Chapter 2

At Sherwin’s Falls, the weather was perfect; it was maybe 25°C. A light breeze would sometimes carry a bit of spray from the falls all the way to the small beach behind the inn and the sun played hide-and-seek with the leaves in the trees. Mélanie was daydreaming in the sun on this little beach when she heard this weird noise. Her first instinct was to check up on Sonny but he was still building the city of the future with his bucket and plastic shovel. The sound repeated itself – a subtle but persistent sound like a rhythmic beat of some drums.

She finally succeeded in isolating its origin; her very own carryall.

Shoving her arm into the bottom of her carryall, she finally came up with a cell phone.

“He ... hello?”

“Mélanie? It’s me, Karine.”

“Wha ... Karine? How? Where did you get this number?”

“You don’t remember? About a month before you disappeared, we went to the Place Versailles Mall together and we stopped at that cell phone booth. When that salesman offered you a cell phone with your birth date as your number, you couldn’t resist buying it. I was thinking of you and, just for the fun of it, I tried the number to see if it was still valid.”

“My god! That’s true ... After buying it, I just shoved it in my bag. It’s only been one year since I found it again and started buying minutes for it. I didn’t even think that someone might know the number. I only use it to check the weather and things like that. How’s it going?”