“Hello?” “Mom, hi it’s me!”
“Dita honey! Thank you for calling. How was your flight?”
“It was good Mom, great service all around.”
“Dita, I need you to get to Galway straight away and check in with Rachel’s grandparents. Sharon has been kidnapped.”
“What!?” Dita turned to her friends, her eyes watering. “Sharon has been kidnapped!” Heather and Rachel embraced each other sobbing. “Mom, what the hell is going on over there!?!”
“I’m sorry honey, things has been difficult lately. Can we talk about this later?” Lisa said worryingly.
“Mom, is everyone else…are YOU okay?”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Just take care of Heather and Rachel okay, dear?”
“Of course, Mom I love you.”
“I love you too, honey.”
“Mom, PLEASE be careful, all right?”
“I will, and take care.”
“Bye.”
Dita hung up the phone, hands trembling. “Mom wants us to go directly to Galway and check in with your grandparents, Rachel.”
Rachel nodded, reaching over to the telephone. She wordlessly dialed her grandparents’ phone number. She smiled weakly to her friends as the connection was made on the other end. “Hello, Grandmother. We’re here in Dublin. Yes, we’ve had a good flight. Listen, Grandma, we just spoke with Lisa’s mom, and she wants us to head over to your house right away. You will? Ok, great. Ta!” It should be noted that this was said in a rather rushed Irish Gaelic, leaving her friends rather confused.
Rachel turned back to Heather and Dita. “She’ll pick us up at the train station around two o’clock.
“HEY, HEATHER! WHAT’S UP?!!” Terry yelled out as he ran towards the group, hoping to get their attention.
Heather wheeled around in amazement. She knew that voice. It was who she thought. “Terry?? What in the world are you DOING here??”
“Senior trip, remember?”
Dita and Rachel looked at each other in confusion. “Senior year just started.” Terry shrugged. “Artistic license, remember? Besides, I had been talking about getting out of the states for a couple of years now, and we were able to book a few nights in the local pubs.” Not wanting to risk shattering an already fractured fourth wall, Heather agreed. “Uh, Terry Cramer, you know Dita, and this is Rachel. Her mom teaches Phys-Ed at our school.” They shook hands. “Look Terry,” said Dita, “it’s good to see you again, but we need to go directly to Galway, Rachel’s grandmother’s house, for a few days. Do you have your cell phone with you?”
“Sure”
“Ok, we’ll give you a call after two or three days. Oh…you’re welcome to wait with us…”
Terry thought momentarily, he didn’t want to look TOO eager. “No, my band mates and I have a couple of busy nights ahead of us…but after that we’re free to go where we please for the next month, I’ll probably just stow the drums and travel like you guys are, maybe hop on the ferry to Liverpool to give homage to the Great One.”
Dita snorted. “Ringo wasn’t even the best drummer on the Beatles!”
Terry looked at her coldly. “I was referring to Freddie Marsden, you heretic!” Dita giggled. “Terry, we’ll definitely call you. Thanks for speaking up.”
Catching a cab from the airport to the train station, Dita, Heather and Rachel managed to secure seats on the 11:00 train to Galway.
“My God, this place is green!” said Heather. Though the countryside was blanketed with a light misty rain thanks to an occluded front over Scotland, the nickname of Ireland was obviously justified. The train ambled over farm and grasslands along with gently rolling hills. The girls, groggy from the flight, dozed off after about half an hour.
Around two o’clock, the train pulled into Galway station. Rachel’s grandmother, a small stocky woman with auburn hair was there waiting for them. She immediate pounced on Rachel with a vigorous hug and kiss on the cheek.
“Rachel dear, good to see you again!! Ah, you look marvelous!” Mary appraised Rachel’s friends. “And I presume you must be Dita and Heather?”
“Grandma, the short one is Dita. The shorter one is Heather.” Heather blushed, smiling.
“Well, let’s not stand around gabbing. Are those all your bags? Good, let’s go!” The girls made their way to a silver Peugeot. “YES!!” whispered Rachel as her grandmother tossed her the car keys. “You know the way Rachel. I want to talk with your friends.”
If Rachel was insulted by the apparent disregard; she didn’t show it since she had wanted to try right side steering ever since she got her license last year. It was surprisingly easy, though the roads were narrower than what she was used to. Mary, meanwhile, made easy conversation with her guests.
“I assume you’ve never been to Ireland before?”
Heather shook her head. “Never before, I’d always wanted to travel, but I didn’t think it would be under these circumstances.”
Mary nodded gravely. “Yes, I would imagine you would be rather distressed over all that has happened.” She patted Heather’s knee. “Don’t worry; you’re among friends in Ireland.”
“Mom told me she was bitten on the Boireann. Did they ever find who did it?”
Mary sighed. “No dear. And the thing was that she’d been warned that there was a beastie about.” She looked at Dita and Heather. “We haven’t had any wolves in Ireland since the eighteenth century, if you hear howling on the full moon it has to be a beastie.”
Dita shrugged. “So we’re ‘beasties’ now?” Mary laughed gaily as Rachel pulled into the driveway of a small but distinguished looking three story home. “Now don’t you get all offended. We know that beasties, ‘werewolves’ if you will are mostly just people with an added dimension to them. Like any group of people, there is bound to be a bad apple in the bunch to spoil everyone’s reputation. AND…here we are.”
The girls picked up their bags. Entering the house they were immediately greeted by Dylan, the family collie who seemed intent on giving everyone generous samples of his saliva. Wiping dog spit from her face, Mary turned to her granddaughter “Rachel, you can take your usual room, we’ll just move another bed in there so you can share the company, is that all right? Go and rest up for a couple of hours, and then we can show your friends our fair city.”
Jet lag is a part of all long distance flights, affecting people individually. A short nap or two, along with plenty of fluids usually helps clear the head, though getting up is excruciating. A little before four, Mary rapped sharply on the door, and each girl struggled to clear their heads. A shower and fresh clothes brought them all back to full consciousness. As they headed out the door into the rapidly approaching evening, the phone rang.