Under the Blue Moon

Chapter 5

The sophomore year of your college career comes to an end with you feeling satisfied with your academic performance. You return home from school to see your brother Peter graduate from high school. You already knew that he was going to a division one university with a full scholarship for track and field. According to your mother, his college coaches, thought that Peter was Olympic material. So, as you watch your brother graduate, you feel some sense of relief. You think, "Okay, there is one brother I don't have to worry about when it comes to paying for his college education." You get a summer job and work full time while you are at home. Just about every penny that you make, you save in order to get Warren a car. Once Peter goes away to school, there will be no car at home and that would be a problem. You think, "At the rate I am going, I should be able to buy a pretty decent used car for him."

Jin keeps in contact with you on a daily basis. Texting you throughout the day. When he and his family went on a holiday to Greece and Italy for three weeks, you still heard from him every day. He'd text you pictures from his trip and would ask how you are doing. He was so endearing; you couldn't help but love him. Every once in a while, you'd get a text that just say, "I miss you." It would put a smile on your face the entire day. And you'd reply, "Yes.... Dumpy, I miss you too."

Over the summer, things at home were great. Your mother seemed to have gotten out of her depressive episode fully and was present for all of you. As the summer went by, you felt better about leaving your two younger brothers with your mother. Last two weeks before going back to school was spent with your three brothers. You and Peter would leave for school, and it would be just Warren and Tanner with mom.

Three days before you were scheduled to go back to school, you presented Warren with a vehicle of his own. Believe it or not, your mother decided to match the money that you had saved for the car, so you were able to get Warren a really decent one. He had no idea that this was happening, and when you handed him the keys, he almost couldn't speak. He gave you the biggest hug ever and he shed some tears in your mother's arms. He was told that your mother would take care of the insurance until he went off to college and once that happened, he would be responsible for it financially.

When Peter left for school, you went with him to help him move in. He decided to go only two to three hours away from home. You gave him your sisterly lectures about safety, managing his own schedule, etc. You really weren't worried about him. He has been doing all of that at home on his own for few years already. You tell Peter to text you at least once a week and to let you know if he had any issues. Before you left, you told him how proud you were of him and that you'll see him during Thanksgiving break.

On the day you left home to return to school, You told Tanner and Warren to keep in touch with you regularly. You also instruct them to contact you immediately if your mother starts to go downhill again. "I don't want you guys to let things go too long or too far. I'll come back.  Just call me." And with that, you left home and headed back to school. 

With the start of your Junior year, almost all of your courses are for your Poli-sci major. You feel good about how you are doing in school and general and are excited about it. You are back working for the library again. Jin came back to school a week before you did. And when he finally saw you in person, he gave you a hug so big that you couldn't breathe for the first few seconds. He told you all about what he did during his summer, and you listened with great interest.

Since then, you are right back to your old routine with work, school, and spending time with Jin. Tonight, you are on your normal shift at the library. Because it is early in the semester, you don't have any work that you can do. So instead, you decide to bring a book that you can read to pass the time. You know that early in the semester, the library is usually pretty empty by the time you start work, and it's no different today. You do your normal duties in the beginning of your workday and by the time 9:30 or 10:00 PM rolls around, you are able to settle down at the help desk and read your book. About an hour into your book, you hear the double doors to the main area of the library open and close. You look up to see who it is, and you are greeted with Jin's smiling face. You say, "Hey there, what a nice surprise. You have class work that you have to work on already?"