chapter 5
SAMMY WAS THE calmest baby in the world. He hardly ever cried. Lynn took, care of me, and I took care of Sammy. And we all took care of one another. It's hard to believe that for the next couple of years nothing happened. It was wonderful. We spent all our spare time with one another. In my sister's diary entries from those years she chronicled what days Sammy learned how to walk and talk, what our homework assignments were every night, what time our parents got home from work, and any other details she could think of. She had the neatest handwriting in the world. Sometimes I would watch her write in her diary, and I was amazed at how perfect her writing was.
Occasionally, my uncle brought us on camping trips. Lynn said that his camping trips were the most fun thing she ever did. I agreed with her about that. She asked me, "Do you agree with me all the time just because I say so or because you really, truly agree with me?" I didn't see the difference between the two things, so I just said I didn't know.
Sometimes, in case she became a famous writer, Lynn practiced writing little stories in her diary:
I think the whole reason she wrote that story was that she loved the idea of living in the sea. That was one thing that never varied about Lynn: her love of the sea. Living by the sea in California was what she looked forward to second most in life, after going to college. Owning our own home was third for her, and first for our mother.
Every week that passed was nearly the same. School was boring and homework was boring. Playing with my brother and sister was fun. That's the way the days went, with no surprises.
Everything started to change the winter I was ten and a half. One unusually warm day in January all the kids from the apartments were playing dodgeball after school. Lynn was in charge, as always. She said, "Katie, you stand there. Toshi, you stand here." And so on. She chose a little boy to stand in the middle.
The boy flung the ball at Lynn. That wasn't very smart, because Lynn was quick. But the ball flew up and hit her chest. She staggered back. Everyone except me laughed. My sister got almost cross-eyed, and everybody laughed more. I didn't laugh because I knew Lynnie better than anyone.
"Lee-uhn!" I said. I ran over to her.
She swayed a bit but said, "I'm fine."
"What happened?"
"I don't know. It seemed swirly for a second."
"What seemed swirly?"
"Everything."
I followed her inside. She went right to bed and slept through dinner.
She wasn't able to help me with my homework that night. That worried her. I got straight C's at school. So far I had never gotten a B or a D in any subject. My father said that "C" stood for "consistency" and that he was very proud of me, so long as I was doing my best. I guess that in terms of grades I was just as consistent as Lynn was, which, when you thought about it, was surely something to be proud of Lynn got straight A's. She loved school.
The next day, however, she didn't even go to school. Even when she was sick, she usually begged our mother to let her go to school. This was the first time I'd ever seen her happy to stay home. When I got home, a doctor was just leaving. Mrs. Kanagawa was there. She said the doctor had put Lynn on iron pills.
At dinner that night my father said he thought maybe Lynn just took after our mother, who also used to get tired a lot. In fact, my mother said that once when she was a child, she had spent almost the whole year in bed from fatigue, and nobody knew why. So I figured Lynn was just going through a phase, the same as my mother had.
One night, though, she woke up crying. I couldn't remember Lynn crying since the day we left Iowa. When she woke up, she said she'd dreamed that she was swimming happily in the ocean.
She sobbed. "The sun was shining. Everything was beautiful."
"Why did that dream make you cry?"
"Because it was only my spirit swimming in the ocean, and not really me."
"What's a spirit?"
"It's the invisible part of me."
I didn't understand her reasoning at all. First of all, I didn't understand what she meant by "invisible part of me." Second of all, her dream sounded happy to me. But I also knew that Lynn was always right, so I was a little worried. Suddenly, she said, "Don't worry, sweetie, I'm okay. Go to bed."
So I went to bed.
The next day was Saturday. She lay in bed all day. She didn't want to be bothered or talked to or anything.
I said,. "Do you all want me to go get you some candy?"
She said, "No."
I said, "Do you all want an apple?" She said, "No."
I said, "Do you all want some company?" And she said, "No."
Even with her occasional fatigue, Lynn still managed to help me a lot. The truth was, without Lynn, I probably would have gotten some D's. I didn't understand the point of school. You sat in a chair all day and read words and added numbers and followed directions. You weren't allowed to chew gum. You weren't allowed to write notes—not that I had anybody to write notes to. But, still. And you weren't allowed to talk unless you knew the answers to the teacher's questions.
Lynn actually liked reading stories and adding numbers. And she actually knew the answers to the teacher's questions. She was fourteen. She had gotten so pretty that the other girls had to take notice of her, if only to be jealous. Of course, Lynn had always been very pretty. Her skin and eyes were radiant, and her hair was strong and shiny. Even though all the other girls curled their hair, she had started to wear hers straight and so long that it touched the middle of her butt. Gregg, the most popular boy in her class, liked her. Finally, one of the popular girls, Amber, broke ranks and became Lynn's first best friend. That is, I felt I was still Lynn's best friend, but Amber was maybe her second best friend. Amber becoming Lynn's second best friend was the other big event that winter.
It did get to be a little annoying. Amber came with us everywhere. She was one of those really girlie girls who paint their fingernails and even their toenails. She said she was going to be a model someday, and she walked very upright. All winter and spring she and Lynn walked back and forth in the living room with books on their heads. Amber said, "This is the way models walk."
I said, "Seems pretty ridiculous to me!" I looked to Lynn for agreement, but she frowned at me.
Amber had brown hair, which she said she was going to dye blond when she turned sixteen. She had brown eyes instead of blue, which was a tremendous disappointment to her. She stuck out her pinkie when she held a cup. And, worst of all, she was making Lynn weird. For instance, Lynn had started to wear lipstick when our parents weren't around.
Many days Lynn tried to get me to spend time with her and Amber as they walked in the living room with books on their heads, told secrets while sticking out their pinkies, or giggled in front of the mirror while experimenting with makeup. Amber hated camping, so now Lynn didn't want to go camping. The thing was, I still loved camping. I think Lynn's feelings were a little hurt that I didn't agree with her about camping anymore. I felt strange not agreeing with her.
One day when we were eating roast chicken, I ripped the thigh from the drumstick with my hands. Our parents were at work. Sammy followed my example and ripped a chicken leg in two.
I said, "Let's see who can put the most food in their mouth at once!" Sammy and I filled our mouths.
Lynn said, "Katie, that's not very ladylike."
2
Once Upon a time a funny witch cast a spell on all the world's creatures. Suddenly, all the animals that used to be able to fly could only walk and all the animals that used to walk could now fly. So you saw horses, soaring through the sky and preening on rooftops', you saw birds by the thousands running through the streets and along highways. And the fish, don't even mention the fish! The fish learned to drive and the humans lived in the sea. The End.