Starting Over Anderson || ✔

Five: Dreams and Reality

42 days B.C.

The sultry summer air wafts into the house, sending beads of sweat down my face like a mini waterfall. Had I not grown up here, breathing in and out the humid air would be enough to give my lungs a workout. I'm sitting in the living room, on the couch nearest the window, waiting for my friends so that I could leave this oven I live in. Even though the summer air should be clearing up already, it's still so hot that even with the air-conditioner on at full blast, Isa and I are still sweating profusely.

I don't have to wait long though. I'm mid-sentence complaining to Isa about the heat when a honk sounds outside the house. I sprint to the door in a second, shouting a quick goodbye to my sister as she laughs at my eagerness, and squeeze into Keith's 1949 peach-colored Packard. I find myself trapped between the sweaty bodies of Rach and Call and groan. Summer is so not my season.

The Packard was Keith's sixteenth birthday present from his parents. They've used up nearly all of their savings to buy the car in an auction all the way in Ohio. Keith named her Peachy - original, I know - and loves her more than he loves anybody else. Peachy is his baby, his prized possession. If there's so much as a scratch on her, he'd freak.

Sam is in the front seat, gleeful that he doesn't have to cram up with us at the back. I glare at the back of his head, as do Rach and Call. Keith chuckles and puts more pressure on the gas pedal, speeding away to our destination. We're heading to the annual end of August three-day carnival downtown. It's to celebrate the coming of September and the end of Summer, or something like that. It's tradition that everyone living in Jacksonville must go to the carnival.

When we finally reach the central park, we are almost wet through and through at this rate of perspiration. We all tumble out of Peachy, and wait for Keith as he murmurs sweet words to his beloved to stay safe and things like that. If he ever finds himself a girlfriend, I bet she'd flip.

The carnival is already in full swing by the time we get there. The smell of popcorn and cotton candy fills the air, laughter of people with their friends and family drifting in and out of my ears. I look around and take in the sight of the carnival. I spot a few rides that Isa had described to me this morning - she came with Brian the day before - and rate them mentally. On a scale from one to five (one being the most boring), the roller coaster is a definite five. Since it's a little past midday, and with the sun beating down mercilessly on us innocent town folks, it's no wonder that the line at the ice cream stand is the longest. We skip past that, not wanting to waste precious time queuing up. After exchanging cash for tokens, Rach and I make a beeline towards the dart throwing stall. I'm not kidding, we rule at dart throwing.

"Two tokens for three throws," the guy handling the stall informs us. "Throw a combined score of a hundred and above to win a stuffed animal." Rach and I nod eagerly, taking the darts from him. Rach goes first. She lands the first one on the inner ring under the section marked 18. She cries in victory just as the other boys catch up with us.

"Holy crap!" Sam exclaims. He's never witnessed Rach throwing darts before. "That's probably just beginner's luck. Oh hey, isn't that Benji? Look, Keith, it's Benji."

He's referring to the guy handling the stall. Benji. Keith and Sam goes up to him and they greet each other with a whole lot of fist bumps and bro hugs. That is all the time it takes for Rach to throw all her darts at all the inner rings under the 18 and 20 section. She has a total score of 168. Benji and Sam stare at her, mouth agape. She wins herself a stuffed toy of a panda and a goody bag.

Keith grins and pats her head. "I've almost forgotten how good you are in darts. Congrats Rach. Fifth year, isn't it?"

Rach nods proudly and ushers me up to take her place. Rach and I have been collecting stuffed animal prizes from dart throwing booths every year since we had gotten good at the sport. This is our fifth year as queens of darts.