Sam & Andy

           Sam and Andy were twins, but they did not look alike. Sam was tall and handsome. Andy was not. They lived together in an apartment on the fourteenth floor of an apartment building next to a popular beach. But it was winter and no one swam at the beach during winter.

            Sam was a busy young man. He attended university and had an internship at a law firm in the afternoons. Andy did not go to school, but he did have a job. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays he worked at the grocery store three blocks away from the apartment building. He bagged the groceries and occasionally mopped up spills in the aisles. Both brothers were happy young men, however, and Andy had something that Sam did not. Andy had a girlfriend.

            Sam was too busy for girls, he always said. To Sam, girls were only good for taking home from the bar, having a quick romp in the bed with, and sending home in the morning without so much as a complementary cup of coffee. Sam didn’t believe that Andy really had a girlfriend, for he had never laid eyes on her or so much as heard them on the phone together. But Andy had a collection of ‘gifts’ from this girlfriend that he made Sam look at everyday, some assorted shells and sea-glass that Andy arranged in little patterns on his bedroom shelf. As long as Andy was happy, Sam was happy for him, and that was that.

            On the days that Andy did not work at the grocery store, he usually sat at home and watched television. He hated to be alone, and the television kept him calm and comfortable. It was the days he worked that were his favorites. He liked the people at the store, and he liked the walk home from work. The walk home was when he got to see Sherie, his girlfriend. She lived two blocks away, closer to the store than to the apartment. After work was when he visited her, just before sunset when the sunshine radiated in shades of orange and yellow light and shadows between the trees.

 

It was a Monday, which meant it had been three days since he had last seen her. After work, as was his custom, Andy walked the one block from the store to the beach, where he removed his shoes and walked out to the little cove. At the cove there was a dock. He tip-toed out to the edge of the rickety dock, trying to keep as quiet as possible. He did not want to disturb the sound of the small waves splashing on the pilings, and he did not want to startle Sherie. Andy dipped his toes into the water slowly, carefully, trying to keep the ripples as small as possible. This was his signal to her.

            Sherie appeared not long after his signal, every time. He could see her in the distance, by the changes in the whitewater of the waves. A splash to his right startled him at first, but then a sense of calm came over him. She was near.

Andy sat on the dock until dusk, the twilight being the signal that it was time to go home. Sam wanted him home before dark. He hesitantly pulled his feet out of the water and gave one last look as he heard her voice faintly; Goodbye, Andy…and he knew his gift awaited him. Once he stepped off the dock, right where the waters edge met the sand, where the foamy outline of the last wave to crash on shore ended, a gleaming white shell lay. It was smooth and circular, and Andy took it in his hand and held it tight.

At home, Sam was waiting for Andy. “Where have you been?” he asked. “I was with Sherie,” Andy replied, head down, but not in shame. He was looking at the shell, hidden in his palm.

 “You’re late, Andy. You know I worry about you when you walk home in the dark. Here, eat your dinner, its cold.” Andy sat down at the table and picked at his food, the shell in his lap.

“When do I get to meet this girl anyway?” Sam’s tone had changed, he was calmer, careful; he didn’t want to hurt Andy’s feelings.

“She won’t….I don’t think she will meet you.”

“What do you mean she won’t meet me? She doesn’t want to, or what?” Andy was silent. He glanced at Sam, whose blue eyes were squinty under his brother’s seemingly permanent furrowed brow. They seemed to be straining to see into Andy’s brain. Andy turned away to look at the shell instead.

“Andy…you alright? Do you need a refill because I was going to stop by the pharmacy tomorrow--”

“No, I’m fine. I’m tired and I want to go to bed,” Andy snapped. Sam’s eyes were painful to look at now; he turned away from Andy, dejected. Andy left the table and went to his room. He placed the shell in the center of his collection, moving each shell slightly out of the way to make more room on the shelf.

Tuesday passed without conflict. Sam went to work, came home and made dinner. They sat in mostly silence, discussing briefly the lack of people in town now that it was winter. Andy caught Sam glancing at him numerous times and looked away. After dinner they retired to their respective rooms.

“Goodnight, Andy.”

“Goodnight, Sam.”

 

            Wednesday, the brothers left the apartment together and went their separate ways at the door. Sam drove off in his sports car, while Andy walked the three blocks to the grocery store. After work, Andy walked to the beach, took off his shoes, and walked to the edge of the dock. It was chilly out, and Andy had butterflies in his stomach. He dipped his toes into the water and watched the waves coming towards him, but he could not see any sign of her.

            Andy closed his eyes, hoping that when he opened them some sign of her would appear, or that he would hear a splash. The wind gusted and he shuddered. He could feel his tear ducts filling, and a wave of sadness washed over his shivering body. The he heard her;

            Andy…come with me.

            Andy opened his eyes suddenly, the tears released themselves from the ducts and were blown off by the wind. He heard her again; Come with me… He was afraid, but entranced. Sherie was calling him, she needed him, and he needed her. Slowly Andy edged himself off the dock, until he was shoulder-deep in the ocean. He could not feel the sting of the cold water, or the wind. He was numb. Then he caught a glimpse of something near him, in the water. A shimmer of silver, a flash of light. It was her. She emerged in front of him in all her beauty, her skin moist and cool in the shadowy light of the sunset, her dark hair flowing all around her shoulders, it was impossible to tell where it ended and the ocean began. She reached out to him with her glistening hand. I have something to show you…come with me… Andy took his hand in hers, holding it as he had the shell, tightly but with care as not to break it. He felt himself being pulled under and he gave in. This was love, this was what he wanted.

           

            Sam returned back to the apartment late but with a surprise for Andy. When he opened the door, however, the apartment was dark. He called for Andy but no one was home. He had spent all day thinking of something he could do for Andy to brighten his spirits, for he had seemed so down lately. The sight of Andy admiring those shells had stuck in his mind, so Sam had gone out and bought Andy a fancy display case, to replace the now overcrowded shelf in his room. He placed the case on Andy’s bed with a note; ‘From your brother, with love.’ It was not yet dark and he figured Andy would be home soon enough, but he had to leave for a business dinner so he left another note, this one on the kitchen counter. ‘Dinner is in the fridge, you just have to heat it up. Be back later tonight. Sam.’ With a bit of hesitance, Sam shut the door and was off.

            Thursday morning, Sam woke up with a hangover and a girl in his bed. His first thought was to check if Andy had liked the gift. He snuck out of bed and tip toed down the hall. He knocked on Andy’s door, but there was no response. He opened it a crack, and peered in. The gift was still on the bed, the note attached. Andy was nowhere to be seen. Sam panicked. Andy had never not come home before. Sam ran to the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. There sat Andy’s medication, unopened and completely full. ‘S**T!’ thought Sam, and ran to the phone and dialed the police.

 

            On Sunday, Sam was called down to the police station. “We think…we think we may have found your brother,” the officer told Sam.

            “Where…where is he? Is he alright? I’ve…I’ve been everywhere, I don’t know--” Sam stammered.

            “I’m sorry…your brother…I mean, if this is him, we need you to identify..”

            “Identify?! What is going on here?” Sam felt his heart pounding in his head.

            The police officer faltered. “A young woman spotted a body on the beach this morning, and the description matches that of your brother, Andrew. It seems as if…there are strange wounds, he may have drowned…the cause of death isn’t certain. But we need your confirmation that this man…this man is your indeed your brother.”

            “What kind of wounds…drowning…I don’t understand…”  

            Sam was brought into a dark, dank room where the air was stale and unmoving. A body under a sheet lay in the middle of the room, and Sam approached slowly and without feeling. He pulled the sheet back, his body and mind numb, his eyes unable to move, and there he saw the face of his brother. Andy lay there, eyes closed, a slight smile on his face. Despite the bloating and the paleness of his clammy skin, he looked at peace. Sam didn’t want to see the rest of his body, the wounds, but he noticed a hand poking out from under the sheet. It was Andy’s left hand, clenched tight. Hesitantly, Sam took Andy’s hand in his and softly pulled Andy’s fingers apart, exposing the most glorious purple speckled shell. It was almost as large as Andy’s palm itself, and it was smooth and bright with color, contrasting sharply the lack of color in Andy’s hand and face. Sam closed Andy’s fragile fingers back around the shell and gave his brother one last look.

            “Yes, this is him.”

 

           

Reviews

[Dan Hiland]

Sad and mysterious. The slow reveal of Andy's girlfriend ended up not being a reveal at all- which opened the story up to interpretation. Nice touch. Good dialogue that helped flesh out the brothers, at least enough for the purposes of this story.
The only thing that distracted me was my old nemesis, the adverb. The 5th sentence in Paragraph Two: remove "occasionally" and the meaning doesn't change. Paragraph Four: Does removing the word "usually" make any difference? Paragraph Five: Andy could dip his toes into the water slowly or carefully, but doing both is overdoing it. How would 8th sentence in the last paragraph sound if "hesitantly" and softly were deleted? Sure, it may not convey all the details you want the reader to catch- but maybe it's better to give the reader a chance to imagine how Sam would have held his brothers hand.
Enough about that.
My only other concern is with why Andy decided to risk his life by going into the water. What had changed in his life since the previous visit? Having a disagreement with his brother didn't seem reason enough for him to go off the dock, so to speak. Then again, I am assuming that the girl is a figment of his imagination.
Regardless, it's an intriguing story that is rich enough in details to reward a second reading. Thanks for sharing it.