Cape May

Another Galaxy

The rest of the weekend in Cape May was like we were living in another world, another galaxy. It was a fantasy. Not once did our feet touch the ground. My heart was so full of love for her that I was afraid mommy or grandma would see it pushing, trying to burst out of my chest and ask, "Bobby, why is your heart trying to burst out of your chest?"

And so, I made sure to wear a t-shirt all the time I was around them.

I would steal glances at her when mommy wasn't looking. I did not dare look at her when mommy or grandma could see me because I was sure they would see that we had done something. She too would dart her eyes to mine on the sly and give me quick little smiles with that mouth that was soon to be the master of me.

I understand people take drugs so they could get high, soar into the sky as eagles do. We didn't need any such drugs. We were in love, we were two lovers soaring in the sky, not wanting to come down and touch the earth for fear that it would turn out it had all been just a dream. And so, we stayed in the clouds, soaring, flying and the euphoria that comes with being so high.

Love will do that to you.

Several times, with mommy and grandma in the kitchen or somewhere out of sight, she would pull me into a room and roughly throw me against the wall and crush my lips with hers. We would kiss until we heard footsteps or a voice coming near. This happened several times throughout the weekend. Each time she would get more daring, bringing us closer to damnation, but somehow, we would escape just in the nick of time. My sister, as I was soon to discover, had an adventurous streak that at times, would bring me to the edge of my limits of comfort.

Mommy and grandma commented on how chipper and lively she seemed, so full of life, not at all like the sourpuss of a few days gone by. They did not wonder as to its cause too much. They knew children and that their moods could go up and down. So, they did not question it much. They were just glad she had come around for they too were not looking forward to spending the weekend with her moping.

"Yeah, I added, "like a dead possum." And I'd look at her and we'd both break out laughing.

On our way back home we sat in the back seat. I insisted grandma sit up front as that was her rightful place, being a grown up and all. She looked at me strange for I always insisted on riding shotgun with mommy. But the real reason I was always in front was because they wanted to keep us separated so we wouldn't be fighting "like cats and dogs" as my mother would say. Mommy would also say she didn't need to have two bobcats in the car going at it while she was driving. But I convinced grandma to sit in the front anyway.

Sitting in the back seat, Gaby and me held hands the entire three-hour trip home. Mommy, of course could not see that because the rearview mirror did not afford her a view so low. She could just see our faces, smiling and happy and that in turn made her smile and be happy. She was also happy cause we weren't fighting as usual. I looked at Gaby and smiled. She looked at me and smiled and our newfound relationship and the emotions that accompanied it coursed through our body and through our tightly held hands. And it was through those hands that I felt her heart and she mine. And so, we sat there in the back seat of my mother's car, falling deeper and deeper for each other, not once acknowledging the little fact that she was my sister and I her brother.

I think we left that fact behind in the sands of Cape May.