Watch How We Walk by Jennifer LoveGrove

trailer anyway.
    â€” Well, it’s time to go, kiddo. More work of the Lord to do.
    Michael and Jeff laugh as Uncle Tyler straightens his tie and puts his suit jacket back on. They do not get up to walk them to the door.
    â€” Do you still have those Watchtower back issues in your bag, Em? I forgot mine in the car, and Michael has read the ones I left him last time, right?
    Michael grins.
    â€” Sure, man. Hey, don’t forget that Cure tape you wanted to borrow.
    Emily gives Jim the magazines and he thanks her and waves goodbye from the couch. Outside, they squint against the sun’s glare.
    â€” Are we going to see your other back calls now?
    Her uncle checks his watch.
    â€” Well, it’s three o’clock, we have time for one or two more, I guess.
    They drive for a long time, out into the country, and into the little village near the lake.
    They stop at a dingy bungalow with an empty driveway.
    â€” It doesn’t look like anyone is home.
    â€” Well, let’s see. Uncle Tyler takes his briefcase out of the car.
    No one answers the door. They drive the twenty minutes back into town, and her uncle says nothing, just sings along to the songs on Michael’s tape.
    He pulls up in front of Emily’s house.
    â€” So long, Em. He drops her off and doesn’t come into the house to see her parents, or stay for dinner. Emily doesn’t get a chance to ask him if Michael and Jeff will be coming to any of the meetings with him, but she already knows the answer.

14

    AFTER A FEW WEEKS, THE air warms and the snow turns to grey slush. It’s Wednesday, so there is no meeting and Emily tries not to feel so relieved. She trudges up her wet driveway without Lenora, dragging her boots through a set of tire tracks. Both of her feet are cold and tingly and thoroughly soaked.
    She tried to wait for her sister; she walked home as slowly as she could, twisting to look behind her every twenty-five paces. Lenora wouldn’t have shown up even if she had waited in front of her school for an hour; she rarely does. Who will yell at her more this time — her mother or Lenora? Which one is worse depends on their respective moods. Her mother is unpredictable: she might sigh and shake her head, then mutter at Lenora, saying who does she think she is, ignoring Emily altogether, which she prefers, or she might accuse Emily of covering for her sister and send her to her room until her sister reappears. Lenora will most likely refuse to have anything to do with her.
    Emily is tired of the pattern. It’s unfair that she gets caught in the middle of their arguments, especially when they have nothing to do with her. From now on, things will be different. Emily will stay out of it. When they do get mad at her, she will do whatever it takes to fight back the tears. She’ll be more like Lenora, who never cries, even if they slap her — spare the rod, spoil the child — or ground her for weeks. She just clenches her fists, tosses her hair, and forces a laugh. Ha. She tells them they’ll regret it, just wait, they’ll be sorry.
    Lenora will probably accuse her of trying to get her in trouble on purpose. Then she won’t speak to Emily for days. That’s worse than her mother’s temper, which at least passes quickly. When Lenora ignores her, Emily feels like brick walls have risen up from the ground and surrounded her. Imprisoned and desperate, she first jumps up and down, which proves futile, then she pounds her small fists. No one can hear her, and no one but Lenora can let her out. What she’s been locked out of she doesn’t entirely know, but she’s well aware that without her sister, she will miss something important.
    Emily stops in her slushy plod up the treed driveway. On the other side of the pine trees, next to the house, someone has parked an unfamiliar red car. Their grey four-door isn’t there, so Emily knows her father is still at work. As an electrician,