"But how is it possible in this day and age that you've never seen the Ocean?" Caitlin asked. She was genuinely interested, genuinely surprised that person could have lived almost twelve years without ever having seen it.
All Vix could do was shrug and then smile. She wondered if Caitlin heard the music, too, if music followed her wherever she went. From then on whenever Vix heard "Dancing Queen" she was back in sixth grade on a sunny afternoon in June. The afternoon some fairy godmother waved her magic wand over Vix's head and changed her life forever. At home, Vix asked her mother,"How is it possible,in this day and age, that I've never seen the Ocean?"
Her mother, who was bathing her youngest brother, Nathan, looked at her as if she were nuts. Nathan had muscular dystrophy. His body was small and misshapen. They had a contraption that allowed him to sit in the bathtub but he couldn't be left alone. He was seven, sassy and smart, a lot brighter than his older brother Lewis, who was nine, or his sister, Lanie, who was ten.
"What kind of question is that?" Her mother asked." We live in New Mexico. Hundreds of miles from one Ocean and Thousands from the other."
"I Know, but so to plenty of other people and they've been to the Ocean." She knew damn well why they'd never been to either coast. Still, she sat on the closed toilet seat, arms folded defiantly across her chest, as she watched Nathan sailing his boats around in the tub , stirring up waves with his arms.
"This is my Ocean,"he said. His speech was grabled, making it difficult for some people to understand him but not Vix.
"Besides, you've been to Tulsa," her mother said, as if that had anything to do with what they were talking about.
Yes, she'd been to Tulsa, but only once, when her grandmother, a grandmother she never knew she had until then, lay dying. " Open your eyes Darlene," her mother had said to the stranger in the hospital bed.
"Open your eyes and have a look at your grandchildren." The three of them were lined up in front of their mother, while Nathan slept in his stroller. This grandmother person looked Vix, Lewis and Lanie up and down without moving her head. Then she said, "Well, Tawny, I see you've been busy." And that was it.
Tawny didn't cry when Darlene died the next day. Vix got to help her clean out Darlene's trailer, the trailer where Tawny had grown up. Tawny took some old photos, an unopened bottle of Scotch, and a couple of Indian baskets she thought would be worth something turns out they weren't.
She couldn't sit still. She'd never wanted anything so badly in her life. And she was determined. One way or another she was going away with Caitlin Somers.
"Stop squirming," Tawny said, tossing Vix a towel. "Get Nathan dried and ready for supper. I've got to help Lewis with his homework."
"So,can I go?" Vix called as Tawny left the bathroom and headed down the hall.
"Your father and I will discuss it , Victoria," Tawny called back, letting her know it wasn't a done deal.
Tawny never called her Vix like everyone else. If I'd wanted to name my daughter after after a cold remedy, I would have. You'd have thought a person named Tawny would have been more flexible
She'd been to Caitlin's house, an old walled- in place on the Camino, just once, in March , when Caitlin had invited the whole class to her twelfth birthday party. They'd had live music and a pizza wagon with a dozen different toppings.
Come back next week to know what happened in Caitlin's birthday party.... Bye
