Desert Moon

Chapter 5

That Saturday was quite empty. George was grounded for getting detention twice, so he couldn't leave for at least a week. I thought he was past the age of getting grounded, but his parents have been known to baby him. Both Jamie and Elliott were looking at college campuses, I believe. . . Smith was off the radar completely, no one had heard from him. It was a bit odd, but I didn't think much of it until he didn't show up at school the next day.

"Have any of you heard from Smith?" George asked that Monday morning.

"I haven't," replied Jamie.

Elliott and I shook our heads.

"I guess we'll have to walk ourselves home after school" was all George said before we headed off to our classes.

Smith was gone from school for three days before we saw him again. He definitely didn't look like his normal self, his hair was greasy and unkempt and there were big bags under his eyes, which looked droopy and lifeless. Elliott, being the more emotionally protective friend of the group, immediately acknowledged that something was up.

"Smith, what's wrong?" She asks him.

"It's my mom." he answered with a lump in his throat, "She didn't wake up Saturday morning," he wiped a tear from his cheek,"I know I'm almost an adult but..." he sniffed.

"No, no, it's okay" Jamie said, "Losing a parent is fucking hard dude. I was really young when I lost my dad and-"

"Hey, I know you have it worse but can you please let me be upset about it. You can tell me about it later."

"No that wasn't what I was going to say at all. I'm trying to say that I can understand what you're going through and we're all always here for you. And I'll tell you now that you're never going to get over it. You'll get through it but you're going to miss her forever. It will get easier, but I haven't gone one night without thinking about my dad since I lost him. But after a while it's comforting to think about him. I feel like even though he's six feet under, he's still with me, and I hope that he'd still be proud that I'm his son. I know that sounds like some cheesy religious bullshit, but it's true."

"Thanks man.That's good to know. Look, I'm gonna be late, I'll see you guys at lunch."

"See yah" Jamie and I said. George and Elliott were silent.

Within a day or two, Smith was really back to his old self. It was a bit odd how quickly he went from hopeless to his normal self in a matter of days.

"He's gotten over it kind of quick, don't you think?" George asked one day as we were waiting for Smith to get out of class. He had to make up some test that he missed when he was gone, so it was a long wait. "I mean, that's his mom. If my mom died... I'd crumble."

"He's not over it. You just can't dwell on these things. You kind of end up ignoring it" Jamie explained.

"I would never be able to do that."

"You think that, but that's not true. You would."

We were in the back of Smith's truck as we had gone way into the emptiness of the rest of Illinois. The cool breeze was whipping around our shaggy hair as we talked. Occasionally we would have to duck to avoid a tree branch in our path. It dawned on me that one day we wouldn't do things like this anymore. It was really starting to hit me that we were finally growing up and I was nowhere near ready.

"Hey Jamie" I whispered. "Do you remember Desert Moon?"

"Oh my god" he gasped, "it's been years."

"We should go back. Before we graduate, at least," Elliott suggested.

"Dude, we gotta go like now," I said.