#45 Dumb Question - Ceist Balbh
The Painting
There were no other passengers occupying the cozy seating, not that I'd become accustom crowded train cars â especially at 6:30am. I'd counted three other people in the train station who weren't workers tackling an exhaustive end to their night shift. Before we boarded Lyle and I sat in the middle of a collection of hard plastic chairs meant for much larger groups of passengers. Neither of us were even remotely tired. Clearly we were both shaken from our homicidal guests and Monroe's chilling phone call.
Lyle never outright asked for an explanation of my connections to Mo Soileireacht or Monroe and I didn't try to offer one. We sat in silence for the next half hour until our train was ready to board.
"Are you ok?" I was sitting closest to the window watching the buildings thin out as we left the city. Lyle sat next to me and as I turned to study her a ghost of a smile played on her lips. Not humorous in the way someone might be trying to hide a reaction to a joke, but ironic as if there was no other conceivable way to portray what she was feeling.
"That's kind of a dumb question don't you think?" She turned to me, the corners of her mouth edging up slightly.
A beat passed before she threw the question back at me, a hint of concern in her voice.
"Are you ok?"
I looked down at my lap where my forearms lay gently over Mo Soileireacht while the same ghost of a smile found my lips. "You're right, that is a dumb question."
We shared a laugh briefly, a quiet understated laugh that was only intend to fill the silence for a moment.
"You could stay with me." I ventured.
An hour had passed and Lyle tilted her chair back to rest her eyes. I couldn't tell if she was asleep or not as I turned in my own chair to gauge her reaction. The warm sun washed over her quiet features and I was again drawn in at how peaceful she looked.
She didn't respond.
I bit my lip. "Where will you go?"
Again there was no response, just the steady rise and fall of her chest.
Lyle was still sleeping when the train arrived in Marbeth. Breakfast would be over by the time I made the trek down the asphalt road to White Pine. I thought of taking the short cut through the forest but quickly decided against it as memories played of scrambling through the thicket while Smith and Jones chased after me â us. I looked down at Lyle as the conductors voice came over the speaker ordering us off the train.
Quietly I gathered Mo Soileireacht into my arms, leaving Lyle alone in the empty train car.
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May and Lyle's future is tenuous .. will fate return them to each other ?