by Ford, S. M.
This was mind boggling, but not surprising at all. Every day I learned more craziness about this family of mine! Just one year ago I would have said my family was totally snooze-worthy. Things had REALLY changed. Just then my cell phone screamed the words to Grace Potter & The Nocturnals song Paris, “If I was from Paris, I’d say Ooh la la lala la la la! Ooh la la lala la la la!” That was the ringtone I had set for Donna, so I answered the phone and just started babbling about what we had discovered that evening. By the time I paused to take a breath I had told Donna everything we had learned. There was a long pause on the other end of the line. “I’m coming on Saturday. We’ll knock this thing out by Sunday, I just know it. Oh, and by the way, I’m coming alone.” I was confused. “Who else would come with you, Donna? What’r you talking about?” Donna’s voice was almost a squeal when she answered. “I GOT MY CAR TODAY! I’m driving MYSELF!” I was so juiced that I couldn’t stop myself from squealing back at her. “You GOT IT?! That’s freakin’ awesome! I’m so jealous! If you weren’t my bestie I’d for SURE hate you!” Rosi reached over and snatched my phone. “Hey sweetie. I miss you. Ya got the car?! I cannot wait to see you this weekend and take a drive! Maybe the beach?!” I snatched my phone back before Donna could even reply. “Um, no, lovers. Sorry, but we are CLOSE to figuring this thing out! The beach has gotta wait. Once we break the curse, you guys can go get sand in your shorts. For real though, Donna, I’m super happy for you! Cannot WAIT to see you and your wheels this weekend. For now, I gotta jam though. We’re on a roll here and I just know we’re about to figure this mess out. Peace!” As I shoved my phone in my back pocket I secretly wished we could just run away to the beach. But time was running out, so I reached for the sticky notes and shoved the gigantic book towards Rosi. “Back into the fray, my dear cuz. Your love life’s gonna hafta wait; unless you want Donna to see you when your Showing, that is.” Rosi buried her face in the monstrous book. “Umm, that’s definitely a ‘no’... let’s do this.”
It took us three more days to make our way through the entire book; by Friday we had crossreferenced Le Persone with the Master File Book and all of the drawers and jars full of fingernails, teeth, hair (and other stuff that we couldn’t even identify!) and had come to the mind numbing conclusion that there was no way to break the curse. We had an artifact from every one of the hundreds of family members, except one. Pellegrino. He must have left just after his fifteenth birthday, but before he made a contribution to the family archive. Rosi and I looked at each other with tears in our eyes. “We failed. And we’re screwed. If we’re gonna hafta live the rest of our lives never knowing when we’re gonna Show, we may as well have some freakin’ fun before sh*t gets real.” Rosi nodded and ran the back of her hand across her eyes. “Hell ya, cuz. Beach tomorrow?” I sniffed and wiped my nose on my tee shirt. “For sure. I’m already there in my head, cuz.”
Chapter 14
WEEKEND GETAWAY
As I descended the stairs Saturday morning the smells of breakfast cooking wafted upwards. Mom and Dad must be up and around again, I thought. No need to tell them we had failed yet. Mom would probably want to brainstorm with us and spend the day with our noses buried in the curse. Not today. Donna would be here any minute, and Rosi was already walking over from her house. We were going to spend today just feeling good. The beach, bikinis, the boardwalk, burgers and boys. The five B’s! That was all I needed today. No more books and papers and old toenails and teeth. So I smiled as I rounded the corner into the kitchen. “Hey Mom! Hi Dad! You guys are feeling alright now?” Dad looked up from his newspaper. “Hey Muffin! Yup, it’s our first day out of bed all week. I must say, it feels good to be up and around! How’s your studies going? You and Rosi make much progress?” I slid into a chair and scooted noisily up to the table. “Well, we worked really hard, Dad. Rosi and I spent all four days in my room, reading and making charts and stuff. But ... we just didn’t find anything yet. Donna’s coming down today and she’s gonna look at everything with fresh eyes. You know, like maybe a new perspective will help us see something we missed?” Mom was at the stove making omelettes. With lobster, I was guessing. She turned and gave me a big smile. “Don’t worry honey. I have faith in you girls. Your a bright bunch... probably brighter and more dedicated than any of us that have tried to figure out the curse. Just hang in there and don’t get discouraged.” I grabbed a chocolate bar and a bag of cashews from the big bowl in the center of the table and headed for the door. (More Melanin supplementation!) “Thanks guys. I.. I really appreciate your faith in us. I just hope we don’t disappoint you.” As the screen door closed behind me Mom and Dad’s words echoed in my head. They didn’t know it yet, but we had already failed.
I had asked Donna to pick Rosi and me up down the street, away from the front of our house and out of Mom and Dad’s line of sight from the kitchen windows. The last thing we needed was for them to get all preachy about Donna being a new driver, or why we weren’t studying that blasted curse. When I arrived at the spot where we were to meet, Rosi was already there, warming her hands on a huge cup of coffee. “Morning Cal. Check it out!” Rosi pulled up her tee shirt, showing off a black flowered bikini top. “Cute Rosi! I’m ready too!” I pulled up my tee shirt and revealed my bright coral tankini. If I was from Paris, I’d say Ooh la la lala la la la! Ooh la la lala la la la! My cell phone was buried deep in my bag; it sounded like a mini Grace Potter and her mini Nocturnals were hiding in my backpack. By the time I dug it out, I’d missed Donna’s call. I hit ‘call back’ and when Donna answered she sounded like she had just run a mile. “Ohmygod Cal! I’m freaking out! I hit the tree! Ohmygod, I hit the freakin’ tree and I think I dented my bumper! My Dad’s NEVER gonna let me drive again!” Crap. My stomach lurched and I thought I might puke the chocolate bar. “Where are you, Donna? Are you okay? Did you get hurt? Is anybody else hurt?!” Rosi’s eyes got huge and she leaned in to hear. “I’m okay ... nobody else was involved. I almost missed the turn onto your street. It’s so small and I could barely see it because of that huge ass tree on the corner! I... I hit it. Your family tree. I’m really sorry Cal. Where are you guys? Can you meet me down here?” Before I could even answer, Rosi threw her backpack over one shoulder, tossed the coffee cup in a bush, and started jogging down the road. When we got to the tree Donna was still sitting in the driver’s seat of the little yellow coupe, her mascara running down her cheeks like a creepy clown. After exchanging hugs (and wiping her cheeks off) I asked Donna to slowly back the car up so we could check the damage to her bumper. As she reversed and pulled carefully away from the old olive tree, we couldn’t believe our eyes. While Donna’s bumper appeared to have been unaffected by the crash, the tree hadn’t fared so well. A huge gash now scarred it’s side. I bent closer to examine the wound. “What the hell? What is this stuff?! I’m no tree hugger, but I don’t think olive trees have red sap...” Rosi helped Donna out of the little coupe and they hurried over. Oozing from the wound was a rivulet of thick, deep red liquid. Rosi reached out and dabbed her forefinger in the stuff. “I don’t know, but it looks like...” She raised her finger to her nose and hesitantly took a sniff. “...blood! Holy crap, I think it’s bleeding!” Donna stood stock still, staring in disbelief. I shook my head, trying to clear my brain. “How is that possible?! Trees don’t bleed, guys!” I swiped my finger across the wound and took a sniff, too. “Phew! Ugh, it does smell like blood! So gross to think people used to drink this stuff! Thank heavens we weren’t born 200 years ago! This’d be breakfast! So foul.” Donna finally spoke. “Guys, maybe we should ... bandage it or something? I mean, it’s bleeding! I fell when I was mountain biking last summer and got a huge gash on my arm. We were in the hills ... no hospital or anything. My mom made something she called a poultice and put it on my arm. It stopped the bleeding till we got to the doctor.” I wasn’t sure exactly what was happening, but I knew we had to do something. “Okay, how’d she do it Donna? We have basically the same stuff you’d find if you were out biking ... d
irt, grass, rocks, leaves...” Donna thought for a minute. “Okay, I remember my mom telling me we needed to find a green leafed, sorta tallish flower with these wide, flat flower heads. The blossoms are pink or white, I think. She called them yarrow flowers. I remember ‘cause it’s a weird name. We take the flowers and put them over the wound, and then wet some clay dirt and put it over the flowers. To hold it all on, get ready for this girls ... she collected spider webs and pressed them into the wet clay. It made sort of like a really gross halloween looking bandage. But it worked.” Luckily, our new family home sat squarely in the middle of nothing, except fields and hills. We split apart, and started looking. After a few minutes I heard Rosi yell. “Hey! Guys! I think I found it! C’mere!” We hurried over. Donna bent to examine the plant more closely. “Yup, that’s the stuff. Let’s get some flower heads off it!” Ten minutes later we had applied the flower heads to the tree’s wound, mixed my bottled water with some of the clay soil that was everywhere in Freedom and smeared it on the gash. Spider webs, usually so unwelcome, were now a happy find in the bushes and tree branches around us. Grimacing, we spread them carefully and pressed them into the wet clay. Before we had bandaged the old tree I had let some of the blood sap run into my empty water bottle. I didn’t want to tell Mom and Dad about Donna’s little accident, but I definitely wanted to figure out what this stuff was. “Rosi, do you think Greg could help us figure this stuff out?” I asked, waving the water bottle at her. “Actually, that’s a great idea Cal. If you haven’t noticed, Greg’s been MIA lately. It’s ‘cause he’s been up in the attic nose deep in his experiments and some new project that he won’t let anybody see. He might be just the guy we need for this.” After one last look at our handiwork on the old tree’s side, we hopped in Donna’s new little yellow coupe and headed for Rosi’s house.
We pulled down the gravel driveway, and parked by the side of Aunt Thyia and Uncle Steve’s house, near the mudroom door. “Anybody home besides Greg?” I asked. “Nope. Mom ‘n’ Dad are both in the city today. They’ll be gone till dinner.” We headed inside and through the narrow, weird little half door that led to the equally narrow, dimly lit and winding attic stairs. The wooden steps creaked eerily as we ascended. The air became warmer and heavier the higher we climbed. When we arrived at the top we found a little landing, and a short wooden door. Across the door was plastered a sign that read “Please be respectful. Do not enter without authorization of Greg.” I smiled at the sign and Rosi rolled her eyes. “I know ... what a geek. But he’s my geek. And he’s probably the only one who can tell us what this stuff really is.” She knocked lightly on the door. “Greg? Hey! Me ‘n’ Cal ‘n’ Donna are all here. Something happened. We need your help, bro.”
After explaining what had happened to Greg, we left him to study the bottle’s contents and headed out. It wasn’t too late to still make it to the beach!
Chapter 15
HAPPY BIRTHDAY X2!
By the time we returned home Saturday afternoon, the house was vacant. “Perfect! Mom ‘n’ Dad aren’t home! No questions, no quizzing!” I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. They’d never know what had happened with the family tree this morning, and we wouldn’t have to explain to anyone that we’d spent the afternoon with the five B’s, not thinking about our stupid curse! Rosi called Greg to check in with him on his progress on identifying the mysterious red liquid. “Hey bro. Got any answers yet?” Rosi listened intently to the reply for a couple of minutes, then hung up. “You guys are not gonna believe this. That stuff IS blood! Human blood!” My mind began to race. “We’ve got to do some more reading about that tree ... or does it even matter anymore?” Just then, Mom’s voice rang out from the hallway outside my door. “Cal? You guys all in there?! We saw Donna’s new car! So cute! I’m shocked you aren’t out cruising around! Hey, we’re off to dinner with Zane and Iezabel! You know she’s due any day now?! Anyway, we left money on the counter for pizza! You all deserve some junk food after working so hard today! Oh, and girls, don’t forget! We’re celebrating your two birthdays together weekend after next! Donna, I’ve already cleared it with your folks! You’re coming up early Saturday so you won’t miss it! Oh, and one more thing! We’re on break from school till after your birthdays! I’ve just got too much to do, and besides, I know you girls are working hard on your own! See you later! Toodles!” Actually, I had forgotten. My birthday was Tuesday and that meant Rosi’s birthday was nine days later, on Thursday. We were closer to Showing than I wanted to remember, and all hopes of breaking the curse had been lost. I felt as though someone had just kicked me in the stomach.
The next days seemed to fly by. Mom had elaborate plans for our birthdays, and she needed worker bees to get it all done. Dad had transfused, so he was able to keep up with Mom’s brutal 20 hour a day schedule, and that definitely helped. The entire family was coming for the parties, and there were endless details that needed attention.
The morning of January 25 came, and I awoke to knocks on my bedroom door. When I peered out the slightly cracked door, my eyes still bleary from sleep, I saw the fuzzy figures of Mom and Dad. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!” Their shouts roused me from my sleepiness. Jeez, their shouts could’ve roused the dead from the grave they were so exuberant. After an endless loop of hugs, kisses and birthday wishes, Dad motioned for me to come out into the hallway. Sitting there on the thick carpeting was a flat-black and polished chrome Moped Motobecane, with a little black half helmet hanging by a strap from the handlebar! These little motorbikes were so flipping cool, and Mom and Dad knew I had been wanting one since last year! “Well, Cal, happy fifteenth birthday honey.” They looked expectantly at me. I didn’t disappoint them. The scream I let loose was so loud that I was sure Rosi and Greg had heard it half a mile away at their house! “Ohmygod thank you guys! Thankyouthankyouthankyou! How sweet is this thing?! I cannot believe you were actually listening when I said I wanted one! I mean ... thanks you guys. Can I go riding right now?!” Mom and Dad’s faces broke into relieved smiles. Dad looked at Mom and pointed his finger. “See Ellie? I told you she still wanted it! You lose the bet! I’ll collect payment later.” Eww, not again. Sexual references between my parents? NOT okay! “Daad! Come on! Gimme a break here, guys! Actually... I see you two need some alone time, so I’d be happy to get outta your way! Where’s my keys?!” I was downstairs and out the back door faster than Dad could load my Motobecane into the service elevator. Yes, a service elevator. Which I did NOT know existed, until today! Jeez, this house and this family! Just when I thought nothing else could surprise me, I find out there’s a secret elevator hidden in the back of the big closet in the upstairs hallway. I wondered, was anyone else’s family this complicated?!
I spent the day riding around Freedom, enjoying the freedom that my little scooter bike was giving me. No family, no friends, just me, my Moped, and the scenery. I toured our little downtown area, with it’s boutiques and ice cream parlors and coffee shops, then took a spin on the tree lined winding road that encircled Whiskey Lake.
When I arrived home, the sun was just setting. The smell of Mom’s fried chicken wafted from the kitchen window as I parked the Moped. I had decided to call her Connie; since she was a Motobecane (pronounced moto-beh-connie) it seemed cleverly appropriate. The remainder of my big fifteenth birthday was spent eating Mom’s amazing fried chicken and then stuffing myself with chocolate cake till I was in a choco-coma. “I love you guys! This birthday was the stuff! Thank you again SOOO much for Connie. I love her! And dinner was FIRE Mom! Now, I’m rolling myself upstairs to veg out... Oooh! Yay! Just remembered! I think I’ll take the elevator! G’niiite!”
The days between my birthday and Rosi’s passed quickly. When we weren’t managing one of the million party prep things Mom had given us to do, we’d meet in my room. Rosi and I had decided to continue working on trying to understand the hidden meaning of the remainder of the curse. Who knew if we could find another way to solve this thing... It wouldn’t surprise me if we did. Nothing re
ally surprised me anymore.
