Old Orchard

Carla

My sister, who acts like a free-spirited person, has judged me extensively. I was ready to tell her everything, and then she assumed that Logan was a bad influence on me. I knew I should not have told her I got the ID from Logan. He had got me the ID so we could go to a foreign film fest, but you had to be over 21 to be there due to the drinking – it must be an Iowa thing. I was going to invite Annabelle to it, so I had him make her one up, but when it came time to ask her, I chickened out. When I got them from him, I never thought about using them for drinking... But then everything happened, and I just used it. It was kind of like it was burning a hole in my purse, and I just wanted to see what it would be like. My sister is still waiting for an answer, and I say, "I love him" I stand up, throw my pizza away, and walk outside, letting her know this conversation is made. She lets me go, I guess without a fight, knowing she has the whole summer to figure out what happened this year with me.

After people-watching, a game that Craig and Annabelle explained to me, I go inside to help her. People-watching is where you sit and come up with different stories; it is more entertaining if you have another person to play it with because then you can add dialogue between different people. We jump into organizing the cottage when I come back inside. We start going through the paperwork of Grams that she had left in the kitchen and den. The next task we tackle is moving her old box TV out to the garage, which is more complicated than we thought. We brought Annabelle's TV from her bedroom at home and put it where the old TV set was. Annabelle was brilliant and brought her DVD player since we would not have cable or internet hooked up for a while.

We work silently, stripping the beds next putting them in the laundry hamper. We remembered to grab comforters from home but forgot about new sheets for the king-size beds.

"We could go into the Market," Annabelle says with a smile on her face. She is probably happy that we are coming to an end of work for the night.

"Sure," I say as Annabelle locks Frasier up in the back room so we can ride our bikes there. We are just locking the door when Annabelle stops me and runs back inside. A few minutes later, she comes out with Frasier following right behind her.

This time it is her turn to look at me and say, "What?" as I am shaking my head at her. One thing was for sure: my sister was in love with that dog.

"Seriously, you cannot bring him; we are riding our bikes," I say. Grams had bought us matching bikes with baskets on the front when we were 16, upgrading from the small ones we used to have (which are still hanging on the back wall.) I watch as she walks over, puts slight padding down in the basket, scoops the dog up, and sets him in it. From how he sits there looking around, I guess Grams did the same thing for this dog.

I start off riding while Annabelle follows behind me. I take the long way in since I have ridden a bike since it has been a while. Annabelle and I had bikes back home, but we never rode them.

The last time I had ridden one was with Logan. Since they lived out in the country, they had plenty of bikes lying around. I knew the best Maine paths just like I had found new ones at Logan's house. We had taken a whole Saturday riding, one chasing one another on them. That was when I found the secret pathway. I wouldn't have seen the path if the tree branch hadn't been covering the front of it and pushing down the weeds closest to the yard.

I rode around the tree branch, looking over my shoulder to make sure that Logan had seen where I had gone. As usual, he followed me, catching up to me quickly. There is a creek next to the path I had ridden until the creek opened up to a larger body of water and a big stone next to it. I hop off my bike leaning it against the rock, and wait for Logan to do the same. It was the perfect reading spot.

"My cousins and I used to come out here and play," Logan says, sliding on the rock right next to me.

"You lived here before?" I asked, slouching into his side some more.

He shakes his head, and I wait patiently for him to talk again. "This was my grandparent's house. They moved to town when they got older and couldn't handle the winter months. When everything with my dad happened, they insisted that we move in. So now here we are."

"Here you are," I say, not knowing what else to say. He kisses the top of my head, and we sit in silence. These were my favorite memories of Logan.

When we get to the Market, I look at my sister and ask, "now, what are you going to do with the dog?" I know I sound harsher than I mean to when I say the word dog. I do not want my sister to think I am jealous of her new companion.

My sister sets him down on the ground and walks him into the store. Looking as confident as ever, she says, "We are in Maine, also known as Vacation Land." She shushes me as I start to protest again as we make our way back to where the sheets are.

We are the only customers in the store, and I am glad since I do not want to be caught. I was not one for getting in trouble. My sister was a pro when it came to it, never getting embarrassed.

We are starting toward the register when I look at Annabelle and say, "Sundaes, that is what we need to do tonight!" I am apparently too loud since the guy at the register looks up, and Annabelle shushes me again, dragging me toward the middle isles.

Loading the basket up with vanilla ice cream and all the toppings we can find, we make our way over to the register, where I hear a snicker. The same guy who looked up earlier is coming around from the register, and I think he will ask us to leave, but he bends down and says, "long time no see buddy". He is sliding a treat out and giving it to Frasier. I look over at Annabelle, who is smiling, letting me know that she was right. After a minute or so of the cashier petting Frasier he gets up and heads over to the register.

I place the sheets and sundae toppings down while Annabelle puts down the ice cream, and the guy starts ringing the items up "the other twin," he says while looking at Annabelle.

"Yes, that would be Carla," she says and smiles at Luke, and I want to look at her and say swoon. If I had not been broken and my head was not all messed up with Logan, I am pretty sure I would be fighting for Luke's attention. Instead, I just start looking for another twenty in my purse.

"Is there anything else I can get you guys?" I shake my head no, and he looks at Annabelle again and says, "I'm glad he found a good home." I look down at the flipping dog, who is now sitting on Annabelle's right foot; I have to admit it is a pretty adorable sight to see.

Deciding I can talk now, I say, "that dog will not leave her alone... Well, I guess I should say my sister cannot leave the dog alone. We were going to leave him at the house, and at the last moment, Annabelle decides she needs to bring him with her and goes back in to save him." I say this while rolling my eyes since I know Annabelle knows I am just joking, but I do not know if Luke gets that I was joking around.

"Nice seeing you again," Luke says, looking right past me to Annabelle, and as we start to walk out the door, Luke calls out, "how long are you staying for?"

"All summer," Annabelle says, stopping and looking at Luke for a brief second, and then slides her sunglasses down, stepping out into the sun. He was swooning over my sister, that was for sure.

I stroll up next to Annabelle, wanting to know how she knows him. "Who was that?" I ask.

"Luke, he is the one from the animal shelter when we picked Frasier up last time we were here" I can tell she is blushing and feel like she is hiding something from me. There is more to the story than she is giving away; they knew each other more than just that one time.