Chapter 115

It was just past breakfast when there was a knock on the Edison's front door. Emily walked towards it expecting a visitor or rather hoping for a certain one. Her wish had become true when Delmar stood in the doorway.

'Hallo beautiful,' Delmar smiled.

Emily felt her heart jump in her chest with some butterflies in her stomach. Almost the same feeling she had when she had first seen Delmar, but that feeling had intensified over the past few days. 'Hello,' she said. She unlocked the safety gate and allowed Delmar to take her into his arms and hold her tight. She could feel her heart thudding from the excitement.

'Hi Delmar,' Sarah interrupted coming around the corner. 'I was wondering who might be at the door.'

'Hello, Mrs Edison. Hope I'm not interrupting,' Delmar said letting go of Emily slightly. He felt a little guilty for the entrance he made.

'Not at all, please come in. The boys are probably in their rooms,' Sarah said before she turned around and headed for the kitchen.

'Thank you,' Delmar said.

'You want some coffee?' Emily asked looking up into Delmar's eyes.

'Not now thank you. I was actually thinking about going for a walk on the beach. What do you say about that?'

'Sounds great. Let me grab my stuff.'

'Okay, I'll be with Andy and Pat,' Delmar said, but he did not think Emily heard him as she hurried to her room.

Delmar only had to follow the voices of the two brothers already disagreeing over something. When he entered Andrew's room, Patrick sat on one end of Andrew's bed. Andrew's casted leg lay stretched out to the one side and there was a Monopoly board between them.

'Come on Andrew, that was a six, not a seven,' Patrick said agitated.

'You don't know how to count man. You just want it to be a six,' Andrew said with a sinister smile.

'Okay, where were you parked before you rolled the dice?' Patrick pointed towards the board.

'Can't remember,' Andrew said. 'I think at the station.'

'It can't be. That station is mine too. You must have been - '

Patrick was interrupted by Andrew laughing. 'You got me, man. How much?'

Delmar chuckled, 'Glad to see you guys are much better.'

'Hey Delmar my man,' Andrew chuckled.

'Delmar, maybe you should join us because Andrew is a cheat,' Patrick said with a slight frown.

'Sounds great to me,' Delmar said resting his hand on Patrick's shoulder. 'Tell you what, me and Em's going for a walk on the beach. Once we're back, I'll show you how to play this game, okay.' Delmar smiled.

'Yeah, let's do that,' Andrew said.

'We can even call Bernie to join us if you want,' Delmar said.

'Fuck yeah man,' Patrick said looking at Delmar. 'We'll call him when you're back.' He looked at Andrew again. 'Time to pay up bitch.'

Delmar laughed and shook his head. 'See you guys later.'

Emily and Delmar walked down the street holding hands. To Emily life had a different meaning. She could have sworn all the flowers had brighter colours than ever before. She enjoyed each moment with Delmar. His voice had a calming effect on her. She felt completely confident in her own skin.

They crossed the quiet main road and entered seven-eleven. Delmar already had a few items in the basket when they headed towards the cash register to pay. He noticed a stranger with a brown coat approaching them. The hoody made it hard for Delmar to make out the stranger's face. Delmar wondered if he had ever seen him in Saldanha before, but he doubted it. The stranger looked up moments before he passed and bumped into Delmar's shoulder. Delmar felt annoyed at the stranger's rude manners. He did not even apologise as he continued walking. Although Delmar had never seen the stranger before, he was certain there was something familiar in those eyes. He could not be sure where he had seen them before, but something about them was shockingly familiar.

'What a jerk,' Emily said annoyed glancing back.

'Yeah, tell me about it,' Delmar responded.

Delmar placed all their items on the counter and watched the lady scanning them.

'Forty-five-rand-fifty cents,' she said placing all the items into a plastic bag.

Delmar looked into his wallet and realised he was almost six Rand short. He felt annoyed and embarrassed at the same time for not checking the content of his wallet properly before buying things he could not afford.

'I'm so sorry about this, but can you please take the chocolates off? I thought I had enough - '

'It's okay,' Delmar was interrupted by a man standing next to him. He noticed it was the same rude stranger from earlier. 'I'll fill in the difference.'

'Are you sure,' Delmar asked surprised, completely caught off guard.

'Don't worry about it,' the stranger said. 'Maybe you can roll a rock out of my way someday.'

'Definitely. Thank you so much for helping me out,' Delmar said. Extending his hand. 'My name is Delmar by the way.'

'Jacob,' the stranger said shaking Delmar's hand. 'They call me Jacob.' There was a certain sparkle in his eyes and Delmar could not shake the feeling that he had seen them somewhere before.

Delmar and Emily had been strolling down the beach barefoot. The tide was low, but the water had a deep blue colour. The sun was shining vibrantly on the white beach sand. Delmar held his shoes as well as the plastic bag in his right hand while holding Emily's with his left. They had walked right up to where the beach ended before they sat for a long time.

The sun was sitting in the middle of a cloudless sky when Emily and Delmar made their way back. Someone had been watching them. In the dark shadows beneath the shades of the trees, he clutched a walking stick with his left hand. His middle finger had a large beast-like silver skull. His fingers were long and boney ending with thick brown nails extending over the tips of his fingers. He was wearing a brown robe hiding the rest of his tall body. He seemed to be struggling with some form of lung condition as he made a hissing sound when breathing. He lifted his head to smell the breeze pushing in from the ocean, picking up the children's scent. A few dreadlocks fell from underneath his hoodie as his eyes changed colour from yellow to dark brown.

Emily and Delmar reached the end of the beach. Delmar turned towards Emily and hugged her tightly. He paused, pushed himself away from her slightly and kissed her deeply. The man in the brown robe was still watching. He nodded. A grin formed on his face before he turned around and disappeared behind a wall of a house.

Emily abruptly stopped kissing Delmar and looked towards some houses in the distance.

'What's wrong?' Delmar frowned.

Emily paused for a moment and shook her head. 'Nothing I suppose. Just thought we were being watched.' Emily shivered for a moment. 'Let's go play some Monopoly.'