A Collection of Short Stories

Radiohead

Slender fingers slammed against the plastic knob of the radio to turn the volume, up, up, up, and then down because the music was becoming entirely too loud. Winona glared at her auburn haired sister, Amber, out of the corner of her flora green eyes before they focused back on the narrow road ahead of them. She murmured under her breath for her sister to settle on a station or else.

"Sure, once I find something good." Amber retorted. She picked her way through country, pop, and R&B, then ran back through them once again like she wasn't sure which station was which. "What is this? 80's?"

"God! Would you stop it!" Winona slapped Amber's hand away from the radio and then she reached for the water-stained visor overhead and pulled a pink CD free decorated with sharpie. "Put this in, will you?"

"Forget it. You can put it in yourself."

"Fuckin' brat," Winona spat, "no wonder mom would rather work instead." That being said, Winona inserted the CD herself and turned the volume to a reasonable degree. She knew in the pause that followed she had taken her counter a step too far.

When they turned down Beyer Ln, Amber was seething. "What is this? Radiohead?"

"No, it's Grandaddy. Don't pretend you know shit about music."

"Band nerd."

"Drama queen."

"I hate you."

"Well, I don't hate you." Pine trees passed their windows in silence as Winona took them home and the mood inside the rusting Honda Civic was foul. Winona sighed, "I taped your dance recital."

Amber nodded, tears filling her eyes as she wiped her face with the wrinkled sleeve of her PHS sweatshirt. She tried to hide her face somewhere among her shoulder and the window, but her nose always made a gross sound when she cried that Winona picked up on right away.

Winona exhaled, locking her frustration in a metaphysical box and jerking the wheel to the left. The car spun under her direction until she straightened it out in the opposite lane.

"Are you nuts?" Amber screamed. "You could have killed us!"

"Relax. We're going to WaHo."

"Wa- Waffle House? You almost killed us for Waffle House?"

Winona laughed. When she said it like that...

"I get to choose the music."

"Sure."

Winona withheld a cringe as the radio settled back on the 80s station. The Safety Dance was playing and she was 90% certain her sister had no idea what they were listening to. Clearly, Amber had picked this just to be cruel. Well, two could play that game.

Amber grabbed her hair with a squeal as the window rolled down; Winona's car was a piece of junk and it click, click, clicked all the way to the bottom. "Winona-"

"What? I can't hear you?" The volume was maxed out.