Twenty-Nine November 3, 2023
FRIDAY EVENING, Elsie stands on Bailey’s front porch with Zander.
He could be a young, hot professor in his turtleneck and tweed coat.
She, on the other hand, has dressed conservatively for the occasion in straight-legged pants, a loose blouse and blazer, all business.
She holds a bag of fruit and yogurt, their dessert.
“Ready for this?” Elsie asks him. The family barbeque.
His golden eyes shine in the evening light. “Are you?”
“Yeah,” she says. “I think so.” This conversation has been a long time coming. Still, she rubs a sweaty hand down her side.
She knocks and immediately hears the excited bark of a dog. She and Zander exchange a look. A dog? Bailey opens the door clutching the collar of a trembling Jack Russell terrier.
“Wow. You’re looking good,” her sister says. A rare compliment from Bailey on Elsie’s wardrobe, probably because the outfit could have come from her closet. Bailey is wearing a similar drapey blouse, over skinny jeans. “Zander, good to see you,” she says. “Come in.”
But the dog, excited or frightened by these strangers, pees on the floor. “Oh god, sorry about that,” Bailey says. “Lulu’s a little . . . traumatized.” She drags the dog backwards by the collar, and they step over the puddle.
“You got a dog?” Elsie asks, closing the door behind them.
“From the SPCA.” Bailey ruffles the fur on the dog’s head, then grabs paper towels to clean up the mess.
Zander squats down in front of the animal and murmurs soothingly before attempting to pet it. “Hello, Lulu,” he says. “Who’s a good dog? You’re a good dog. Yes, you are. Yes, you are.” The dog licks his face.
“Is Dad here?” Elsie asks as she puts their dessert in the fridge. “I didn’t see his truck.”
“Travis picked him up,” Bailey says, washing her hands. “He’s just using the washroom.”
Elsie, wary of other puddles of dog pee, keeps her shoes on even as Zander slips off his. She hangs her backpack on the coat rack then hovers near the kitchen island as her sister dries her hands and throws a spinach salad together. “Can I help with anything?” she asks.
“I’ve got it.”
Their father, still wearing a bandage on his neck, leaves the bathroom. He seems so much older, tired, pale, but at least he’s not in a wheelchair.
“Dad!” Elsie cries and she runs to him, hugs him.
Lulu, unsettled by the sudden action, barks and barks. “Quiet, Lulu,” Bailey says, but not very convincingly. The dog whines, lies at her feet.
“Okay, okay,” her father says, patting Elsie’s back. “That’s enough.” He turns his attention to Zander. “Is this the young man you were telling me about?” he asks Elsie. A sly grin slides up her father’s face as he and Zander shake hands.
“It’s good to finally meet you,” Zander says. “I’ve heard so much about you, from both your daughters.”
“I hear you’re an astrologer.”
“Actually, my grandmother was your late wife’s astrologer. Fifi was one of Nana’s favourite clients.”
“I can’t believe it,” her father says, grinning. “My daughter’s dating an astrologer.”
Zander and Elsie glance shyly at each other. Dating. They haven’t gotten around to the formalities of their budding relationship. Is it too early to call Zander her boyfriend? And yet they already know they will likely marry in the future.
Bailey thumps a bowl of salad down on the table and bits of spinach drop to the side. She picks up the few leaves and pops them in her mouth. “Have a seat,” she says. Then, as they take their chairs at the table, she calls, “Travis, we’re ready!”
Travis enters the kitchen through the patio doors carrying a tray of barbequed chicken breasts and veggie burgers that he’s kept warm on the grill.
The dog, Lulu, nervous of his heavy footsteps, hides under the table next to Bailey, who pets it, sending up wisps of hair.
“It’s okay, baby,” Bailey says to the dog. “It’s okay.”
Travis slides the tray next to the salad. “Hey, Zander! Hey, Ellie!” he says.
“Elsie,” she says quietly, as she rearranges her cutlery. She glances at her sister, her father. “I go by Elsie now.”
“Elsie,” Travis says. “Got it.” He scrapes back his chair. “Let’s eat.”
To celebrate their father’s release from the hospital, Bailey’s outdone herself with the table setting.
Under the white plates, the placemats read Yum.
Sparkling cutlery beside them. A bowl of buns, jars of condiments.
Glasses of water scattering light across a white tablecloth.
A small white vase of white roses and baby’s breath at the centre.
“Salad?” Elsie asks, offering the bowl to Zander.
“Thank you.”
Travis helps himself to a chicken breast and hands the tray to Bailey, who passes it to her father. “Try the veggie burgers, Dad. Next to no saturated fats.”
He stabs one with a fork, drops it onto his plate, and meticulously cuts it into little pieces as if it were a steak.
“So, Elsie,” Travis says, grinning. “What’s new? Done any time-travelling lately?”
Of course Bailey would have told him. Everything.
“You’re not going to say anything to anyone, are you?” Elsie asks, reaching for a bun.
Travis scratches his beard under the chin. “Who would believe me?”
She forks a chicken breast, tucks it into her bun. “I imagine you heard we went to the airport yesterday,” she says, passing the tray to Zander.
Travis lathers on the mayo. “Where you talked to yourself.” He snickers at his pun.
“Actually, Liz gave me some good advice.” She glances at Zander.
“About a lot of things.” Elsie takes a bite and wipes her mouth with a napkin.
“But also about work.” She rubs her sweaty palms on her thighs as she turns to her father.
“At the hospital you said you felt you should step back, maybe retire.”
Her father holds her gaze a moment. They both know he doesn’t have much time left. “I would like to do some fishing,” he says.
“Right now, you’re carrying the full load,” Elsie says. “Overseeing the field crew, mapping, office operations. Maybe it’s time to delegate?”
“Travis knows the field operations inside and out,” her father says. He looks up at his future son-in-law. “You could take over management there.”
“I’d be into that,” Travis says, with his mouth full.
“It would mean more time working inside, at the office,” her father says.
“And a raise,” Bailey says.
“Or I could take a laptop out with me in the truck,” Travis says. “I could do some of the office work in the bush while I’m overseeing a crew.”
“As for office operations, I think I know who might fill that position.” Elsie leans forward to raise her eyebrows at her sister.
Bailey puts down her fork. “Me?” Below her, the dog yips at the rise in her voice.
“It makes sense, doesn’t it? You’re already an office manager at the insurance office. Transferable skills and all that. You could take over Dad’s office.”
“Is that something you’re interested in?” Travis asks her.
Bailey helps herself to more salad. “I’ll have to think about it.
” But Elsie can tell from the small smile that plays on her face that she’s already on board.
She complains about working at the insurance office daily.
The rude and aggressive customers. The office politics.
Now she would effectively take over her father’s business.
“And I suppose you want to manage the mapping department?” Her father says to Elsie. He takes his first tentative bite of his veggie burger, makes a face.
Under the table Elsie reaches for Zander’s hand. “No,” she says quietly. “I’m leaving.”
Her father turns his head to the side as if he hasn’t heard her. “What was that?”
She clears her throat, raises her voice. “I’m quitting. I’m going out on my own. I’m starting my own GIS business.”
“You’re quitting?”
“You can’t quit,” Bailey says. “Dad’s only just got out of the hospital.”
Elsie talks rapidly, making her case. “I’ll finish my current projects and stay until you’ve found a replacement.
That won’t take long. Lots of good GIS analysts out there.
We have a pile of résumés on file. And Kyle could manage the mappers.
He’s been with us forever, and he’s got it in him. He knows the routines.” Inside and out.
Her sister nods slowly. “Kyle would be a good pick,” she says. She dives back into her salad. “I’ll consider him for the position.”
“You can’t just start a business out of thin air,” her father says to Elsie. “You need capital, a business plan.”
“I know, Dad. But I won’t need much to start if I’m working from home. And I’ve already come up with a business plan. I’d like to turn my focus away from forestry and into environmental groups, homeless initiatives. I want to do some good.”
“Homeless groups?” her father says. “You want to work for non-profits? How the hell are you supposed to start a business if no one is paying you?”
“Non-profits run on government funding,” Zander says. “Elsie can tap into that.”
Her father pushes his plate away. The unfinished veggie burger. “You want to go out on your own, I can’t stop you.”
“I’d like you to be happy for me.”
“I will be, when I see you making a go of it.”
Elsie sighs and pushes her own plate away. From under the table the dog whines.
Bailey gives her father the look.
Her father nods back at her. Okay, fine. He sits back, hands on belly. “I’m sorry, Elizabeth,” he says. “Elsie. You just caught me off guard. Of course I’m happy for you. Your mother and I started this business with nothing and look where we are now.”
“Doesn’t anyone like my veggie burgers?” Bailey asks. “I made them myself.”
“I’ll have one, Babe,” Travis says. Reaching for another bun, he asks Elsie. “So, where are you time-travelling to next? I’d like to see that.”
“Here, actually,” Elsie says.
“Here?”
“This house.”
“And the date on the chart is today,” Zander adds.
Travis plunks a veggie burger onto the bun. “Not the past or future?”
“The present.”
“You can open the atlas any time now,” Zander says. He pops a cherry tomato from his salad into his mouth, holds it in his cheek like a gumball. “The moon transited into the tenth house about an hour ago, at 5:30.”
“The tenth house governs career, social power and status,” Bailey tells her father.
Zander finishes chewing before continuing.
“Reputation, profession, your public side,” he says.
“It’s at the top of the chart, on stage.
” He takes a sip of water as he glances around the table, apparently gauging the level of interest, if he should go on.
“The moon is on the tenth house cusp in Elsie’s chart and the moon is also transiting through this house now. ”
Her father grunts. “And that means?”
Zander picks up another cherry tomato and draws a circle in the air with it.
“The moon is seen as the mother, dispensing its energy as it goes around. As it moves through the tenth house, it will shower that energy on Elsie’s career, her work life.
The fourth house, home, and tenth house, career, are in opposition on the astrological chart, so there’s that constant push and pull between family life and work.
I think, with the strong influence of the moon in this house, that will be especially true for this atlas journey.
But I guess Elsie will have to open the atlas to find out. ”
Elsie pushes back her chair and stands. “I guess I can do that now.”
She jumps up, goes to her bag, and pulls out the atlas, holding it in both hands as she stands in front of the dinner table.
“Okay, as Zander and Bailey can tell you, when I open the atlas to the tenth page, you’ll see me disappear and reappear.
Don’t blink or you might miss it. Ready?
” Their faces are expectant. The dog’s ears perk up.
She opens the atlas to the page titled “Tenth House: Career” and once again feels that unsettling ache, the vertigo. But nothing has changed. Zander, Travis, her father and Bailey are still sitting at the table, staring at her. Under the table, the dog cocks its head.
“That’s it?” her father asks.
“Ellie, I mean Elsie, what happened?” Bailey asks.
“Nothing. I didn’t go anywhere.”
“Try again.”
She closes the atlas, opens it again. Still nothing.
And then she has the thought: Of course. The date of this chart is today. But the atlas should do something, shouldn’t it?
She tries again, and again. Zander, her family, the dog grow restless.
And then the old woman in the nightgown, the ghost, appears right behind her father. Maybe now’s the time? She tries yet again, opening the atlas, but everything remains the same. Her audience looks to each other and back to her, questioning. Even the dog’s brows are raised.
But the old woman nods and smiles and then disappears, and Elsie finally realizes why the atlas didn’t take her anywhere: in choosing to quit, to start her own business, she’s living the tenth house turning point right now.