A Short Goodbye

Who: Herbert and Jordan
Where: The phone
When: 4PM

Herbert had some time to kill before he was supposed to meet Sammy, and there were still a couple people he hadn't been able to say goodbye to, who he hadn't been able to track down. At least for one of them, he had a phone number-- and she was talking again, so he could actually use it. He punched the number in carefully, sitting on the grass in one of the parks around town, and hoped she picked up.

Practice was over and Jordan was putting away her guitar when her phone rang. She turned in her chair and reached down in her jacket pocket to pull it out. It hadn’t been on vibrate during the rehearsal, she’d been -so- lucky that it hadn’t rang five minutes earlier. “Hello?” She asked as she opened it up and put the device to her ear.

"Oh, good, you picked up. I was afraid I wouldn't get to talk to you...." Herbert shook his head and started over. Mixed up brain, yup. "Hallo, Jordan. It's Herbert." His usually happy voice was a little more subdued today.

“Five minutes earlier I wouldn’t have.” She told him. “What’s up?” Jordan was a bit distracted as she continued to clean up her stuff as she talked to notice his subdued voice.

"I just wanted to say goodbye," he answered, plucking at the grass in front of him. He should have brought his knitting so he'd have something to do with his hands. "I'm going back home to Canada tonight." There he went again, telling bits and pieces of the story at a time. It was a wonder people didn't get impatient with him.

“Oh.” Jordan didn’t really question the ‘why’, especially with his used of ‘going back’. “That’s quick.” She said. “When’ll you be back?”

"I don't know," Herbert admitted unhappily. "I might not for a long time. My pa, he has cancer-- or he did. And now it's come back." There, she got a "why" anyway. "I have to get back, to see him and help out however I can."

"Oh fuck." Jordan breathed. "I'm sorry. That... sucks." Ok, so -not- the best thing to say, but even though Jordan had been in a slightly similar situation she still had no idea what to say. She knew she hated most of what people said to her about it. "Well, if you ever need to talk... you've got my number." She told him.

"He'll be okay," Herbert said bracingly. "It went into remission last time, and it will again, this time." He thought he might just try to live by that sentence, let it keep him going until he had to face whatever truth there was. "I'll call, once I'm there... I'll still call. I'll miss Marquette." Or, well, the people in it. He didn't think he'd miss all the evil things that happened in it.

“Well, you know my number, and I can text in class.” She told him. “Don’t be a stranger.” Herbert had been a good friend to the strange mute girl he’d met in the music store and one of the very few people who knew -what- she was. He’d never judged her and constantly chose to see the good in her- she was grateful for that, even if she didn’t know how to say it.

"I won't be. I have your number written down, and everything." He didn't know if he'd get to keep the cell phone without Olivia around to need him to have it, but he definitely still had everyone's numbers written down. "Take care of yourself, all right?"

“You too.” Jordan replied, pulling her backpack over her shoulder and grabbing her coat from the chair. “Bye Herbert.”

"Bye, Jordan." Herbert hung up with a little sigh. One more to go-- probably the hardest one. He pushed himself up and trudged back to his bicycle. He had to meet Sammy.