Nostalgia by Chantal Bellehumeur

Nostalgia

by Chantal Bellehumeur

On a cloudless Friday morning in July, Crystal Waters flew from Montreal to Toronto for an important business presentation. Rather than return home the same day, the short redhead decided to spend her weekend in the big city she often visited with her family as a child.

Toronto had changed a lot since Crystal had been there twenty-four years ago. There were so many new high-rise buildings as well as new tourist attractions. She kind of missed the way the city used to be, yet figured it was probably her childhood she truly missed. She felt rather lost, but made the best of her short stay.

so she punched in the number and street name into the GPS App on her cell phone.

As Crystal drove her rented dark blue Bonneville on the busy highway, listening to an oldies station on the radio, she smiled to herself. She remembered doing road trips with her parents and younger sister Melissa in the exact same type of car many years ago, and listening to the same genre of music that was now playing. Her father would drive while her mom held an unfolded paper map and gave out directions. Crystal and Melissa kept small plastic suitcases with things to occupy themselves with in the back seats. They usually had activity books with puzzles and coloring pages, but small toys too.

The good memories inspired Crystal to drive by her childhood home in the suburb of Burlington. She had no idea how to get there, but she knew the address A woman’s robotic voice soon started giving Crystal directions which she followed. As she drove, Crystal thought about all the times her family had driven right by streets they were supposed to turn on during trips, and getting lost. Crystal really appreciated the GPS’s guidance. She could not live without it as it also informed her of nearby restaurants, gas stations, and other useful information. It took Crystal about an hour to arrive at the street she used to live on, and she did not get lost or worry about how to get back to her hotel afterwards. Right before getting to the beginning of that street, Crystal passed by the grocery store she used to go to each weekend with her parents and remembered meeting the mascot of

Tony the Tiger there during a promotional event Kellogg’s was holding. She had organized something similar at one of the Montreal malls not too long ago. The old Polaroid picture she had found of herself and Melissa with the giant mascot had given her the idea.

The sight of the grocery store made Crystal also remember being part of the kid’s club and getting a free cookie each time she went to do groceries with her parents. “I wonder if they still do that,” she thought to herself. There was nothing like that at the grocery store she shopped at in Montreal. Of course, being thirty-three she was too old to join now, but her son could have benefited from it.

Todd was eight years old and probably driving his father crazy right now. That boy wasn’t malicious or disobedient, but could not sit still and loved to talk. Crystal wondered what her loving husband and energetic son, whom she missed even though she also enjoyed being on her own, were up to as she continued driving towards her old home. The familiar neighborhood soon made her think of the past again.

Crystal pictured herself as a child, riding her pink and white banana seat bicycle on the sidewalk. She imagined her old friends running around on the front lawns and going through the sprinklers that watered the grass. The lyrics “You can ring my be-e-ell, ring my bell…” sung by Donna Summers was playing on the car radio when Crystal spotted her childhood best friend’s house, and she remembered ringing the next door neighbor's doorbell many times asking if Alycia could come out and play.

Crystal and Alycia had been inseparable, and called themselves sisters. They played all sorts of makebelieve games together.

The girls often played in Alycia’s yard. There was a brown wooden porch that started on the left side of the house and ended in the back yard, so the friends would often pretend the whole thing was a ship or their house.

Crystal remembered walking on the painted boards of the porch and seeing a giant green insect on one of Alycia’s windows which turned out to be a praying mantis. The girls had screamed at the sight of it, but they were not as freaked out as when they had spotted a huge black and yellow spider in Alycia’s backyard. It was sitting in a bush with small yellow flowers. They spotted the arachnid from Crystal’s yard through the metal fence, and found it missing after they double dared each other to go take a closer look at it.

Crystal shivered at the memory. She hated spiders.

As Crystal sat in her stopped vehicle, looking out the window at Alycia’s old red brick house, she had a quick flash of what it looked like inside. Most of the walls were painted forest green and there were lots of ducks as decoration; duck wallpaper borders, wooden duck sculptures on display, duck placemats… Crystal had concluded that Alycia’s parents really loved ducks.

When Crystal would get invited to play inside Alycia’s home, the girls would go to the unfinished basement to play with the plastic kitchen set or the toys from a football shaped toy box.

Alycia’s father was a professional football player; he played centre-back for the Hamilton Tigre Cats to be exact. That didn’t mean anything to Crystal at the time, but she remembered all the protective helmets and cleat running shoes hanging in the garage as well as jerseys hanging in the house now. She had gone to a few games with Alycia even if she wasn’t really interested in football, and always felt like there were a lot of people in the stadium. Crystal’s husband would have found her really lucky since he was a big football fan, but Crystal still did not care much for the game. As a child, she only went to the games because she liked eating hotdogs and giggling with Alycia. Now she simply watched football from time to time to try and spend some quality time with her husband, who in exchange went to see broadways with her.

Crystal loved musicals, even as a child. She and Alycia sometimes did shows for their parents. They sang and danced to the popular Disney songs from the VHS movies they watched. Sometimes, Melissa or Alycia’s sibling joined in.

Alycia had an annoying little brother named Adam who was quite a pest. He once put chewed gum in his sister’s thick black hair, and Alycia’s mom had to use peanut butter to get it out. Crystal liked Alycia’s mom and all the pretty shoes the woman owned. Sometimes, the girls would put them on their small feet and try to walk in them. At the time, they both could not wait to grow up and be able to wear high heels that fit them.

Now Crystal had a big collection of fancy high heel shoes which she mainly wore at the office and during business meetings out of town, but they hurt her feet so Crystal loved taking them off at the end of a long day. She understood why her mother had not worn the few pairs she owned often. As a stay at home mom, there was really no need to wear those types of shoes on a daily basis like Alycia’s mom. She usually had flip flops or comfortable running shoes on her feet. When she bought boots, they always had a flat heal. Crystal’s mom liked to

walk a lot. Alycia’s mom on the other hand took the car everywhere, even to bring the kids to the nearby park.

Chiquitita by Abba started playing on the car radio. Crystal remembered her mother blaring the song and singing out loud to it like she was doing a concert. It made her laugh now. She did the same with the songs she loved and her son often gave her weird looks; the exact same ones Crystal used to give her mom.

Crystal took her attention off of Alycia’s old home and looked at the beige bricked house right beside it. She had seen the "For Sale" sign on the lawn a few minutes ago, but was just noticing the red open house announcement at the top. Visits were every Saturday afternoon from one to four. Her jaw dropped and she let out a small gasp. “I have to go in and take a look,” she thought.

The digital clock on the car dashboard indicated that it was just passed two o’clock.

After parking the car on the street, Crystal excitedly got out and pushed the button on her keychain to lock the door. She excitedly walked onto the gravel driveway where she used to play skipping rope long ago, and practically ran to the white front door. She stepped onto the small concrete porch her mother used to read on, sitting on a folding lawn chair. Crystal remembered reading there too once she started learning how at school. She had loved going to the public library with her mom and Melissa to select books, even though it was a long walk. She also liked signing up for the fun activities there, and entering their contests.

She won a stuffed rabbit once and put it in the yard by the flower garden with a carrot. She forgot about it before going back in the house. It rained that night and the plush toy got soaked. Part of its fluffy white fur got all muddy too. Crystal had cried, but her mom put the rabbit in the wash and dryer with a load of laundry, and it was as good as new. It smelled really nice too.

It always smelled good on the side of the house when Crystal’s mom did laundry. The house smelled good indoors when she baked or cooked dinner. Crystal remembered her mom making cookies before letting people visit the house when it was for sale. She and Melissa were always allowed to take some for the road before leaving when her parents’ real estate agent held open houses for them.

Although Crystal had gone to open houses with her parents in the past, she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to ring the doorbell or just walk right into the house. She decided to ring, just in case. A tall olive-skinned woman with long black hair opened the door. “Hi,” she said with a pleasant smile. “Are you here for the open house?”

Crystal thought the woman looked familiar. “Yes,” she responded with hesitation in her voice. She continued to stare at the woman without moving. “Well come in. My name is Alycia. I’m the real estate agent taking care of this property, so if you have any questions just call my name.”

As Crystal heard the woman in front of her say her name, her heart started beating rapidly. Could it really be her childhood friend? She walked into her old home, wondering if she should tell Alycia who she was. Crystal thought it would be great to reconnect with her old friend, but she felt weird about being in the house without having any intention to buy it and didn’t want to divulge her secret in case the real estate agent wasn’t the same Alycia she once knew.

Crystal finally found her words and politely thanked the agent who had just handed her a folder. She then began to look around. Crystal recognized the structure of the house, yet everything was different than how she remembered it.

Obviously, the furniture was not the same as when she lived there as a child, but renovations had been done too. The grey carpets in the living room and stairs leading to the second floor had been replaced by hardwood flooring, the brown flowery wallpaper in the dining room had been torn off to be replaced by beige paint, plus the kitchen counters and cupboards seemed new. There definitely wasn’t a spot designed for a microwave before.

Despite all the changes, Crystal still felt nostalgic as she walked into each room.

Crystal remembered practicing her piano lessons in the living room. Her parents kept their record player on a long wooden shelf beside the small black Yamaha piano her dad used to play on too. She pictured the hide a bed couch as well as the big red reclining chair that used to furnish the room along with the wooden coffee table and matching end tables.

In the dining room, she could almost smell the wood of the dinning set, which included a large brown cabinet with glass windows where her mom used to store the fancy white and gold porcelain dishes used for special occasions.

Crystal remembered sitting at the long table to eat. Kraft Dinner had been her and Melissa’s favorite lunch. They often ate the cheesy macaroni on weekends or during the summer days.

Summer reminded Crystal of the ice cream her mother made using a machine, starting by crushing ice cubes in the garage, as well as her delicious homemade strawberry jam. They often used to eat in the yard at a picnic table crafted by her dad. He was a handyman and loved building things as well as doing home renovations.

Standing in the open kitchen, Crystal remembered being sick and having to take antibiotics once and hating the taste. Her father dumped a spoonful of the liquid into her orange juice so she would stop complaining.

Crystal looked at the modern metallic fridge and remembered her old white one. She had brought a frog inside the house to play with, and it had bounced away and hidden behind the fridge. They found it dead two days later in the downstairs area.

The carpets there had now been replaced by wooden floors. Crystal could have tapped danced if her parents had done the change while they lived here. As a child, Crystal practiced her ballet and gymnastics here. It was also her and Melissa’s play area, and where the fake Christmas tree went up in December.

Crystal remembered getting a lot of Barbie stuff from Santa. She and Melissa liked to play with the popular dolls as well as house. Their grandfather

had built a kitchen set out of wood for them which was kept by their small craft table. The girls' artwork was plastered on the white walls. Now, beautiful framed landscape painting hung on the same walls. A bar with high stools stood where Crystal’s father’s big desk used to be, and a giant flat screen TV was located were the old tube television used to be. face to face or mailed each other letters, Crystal had said." She had felt old then, but not as much as when she brought a Pac-Man game home saying she used to play it on her Atari and Todd didn't know what that was. Also, when he played the video game he said the graphics were really bad.

How things changed...

Crystal opened a door to what she remembered as being a storage area. Her family kept big boxes of peanut bags there and they would feed the squirrels when they took walks in High Park. There were other things in there too, but it was not a place for the kids to venture in. Now it would be okay because it was turned into a bathroom.

Before Crystal’s dad got transferred to the Ottawa office, he had finished the basement. He made a workshop, a laundry room, and another room that would have become Crystal and Melissa’s playroom had they not been forced to sell the house and move. The current owners used it for the same thing. Crystal saw that there was a TV, DVD player, a Wii, as well as a computer for the kids.

When Crystal was younger, she and Melissa had to share a television with the rest of the family, but it was fun to watch cartoons and comedies together. They only got a computer years after they had moved to Ottawa. That too had to be shared among four people. Now both she and her husband had laptops, plus their son had a desktop in his bedroom. The adults had iPads and Todd had an iPod plus a few different gaming counsels. There were a total of four televisions in the house.

Crystal laughed at the memory of her son asking if there were phones when she was a child. “I am not that old!” was her response. Then she told him there were no cordless phones or cellphones, nor even the internet, and he asked how everyone managed to communicate. "We mainly socialized

Alycia interrupted Crystal’s reverie by asking if she liked what she saw so far. Crystal felt a bit guilty for her intrusion and quickly nodded her head yes before going back up the stairs to take a look at the upper floor.

The bathroom was to the left just like she remembered. Her mother used to keep special bath beads of different colors and shapes in there, and sometimes Crystal was allowed to pick one to throw into her bath and relax.

Crystal’s old bedroom was to the left. She used to have a double bed with a pink flowery comforter on it. Melissa’s room was across the hall. She only had a single bed and it had a green comforter with small white flowers on it. Crystal and Melissa’s parents slept in the master bedroom. The kids were not allowed in that room unless they were invited. Crystal remembered her father going on a lot of business trips and bringing back souvenirs. He usually distributed them directly from his suitcase in the bedroom. One time, he brought the girls back Russian Matryoshka dolls. Crystal still had hers. “Feel free to take a look in the yard,” Alycia’s voice was heard. She was talking to a young couple who was looking at the house.

Crystal made her way downstairs and used the door in the kitchen to access the side yard herself. She was surprised to see that a high wooden fence divided the properties. There used to just be a short rise of concrete between the houses and she would walk or sit on it.

Crystal saw that the metal gates around the yard had been changed to wooden ones. She peeped into the next yard. The metal swing set she played on with Alycia was gone. Her old yard now had a wooden play structure complete with a little playhouse she would have loved to own as a child. Back then, she used her imagination a lot. She now had to imagine the big white bird house her grandfather had built. It no longer stood on a thick stand in the corner of the yard. The flower garden was different too. The small conifers, as well as all the bushes with yellow flowers in them, had been replaced with lovely pink, red, and white rose bushes.

The wooden deck her father built was still there, but a fancy patio set was in the place of the old picnic table. Crystal still remembered having breakfast and lunch there during the nice summer days. She missed that.

As Crystal thought about her childhood, she heard Alycia tell the couple they could finish visiting the house on their own and to just call if they needed her.

“You look rather familiar,” Alycia told Crystal as she moved towards her. Crystal blushed and told her who she was and why she was really here.

“Oh my goodness!” Alycia shouted. “I used to live next door,” she added pointing in the direction of her old house. “Do you remember me?”

“Of course I remember you! I was just thinking about our childhood before walking in here and wondered how you were. When I saw you, I thought you looked familiar but I wasn’t sure if it was really you. I mean, the last time we saw each other we were, what? Nine?”

“Eight,” Alycia said at the same time as Crystal said nine. She was a year and a half younger than Crystal.

"I noticed that you appeared to be in a kind of daydream when you looked at the rooms. But not like you were trying to see how you might decorate the place or fit your furniture like other people who visit houses do, but rather like you were remembering something."

"I was," Crystal admitted. "Well, it's good to see you," Alycia told Crystal.

"You too," Crystal responded.

The two women hugged and agreed to grab a coffee together after the open house.

Crystal stuck around her childhood home, reminiscing on the past, until Alycia was free.

The women headed to a nearby restaurant which Crystal had never been to, and asked for coffees with a side order of fries.

“They make the best fries here,” Alycia said. Crystal was not sure any fries would taste as good as the ones she ate at the restaurant as a child when her mom took her to the Burlington Mall to shop or see a movie at the cinema, but she was proven wrong. Shortly after the large basket of fries arrived, she confirmed that the spicy crispy potatoes were amazing. The women talked about the things they had done together as kids, and what they were up to these days. Alycia was married with three boys as bratty as her younger brother had been. He also got married and had two daughters. It was weird for Crystal to imagine little Adam all grown up and having a family.

Alycia could not believe that Crystal’s sister Melissa, the little girl who used to run around the yard in diapers, became a lawyer. Crystal told Alycia about her husband and son, and about the marketing project she was working on at the moment.

“I am most likely going to come to town again soon,” she said. “We should get together again.” “That would be great,” Alycia responded cheerfully.

After receiving the bill, which Crystal quickly took from the table and insisted on paying, the old friends exchanged cell numbers and e-mail addresses so that they could stay in touch. Technology had its perks.

Chantal Bellehumeur is a Canadian author born in 1981. She has several published novels of various genres as well as numerous short stories, poems, and articles featured in compilation books, magazines, plus a local newspaper. She loves using her imagination and creativity. Chantal used to act both on stage and for the camera. She met her husband

Along with writing, Chantal loves doing arts and crafts. She’s developed a passion for painting which she finds therapeutic. As a volunteer for Crohn’s and Colitis Canada, she also enjoys impersonating different superheroes for their yearly charity event. She suffers from Ulcerative Colitis, and has been using writing