Mermania

Uncertain situations

it." She held out her arm for him to take. "I might as well be your wife. Unless that makes you uncomfortable." "He didn't come home, Craig, and school let out over an hour ago. I called Cayden's mom___he's not at their house, either. I'm at Briar Point right now. Mr. Herd said he left right after school. Craig, where else could he be?" "Zechariah was kind enough to leave his key on my couch this morning," the man said. "Oh, he's angry?" Craig answered sarcastically. "There's more to it than that, Kara. I expected it to come, but not with such a bad attitude. "Rema had hoped to make it inside before anyone saw her. He hurried away before Neco could ask any more questions. "Hmph." Agent Nyler switched the positions of his arms, placing his other index finger across his mustache. "So, where will your father be now?" Greger pulled Rema to her feet. "Remember," he whispered, "hold your head high." Rema's thoughts drifted to Bren, Aunt Maya, and Uncle Kar. How could she be found guilty when Lennek was the one destroying people's lives for his own enjoyment? I furrowed my eyebrows, restraining the tears. "But it feels like I'm holding people back, like I'm constantly making people uncomfortable or unhappy because- you're right." My eyes met his with a flash of understanding. "I'm not who I used to be." More to myself than anyone, I whispered the words again because it felt good, in a way, to say it out loud. "I'm not who I used to be.." Gretchen looked skeptical. "No," he replied. "Just the last couple, maybe." "Yes, I dare." Kara and Craig sat down with Officer Garrenton at the dining table Wednesday afternoon, Kara leaving dinner half-prepared on the stand-alone counter. Lennek pulled back and stared at her. Swift as a snack's bite, his mouth was at her ear. "Fine. Play your little game," he whsipered. "But our wedding is only days away and once we're married, you're mine. Whether you like it or not. Understand?" "Not much," Zach answered. "The doctor, when I was little. And I get to go on field trips with my class. One time we went to the Children's Museum." It was hard to wait. He wanted to leave right away, but Mom and Dad insisted that they all get a good night's sleep first. In the morning, Mom roused him early with a gentle, "Wake up, Fish." Their supplies having been packed the previous night, they said goodbye to Paws- Marissa's older sister Jasmine, who could drive, would stop by to feed him- and hit the road. They headed out of Seattle on the freeway, Mom passing breakfast to Zach in the back seat. His library books were tucked inside his backpack beside him, but he wasn't interested in reading just yet. He had never seen the places they were passing- Seatac, where he spotted massive planes stationed at the international airport, then Federal Way, then Tacoma. He tried to take in everything at once- buildings, traffic, people- not wanting to miss any of it. Kara held onto it for a moment before releasing it to him. "Some very important rules come with this key, Zach. Never give it to anyone, and always check to make sure you have it before you leave the house. And..." "Pansies," she identified them. "We sell a lot of those at Grover's where I work." When they reach the snow's end, where the trail resumed, they wrapped up their frolicking and continued on. Dad said they had only hiked half of the trail so far, and there would be time to hike more trails after this one, if Zach and Mom weren't too worn out. They came to an overlook where other hikers had stopped to eat, and Mom pulled out some snacks for them to munch on. Zach munched gratefully; he was getting hungry. A little further down the trail, Dad pointed out an enormous expanse of ice that he said was a glacier sliding down Mt. Rainier so slowly that you couldn't even see it move if you stood there and watched it. Evan, too, seemed engrossed. We stood side by side, reading the captions and stories interspersed with beautiful pieces of artwork inspired by man's hopes and fears of these beings. Several monsters were depicted in life-sized statues or in carvings and tapestries. One tapestry caught my eye. It portrayed Odysseus's encounter with the sirens. The women were beautiful and appeared to be seducing Odysseus. The colors and detail were amazing. "Meara, are you awake?" Evan gave my parents an apologetic look, which had me fuming even more, and then followed me out the patio door and into the yard. He listened while I ranted, offering an "uh-huh" or "Of course" at regular intervals. It didn't take me long to get it out of my system, and when I calmed down, I realized how ridiculous I was acting. It didn't stop me from telling Evan, "If you say 'uh-huh' one more time, I'm going to punch you." "Well, no, but if my business keeps growing, I'll be able to afford one in a couple of months." "Why don't you try me?" Evan turned and put his arm around my shoulder. He lifted my chin and kissed me. His lips were cold, but his nose was colder. "It's open?" "Cassie, I'd like a word with you," Ellie said. She found that she was. She hadn't been able to hold the scowl very long, not with what she knew that he didn't know yet. "I'll show you in a minute." Just then, a motorized cart rattled by at the near end of the row, towing a wagon filled with flowering shrubs. The aged driver, hands gnarled like old tree knots, yelled down the row at them in a gravelly voice as he drove by. "No kissing the customers, Kara! We're not that kind of establishment!" She waved me off. "It's my treat. You're having a rough couple of days. It's the least I can do." The pelicans won the championship. They patrolled the neighborhood for an hour, then checked back at home. Craig's note was still on the door and his phone inside on the counter, the house was still empty, and Paws was still eager for their attention. "He could have come back for them after school." As I watched her follow the nurse, my only thought was that I wanted things to be as they always had been between us. Everything was changing.