Hotel Candelabra: Chapters 32, 33 & 34
Bonus! Three chapters today. Things are going to start moving quickly!
If you have not been following because you want to start from the beginning, you can backtrack to the first chapter.
End of Chapter 31:
I could not have imagined that 51 women could make it happen but as each one described what their clue meant about them, there were several who knew it described them too and they stepped carefully to stand by the one holding the clue.
Before I could explain the candelabra clue, I realized there was no one left to stand with me.
The realization that I was standing alone was the next clue.
Day #5: Chapter Thirty-Two
It felt lonely as I stared at the groups gathered around the room. Everyone was silent as they processed what had just taken place. 69 stepped into my discomfort and asked, “Do you know what your candelabra means?”
“Well, I do, but maybe not in a good way,” I said.
“Tell us what that means,” 69 replied.
The shrinking candles on the candelabra flickered. If ever there was an important moment in time, this was it. Fifty-one pairs of eyes were on me. They needed me to figure this out. I thought about the children and teens on the lower level and wondered if they could also fit into these groups. I was sure I knew where Nine belonged. The tiny ones probably wouldn’t know yet, elementary ages might, and the teens surely would.
Then I knew. “If combined, everyone in this hotel, is me. I am all of you. I am a comedian, and I am also brave. I am a caregiver and an explorer. I love finding clues and writing. I am a great problem solver and I deeply love decorating. My organization skills are well known, and after my healing journey, I am the one who holds all the stories of our life. While I stand here alone, I am strong because all of you are part of me. We are strong together.”
To my surprise, everyone began cheering! Then laughing. And suddenly, several were crying. Looking for the source of the crying, I saw it came from the corner of problem solvers. Walking toward them, I asked, “Why are you crying?”
64 spoke for the group. “Because this still doesn’t help us get out of this hotel!
And I began crying with her.
Day # 5: Chapter Thirty-Three
Before long, the entire room was crying. Alden appeared and opened a cabinet and began pulling tissue boxes from it. The boxes were quickly shared and the nose blowing began. Then in one corner of the room, someone giggled.
The single giggle spread like a ripple across a pond and soon everyone was laughing. 62, was the first to speak. “That was so refreshing!” she exclaimed. “Sometimes the best self-care is a good cry or laugh.” Everyone murmured in agreement and 68 began winding her way through the room with a trashcan to gather the used tissues. As she walked toward the corner to set it down, she tripped over someone’s foot. While catching her balance, she flipped the trashcan upside down, dumping the contents on the floor.
Fifty-one voices said, “EWWWWWWWW” and burst into laughter.
Alden appeared with gloves on his hands and said, “No worries. I’ll get that.’
And the candles flickered again.
Everyone turned to look at me.
And then I knew the answer. Maybe.
“I think we got stuck in Hotel Candelabra because we didn’t know how to work together to get out. We were all in rooms and not cooperating—we didn’t even know that we needed to. None of us knew the whole story or what had been hidden in the basement. When I arrived, I wouldn’t have known how to describe myself. All I knew was the storm that I was still running from. None of us could leave on our own, we needed to work together to build a new life from the rubble of our story. I was exhausted from trying. I needed all of you to help me.”
The room was silent except for the sound of someone clapping.
It was Alden—our wise and caring friend.
Day #5: Chapter Thirty-Four
“Bravo! Bravo!” Alden exclaimed.
I turned to Alden and asked, “So, if I go downstairs, the door will be back now?”
“Well, not exactly,” he answered, then seeing the crushed look on all the faces, he said, “It is there, but you can’t see it because the room is so very dark.”
And with that, Alden slid behind the bookcase and vanished once again.
“What on earth does that mean?” asked a very exasperated problem solver.
“He gave us a clue!” answered a very excited clue-finder.
And the conversations began to buzz around the room.
I stared at the Candelabra in my hand and then at the one on the table where the candles seemed visibly shorter than earlier that morning.
Looking around the room, I asked, “Do all of you have suitcases?”
One of the comedians who had clearly developed a bit of sarcasm said, “You mean baggage? No, I think only those of you on this floor had baggage.” She wasn’t wrong.
“You do have a point,” I laughingly said. “But I believe that if your room knows you need luggage, it will be there. Alden took our baggage from us when we got here, so this will be true for all of us.”
68 who had ended up sitting by her door, said, “Let me check!”
She opened the door and almost fell over a suitcase sitting directly in front of the doorway.
“Well, I guess that answers that!” she said. “The room seems to know I need to get ready to leave.”
With that, everyone turned to look at the flickering candelabra on the table, and then they all stared at me.
“I think we have till morning at the most,’ I said. “Maybe we should decide what we want to take with us. We need to travel lightly, so the suitcase is your limit. Everyone probably needs to decide what you want to take from the main rooms.”
“What kind of things do we take?” a voice from a back corner asked.
It was a valid question. “Well, when we get out of here, I can take us back to the life I was living—not fully living, but I think that will change.”
“Yes,” 62 interrupted. “There are Walmarts and Amazon deliveries so don’t take anything that could be gotten there. So, just the things that you love. Things that would help you to be comfortable and happy.”
Someone in another corner asked, “What are those things you said? Amazon and the other one?”
As one of the older women tried to explain to the younger woman, I realized how really fragmented we had been. We had a lot to accomplish in one afternoon.
68 stood up and said, “Why don’t we all meet in the lobby for dinner at 5:30? The Flame can go down through the kitchen and the other two floors can go down the Narnia Passageway. The teenagers can bring the children down a few at a time in the elevator. Maybe this afternoon, it would be good to take turns visiting the children’s floor, so they get accustomed to everyone.”
“Great plan! Lower floor, why don’t you head to your rooms first down the Narnia Passageway. That would be the best way to do any navigating during the afternoon.”
The more I could keep them from using the elevator, the better!