Life Lost and Found

22: Tying Knots

Wednesday, December 24

Madeline looked in the mirror, examining the layers of tin foil in her hair. She poked at one of them. "You know, this looks pretty great as is. I wouldn't change a thing."

"I can leave it if you want," Page said, putting down her dyeing materials.

"Yeah, do that." Madeline adjusted the angle of her head. "I think I'm picking up satellite."

Page snickered and went back to work.

Madeline looked in the mirror. "I can't believe that I can't can't believe that I'm doing this."

"I'm sorry, was that supposed to make sense?" Page put her hands on Madeline's shoulders. "Stop squirming."

"How much longer is this going to take?"

"I'm trying to take out the foil right now if you'd hold freaking still. Jeeze, you're fidgety. Have you always been like this?"

Hmm... drumming fingers, tapping toes, jittering knees, chewing lips, wringing hands, dancing feet, constantly shifting in chairs, overly loud humming... chewing nails, fingers, and often pencils... chair-rocking, chair-dancing, chair-spinning..."Pretty much." She forced herself to be still. "I hope Rob likes this."

"He will," Page mumbled.

There was something in her tone that Madeline couldn't figure out. She was going to ask about it, but just then a very merry Sofie walked by the bathroom singing: "Oh, the weather outside is awe-some! I think I killed the poss-um! As the body count starts to grow, let it snow, let it snow, let it snoooow!"

Madeline blinked, her train of thought momentarily obliterated. Umm... hair! Right! "This looks amaze-sauce! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Page!"

"Well, lucky for you I don't have family to visit for the holidays!" Page responded. They both looked at each other in the mirror. "That didn't come out how I meant."

"I know what you were trying to say," Madeline reassured her. Page's father was in prison, and she hadn't heard from her mother in years. It made Madeline appreciate her father's ongoing existence a little more. One parent was, mathematically speaking, a great deal more than zero. She was glad she would be seeing him later today.

Half an hour later, Madeline inspected the reflection in the mirror, not recognizing herself—again. She was beginning to make a habit of this. Her semi-curly hair bunched around the sides of her face in saintly blonde locks. "I'll say it for you this time, Page: You're a genius."

"Yep. I'm your personal fairy godmother. Now get out of here so I can magically clean up."

"But I can't let you do all the dirty work."

"Sure you can! Consider it a Christmas present."

Well, okay. Madeline went to her room and got dressed, choosing one of the brand-name designer blouses Rob had given her, along with a pair of big silver hoop earrings and a series of matching bracelets. Oh, and high heels, of course. She sure did spend a lot on clothes these days.

Madeline went to the kitchen to wait for Rob, who was coming soon to pick her up. She grabbed a box of chemically exuberant, marshmallow-based, sugary cereal delight from her shelf... and then put it back. Rob had commented a few times about how many calories were in certain things she enjoyed. So... no cereal.

The garage door sounded, and she perked up. Was it him? She hurried to the door.

"Oh. Hi, Gina." Of course it wasn't him. Rob didn't know the code. Duh, moron.