How I Live Now, Daisy
Briar Rose, Becca
The airport from How I Live Now
It was a hot July afternoon; Daisy sat watching planes take off and land, waiting for her plane to arrive. As she was watching the planes her mind was drifting off, back to when she was in England, but before the war took place. Back when she and Edmond had their secret love affair; back when everything seemed so right.
“Is this seat taken?” asked a petite young woman with bright red hair, carrying a large wooden box with a briar rose carved into it.
Somewhat startled, Daisy came back to real life and said, “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
Already sitting in the chair beside her she laughed and repeated herself, “Is this seat taken?” Daisy grinned and introduced herself, “I’m Daisy, and who are you?”
“I’m Becca, it’s nice to meet you,” she replied.
Becca had taken some documents out of the wooden box; Daisy broke the silence and said, “Where will you be heading today?”
Without looking up from her papers, Becca answered, “Poland…” she raised her head after a moment, “for business, I’m a reporter for a local paper.”
“Oh, what are you researching?” questioned Daisy. Before Becca could answer, an announcement was made that there would be no planes landing for the next three hours because of a big storm.
Becca answered, “Well I was going to say ‘it’s a long story’ but it looks like we have some time to spare.”
Before she started her story, Daisy and her new friend decided to go find somewhere in the airport that had coffee. They walked around for a good 15 minutes before finally coming to a Dunkin Donuts; they both ordered and had a seat at one of the small, round tables.
“So care to share this ‘long’ story?” Daisy asked.
“Sure,” Becca responded. “My grandmother recently passed away…”
“I’m so sorry!” Daisy interrupted.
“Thanks; but anyways, no one ever really knew anything about my Gemma’s past. Before she passed she told me to figure her history out. And all she’s left me with is her tale of Briar Rose and this box of pictures and papers. This is what is bringing me to Poland.”
“Oh, and you’re going to be writing an article on what you find out?” Daisy asked.
“Correct!” said Becca.
“Well, that wasn’t a long story at all!” Daisy laughed.
“That was the much shorter version,” she explained.
The women made small talk after that and finished their coffees, then walked back to their seats in the terminal.
On the way, Becca asked, “Well now that you know where I’m going and why; where are you going and why?”
“England, just to visit some old friends…” Daisy told her.
“Oh, well I hope you have fun!” Becca said.
“Yea, I can’t wait to see him…” she slipped.
“A him?” Becca caught on.
“Just a friend.” Daisy lied.
They returned to their seats and Becca showed Daisy the pictures and all the papers she had from Gemma. Daisy was giving Becca her thoughts on the pictures when another announcement was made, ‘The 3:30 flight to Poland has arrived, please board as soon as possible.’ Becca smiled and said
“That’s me!” she got her things together and quickly exchanged email addresses with Daisy and then headed off to catch her flight.
A couple months later, after Daisy returned from England, she received an email from an unknown address, she opened it and it was an article…Becca’s article. She found a lot of things out about her grandmother, and she seemed quite pleased with her findings. Daisy was very glad that Becca emailed her the article. She replied to it immediately, and they talk all the time. They have been very good friends since then.
