We sat on opposite benches. The doors closed and the gondola rolled up. A voice talked about the attractions we could view from the SkyRide. In the distance on the right-hand side, we could see the American Falls and the clouds of mist rising from the foot of it. Further off was the Horseshoe Falls and more clouds. I squinted to see the rainbow with no luck.
To the left was Clifton Hill, the tourist strip, a skyline full of bright colours and signs. A large Frankenstein opened his mouth to bite into a burger. A black pirate flag flew from a fake green castle tower, the red and yellow letters of the Louis Tussaud Wax Museum flashed from a sign almost as high as the SkyWheel. Restaurants and fun houses, 3D movies and other strange museums all competed for the eye.
On one side a natural wonder of the world, on the other man’s most cheesy entertainments, strange and beautiful, yin and yang. I loved this view of Niagara from the sky, a ride I would have never thought of trying on my own. The gondola slowly climbed to the top. The voice stopped narrating and classical music played, sweet and light. When the gondola reached the highest point, it seemed as though we could topple over. I felt a tiny prickle of motion sickness.
Then we began our descent again and the sickness passed. The whole ride was supposed to run 10 minutes. We went around three more times slowly. On the fourth turn, Aiden put his camera down on the bench and switched to my side causing the gondola to rock as we reached the top. The wave of motion sickness swept over me again just as he reached his arms around me. He leaned his face into mine.
Before I realized what he intended, his lips opened on to my mouth and this time I felt the pressure of his tongue. It wasn’t anything like Scratch’s gentle kiss last night. It didn’t tingle or feel like anything I wanted to hold close and keep. I swallowed hard so as not to gag into his mouth.
He pulled away. “We don’t have any future,” he told me.
Like I didn’t know that.
“I promised your brother I wouldn’t hurt you so I have to be upfront about that. You’re too young.” He shook his head. “But you have that Audrey Hepburn thing going that’s so hot.” He looked straight into my eyes. They seemed dark and empty to me then. “You’re going to have to try and forget me.”
“I will,” I finally answered. I couldn’t believe how badly I wanted to forget him already.
“Good.” He reached round to kiss me again as the gondola made its descent.
I didn’t pull away quickly enough and he kissed the side of my face and neck. I pushed him away finally.
“That’s right. You be strong for the both of us.”
The ride stopped and my knees wobbled as I climbed out still feeling slightly sick. Sick from the motion and maybe the disappointment of his kiss. Kissing Scratch had been easy and light, making me want more.
Aiden kissing me had felt like the force of The Falls combined with the artificial lights of the strip. Heavy and yet cheesy. He caught my elbow as we walked through the gate.
Still, for what it was worth, item seven was checked off my list. Kissing Aiden, the guy Hailey and I had daydreamed so long about, had been accomplished.
“Do you want to grab a burger over at Frankenstein’s?” Aiden asked.
I wasn’t hungry but nodded. Between cars, we crossed the street to the restaurant. Outside the door on the sidewalk, tourists stepped around what looked like a pile of rags. Close up I realized there was a man sitting there, grubby-looking in old torn clothes. We couldn’t avoid him to get into the Burger King. He looked up at us with his hand outstretched. His eyes were bloodshot and watery. “Could you spare some change?”
“Sorry, Buddy. I don’t carry cash,” Aiden told him.
“Have a nice lunch,” the guy replied.
I shuddered, it felt a bit like a curse, an ironic one but I followed close behind Aiden in through the doors.
“What do you want?” Aiden asked as we stared up at the menu on the wall.
I thought for a moment. “A double burger with two small cokes and fries.”
“Thirsty?”
I shook my head. “Call it my random act of kindness.”
“C’mon Jade, that guy outside really doesn’t want a soft drink, you know that.”
“Maybe not.” We paid and waited to the side for our order. Truth was homeless people scared me. I always worried they might grab me and start yelling. That whatever money I gave them would be too little. If someone didn’t have a home and decent clothing, what could possibly be enough?
The order came and we carried our trays to a table. I took a sip from my drink hoping the queasiness in my stomach would settle down. Then I took the burger and second drink outside. I hoped Aiden would come with me but he didn’t.
I took a deep breath and approached the homeless man. “Here.” I handed the cup and wrapped burger to him.
“Thanks! First meal I’ve had all day,” he answered.
“You’re welcome,” I said and smiled just a little to show I was friendly but not happy that he was that hungry. I turned back to the door.
“You’re beautiful. Did anyone ever tell you that?”
I stopped for an extra moment not knowing what to say. I turned back towards the man and looked into his smiling blue eyes. “Thank you,” I finally told him and went inside.
Chapter 21
IF LOOKS COULD KILL
I was beautiful according to the homeless guy, hot according to Aiden—funny how those compliments didn’t do anything for me. Still, I felt all right for a dead person. Giving that homeless guy his first meal of the day felt good. It wasn’t solving the world’s problems but I would count that as my random act of kindness and cross number six off my list. Yes, I’d been disappointed by my first “real” kiss, but that was number seven. And now I also felt hungry myself. So I bought another burger and fries and kept Aiden waiting as I enjoyed every bite.
He looked at his watch as I wiped my mouth with a napkin. “We have to leave by 3:30 so that we can make it home in time for me to change for work.”
“So we have another half an hour. What do you want to do?” I asked him, balling up my napkin and stacking it with the rest of our garbage.
“Want to try Frankenstein’s House?”
“Okay.” It was right next door, we could see the green gargoyles perched on the roof from our seats. It might be less cheesy than it looked, I told myself as I slid our garbage from the tray into the bin. We headed back into the bright sunshine. As we approached the fake grey castle, an animated bald head with googly eyes began talking from behind the large plate glass window: “Come on in. We’ve got the dead, the undead, the almost dead, the living dead, and the grateful dead.” The head chuckled and rolled his eyeballs.
“You know what?” I told Aiden. “I’ve changed my mind. Maybe we should get on the road. Traffic might be heavy. You don’t want to be late for work.” With less than four days to live I didn’t want to entertain myself with a bunch of gruesome death scenes. One was enough.
“Sure. This way we can take the scenic route home.”
At the car, Aiden took the roof off again and we drove down the hill towards The Falls. One last time I watched the rapids as we drove by, saw the Horseshoe and the American Falls, and enjoyed their power and glory. I mouthed a silent goodbye to the rainbow, taking hope from the delicate promise of the colours. I heard Mom’s voice in my heart. We’ll experience much more beauty together.
We drove by the floral clock at fifteen minutes past three. The parkway followed the water till we hit Niagara-on-the- Lake. That’s where Aiden cut back toward the expressway. We sat behind a peach truck for most of the way.
Looking tired and a little worn, the pickers hung their legs down from between baskets of fresh peaches the colour of sunrise. “Peaches are late this year,” I commented to Aiden. He didn’t reply. Suddenly, the longing for a freshly picked peach was so powerful I couldn’t resist. What did I have to lose? When we stopped at an intersection I stood up in the Mustang and waved. “Hey, throw u
s one!”
One of the pickers shrugged and then grinned before sending a peach my way. I caught it. And another for Aiden.
Aiden wrenched on the hand brake. The electric hum signaled that the top was going up for the highway ride again.
The car seemed cave-like as we pulled away from the stop sign. But I bit into my peach and closed my eyes. Delicious. All the sweet juices of summer ran down my chin.
Aiden’s peach stayed in his lap as we merged onto the expressway where the traffic had turned parking-lot slow.
“Oh great,” Aiden said as he chomped into his fruit now. “We’ll be stuck here for hours.”
“Will you lose your job if you’re late?” I asked.
“Maybe.” Aiden frowned, turned to me, peach in front of him like a microphone. He bit in. “Who cares? I only have another four days before I leave for Thunder Bay anyways.” He took the roof down again, and the world opened brightly. He turned up the music.
I didn’t know all the words to the song but sang along to the chorus: “Tonight’s gonna be a good, good night.” Why hadn’t I realized the first time around that every delay and setback could be spun into something good?
And it turned out the drive didn’t take hours. After we detoured around the ambulance and fire truck, and the car squashed beyond recognition, traffic picked up immediately.
I stopped singing and the wind stung my eyes.
“Doubt anyone could have survived that,” Aiden said.
He was right, although I wanted to argue for some miracle. Instead I put my sunglasses on and wound my scarf around my head. I silently asked my mother to help those people in that car. For myself I only hoped I could turn my own bad situation into something good, make my own death count. Even if I could just get Dad to consider dating someone I would have achieved something.
When we rolled into our driveway, Dad’s jeep already stood there. I jumped out of the car, anxious to get in before Dad noticed who my chauffeur was. A little farther down the road, I noticed Scratch, skateboarding away. Had he seen me, too? Not that it mattered anyway. I had never made any promises to him.
“See ya!” Aiden said as he backed the Mustang out on the road.
I waved and then ran in.
The aroma of tomatoes and oregano wafted through the hall. I followed it to where Dad stood stirring spaghetti sauce in the kitchen. No way he could have noticed that Aiden had driven me home.
“Scratch came and left.” He stopped to taste his sauce. “He called his mom and they’re coming on Sunday.” Dad looked up from the pot, taking in my t-shirt. “Niagara Indoor Skydiving! You went?” He took a string of pasta from a pot and flung it on the wall.
“We had nothing else to do,” I told him.
“We?” He grabbed a colander and drained the spaghetti.
“Um…um…Aiden and I.”
“Devon, supper!” he hollered. When Devon stepped into the kitchen he continued. “Your sister went skydiving with your buddy.” Dad’s voice held an edge.
Devon’s eyes narrowed at me.
“Indoor skydiving,” I repeated for them both. “It was really tame.”
“How old is Aiden?” Dad asked sharply.
“Eighteen,” Devon answered. “I told her to stay away from him.”
“Maybe now you should tell Aiden,” Dad said.
Devon folded his arms across his chest. “He’s going to Thunder Bay next week. I figure that’s far enough. Don’t you?” He turned to glare at me now.
“A lot can happen between now and then,” Dad said.
“You’re absolutely right,” I jumped in. At least I hoped a lot could happen before Monday for Devon and Dad. “So I’m not going to hang around with Aiden anymore, promise!” A family outing cancelled, both Dad and Devon looking tired and grumpy from working a long day, and I’d gotten them snapping at each other. With so little time left, I had to turn this all around and get them talking civilly together. But how? Help me, Mom.
Chapter 22
DROPPING THE BOMB
We started supper in silence, Devon and Dad shovelling food in fast.
“This sauce is really good, Dad,” I tried. “What do you think, Devon? Isn’t the spaghetti delicious? Or are you tasting it at all?”
“It’s great.” He speared more pasta up and stuffed it in his mouth.
I twirled some spaghetti onto my fork.
Ask them about work, I heard Mom suggest.
“Did you guys get caught up today? We got up so early and you headed straight to the office.”
Dad nodded. “Yes, and then we took another order in at five. For a display at a tradeshow in just three weeks. Huge new client.”
“Wow. Great. But how are you going to manage without Devon?”
“I don’t know.” Dad shook his head. “We won’t have time to hire someone.”
“You don’t have to,” Devon said.
“Of course we will,” Dad snapped.
“Devon had an interesting idea the other day, Dad,” I interrupted quickly. “Since you guys work together so well, he thought Brilliant Graphics could be a family business.”
“I’m not taking away your shot at a good education just to make my work flow smoothly.”
“Obviously he’s going to take some courses in graphics. There’s a lot of colleges right around here that have them.”
“And you really need a driver and delivery person right now,” Devon suggested. “You don’t want to use your time for that.”
“You’re signed up in Victoria,” Dad insisted.
“Really, Dad, I’m going to unsign. I was never actually planning on going.”
There—the bomb. He’d finally dropped it.
Dad squeezed his eyes shut and held the bridge of his nose with his hand, his mouth set in a straight line. After a few moments, he opened them again and spoke. “Your mom wanted you to have every opportunity…the best education.” His voice trembled. He was breaking down.
“I’m registering for a course in web design. It starts in two weeks,” Devon answered. Neither of us knew whether Dad heard or not.
“Dad?” I called gently to him.
He looked up at me.
“Mom would have wanted us to be happy.”
Dad nodded.
“She wouldn’t have wanted you to work this hard…all alone.”
Dad stood up. “I’m going to my office now.” He turned and walked away from the table.
“It’s a shock for him right this minute. But he’ll like the idea once he gets used to it,” I told my brother. “Help me with the dishes. That will make him feel better, too.”
Whenever Dad cooked, he used so many pots and bowls and spoons, no one wanted to clean up after him. Still Devon stood up and began scrubbing the sauce pan. I brought the plates over to him and he handed me the clean pot to dry.
“Don’t worry about me and Aiden, either. I meant what I said about not seeing him anymore.” I told Devon gently as he handed me plates to put in the dishwasher. “I did have a crush on him but I am so over it.”
He raised his eyebrows at me.
“Really. I like Scratch better.”
Devon shook his head but a small smile tugged at his lips.
“You wipe the counter. I’ll do the stove and table.” Even the wall around the stove had traces of tomato sauce on it. Still my brother and I were working together, probably for the last time. “If we really did want to make it Brilliant Family Designs, what would I do?”
Devon grinned. “There isn’t anything you couldn’t do. Create content for websites, edit. It’s all growing. Dad needs to see that it can’t be all about print now.”
“I’d like that.” Even though we would never have that together. I took a deep breath, dug my fists into my hips and glanced around. “Kitchen looks good.” I opened a can of Cat Pamper for Oreo and he nodded over my choice.
“I’m done,” Devon said, hanging his cloth over the tap. “Gotta go. Meeting some friends.”
&
nbsp; “Wait, Devon!”
He hung back.
I reached up and kissed his forehead. “Thanks for helping with the kitchen. Dad really makes a mess.”
“Sure,” he answered. “Thanks for trying to get me a job with Dad…I think.”
Dad came out of his office then. “Devon?” he called as he walked toward him, reaching out his arms. He gave him a quick, hard hug. “Don’t make it a late night,” he said gruffly. “If you’re joining Brilliant Graphics, you’ll be coming to work with me tomorrow.”
“Saturday?” I said.
“Sure, Dad,” Devon answered, winking at me.
I grinned. Mom, look at them. They’re going to be a team after all.
When Dad headed downstairs to watch TV I couldn’t help myself. Buoyed by my success at getting them together, I dashed into his office and sat at the computer. Oreo padded in after me and hopped onto my lap.
“Let’s see what’s new at Glowing Ember,” I told him as I patted him.
Before I could open the browser an email popped up for me with the subject header Four New Local Gals. It was from Glowing Ember. I clicked on it and looked at the photos.
One lady gave herself the nickname Young and Vibrant but she was 55—a little too old for Dad. Another, Queen Latifah seemed a bit full of herself. One wore a huge red hat which hid her hair. I knew Dad liked long hair. She called herself Mystery Girl. Yeah, I didn’t want a mystery for Dad. Someone straightforward would be better.
The last woman I looked at froze me. The angles of her face, the way her eyes looked into mine, her long hair—Friend for Life was her handle. I skimmed her profile. She liked cats! Her ideal date would be a gourmet dinner she cooked for a special guy. She worked in a veterinarian’s office.
“Oreo, she sounds perfect. Oh, no!” I said as I read down further. “She wants kids.” I frowned. Mrs. Chalms couldn’t have any more. It was something I’d never thought about. Did Dad want more?
Later, I watched the sunset, the sky red and bruised as though it had been beaten up. If my dad and Friend for Life had a baby, it would replace me. Maybe that would make him happy and I wanted that for him, didn’t I? I sighed as the sun sank and I felt quiet in my heart. An end. Tomorrow, another beginning. I took a long bubble bath, something I usually only did in the winter, and from there headed straight to bed.
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