“How long do we have to stay then?” asked Amanda.
“I’m not sure. These things can take time.”
“But Mom, we’re finally settled in at the new apartment. And there’s so much going on this summer. Why can’t we stay at home? I’m old enough to look after Sarah and I’m sure the Evans’ can look in on us.”
“You know why,” replied El.
“But mom! It wasn’t my fault.”
“Really? Then who’s fault was it that the police brought you home at 3 a.m. reeking of...” she paused and glanced at the rearview mirror at her younger daughter to see if she was listening. “Marijuana,” she said in a hushed tone.
“But.”
“Now you have to make a court appearance for underaged use, and I have to deal with your father.”
“But mom. It’s not what it looks like. It wasn’t mine.”
“Then you should have co-operated with the police.”
“I’m not a rat.”
“I understand. Loyalty is admirable. Misplaced in this case, but still admirable. What about you? That track and field scholarship you’re chasing? That could be gone if you get a criminal record,”
“I not good enough mom. It was just wishful thinking.”
“The answer is still no.”
“Mom pl-e-e-ease.”
“I said no.”
Amanda huffed. “Fine. Can I use your phone? I need to let people know I’ll be on the moon for a while.”
“Don’t be so dramatic. Why mine? Where’s yours?”
“I dunno, it’s the battery or something…it’s totally dead.”
“Ok, but be quick. Mind the data, we’re on a budget.”
She sent a few messages. A boy from her school named Devon replied.
“ 02-07-2019 1:06PM: Hey A-girl,”
“ 02-07-2019 1:06PM: Hey D-man,” she replied. He was the top defenseman for the championship GHTL club. She’d given him the nickname when they first met. The play on his first name and position stuck, and she was suddenly “in.”
“ 02-07-2019 1:06PM: Gonna make it over later?”
“ 02-07-2019 1:06PM: Nah, I’m going to be away for the summer. I have to stay with my uncle while my mom’s away.”
“ 02-07-2019 1:06PM: Where?”
“ 02-07-2019 1:06PM: Just this side of the middle of no-where.”
“ 02-07-2019 1:06PM: Is it my fault?” he replied.
“ 02-07-2019 1:06PM: It’s whoever called the cops fault.”
“ 02-07-2019 1:06PM: You shouldn’t be taking all the heat. I can tell them I was there too.”
“ 02-07-2019 1:06PM: You can’t. It’ll ruin your career. You’ll never get to Junior and the NHL.”
“ 02-07-2019 1:06PM: What about you?”
“ 02-07-2019 1:06PM: Me…I’m just a nobody. No one will care.”
“ 02-07-2019 1:06PM: You’re not a nobody.” He added a winky emoji.
She sent back a smile. There was a moment when she felt she should have said more. The awkwardness she felt pressed down on her and her stomach turned.
Devon changed the subject. “ 02-07-2019 1:07PM: It won’t be so bad. You’ll at least have some free time. My dad got me a personal trainer and an agent. I’m gonna be on the ice all summer. Mostly at tournaments and stuff.”
“ 02-07-2019 1:07PM: An agent?”
“ 02-07-2019 1:07PM: Claire’s dad set it up.”
Claire. Amanda gritted her teeth. She was from a private school and had glommed onto Devon right after the article about him being a rising star certain to make the NHL appeared in the paper. She was pretty and rich but worst of all she already had the body of a woman. At sixteen, she looked eighteen and made sure everyone noticed. Amanda looked over at her mother. She had the compact, fit body of a gymnast and Amanda knew she’d never look like Claire.
“ 02-07-2019 1:07PM: Wasn’t that nice of her.”
“ 02-07-2019 1:07PM: Ya, it’s all coming on me so fast. I wish you were around to talk to.”
“ 02-07-2019 1:07PM: Can’t you talk to your girlfriend?”
“ 02-07-2019 1:07PM: It’s not the same. She’s totally into it. She really loves being around when the reporters talk to me after games.”
“ 02-07-2019 1:07PM: I’m sure she gives you good advice.”
“ 02-07-2019 1:07PM: On what to wear. Ya. But on what to do. LOL”
“ 02-07-2019 1:08PM: Were you looking for advice?”
“ 02-07-2019 1:08PM: Ya but not over IM. My agent says to keep everything I do online casual. Nothing that might come back at me.”
“ 02-07-2019 1:08PM: My mom says the same thing. Once you put something out there, it only comes back to bite you on the ass.”
“ 02-07-2019 1:08PM: I’d bite you on the ass.”
Amanda froze. Did he just flirt? She took a deep breath and paused to think.
“ 02-07-2019 1:09PM: Not much meat on my bony butt. LOL”
“ 02-07-2019 1:09PM: Your butt is perfect.”
“ 02-07-2019 1:09PM: Ha. You’d better listen to what your agent says. Besides, I’m not having a conversation about my butt with my mom sitting next to me while I’m on her phone.”
“ 02-07-2019 1:09PM: Ya, see…good advice. Too bad you’re gonna be away all summer.”
“ 02-07-2019 1:10PM: We can chat. Maybe I’ll get paroled for a weekend.”
“ 02-07-2019 1:10PM: Here’s to parole. GTG. Claire’s here and her brother is taking me to work-out.”
“ 02-07-2019 1:10PM: Sure, TTYL.” As an afterthought, she added a winky emoji.
He replied with a devil.
She plopped the phone down into the console. Amanda thought further about a summer on the farm that had so many memories. She hadn’t been there in so long and the thought of returning made her anxious.
“Why can’t we come with you like last summer in North Dakota?” asked Amanda.
El rolled her eyes and shot her daughter a dark stare, practically bumping into the red Ford Focus in front of them. “Ya, good idea. Because that little adventure turned out so well.”
“Is dad gonna be there?”
El didn’t answer for a moment. She pressed her lips together tightly.
“We should be getting close,” she said.
Amanda grabbed her map.
“Mom, there’s the exit,” said Amanda as she peered through the dirty, cracked windshield.
They left the congestion of the crowded highway. and the car sped up as they traveled along the tree-lined regional road. Amanda opened all the vents in an attempt to cool the interior of the car. They drove on for less than an hour passing smaller and smaller towns until they passed a sign for Greenvale.
“Are you sure?” asked El when they missed a crossroads where she would have turned off.
“Mom. You made me do this, so just let me try. I won’t learn if you keep helping.”
“OK. OK. It’s just that…”
“Mom, I’ll get us there. Trust me,” snapped Amanda.
Amanda looked over at her mother. She was smiling. It was her proud smile.
Satisfied, and buoyed with a little more confidence and with only a few wrong turns, Amanda directed them through the little side roads until they reached an overgrown lane just after a large red barrel.
“I can’t believe you grew up here,” said Amanda.
“Me neither,” replied El.
They reached the end of the long dusty track and drove through an immaculately painted gate up an uneven gravel drive. Amanda sighed as the green and white clapboard house with the familiar wrap-around porch came into view. A tingle, like the feeling you get when you go too high on a swing, made her shiver as she stared up at the two large dormers that stared out over them like wise, ever-watchful eyes.
As the car approached the house, the front door opened and for the briefest of moments Amanda thought it was her deceased grandfather. She hadn’t seen her Uncle Everett in
years but his resemblance to her grandfather
was remarkable. Like his father, he was a giant of a man well over six and a half
feet tall with the thick sturdy frame and barrel chest of a farmer. Unlike Papa, who had always kept his hair cut short, Uncle
Everett had long black hair that hung loosely down to his shoulders. Ink, covered both arms with vibrant colors and patterns. He would have been imposing if it weren’t for the huge boyish grin that spread across his face as he trotted across the yard towards them.
He made a funny face at the squeaking brakes when the car came to a stop. A large blue merle Australian Shepherd scrambled out through the door behind him and dashed playfully over to greet the visitors as they emerged from the tin sweat box that continued to grunt and groan even after coming to rest.
“That car hasn’t died yet?” he chuckled to his little sister as she emerged from the hot vehicle.
“Shhh…don’t offend her,” she replied light-heartedly. “Girls, you remember your uncle,” said El.
Amanda just looked at her feet shyly, and Sarah hid behind her mother.
“I can’t see that they would. Amanda was no more than seven and Sarah was just walking the last time I saw them,” he said to relieve their need to pretend that they remembered him. “You’d be fifteen now, wouldn’t you? Sixteen in September,” he said.
His comment caught her off guard, and she blushed at the idea that someone other than her mom remembered her birthday. With a wide, warm grin on his face, he looked at Sarah as she peeked around from behind El. “My goodness. You look just like your mother did at your age. Except you might be a bit prettier,” he said to Sarah. The edges of her mouth turned up into an embarrassed smile.
“Let me get the bags,” said El. “I need to get going.”
“I’ll get the bags,” said Everett. “You can show the girls to their rooms. There’s still bunk beds in Amanda’s old room if they’d prefer to stay together. When you’re done, there are popsicles in the freezer. We can have a little visit before you rush off. Trevor, go help,” he said to the eager bob-tailed dog.
She started to object.
“But mom,” said Sara. “Stay for a bit,” she pleaded.
Amanda raised her eyebrows hopefully.
“Ok,” El relented. “Just for a bit. I don’t want to drive at night.”
Amanda trudged through the worn doorway into the house that she hadn’t been to since her grandparents had died. They’d passed away without warning, one after the other. She recalled fishing with Papa that summer and then coming up that fall for his funeral and then Nana’s the following spring. The familiar smells of aged wood and freshly washed linens washed over her like memories when she stepped into the room with the old bunk beds and a view overlooking the orchard.
There was a framed picture of her with her mother and baby sister beside a bushel basket full of apples from that last summer. She remembered Papa taking it.
“Sarah was so small,” she thought as she fondly caressed the worn frame with bits of macaroni glued around the edges. She rubbed her finger across a bare spot where a mouse had nibbled away one of the corners. It was the summer that dad went away and didn’t come back. Without warning, the memories came flooding back, and she felt guilty that this house was the only place that had ever felt like home.
Everett dropped the bags on the floor. “You can get settled later. You look like you’re practically melting.” He flipped a switch, and the window AC started filling the room with cold air.
“Do you know how much electricity that uses?” complained El.
“To the penny. But you can suffer in the heat while you save the world another day,” said Everett.
-----
They had iced tea and cookies instead of popsicles and when they had finished El announced that she had to go. Everett
knew how much she hated being there since their mum and dad had died. She’d often told him she’d visit more if he lived somewhere else.
“Sure,” he said. “I’ve got to get supper on. I’ll leave you to say your goodbyes.” He hugged his sister and left for the kitchen as the girls trooped out to the car.
Sarah was trying to hold back tears, and Amanda held her hand as El got in the car. There was a grinding noise when the engine turned over. It became softer and softer as she tried to start the motor until there were only clicks and then nothing. El opened the door and slammed it. “Everett! Did you do something?” she called out.
“Of course not!” he barked back out the open kitchen window. “It’s an old car, and the battery’s probably dead. I’ll call Jack and get him to come over. Now you just come on in the house and help me make dinner.”
She picked up her cell and tried to dial. Frustrated, she shouted back to her brother. “I need to make some calls. Can I use your phone? Gawd, how can you live somewhere without proper cell coverage?”
“Spoken like a city girl. You know where it is,” he laughed. “Girls, please come help me make dinner.”
Amanda skulked into the large country kitchen with Sarah on her heels. There were assorted vegetables, potatoes and a plump naked chicken on the old oak table where she used to make cookies with Nana.
“You peel,” he said to Sarah.
“You chop,” he said to Amanda.
“I don’t know how to peel,” said Sarah meekly.
“This is your lucky day. Peeling lessons are in session.” He dragged over a wooden soda bottle crate and flipped it over. Sarah stepped up on it and Everett handed her the spare peeler. “Like this.”
He showed her the long deliberate stroke his mother had shown him when he’d been the same age. Amanda warmly remembered her peeling lessons with Nana from those summers’ past.
They could hear El from the tiny out cove off of the hallway.
“I’ll get there as soon as I can.”
A pause.
“I didn’t get your check either,” she complained.
Another pause.
“Well, what I’m I supposed to eat? I’ve barely got enough for gas!” she said.
“You’d better have money for me when you see me!” They heard her huff and then they heard the sound of her slamming down the receiver.
The three chefs looked around at each other and said nothing as El joined them in the kitchen. She picked up a bean and nibbled it nervously. “Can I grab a shower?” she asked.
“Y’don’t need to ask me. This is still your home,” said Everett.
“Not since you bought my half from me, it isn’t,” she said defensively.
“It’s only money. This’ll always be your home,” he replied without looking up from preparing dinner.
She smiled weakly and left them to finish cooking.
“Ok. Now the chicken goes in the pot, and the vegetables go all around it. A cup of water to keep it moist. Spicy or chickeny?” he asked.
“Spicy,” laughed Sarah.
“Spicy it is.” Everett sprinkled some red powders from various jars over the chicken, covered the pot and put it in the oven to roast.
They were eating supper when Jack from Jack’s Auto Repair called.
“He’ll come get your car in the morning,” said Everett as he rejoined them at the table.
“I can’t stay all night,” complained El.
“Do you have another plan?” he replied.
There was a moment of silence. “Girls. Grab yourselves some popsicles and go play. I need to speak with your uncle,” said El.
Amanda and Sarah were sitting on an old wooden swing listening as the adults talked.
“Why in the world are you always in such a rush whenever that man calls?” demanded Everett.
“It’s different this time, he needs me.”
“He always needs you. And then he’s gone. Do the girls know where you’re going?” he asked.
“Just that there is a fracking well being built where it shouldn’t be and they need me to document the protest.”
“Are you getting paid?”
Silence.
Day Two at the Farm
Amanda woke to the familiar squelch of the Subaru’s steering. She looked out the window just in time to see the taillights disappear down the gravel drive.
“She didn’t even say goodbye,” she thought to herself.
She climbed into the lower bunk with her sister and cried herself back to sleep.
“Girls! Breakfast!” called El from downstairs.
Surprised, she scrambled out of bed and down the stairs to the kitchen. El's T-shirt, from the U2’s Unforgettable Fire tour, hung to her knees as she sipped coffee with one hand and poured batter into a hot pan on the stove with the other.
“Pancakes!” squealed Sarah excitedly.
Amanda poured herself some coffee and kissed her mom on the cheek.
Taken aback by the affection from her normally aloof teenaged daughter. “What’s that for?” said El.
“Nothin’,” she shrugged.
Sipping her coffee, she slouched in a worn wooden chair as her mother put a plate of pancakes on the table in front of her. The sound of a car on gravel was followed by the sound of the wooden screen door opening and closing. Trevor barked twice, and Everett followed him into the kitchen. He set down a bag from the local electronics store and another bag of groceries on a bench by the door. He poured himself some coffee and thanked El for the stack of pancakes with the side of bacon.
“What time is Jack coming?” asked El. She was trying to be nonchalant but failing miserably.
“That was just him. He just dropped me off. He’ll bring your car around when he’s done with it,” said Everett.
“I see. And how did you get my car started?”
“Magic, I guess.”
“Damn you, Everett. I know you did something to my car,” she snapped.
“Just calm down, of course, I didn’t. But I’m glad I got the urge to try it this morning. Jack was surprised you hadn’t killed yourself in that death trap,” he snapped back.
“I can’t afford those repairs. I know what they cost.”
“Well you can’t afford not to do those repairs,” he argued.
Amanda Applewood and the Return of the False King: An Everworld Book Page 3
