COSMIC

2 - Young Americans

The ear-shattering ring of the telephone pounded on my bedroom door. I jumped as it woke me up and immediately flew out of bed, whispering a cuss word to myself as I ran into the kitchen. Grabbing the counter, I swung the phone up to my ear.

"Hello," I spoke in a low, flat voice.

"Hey, Jamie," came the joyful reply.

"Nancy! I told you not to call this early in the morning." I glanced at the clock, which read a quarter past nine. What was she even doing up this early? "You know my mom is still sleeping."

"I'm sorry," she whined. "But you wouldn't believe who I ran into this morning in town."

"Who?" I asked, slightly irritated that she bothered to call about something so insignificant.

"Josh Mitchell," she replied, bubbling out her joy and craftiness. I could almost hear the waggling of her eyebrows. "He told me Kyle and the gang are going out tonight, so I invited them to our hangout."

I sighed.

"Jamie," she continued. "Don't worry about it. It will be fine! You will have fun once we get there. So what time would you like me to pick you up?"

I hesitated to answer, annoyed that she had invited them without consulting me first. Of course, she had discussed it the previous night and I knew if I complained, she would use that against me as her argument. I didn't think she would go ahead with her plan, but it was too late to fight it. Besides, she was usually right in these situations so it couldn't be too bad.

"Are you picking anyone else up?" I said.

"No, he said they'd meet us out there. I told him where it was. Oh, and I'm having dinner with my dad beforehand-just a heads up."

"Okay, I guess you can pick me up around nine."

"Great! I knew you'd want to come."

"Yeah, sure. I'll see you later."

After her quick goodbye, I hung up the phone and turned towards the kitchen. Now I was wide awake, as the light from the warming day poured through the windows. I knew my mom would sleep longer, so I grabbed myself a bowl, milk, and the box of Frosted Flakes from the cupboard and poured a healthy heap of cereal.

An hour passed before my mom walked in. I noticed how tired she looked: the bags under her eyes, the makeup residue left on her face, and her messed up hair. It must have been another busy night. I hated to see her in that condition, especially when I remembered how well she cared for herself before working. Now when I saw her fatigue, I only remembered my conviction-that she didn't have to do this to herself, not while Dad still had a job.

She saw me sitting at the breakfast table, bowl pushed aside and book in hand, and cracked a smile while pouring herself some coffee. She followed it with a bright greeting, attempting to appear happy and awake. It made me realize I should try the same, so I brushed my exasperations away as I ran my fingers through my hair.

"How was work?" I asked.

"Good as it could ever be," she said. "Busy, but that's the norm at the end of the week." She sipped her coffee. "How was your night? You and Nancy did something, right?"

"Yeah, we went to Roe Ann's for burgers and then hung out at that place I found in the woods."

"Oh, yeah. You were supposed to show me someday."

"Yeah, well I don't know if we'll get a chance now. Nancy invited the gang out tonight. I kind of wanted to keep it to ourselves, but now that they're coming, they'll probably take over."