by Tara Lutz
“Standing there, trying to defend what they did.” This time he was the one pacing while Dex watched from his spot on the couch.
“How can you be so calm about this?” Gerald asked, when his friend made no indication that he was going to participate in the conversation.
“Believe me, Gerald, I’m anything but calm, but provoking Rebecca Morehouse won’t help us. We need to use her to get to Jessie, even if she doesn’t know that she’s doing it.”
Gerald flopped down on the far end of the couch, leaned forward and put his head in his hands.
“You didn’t see the look in her eyes. She was so sure we don’t have any chance of getting near Jessie or Sammy, like she knows something we don’t.” The frustration showed on Gerald’s face as he leaned back and turned to look at his friend. Dex was staring straight ahead, out the window, his eyes focused on something Gerald couldn’t see.
“Maybe she does. We just have to figure out what it is.” Dex took over from Gerald, wearing a path in the already worn floorboards. “She is right; there is something we’re missing.”
Gerald was tired of this. They had rehashed every detail: from the night his father erased Jessie’s memory, to the day Dex disappeared, to everything they learned about the betrayal. There were voyagers they could trust, but the ones like their protectors and Rebecca, they couldn’t. Both of them kept journals during every trip through the gateway, documenting any information they thought would help with their search. How could they have missed something? They had solved the hardest part of the puzzle; they found Jessie and Sammy. It couldn’t be that hard to get them to remember everything they had been made to forget.
“She always drank it,” Gerald said, the volume of his voice just above a whisper. Dex stopped and pivoted on his heel to face him.
“What?” Dex asked Gerald, whose face had turned ashen.
“The tea. The night that my father promised to take away Jessie’s memory, he made her drink this awful smelling tea, worse than the one ma always made for us.”
Gerald’s expression looked like he had just tasted something bitter. He bolted off the couch and ran out of the room.
“I’ll be right back,” he called over his shoulder.
Dex heard him stomping around in the room above. Gerald crashed back down the stairs. In his trembling hands, he held a frayed book that Dex recognized as one of the journals; the one Gerald started keeping after he watched his friend vanish from the island.
Rapidly, Gerald flipped through the book, turning page after page and highlighting words with a marker that he grabbed off the coffee table. Finally, just before Dex was about to ask him what he was looking for, Gerald pushed the book towards him.
“Look! I didn’t notice it before, but look.” Dex grabbed the book, turned it around, and started to leaf through the marked entries.
‘He wouldn’t let her leave the table until she finished the tea. I don’t know how she could stomach it, the smell of it brought tears to my eyes, as much as it seemed to dull Jessie’s.’
‘Ma made that tea again today, I could smell it in my bedroom even with the door closed. The stench forced me out of sleep.’
‘Sammy reached for Jessie’s cup today, she said she wanted to try it too. Pa slapped her hand away from it so hard she cried for hours.’
“Do you think that is what made her forget?” Dex asked.
He always regretted not finding out what they did to Jessie before he entered the gateway. When he found out they had taken her memory permanently, he wondered, if he knew how they did it, could he find a way to help her regain it?
“Maybe the memory loss isn’t permanent. Maybe they just keep making her drink this tea,” Gerald said excitedly. “If that’s all it is, it could be as easy as getting her alone for a few days. Without it, we might be able to help her remember.”
Dex strode past him, into the hallway: slipped on his boots, his coat, and grabbed his car keys.
“Where are you going?” Gerald asked. “I’m coming with you.”
“No, you stay here,” Dex said firmly. “I’m going into town, I don’t know what I am going to do, but I need to see her. Do you think she’s working at the diner today? We have no idea where she lives, do we?”
Gerald smiled triumphantly, “I do. Let’s go.”
“Fine, but you wait in the car. She has seen you twice, I don’t want her to get suspicious. You know Jessie.”
Dex opened the front door and was half way to the car, still warm from its early morning trip, before Gerald had a chance to put on his shoes.
“Hurry up,” Dex called back to him.
If Gerald was right, if it was something as simple as a potion they were feeding her, in all of the different realms, they would find out. Dex would find Jessie again, like he promised.
CHAPTER 34
Jessie was struggling to carry groceries into the house, the rain quickly turning the paper bags into a soggy mess. A few cans of mystery meat escaped from the bottom of one, but Sammy caught them before they bounced down the dripping wet porch steps.
“Thanks kiddo,” Jessie said.
She was annoyed that their father had stormed past them, without acknowledging either of his pajama clad daughters, or offering to help, and shut himself in his study. He was doing that a lot lately, locking himself away, from the distraction that his family had seemingly become. Jessie tried to look for a blank notebook in that room recently, knowing he kept a few in his desk, and was surprised to find the door locked. When he was in his study, or even when he wasn’t, her father rarely kept the door shut. She could never recall a time when the door had been locked.
Jessie deposited the bags onto the counter and started to help her mother put them away. She decided to take the opportunity to ask her about what could possibly be keeping her father so busy, behind the closed study door.
“Has dad been busy at work?” Jessie asked, nonchalantly. She kept her tone light, not wanting her mother to accuse her of searching for an unseen plot. Her father had recently been promoted, in his job at the town’s only insurance company. Jessie had no idea what his present responsibilities were.
With her back to Jessie, her mother was organizing cans in a neat row, in the cupboard above the kitchen counter. “No, why would you think that?”
“He just seems to be in his study a lot and the other day I tried to look for something in there, but the door was locked.” She opened a box of crackers and popped one into her mouth, not noticing her mother pause and stiffen.
“Jessie, you and your imagination. Why are you always looking to solve a mystery?” She turned to grab a jar of mayonnaise and bounced it from one hand to the other. “Maybe he just needs some peace and quiet from you and your sister’s constant bickering.”
Jessie tried to think of the last time her and Sammy had engaged in a sisterly fight. Her mother noticed the tea cups still sitting across from one another, on the table.
“Did you make tea?” her mother asked. “Sammy didn’t have any, did she?”
Jessie swallowed another cracker and took a gulp of the lukewarm tea. The foul tasting liquid washed away the dryness of the saltine from the back of her throat.
“No, Becky was here. She wanted tea, this was the only one I could find. Can’t we get something that isn’t so bitter? I tried honey this time, but nothing seems to sweeten it.”
Ignoring her own complaint, Jessie drank the remaining tea, like an addict. This is disgusting, why am I still drinking it? Obviously, Becky felt the same about the offending flavor; her abandoned cup was still full.
“She was?” Her mother arched her eyebrows, “this early?” Now, she was the one being suspicious.
“It was kind of strange. She was asking about a salesman or something. I think she was just bored and got caught in the rain on her way to Will’s.” Jessie shrugged. Becky appeared at their door, many times, for no reason. Why should this time be any different?
“Uh.” Her mother resumed placi
ng the newly bought provisions in the cupboard. “Did she say what he looked like?”
“Nope,” Jessie said, “but that’s Becky. I’m sure she’s already forgotten about it and is on to something else to be dramatic about. Anyway, if it clears up today, we’re going to meet up and go to the lake. I can take Sammy if you want, keep all of our unnecessary chatter away from dad.” She tried to hide her sarcasm. It didn’t work. She saw her mother give her a warning look.
“That reminds me, we ran into Miss Allie at the grocery store. Something came up with Dana and she needs you to help out at the diner, this afternoon.”
Jessie wasn’t supposed to work until after school on Tuesday, but with the weather not looking too promising, a trip to the lake was becoming more and more unlikely. An unscheduled shift at the diner would be better than a rainy afternoon, stuck in the house.
“Did she say what time?” Jessie asked.
“Anytime you can get over there. I can drive you, if you want?” Her mother offered.
Jessie got up and went to the window, to let the rain make the decision for her. The buckets had turned into a light mist, inviting her outside for a quick walk to the restaurant. She was about to look away from the gray exterior, when she thought she noticed a rustling, beside the shed in the back right corner of the yard. She rubbed her fingers across the damp foggy glass, to try and bring the scene into better view. Like at the lake, the feeling of being watched snaked up her back. Her eyes focused on the spot where she detected the movement. There was just the out building and droplets of water dripping down the outside of the window. She grimaced inwardly, at her imagination; she wished they could be friends.
“It should be fine to walk.” Jessie left the kitchen, without another word.
Her mother peered out the window. She shut the green checkered curtains; her brow furrowed.
*******
Jessie got dressed for her shift and peeked into the living room as she was zipping up her rain jacket. Sammy was laying on the couch, covered in a rainbow patchwork quilt and hugging her favorite teddy bear. She couldn’t hear her mother in the kitchen anymore, but could make out her muffled voice, together with her father’s, on the other side, of the still locked door.
“Hey bug,” Jessie said. “I’m going to the diner for a bit.” The remaining water had drained from the clearing sky when she was upstairs. “Do you want to go to the lake when I get home?”
Her sister’s face illuminated at the suggestion. The dreary morning showed in the boredom of her previous expression.
“Sure.” Sammy went back to watching Saturday morning programming, throwing her departing sister a distracted wave.
Jessie opened the front door, unlatched the screen, and was hit with a sticky blanket of heat. She instantly regretted grabbing her coat, and left it hanging off the back of a chair on the porch. She descended the steps and slipped in the pool of puddles, enough to need the railing for support. Other people were starting to venture out into the rapidly drying day and she waved to a few neighbors, from the sidewalk. She resisted the urge to look back over her shoulder. Jessie hoped, if she ignored it, maybe she could leave the sensation of being watched at home. She was startled by the part of her that wanted it to follow.
CHAPTER 35
Out the windshield of the car, Dex watched Jessie leave. He was parked two doors down, from where Gerald had correctly guessed she lived. The sun decided to show itself, at the exact moment she regained her balance on the steps, and the sunshine made her familiar golden curls glow, like a halo. Jessie looked exactly the same as when he said goodbye to her in the snow. That was one, maybe the only truth, his protectors told him. Like Gerald, he refused to think of them as his parents. They betrayed him; he never wanted to see them again. He was also appreciative that Rebecca retained her sneaky features, which still gave away whatever she was trying to hide.
When she was at a safe enough distance, Dex swung out of the car and slammed the door, against Gerald’s protests. He couldn’t answer his questions. ‘What were they doing there? He wasn’t going to just walk up to their house and knock, was he?’ He didn’t have a plan.
Dex crossed the street, arrived at the bottom of the steps Jessie stumbled on, and stopped. What was he doing? He looked like a stalker sneaking around a stranger’s front yard and he was sure Jessie had spotted Gerald, gawking through her kitchen window. This was a bad idea.
Before he could retreat, he heard the screen door creak and then slowly open. Behind the dark mesh, a face from his past came into view. She jostled the latch and shoved the door open; the gap, and her smile, growing wide. She stepped hesitantly onto the porch; in her pajamas and her hair matted, from laying on it. She was smaller than he recalled: fragile, but not scared; happy, but still a little sad.
“Hi,” he said, tentatively. Does she know who I am? Her eyes said that she did. He almost wept with relief, Sammy remembered him. He had missed her.
“Hi,” she answered, moving to the edge of the steps. “She isn’t here.”
“I know, I saw her leave. I’m happy to see you, though.” Dex made no attempt to advance towards her. He was worried if he made any sudden movements she would scatter away, like a startled deer.
“Is Peter with you?”
Her question caught him off guard. With the amount of time and effort he had spent looking for Sammy and Jessie, he had forgotten, he would have to do the same when he tried to find his brother.
“No, but Gerald is.”
She flew down the steps and stopped just before she ran into him. “He is? Can I see him?”
Dex bent his knees and looked directly into her sea foam, green eyes. They remained the same as the ones in his memory: almond shape, wide, and exactly like Jessie’s blue ones.
“Not yet, bug, but soon. Can you tell me how you know who I am? Has Jessie talked to you, about me?” His heart raced in anticipation of her answer and with the excitement of finally being so close to being back with Jessie.
“No, she doesn’t,” Sammy looked down in disappointment. “But she’s wearing your necklace.” She smiled, “I don’t know how I remember, but I do. I remember everything, but nobody knows. I’m afraid if mom and dad find out, they’ll make me forget too.” Her tears threatened, but she blinked hard to force them back. Another characteristic she inherited from her sister.
Dex wasn’t sure why they hadn’t taken her memories away. Maybe she was too young and they misjudged the scope of her memory. No matter what the reason was, he was just happy they hadn’t.
“Where did Jessie go just now, Sammy? She isn’t with Rebecca, is she?”
Sammy turned up her nose at the mention of her sister’s friend. Dex stifled a laugh. It was the first time, in a long time, that he actually felt like really laughing.
“No, she’s at the diner. She said that we might go swimming when she gets home. I saw you at the lake. I tried to tell her to go to the island, but she thinks there are snakes on it.”
He thought back to the day he took Jessie to their tree and how he teased her, about the possibility of snakes on the island. He was still there, in her memory, and he just needed figure out the best way to unlock the room he was stored in.
“Ok Sammy,” he stood up, “I’m going to the diner, but I need you to keep doing what you have been doing. Don’t mention seeing me to anyone. Promise?” He held out his pinky finger for her to shake.
“I promise,” she said. “If we’re going to travel with you, maybe next time, I could be older. Closer to Peter’s age would be better.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” deciding to make her a promise, too. He dropped to his knees and pulled her into a gentle hug.
Dex had learned a lot about the gateway and how to change circumstances before entering the next realm. He was already working on something new for Gerald, the next time they travelled. His friend suggested it; Dex thought he had lost his mind.
“I’ll see you soon. Don’t worry.” He let go of Sammy.
“Sammy, do you know how they do it? How they make Jessie forget?” She was about to answer when a voice called to her, from the depths of the house.
“Sammy, who are you talking to?” Her mother asked.
“No one,” Sammy replied, panic leaping into her eyes. “I was just grabbing Jessie’s jacket. She left it out here.”
She shook her head quickly at Dex before she ran up the porch steps, threw the door open and let the screen snap shut in her wake. The dullness of the house eclipsed her.
CHAPTER 36
“It’s about time,” Miss Allie snapped, when Jessie meandered into the diner. “Did you daydream all the way here?”
Jessie was surprised by the harshness in her voice. She thought she walked faster than her usual pace.
“Sorry. Mom told me, as soon as she got home, that you needed me to come in.”
Jessie grabbed a bill book from underneath the cash register, pulled her hair into a high ponytail, and slipped a pen through the elastic. “What table do you want me to start with?”
“Never mind that, I need you to run over to Anderson’s and pick up a few things. The supplier decided to not show up at the last minute. We’re almost out of napkins, coffee cream and sugar.” Miss Allie stopped and looked up at the ceiling, staring upward for so long it caused Jessie to glance above them, to make sure nothing was about to slam onto their heads.
“Yes, that’s it,” she continued, “coffee cream, napkins and sugar.” She banged some keys on the register, pulled out a wad of bills, and shoved them into Jessie’s hand.
“Don’t take all day; I still haven’t had the chance to cut any pies.”
Jessie blinked her eyes rapidly to stop them from rolling. Always with the bloody pies, she thought.