Morningstar: Chapter 29: Girls Week

 

Chapter 29: Girls Week

 

          Monday night was nice.  D’Lisa walked home from school with me.  Unfortunately, most of the conversation revolved around Tom.  Though I knew what it was like to be enamored, I just couldn’t relate to total obsession.  I guess I’d been obsessed with the Ling mystery; but this total obsession to the point of not being able to talk about anything else was a bit much.  I thought about; but didn’t want to talk about Tye.  The stones were covered, and I didn’t want anything to disrupt my anticipated visit with him in just another few months.  I guess I was afraid… if people knew about the stones and portals there would certainly be someone who would either disrupt or remove them to another location for study, putting them and Tye out of my reach forever.  Despite my feelings and longing to speak with Tye and perhaps even pass through the portal to him sometime in the future; my thoughts and feelings were nothing like D’Lisa’s obsession.

          Even with D‘Lisa’s single-minded conversation, I enjoyed my time with her that night and the next morning.  Some of the tales of her adventures with Tom were even interesting; though thinking about some things Amanda had said, I didn’t think their relationship would last very long and if it did, they’d probably have some major problems.  I think it might have gotten too hot too fast.

          Tuesday night was wonderful.  Just me and Amanda.  She talked a little about Jason; but not obsessively.  She spent Sunday with the Teeples and told me a little about the whole family, only speaking slightly more about Jason than anyone else.  She really likes him and wants a long-term relationship; but like she’s said more than once, she’s a patient woman!  They played some games as a family Sunday afternoon, and Amanda said she had a great time.

          “It was really fun.  We went to church in the morning, then made lunch together.  Jason cooked most of it.  For a guy, he’s a really good cook.  After lunch we all played games and talked.  Max had to go someplace after a while, but the rest of us played until Jason and Beth took me home.  We played that, Would You Rather game, and Scrabble mostly.  Sarah’s really good at Scrabble.  The twins were fun.  Mark kind-a flirted with me.  It was cute.  I think everybody had a great time.”

          I really wanted to tell Amanda, if no one else, about Tye.  I knew I could trust her; but still felt hesitant because it just seemed so crazy.  Finally, late in the evening after some homework and a little gossip, I told her everything… in detail.

          “So, when do you get to see him next?  Can I meet him?”

          “Sometime in October 2010.  I don’t know the specific date.  I need to research it a little more… I’d love to have you meet him.”  I hesitated…  I was glad to have Amanda meet him, but if we only had a short time together, I was feeling a little jealous about the time and really didn’t want to lose any of it to anyone.  “As long as you don’t monopolize all our time together.”  I was glad I felt safe enough to be so totally honest with Amanda.

          “Understood!  Just a quick meet and great and a fast goodbye.  Two minutes tops.  After that I’ll go to the kitchen or bathroom or something and give the two of you alone time.  I just hope you don’t take off on me… Would you really leave your family and pass through to his time?  Never to be able to return?”  Amanda made it sound so melodramatic.

          “Well, not this time; but maybe someday.  Right now, I hardly know him and we really don’t even have a relationship.  How can you have a lasting relationship based on one conversation, a few dreams and pictures, and a lot of fantasy?  Besides, what if I went there and it didn’t work out?  What if he turned out to be a totally different person than I think he is?  That would surprise me; but I’ve had a lot of surprises these last few months.  I know I could probably still see my family if they stayed here and knew about the stones; but I would never be able to come home.  And that’s just the best-case scenario.  What if it didn’t work out between me and Tye, would I even be able to see and talk to my family.  I’m not willing to bet my life, my future, my relationship with my family, no matter how good looking he is or how comfortable I felt talking to him one time.  That would be just crazy.”

          Amanda just smiled approvingly and perhaps a little relieved.

          After a short pause, I changed the subject.  “So, what’s up with our mom’s going for coffee all the time?  Did you know about it?  I guess its ok; I was just surprised when my mom mentioned it the other day.”

          “I just found out a few days ago too.  My mom’s still staying with a friend, but she and my dad talk about every other day and they’re still going to the cabin with the Teeples Thursday and Friday and Saturday night.  I guess they’ll be back early Sunday morning.  Our moms go for coffee to chat, but it sounds like your mom’s trying to help my mom work through a few things.  Your mom suggested my mom see someone, but I guess that made my mom pretty mad.  That’s how I found out, because my mom came by the house that night and was still pretty mad at your mom.  She gets upset over big things, she gets upset over little things, she just gets upset a lot.  Sometimes we just don’t know when she’s going to blow up over something.  I think she got over being mad because they went to coffee again after that. 

          One of the reasons I’m so glad my mom and dad are going to the cabin is my mom holds it together better around people who aren’t family.  I hope they have a lot of fun and just enjoy each other, and the Teeples.   I think both my parents are trying, and that’s a good thing.  I know they love each other, and me.  Sometimes relationships can be a lot of work and theirs sure seems to be one of those, lots of work kinds.”

          “My parents get along pretty well most of the time; but I can tell, even they have to work at it.  I didn’t notice it so much when it happened; but back when they first closed their business and took out the bankruptcy they really struggled for a while.  My mom told me they really had to work through some things… and let go a lot.”

          “Yeah, I was talking with Sarah Teeples Sunday and she said the same thing.  Both she and Max have to forgive each other a lot.  You’d never know it from being in their home.  Beth says they keep their disagreements pretty private.  I wish my parents could do that.”

          After another pause, I injected; “Let’s get a snack and get our homework done.  We’ve still got a lot of time to talk.”  We grabbed something to snack on and returned to the den and worked at the coffee table until we went to bed.

          Wednesday and Thursday night were about the same.  Talk, food, and homework.  I heard from my parents every night.  Court went ok and T.J. was ok.  The doctor just adjusted his medication and made a referral to someone in Salt Lake City for follow-up.  That’s what my parents were hoping for.

          Friday night the three of us walked together to Beth’s house.  Amanda’s and Beth’s parents were at the cabin.  Thomas and Mark were spending the weekend with their friends who were quads, Scott, Floyd, Isaac, and Hunter.  T.J. had talked about them too, and mentioned they sometimes did things together at school.  Jason took us to Amanda’s so she could get some things and then dropped the three of us off at my house.

          “I brought a great old movie.  It’s kind of scary, but not too scary. Can we grab some food and watch it?”  Beth pulled a movie out of her pack.  I’d never heard of it, or the actors.  It was Wait Until Dark.

          “Sure, my dad really stocked us up before they left.  We have tons of food in the kitchen.”

          We grabbed some sandwiches and milk and sat down for the movie.

          Wait Until Dark is nowhere near as scary as lots of movies I’ve seen.  Blind girl turned into a drug mule unawares at the airport.  Bad guys want their drugs back, find her, decide she knows too much.  Beth said the actors were famous; but neither Amanda nor I had ever heard of any of them.  Finally, one bad guy is after her in her apartment at night.  She goes around and breaks all the lights in her apartment and the hall with a broom, swinging it until she hits and breaks each light.  Because it’s pitch black, she has the advantage over her attacker and is able to fight him off, until he finds a light she forgot about.  It works out in the end.  It would have been ok; but just after the movie finished a strong wind started to blow and the power went out.  The wind was howling around us and between the wind, the dark, and the movie, we all got pretty scared.

          “Why don’t you call your house and see if you have power over there?” Amanda asked Beth.

          Beth went to the phone which was still working at the time and dialed her house.  Jason answered the phone.  Holding the phone, she turned to us; “our power’s out too.  Sounds like it’s out all over town.  Jason said he can bring a couple battery powered lanterns over and a sleeping bag and sleep on the couch if we want.”

          “YES, we want!” Amanda blurted out, sounding more frightened than just wanting to see Jason again, then turning to me.  “Is that ok with you.” 

          “Yes, please.” I responded, sounding, I’m sure, almost as desperate as Amanda.

          After talking on the phone again for a few minutes, Beth asked; “does your fireplace work?”

          “Yes, my dad’s had it going a few times.  There’s wood out by the garage.  I’ve got a flashlight in my drawer; but do you think Jason would get it for us and start the fire?”

          “Yeah, I’ll have him bring his fire starter spark thing. … He wants to know if you have kindling.”

          “What’s kindling?”

          “Small pieces of wood to start the fire with… He heard you.  He’ll bring some.  He could bring matches, but he likes his spark thing.  Makes him feel more macho.”  She whispered that last part to us holding the phone away so Jason wouldn’t hear.  Beth then finished up the conversation and hung up.  “This is going to cost us.”

          “What?  What do you mean?” asked Amanda.

          “Teasing!  If it’s not tonight, it will be later.  Probably the rest of our lives.  Don’t worry, I know him, this is going to cost us;” responded Beth.

          “Well, should we call him and tell him to forget it, that we can handle it?” I asked trying unsuccessfully to act a little more confident.

          “NO!” answered Amanda adamantly.

          “No. I’ll live with the teasing;” added Beth.

          Jason was here within about 15 minutes and told us he heard on the radio that the power was out all up and down the valley.  He gallantly brought the kindling in, then some wood and got the fire going.  The three of us girls were going to help him bring the lanterns and his sleeping bag in but he told us not to worry, he’d take care of it.  After the fire was going and the house was a little brighter from the light of the lanterns, I was feeling a little better and neither Amanda nor Beth seemed as upset as they had been just a few minutes before.  Just having Jason there reminded me a little of my security blanket when I was a little kid and I laughed to myself at the absurdity of how we were acting.

          I tried to call my parents to let them know we were ok and what was up; but by the time we were settled, and I tried to call again, the phone line was dead.

          “Does anybody want anything to eat?” I asked as we all finally sat down on the couches in front of the fire.

          “I ate before the power went out; but I brought some jiffy pop popcorn we can pop over the fire;” answered Jason.  Do you guys want some?”

          “Sure!” All three of us responded with varying degrees of enthusiasm. 

          Jason started rummaging through a bag he had placed next to the end of the couch and produced two weird popcorn pans with long wire handles.  Handing one of the pans to Beth, they both placed theirs over the fire and started shaking them back and forth.  Before long we could all hear the popping sound of popcorn, just barely loud enough to be heard over the still roaring winds.  The damper on the fireplace was mostly closed; but the flames were dancing with the wind gusting, which would create drafts through the chimney.  The popcorn was good and between it and just talking, for a moment, it felt more like the Saturday at the cabin than the frightening, windy, turbulent night we were experiencing at my house.   Of course, all the really scary things that have happened to me over the last few months; have happened in or around this house.  However, some wonderful things had happened too.  Friends, family, and Tye.

          After a while, Amanda yawned; “I’m getting pretty tired; but I don’t want to go to bed by myself.  Does anybody want to go with me?”  She forced a little grin, “not you Jason… Beth or Anna, do you want to go.”

          Matter-of-factly; but with a hint of a sarcastic tease, Jason responded.  “I know you didn’t mean me.  I’m going to lay my sleeping bag out on the couch and crawl in as soon as I put another log on the fire.  Good night Amanda, Good night Beth, Good night Anna.”

          Beth yawned and stood up, grabbing Amanda’s hand to pull her up.  “Let’s get to bed.  I’m exhausted.  It’ll be better tomorrow, and we should have the power back by then.  Good night Jason.  Are you coming Anna?”

          “No, I’m going to write in my journal just a little, then I’ll come to bed.  I don’t think I could get to sleep anyway with the wind and sound of trees breaking, and limbs and garbage cans and other stuff blowing around the neighborhood.  Good night. Sleep tight,” I added.

          “Ok, good night Jason, good night Anna, see ya in the morning,” yawned Amanda as she and Beth, still holding hands and looking like they were both half asleep wandered off towards my room.

          “Good night Jason, thanks for coming over,” I left Jason and trudged towards the den.

          “No problem… see you in the morning,” he responded as he unrolled his sleeping bag and crawled in with his jeans and t-shirt still on. 

~

Everyone else was soon fast asleep.  I wanted to stay up just long enough to finish this part of my journal and add these last few days to the pages of the binder I’ve been compiling on the Lings.  Fortunately, we have an eight-hour backup power source for the computer and printer.  I don’t like to wait too long before writing because I don’t want to forget, and I always want to be as accurate as possible.

 The deafening, even monstrous sound of the wind raging against and in some places through the house is making me shiver and almost, quake even.  I wondered how Amanda, Beth, or Jason could possibly sleep through it all.  A couple of times it even sounded so loud and fierce that branches were breaking off some of the trees in our own yard.  One sounded like it fell against the house on the north side.  I checked in on Beth and Amanda lying under the covers on my bed.  Amanda seemed to be sleeping restlessly, moving and mumbling in her sleep.  Beth appeared to be sleeping more soundly; but still tossing more than usual.  I looked in on Jason, almost hoping he would still be awake and open to some light conversation and perhaps a late-night snack; but he looked like he was dead to the world… despite the whistle of the wind through the chimney and the raging storm outside.  Throwing another log on the fire, I felt alone, even with my friends and Jason just feet away from where I stood in the living room.  Even with immense fatigue, I’ll probably lay awake most of the night, or at least until the wind dies down to more of a whimper instead of the current roar.        

I’m closing this entry now.  I’ll get it printed and, in my binder, and crawl in bed, as far away from the window, outside wall, and wind as possible while still staying in my room.  I might even grab some blankets and sleep on the floor next to my bed, and my dresser by the inside wall; but that might be a bad idea, it might be too cold without any heat except for the little we’re getting from the fire, two rooms away.  (I can tell I’m getting so tired it’s hard to think straight.)  If it gets too cold, I’ll wake Amanda and Beth and we can all go in the living room with Jason; but, notwithstanding the age of this old home, it has been mostly well insulated through the repeated remodels since it was built over 100 years ago.  With the power out and the phone lines dead, we’ll just have to wait until the storm passes and hope some tree doesn’t break through a wall or the roof, and that we have power in the morning.