“Family Emergencies,” Twin Peaks Week, Part 5/8
(See Twin Peaks, Video 5)
Setting: Thea kneels, picking her phone up, off the floor of Coffee Shop, and nearly loses her balance, standing again. (Continued from Twin Peaks Week, Part 4/8.)
Knox was on the phone. I managed to dial before I dropped my phone, and I could hear his voice, saying, Hello? Thea, hello? Are you there?
Call you right back, I said, hanging up, standing. My heart was pounding so loud, I thought the place must’ve heard. Sharon reached out, helping me stand.
Thea, are you all right? What’s wrong, hon? You’re white as a sheet, she said.
What is this? What are you wearing? I asked, pulled the sleeve of her waitress’s dress.
It’s a . . . dress, she said. It’s a uniform.
You never wear a uniform, I said.
Well, I used to, but I got tired of wearing them. When I bought this place, I quit. But for some reason, this morning, I just thought it’d be fun to wear it again. Mix things up. You don’t like it? she said, and I nodded no, that wasn’t it. In the two years I’d been going to Coffee Shop, she had never ever worn a uniform.
I’ve never seen you wear a uniform, that’s all, I said.
Sick of my clothes, I guess, she said. I don’t know what brought it to mind, just made me smile, is all, she said, and I turned to the door. Where are you going, sweetheart?
Home. I don’t feel well, I said. I’ll see you later, I said, walking out, calling Knox back.
What’s going on? he said.
Will you call the elementary school for me? I said.
Why?
It’s about the twins, Lucy and Lucas Garner. I haven’t seen them in a couple days, and no one’s home at their house, and I just want to be sure they’re all right. Will you call now, before the office closes?
All right, hang on. What’s their name?
Lucy and Lucas Garner, I said. They’re twins. Probably in the first grade.
Let me call you back, he said, and I walked around the corner of Coffee Shop, trying to catch my breath while I waited for him. He called back two minutes later, and said, They weren’t in school this week.
But I saw them yesterday, I said.
Maybe they left yesterday afternoon, he said.
No, I saw them on the bus, Knox. I talked to them, I said.
Well, I don’t know what to tell you. The secretary said the mother called to say they’d be out of town this week.
Did they say why?
Family emergency, that’s all I know, he said. Why? What’s wrong?
I was just like, what’s wrong? Where do I begin? Nothing, I said, hanging up.