Babylon Road
by Steph Brochu
Part Seven
INTERIOR. OLD SALLY’S HOTEL HALLWAY. NIGHT.
Cary stood at the door dumbfounded. He could not help but stare at the woman who had opened the door. He assumed that she was indeed Old Sally, although she could not be much more than 10 years his senior. He could suddenly feel the wrinkles atop his hands, his face, his entire body. Even more, he knew that he knew Sally from somewhere. Exactly where, he could not say right now. She had been either a friend of his parents, someone he went to school with or something. If only he could remember…
Sally
(To Cary)
You just gonna stare at me or you gonna come in? Either way, I don’t care which side of the door you’re standing at. I just want to close the door against this darn cold.
Cary
(To Sally)
[Snapping out of his daze] Oh, yes, yes. I’m coming in.
Sally turned around and shuffled away. Cary walked in and closed the door behind him. There was not much light in the corridor, so he could barely make out what the house looked like. He stood for a few seconds, trying to see where everything was and gave up. He followed Sally.
INTERIOR. OLD SALLY’S HOTEL RECEPTION AREA. NIGHT.
Sally was already standing behind the counter and was busy writing in a book. Cary came up to the counter and could see that the book was a standard hotel ledger, where Sally was busy writing the details of Cary’s stay. While she was busy filling in the forms, he kept on looking at her, as if by letting his eyes glide over her wrinkled skin, her white hair, her housecoat, he could somehow penetrate the mystery of where he had met her before.
Sally
(looking at the ledger)
So, you’re here for the funeral too, huh?
Cary
Oh yes, yes I am. [looking around nervously] Can I ask you a question? [without waiting for an answer] How did you know I was coming?
Sally
[She is still filling in the ledger] You called me three days ago to make a reservation. I don’t get many of those anymore. And your wife called also a few hours ago to see if you’d gotten yourself lost. She almost sounded like she expected you to be lost…
Cary
Oh. I guess that make sense. [Rubbing the back of his neck] Do you need me to pay right away? Do you want to see my driver’s or some other piece of ID?
Sally
[She looks up] Nope. That’s ok, I know you.
Cary
Really? I thought you looked familiar, but for the life of me…
Sally
[Smiling] Oh, I know you alright. And I knew your parents. I even remember seeing you naked on quite a few occasions…
Cary
[Embarrassed] But I… I mean, apart from Joan…
Sally
[Laughing at him] Get you mind out of the gutter, mister! [She smiles] I didn’t think you’d remember your old babysitter. I like to kid myself and say that I haven’t changed that much, but obviously [She gives a little laugh] Anyway, you’ve changed quite a bit yourself. [She teases him] Your skin used to be smoother too…
Cary
[Blushes] I guess we all age. [Somewhat more somber, almost to himself] And we do change, sometimes not in the way we thought we would.
Sally
[She coughs slightly] Haven’t seen you around since the last funeral. That was what? 10 years ago? Your mom, right?
Cary
Yeah, my mom was the last to go. My dad died a few years before. You never think that they’ll go, but then one day you realize that they’re not as strong as they used to be and the next thing you know…
Sally
Yeah. And here you are again, another funeral. It’s strange now that I think about it. You’ve only come back to the village for funerals. It’s like you’re the last chapter in these people’s life.
Cary
I dunno. After the service, there seems very little to bring me back here. What with my job, Joan and little Anny… There never seemed to be enough time.
Sally
I know what you mean. Life overwhelms you and the next thing you know, it’s time for another funeral. It’s life’s way of telling you to slow down, I guess…
Cary
Yeah. [somber, once again] I guess that’s the best way of seeing it. It tends to put things in perspective. Makes a man takes stock of what he did and what he’ll do.
Sally
[Taken aback] Well, I’ll assume that you’d be wanting to lay down, right about now. I better give you your key and let you go up. Your room is the first door, just up the stairs.
Cary
[Takes the key] Thanks. Yeah, I’m a little tired. I guess we can catch up later. [Turns around, heading for the stairs. Stops, as if suddenly remembering something. He turns back to Sally] You wouldn’t have a phone that I can use, would you? I should call Joan to let her know that I’m alright.
Sally
Sure thing. Just use this phone here.
INTERIOR. OLD SALLY’S HOTEL RECEPTION AREA. NIGHT.
Sally had put the phone on the counter and turned it towards Cary. She smiled at him and turned around, as much to give him privacy as to head off to bed herself. As Cary reached the phone, she turned her head slightly, smiled at him one last time and gave him a little wave. She headed off in the darkness, presumably towards her room and her bed.
Cary took the phone in his hand and brought it to his ear. He looked at the dial for a few seconds, as if to divine his phone number. He looked at the open ledger, read the phone number upside down and dialed.
The phone rang. He waited for 4 rings and was about to hang up when someone finally answered.
Voice
[Woken from a deep sleep] Hello?
Cary
[Unsure] Joan? Is that you?
Male Voice
[Miffed. A female voice can be heard in the background] No, this is not Joan. This is Tom. What do you want with my wife?
Cary
[Surprised] Oh, sorry. I must have the wrong number. I was trying to reach Joan Dick.
Male Voice
[Suspicious] That’s Joan’s name alright. What did you say your name was?
Cary hung up the phone. His hands were shaking, although he was unsure why. If anyone should be nervous, it was Joan, if indeed she was cheating on him. But why was she? And why would she let her lover sleep over, especially since she knew he’d be calling her. It must have been a mistake, a wrong number, a weird coincidence. But what were the odds?
Cary tried to calm himself, to steady his nerves. He looked around and spotted a bar. He made his way towards it.
INTERIOR. OLD SALLY’S HOTEL BAR AREA. NIGHT.
Once at the bar, Cary went around and to the back of the bar. He quickly located a bottle of bourbon and an empty glass that looked reasonably clean. He pour himself a stiff shot, drank it down in one gulp. He poured himself a second one.
Why would Joan cheat on him? She never gave him any indication that she was unhappy, that something was missing from their life. Even at their age, their sex life had been an active one, and, on the rare occasions that he did talk about this kind of stuff with the guys, he noticed that his sex life was way more active than any of his friends. As far as he knew, they loved each other very much and he wasn’t shy about showing it and neither was she.
Who was that man with Joan? Was it someone he knew or was it someone that Joan knew from her daily life, from her circle of friends?
Downing the bourbon and pouring himself a third one, Cary tried to relax. He half-made his mind to call back, to ask and get answers from the man on the phone, but then he changed his mind. He downed the last shot and resolved to go to bed. He would call back tomorrow and see what was happening. This couldn’t be happening, something was wrong, something was off.
Cary put the glass in the sink behind the bar and made his way for the stairs.
INTERIOR. OLD SALLY’S HOTEL CARY’S ROOM. NIGHT.
Cary got to his room, feeling dazed from the combination of fatigue, bad news and alcohol. He took off his jacket and noticed a bulge in his pocket that he hadn’t noticed before. He reached inside and pulled out a gun.