Lester of Two Evils

One of the Family

"Good morning, sweetie."

Lester felt a hand brush hair from his forehead and opened his eyes. His mother was sitting on the edge of his bed, bright sunlight shining through the window behind her.

"Mom? What's going on?" Lester asked, quickly sitting up. "Is it Bernard?"

"Everything is alright, honey. Your brother is fine. He and your father are still snoring away. It's amazing how similar they sound. I just wanted a chance for us to talk before anyone else got up."

Relieved, Lester fell back against his pillow. His mother pulled the blankets up around him and returned to stroking his hair.

"I think it's actually quite dashing," Mrs. North said, playing with the streak of white that now ran through Lester's bangs above his left eye, a seemingly permanent souvenir from his time in the rift.

"You don't think it makes me look too weird?" Lester asked.

"Maybe a little," his mother said. She bent down and retrieved the bag he'd fashioned to look like a boulder from the floor beside his bed. "But perhaps the weird things are what set us apart and make us who we are."

She took out two pieces of candy and handed one to Lester.

"You stealing sweets from kids now, Mom?" Lester asked.

His mother laughed.

"That surprise snowstorm left me sitting by the front door with a giant bowl of candy and no trick-or-treaters. I knew you weren't able to go out with your friends. So, I guess their loss is our gain."

Mrs. North unwrapped a bright red fireball and popped it into her mouth.

It had been past midnight when Bernard, Lester, and his father had finally returned home after escorting Amanda and Mae to their respective houses. Exhausted, Lester had retreated to his room, falling asleep before his head hit the pillow. He vaguely recalled waking in the dark, seeing a light shining from beneath his parent's bedroom door, and drifting off again to the sound of their muffled voices.

"Mom?" Lester said, biting into a square of chocolate-covered caramel. "How come you never told me you knew Amanda's Aunt?"

"Well, it's complicated."

Lester stopped chewing and stared.

"Okay," his mother said with a sigh. "You're right. No more secrets. Old habits die hard." She gave him an apologetic smile and rolled the fireball around her mouth. "When I was your age, Jennie Poole was my best friend. We were inseparable and did everything together. It was the two of us against the world."

Lester thought of Amanda and tried to imagine what they would be like as adults, possibly with kids of their own. Would they still be close?

"All that changed when we entered middle school," his mother continued. "On the very first day, this obnoxious boy with bright red hair started following us around. Everywhere we turned, there he was. Everyone is awkward at that age, but he was somehow more so. Tall and gangly, he was constantly tripping over his own feet. He didn't seem to have any other friends, possibly because he was an obnoxious pain in the ass. Anyway, we ended up feeling sorry for him and eventually let him hang out with us. I haven't been able to get rid of him since."

Lester's mother gave him a quick wink. Unlike most people, she only cursed when she was in a good mood. When she was really having fun, she could make a sailor blush.

"After that, it was always the three of us. Even when your father and I got married, Jennie spent more time at our house than her own. We set her up on dates with some of your father's work friends, but honestly, I don't think any of them could keep up with her. I've never met anyone who's more alive."