Friday Feature & Giveaway: The Shade of Santa Fe by Eva Pohler

When her name was called, Ellen followed her massage therapist, Kelly, to one of the private rooms in back. Kelly didn’t look much younger than Ellen, but she was in amazingly great shape, and her skin glowed. She wore her brown hair braided, and bangs swept across her pretty, brown eyes. Her summer dress tied around her neck and was backless, exposing three interesting tattoos. One of them read, “STAY HUMANE.”

The room smelled of lavender and was dimly lit with candles. Soothing music played overhead. The massage table was covered with fresh linens.

“You can hang your clothes on the hook behind this door,” Kelly said. “I’ll be back in just a moment.”

Ellen undressed and hung up her clothes. Then she climbed onto the table on her stomach and covered herself with the top sheet. She put her face in the donut pillow and closed her eyes. She had dozed off when Kelly knocked on the door.

“Come in,” Ellen said, drowsily.

As Kelly started on Ellen’s back, Ellen sighed and sunk more deeply onto the table, relaxing the muscles she didn’t know she’d been clenching. Not wanting to fall asleep and miss the massage altogether, Ellen decided to start up a conversation.

“I just put an offer on a house here in Santa Fe.”

“Congratulations,” Kelly said. “You’ll love it here. I’ve lived here for over thirty years, and I wouldn’t move for anything.”

“Well, I’m not actually moving here,” Ellen explained. “I’m buying it for a studio retreat. I’m an artist. I paint.”

“How nice,” Kelly said. “What kind of art do you make?”

“Mostly portraits and landscapes. Whatever inspires me. I’m not a serious painter. It’s more of a hobby.”

“And in what area are you buying?”

“It’s on Luna Circle, right behind the Frank S. Ortiz Dog Park,” Ellen said. “In the Casa Solano Subdivision.”

“I know the area well. I take my dogs to that park every weekend. Is it the house by Suicide Bridge?”

Ellen stiffened. “What’s Suicide Bridge?”

Kelly moved her hands down Ellen’s back. “I didn’t mean to make you anxious. Try to relax. I’m sorry I mentioned it. I just thought that the real estate agent would have had to disclose the information.”

“What information?” Ellen asked.

“There’s a bridge between the dog park and a house on Luna Circle that’s been for sale for ages.”

“Is it an old steel bridge across a narrow ravine?”

“Yes.”

Kelly worked her way up Ellen’s back, but it was hard for Ellen to enjoy it, because now she was anxious about the bridge.

Kelly massaged beneath Ellen’s right shoulder blade and said, “Over the years, it’s become known as Suicide Bridge, because, for whatever reason, that’s where a lot of people have gone to take their lives.”

“What do you mean by a lot?”

“It seems like someone does it every year for as long as I’ve lived here. I would guess over fifty people have died there.”

“How sad. I wonder what it is about jumping from that bridge. Why there?”

“They don’t jump. They hang themselves.”