by Sam Herrera
“Well, what do you think of Kane’ohe?” I smiled down at Mara, putting an arm around her shoulders.
“It’s like a dream come true,” she smiled back. It was. I watched her scamper off, towards the temple, beaming. I was living my own dream here, visiting a tropical paradise. Fair enough, the lady in my fantasies had been a lot older than Mara, but who was to say I couldn’t strike lucky here? I smiled as I watched two bikini-clad women, sunbathing on the beach, all tanned, oil-soaked limbs and white and pink silk. Who indeed?
MARA
The both of us were very quiet on the way back. All I had said, when we first took off, was that I wanted to have a go at flying. I sat in the pilot’s chair, with Kyle standing beside my seat and directing me when I went wrong. This thing was easy to fly; you just steered the joystick thing to the left and right. The hard part was knowing when to stop steering, as I found out soon enough.
“Where are we?” I asked, looking down on the desert stretched out below us.
“Are those kangaroos?” Kyle asked, peering down at the distant dots that were hopping along the sand. “I told you, kid,” he sighed, “be gentle with it.”
“Are we lost?” I asked, beginning to feel a little scared.
“Nah, we’re just over Australia.” We both smiled. “Turn us around and head back. Once we see the Statue of Liberty, we’re good.”
“Oookay.” I gently eased the joystick and spun us around. It was amazing how fast the ocean could whizz past us in this thing. We found Lady Liberty in no time.
“Okay, now what?”
“We find your home. The Block Beautiful, right? That’s only one state away.” I nodded and turned the nose… north? Yeah, north and headed home.
*
Kyle had advised me to always leave my window open before I left and now I knew why: it was so easy to make the small hop from the edge of the ramp down onto the sill. I jumped down onto my bedroom floor and, coming back to the window, waved at him. He waved back and shut the ramp. I changed for bed and climbed in, grinning a big, broad grin.
*
I felt like my big, broad grin would never come off now; I was walking on air as I hopped out of the embarrassing limo and joined the masses. I looked up at the High School of Arts and Learning building. Father had wanted me to go to a private school so I could become a snob like him. I’d taken one look at the grimy hallways, yelling kids, thought of the Martin Luther King Jr. High School, the place’s parent building’s violent history and put my foot down.
My first lesson and it was, as always, assembly in the Great Hall. We all took seats on the floor after making the Pledge of Allegiance. I just droned the words. I was always more interested in observing the scenery, especially when the weather was nice. It reminded me of Hawaii. When we had all filed out, I looked around at the locker rooms and hallways and down at my plain, black uniform shirt and skirt with the Arts and Tech logo, thinking how dull this was after I had been soaring, literally, in the clouds. I sighed as, when I was on the way to my locker, someone blocked my path. I sighed again as I looked up at that someone’s face, knowing already who they were: Amanda Simmons and Morons One and Two. They were always in my way.
“Hey, Snowball, what the hell do you have to be so happy about? Answer me,” she scowled after a few moments of silence.
“I don’t answer to ‘Snowball’; it’s not my name. It’s not especially polite either.” I tried to walk past them, but they moved to block me yet again.
“What do you want?” I scowled. She glanced at her two goons. Need help thinking, do we? And then back at me.
“I asked what you have to be so happy about.”
“And I’m not going to answer you.” We locked eyes for a while, in a standoff, while the people around us began giving us a wide berth. Then she just shrugged.
“Don’t care.”
“Hey, Mandy,” I called, reaching into my bag, just as she stared to walk off, knowing how much she hated that name.
“Don’t call me that—” She stared incredulously at my huge red sun hat, still with the Hawaiian tag on the brim.
“Helllllooo ha,” I grinned, waving and donning the shades I’d bought there as well for good effect. I then picked up my school bag, slung it over one shoulder, touched the brim to her, cowboy style, and strolled proudly down the corridor, the crowd parting before me, with stares and whispers, like the Red Sea before Moses. Ah, what a joy to be home again.
*
The rest of the day passed in a whirl. I was just too excited to really focus on any of the lessons. All eyes were on me, at lunch and in the corridors as we were leaving at the end of the day. I reclined on the limo’s back seat, too busy grinning to be embarrassed by the flash hearse as I usually was.
“Hey, Auntie,” I grinned, walking through the door.“Hey, how are you?”
“Okay. You seem way more upbeat than normal.”
“I am,” I smiled, remembering Amanda’s stunned face, remembering everyone’s stunned faces. I dropped my bag on the floor and lay back on the couch. “Things are going to be different, I think.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, frowning at me.
“Oh, nothing. How was your day?” I settled into pretending to be interested in her lounging around the house all day, doing nothing except drinking, for a while, then chilled in my room for the rest of the day. Things are going to be different.
*
“Uhhhh?”
“What’s the matter?” I smiled as I sipped my juice, looking up from my food. I knew full well what the matter was: I still had my hat and shades on. I was getting quite attached to my sombrero, hardly ever going anywhere without it.
“Where’d you get that from?”
“A shop in town,” I shrugged. She couldn’t help smiling as I wiggled my brows, James Bond style, at her.
“Mara, stop that,” she grinned. I didn’t and she buried her face in her napkin, her shoulders, and whole body, shaking with laughter. “Um, your father’s not gonna make it tonight.” I rolled my eyes, my jaw clenched and my smile vanishing like a magic trick. I know he’s not gonna make it; he never does, so why tell me?
“I’m sorry, Mara.” I was too. We finished our meal in gloomy silence. I glanced around the massive table and dining room. It could have fit at least sixteen people. But apart from when Father entertained those snobs, whoever they were, it was just the two of us as Andy was always out with friends. I sighed, my post-vacation cheer fading fast. I suddenly thought of this ridiculous green satin dress he’d made me wear last Christmas when there had been yet more guests. I had wanted to invite my school friends, as it had been my birthday, but he’d insisted that there would be “boring adult stuff” going on and that there’d be no point. So I just sat there, the youngest person in the room by at least thirty years, on a couch, watching them all walk around the mansion talking business, feeling stupid. One of them, a tall Arab guy that I didn’t know from Eve, bent down, patted me on the head, told me what a good child I was and asked how I liked the candy they made here. That. Had. Been. It! I’d wanted to scream, slap him, both. Instead I’d stood up, told him calmly that I didn’t like candy and I didn’t like him. Then I’d gone upstairs, taken off the dress, come back down in my jeans, cap and football shirt with it under my arm and a box of matches in my back pocket. I turned on the porch lights, walked out on to the lawn, and then, with everyone watching me through the patio windows, burned the dress in an old metal bucket and then, using both hands, gave them all the one-fingered salute. I smiled at the memory.
“What are you smiling about?”
“Last Christmas,” I grinned. “Do you remember?”
SARAH
Remember it? How could I ever forget? When Ron had told me, acting all shocked and shaken, I’d waited until he’d stormed off, out of the room, before laughing my ass off. Serve them right, condes
cending snobs. I looked at my niece, in her massive sombrero, and was glad, yet again, that something of Rachel had come through in her. I really had loved my sister-in-law. We’d been like real sisters: shopping together, checking out the waiters and discussing our husbands’ shortcomings. Then Simon had been killed in a head-on collision, followed shortly by Rachel succumbing to ovarian cancer. That had been hell on Mara and Andy. The memories still made me heartsick. That party, though. His face when she’d burnt that dress. Priceless.
“Atta girl.” Mara started cackling. A lot more cheery, these days, aren’t you?“To Christmas,” I said, raising a glass.
“To Christmas,” she nodded, raising her Coke can. We clinked. I paused as I was about to drink. You’ve gotta stop drinking. Still, it was only a glass of wine. Once Mara had gone upstairs to get some homework done, I dug out one of her old songs: ‘Abandoned.’ I paused as I was about to read, wondering if I really wanted to, having been in such a good mood a second ago.
Abandoned
Where have you gone? Why did you leave?
You just left us alone to grieve.
When she left, with me you were through.
What did I ever do to you?
I never see you. When you’re here, you’re not here at all.
You’re like a mirage or a distant memory.
Only mirages are impartial and you seem to hate me.
What happened to the sunny days? Can you even recall?
Where have you gone? Why did you leave?
You just left us alone to grieve.
When she left, with me, you were through.
What did I ever do to you?
Every time we are together, we’re haunted by her ghost.
I am not even human, I am just a host.
We can’t even talk with my being compared to her.
She was the gold, Andy the frankincense. I’m just the myrrh.
Where have you gone? Why did you leave?
You just left us alone to grieve.
When she left, with me you were through.
What did I ever do to you?
God, Ron, how can you be so cruel?
MARA
My eyes opened and I yawned and stretched, screwing my eyes shut against the bright glare. I sighed. It was Monday morning and I had done little over the weekend besides lazing about and watching the occasional movie. My phone began ringing. I stared at it, wondering who could be calling this early in the morning.
“Hey, kid.” Of course.
“Hi.”
“Enjoy our little getaway?”
“Yep,” I smiled warmly.
“Cool. Are you still in bed?”
“Yeah, I’m getting up though.”
“Cool, have you had breakfast yet?” I blinked. This seemed kind of a weird question.
“Wwwwhy?”
“‘Cause I’ve brought you some.” I looked up at a tapping on the window. I got up and parted the curtains. Kyle was there, rapping on the glass with a big smile. “Get dressed.” Wide-eyed, and still sleepy and confused, I gathered my uniform and headed for the shower.
*
“Where are we going?” I asked, yet again. And yet again, he just smiled and flew us on a straight course. “C’mon, Kyle, I have to go to school.”
“I’ll drop you off at school and you can just tell your family you got a ride with a friend.” I shook my head, sighing. He was flying really well. I would have struggled to make any sense of the hundred or so lit-up buttons on the console. But he was steering us like he’d been doing it all his life. I frowned when we stopped, hovering in the air.
“Where are we?” I asked, jumping up and down in my seat.
“Shall I describe it or do you want some books?” Kyle grinned. I narrowed my eyes at him as I took off my belt and knelt up on my seat. When I saw the lime-green face, straight, angular nose, full, feminine lips and spiked crown, I understood: we were paying a call on Lady Liberty.
KYLE
I was amazed at how simple this thing really was. All I had to do was press one of the four red, arrow-shaped buttons on the joystick and tilt it in that direction and it was set in that course. To reset it and change direction, I only had to press another button. The speed depended on how far you pushed the stick. If you pushed it as far as it would go you could cross the globe in seconds. If you wanted it to stop, you just hit the button in the middle of the arrows and the thing ground to a halt instantly. There were hundreds of other buttons on the dash. But I had no intention of testing any of them here. It only took a touch of the wrong one and those mounted guns could tear someone in half. I shuddered at the thought and shook my head at the crazy shit I was up to now. What am I thinking? Chill, I told myself, you’ll watch her every second we’re up there and hold on tight to her. Still, if we were caught… I put the machine in hover by pushing the button and lowered the ramp.
“You’re insane,” she told me as she saw me fish out the sandwiches and coffee I’d brought specially.
“Nah, I’m patriotic,” I grinned as I walked down the steps and hopped onto the green, stone dome. “C’moooonnnn, it’ll be fuuuunnnn,” I smirked in a sing-song voice. She laughed, though her face was even paler than usual as she slowly, hesitantly, followed me out, the wind tossing her hair and billowing in her school shirt. It was very clear and crisp up here. I could watch and hear the seagulls, wheeling and calling. We sat and I shared out breakfast: bagels with chicken and cheese and onion. I hadn’t known if the ki—Mara was veggie or not, so I’d made both.
“Breakfast on the Statue of Liberty,” Mara smiled. “You’re crazy, you know?”
“Hmm, so you keep telling me.” I smiled back around a mouthful of bread and chicken, as it turned out she was veggie. We took in the amazing view of New York, just happy to sit there, eat our meal and contemplate this miracle. I could see the whole city spread out before us. The people, far below, looked like multi-colored dots. And the boats sailing to and from Liberty Island looked like toys. Mara looked out over the landscape, entranced, not even noticing the strong wind had blown away all the salad in her sandwich until she bit into it. This left me free to study her. With her snowy hair, whipping back over her shoulders, and her nose pinched red by the cold, so that it matched her eyes, she looked like a younger version of the Snow Queen, a book that had been my favorite as a boy. I thought she was a beautiful kid. Unique. But I could easily imagine her taking heaps of shit from all the other, “normal” kids, just as I had before I’d hit my growth spurt. We looked out over the ocean and the city, seated on the edge of the crown, watching as a ferry pulled into New York Harbor with our feet dangling in the air, neither of us saying a word. I watched as the sun shone on the gold leaf of the torch. So many people were only a thin layer of stone away from us, most likely too exhausted from climbing thirty-one flights of stairs to enjoy the view and we were already here, beating them to it. I grinned at the thought. We looked up as the clouds parted for a while to allow the sun in. We lay back to catch the rays while we could.
“I heard the same guy who built the frame of this also designed the Eiffel Tower,” Mara mused.
“Uh huh, I heard that too. I also heard the model was the sculptor’s mother.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Can we go and visit the museum? I want a souvenir.”
“Sure,” I smiled. Can we enjoy the peace and quiet now?
We did. Either she interpreted my silent signals or she just wasn’t in the mood. Either suited me.
MARA
As much as I liked the view, my thoughts were more on the man beside me. Who was he really? Mom, when she was alive, had warned me often about strangers, told me not to talk to them, all that. But Kyle…? I’d stopped thinking of him as a stranger surprisingly quickly. Maybe it was the way he’d helped me get to sleep. Ma
ybe it was our shared secret. Why were we keeping it a secret?
“Do not move!” We both had heart attacks as we stared up at the news and rescue choppers circling above us. “We’re sending a ladder to you,” they called out over their megaphones. We glanced at each other.
“Nah, let’s go. Let’s go.”
“No!” the guy with the megaphone yelled as we got up, packed our lunch and began walking towards the edge. He thinks we’re suicidal. I snorted as we hopped through a doorway in thin air. Happy hunting, fellas.
*
I thought long and hard about the ship as we flew back just in time for school. I didn’t want to tell Father or any of his pet snobs and the thought of that jerk, Amanda Simmons, turning it into her own little make-up studio was enough to make me shiver. But still Scout, my only friend at school, ought to know. The dark-haired, baby-faced, slightly built girl was a technical and computer genius, excelling in Technology class, and, like me, a social outcast with pathetic social skills. I was sure she could be trusted.
*
I thought again that the hallways at school were so dull in comparison with the wonders of space, sunny, exotic beaches and seeing a whole city laid out before me. I was restless and bored throughout the whole day. And the stares and whispers didn’t help any either. My little sunhat stunt was probably all over the school. It was getting a little off-putting. At lunchtime I closed up my locker and was walking towards the canteen when, surprise, surprise, who should show up.
“Is this you?” Amanda scowled, rudely shoving a mobile in my face. On it was a YouTube clip of Kyle and myself walking back across the statue’s head and vanishing into thin air. Uh, oh.
“Is. That. Me?” I scoffed.“Are you serious?” I asked, putting on my best act. “How the hell can I get all the way up there?” I walked away, shaking my head. Some people will believe anything.