Next came the spikes. They jutted up from the floor and stopped at varying heights before sliding back down again. They moved quickly and unpredictably, reminding me of the Whac-A-Mole arcade game I’d played when I was younger. Except the concept was very different. Rather than whacking moles with a mallet, I’d be trying to avoid stepping on them – spikes which could easily pierce through my foot and cause damage. Yikes! Nasty thought, that. Several people had already dodged the spikes, though, so I knew it couldn’t be that difficult. Once I had the rhythm all figured out, I hopped through without any problems and came to an abrupt halt before the paddles.
From a rotating beam, different-sized wood paddles – with small barbs of all things – extended outward and rotated in a continuous circle. The trick here was to move fast while jumping, crawling, and rolling at all the right times. While it was a bit of a work-out, I made it through and only got nipped once, embarrassingly, on my butt. Leaning over, I rested my hands on my knees and caught my breath while surveying the mini-wrecking balls where Jaydon had failed. Upon closer inspection, I saw they were actually the cannonball concretions that Madison had used during her target competition. The sun pounded against my face and arms, and I wiped my brow. No doubt, I was burning to a crisp. I’d tuned out everything else around me until now, so I smiled when I realized the crowd was cheering uproariously. I could barely hear a song by the Zac Brown Band filtering through the speakers.
Rubbing my hands together, I watched the concretions. Someone had gathered several different sizes from the Ranch. Hanging from a large wooden beam, they were secured with metal chains and swung back and forth like a pendulum. They moved in a continual rhythm, faster then slower – left, left…right…right…left, left, left…right…right, right. All I had to do was move in the opposite direction at the same tempo. Confident, I dashed forward, dodging them effortlessly. Until the end, that is. I was about to step left and left again, but my Flair kicked in, giving me insight that the last two cannonballs were gaining momentum, and if I continued I’d be knocked off the gauntlet.
I froze, stood tall with my hands at my sides, and barely breathed. There was scarcely enough room for me to stand between two swinging concretions, but I managed. They “swished” by closely, and I felt a rush of air. The cannonball in front of me was about face level, and I think if I had stuck out my tongue, I would have gotten a taste of sedimentary rock as it rushed by. I allowed my Flair to guide me the rest of the way. I ducked and then glided forward like I was sliding into home, narrowly avoiding the last cannonball, which was monstrous – twice the size of an exercise ball.
Holding my hands to my cheeks, I stopped for another breather. My hands were shaking, and I was experiencing vertigo something terrible. Everything around me seemed to be moving. I felt as if I’d been on a merry-go-round for hours. Stretching my arms out, I steadied myself and sent a blast of Essence throughout my entire body. Funny how well that worked.
“You okay?”
“Yep. Just needed to take care of a little dizziness.”
“You’re doing awesome! Only three more challenges left.”
“Yeah, except the next one is like log-rolling without the water. And you know balance is not my strong point. You remember I got kicked out of yoga, don’t you?”
“No.”
“Totally true. I kept falling over, and then I’d laugh so hard, I couldn’t continue. By then I’d disrupted everyone’s concentration. The instructor suggested I might not want to consider Zumba.”
“Well, you can laugh as much as you want here. Just don’t fall down.”
“Thanks for that sagacious advice,” I said sarcastically.
“Huh? Whatever. Just glad I could help. Oh, and Jason says if you do fall down, get up quickly, because it activates a sweeper. It will come across and brush you off the logs and onto the ground.”
Frowning, I shook my head. Okay, Lexi, I told myself. It’s now or never. Trusting my Flair, I stepped onto the first log and closed my eyes. I saw no reason to look at my feet, because it wasn’t like they were going to leave my body or anything. I held my hands just slightly away from my chest, but knew from doing squats at the gym, that real balance came from the legs. I walked forward on the log with tiny steps. With precision my Flair alerted me the log was about to change directions, so I adapted my step and walked backwards.
“Showoff”
“Whatever.”
“Hey, did you know that a hundred steps backwards are equivalent to 1000 steps forwards?”
“Get out of my head.”
“Just saying.”
Slowly, I advanced, teetering from log to log, with my feet switching from a forward step to a backwards gait, and forward again. Before I knew it, my Flair had guided me to the end, and I’d reached the next phase: swinging oil drums.
Enthused by the cheering crowd, I turned and waved. Refocusing, I scrutinized the metal barrels. Someone had created two different challenges here. First, suspended on chains from a rotating top, the barrels reminded me of the swing carousel ride at the Puyallup Fair. The rotating top even tilted, adding extra variations of motion, and I wondered who’d come up with such crazy ideas. No problem, though. In the second portion, the metal drums swung back and forth at different velocities, generating a hypnotic effect. I advanced and just when I thought I had the rates all figured out, one jerked and bounced unpredictably in all directions. Soon after, several more of the metal drums lurched and swung erratically. There was no way any normal Guardian could get through here. With my eyes wide open, I propelled myself between two barrels and immediately crouched low to the ground as the bottom of a barrel swung madly above my head. With my Flair guiding me, I worked my way slowly through the maze, knowing exactly when to move and how fast to go.
In a matter of seconds, I was standing on the small platform in front of the final challenge. Seeing all my friends only 15 feet away at the end of the gauntlet brought a huge grin to my face. I made eye contact with Jason, and as so often happened, my heart fluttered. In that moment, I felt like I could conquer the world. As I gazed at the trap doors in front of me, I knew I had the power to control my own life.
I could do this. No question.
The entire remaining section was divided into two foot by two foot squares. At any moment they might split in half and drop. This would be like walking on a series of unpredictable trap doors. Again, no rhythm or pattern. At one point, more than two-thirds of the doors were open at the same time, and the solid ones were great distances apart. Knowing when to leap was key. If I was standing on a square when the doors flew open, I’d fall to my demise. Failure with no prizes. The meaning wasn’t lost on me. This last challenge bred vulnerability. Like when you have no control over anything in your life and you know that at some point you’re going to stumble and fall. So you live in constant fear – self-doubt controlling your every cautionary step. In fact, a year ago, I felt like that a lot of the time. But not anymore.
Now, I was all about accepting life’s challenges and jumping into action. If I didn’t, I was never going anywhere. And in this life, I planned on going a lot of places. When I went and where I went needed to be determined by me, not the Senior Council. At this moment, playing a high-speed rendition of hopscotch would take me further toward my goals.
Feeling empowered, I jumped swiftly from square to square. Oftentimes, one trap door would fly open just as I stepped off. A couple times, several doors in an entire area dropped at the same time, and I had to leap a couple rows over. I didn’t care about appearing graceful for the spectators, my goal was simply to win. My Flair worked well. Toward the end, I was laughing, because I was truly enjoying myself. I felt like I was dancing. I felt like I was living.
Finally, I reached the end of the gauntlet, and the announcer, along with the audience, went wild. All smiles, I hurried off the platform and down the stairs. I was happy to be on solid ground again with no moving parts, and I was ecstatic. Jessica, Ash, and Izzy nearly bowle
d me over in their attempt to congratulate me. My other friends crowded around without getting too close, cheering and laughing.
When Jason came within earshot, I said, “If you have to leave Bellingham, then I’m going too.”
His blue eyes sparkled, a big change from the teary-eyed mess they’d been the night before. “No way was I leaving without you.”
“Yeah well, let’s just find a way we can all stay in Bellingham,” Madison interjected.
“You got that right,” I declared.
“Nice run by the way,” she added.
“Thanks.” We locked gazes, and I noticed her eyes were still glossy and a bit bloodshot. “We got this,” I assured her and smiled, because I knew if she and I teamed up, no challenge was too big.
“Hey,” Ash said loudly, “Tonight we celebrate. Tomorrow we go home and come up with a plan.”
“Amen to that,” I said.
CHAPTER 9 – HOME SWEET HOME
Bellingham, Washington
There was something strangely comforting about standing in the checkstand again. All the hustle and bustle, the customers’ constant chatter, the beeping registers… Oh, yes! All of it was like music to my ears. I took a deep breath and smiled at my customer, a pretty middle-aged lady. As I scanned her items, she spoke animatedly about her daughter’s sleepover birthday party. I laughed at the drama. Loud music, dancing, popcorn fights, and texting into the wee hours of the morning. I could tell she wanted me to be impressed. And I suppose, surviving a night with ten squealing eleven year olds would be considered quite a feat by most people’s standards. Since it was my responsibility to make sure she left happy, I gave her all the kudos I could think of, even suggesting she be nominated for mother of the year.
When I put the last bag of groceries in her cart, she said, “Thanks for listening. I guess I needed to vent.” She paused and looked at my name tag. “Lexi,” she said as I handed her the receipt, “I’ll look for you the next time I’m in. My son’s birthday is just around the corner, and I’m sure you’ll want to hear all about it.” She winked and waved her receipt in the air.
“I’m always in for a good story,” I called after her. She laughed and moseyed toward the coffee shop. Funny thing was – I was totally serious. Customers sharing their stories with me was a normal thing. And I enjoyed being part of something normal.
I sprayed the belt with cleaner and sighed…if she really wanted to see chaos in action, she could shadow me for a few days. My mind flew back to when I’d beaten the gauntlet and how crazy things had gotten afterwards. The crowd had started chanting in unison, “Senior Council. Senior Council.” Apparently, there was a short ceremony when someone was elected to the Senior Council, and this time, everyone wanted to see it happen. Talk about confusion. The Council members didn’t even have time to regroup or renege on the prize – as I’m sure some of them wanted. And before I knew it, I’d been sworn in as a Senior Council member. Unbelievable!
Not long after that, I was handed a mic and asked which Guardian Circle I wanted to join. Mr. Wright looked stunned, but at that point he couldn’t very well stop me from answering the question without looking like a fraud. As voices quieted down and people leaned in to hear my response, I knew I had to be careful with my words. I told everyone what an honor it was to have the choice, especially when there were so many exceptional Circles to choose from. I said I didn’t want to make a hasty decision and needed a couple months to think about it. That way I could talk with representatives from different Circles, reflect on the pros and cons, and make a thoughtful decision – one that would be beneficial to all involved. I’m sure Mr. Wright and Carlos understood my meaning behind the two month timeline, but there wasn’t much they could say, because the crowd had approved my request with applause and shouts of support. Afterwards, it had taken forever to get everyone settled again, and the awards ceremony ran late into the evening. By the next morning, after a quick breakfast and a lot of good-byes – with several invitations for Ash and I to visit different Circles – we’d finally left for home.
I finished scrubbing the belt and misted the air with a final blast of lemon-scented sanitizer for good measure. Inhaling, I smiled. Maybe that’s why it felt so good to be here – the simple act of ringing up groceries was routine. And calming. Life without structure equaled chaos; I knew this to be true. I always heard about how children needed routines for developing healthy habits and emotional stability. But let’s face it, we adults needed order and stability just as much. Maybe even more.
In greeting the next customer, I continued with his order as he ran back to grab the one thing he’d come in for: milk. So funny. Milk or bread were two hot commodities, often the driving force behind a trip to the grocery store. But somehow they became the two most forgotten items once the shopping cart was in hand. I burst out laughing and even started talking to myself as I put the man’s strange assortment of items in his bag. It was really none of my business to judge, but the combination of energy drinks, baby formula, diet hot chocolate mix, orange juice, wine, Ensure and gummy bears was seriously comical. Way too much drinking going on at this guy’s house. When I grabbed two bottles of Pepto-Bismol, I lost it. Of course, neither pink bottle would scan, so I had to hand enter the UPC code. My vision blurred and I couldn’t read the numbers, because the words “provides relief from diarrhea” struck me as super funny. Needless to say, I messed it up several times before finally getting them entered. Parting ways with the culprits of my hysteria, I dropped them into the bag. Quickly, I grabbed a tissue and wiped my eyes. Everyone had problems. Some just worse than others.
Yep! It was good to be back.
I’d been home for a week, and already I’d helped Ally with wedding plans, been to a Bellingham Bells baseball game with Jason and my parents when they’d come up for a day visit, rode bikes with Jason and Ava Rose along the boardwalk, finished the Cassandra Clare book, hiked with Jason to a new waterfall at Warm Creek, and, as expected, had a couple premonitions which resulted in saving a few lives. All normal, everyday kinds of activities. Even though life in Bellingham was good, the two month deadline loomed. Frustratingly, we were no closer to a solution. The only sure-fire way the Senior Council would allow Jason and Madison to stay in our Circle would be if my link with Ash broke and I relinked with Jason. Or, as Ben had so kindly suggested when no one but Ally and I were in earshot, “Maybe you and Ash should just get married. Bet Jason and Madison could stick around then.”
Obviously, that was not an option.
“Oh, here’s the milk. Thanks for waiting,” the returning customer said breathlessly, banging it onto the belt. It took all my self-control not to start laughing again. I mean, did he really need something more to drink?
A couple hours later, Lesley showed up at my checkstand. “Hi. I’m here to take your place. Guess you have a 30 minute dinner break.”
“Great. I’m starving,” I said, logging off the computer.
“How come you’re working so late tonight?”
Groaning, I said, “I don’t know. Midnight is too late for me, but it must have been my turn.”
“Sucks for sure, but at least you have a late break. When you get back you’ll only have two hours to go.”
“I know. Gotta love it when it works out that way. See ya.”
“See ya,” she echoed.
After paying for a turkey pesto sandwich and a small bag of Cheetos, I hurried to the food court seating area, which was still fairly crowded. Shocked at finding Ally, Ben, and Ash together in a corner booth, I appeared at their table with a disgruntled look on my face. “Hey, what’s the deal? You guys get together and don’t bother inviting me? My ego is damaged for life,” I teased, dropping my dinner on the table. I gave Ash a shove, forcing him to slide over.
“I didn’t know you were working late,” Ben commented, putting an arm around Ally’s shoulder. His naturally tanned Hawaiian skin was a dramatic contrast to her lighter one.
“Must be making up for
the fact I was on vacation for a week,” I said in explanation and stuck out my tongue.
Ally set down her sparkling water. “Glad we’re not open this late at Macy’s.” She pointed at Ash. “Originally, we had plans to meet with Ash tonight and talk about music for our wedding, but someone got sick and Ben said he’d cover the shift.” She grabbed his hand and shook her head. “He didn’t ask what time the shift was until after he’d already said yes. Lucky for us, Ash is super wonderful,” she paused and threw him a smile, “and suggested we meet here during Ben’s break.”
“That’s me. The perfect man.”
I snorted. “Ally’s delusional.” For some reason, she considered Ash to be the complete package. She was always saying, “He’s funny, intelligent, considerate, kind, and passionate.” That might be true, but he was also opinionated, egotistical, and annoying. I don’t know how she couldn’t see his flaws. Personally, I think she overlooked them on purpose. Either it had something to do with the obscene amount of flowers he’d showered us with on our birthdays, or she was just trying to send subliminal messages to Ben about stepping up his “gentleman” game.
Ben glanced at his cell phone. “Yeah, at least I had an hour break and we had time to figure some things out. I only have about fifteen minutes left now. So,” he pointed his soup spoon at me, “what’s your story?”
“I’m on a 30 minute,” I said, unwrapping my sandwich. I gave Ash a dirty look when he popped open my bag of Cheetos and started munching away.
He smiled brightly and said nonchalantly, “Oh, by the way, did Ben tell you that he and Ally did some research on you?”
Dentelle #3 Guardian series Page 16