The Back Harlow Road • Stand By Me

Chapter One "Meet The Browers"

Some people say that miracles only happen to people who deserve it, if that were true I don't know what I did to deserve Ray Brower as a brother.

It wasn't even as if he were my brother, he is my best friend. He always comforts me when I am upset and when I need help he is always there. He wasn't like a lot of other people here on The View, then again neither was I.

As twins we felt for each other, like one time when we were ten I fell down the stairs. I ended up breaking my arm, but didn't feel one bit of pain, however Ray complained about his arm hurting for the rest of the night. I guess what I am trying to say is, Ray and I are close and I care about him a lot.

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I looked down interested in the swinging of my feet. I moved them opposite ways, back and forth, as I continued to eat my chocolate ice cream cone outside of the polar. It was a sunny summer day in Castle Rock, Oregon and I was beating the heat by eating ice cream with my twin brother, older by 2 minutes and 34 seconds, and our friends.

Ray's friends all looked similar, but so different. They wore their hair feathered back and clean with polo shirts and kaki pants, ironed to perfection. They looked as if they could be on a magazine for every known and popular brand of men's clothing.

My friends, sitting next to me on a bench were spitting images of each other. We all wore the same color of blue, because today was Wednesday. We color coordinated our outfits to match everyday of the week, they think it looks professional and intimidating.

Most of their outfits were a plaid skirt and sweater, which they were sweating buckets in for the name of fashion, however I went with a different look today in my blue dress I got for my birthday last year. I was told that the dress was flattering by many people, except the head of our clique, Clair Pena, who said the dress was the ugliest piece of clothing she had ever seen me wear.

With the crimson color that spread through my cheeks I shook off the thought, I knew she said that because she was looking out for me. After all that's what friends do, we look after each other.

We all ordered the same thing, chocolate ice cream in a small waffle cone, and sat on the wooden bench watching the boys have fun and joke around. We were "too mature" to hang around such foolishness, so instead we talked about drama until our tongues fell out.

And, like any other girl would, talked about boys until Stacey Carmichael said something that made Clair annoyed. She carelessly said "Ace Merrill is kind of hot though, he has something mysterious about him," and Clair did not take this lightly.

She exclaimed, quiet loudly "Stacey that's so revolting! Our kind don't get along with their kind. You are soo out of his league, he is just a low-life hood!" she bragged about us being better than Ace and his gang, The Cobras, and I ignored her stuck up personality.

Everyone knew she was prissy and stuck up, but no one had dared to ever say that to her face in the fear that she might ruin them.

"I guess you are right," Stacey muttered, afraid to say the wrong thing and create more unwanted tension.

Clair whole heartedly agreed to her statement "I don't know what you girls would do without my guidance, you're so lucky to have me," she boasted and for the longest time no one said anything, afraid to rock the boat.

The boys of our group had noticed the thick tension building and rushed over to make light of it. It was like this often, that Ray and his friends would come to our rescue in awkward situations.

"Guy there is going to be this totally boss party and Jack's place tonight, you ladies got to come," Edward Rigley said convincingly, everyone in the assemblage nodded, except for Ray and I who already had plans with our parents tonight.

Every Wednesday night we ate my favorite dinner and spent time as a family, since we rarely did. The array didn't seem to mind our absence so we separated from the group to walk home.

By this time I had finished my ice cream and Ray was rambling on about some baseball story that I couldn't seem to follow along about. I just nodded when necessary and that seemed to be enough for him.

When we finally arrived at the Brower Household he had finished his story and I was thankful I didn't have to hear another word about Babe Ruth.

We casually entered the home to the delicious smells of pasta and garlic bread. I only partially took notice to the fact I ate ice cream before dinner.

My dad sat down at the table after his long day of work and smiled at the sight of the two of us. Ray joined my father at the table while I decided to help my mother in the kitchen. We placed the food in the proper spots and joined the rest of our family at the table.

Before digging into the food we respectfully said a prayer to thank God for what he gives us everyday. After that my father and brother resumed their normal conversations of baseball while mother and I made faces across the table to each other.

As I twisted my spaghetti to bring to my mouth, but suddenly it fell off the fork and onto the floor, only for our pet dog Mickey to come and eat it. That caused a lot of laughter through out the house, most from me.

"That was great," my brother patted my shoulder in fits of laughter. My mother shook her head lightly laughing and my father looked at me in amusement.

The rest of the night blew by smoothly, Ray and I watched our cartoons, my father read the newspaper and mother, or moomoo as I call her, continued sewing a dress she was making.

Once the clock started ticking later and later I felt myself getting tired. My mother assured me  to bed and I gladly went to sleep.

After feeling myself lay there, tired but not sleeping, I decided to read a book. Fifty pages into Of Mice and Men I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

Authors Note
Thank you sososo much for reading chapter one! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. :)