by Jarod Powell
He considered calling his mother to get directions, or just to tell her he wasn’t coming. Instead, he sat. He became extremely tired, nearing sleep. His phone rang and rang, but he didn’t bother to check if it was his mother, and it didn’t occur to him to just turn off the phone. He just sat and smoked cigarettes, leaving the butts around the tree. Finally, he checked his phone for the time: 11:30p.m. “Shit,” he said aloud. “Watch your language,” he heard a familiar voice demand. “Why are you sitting out here?”
It was his mother.
He could sense that she didn’t know what to say. She assumed that something must be terribly wrong, but she couldn’t be sure. So she decided to do what she never did, and feel her son out before deciding to get angry.
“I couldn’t find the house,” Jaime said quietly.
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I ever heard,” his mother said, also eerily quiet.
“Everything looks the same out here.”
His mother considered that. “I guess it does, doesn’t it?” She was trying to coax him into something, Jaime could tell. “Well, it’s not that late, just 10:30. There’s still some people I want you to meet.”
“It’s 11:30,” Jaime said.
“Hon, you didn’t set your clock back like I asked. Time zones, remember? It’s 10:30.”
It was only a few steps to the house, and Jaime could feel his insides start to rumble. He started to sweat again, and the skin on his chest was noticeably tighter.
“Just breathe deep,” his mother said, not looking at him. “You’re not used to the elevation. It’ll give you a headache, breathing like that.”
They reached the house, which Jaime had never seen at night. The enormous glass panels were glowing. Every light was on in the dining room, and it bounced off the golden paint. It was terribly bright, and though the color was soothing, it made Jaime’s eyes damn-near dilate. He started to panic. He tried not to let it show on his face, but he failed.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” his mother said. “Relax, they’re our kind of people. Nothing to be scared of.” He held his breath, and met the small, smiling crowd of people.