To Caress My Day

The following day, centuries after Seth’s departure it felt, Twigs got a call from her step-father, Luther. He was in London. Insisting that the two must meet up to speak face to face about her mother’s cancer, the older gentleman was more than happy to give in to Twig’s request, wishing to be of help as well. Unlike the very serene Araceli, both her husband and daughter were a couple of distraught wrecks over the news of her cancer. Since the woman seemed to function as if cancer was comparable to a simple runny nose, the duo both needed someone to rant and rave to who would understand where they were coming from. Meeting up in a snug cafe that was a walk away from Twig’s apartment building, the stepfather and step-daughter both embraced before entering the establishment and finding themselves a private booth by the windows away from inquisitive strangers. After ordering their own favored blended coffee, the two leaned over the table to confer over Araceli.

“I tell you, Tahliah, your mother is driving me mad!” Luther hisses in grievance, shaking his head as he sets his hat aside to run a hand over his balding head. “Anytime anyone mentions the blasted cancer she’s got, she responds as if it’s nothing but the common cold that a nice hot herbal tea could fix in a jiffy!”

Shaking her head too in displeasure of her mother’s reception to the critical matter, Twigs unwound the scarf around her neck with a frown glued on her face. “I’m right there with you! I feel the exact same way about it which is why talking to her these days is so difficult for me. She’s just sitting at home as calm as a cucumber about her cancer while I’m out here in London losing my mind over it!”

“I hate to hear that you’re in just as bad of a state as me, honey.” Luther unhappily grumbled, leaning back in his seat as the waiter came by to hand them each their hot beverage. Refusing any offers of fresh warm pastries out of the oven, the young man turned on his heels to cater to an awaiting customer across the cafe. “This isn’t good, Tahliah…feeling this way all the time about your mother.”

“I know, Luther.” Twigs sighed, reaching out a hand to him that Luther graciously accepted in this time of need. “It makes me sick to my stomach too.”

“Pardon my language, but I find myself feeling like a total asshole when I think about losing my cool with your mother. She’s the one with cancer, after all. She’s the one suffering, not me though my heart would certainly stop beating in my chest if I were to lose her. I shouldn’t be so frustrated with her when she has to be the one to go through all the treatments and procedures on her own.” Luther vented, his other hand curling into a fist before going lax, and then curling back into a fist again.

“You’re absolutely right! We should definitely be more gentle and easy on her.” Twigs conceded passionately, feeling exactly where he was coming from. Time and time again she felt disgusted for the things she felt and thought when it came to her mother’s composed attitude to the situation. “But goddamnit, Luther, Cancer IS a serious disease!”

Slamming his fist down on the tabletop and rattling their coffee dishes, Luther inserted just as strongly. “AND it’s taken thousands of lives!”

Snatching her hand back from him, Twig swiftly covered her ears and whined to him. “Jesus, Luther, don’t remind me of that! That's all I seem to think about these days, that my mother might end up being a part of that statistic!”

“I’m sorry but we can’t keep dancing around this like it’s gonna somehow go away with the coming of spring!” Luther exclaimed, both fury, helplessness and pain shining in his eyes. Giving himself a minute to collect himself, he leaned forward to share. “Going to her appointments is hell for me. I don’t know if I can listen to her Doctor spout another word anymore. All I can hear is ‘death, death, death’ over and over again every time he opens his mouth! I know I shouldn’t wish this affliction on other people, but I can’t help myself. I wonder why the hell no one else’s life is falling apart like ours?”

“I’ve asked myself the same things a million times a day. I haven’t got a clue why it had to be her this time.” Twigs grieved, lowering her eyes to the low-cost table. The smell of coffee was heavenly in the air, and reminded her of another cafe where she had first met Seth.

Twig’s heart ached at the simple remembrance of him, of how her body ached all last night from the phantom stretch of him inside her after he left for the airport. She luxuriated in it, shifting her pelvis here and there to sustain it so the sensitivity hit her stronger and stronger with every motion. Her heart sank when she realized the sweet stretch was dulling, fading. Desperate to drag out the sensation, she’d thrust her fingers between her legs, yanking aside her panty so she could emulate his girth. Suffice it to say, it didn’t work and she was left with silent tears streaming down her face and her panties stretched around her spread knees.

Exiling that dreary memory from her mind to return to the present, Twigs informed her step-father with a soft sigh. “Seth knows about it. Mother’s cancer, I mean.”

“Forgive me for not being surprised. I figured everyone knew by now from the U.S to China.” Luther tried not to roll his eyes as he took a sip from his coffee, adding. “If Kathy McDuffy knows about your mother’s cancer, then you best believe everyone in the world knows by now!”

Despite drowning in such hard dark times, Twigs barked out a ringing laugh that had her clamping a hand over her mouth to not disturb others nearby, her shoulders shaking from the force of it.

“Well, how does the man himself feel about your mother having cancer?” Luther couldn’t resist knowing, arching a brow as he took another sip of his coffee that warmed his inside. It helped him feel a little better against this bitter London chill.

“He’s determined to help in any way he can.” Twigs told him, rubbing a tear from the corner of her eyes as the air between them ebbed back down again. Straightening up in her seat, she curled her hands around her coffee cup to warm them, her brown eyes lost to the brown steamy liquid within. “His mother had…she’d died from cancer. They weren’t able to save her. Because of that he’s extra steadfast in saving mom for us too so we won’t have to go through what he and his family went through without theirs.”

“Bless that man’s heart.” Luther murmured, overly moved by Seth’s generosity that it made his voice break at the end. Rubbing a hand over his face to recover from it, he let out a sigh and just had to ask because he knew Twigs so well. “I hate to ask you this, but I gotta know…how do you honestly feel about Seth lending a hand with your mother’s treatments?”

Making a face at his question because she seemed to always get crap for not wanting handouts from people much like her mother, Twigs pursed her lips together. “Well, if you must know, I shot down his offer at first. But to be fair, I wasn’t in the right mental place when he asked me. Obviously I’ve been reeling over mom’s cancer still. By the time I was able to review everything from a clearer perspective, I could see that this matter was different than the simple offers before. This matter was about my mother who needs as much help as she can get right now…nevermind that she doesn’t act like it.”

Proud of his little girl, Luther flashed her a smile followed by an approving nod. It always took a lot for Twigs to accept help from others, strangers or not. Now if only her mother could follow her example just this once. “You do know that your mother won’t take a cent from Seth’s pockets, right?”

“I already know that, which is why I wanted to meet up with you today.” Twigs answered with a conspiratorial look in her eyes. “As you probably already know, Seth is unavailable to collude with us on this so…you and I have to step up to the plate and convince mom to accept his help in his absence.”

“I don’t know. I doubt she’ll listen to anyone other than her own Doctor.” Luther surmised.

“We have to try! Seth can afford all the Specialist Doctors working against this cancer and the procedures to do it but we have to do our part.” Twigs urged him, not willing to give up before they even tried.

“Hey, I want the best thing for your mother too, but how the hell do we convince her?” Luther asked.

“Trap her in some kind of…intervention, maybe?” Twigs came up with, shrugging to herself. “It would have to be just the two of us there baring our bleeding heart to her on the floor. Like literally.”

Luther gave a shrug and nod at the same time, still uncertain if this plan would work in the slightest. “I guess don’t see how that can hurt. And hey, if it doesn’t work, I can always threaten to divorce her.”

“And I’ll threaten to disown her.” Twigs joked along, all her pearly whites unveiled in a grin.

“An intervention is all we got right now, my dear, but I’m in!” Luther declared. “When should we do it?”

“As soon as we can, like…” Twigs mulled over it. It had to be a day or two where they’d both be fully available to take her mother on in a tag team match. “On a weekend when you’re absolutely free.”