found her waiting for the ten o'clock bus. There were the usual people there and each of the seemed to be caught up in their own thoughts on this beautiful warm early summer's day.

Being last to join the queue did not bother Stacie as it gave her an opportunity to look around. The only person she knew by sight was Cathy who was now in a wheelchair. Several times Stacie had helped Cathy in the early stages get on the bus.

"Where are you going today? Asked Cathy.

"I'm going into town to have coffee and then later go and do my usual work before I crawl into bed at some ungodly hour tonight. What about you?"

"No you are not going to have coffee in town because you are coming to have it with me and my friends around Breaker Bay."

Then Cathy said something that flawed Stacie as they walked towards a car door that had opened to admit her.

"I want to get off this planet as well, and I think my friends can help us."

Later in the hour, new introductions were made. There was Miriam and Miranda who had come down together from some place up north - Karin and Tegwen who owned the café - Francesca, Maya, Kyleigh, Natasha, with Angie and Chrystal - Angharad, Brooke, Jane, Rakel and Sassa - and of course Cathy.

Miriam was the first to speak after the introductions were made.

"Welcome to our ever expanding group. We started off with six and now look at us, seventeen would you believe. I told you darlings that we should all invest in a mansion to house everyone. Anyway Stacie, how come you got caught up in this band of social misfits?"

Stacie started to laugh and then told them all about the phrase that she had shouted from the rooftop last night. ‘Stop the world I want to get off this ride. I can't do anything else for anybody. I want to be left alone. I need my space.'

"Did anyone answer?" Asked Angharad with her wonderful Welsh accent.

"Yes they did. My Cathy did."

"Darling get this right," said Brooke. "It is our Cathy. We each are partners of particular people but we are all partners of each other."

To reinforce this Cathy leaned over and gave Stacie a long and beautiful kiss and then went and kissed every other one there.