Lost Ones, Page 3

CHAPTER TWO

  When Marina regained consciousness, she found that she was still lying on a stretcher, but in a different hospital. After a mental effort, she recalled that the doctor in Alcácer had told her that she would go to Setúbal for some routine tests, just to make sure that everything was okay with her. A little confused, Marina looked around and realized that she was in a hallway that marked the transition between the waiting room and some doctor’s offices. Only then she noticed that the oxygen mask and serum had disappeared, which would mean that she had already had had the tests and soon would be discharged to return home. She hadn’t noticed a thing; she must have been in a really deep sleep.

  With some difficulty, she sat on the stretcher and leaned her head against the wall, since she was feeling a little dizzy. Sliding her eyes to the right, she saw her mother moving towards her along with the doctor. Her mom's face showed major concern, typical of all mothers, in contrast with the doctor, who had a look that it had nothing to do with him and that it wasn’t his worry; he had a long night of work ahead and there would be a lot of patients and problems to try to fix - that was just one more.

  Noticing that Marina was awake, her mother walked faster towards her, forcing the doctor to rush his pace too. When she came near the girl, her eyes were bursting with tears, but she tried to disguise them to prevent Marina from worrying or thinking that something was wrong. The doctor stopped near Marina, coughed a little and said, “Ah, I see you're already awake. That was some sleep! You didn’t even realize we did an X-ray on your head, isn’t it right?”

  Marina tried to speak for the first time since she woke up and noticed that her throat ached, perhaps because she swallowed some water from the river when she almost drowned. “No, I didn’t realize that, or when you took the serum and the oxygen,” she replied.

  “The oxygen percentage was good and your body temperature had also normalized, so we took it away as you didn’t need it,” the clinic explained. “That was some fright you gave to your mother, huh?”

  She had given her mother a fright? She didn’t ask to be thrown from a bridge! She felt that the doctor was claiming that it was her fault. Would he think that she was a suicidal teenager who jumped on purpose? Now, the firemen surely presented him a report outlining the situation, right? He could think whatever he wanted. She knew the truth and no, she didn’t jump into the river on purpose, period.

  The doctor opened the brown envelope that he was holding, as if checking the documents inside. Then he closed it and handed it to her mother. He addressed Marina next, saying “Okay then. According to the examinations you had, everything’s fine, so you can go home and have some rest. If by chance you have shortness of breath or persistent pain in the neck or back, tell your mom to visit your family doctor. I don’t think any of this will be necessary. It was just a fright.”

  “And what a fright!” said Marina's mother in the end. Despite having pronounced only a few words, mom’s voice trembled a bit and soon she regretted having spoken. She wanted to be the safe place a mother was to a daughter, nonetheless she felt unstable at the moment; her body shivered involuntarily and the calm she needed was elusive to her. The doctor gave a friendly pat on mom’s shoulder, looked at Marina and smiled, wishing the girl to get better soon. Next he retreated into an office.

  Mom made a gesture to Marina, for het to get up and go. The girl was about to put her feet on the ground when she noticed that she was barefoot. And what about her clothes? She was wearing pajamas, but didn’t remember having put them on. Perhaps the nurses had changed her. Her mother grabbed the plastic bag next to the stretcher and handed her a pair of slippers. Marina's body felt really sore, so she took some time putting on them on. With her feet protected, the girl got up and asked how they would get home, to what her mother replied that they would use her car.

  “Didn't you come with me in the ambulance?” inquired Marina, considering it odd.

  “No, the fire fighters left two minutes before I arrived. My phone was dead and because I was delivering meals to homes, they couldn’t reach me in time,” explained mom.

  Luísa, Marina’s mother, worked at a particular institution of social solidarity; to her, it was just a fancy name for a nursing home. The institution was divided into three groups: the day center, the nursing home, and there were also several vans that gave home support. As someone who provided home care, Luísa spent the day driving a van around the county. It was a job the woman considered rewarding, but tiring, so when she would go home, she was too tired to do whatever needed to be done and just throw herself onto the bed and sleep. Of course, with a tired mom, Marina spoke little to her. However, she had promised to her daughter that things would change next week, because she would have a different work schedule.

  Marina’s mother helped into the car and then walked to the driver's side. The vehicle shook when mom sat down, complaining about carrying another occupier. Moments later the engine growled and the driving back home started.

  Marina was tired and had no desire to talk about what happened, so she lay back on the car seat, straightened the blanket that her mother had brought, and fell asleep. Was there a best way to avoid a conversation other than sleeping? They would probably talk about what had happened the next morning and only then she would think of what to say. The truth was she wanted to have some time for herself, so she could analyze what had happened. She was in the right, correct?

  The car slowed down until it stopped. Marina opened her eyes and realized that they were in front of her house. As she walked out of the vehicle, her mother ran to the old entry door to open it.

  “Get in. I’m just going to park”, she said.

  As the lived in a very old building with no garage, the car had to stay on the street at the mercy of available places.

  Half asleep, Marina went straight to her bedroom. She felt a little hungry, but her sore and numb body told her to go to bed at once; the next day, she would settle the account with her stomach. She dragged herself to the room, turned on the light on the bedside table and pulled back the quilt. She lay down, covering herself up. How good it felt to be back to her beloved bed! Her favorite clothes were pajamas and the best place in the entire world was her bed; so she said.

  She yawned and her eyes closed with an urgent fury, leaving her mother unanswered when she entered the room to ask her if she wanted a cup of tea. Resigned, her mom straightened the bed clothes and retired to her own room, after all she had had an eventful day too, and the next morning she would have to wake up at 7a.m to go to work.

  If Marina expected to have a quiet night, she couldn’t be more wrong. She spent the whole time having nightmares about the men on the bridge pushing her, no one saved her and she drowned. As she struggled to keep on the surface, she saw Lucas' face and he laughed like crazy, as if happy with her suffering. A black dangerous aura surrounded him, letting her know that he was pure evil and should be avoided at all cost.

  Her mother's voice woke her up from one of the nightmares in the morning. “Marina. Wake up, Marina!”

  The girl yawned, stretched herself on the bed and felt a pain that seemed to envelope her entire body.

  “So, how are you feeling today? Do you have any pain?” questioned mom.

  She blinked a little and replied in a confused voice, “I only moved a little and my body hurts all over. It must be due to hitting the water so hard.”

  “I have to go to work, but if you’re not feeling well, I can stay.”

  “No. There’s no need for that, I'll be fine,” assured Marina. The pain would go away at some time and she only felt sore. She wasn’t incapable of moving and doing what she had to do.

  “Okay. I already recharged my cell phone’s battery, so if you need anything, just call me. What about school? Are you going in today or are you staying at home?” queried mom.

  Going to school or staying at home? Marina still hadn’t thought about that. In fact, she didn’t do anything besides sleeping. For many, staying home w
ould be a tempting proposition, nevertheless she didn’t like to miss lessons. She tried to sit, but all the bones and muscle protested and made her rethink the suggestion of her mother. Finally, she made up her mind. “I think I'll stay home today. My body is killing me! I’ll go back to school tomorrow. As we’re still in the first week, I don't think I’ll miss much. Besides, I’ll catch up easily.”

  “It’s your choice. Are you sure you don’t want me to stay with you?” insisted mom, with doubt weighing on her mind.

  “No, I’m fine. I can take care of myself,” reassured the girl between a yawn.

  “Okay then. There are some Tupperware boxes in the fridge filled with food that you can have for lunch. If you prefer to eat a toast instead, there’s bread in the bag that’s on the table. I’ll come back early, today I get out at 4p.m.”

  “Perfect.” While answering, Marina was already turning back on the bed, preparing for another two or three hours of sleep, after all it was only 7.30; if she wasn’t going to school, she hadn’t to get up right away. She could enjoy a few moments more in the comfort of her bed.

  It was 10.30 when Marina woke up at last. She had an inside bedroom, typical of a first floor old building, with no windows, thus the sunlight never awoke her. On the other hand, not seeing the sunlight during the day could be somewhat depressing if she stayed in there for too long. Considering that, she decided then that she’d stay warm in bed watching TV until lunch time, but after that she was going to the living room with the laptop to do some research on the Internet. If her mother was getting out at 4 o’clock, half an hour later she would be home and would keep her company. It seemed a good plan.

  Marina turned the light on, grabbed the remote control and prepared to begin her day’s program. She zapped the TV and found out that was on one of the last episodes of the second season of ‘Fringe’. She had already watched it a few months ago, but took the chance to recall the latest events before the beginning of the new season.

  Her perception then began to ramble on the ‘fringe event’ she had experienced herself the previous evening. She began by recalling that it was very cold and she was walking along the river’s wall, when she decided to turn back and to enjoy the sunset on top of the pedestrian bridge. She remembered getting there, but the part between that moment and when she fell into the water was a tremendous mess. One second she was looking at the horizon, and the next she was being pushed out of the protection railing. Then she climbed the railing, trying to escape. How stupid! Who, in their right mind, would climb the railing of a bridge to get away from a fight? That’s right... she now remembered that the man who pushed her was fighting another. Where did those two morons came from? Neither realized they had approached her. Summing up: she was looking at the horizon, was pushed, climbed the railing and, of course, after a punch she lost her balance and fell overboard. However, she knew she hadn’t fallen into the water right away, as proven by the ache in the joints of her fingers and wrists, as a result of the effort to hold on. Then she fell and the firemen came? No.

  She shut her eyelids fiercely to focus and the fragments in her mind began to link, until they showed a clear image. Lucas - that was it! How could she had forgotten about him? She thought that it was a dream, that she had imagined his face, but things weren’t like that. He had tried to grab her when she fell off the bridge and then threw himself into the water to save her. It had been him who had kept her afloat and clinging to the bridge’s pillar and to her own life. If she was alive, it was because of him. Marina made an extra mental effort, nevertheless she didn’t remember him leaving the water. She also didn’t recall having seen him at the hospital. Would he have left the water on his own feet and didn’t go to the doctor because he was alright? Or worse, what if, in trying to save her, he drowned and no one noticed? A feeling of guilt began to take shape in her heart. She needed to make sure he was all right, but how? Damn cell phone! If she had already bought one, she could send a message to Ana and she would answer if he was in class, and then she could rest.

  Disturbed, Marina stirred in bed. The smell hit her like an unexpected punch. “That stinks,” she thought. And, to make matters worse, the smell came from her! Really, she didn’t smell good after swimming in a dirty and muddy river, whose water was brown. Most likely the nurses had stripped her wet clothes to dry her body and put on her pajamas, but they hadn’t passed a sponge over her or anything alike. She couldn’t speak with Ana, but the next step was determined: having a long bath.

  She got up, went to the bathroom, turned on the hot water and covered the bathtub. When it was half full, she closed the tap, grabbed a bottle of bath salts and poured a large portion into the water. She would get out of there glowing and smelling like a spring day, even if they were going into autumn.

  A sensation of dizziness invaded her as soon as she put a foot in the water, forcing her to cling to the edge of the tub. Still, she didn’t give up. She forced the other leg to join the first one and sat down. The hot liquid covered her lower extremities and reached into her bellybutton. There wasn’t much water in the bathtub, but the sense of unease was constant. She tried to rationalize the situation: it was probable that she was a bit traumatized by what had happened the previous day, and getting into the bath made the scar of the recent trauma burn. She took a couple of deep breaths to calm down and the nervousness disappeared bit by bit. When she could loosen up, she leaned back in the tub and relaxed, enjoying a moment of peace.

  The process of scrubbing her body took a while, since the smell of the muddy water was too strong and would not come out. Her hair had to be shampooed three times and two more doses of conditioner were needed. The shower gel bottle was full when she began and half was gone. It seemed almost impossible that she had missed the stench. Her nostrils probably became accustomed to it, so she didn’t notice anything. For an hour and ten minutes she was locked in the bathroom till reaching the desired outcome: she had cleaned herself so well, that there was no trace of the rotten smell.

  Marina returned to the bedroom and put on some gym pants and a t-shirt. This was followed by another time-consuming task – brushing. Her hair was very tangled from the night before and entering with it like that in the bath was a mistake; now, it was full of knots. She had to give it a few tugs to get through it. She sighed, sat down in front of the mirror of the dressing table and spent the next fifteen minutes struggling through the task.

  When she was finished, she heard the doorbell. Marina opened the door and found a neighbor, a lady in her 60’s, her long white hair tied in a bun. She always wore black, still mourning her husband's death (which happened so many years ago she had lost count), and she walked with the help of a walking stick.

  “Hello, Marina. Your mother asked me to check how you’re doing and if you needed anything,” informed the old lady.

  “Ah, good-morning. I’m fine. I just had a bath to get rid of the stinky smell of the river’s water.”

  “Oh, that water hasn't been blue for a long time… The sewers flush directly into there and I can only imagine what else it hides. Have you seen what’s on the mud when the tide goes low? There are chairs, umbrellas, and who knows what else! The river needs a good cleaning. I'm glad they are building those things… stations or whatever they are called”, said the neighbor while moving her hand from side to side, showing her lack of knowledge about what was being built to stop the river from being polluted.

  “It’s treatment stations of residual waters,” corrected the girl. “As for me, you need not worry, I’m fine. I’m going to have lunch next.”

  “All right. That was some fright, huh? Those bastards pushed you right into the water!”

  That was her cue. Her time in the bath had led her to put aside the subject of ‘Lucas’, but now that the neighbor was changing the conversation, she could dare to ask her if she was alone in the river. She had to know if Lucas’ appearance was real or if it was only a dream. However, she had to be careful in how she broached the issu
e or she could be accused of having gone loony.

  Marina coughed a bit and shrugged as she said, “On one hand, luckily I was the only one to fall into the water, don’t you think so?”

  “Yes,” agreed the old lady, nodding her head. “Can you imagine if they have fallen too? They could have clung to you and not let you come to the surface. Fortunately, you managed to grab the bridge pillar. I think that, if I fell into the water, I wouldn't know what to do. Who can think in a situation like that? Glad you did, it was what saved you,” the woman completed as she blessed herself, thanking God for Marina’s ability to reason in such distressing situation.

  The old lady’s answer left no room for doubt - she had fallen into the water alone. Could it be that she had dreamed about Lucas? It was an image so vivid, so real that it seemed impossible that it had just been her imagination.

  She needed to be absolutely sure, so she decided to insist. “I don’t remember much of what happened. The men fell too, did they?”

  “No, dear. But they were the ones who should have gone into water,” the woman almost yelled.

  “Did you see anything?” inquired Marina.

  “No, I was at home. I just heard people talking, but you know how rumors go: who tells the tale, adds something new. I was told that two men were arguing and one made you fall to the river.”

  The dialogue was interrupted by the home phone, which forced the girl to say goodbye to the neighbor with a hurried “thank you” for her concern. Marina closed the door and ran into the living room to answer the call. This time, it was her aunt asking her how she was feeling.

  The conversation with her aunt went on for a good while and she only hang up after lunch time. Her stomach growled, reminding her she had an account to settle with her belly. She took a dish out of the cabinet, filled it with a good amount of food, heated it in the microwave and ate everything in a blink.

  After lunch, she sat on the sofa with her personal computer on her lap. She had six emails asking how she was doing and thirty two posts on her Facebook wall. It seemed that her episode had given people much to talk about. If it had gotten that much response, maybe there was a reference to Lucas. Marina read the mails and examined the comments with attention, nevertheless his name wasn’t mentioned anywhere. In a bolder attempt, she joined the Google area dedicated to news. In the research field, she wrote ‘Alcácer do Sal’. Less than a second later, several results emerged, four of which referring to the event of the previous day. She opened the news, but the text was always the same, maybe a copy from some news agency. It said she was on the bridge, had been pushed by a man, fell into the river, held on to the bridge’s pillar and was rescued by fire fighters. Not a single mention of Lucas. The article in the newspaper Correio da Manhã was a little more complete and included a testimony from a woman who was there and it corroborated the theory that the only person in the river had been her.

  With so many testimonies and news, Marina could only believe that she had dreamed of Lucas. Her heart told her no, he had really been there with her; still, logic required her to remember all the reports, showing that it was impossible. How could he have been there, if no one had seen him? A trick of her mind, that’s what it was. Instinct told her she should come to the same conclusion as other people, but she could make one last attempt. When she returned to school, she could confront Lucas; then she would have the ultimate confirmation.

  Browsing the Internet, time flew by. Marina only realized she was online for a few hours when she heard the key turning in the door lock and her mother entered. Moments later, her head appeared at the door. “So, how are you feeling?” asked mom nicely.

  “I’m feeling better, my body doesn’t hurt that much. I can go back to school tomorrow.”

  “Great, that’s a good sign. I’m just taking my work uniform off, then I have to go out again for a while,” notified mom.

  “Why?”

  “I need to go shopping. I was supposed to go yesterday, but after what happened, I had to leave it for today. What shall we have? How about some home-made lasagna for dinner?”

  “Sounds fine to me,” Marina replied with a smile.

  “Okay, it’s a deal,” mom said, winking an eye at her. Luísa went to the bedroom, laid the uniform on bed, then left to do the shopping.

  Not a minute had passed when someone knocked at the door. Could it be her mother, who had forgotten the keys? Perhaps, she was in a hurry. Marina got up from the couch and went to the door. Instead of her mother, she found Ana.

  “Ana! Why aren’t you in class?” inquired Marina, surprised by her friend’s presence at her doorway.

  “Duh! Did you hit your head that hard on the river bottom or what? We get out at 4 o’clock today, right?” recalled Ana while rolling her eyes.

  “I haven't memorized the schedule yet. Besides, I still have to ask my mother where she put my handbag. I have the timetable in there, therefore I have no idea what time we start school tomorrow and what subjects we’ll have.”

  “Well, I'm not missing classes, babe. I called my mother, asking her to pass by in fifteen minutes, and then we’re going to the supermarket. I just came to see how you are. Yesterday was a real shock,” exclaimed Ana, putting on a stunned face.

  “Tell me about it. It was surreal! When I noticed, I was already looking for little fish in the muddy water,” said Marina while pretending to swim.

  “I think you would find shrimp much faster than fish. That's what the ladies here sell, near your home, remember?” elucidated Ana. The river shrimp was a typical treat that tourists who came to town couldn’t miss.

  “Yeah, but instead I found a merman,” Marina whispered in a kidding tone, while recalling that she had found a merman called Lucas in mid-Sado, although it was better not to spread it around.

  “What?” asked Ana, a little bit confused.

  “Nothing, pay no mind to me. Crazy stuff from drinking a lot of water,” apologized Marina.

  Another attempt to establish the facts? Should she ask Ana if she had seen Lucas and if everything was okay with him? If she asked, it would look a bit suspicious and, after all's said and done, she would risk sounding foolish. But it was Ana, her best friend, she wouldn’t misunderstand her... or so she thought.

  Covertly, Marina questioned how were classes that day, to which her friend replied that it had been the same boring old thing. “Many of the classes were still presentation, so they were full of more dull things such as ‘Hello, my name is Ana’. As if we didn’t know each other by now. We only studied for real at History, English and Portuguese, but it was nothing special. As for the schedule, if you don’t find it, just call me.”

  Knowing how Marina was about school, Ana took a small, half bent notebook out of her bag and handed it to her while she was speaking. She asked Marina to return it to her the following day and not to pay attention to the calligraphy, because everything was written in a hurry. On second thought, she hadn’t written much, since she was distracted. In all classes, what had happened to Marina was the topic of many conversations and, as they were best friends, people kept on asking her questions about her friend, as if she knew better than anyone what had happened. They forgot that they were not Siamese twins.

  Ana snorted and complained, “You really need to get a phone. I was worried and wanted to call you, but I hadn’t enough credit to ring your home telephone.”

  “If I hadn’t nearly drowned, I could have one by now. We’ll take care of that tomorrow and then you can call me every ten minutes, if you want.”

  “Deal! But if you had your phone, today you would have been flooded with texts as I was assaulted by questions. Yet, it was also the only news of the day... Boring! Nothing new happened and, moreover, the boys are the same from the previous years. It would be good if there was some ‘fresh and interesting meat’. It would spice things up,” exclaimed Ana, pouting at the same time.

  Marina protested over the amount of texts that she would have received if she
had a mobile, claiming that she didn’t have as many friends as that. Ana then recalled that often, in these situations, people might want to approach her, just because they believed that others would find it very cool. Marina wasn’t concerned about that.

  “What if we had gone to buy your phone yesterday? Brand new and soon ruined by water,” Ana thought out loud. “Hey, that was a blessing in disguise. Don’t forget: tell your mother that tomorrow we’re going to do some shopping after classes, and I’ll tell my mom too. Shopping day, baby!” she rejoiced.

  And voilà, their plans that day had moved to the next. Marina had no choice anyway. She would go and buy the device that same day, but she wasn’t feeling well. And if she had to be absent from school (which was a big deal to her), she would not go to the store.

  A car horn was heard and Ana recognized it: it was her mother who came to pick her up. Ana said goodbye and Marina was alone again. Frustrated, she sighed. Not a single mention of the name ‘Lucas’. She had to resign to the fact that, most likely, she was mistaken. Even though it was just the result of her incredible imagination, the question kept haunting her mind: why him? They had only met that day and neither had spoken to each other, just shared an embarrassing moment when he caught her looking at him. Thence to choose him for the colorful figure of her imagination was a huge step, and she couldn’t understand why or when she had given it.

  Back in the living room, she turned off the TV and the laptop. Then she went to the bedroom to initiate the transcription of her friend’s notes to her new diaries. To her, there was nothing like opening a brand new notebook and finding the immaculate pages, with lines asking to be written on. There, she admitted it: she was a school manic, crazy about studying.

  Her colleague’s notebook was old and scrawled on several sheets, so she had to pass several pages ahead to find the notes of the day. Ana hadn’t written much indeed, but there were a bunch of scribbles of stars and hearts and something that seemed to resemble a wave, probably an influence of the day’s theme – Marina’s ‘near drowning’. History was the first subject of the day and the notations were essentially the tests’ dates. In Portuguese things were different: they had studied syntactic and morphological analysis, adjective degrees and verbal modes. She had three pages to transcribe, so she engaged in this task.

  Despite having plenty to copy, she didn’t take long to finish. Although the transcriptions were made, the pen had gained its own life - it travelled now along the last page of her brand new notebook, drawing the unmistakable letters of the name that danced in her spirit: Lucas. While designing the letters, she clearly saw his face in front of her and could swear she almost felt his arms around her again. Marina winced, getting back to reality. After a glance at the notebook, she got alarmed by what she had written: the letters assumed a rounded shape, as if she was a loved up girl who wrote the name of her beloved, making her feel like a fool. She grabbed the sheet with the intention of tearing it, but went back on her decision and let it stay there. In her opinion, he had tried to save her; that could be her secret tribute to her hero.

  “Marina, can you help me to carry the groceries, please?” her mother shouted out of the blue.

  Distracted, she didn’t realize that mom had arrived home. She had to be more attentive to what was going on around her. The lack of attention had had a high price to pay the day before and things could have ended much worst. She took a mental note: ‘pay more attention to what surrounds me’. Not that it would help much.

  “I’m coming”. She stared again at the diary page, closed it right away, and ran to help her mother.

  Shopping? That was the entire grocery shop and nothing seemed to be missing, from meat and fish to juices and bottled water. Was it that long since the last time they had shopped? It didn’t seem like it to her.

  It took almost half an hour to put everything in place and the clock showed 6.45p.m when they finished the job. “Will you help me to make the lasagna?” asked her mom then.

  “Yes. I have nothing else to do.”

  Marina enjoyed cooking, so she was willing to help with the pots and pans. Lasagna was her favorite food and mom had a secret ingredient that gave it a unique flavor. One day, she would reveal it to her to continue the family secret. It was like a tradition passed from generation to generation.

  Two hours later, the dinner took place in peace and they only spoke about the notes that Ana had brought to her and the shopping afternoon they would have the next day.

  “Be careful, do you hear me? Do not go near the river’s wall,” warned mom.

  “Mommy, it's not walking along the wall that caused my accident. Moreover, I could walk on the street and be hit by a car. You never know what fate has saved for you. And the phone shop isn’t near the river at all,” reminded Marina.

  That was the only reservation that her mother mentioned in regard to the subject of the ‘river’ and it seemed fair.

  After dinner, and before going to her chambers, Marina asked her mother, “Where did you put my handbag? I have my wallet in it and my school schedule. I need those things for tomorrow.”

  “I think I left it on top of my dresser. Go and check,” answered Luísa.

  Marina went to her mother's bedroom and searched for the handbag on the dresser. There it was, waiting for her. Marina picked it up, while thinking that it had been a miracle it hadn’t fallen into the water with her. She didn’t even remember taking it off, but it didn’t matter.

  As she walked into the living room, she opened the handbag, took the timetable out and looked at it. She pulled a long face at discovering what time she would sign in and the amount of classes she would have the following day. She would have preferred to fall from the bridge that day to avoid those classes. She felt lazy thinking that and pinched herself as punishment.

  Upon seeing her displeased air, her mother asked, “Bad news?”

  “Kind of. Tomorrow, I get in at 8.30 and I have lots of classes. Wednesday is quite supercharged...” complained Marina.

  “I suppose you're thinking that tomorrow would be a good day to miss classes instead of today,” guessed mom.

  Marina blushed. Perhaps she thought that because she wasn’t up to school work pace yet.

  “Do you want me to wake you up tomorrow? I leave at 7.30,” suggested mom.

  Marina thought for a moment and nodded her head in agreement. That way, she didn’t have to worry about setting the alarm clock and would even get a personal wake up call. After wishing "good-night" to her mother, Marina went to her room. Hours later, she fell asleep.