Snapdragon Book I: My Enemy

by Brandon Berntson

“Hey, we can’t keep you locked in this dungeon forever,” Masie said.

  Seth nodded. “Okay,” he said.

  “Cool. Jeanie will be here to pick us up after dinner.” Masie patted him on the head, made her fingers into a pistol, and cocked her thumb. “Should clean up this room,” she said, eyeing the mess on her way to the door. She closed it behind her.

  Seth’s heart revved thinking about an evening out with his sister and her friends. Nothing ever happened, of course, but Jeanie had a way of making him dizzy with excitement whenever she was around. She didn’t torture him, but there was something to be said about the most beautiful girl in Ellishome treating him like royalty.

  Seth looked out the window, all thoughts of Jeanie washing away with the threat outside. He wondered what was in the meadow, and if he could really trust it…

  Like a friend.

  iii

  “How many stars do you see?”

  Earlier that summer, Masie and Seth lied on their backs in the meadow, gazing up at the night sky. Masie often felt spirited, and she’d grab Seth’s hand, pulling him out the back door, and into the meadow just as the first stars began to appear. Then they’d plop onto their backs and gaze at the heavens.

  Green stars twinkled in a black bowl above their heads. It was a crisp, warm night, the ground cushioned by the mountain brome.

  Seth thought about Masie’s question: Millions? Billions? More?

  Dark blue threads wove throughout the sky. The Milky Way was a vast stretch of nebulous light. Seth felt like a speck of sand looking at it.

  A shooting star appeared, traveled a short way, then winked out of sight.

  What would the color be without the stars, he wondered? Would it be pitch black? Like a cauldron?

  “You can’t count them,” he answered.

  “Mmm,” Masie said.

  They spoke in whispers, awed by the timeless mystery of the universe.

  “Do you think God’s up there, Seth?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess so.”

  He thought about God sometimes, but only seldom. The Auburn’s were not a religious family. Seth didn’t always understand Masie’s love for God when she didn’t read the Bible or go to church; it was just the way she was, he supposed.

  Seth was surprised how much he treasured these moments, and he liked it when she talked this way about God.

  “I think about flying,” Masie said, smiling broadly. “With butterfly wings, you know? Soaring as high as I can go, anywhere I can find Him, wrapping my arms around Him, telling Him how thankful I am. This whole world. Wow! Under us and above us. Everything we need. Everything and more. Do you believe that, Seth? That we don’t understand and don’t know what we really have? We could build castles in the sky, find Atlantis, touch the face of God, if only we knew how. Just because we don’t have wings, doesn’t mean we don’t know how to fly.”

  Masie didn’t talk this way around her friends, Seth noticed, but he never questioned the things she told him. She wanted him to think about the deeper mysteries, he supposed. He had an important role to play in the vast, star-filled universe. She was only reminding him.

  “He wants us to find Him. That’s the challenge, I think.” Her voice quieted, soft and reverent. “It’s not about worldly possessions or big, fancy cars. I think we have it inside. We have to recognize it. God lives inside of us. Right here.” Masie tapped her chest. “He is beautiful, all the good thoughts, all the good feelings. If we pay attention and respond the way He wants, I think we’ll find out what it truly means to be alive…to be human.”

  “Like now,” he said.

  Seth was amid the stars, spiraling through them. Light coalesced between his fingers and toes, his eyelids. His ears, for a moment, turned superhuman. He could hear every sound, the deeper intonations of the wind moving through every leaf, bending every blade of grass. The hum of traffic on Main Street two miles away was audible. He heard Masie breathing softly.

  Masie told him he was big enough for the universe. What he felt and thought made a difference, what he believed. What he believed, in fact, was more important than anything. He was important. The meadow was small, the lofty crags in the distance, but Seth was bigger than the meadow and the mountains combined.

  “We’re lucky, Seth. If you never forget anything, make it that. We’re very lucky. See how important your place is. How important you are. Okay?

  “Okay,” he said.

  “And that your big sister loves you. Remember that, too. You are incredibly important and your big sister loves you. Don’t forget. Okay?”

  “Okay,” Seth said.

  iv

  Supper was ready. His mom called from the kitchen. Seth looked one more time out the window. Maybe he had imagined a monster out there. It seemed possible.

  I’m not a stranger.

  What did that mean?

  Trying to forget it, Seth’s belly rumbled at the thought of tuna casserole.

  v

  “You ready, sport-o?”

  “Yep,” Seth said.

  “We’re outta here, Mom!”

  “Have a good time,” Samantha called from the kitchen.

  Masie and Seth stepped outside into the warm August evening. They met Jeanie and Rheanna in a ’67, midnight blue, Ford Mustang, which was idling in the driveway.

  Jeanie Masterson, for the last year, had saved three-thousand dollars from her job at Movie Max, the DVD store in town. She bought the Mustang in prime condition from Shawnee Kennedy, a widow in her mid-fifties whose only son had been killed in a bar brawl in Las Vegas. Her son, Louis, had flown down on a business trip. After the meeting, he’d stopped at a local bar. He’d tried to intervene between two men—from what Shawnee later learned—was nothing more than a squabble consisting of twenty-five dollars and a Detroit Lions game. Louis had put himself between the two men and been stabbed in the throat.

  Shawnee wanted to hold onto the car, but after two years, it was time to let it go. “He loved that Mustang,” Shawnee told Jeanie. “Loved that car more than anything. I know it’s worth a lot more than I’m asking, too. Probably smack me if he knew how much I was selling it for.” Shawnee liked Jeanie and sold her the car for $2500. Jeanie confessed that buying a car from a dead guy was a little creepy, but was easy enough to forget once you drove it around the block.

  “Bad Medicine” by Bon Jovi was coming from the stereo. Jeanie loved eighties hair bands. Every time Seth drove in the Mustang, it was all he heard.

  “Hey, tiger,” Rheanna said from the passenger seat.

  Both girls were dressed in light, summery clothes: shorts and skimpy tops, revealing plenty of smooth arms and legs. Rheanna was a big-boned, dark-haired girl with fair skin, eyes dark to the point of black. Her hair was the same: thick curls of midnight. She kept it out of her eyes with a headband.

  Seth blushed and hopped into the back after Rheanna pulled the seat forward. Masie followed and Rheanna shut the door.

  “We’re in, troops,” she said.

  Jeanie turned the volume of the stereo down. “Seth, darling!” she said, looking at Seth in the rearview mirror. “How are you, hunkster?”

  Big, brown eyes loomed at Seth under light brown hair with blonde highlights. His heart climbed into his throat. Looking at Jeanie made him lose all sense of time and just about everything else. His mind went blank until:

  I’m fine, oh yes, now that you’re here! Jeanie Masterson, love of my life, you tropical beauty!

  “How many girls you got on the register now, Seth?” Rheanna asked. “You been cheatin’ on me?”

  “Of course, he’s been cheating on you!” Jeanie said. “He’s got me, doesn’t he?”

  Seth and Masie chuckled from the back seat, but he couldn’t help basking in the moment. Not that he had anything against Rheanna, but Jeanie was exciting and dangerous. Her copper skin looked like caramel. He wondered (as inappropriate as it was) if her lips tasted like candy. Seth’s mind flourished with a thousand fantas
ies.

  “What do you guys want to do?” Jeanie asked, backing the Mustang into the street.

  “We could go down to Cinema Three,” Rheanna said. “Steal Lance Hollister away from Amy Newles.”

  “You and Lance Hollister,” Jeanie said. “Have you even talked to Lance Hollister?”

  “Talked to him how?” Rheanna said. “I flaunt it, and he gets distracted. They got in an argument once because I winked at him. Can you believe that?”

  “No guys tonight,” Jeanie said. “We got all the hunk-stuff we need in the back seat. Right, Seth?”

  “I guess so,” Seth said, blushing.

  “Shy, too,” Jeanie said. “Don’t change a thing, buttercup. Girls looove shy guys.” Jeanie looked at Seth in the rearview mirror and flashed him a million-dollar smile. Her eyes were like beacons.

  The windows were down, the warm night air coming in as Jeanie drove through the neighborhood.

  I’m not a stranger…

  Seth turned, looking toward the mountains, wondering what exactly had happened earlier. He tried focusing on his sister and her friends.

  “What do you want to do, Mase?” Jeanie asked.

  “Doesn’t matter to me,” Masie said. “We could get some ice cream, see how fast this bucket of bolts goes down The Cumbersome Stretch.”

  The Cumbersome Stretch was an infinite length of dirt road outside of town. Joseph Walters, a longtime resident had made a casual remark about getting lost on it back in ’73 because it didn’t seem to lead anywhere. By the time he’d come back into town and gotten a beer at Suds, a local bar, a friend had asked him where he’d been. “Out on some goddamn cumbersome stretch of road about a mile outside of town,” he’d said. “Damn thing had no end, no turns, no nothing, and didn’t lead anywhere except deeper into the goddamned meadow. Had to turn around and come all the way back by the time I musta drove twenty miles. Who the hell’s idea was that road anyway?” Everyone in the bar burst out laughing. Other roads had been built since, angling off into other parts of town, the meadow, and beyond, but the Cumbersome Stretch had been christened, along with officially becoming a part of town history.

  “All right,” Jeanie said, nodding.

  “Ice cream sound good to you, Seth?” Masie asked.

  “I could go for some ice cream.”

  “Thought so.”

  They drove through town for a while. Dusk settled. The sky to the west turned a dusty orange/red. The first stars winked to life in the night sky. The streetlights along Main Street shed white cones of illumination along the road. Passersby idled along the sidewalks. They passed Templeton’s Used CD’s & DVD’s, the Movie Max, where Jeanie worked. Argason’s Butcher was up ahead on the right along with the Ellishome Public Library, the local Post Office, E’s Market, and the Ellishome Police Department. In Ellishome, the main drag was Main Street, where every business and shop sat along a two-mile stretch of road.

  The Thirsty Burst appeared at the intersection of Conifer and Main. An ice cream hangout popular with families, junior high, and high school kids, the Thirsty Burst sold ice cream, frozen treats, and beverages in over a dozen different flavors. Selling ice cream, fountain drinks, floats, banana splits, milkshakes, pies, and cakes, it was a dessert lover’s paradise. The Thirsty Burst virtually went out of business during the colder months.

  Jeanie pulled the Mustang into the parking lot next to several other vehicles and shut the engine off. The name of the establishment was written in cursive, eye-catching, neon pink over the entrance. A four-foot, blue neon cup brimming with ice cream, a single chocolate chip cookie, and a curly red straw, centered both words. Seth felt like he’d gone back in time. Where were the ’57 Chevy’s, the polka dot and poodle skirts, the entire cast of Grease?

  They stepped out of the car and shut the doors.

  Rheanna moved her arm out in front of her like a model introducing a popular product. “Here we are, ladies and gentleman,” she said. “America’s favorite ice cream shop. Over thirty flavors of ice cream, forty-four milkshakes, seventeen different cookies, a dozen pies, and nineteen kinds of cake. Paradise for any girl who doesn’t get the sweets she needs at home. The best in all of Ellishome.”

  “That’s because it’s the only ice cream shop in Ellishome, ya dork,” Jeanie said, rolling her eyes. “Ladies and gentleman, you have just witnessed the fat and sugar play-by-play by our native candy lover, Rheanna Goodwine. Say hi to the audience, Rhee.”

  “Hi, everybody,” Rheanna said, waving to an imaginary camera. “You should see all the candy they have in here, too!”

  “Okay, okay,” Jeanie said. “Worse than a kid. Jeez! Let’s go.”

  Seth and Masie looked at each other and shrugged.

  Jeanie held the door open and smiled at Seth as he walked inside. Elvis’s “Return to Sender” came from a jukebox resembling R2-D2 from Star Wars. Red stools lined a polished stainless-steel counter. The floor was a black and white checkerboard. Bright red booths lined the windows, and white, square tables took up the remainder of the floor. To the left of the counter was a large freezer-case holding almost forty flavors of ice cream.

  “What kind are you gonna get, handsome?” Jeanie whispered to Seth.

  A shiver moved down Seth’s spine. Jeanie leaned over and put her hands on her knees. Flowery scents wafted up into his face, and Seth swooned with delight.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “Fudge brownie sounds good.”

  “Mmm,” Jeanie replied, licking her lips.

  Seth looked away, turning bright red. Sometimes, Jeanie took things a little too far.

  “I’m thinking…butterscotch,” she said.

  “What are you gonna get, Mase?” Seth asked.

  Masie put her finger to her lips. “Hmmm. I think I’ll get a big chocolate cone and a huge scoop of baby brother. That way I can just gobble you up and keep you forever. Meep meep.”

  “Hey!” Jeanie exclaimed. “That’s what I want for sure!”

  Seth suddenly moved into a world of embarrassment he didn’t know existed. Rheanna and Jeanie were one thing, but when his sister joined in (even just for fun) he felt naked in a spotlight with a thousand people watching. Still, he was smiling.

  “He’s blushing!” Jeanie said. “Look at that! Holy cow! That’s gotta be the most adorable—”

  “Jeez, can we just get some ice cream already?” Rheanna said, hopping from one foot to the other. “My mouth’s so watery I’m leaving a puddle between my toes.”

  Seth burst out laughing. “That’s gross.”

  “Goodwine comes from a gross tribe,” Jeanie said. “You should see them on date night.”

  “Jeanie!” Rheanna said, smacking her friend on the shoulder.

  Masie and Seth burst out laughing.

  Once the antics subsided, a burly, dark-haired man approached wearing a bright red apron and a plaid shirt. Mitch, his nametag read, owner and proprietor of the Thirsty Burst. “What can I get you kids?” he asked.

  “You go first, Seth,” Masie said.

  Seth eyed the freezer and smiled. “A big scoop of Jeanie Masterson covered in chocolate syrup ought to do it, mister. You can put her in a big waffle cone, too.”

  Masie, Jeanie, and Rheanna’s mouths dropped open. Seth chuckled to himself. Jeanie’s cheeks reddened. Seth looked at his sister and winked. Jeanie Masterson, for the first time that evening, was speechless.

  “Uh,” Mitch said, looking confused. “I don’t think we have that flavor—”

  “I think he means the blushing babe,” Rheanna told Mitch.

  “We have ourselves a sweet talker,” Mitch said, smiling down at Seth.

  “I didn’t know he was that kind of sweet talker,” Jeanie said, turning red in the cheeks.

  “He’s been listening to you too much,” Masie said.

  Seth wasn’t sure where this bout of confidence had come from, and he quickly ordered a fudge brownie ice cream.

  “Fair enough, tiger,” the man said. “And for the
ladies?”

  “Mmm,” Masie said, her finger in her mouth. “I’ll try the daiquiri ice. That sounds good.”

  Mitch nodded. “And for you?” he asked Rheanna.

  “Jamocha ought to do it.”

  “One jamocha.”

  “And a cherry jubilee,” Jeanie said, looking at Seth. She ruffled his hair. “I forgive you, champ.” She knelt down, kissed her finger, and put it on Seth’s cheek as seductively as she could. It made him swallow the lump in his throat. “Now the ball’s in my court.”

  Mitch got the cones ready and dispersed them accordingly, ringing them up by the register. The girls and Seth picked a booth next to the window facing the parking lot. Jeanie sat next to Seth while Masie and Rheanna took the seat opposite. A teenage boy and a girl sat at the counter sharing a monstrous vanilla shake with cookies and chocolate shavings on top. A younger group of kids sat three tables over laughing and carrying on. “Beyond the Sea,” by Bobby Darin came on the jukebox.

  “Here, Seth,” Jeanie said, holding out her ice cream as if it were a microphone. “Have a lick.”

  Seth took a generous lick, tasting cherry jubilee mixed with fudge brownie.

  “Good?”

  He nodded. “Want some of mine?” he asked, handing his to Jeanie.

  “One for one,” she said, and took a bite. “Mmm. Ouch! I think I just froze my teeth.”

  “Everyone gets to sample some of each,” Masie said, hopping up and down in her seat.

  “That’s really disgusting,” Rheanna said. “You could catch something.”

  “Rheanna’s already caught several diseases,” Jeanie said. “In case you haven’t noticed.”

  Rheanna’s mouth dropped open for the second time, revealing a jamocha tongue. Jeanie laughed to herself.

  They passed each other’s cones around, sampling different flavors.

  “Masie got the best one,” Jeanie said. “Ole Mase knows how to pick ’em.”

  “Mmm-mmm,” Masie said, proudly.

  They sat in the Thirsty Burst, enjoying their ice creams, and chatting as customers came and went. The sun dipped below the mountains, the evening darkening to night. Finishing their cones, they stood up to go.