#7 A Twist of Fate

by Laurie Friedman

  “Sure,” said Harry, like the game room was the big selling point.

  But I didn’t think it was and neither did Amanda. “Aren’t you a little old for a game room?” she asked Harry.

  “It’s a game room for teens, not kids,” said Mia.

  Amanda smiled at her. “Great, I’m a teen, and so are April and Sophie.”

  “I’m almost a teen,” said May.

  “We could all come,” said Amanda.

  Mia raised a brow at Harry.

  “I’ll see you later,” he said, like he’d make sure no one else attended.

  “This is supposed to be a family vacation!” Amanda said.

  When he didn’t respond, Amanda went on and on about how rude it was that Mia and Harry were trying to exclude the rest of us. Harry ignored her and ate in silence, but all of Amanda’s complaining was getting on my nerves. When we were done, Harry told Aunt Lilly he wanted to hang out with Mia, and Aunt Lilly said she was fine with it as long as he was back by ten.

  Amanda complained all the way back to our condo that it wasn’t fair that Harry got to go out, and we didn’t. When we got home, Uncle Dusty got out Scrabble. “Who’s in?” he asked.

  “I don’t want to play,” said Amanda.

  “You love Scrabble,” said Uncle Dusty.

  “Count me out,” said Amanda. She picked up a magazine and plopped down on the couch.

  “I don’t want to play either,” said Sophie. And she didn’t even say why. She just went to her room and closed the door.

  That just left me with a bunch of old people and some really young ones. I sat down to play Scrabble, but while I set up my tiles, I was thinking about what Amanda said to Harry: “This is supposed to be a family vacation.”

  I don’t want to name names, but some people are acting very un-family-vacation-like.

  Happy families are all alike;

  every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

  —Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

  Wednesday, March 25, 5:53 p.m.

  DAY 5

  WORST DAY EVER!!!

  I’m writing from the comfort of my bed . . . except I’m anything but comfortable.

  When June read my horoscope that this was a bad week for me to travel, I should have gotten on a plane and gone straight home. It would have prevented today’s horrible events.

  When we sat down for breakfast, everyone was talking about what they were going to do during the day. Gaga and Willy were staying in to read. Mom, Aunt Lilly, Aunt Lila, and Emma were all going to go to town to shop, and Amanda wanted to go with them. The dads were going to ski easy runs with Charlotte, Amanda, and June.

  That just left Harry, Sophie, May, and me.

  “You’re all welcome to come with us,” said Uncle Drew.

  Harry said he wanted to ski some of the harder runs. I knew what he really wanted to do was ski with Mia without all the dads and little kids around. But at least he asked Sophie, May, and me if we wanted to come.

  “I’m in,” said May.

  Harry looked at me. I didn’t want to be stuck with the dads and younger kids either. “Me too,” I said.

  We all looked at Sophie. “I don’t want to ski today,” she said.

  Emma put her coffee cup down. “Honey, we only have two days left here. You should enjoy the slopes,” she said.

  I think Emma meant it as a suggestion, but Sophie pushed her bowl of oatmeal away and stood up from the table. “I’m fourteen. You can’t tell me what to do.”

  The table got quiet fast. Emma cleared her throat. “Sophie, I’m your mother.”

  Sophie snorted, then ran into our room. Emma followed her in. When she came back, she said that she and Sophie were going to spend the day together.

  I didn’t know what they were planning to do, but those of us who were going skiing left for the slopes. This morning was fine. Fun, actually. Harry, May, Mia, and I all skied together. We did some green runs and lots of easy blue runs. The problems started after lunch. “Let’s do some more challenging runs,” said Harry.

  “I’m in,” said May.

  “Yeah, me too,” said Mia.

  They all looked at me. “I don’t know,” I said. The runs we did this morning were the same as the ones we did yesterday with Carmen. I wasn’t sure I was ready for anything harder.

  “We won’t do anything too hard,” said Harry. I finally agreed, so we took the lift to the top of a blue run and skied down. It didn’t seem that much harder than some of the runs we’d done in the morning. When we all got to the bottom, we got back on the chairlift. I thought we were going to do the same run again, but when we got off the lift, Mia said she thought we should try something even more challenging. She skied to the top of an advanced blue run. Harry and May followed her.

  I didn’t want to ski down the mountain by myself, so I went too. But when we got to the top of the run, I didn’t like what I saw. “It’s too steep, and there are tons of moguls,” I said.

  For once, Mia was quiet.

  “I wouldn’t say there are tons of moguls,” said Harry.

  The way he said the word tons made it sound like I was exaggerating the difficulty of the run.

  I planted my poles in the ground and crossed my arms across my chest. “Maybe there aren’t tons. But there are a lot of bumps, and I don’t feel comfortable going down it.”

  Harry looked down at the run and then looked at me and shrugged. “There are a few bumps. You can handle them. We’ll go slow and stick together,” Harry said.

  May nodded like it would be a team effort.

  They all stood there looking at me like I was the one acting like a chicken and holding them up from having fun. I didn’t feel like I had a choice.

  “OK,” I said.

  But as soon as we set out down the run, nothing we did even remotely resembled a team effort. May took off down the mountain, which left me to follow Harry and Mia. There were bumps and slick patches everywhere. I couldn’t imagine how I was going to get down the rest of the run.

  “Stop!” I yelled to Harry and Mia.

  They both turned around. “Relax,” said Harry. “You can’t stop and start. You need to just go.”

  I started to feel panicky. “I can’t do this,” I said.

  “Yes, you can,” said Harry. “Carmen taught us how to do this.”

  “She taught us on easier blue runs,” I said. “This is way too hard.”

  “It’s not that much harder than what we did with her. You know what to do,” said Harry. “On the count of three, we’re all just going to go.”

  Harry counted, and then he and Mia started skiing down. As I watched them maneuver around the bumps, I felt sick. I was too far down the run to climb back up. I knew I had to go if I wanted to get down, but nothing in me wanted to go.

  I counted to three in my own head, and I went.

  But as I skied down, I started to go faster than I wanted. I tried to slow down, but I couldn’t.

  As I picked up speed, I felt the wind rushing against me and bits of icy snow fIying up and sticking to my goggles. I remember thinking that the exposed parts of my face were too cold and then thinking that I shouldn’t be thinking about my face.

  The next thing I remember is trying not to fall. I leaned up the mountain and tried slowing myself down with my own body weight, but I couldn’t.

  Then I fell. I don’t even know how far. As I tumbled down the mountain, I think I tried to stop myself with my arms and legs. I lost my skis. I dropped my poles. My body hurt as it rolled through the snow.

  When I finally stopped, I was disoriented.

  I called for Harry and Mia. But no one answered. I didn’t see them anywhere. My eyes started to tear up inside my goggles.

  I thought about my equipment. I had to find my skis and poles. I looked around and tried to stand up, but I couldn’t move my leg. I was in a lot of pain.

  What happened after that was a blur.

  Some other skiers stopped when they realized I
needed help. I don’t remember much other than one of the skiers telling me they were placing their skis vertically in the snow behind me so other skiers wouldn’t run into me and so ski patrol would have an easier time finding me. All I remember about the other skier was that he had on red boots. I kept staring at them and trying not to cry while I waited for ski patrol to arrive.

  When they finally did, they asked me a bunch of questions. What hurt? Did I hit my head? Did I feel numbness anywhere?

  Then they put me in a toboggan that was attached to a snowmobile.

  I remember thinking that it looked like a big metal dish. They strapped me in, covered me with a blanket, and drove me down the mountain.

  Emily and Benito on ski patrol called Mom and Dad, but when they couldn’t get them right away, they drove me to a nearby clinic. They waited with me until Mom, Dad, and June arrived. The clinic x-rayed my leg. The doctors determined that I had a broken tibia and that my leg needed a cast.

  It was all so surreal.

  Now I’m in my bed at the condo, and random bits and pieces of this awful afternoon are starting to come back to me.

  I remember June holding my hand while I was waiting to be x-rayed. I remember crying when I found out my leg was broken and that I’d need a cast. I remember Dad trying to say funny things to cheer me up. I remember not being in the mood to laugh.

  But mostly what I remember about today is that I didn’t want to go down that run.

  I’m mad at Harry for making me doing something I didn’t want to do. I don’t even think he would have cared whether we did it if Mia hadn’t been there. He was showing off for her.

  And I’m mad at May. When I said I was scared, she could have volunteered to go down an easier run with me. But she didn’t do that. She just skied off and left me. She’s my sister. I’ve been there for her so many times, and she wasn’t there for me today. All she cared about was what she wanted to do.

  And for that matter, I’m mad at Sophie too. She wasn’t directly or even indirectly responsible for me breaking my leg, but I’m mad at her for the way she’s been acting for most of the trip. True friends are supposed to share what’s going on in their lives with each other. I’ve tried to find out what’s going on with her, but she won’t tell me a thing.

  We came on this trip to have fun as a family.

  Maybe some people have had fun. But I’m not one of them.

  7:07 p.m.

  Visiting Hours are OVER!

  When Mom, Dad, and June brought me home from the clinic earlier, my whole family was already at the condo.

  “My poor baby,” said Gaga. I let her give me a hug, but when everyone started to ask me about what happened, I told them I wasn’t in the mood to talk.

  All I wanted to do was lie down. Mom helped me get in bed and propped my leg up on a stack of pillows to prevent swelling.

  I wish I could report that I’m off to a good start of what will be at least four weeks of recuperation, but so far I’ve had a whole string of visitors who won’t leave me alone to rest and start recovering!

  Visitor #1

  Harry was the first person to come in. “Can I talk to you?” he asked.

  “No,” I said.

  “It’s not like you’re going anywhere.” He said it like it was supposed to be funny, but I didn’t laugh. “Sorry you got hurt,” he added.

  I closed my eyes. “I’m trying to sleep.”

  “Are you mad at me?” he asked.

  I crossed my arms across my chest and frowned. “Do I look mad?”

  “You don’t look happy.”

  I gave Harry the biggest fake smile I could muster.

  “I’m sorry I made you go down a run that was too hard,” he said. He waited for me to respond, but I didn’t.

  “You want some apple juice or something?” I knew it was a peace offering. His way of saying he was sorry. But I declined the offer.

  I think it’s pretty easy to understand why I wasn’t in a forgiving mood.

  Visitor #2

  May was the next person who came to come see me. When she walked into the room and sat down on the bed, I winced. Just the slightest movement made me uncomfortable. “Does it hurt?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” I said. May sat there looking at me like she was waiting for me to give her some details, but I didn’t.

  She finally spoke. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?” I asked.

  “I’m sorry I’ve been such a bragger. I know I’ve been talking a lot about what a good skier I am.”

  I shook my head at her like she didn’t get it.

  But May kept talking. “What I’m really sorry about is that I skied off and left you.” She started to tear up. She seemed honestly sorry.

  Even though I was casted up and not in the mood to play the big-sister role, there was something I had to say. “May, you get really upset if someone isn’t sensitive to your feelings.” I reminded her how she felt when she was bullied by the girls on her soccer team. “Maybe you should try to be more sensitive to how other people are feeling.”

  “I will,” said May.

  I closed my eyes and put my head back on the pillow. I wasn’t sure if she would or not. And right then, I really didn’t care.

  Visitors #3, 4, 5, and 6

  When May left, Sophie came in. “I’m tired,” I said when she pulled up the desk chair next to my bed and sat down.

  “There’s something I need to tell you,” she said. “You’re not going to like hearing it, especially not right now. But I want you to understand why I’ve been in a funk.”

  I pointed to my leg. “Cast trumps funk.”

  “I know,” said Sophie. “But I still have to tell you.” She paused like she was waiting for my permission to proceed. When I finally nodded, she said, “My parents are getting divorced.”

  This wasn’t a complete surprise. The reason she and her mom moved to Faraway at the start of the school year was because her parents were separated.

  Sophie kept talking. “The reason I’ve been in a bad mood lately is that my parents have been trying to decide what to do with me.” She paused. “Sometimes it’s like I’m a piece of chicken, and they aren’t sure if they want to bake me, broil me, or stir-fry me with vegetables.”

  Sophie started to tear up. It was clear this was painful for her. I listened quietly as she kept talking. “My dad wanted me to come live in Paris with him, but my mom said no. Mom wants to stay in Faraway with me, but my dad wouldn’t agree to it. He said that he doesn’t think it’s good for me, especially given what’s going on with Gaga.”

  I sat up as well as I could. I had a bad feeling I wasn’t going to like what was coming.

  Sophie paused, and then continued. “So after much debate, which is what has been going on all week, my parents have decided that the best thing for me is to live in New York. My dad is moving back to New York and so are Mom and I, and they’re going to share custody of me.”

  I said a silent prayer that I’d misunderstood what she’d said. “Does that mean you’re leaving Faraway?”

  Sophie nodded. “Mom and I are moving back to New York at the end of the school year.”

  “Is that what you want?” I asked.

  “Part of me wants to stay in Faraway, especially for my grandpa. He’s going to be so lonely when . . .” Sophie hesitated. “My grandpa is going to be so lonely if something happens to Gaga. But I want to be with my dad too.” As she looked at me, her shoulders slumped. It was clear she saw this as an imperfect solution. “It’s a compromise,” she said softly. “But it’s what’s best.”

  I felt tears welling up in my eyes.

  “I’m sorry I’ve been so weird and secretive lately,” said Sophie. “At first, Mom and Dad were talking about everything without me. They weren’t including me in the conversation, and it made me mad that they were acting like my opinion didn’t matter.”

  I guess that explains why Sophie and Emma weren’t getting along.

  Sophie looke
d down, avoiding eye contact. “I haven’t told you because I didn’t want to ruin the trip.”

  The tears I’d been holding back fell freely down my cheeks. Sophie got up and got me a tissue. I thought about the saying on the bracelet that Gaga and Willy had given me. Fall seven times. Get up eight. I know I’ll get over my broken leg, but Sophie leaving will be a much harder recovery.

  “I can’t imagine Faraway without you.” My voice was barely a whisper.

  “It’s a bummer for me too.” Sophie reached over and squeezed my hand. We sat like that until we heard a knock on the door. Mom came in carrying a tray. Aunt Lilly and Gaga were with her.

  “We brought you some soup,” said Mom. She placed the tray in front of me.

  I looked down at the bowl of steaming broth and noodles. “I don’t want any soup,” I said.

  Aunt Lilly frowned at me. “Eat the soup. You’ll feel better.”

  I know she wanted me to eat the soup and put on a happy face for Gaga, but I’d had all I could take. When I found out Gaga was sick, I thought I’d hit a patch of rainy weather. Now my leg is broken, and Sophie is moving. Bad things just keep happening. Clearly, there’s no rainbow in sight for me.

  I pushed the tray away, and the glass of water on it fell over.

  “April!” said Aunt Lilly.

  “What? You want me to be happy and positive? Sorry, I’m not, and soup won’t help.”

  I waited for Aunt Lilly to admonish me, but before she had a chance to say a word, Gaga jumped in. “For heaven’s sakes, April doesn’t have to be in a good mood.” She removed the tray from my lap and handed it to Aunt Lilly. The she pointed to the door. “You can all go,” she said to Sophie, Mom, and Aunt Lilly like they were dismissed.

  When it was just the two of us, Gaga bent down and kissed me on the forehead. “I’m going to give you a few minutes, and then I’d like to come back and talk. OK?”

  I nodded. I have no idea what Gaga is going to say, but I don’t see how anything she says will make me feel better.

  You can’t pick out the pieces you like and leave the rest. Being part of the whole thing, that’s the blessing.