Chapter 1
Rain pattered softly against Elise’s window. It was nighttime and the rain hadn’t let up all day. A perfect day to stay home.
Elise was painting her nails in a light pink and let herself get carried away by the CD that was playing; Miles Davis: Sketches of Spain. Her fathers old CD. She remembered when she was younger her father would listen to it often, telling her stories of his own time in Spain and she would imagine him in the streets of Barcelona with his cigar, reading a small book by the beach.
Now she lived in Barcelona herself, she hadn’t been there for a long time but something about the city fascinated her. The lights, the people, everything felt like she was living out her fathers dream of one day living here himself. Elise looked over to the small photo of her father next to her bed, he was smiling in the photo, like he always did. Nothing seemed to faze him.
As Elise was lost in thought about her father, her phone rang. An unknown number. Elise let it go to voicemail instead of picking up, she usually didn’t answer unknown numbers. Most of the time it was someone trying to sell her something. She continued painting her nails. Her phone rang a second time.
“Damn, they won’t let up!,” Elise muttered to herself, letting the call go to voicemail a second time. Her phone rang a third time. This time she decided to answer.
“Look, whatever it is you’re selling I ain’t buying comprende?” Elise said. A voice quite surprised on the other line answered back, “Well sorry miss but I’m not trying to sell you anything. I must’ve dialed the wrong number, let me see -“. ” Who were you trying to reach,” Elise responded back, cutting the man off. ” An old friend, he must’ve changed numbers,” the man said. “Well that’s unfortunate,” Elise replied.
“Is it unfortunate?”
“Well it depends how much you liked your old friend,” Elise said.
A pause.
“I liked him enough to call him late in the evening but if I’m honest it’s been a moment since we’ve spoken,” the man answered back.
“Oh yeah? And what did you generally talk about with this old friend?” Elise said.
“Life.”
“That’s quite broad.”
“Is it? Life is quite simple when you boil it down.”
“I don’t know, I think I’m too young to have an opinion on the subject,” Elise said.
“How old are you?”
“Twenty three.... And you?”
“Ten years older,” the man answered back.
“So thirty three. That’s quite a gap.”
The man laughed.
“You think so?”
Elise smiled.
“I guess not.”
A pause again.
“So what do you think about life?,” the man asked.
“Like I said I’m too young to have an actual opinion, but I definitely wouldn’t boil it down to being simple.”
“So you do have an opinion.”
“Well life is quite vast isn’t it? And yet it’s so short at the same time.”
“That’s exactly why it’s so simple.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Elise said puzzled.
“Does life make sense?”
Elise Laughed.
“I guess not.”
“You like Miles Davis miss?” The man asked.
Elise frowned slightly.
“How do you know?”
“Lucky guess,” the man said, chuckling.
Elise looked over at her CD player and realized the man could probably hear it through the phone. She had forgotten her CD was playing. She felt embarrassed, her face growing slightly red.
“What do you know about Miles Davis?,” Elise asked.
“Enough to know that you’re listening to Sketches of Spain.”
“So you’re a fan then,” Elise replied smiling.
“I wouldn’t say I’m a fan, but he’s good,” the man said.
“You definitely dialed the wrong number mister,” Elise said sarcastically.
“Good is an understatement,” Elise added.
“Good is good but great is different,” the man said.
“Oh yeah? So what is great to you, mister?” Elise asked.
“That’s a good question.”
“A good question usually has a good answer,” she replied.
“Does it necessarily?” The man asked.
“I guess so,” Elise said casually.
“You still haven’t answered my question though,” She added.
“Well I guess not much. Something that is great in my eyes is something that is perfect. Very few things can be perfect,” the man replied.
“And is that a bad thing?” Elise asked.
“No life is meant to have its flaws; that’s also the beauty of things. If everything was great, nothing would be great.”
“Except for Miles Davis maybe,” Elise said jokingly.
The man laughed.
“Except for Miles Davis.”
Elise laughed as well. After a pause she asked;
“Tell me mister what’s your name anyways?”
“Wouldn’t that ruin things?” the man replied.
“How so?”
“Attaching a word to a person can be a dangerous thing,” the man said.
“Well if I had to guess you sound like a Jack or an Evan.”
The man laughed.
“I like Jack, Evan sounds too polished.”
"Jack it is then, and who do I sound like to you?”
“You sound like an Anna.”
“Couldn’t be farther from the truth,” Elise said laughing.
“Well I like Anna for you,” the man replied.
“Fine, you can stick with it,” Elise said, smiling.
"Anna it is then.”
“Does this mean we are friends now, Jack?” Elise asked jokingly.
“That depends on you Anna, what other music do you like?”
“Nirvana is cool,” she replied.
“Nirvana?”
“Yea, what, is that too recent for you? Seeing as you’re old and all,” Elise said.
Jack Laughed.
“Nah that’s right up my alley. I’m guessing you like Guns n Roses as well?” Jack replied.
“Guns n Roses is my favorite band. How the hell did you know that? Am I that transparent?” Elise asked intrigued.
“Haha nah I’m just lucky tonight I guess, besides -“.
There was another pause.
“I have to go, Anna, it was nice talking to you.”
“Oh, call back on the occasion old Jack,” Elise said laughing.
“If the occasion arises,” Jack replied laughing himself.
The call ended. The room suddenly felt oddly quiet. Her disc had stopped playing, and Elise had completely lost track of time. She realized it was already 10:30 pm.
“Shit,” She muttered to herself. Elise had a long day tomorrow and she needed to prepare everything. She let out a smile while preparing her dinner, instant ramen, thinking back on the phone call. ”Jack.. what a weird guy,” she thought to herself.
Elise couldn’t help and wonder who Jack really was. Was he a finance guy, or a librarian? He sounded like the jock type but then again he was too smart to be a jock. “Whatever, who knows if he’ll even call back,” Elise muttered. She soon tucked into bed and turned out the lights.
