“Thank you,” I said to her and shut the door to my new room. “Have you seen the bathroom yet?”
“No, I haven’t. I think it’s this one,” She pointed to a door we had yet to open down the hallway, which ended in a window.
Shuffling towards it, the two of us cautiously opened the door and saw something that made both of us scream, slam the wooden door shut, and run for our lives.
Outside, we both bounced back and forth on the balls of our feet, rubbing our arms as we had practically jumped out of our skins.
“THAT WAS THE BIGGEST SPIDER I HAVE EVER SEEN!” Cal screamed.
“WE HAVE TO BURN THIS HOUSE DOWN! We have to call Dad! Maybe he can get the deposit back!” I shouted.
She grabbed my shoulders and forced me to look into her eyes. “No, we can do this. We will go back in there and face this ourselves.”
“You’re insane, did you see its legs? They were fat and hairy! It’s gonna kill us!”
She took a deep breath in. "It may very well kill us, but I won’t let it take our bathroom privileges!”
With that, she stormed back into the house, grabbing the broom as she went.
“Calilope, you’re a braver girl than I,” I muttered and inched inside after her.
Later that night after Dad had returned, Cal and I told him our brave tale of defeating the spider, as we settled down on the porch huddled next to a space heater, eating the champion’s dinner of Kraft mac and cheese. None of us were fantastic cooks but we managed to get by. There was still a lot of work to do, but we had moved all of the boxes into their correct rooms for us to more than likely only half unpack again. The real bummer was the lack of furniture. A girl could only love blow up mattresses and sleeping bags for so long.
“While I was in town, I saw that they had a library,” Dad said around a bite of cheesy goodness.
I raised an eyebrow at him. “And?”
“…And I was hoping you would finally consider donating a few of your books,” he said carefully.
“No.”
He sighed. “Pumpkin, half of your boxes are books and the collection is only getting bigger.”
“How could you ask me to part with my babies?”
“I almost broke my back carrying in that last one,”
“You did not! Dad, I need my books.”
I couldn’t get rid of my books. They were my life blood. The stories inside of them were beautiful escapes from the reality that I lived. I had to do something. So I did the only thing I could think of.
I gave him the puppy dog eyes.
Thats right. Full pout and everything.
He looked like he was about to crack. I could see it in his face, but in the end he groaned and said, “I know. And I wouldn’t ask you otherwise. Please honey, you know that we can’t…”
I bit my lip to hold back the tears. I understood. The fewer belongings we had, the quicker it would be to pack up and leave. If we wanted, we would live out of our backpacks, but years ago we had learned how much living like that destroyed us.
He ran his hands through his hair and let out a long breath. “How about this. You donate your books, and I’ll get you a kindle. That way you can have all the books you want.”
It wouldn’t be the same as holding a real book in my hand, smelling that redolence, feeling the sensation of the paper against my fingers, but he was right.
I felt Cal take my hand beside me. Looking up at her, I saw understanding in her eyes but I also saw encouragement. She wanted this too.
I nodded. “Okay, I’ll head over there tomorrow.”
He leaned over and kissed my forehead, murmuring his apologies. I wanted to be angry but I couldn’t blame him. We ate the rest of our dinner in silence.
“Before I forget, these are your new IDs”
Dad held out the brand new Washington State ID cards to me and Cal. I stared at the reflective surface and gave a little sigh of relief that at least our first names were staying the same this time. I hated when we had to change it, as it was a lot more trouble to memorize new names on a short notice. I was a Tiffany once. Not that anything was wrong with the name, but it just…didn’t feel like mine.
My eyebrows rose as I looked at the birthdate. “This says that I’m nearly eighteen. Does that mean I’ll be attending school here?”
My father nodded. “It does, you start in a couple of days. Hopefully, you’ll finally be able to finish out your senior year.”
“You’re darn determined that I get that diploma. You know that I could just get a GED, right?”
“Yes, but I’m determined to have both my daughters get the full high school experience. That includes me chasing away boys—or girls, no judgement—you going to prom, and me seeing you walk across that stage in a cap and gown.”
Considering I had actually just turned twenty, this was a weird sentiment. I had missed getting a diploma and going to prom nearly three times so far, with us having to randomly get up and leave in the middle of the night. Cal had gotten lucky during her senior year, as we had lived there for more than a year before we had to skip town.
“Well then, let’s hope you get your wish, because I’m not going to stay the same age forever,” I said with a chuckle.
Cal gasped. “Do you think we have enough time to find you a date and get you a dress to prom?”
“Its January…” I said, tilting my head at her, my tone skeptical.
“The perfect dress and date take time, little sister.”
I rolled my eyes. “Because John Hobes was such a great date to your prom? He slept with every girl at that school and was a major creep.”
“Yes, but he still paid for the limo, dinner, and the hotel he didn’t sleep in. And since he was such a man slut, taming the beast into taking a single girl to prom made me the hot commodity. I never said I slept in that hotel room alone, just not with John.”
“This is not a conversation a father should be hearing.” With that, our Dad picked up his bowl and headed inside.
I looked back at my sister. “But those guys, they were just trying to get into your pants because of who you took to prom?”
“In their eyes, a girl with the power to bring a guy like John to his knees is a girl worth chasing after. Like I always try to tell you, a little confidence is all you need,” She said, pride in her tone.
I bent my head down and fumbled with the sleeves of my jacket, tugging them lower. “Easy for you to say.”
“Hey, we’ve all got our baggage, Atalanta. And you may not believe it, but your spark is coming back.”
With that, my sister gave me a quick side hug and joined Dad inside. I didn’t want to go in just yet. It was nice out. If I had to guess, it had snowed the night before, as the blankets of white looked rather fresh. I loved snow, especially fresh snow. It was so fluffy, and looked beautiful when light hit it just right.
I shivered and scooted closer to the space heater.
I still didn’t know how I felt about the cold, though. For most of my life we had spent it down south in much warmer climates.
While I sat there, basking in the warmth of the space heater, the whipping wind that had been blowing for some time finally settled and the soft sound of the crashing waves finally drew my attention. From my point on the porch, I could just see where the sand turned to sea and beyond. The inky blackness of the water churned through the barely visible darkness.
It was a full moon tonight, but as it always was during this time of year, the cloud cover was heavy. Only letting small glimpses of light sparkle against the waves here and there.