Now seventeen years old, Owen had worked at the bureau for nine years. Owen didn't have many friends and had only a few relatives he rarely saw. Once a week (never more, never less), he allowed himself to watch Emily from the binoculars. Every Thursday night he saw Emily grow older as he grew younger. At thirty-five years old, Emily was now a burn specialist. (She went back to medical school the fall after Owen's death.) She never remarried and still wore her wedding band. Owen wore a wedding band, too. He had bought a new one on Elsewhere to replace the one he had left behind on Earth.
At a certain point Owen realized that he would probably never see Emily again. He had done the math. In all probability, by the time Emily reached Elsewhere, Owen would be back on Earth. He had learned to live with this fact, but even ten years down the road, the only person for him was Emily Reilly.
When people asked him if he was married, Owen told them he was. This statement seemed like a lie and the truth at the same time. Not surprisingly, Owen often felt like a fraud. How could he advise other people to do what he had never been able to do himself? When he met a person like Liz, he was particularly ashamed. In his opinion, she legitimately wanted to move on and he had hindered her in that process. Owen felt the need to make amends.
And so, Owen takes a dive into the Well, his first dive for a personal reason in many years.
He peers over the Well's edge and quickly locates Liz's house in Medford, Massachusetts. Owen finds Alvy, sitting at the kitchen table, drinking a glass of apple juice.
Because Owen has made so many dives before, he is quite sophisticated at making Contact.
Consequently, when Owen speaks through the Well, only one faucet comes on at Liz's old house.
"Hello," says Owen.
Alvy sighs. "You've got the wrong house. The only dead person I know is my sister, Lizzie."
"I know Liz, too."
"Yeah," says Alvy, "if you see her, tell her I'm mad. I didn't find anything in the closet, and I got in big trouble."
"You were in the wrong closet," says Owen. "It's under the floorboards in Liz'scloset."
Alvy sets down his glass. "Say, who are you anyway?"
"I guess you could say I'm a friend of Liz's. She's sorry she got you in trouble, by the way."
"Well, tell her I miss her," Alvy says. "She was a pretty good sister, most of the time. Oh, and tell her Happy Thanksgiving, too."
Liz's father enters the kitchen. He turns off the faucet. "Why did you leave this running again?"
Liz's father asks Alvy.
"It just came on by itself," Alvy replies. "And Dad? Please don't get mad, but I have to show you something in Liz's closet."
Owen stays to watch Alvy lead Liz's father up the stairs. He watches as Alvy opens a loose floorboard on the left side. He watches Alvy pull out a foil-wrapped box with a card on the front that reads, to dad.
When Owen surfaces an hour later, his colleagues from the bureau are waiting for him.
"I just thought you'd like to know he got the sweater." Owen stands awkwardly in front of Liz's desk at work the night before Thanksgiving. Although Thanksgiving isn't an official holiday in Elsewhere, many Americans still celebrate it anyway.
"You went to the Well for me?"
"Your brother . . . Alvy, is it?"
Liz nods.
"Alvy says 'Happy Thanksgiving.' " Owen turns to leave.
"Wait." Liz grabs Owen's arm. "Wait a minute, you can't just go!" Liz pulls Owen into a hug.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome," Owen says gruffly.
"Did he like the sweater?" Liz asks.
"He loved it. It matched his eyes just like you said it would." As Owen says this, he realizes the sweater matched Liz's eyes also.
Liz sits down in her desk chair. "I really don't know how to thank you."
"It's just part of my job."
"It's part of your job to give my dad a sweater?"
"Well, not technically," Owen admits.
"What else did Alvy say?"
"He said you were a good sister. Actually, he said you were a good sister most of the time."
Liz laughs and grabs Owen by the hand. "Come to Thanksgiving dinner at my house. Well, it's Betty's house and my house. Betty's my grandmother."
"I ..." Owen looks away.
"Of course," Liz says, "this late, you probably have other plans."
Owen thinks a moment. He never has other plans. He typically eschews holidays like Thanksgiving, holidays spent among other people's loved ones. Even after ten years, making other plans somehow feels like betraying Emily. Normally, Owen eats alone at a diner with a holiday special. "It's a strange thing about Thanksgiving," Owen says finally. "I mean, why do so many of us still celebrate it over here anyway? Is it just habit? Are we just doing it because we always have?"
"Listen, you don't have to come if "
Owen interrupts her. "And people barely think about the whole Pilgrims-and-Indians thing over there, and it really has absolutely nothing to do with anything over here. And yet right around Thanksgiving, despite myself, I always get that Thanksgiving feeling and want to make amends and eat pie. It's conditioned in me. Why is that?"
"I know what you mean. This last September, I still wanted to buy school supplies even though I don't go to school anymore," Liz says. "Although, it's a little different with Thanksgiving. I think it's just something you can do to be like the people back home. Or to be close to the people back home. You eat pie because you know they're eating pie."
Owen nods. All this talk of pie has suddenly put Owen in the mood for just that. "So," he says casually, "what time should I get there?"
Thanksgiving
I hope you don't mind, but I've invited another person," Liz announces to Betty that night. Liz has already invited Aldous Ghent and his wife, Rowena; Thandi, her cousin Shelly, and Paco the Chihuahua; and several of her advisees at the DDA. She had also invited Curtis Jest, but he declined on the grounds that he was an Englishman and found the holiday "rather maudlin"
anyway.
"The more the merrier," says Betty. On Earth, Betty had been fond of holidays, and her fondness only intensified in the afterlife. "Who is it?" Betty asks.
"Owen Welles."
"You don't mean that awful boy who gave you all the trouble at the Well?" Betty asks. Liz's "episode with the law" (as Betty calls it) is a continuing sore spot for Betty.
"That's the one," Liz replies.
"I thought you didn't like him," Betty says, raising her left eyebrow.
"I don't, not really. But he did me a favor, and I got caught up in the moment." Liz sighs. "The truth is, Betty, I didn't imagine that he'd say yes. And then I was stuck, because I couldn't exactly uninvite him, now could I?"
"No," Betty agrees and laughs. "So, who's next, Liz? Maybe you'd like to invite a retired ax murderer?"
"I'll see if I can find one." Liz laughs, too. "Say, do we even have those here?"
As on Earth, or at least in the United States, Thanksgiving falls on a Thursday.
Aldous and Rowena Ghent arrive first, followed by Thandi and Shelly, who bring pies, and Paco in a turkey suit to commemorate the occasion.
The last to arrive is Owen Welles. He spent the morning inventing good reasons to cancel (septictank explosion? emergency at work?). At the last possible moment, he decides to go anyway.
These days, he has a bit of free time on his hands, having been suspended for a month on account of the sweater dive. He brings a potted plant for Liz's grandmother.
Aside from the presence of dead people, Thanksgiving on Elsewhere is like Thanksgiving pretty much anywhere else they celebrate it. While she loves holidays, Betty doesn't love cooking. She has the meal catered, coincidentally from the same diner Owen usually went to for the special.
Betty serves cranberry sauce (canned and homemade), potatoes (mashed and sweet), cornbread stuffing, gravy, small yeasty rolls, green bean casserole, stuffed mushrooms, Thandi and Shelly's four pies (apple, pecan, p
umpkin, and sweet potato), and tofurkey (which is a vegetarian turkey substitute and definitely an acquired taste).
Betty pours large tumblers of white wine for everyone. Although Liz has had wine before, it is the first time she has ever been served wine by Betty and it makes her feel grown-up somehow.
After the wine is poured, Betty says, "I'd like to make a short toast." She clears her throat, "Well, we've all had to travel a long way to get here." She pauses.
"Hear! Hear!" Aldous says.
"I'm not finished yet," Betty says.
"Oh, excuse me," Aldous apologizes. "I thought you said a short toast."
"Not that short," Betty protests.
"And you did pause," Aldous adds.
"It was for effect!" Betty exclaims.
Rowena Ghent says, "It would have been lovely at that length, though."
"I like short toasts actually," Thandi says. "Some people go on and on. Life's short, you know."
"And death's about the same length," Owen says.
"Was that a joke?" Liz asks him.
"It was," Owen says.
"Hmm," Liz says after a moment's reflection, "not bad."
Owen winks at Liz. "If you have to think about a joke that long, it usually means "
Betty clears her throat very loudly and begins again. "We've all had to travel a long way to get here." She pauses, and no one interrupts her this time. She looks down the table at Rowena, Aldous, and Owen on her right, and Liz, Shelly, and Thandi on her left. She looks under the table, where Paco and Sadie have their own plates. Sadie's stomach growls.
"Sorry," Sadie barks.
"I can't remember what I wanted to say anyway. Let's just eat," Betty says with a laugh.
Shelly raises her glass. "Let's toast to laughter," she says. "That's what we always used to toast to at our grandfather's house."
"Oh, that's lovely!" Rowena says. "To laughter!"
"To laughter and forgetting!" Liz adds with a mischievous grin in Betty's direction.
"To laughter and forgetting!" the table choruses. The other guests raise their glasses. Liz takes a small sip of her wine. She thinks it is bitter and sweet at the same time. She takes another small sip and decides it is actually more sweet than bitter.
After everyone has finished eating and passed into the traditional postmeal coma, Owen offers to help Liz with the dishes.
"You wash, I'll dry," Liz tells him.
"But washing's the hard part," Owen protests.
Liz smiles. "You said you wanted to help.You didn't specify dry."
Owen rolls up his left sleeve and then his right one. Liz notices a tattoo on his right forearm. It is a large red heart with the words "Emily Forever" inside it.
"I didn't know you'd be like that." His voice has a mischievous lilt.
"Like what?"
"The type of person who'd stick a guy with all the washing," he says.
Liz watches as he removes his wedding band, placing it carefully on the edge of the sink. She is still getting used to the notion that someone of Owen's age, seventeen, could be married. Of course, on Elsewhere, this is relatively commonplace.
Liz and Owen soon achieve a satisfying rhythm of washing and drying. Owen whistles a tune as he washes. Although Liz is not exactly a fan of whistling, she finds Owen's whistling, if not pleasant, tolerable. She likes the whistler, if not the whistling itself.
Several minutes of whistling later, Owen turns to Liz, "I'm taking requests."
"Owen, that's a really nice offer, but the thing is" Liz pauses "I don't really like whistling."
Owen laughs. "But I've been whistling for like ten minutes. Why didn't you say anything?"
"Well, I was already a person who would stick a person with washing; I didn't want to be a person who would stick a person with washing and not let him whistle."
"Maybe you'd prefer if I hummed?"
"Whistling's fine," Liz says.
"Hey, I'm just trying to entertain you here." Owen laughs again. After a second, Liz joins him.
Although nothing particularly funny has been said, Liz and Owen find they cannot stop laughing.
Liz has to stop drying the dishes and sit down. It has been such a long time since Liz has laughed this hard. She tries to remember the last time.
The week before Liz died, Zooey and she were trying on sweaters at the mall. Studying herself in the dressing room mirror, Liz said to Zooey, "My breasts look like little tepees." Zooey, who had even smaller breasts than Liz, retorted, "If yours are tepees, mine are tepees that the cowboys came and burned down." For some reason, this observation struck both girls as ridiculously funny. They laughed so long and so loudly that the salesclerk had to come and ask them if they needed help.
That had been in March; now it was November. Has it really been eight months since Liz has laughed that hard?
"What's wrong?" Owen asks.
"I was thinking that it had been a long time since I laughed like that," Liz says. "A really long time." She sighs. "It was when I was still alive. I was with my best friend, Zooey. It wasn't even anything very funny, you know?"
Owen nods. "The best laughs are like that." He washes the last plate and gives it to Liz to dry. He turns off the water and replaces his ring on his finger.
"I guess I'm a little homesick," Liz admits, "but it's the worst kind of homesickness because I know I can't ever go back there or see them ever again."
"That doesn't just happen to people in Elsewhere, Liz," says Owen. "Even on Earth, it's difficult to ever go back to the same places or people. You turn away, even for a moment, and when you turn back around, everything's changed."
Liz nods. "I try not to think about it, but sometimes it hits me all at once. Whoosh! And I remember I'm dead."
"You should know that you're doing really well, Liz," says Owen. "When I first came to Elsewhere, I was pretty much addicted to the ODs for a whole year."
"That happened to me, too," Liz says, "but I'm better now."
"It's common actually. It's called Watcher Syndrome, and some people never get over it."
Suddenly, Owen looks at his watch. It is already nine thirty, and the Observation Decks close at ten. "I'm sorry to be so abrupt," says Owen, "but I have to run. I go see my wife, Emily, every Thursday night."
"I know," Liz says. "A while ago, I was sitting next to you at the ODs and I asked you who you were there to see."
In the back of his mind, Owen vaguely remembers a withered girl with dirty hair and worn pajamas. He looks at the girl with the clear eyes standing before him and wonders if she could possibly be the same person. "Pajamas?" he asks.
"I was a little sad at the time."
"You look much better now," says Owen. "Thank you for dinner and thank your grandmother for me, too."
Sadie wanders into the kitchen just as Owen is leaving. She puts her fuzzy golden head onto Liz's lap, indicating that Liz should stroke it.
"No one will ever love me like that," Liz says to her.
"I love you," Sadie says.
"I love you, too," Liz says to Sadie. Liz sighs. The only love she inspires is the canine kind.
Owen reaches the Observation Deck five minutes before it closes. Although she is not supposed to let people into the decks for the last ten minutes before closing, Esther knows Owen and waves him through. "You're late tonight, Owen," the attendant remarks.
Owen sits at his usual binoculars, places a single eternim in the slot, and raises his eyes. He finds Emily in what is a fairly typical pose for her. She is sitting in front of her bathroom mirror, brushing her long red hair with a silver brush. Owen watches Emily brush her hair for about thirty seconds more and then he turns away.
I am wasting my death, Owen says to himself. I am like one of those people who spend all their lives watching TV instead of having real relationships. I have been here nearly ten years, and my most significant relationship is still with Emily. And Emily thinks I'm dead. And I am dead. This does her no good, and it does me no good either. br />
As Owen is leaving, he says to Esther, "What am I even doing here?"
"Beats me," Esther replies.
On his way back to his car, Owen makes up his mind to call Liz at work next week. It might be a good start to adopt a dog, he thinks.
A Mystery
Why do two people ever fall in love? It's a mystery.
When Owen calls Liz on Tuesday, he gets right to the point. "Hello, Liz. I was thinking I might adopt a dog," he says.
"Of course," Liz says. "What sort of dog did you have in mind?"
"Well, I hadn't really thought about it. I guess I'd like a dog I could take to work with me."
"A small dog?"
"Small's fine as long as he's not too small, and I could take him running and hiking and stuff."
"So, small's fine as long as she's large?" Liz laughs.
"Right, a small, large dog." Owen laughs, too. "And preferably a he."
"Why don't you come down to the DDA?" Liz suggests.
Later that day, Liz introduces Owen to several possible can dictates. For an adoption to take place on Elsewhere, the dog and the human both have to agree on each other. In truth, the decision is usually more the dog's than the human's.
One by one, the dogs approach Owen and sniff him on the hand and the face. Some lick his hand a bit if they find Owen particularly acceptable. Because Owen does not speak Canine, Liz translates for the dogs when they want to ask him questions.
"Can I sleep in his bed, or does he plan on using a dog bed?" a golden retriever named Jen wants to know.
"What's she saying?" Owen asks.
"She wants to know if she can sleep in your bed."
Owen looks at the golden retriever and scratches her between the ears. "Gee, I hadn't really thought about it. Couldn't we play it by ear, girl?"
The golden retriever nods. "Sure, but I really like to watch television from the couch. You wouldn't tell me to get off the couch all the time, would you?"