6 Days in January by William Fredrick Cooper

Author:William Fredrick Cooper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2003-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

ALONE

July 1987

Life without Andrea began on a rainy Sunday morning. William’s grandparents were in Philadelphia visiting relatives, so it seemed fitting that on this day of mourning he would be alone. Arriving home at two in the morning, drenched from the steady downpour outside and drained from what had transpired the previous evening, he’d cried himself to sleep.

Getting up at eleven that morning, the very first thing he did was call in to work. “An emergency came up” was the message he left for his boss. He would call back on Monday with the particulars. Then, it was downstairs for breakfast.

Barely tasting the bowl of Fruit Loops he’d prepared, William forced himself to eat, then went back upstairs to retrieve an old milk crate filled with vinyl albums and remixes. He headed to the unfinished basement where he found an old turntable and equalizer, two huge speakers, a vintage furniture set and a panel of mirrors. There, William’s road to recovery commenced.

Spending the remainder of the day there, he passed the first few hours on the couch listening to nothing but love songs. Ballads from Whitney Houston’s “Didn’t We Almost Have It All” to Klymaxx’s “I’d Still Say Yes” conjured up memories of Andrea for William as he wondered if she, too, was grieving like he was. Racking his brain over the thought, he venomously mumbled, “She’s not. She’s probably fuckin’ Derrick today, telling him how she’ll love him forever.” Instantly his despondency turned to animosity. With that mood change he switched to dance music.

For the next five hours he danced. Moving to the music in this room full of mirrors was his way of momentarily liberating himself from the hurt. About nine o’clock that evening, he headed back to his room and fell on his bed, exhausted and sweaty, having danced ’til he dropped.

Monday came and William called in again, telling his boss, “A close relative is sick and I have to travel out of town this week.”

“Take as much time as you need,” was the considerate reply.

“Thanks,” William responded.

That was the last phone call he made the entire week.

He stayed in his room for the next six days, in the same blue pajamas, coming downstairs only to eat, to relieve himself and to periodically talk to his grandmother, who was very consoling and understanding. She cooked his favorite meals that week; on Tuesday, they had chicken and noodles with cream-style succotash; Thursday was London broil; and on Saturday afternoon, she interrupted his Luther Vandross marathon by presenting him with her special pineapple-topped cheesecake. She gave it to him with a message, “If you fall off the horse, don’t be afraid to get back on.”

“Thanks, Grandma.”

William went through the whole gamut of emotions during this stretch. Smiling briefly whenever he thought of a wonderful moment spent with Andrea, he quickly developed resentment when he realized his present state: alone.

At times he would miss her more than others; and he felt the urge to call her. Just hearing her voice, he thought, would do wonders for his spirits.

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