by Amy DeMeritt
“Remember those two months I took off from dancing my second year of college to ‘find myself’?” I nod and she laughs. “Yeah, I wasn’t finding myself. I was healing. I asked Mom and Dad not to tell you. I wanted to tell you when I thought the time was right.”
She starts to unbuckle her belt and I recoil and hold my hands up.
“What are you doing? I don’t want to see your junk.” Sara laughs and shakes her head. “Shut up, Kayla. I’m not showing you my happy town. I’m showing you a scar.”
She pulls her pants down some to show us a two-inch jagged scar on the inside of her left thigh, only a couple inches from her “happy town”. She quickly pulls her pants back up and corrects her clothes and sits down.
“So, the back story. I went dancing with some friends from school and the later it got, the more crowded the dance floor became, and we couldn’t really dance in a group anymore. We had to dance couple style and move in closer together. We had an odd number in our group, so we rotated partners around so one person wouldn’t feel left out. Well, this really beautiful girl tried moving through our group during one of our switch ups, and somehow, she ended up in my arms and dancing on me.” I laugh hard. “Yeah, she just somehow ended up in your arms.” My girls laugh and Sara grins in a cocky way and licks her lips and shrugs a shoulder. “Well, you know, it was crowded. It was a perfectly innocent accident.”
We laugh and she smiles and shakes her head.
“Ok, so anyway. After dancing for a while, several drinks, and talking some, she started becoming very handsy and started kissing on me. We dated for a couple weeks after that. She was a local, so when I saw her, we usually went to her apartment that she shared with her brother. First and last time I met her brother, he walked in on us about to go to happy town. He pulled a knife on me and lunged for my groin. I was barely able to react in time to divert the knife into my thigh instead.”
“Holy shit.” Sara nods and looks down at her hands a moment. “I ended up falling backwards into her dresser and he lunged for me again. But since I knew it was coming, I was able to dodge him and smash his head down onto the top of the dresser, knocking him out. I was bleeding so much that I almost passed out before the paramedics were able to get me to the hospital.”
“Did you see her after that?” Sara shakes her head. “The girl went ghost the instant I was wheeled out of there. She changed her number, so I took the hint and never tried to see her again. Look, there’s some really fucked up people out there that just really hate us and you never know what’s going to happen. Just be on your guard.”
“Yeah, I know. I’ve been meeting a lot of those lately.”
“What do you mean?”
I shrug my shoulder, but don’t answer. Sara looks between my girls and Shannon clears her throat and looks at me a moment. I don’t say anything, so Shannon tells her the story about the woman in the grocery store.
“Damn, baby sister. Life is giving you a heavy dose of reality all at once since you left home. It’s not always like this, though. Stay confident in who you are and surround yourself with people that accept and support you for who you are, and life is easier. You need to surround yourself with people in your own community. Having friends that can relate to what you go through makes the prejudices less painful.”
She stands up and pushes the chair under my desk. She smiles and jerks her thumb in an upward motion.
“Let’s go. I bought pie.”
Chapter Five
My parents are sitting at the dining room table talking and laughing while drinking tea together. It makes me smile to see them so happy and in love. They look up and smile really big when they see all of us come into the room.
“Hey, girls. Do you want some tea?”
“And pie.” My mom laughs and stands up. “Sara, you know Talia will be very mad at you for not waiting for her if you eat that pie right now.”
“Ok, fine. Just tea then.”
My mom is amazing at making tea. She has a large apothecary cabinet in the kitchen with drawers full of different dried ingredients ranging from different tea leaves, dried fruit bits, dried flowers, tree barks, and a large variety of other herbal ingredients.
“Come here. You all have to watch this. Mom is a certified herbalist and recognized in the Cherokee Nation as a real medicine woman. She makes the most amazing tea blends.”
I pull all of my girls over to the counter to watch my mom and they smile with interest. Sam has seen my mom in action with her herbs many times, but it always intrigues her.
My mom smiles and starts pulling several different drawers out of her apothecary cabinet and lining them up on the counter. Each drawer has a tightly sealed glass jar full of her little bits of magic that she’ll blend together into a delicious tonic. While the tea kettle heats on the stove, we watch my mom measure and blend all of the ingredients in a small wooden bowl, then pour them into a long cloth pouch. She ties the pouch and adds it to a glass pitcher. After the water is heated, my mom pours the water over the giant tea bag.
“Ok, girls, that needs to brew for a few minutes.”
After my mom replaces all the drawers of tea ingredients, she turns to the fridge and opens the freezer. She pulls out a small ice pack, wraps a cloth rag around it, and holds it out to me.
“Ice your face. Your bruise is getting worse. I’ll be right back.”
I take the ice pack and we sit down around the table with my dad. My dad takes a sip of his tea and looks around the table with a small smile before looking at me.
“Your mother and I have a special dinner planned for tonight. Will the whole family be together tonight?” I smile and look between my girls. Sam nods and Madison also nods. “Looks like it. What are we having?”
“Fire roasted beef tenderloin, fire bread, roasted veggies, and spiced apples.”
“Oh man. That sounds amazing. Hey, did you make some liquid happiness?” My dad laughs and nods. “There’s three big jugs of cider in the fridge.”
“Kayla, let me see your face.” My mom is back with a cobalt blue glass bottle and a giant cotton ball. I pull the ice off my cheek and turn my face towards her. She carefully applies a cool clear liquid to the bruise that smells strong of lavender and licorice with a hint of fresh pine. “Ok, put the ice back on. We’ll put more of this on in a couple hours. It should help with the pain and lessen the bruising.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
“You’re welcome, sweetie. I’ll get your tea now.”
She kisses my forehead and goes back behind the counter to make each of us a cup of tea. Each of my girls look at me with a cute smile, before they look back to watch my mom in the kitchen. She carefully carries in a tray with five steaming mugs full of a ruby red elixir. We each take a sip and release moans of appreciation. The flavor is amazing, as usual. Its herby and fruity with just a hint of sweetness. Its light and smooth, but also very complex.
“Wow, this is delicious. Thank you.” My mom smiles at Shannon and nods as she takes a sip of her own tea before answering. “You’re welcome. Kayla tells me that you’re an amazing cook.” Shannon smiles and her cheeks blush. “I do ok. I don’t know if I would say I’m amazing.”
“Yes, you are.” Shannon looks at Madison and blushes a deeper red. “Thanks.”
“Well, we have a big dinner to prepare tonight. Maybe you can help Kent and I in the kitchen?” Shannon’s eyes mist up with emotion and she vigorously nods. “Yes, of course.”
“Wonderful. Sara, you and Kayla should get the fire pit going after you finish your tea.”
Sara and I smile at each other and start drinking our tea in gulps, making our parents laugh. We scoot our chairs back and after placing our mugs by the sink, we grab matches and lighters. With our hands loaded with fire starters, we look at the table with big grins and everyone laughs at us.
“Come on. We’re going to play with fire.”
My girls laugh and they stand up with our parents to follow us outside. In the backyard, we have a giant fire pit tha
t’s almost five feet long and three feet wide. Sara and I helped our dad make it several years ago. It’s made out of bricks with a large grill grate and rotisserie over top.
Sara and I make a bit of a show out of starting the fire. The first time we did it, we thought our parents were going to freak out, but they actually loved it and encourage it every time we build a fire in the pit.
We grab two wooden poles out of the shed that we use to prod the fire with and use to do our little show and get to work building the base of the fire in the center of the pit. We stack small twigs, logs, and dried out pine needles. We have a stack of logs ready to build overtop once our little kindling tipi is lit.
“Kayla!”
I look up and smile really big. My seven-year-old brother is running towards me with a giant smile on his face. I drop my supplies and run across the lawn, scooping up my baby brother. I spin him around and he laughs and squirms in my arms. I stop and he takes my face in his hands and then frowns.
“Your face is dirty.” I laugh and shake my head. “It’s a bruise.”
“That’s a big bruise.” He kisses my cheek and I laugh and ruffle his hair. “I like the Mohawk, buddy. Is that the surprise you have for me?” He giggles and shakes his head. “No.” He looks over my shoulder and bounces in my arms. “Are you fire dancing?” I laugh and kiss his forehead. “We are.”
He squirms in my arms to get down, so I let him down and he runs after Sara. I look back towards the driveway and Talia is standing with her arms crossed leaning against the house.
I place my hands on my hips and face off with my fifteen-year-old sister. She smiles and takes one step closer to me. I smile and take two steps towards her. Her grin widens and she takes another step closer. I laugh and start walking towards her. I open my arms when I’m a foot from her, but she laughs and ducks below my arms and jogs several paces away from me.
“You’ll have to catch me if you want a hug.” I smile and quickly pull my hair up into a ponytail. “Ok, baby sister. I’ll give you a five second head start.”
She smiles and takes off running across the lawn. Talia is in track and is very fast, but she’s never been able to outrun me or Sara. She’s clear across the lawn, passed the rest of our family and my girls, and passed my mom’s giant garden, before I take off after her. I’ve been running so much lately that it feels effortless to catch up to her. I’m within ten yards of her when she looks over her shoulder and laughs. She dodges right and hurdles over the four-foot-tall wood pile next to the shed. I laugh as she stumbles a little on her landing. I follow and jump high, tucking both knees up to my chest, landing easily and closing a few more yards pretty quickly.
“Damn.”
Talia laughs and turns again. She hurdles over my mom’s garden fence, into the garden and then out of the garden. I laugh and follow, even though I know I’d catch her faster by skirting around the edge of the fence. She steps up on the wooden picnic table and jumps off. I whistle at her and she circles around to watch me follow. I leap up on to the bench, and as I jump off, I tuck and flip twice in the air, landing easily and I dart after her. She laughs and regains her pace, shouting, “show off”, over her shoulder. She turns back towards the shed, running straight at it. What the heck is she doing?
There’s a wooden pallet leaning against the shed like a ramp that she runs up and freezes at the roofs edge. She tilts backwards, stiff like a board. Oh shit! I quickly step up the first rung of the pallet and she lands hard in my arms. Her weight is too much for me to hold, so we tumble down to the ground with her in my arms. We’re laying side by side, panting for air and laughing.
Within moments, we’re surrounded by everyone looking down at us with looks of pure shock and worry.
“Talia, you are nuts. When you said that I had to catch you to get a hug, I didn’t think you were going to leap off a roof.” She laughs hard and sits up. “I thought of it in the moment. I knew you wouldn’t let me fall.”
She holds her hands out to me and pulls me up off the ground, before roughly pulling me into a tight hug. She squeezes me a little too tightly, and it makes me groan and push back.
“Too much, Talia. My ribs still aren’t one hundred percent yet.” She quickly releases me and frowns. “Sorry. Did I hurt you by landing in your arms like that?” I smile and shake my head, pulling her back into another hug. “No. I missed you, you little lunatic.”
“Of course, you missed me – I’m awesome. So, are these all your girlfriends?” She cheeses really big and looks at my girls. I smile and turn to look at all of them. “Yeah, you already know Sam. This is Madison, and this is Shannon.” They say hello and she giggles and leans in to whisper in my ear, “They’re really pretty.” I laugh and ruffle her hair like Sara and my dad do to me all the time. “I know.”
We walk back over to the fire pit and my dad puts on a good Cherokee tribal dance song on his phone and then they step back, giving us plenty of space. I look at my girls and they’re watching with intrigued smiles.
“Ready?”
I nod at Sara and she lights the small tipi of kindling in the fire pit. We place two very dry logs overtop and dip one end of our poles into the fire, turning them into long torches.
We face off and feel the beats of the heavy animal hide drums and tap our torches on the ground in unison a few times. We turn our backs to each other, repeat the same number of taps with our torches, and then take several steps away from each other. We turn again to face each other and then start to mirror each other in a dance technique we created that blends traditional Cherokee stomp dance moves and more modern dance styles. While we dance, we twist and twirl the torches like martial artists. When we need to prod the fire to keep the flames high, it’s a quick stab as we turn and thrust into a new series of moves.
By the time the song is over, we’ve slowly built the fire up to a roaring bonfire by adding logs between our blended dance moves.
The family and my girls applaud us, and Sara and I laugh and take a bow before snuffing out the ends of our poles in the dirt around the fire pit.
“Wow, that was really amazing. Have you ever performed that anywhere before?” I smile and kiss Madison on the cheek. “No, we just made it up goofing off one day when Dad asked us to build the fire.”
I notice her shiver and look at Shannon and Sam. They have their arms tightly looped together and are shivering too. It’s probably only sixty degrees out and none of us are wearing jackets, just long sleeves.
“Come on. Let’s get some jackets on all of you. You’re all freezing.”
They smile and nod as we turn back to the house. Joey jumps down out of my mom’s arms and stands in front of me with his arms out.
“Wait! Can I help you with the fire?” I smile and scoop him up and keep walking. “Sure. Do I get my surprise now?” He smiles and shakes his head. “Later.”
“What if I want it now?”
“It’s a magic spell. I can’t give it to you yet.”
“Ok, fine. I’ll wait.”
We walk in the house and I set Joey down and we head to my bedroom to get our jackets out of our bags. Sam actually arrived in town several hours before us, so she doesn’t have her bag here and she didn’t wear a jacket. I open my closet and pull out a heavy black and gray stripped hoodie for myself and pull out a jacket for her to wear. She holds out her hand for it, but I hold it open to put it on for her. She smiles and turns so I can zip it. When she’s bundled, I wrap my arms around her and kiss her lips.
“Better?” She smiles and squeezes me. “Much. Thank you.” I open one arm and invite Madison and Shannon into the hug with us. They smile and come snuggle in close. “I love my babies. Sorry you were cold out there.” They kiss my cheek and smile. Shannon is first to speak. “It was worth it. Watching you with your family and doing that fire dance was beautiful. Your sister is a little dare devil. She didn’t even look back to see if you were close enough to catch her.”
“Yeah, Talia is nuts sometimes. She thinks you
’re all really pretty though.”
They smile and give me another soft kiss on the cheek, before we disentangle to go back outside. My parents are in the kitchen pulling food out of the fridge and cupboard to start dinner preparations. Shannon stops and hesitates in a nervous way. My mom notices and smiles.
“You can go play with the fire with the others if you want. We can cook together another night.”
Shannon shakes her head and starts pulling her jacket off. She hangs her jacket on the back of a chair and rolls her sleeves up. She starts to walk towards the kitchen, but I catch her hand and pull her back. She smiles and blushes as I lean in and kiss her on the lips for a moment.
I whisper in her ear, “This makes me really happy. Thank you.”
She smiles really big and looks in my eyes for a moment, before giving me a soft kiss on the lips. I glance back at my parents and they’re watching with small smiles on their faces. I release Shannon’s hand and she moves towards the kitchen, while the rest of us go back outside.
Sara, Talia, and Joey are already out around the fire pit with chairs setup around it. Joey is sitting in Sara’s lap talking a mile a minute about something and Talia is poking one of our long poles into the fire from her chair. Talia looks up at Sam and smiles.
“I knew you couldn’t stay gone. Why the hell did you dump Kayla?” Sam laughs a little and looks down. “It’s complicated.”
“I have a 4.0 GPA and I’m taking college credits a year earlier than is typically allowed. I think I can follow.” Sam quirks her eyebrows at her and smiles. “The heart isn’t as easily understood as science and math is.” Talia smiles in a challenging way and turns to face her full on. “Or, its simpler and you overcomplicated it by not being willing to accept the simple truth. You added variables to the equation that didn’t fit and then wondered why you couldn’t solve for X.”
“Ok, Brainiac, if you’re so smart, you tell me why I did what I did.”
“Fear.”
Talia says it in a matter of fact way and sits back in her chair as if she just solved some huge mystery that no one else in the world has been able to find the answer to.
