by Unknown
Copyright © 2011 Rachel Humphrey – D’aigle No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form without written consent from the author and publisher. For additional information please
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Cover Photograph by Danielle Page Photography
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1
Colin Jacoby did not hear the morning birds chirping.
He did not feel the black fly tickling his arm, or the cool morning breeze blowing through his wavy, bowl-cut hair.
More importantly, however, is what he did not hear approaching.
A fallen tree branch, just a few feet away, snapped under stalking footsteps.
Colin’s head jerked up. His book slipped from his hands, falling onto the muddy ground, as the color drained from his face.
There was no escape.
Toady number one blocked him from the right, while toady number two blocked the left, leaving the head bully blocking the pathway in front.
A sheer granite rock towered behind Colin.
“Hi –hi guys,” he stammered, putting on a fake smile. “I see you’re all camping here again this summer, too.”
“Lucky us,” snarled the head bully bitterly. “Only thing good about it, is gettin’ to pound on little kids like you.” Colin could not decide if he should be more upset over the impending humiliation, or at being called a little kid.
“If you recall,” he began, hoping to distract them, “I believe I am actually older than the three of you.” He laughed nervously after he had said it.
1
The head bully was easily a foot taller and wider than Colin was. The bullies face boiled with rage as he furiously strode toward Colin, pushing him to the muddy ground.
His two toadies pointed and shrieked with laughter.
Colin, defeated, prepared for whatever was to come next: a mouthful of mud, a wedgie, or maybe this time, a black eye.
Then he saw it!
The thing Colin Jacoby dreaded the most.
The silhouette of a girl dressed in black.
“Not her too!” he uttered, letting his face fall into the mud.
The girl’s voice rang out tauntingly.
“I thought I made it clear that only I get to bully my little brother?” She stood atop a nearby tree stump, her flame-red hair blowing in the breeze.
The head bully jumped back, startled, dropping his smug grin.
“Meghan Jacoby. H-hey. We weren’t doin’ notin’.” He backed up a few steps and then added, “He fell on his own!” The bully then scurried off, his two toadies at his heels.
Meghan jumped off her perch with a satisfied smirk.
“I should have just given him two more black eyes,” she boasted. She held out her hand, offering to help her brother off the ground. “You can thank me any time, Little Bro.”
Colin stubbornly ignored the offer and dragged himself out of the mud. He collected his mud-ruined book and walked toward home. Meghan’s longer stride easily allowed her to catch up and she sauntered along side him.
“Okay. Fine. Don’t thank me.”
2
Colin still did not answer.
“Nice move by the way,” she continued, ignoring his brooding demeanor. Mockingly she repeated, “I think I am actually older than you… good way to get your head bit off, Little Bro.”
Colin stopped abruptly.
“I tried to block you,” he muttered through clenched teeth.
“Yeah, I sensed that. Why?”
“Maybe I am tired of having someone in my head all the time!”
“You think you’re tired of it! Your head is exhausting.”
“Then why don’t you stay out?”
“So you would rather have your face full of mud and your underwear pulled up over your head right now, then?”
Colin, now fuming, stormed away as fast as his short legs would allow him.
Could there be anything worse than his sister coming to his rescue? The fact that she was his younger sister (yes, by only two minutes, but still younger), would always make it worse!
“Ah! Will I ever grow?” he screamed silently, successfully blocking the thought from her.
As they neared the campsite, Meghan, sensing his irritation, attempted to smooth things over.
“Colin, we can’t help that we hear each other’s thoughts.
Just try a little harder to block me out if you don’t want me to hear.” It did not have the helpful effect that she had hoped it would.
Colin pushed past her and into their uncle’s travel trailer. Their uncle, Arnon Jacoby, sat inside, tinkering on 3
a toaster. His eyes widened at the sight of Colin, covered in mud, but before he could ask what had happened, Colin spat out, “Don’t ask!” and disappeared into the bathroom.
“Don’t tell me those same bullies are back again?” Arnon asked Meghan, when she entered a moment later. She nodded yes and sat down, helping herself to a glass of juice.
“I wonder if I should have a talk with their parents.”
“Yeah! If you wanna get him killed!” she scolded her uncle.
“You’re probably right,” he agreed after a moment.
“Oh, almost forgot,” said Meghan, as she uncovered a slow cooker and stirred the contents inside, “I ran into Kanda on my way to find Colin. She’s coming for breakfast.”
Meghan dropped the spoon into the slow cooker as a loud buzzer went off, startling her.
“I thought for sure I had fixed that,” exclaimed Arnon.
Meghan raced into the hallway opening the door to the dryer, instantly returning quiet to the trailer.
“Well, it’s at least drying now,” she yelled, grabbing the clothes. She threw the laundry on the kitchen table and deftly folded each item, except for her own. She put away her uncle’s and her brother’s, but when it came to her own she simply threw them on the floor, on top of another pile from a previous load.
Colin, fresh from showering, appeared in their shared room. He ignored Meghan, sulking his way to his dresser.
Each twin had a tall bunk bed with a desk, chair and dresser underneath. At the foot of each bed, shoved into a small shelf, was a TV and DVD player. Colin had added 4
another shelf, along side the trailer’s wall, for his many books.
Colin unhooked a curtain, which dropped and divided the room, allowing him privacy while dressing. A few minutes later, he pulled the curtain back, hooking it to the wall, and started up his laptop. While waiting, he plugged in his ear buds. Before he could hit play on his I-pod, his sister inhaled in a deep gasp, holding her breath.
“What?” he asked, annoyed and not yet in the mood to speak to her. He heard the thought before she could say it.
“Did you lose the locket?” he prompted. His mood changed immediately to concern.
Meghan felt through her sweater, exhaling in relief.
“Still there,” she breathed. Meghan always wore the locket, for safekeeping. However, neither twin would have wanted to lose it, as it had once belonged to their mother. The locket was the only possession of hers that they still owned.
Two vines, one colored black and the other gold, covered the outside of the locket, twisting around each other like a snake. The most confusing part, though, was that the vines had actual sharp, piercing thorns, which if Meghan bent or moved just right would pinch her skin.
Over time, the occasional prick of the thorns had become a comfort to her, a positive affirmation that it was still securely hanging around her neck.
Colin turned his attention back to his laptop and I-pod, but again, found his thoughts interrupted.
“What now?” he grumbled.
“Can’t find my black jacket. Need to sew a button
back on.”
5
“How can you find anything? It’s all in a pile, and everything in that pile is black. Even the carpet it’s piled on is black.” He turned on his I-pod, trying to block out the moans of disgust seeping into his own thoughts. After a few minutes of tearing through her side of the room, she gave up, leaving.
A moment later, she yelled that breakfast was ready. As Colin entered the kitchen, Meghan gently pulled the ear buds out of his ears and ordered him to set the outside table.
“Why are there four plates on the counter?” he asked, instantly suspect.
Meghan smiled, blocking her thoughts, but it took him only a second to guess.
“Kanda’s coming. Yes!”
Meghan knew how much Colin loved Kanda Macawi, especially the stories she told around the campfire.
Meghan knew this would also brighten Colin’s mood.
Uncle Arnon grabbed the coffee and juice, while Meghan brought two slow cookers full of food out to the table. An enclosed screened room protected them from the thousands of newly born mosquitoes whose only purpose was to find their next blood-filled meal.
Footsteps approached the Jacoby campsite. Meghan, Colin and Arnon watched eagerly as an attractive Native American woman strode closer. She wore a thin, full-length sweater to stave off the chilly morning air. When she arrived, Uncle Arnon held open the screen door, allowing her entrance to the mosquito-free zone; he zipped it up hastily after she stepped inside.
“My dearest friends,” she said. “Back at my campground again.” After hugs all around, she demanded, “What have 6
you done with the real Meghan Jacoby? Look at you! On the corner of thirteen and growing like a vine.” She gazed closely at Meghan’s face, zoning in on an ocean blue gem in her nose.
“Awesome, isn’t it? Uncle Arnon got it for me as an early birthday present.”
“I thought,” started Kanda, in an I-told-you-so tone,
“you were going to make her wait another year?”
“You know Meghan,” replied Arnon. “She can be very…
persuasive.”
Meghan curtsied knowingly.
“You will visit me later, Meghan,” ordered Kanda, as Meghan rounded the table, serving breakfast. “I’ve got something that will help the infection.” Meghan unconsciously touched the blue gem. It did hurt a little. How did Kanda always know?
“I have to agree on the awesome part,” Kanda continued.
“It matches perfectly with your eyes.” She winked mischievously and then swept her attention to Colin. The boy whom would also be turning thirteen soon, but, who had not grown a single inch during the last year.
“My, what a good looking young man you are turning into. Is it possible that you look even smarter than you did last summer?” She worded her compliment carefully.
Colin’s face lit up. Kanda always knew how to make him feel better. She then took hold of Arnon’s hand.
“I’m sorry I was not here when you arrived last night. I had some business that just could not wait. I am just so happy that you’re back, Arnon.”
His cheeks blushed slightly as he showed Kanda to her seat.
7
Meghan’s breakfast, was as usual, scrumptious. She had one slow cooker filled with pumpkin oatmeal, and the other with cinnamon bread pudding.
In no time, their bellies were full and content.
As they finished, a host of muffled footsteps filtered in from the entrance of Cobbscott Campground.
“What is that?” muttered Uncle Arnon.
A moment later, a large group of people came trudging along the camp road.
“Gypsies,” determined their uncle. The color drained from his face as he said it.
Kanda jumped up to greet them.
“I’ve been expecting them. I must go, but I’ll be back, Arnon.”
Arnon did not hear her. He stepped back towards the trailer, watching from the shadows as the procession marched by.
The Gypsies were not what the twins expected. Other than the fact that they each carried trunks, packages or suitcases stuffed with belongings, they did not look like other Gypsies the twins had encountered during previous travels.
The men wore polished winged-tipped shoes with brightly colored shirts, and many of the women dressed in thin, shapely, long jackets. One man in particular stood out as he marched by, with his colorfully spiked hair, black tattoos that slithered out of his hairline, and by the fact that he wore a boisterous, full-length winter coat in early summer.
One of the younger Gypsies, a tall and scrawny boy, glanced in the twins’ direction. His stringy hair hid most of his face, but his eyes made contact with Colin and then 8
Meghan. Just as quickly as he made the eye contact, he severed it.
The Gypsies greeted Kanda and she walked with them, showing them to their campsites.
“It makes sense now,” said Meghan, unexpectedly.
“What makes sense now?” asked Arnon.
“Why those Gypsy wagons are always parked in the campground. They must leave them here, to use when they return.”
Arnon nodded in agreement and then lost his balance, falling back onto the trailer steps. Even in the dark shadow of the trailer, the twins could see his face turn from white to green.
“You all right, Uncle Arnon?” asked Meghan. He looks like he is going to be sick she thought.
Or, like he has seen a ghost added Colin, in his own mind.
“Yes, yes I’m fine,” Arnon finally answered after a tense minute of silence. “You two go clean up breakfast. I’m going to wait for Kanda to come back,” he said in a manner that indicated it would be a private conversation.
The twins did not argue. They each gathered dishes and leftover food, heading into the trailer. Once inside, Meghan washed the dishes, while Colin dried. Half way through, and in unison, the twins shuddered, as an eerie tingle crawled down their spines. It brought them out of their silent stupor over their uncle’s unusual behavior.
“Was that your creepy feeling or mine?” asked Colin.
“We felt it at the same time,” said Meghan. “Bad omen if you ask me.”
Colin hated when Meghan said things like that. They had an eerie way of coming true.
9
They tried to shake off the eerie feeling and finish with the clean up, all the while keeping an eye on their uncle, who still sat on the step, appearing now to be in deep concentration. They heard Kanda’s voice call out to him and he walked methodically, meeting her in the middle of the now empty roadway.
The twins were curious about their uncle’s strange reaction to the Gypsies and strained their ears to hear the conversation, but heard nothing but unintelligible echoes.
“I did not wish to worry you, Arnon,” began Kanda. “I was afraid if I told you this was the summer… oh, honestly, Arnon, I was half afraid you would take the twins and disappear.”
Instinct did tell him to grab his two young traveling companions and run far away, but he fought that instinct realizing he could not act upon it.
“You know me too well, Kanda.” His eyes wandered toward the Gypsies campsites. “My betrayal to them I can handle. But my impending betrayal to my young companions …” he left the sentence unfinished, knowing Kanda already understood his anguish.
She took hold of Arnon’s hand and squeezed it firmly, forcing him to realize the truth.
I do not need to run anymore. This thought brought him relief, followed instantly by regret for feeling that relief.
This is the moment I have feared more than any other in my life. All our lives will change now. Is this good or bad?
Are they ready? Do they have a choice? All of Arnon’s fears came pouring out at once, forcing him to take a deep, cleansing breath to regain his composure.
“Maybe we …” he stopped, closing his eyes. He did not dare speak his wishes aloud.
10
Kanda dropped his hand gently.
“Their path lies before
them, Arnon. We cannot interfere with their destiny any longer,” she affirmed.
“There is still a little time,” she told him, in hopes of comforting his fear, if only temporarily.
He nodded, trying to ignore his growing irrepressible desire to seize the twins and run. To hide them far away from the dangers they now faced.
The twins, finished with the cleaning, exited the trailer.
They saw Kanda dropping their uncle’s hand.
“Do you think they like each other, Col?”
“Sure they like each other. Why would we come back every summer if they didn’t?”
“I mean like-like,” Meghan rephrased. “You know. Are they in love?”
“Oh. That. Well, if they were, don’t you think Uncle Arnon would have stopped traveling around and stayed here with Kanda?”
“I can imagine a lot of things, Col. But Uncle Arnon settling down in one place is not one of them.” Kanda interrupted their conversation.
“You must all come tonight, to my fire pit,” she bid them, so all could hear. “I have a grand feast prepared to welcome the summer.”
Uncle Arnon forced his fears aside.
“We will be there, Kanda,” he replied firmly, now back near the trailers entrance. “Besides, I know Colin is eager to hear more of your campfire stories.”
Colin’s excitement showed as he beamed widely in agreement.
“And I have a special one planned for tonight,” Kanda added, in a tone that sent Colin’s mind reeling with 11
curiosity, and once again reignited Arnon’s fears for the twins’ safety.
Kanda’s mischievous eyes sparkled as her attention then turned to the campground’s entrance.
“And now, I think more good news.”
The low rumbling of the approaching motor home was unmistakable. Meghan’s heart skipped a beat. A second later Colin had guessed, too.
“The Jendayas are here!” He ran a few steps closer, waving vigorously. Meghan ducked behind the mirror on their uncle’s station wagon, rechecking her clothes and hair. She wished there was time to apply a darker shade of eyeliner.
Arnon rejoined Kanda and held out his hand, inviting her to lead the way. She snatched him instead, and they walked arm and arm.
The thirty-four foot motor home came to a slow, skidding stop. The windows rolled down and the entry door flew open. An athletic looking tall and tan boy, with crazily curly, dusty blond hair, leapt out, grinning widely.