Powering Through: A Sequel to Learning To Swim For Real

Chapter 22: Home For The Holidays

"My flight just got canceled," Marian announced, putting her phone down.

"Oh no," Jack said. "Why?"

"The Sacramento airport is closed until at least tomorrow morning because of fog." Jack could hear the frustration in her voice. Marian's home town of Red Bluff was about three hours north of Warren.

"Oh, man, that valley fog sucks so bad," Jack said in sympathy.

"I'm going to check into some other things," Marian said, opening her lap top. "Sometimes I can find weird little flights to Redding, and I've even taken the train before, though it's late for that."

They were hanging out at her house, and the weather outside matched Jack's mood perfectly. All of his other friends had left to go to to their families for Christmas, so there was nowhere else for him to go.

In addition to that, part of Jack wanted to be with Marian. It was a combination of things: He genuinely liked Marian; she was funny, and fun, and smart. They had a lot in common, and she got all of his references to school, his complaints about swimming so much, about what parts of his body hurt from the workout, whatever. And, though he hated to admit it, part of it was frustration and irritation with Kelsey. She had no right to try to control him. He was his own person, and he should be able to spend time with whomever he chose, even if it was someone of a different gender than himself, dang it. He wasn't a toddler, and he certainly wasn't Kelsey's pet, to be kept on a leash that she could just pull whenever she felt he was out of line.

Marian looked over at him from her laptop and smiled. "What are you thinking about?" she asked. "You look so serious, and kind of angry. It's not like your usual expression at all."

"Oh yeah? What do I usually look like?" Jack was curious. He'd never really considered how he looked to other people until very recently.

Marian shrugged as she considered. "Oh, I don't know, I guess you look kind of goofy and happy? Carefree?" She nodded. "Yeah."

Jack laughed and shook his head. "Great. You just described a cartoon character, I think."

"No I didn't, I described someone really nice," Marian contradicted.

Twenty minutes later she shut her laptop with a sigh. "Nothing. There aren't a lot of flights to Redding, and they're delayed and screwed up because of the fog, too, even though it's so far north. And they're overbooked or whatever. Fuck." She looked at Jack. "Sorry."

Jack shook his head. "Please. What about the train?"

"There are a few seats here and there if I go to Westwood or whatever tomorrow night," Marian replied. "I might try it if the airport doesn't reopen, but the train just takes so long, you know? And even though you just sit there, and it's no different from sitting in a car or a plane, you get so exhausted for some reason, you ever notice that?"

Jack nodded.

"You know," he began, "you could just ride up to Warren with me tomorrow if you wanted. You'd be closer, anyway?" He looked at her, eyebrows raised. "It might be easier to catch a train from up there if you couldn't get a plane." At her silence he continued. "If the airport opens, we could drive you to your flight in San Francisco, or worst case, we could even drive you all the way to Red Bluff?"

Marian looked horrified. "God Jack, no! It's like three and a half hours one way! And if it's still foggy it could take even longer!" She shook her head decisively. "It would take you away from your family for an entire day. No way." She opened her laptop again. "I can find something, I'm sure."

She shut her laptop again a bit later, causing Jack to look up from his book.

"No joy?" he asked.