Free Round N Around We Go (Has Cupid Gone Mad?) by Belinda Elkaim

has never seen Taylor
looking wary and confidence
depleted. She sees Taylor’s
shattered spirit lugging on to a
burgundy
colored
carry
on
suitcase and quickly welcomes
her in with open arms.
    Energy deprived, Taylor remains
extremely quiet and
refrains
from conversation. Karina has
been in the same disheartening
situation before and understands
Taylor’s pain without the need
for explanations.
Taylor has taken care of Karina
during her darkest moments and
has unconditionally nurtured her
back to life upon Alex’s death.
    Karina understands that now is
the moment when she will shower
her support and reciprocate the
love and generosity that Taylor
has given her in the past.
    Karina makes two cups of tea and
turns on the TV for distraction.
From her bed, she watches Taylor
curl up on the sofa and drifts
off silently. Tipping toes and
quietly moving around her loft,
her thought drifts back to the
days of her own dismay, and
remembers how painful it feels
to be brokenhearted.
She
sympathizes on Taylor’s agony,
turns off everything and climbs
into bed.
    Twisting and turning throughout
the night and unable to soothe
her insomnia, Karina has much on
her mind and lays wide awake
gazing into nothingness. She
slips out of bed by the crack of
dawn with an emerging headache
and prances silently into the
kitchen to find Taylor already
awake.
    She whips up a fresh brew of
espresso and brings it over to
Taylor. Giving her best friend
the warmest hug, she smiles
empathically and assures that
everything will be alright.
    Taylor is still silent and
refuses
to
admit
defeat.
Stubbornly she puts on a strong
front and hides from her true
emotions. She is embarrassed to
tell Karina of the ninety days
bench time that Ivan has given
her and disguises her ego by
pretending not to care.
    “It’s alright Karina, Ivan and I
just need a few weeks of
separation. It’s good for both
of us.” Taylor assures Karina
that she is fine and urges her
to tend to her affairs. “I’ll be
fine.”
    Reluctantly, Karina heads out to
pick up Theodore’s canvas from
the art framer. While driving,
she calls Amber and shares the
news of Taylor’s ordeal.
Both know that Taylor may appear
strong
and
confident,
but
beneath the iron cast armor she
is simply as vulnerable as
either of them.
    Feeling more at ease that Amber
volunteers to spend the day with
Taylor, Karina stresses her
concern before she exits onto
highway I95, “Please keep an eye
on her; I have been there so I
know how it feels. Please don’t
let her do anything stupid like
I did.”
    Maneuvering the gallery’s SUV
through downtown traffic, Karina
pulls up at the parking lot
behind
the
art
framer’s
warehouse and knocks on the back
door.
    Pedro the art framer shows her
in and leads her to the blank
canvas spread across the wooden
table in the middle of his
workshop.
    Karina looks at the canvas for a
few seconds, tilts her head and
questions Pedro, “Is there
anything wrong with the canvas
that you can’t stretch or mount
it?”
    He studies her expressions and
asks, “Miss Sebastian, does this
canvas belong to you?”
“Yes, it’s a gift. Why?” Karina
is now curious.
    He points at the edges of the
canvas and brushes his fingers
lightly on top of it. “See how
it’s fraying?” He continues, “I
should have known by the way it
smells. This canvas is hand
loomed in a technique that is
obsolete today. Frankly so, I
have never seen any canvases
like this before and can’t tell
you much, except for a fact that
I know it’s old, and I’m talking
about anciently old. It is way
too fragile to be stretched, it
will tear. Whoever gifted this
to you must have found it in
granny’s attic.” He rolls up the
canvas and inserts it back into
the tube. “It’s better off
unframed.” He hands the tube to
her and adds, “My apologies that
I can’t be of assistance.”
As if a