the shadows, afraid of the next fight that would have my brother, Jesse, and me hiding.
“Mom?”
“Hmm?” She’d stopped humming along to the Rolling Stones that played on the stereo and waited for me to talk.
“Are Jesse and I going to have to work?”
Seeing how we barely scraped by in Illinois with both parents working, I was afraid we’d be living on the streets.
Her soft laugh was both surprising and comforting.
“No, honey. You don’t need to worry. I have that taken care of.”
It turned out that Mom had money – a lot of it. As we drove across the long stretches of Wyoming toward our new home, Mom told us that when my grandparents died sixteen years earlier, they’d left her a big, fat trust fund. She’d kept it secret from my dad, hiring a financial firm to manage it, so he wouldn’t blow all the money.
Passing through Coeur d ’Alene on our way to Sandpoint, I started to feel better about the move. Having Silverwood, a theme park, so close to Sandpoint, definitely trumped the deal.
Our lives were definitely going to be different. I knew it in my heart – no, in my soul – because in the time it took us to drive the almost two miles across the Long Bridge, the bridge that spanned the lake between Sandpoint and the small town of Sagle, there was a palpable shift in the air that threatened to slice through the lock on my packed-away past. There was something intense about this area and it froze me up as if I’d jumped head-first into a snow bank. That was the moment I decided: this was a new town, and there was going to be a new me. I had a plan.
~ ~ ~
The Power Ranger theme song chimed from my cell. Okay. So I’m a bit of a geek.
“ You’ve got a text,” I said in my best AOL guy voice.
Alyx! HELLO! What time u gonna b here? Itz 3!
Taylor , my best friend, hated that I was always late to her parties. In my defense, I was never intentionally late. I just had a hard time finding motivation to rush over there when she wanted me to. I’d always go, but would come home from those parties feeling wiped out, as if I had walked through an energy vacuum. I tried to find common ground, but could never seem to connect with anyone.
Getting in shower now , I texted back, even though now wasn’t really now , as in this moment now. I tossed the cell on the bed. I could almost hear her stomp her foot with impatience, a gesture that used to be endearing, but over the last three years, it’d gotten a little irritating.
Taylor had been my best friend since freshman year when we met at Sandpoint High’s orientation. I remembered the electric blue iridescent color on her fingernails and she loved the candy-apple-green shade I coated mine with that morning. Taylor was fun and she made me laugh – something no one had been able to do for a long time. We’d been inseparable since then, sharing clothes and secrets. We even looked alike, except my blonde hair was a little darker than hers. Our tastes ran surprisingly similar on a lot of things – including boys. Whenever we liked the same boy, though, I’d back down so she could have an open playing field. I was always afraid that being close to a guy meant letting him get too close to my past. And if I was going to do that, he’d better be the right one.
I didn ’t bother looking at the phone when Go, Go, Power Rangers chimed in. I knew it would be Taylor telling me to hurry. It was so typical of her. Instead, I picked up the deck of oracle cards that I’d been shuffling earlier. My mom put this particular deck on my bed a few days earlier with no explanation, but I didn’t need one. I knew what she was up to. She was trying to draw me out of my world and back into hers. She dropped subtle hints, bought me cards and pendants, and nudged me in the direction of reconnecting with my elemental senses. Although I appreciated what she was trying to do, I wasn’t buying into it and I didn’t know if I ever would. She knew I struggled with
“Mom?”
“Hmm?” She’d stopped humming along to the Rolling Stones that played on the stereo and waited for me to talk.
“Are Jesse and I going to have to work?”
Seeing how we barely scraped by in Illinois with both parents working, I was afraid we’d be living on the streets.
Her soft laugh was both surprising and comforting.
“No, honey. You don’t need to worry. I have that taken care of.”
It turned out that Mom had money – a lot of it. As we drove across the long stretches of Wyoming toward our new home, Mom told us that when my grandparents died sixteen years earlier, they’d left her a big, fat trust fund. She’d kept it secret from my dad, hiring a financial firm to manage it, so he wouldn’t blow all the money.
Passing through Coeur d ’Alene on our way to Sandpoint, I started to feel better about the move. Having Silverwood, a theme park, so close to Sandpoint, definitely trumped the deal.
Our lives were definitely going to be different. I knew it in my heart – no, in my soul – because in the time it took us to drive the almost two miles across the Long Bridge, the bridge that spanned the lake between Sandpoint and the small town of Sagle, there was a palpable shift in the air that threatened to slice through the lock on my packed-away past. There was something intense about this area and it froze me up as if I’d jumped head-first into a snow bank. That was the moment I decided: this was a new town, and there was going to be a new me. I had a plan.
~ ~ ~
The Power Ranger theme song chimed from my cell. Okay. So I’m a bit of a geek.
“ You’ve got a text,” I said in my best AOL guy voice.
Alyx! HELLO! What time u gonna b here? Itz 3!
Taylor , my best friend, hated that I was always late to her parties. In my defense, I was never intentionally late. I just had a hard time finding motivation to rush over there when she wanted me to. I’d always go, but would come home from those parties feeling wiped out, as if I had walked through an energy vacuum. I tried to find common ground, but could never seem to connect with anyone.
Getting in shower now , I texted back, even though now wasn’t really now , as in this moment now. I tossed the cell on the bed. I could almost hear her stomp her foot with impatience, a gesture that used to be endearing, but over the last three years, it’d gotten a little irritating.
Taylor had been my best friend since freshman year when we met at Sandpoint High’s orientation. I remembered the electric blue iridescent color on her fingernails and she loved the candy-apple-green shade I coated mine with that morning. Taylor was fun and she made me laugh – something no one had been able to do for a long time. We’d been inseparable since then, sharing clothes and secrets. We even looked alike, except my blonde hair was a little darker than hers. Our tastes ran surprisingly similar on a lot of things – including boys. Whenever we liked the same boy, though, I’d back down so she could have an open playing field. I was always afraid that being close to a guy meant letting him get too close to my past. And if I was going to do that, he’d better be the right one.
I didn ’t bother looking at the phone when Go, Go, Power Rangers chimed in. I knew it would be Taylor telling me to hurry. It was so typical of her. Instead, I picked up the deck of oracle cards that I’d been shuffling earlier. My mom put this particular deck on my bed a few days earlier with no explanation, but I didn’t need one. I knew what she was up to. She was trying to draw me out of my world and back into hers. She dropped subtle hints, bought me cards and pendants, and nudged me in the direction of reconnecting with my elemental senses. Although I appreciated what she was trying to do, I wasn’t buying into it and I didn’t know if I ever would. She knew I struggled with
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