“What?”
Red tossed the ball into the field again, but Gandalf just looked at it, then back at Red. She shook her head and sneezed.
“Go get it!”
The dog lumbered after it, not nearly as excited as before. When she brought it back, she held on to it, staring hard at Red.
“You don’t want to play anymore?” Red shrugged. “Fine. I’ll read my book.”
Gandalf pawed at her leg when she sat down. She dropped the ball and sniffed the air, then looked at Red expectantly, tail wagging.
“What are you doing?”
Gandalf sniffed the air again, her nostrils flaring a little, then sneezed and crouched before Red’s feet, tail high. Red laughed and picked up the ball.
“I don’t know if I can do it,” she said. She glanced at the sky. It was blue and bright and perfect. “I make things stormy, remember?”
Gandalf wuffed.
Red rolled her eyes. “You don’t care at all, do you?”
Gandalf eyed the ball, tail wagging.
Red tossed it between her hands. It was one of those plastic balls with holes in it. Thin and light. Perfect for flying.
Gandalf sneezed.
“Fine.” Red closed her eyes and concentrated. She opened one eye to peek at Gandalf. The dog’s tail was going crazy. Grinning, she took a breath and focused.
A tickling sensation swept across her skin. Her fingers began to tingle. Opening her eyes, she threw the ball, trying with all her might to send a breath of air with it. The ball sailed over the grass before dropping into the snow. Gandalf bounded after it and brought it back.
Red tried again. She thought of the way her mom’s wind used to feel, warm and gentle. Like laughter. This time, the ball sailed a little farther. Gandalf returned it with a sneeze.
“I’m trying,” Red said.
She let the wind skim off her skin, not worrying about trying to control it for a moment. Her hair billowed around her head, and Gandalf’s fur flurried. Holding the ball out, she imagined her wind wrapping around it, lifting it, playing with it. She felt the plastic shudder in her fingers. Pulling her arm back, she threw the ball as hard as she could and sent her wind chasing it.
The ball dipped toward the field, then turned suddenly to the sky, carried by an updraft, before falling into the snow again. Gandalf’s bark was bellowing and happy as she raced after it. She ran in circles a few times, like she was celebrating Red’s success. Red laughed, tugging the ball from Gandalf’s teeth when she returned.
With the next throw, she sent the ball skittering just above the grass. Gandalf ran for it at top speed, yapping when it surprised her by soaring back over her head. Red’s whole body hummed with excitement. She was doing it! She was controlling her wind!
They played until Red’s arm hurt from throwing and her head ached from concentration. The wind made the ball bounce through the air like a skipping stone across water. It rolled the ball over the ground, slowly, then faster as Gandalf chased it. With every throw, Red’s wind tried new things, keeping the ball aloft or sending it farther down the field.
When Gandalf brought the ball back for the last time, she dropped it, then flopped onto the ground, panting. Red sat on the stargazing rock and watched Gandalf roll in a patch of snow to cool off. Red looked up and smiled.
The sky was still blue and clear and perfect. There wasn’t a storm in sight.
Chapter
41
“She’s here!” Red unfastened her seat belt and scrambled out of the car as Wanda’s hatchback turned into the parking lot. Wanda’s car moved tentatively at first, like Wanda didn’t see them, then zoomed toward Celine’s car with a roar.
Celine glanced at the dashboard clock, which showed seventeen minutes past the hour, and climbed out of the car without a word. Red waved toward her mom, grinning so widely her jaw hurt. Wanda’s car squealed to a stop. She left it running and stepped out.
“Mom!” Red ran to her, wrapping her arms around her waist.
Wanda patted her back. “Hey, you.”
Celine held out her hand. “It’s nice to see you again, Wanda. How was your New Year’s?”
Wanda hesitated before shaking Celine’s hand, her lips pulled thin. “Fine, thanks.”
“Red’s really excited about today.” Celine’s smile was warm, despite the exhaustion in her eyes. Even though Celine hadn’t been feeling well, she’d insisted on driving Red to meet Wanda for their first unsupervised visit. She said she wanted to be there, just in case Red was nervous.
Red looked between the two women. Celine’s face was pale and thin. Her hair was a cloud of silvery gold around her head. Wanda’s hung down the middle of her back in a dark, thick sheet. She kept running her hand through it, pulling out long strands and balling them up in her fingers before dropping them to the ground. Her eyes shifted constantly, and Red could feel a nervous shiver in the air.
“I’ve never been to the aquarium,” Celine said to Red. “You’ll have to tell me all about it when you get home.”
“We better go.” Wanda glanced at the screen of her phone.
“Of course. See you later, Red,” Celine said.
Red hugged Celine, then saw the way her mom’s lips tightened. “Bye,” she said, pulling away from the embrace.
Once they were in the car, Wanda jabbed at the radio preset buttons, settling on some jangly rock music as they sped out of the parking lot.
“How’s work?” Red asked. The woman on the radio growled words Red couldn’t understand over a wailing guitar.
Wanda ran a hand through her hair. “It’s okay. My boss is kind of a jerk.” She blew out a breath and shook her head.
Red pulled on the shoulder of the seat-belt strap to keep it from cutting into her neck. Clunk clunk clunk.
“Stop, please. You’ll break it.”
Red laughed. “I can’t break a seat belt by pulling on it, Mom. That’s the whole point of seat belts.”
“Red.” Her mother shot her a warning look.
Red’s smile faded. “Sorry.”
When the growling song finished, Red turned down the radio. She ignored her mother’s scowl and talked about the book report she had to finish before school started again next week. She told her about Billie’s latest escapades. The goat had somehow broken into the locked back room of the barn, where Jackson stored all the animal food, and had eaten herself into a stupor.
But what she wanted to tell her was that Celine was sick.
She tried to imagine the look on her mom’s face when she said the word. Cancer.
Maybe this time that word wouldn’t scare Wanda away like it had when Gamma got cancer. Maybe this time she’d be there for Red. Maybe she’d realize how much Red needed her to do all the things the judge said so Red could finally come home.
Because now, more than ever, Red needed her mom.
But could she tell her that?
Wanda laughed at the story about Billie, and hope flared in Red’s heart. She opened her mouth, but Wanda spoke first.
“Guess who I ran into the other day?” Wanda adjusted the rearview mirror so she could check her lipstick.
“Who?”
“Ricky! Remember?” She squeezed Red’s knee, like this news was something Red should be excited about.
Red shifted, tugged on the shoulder strap of her seat belt again. Clunk. “You saw Ricky?”
“Crazy, right? It’s been ages. He’s doing good, too. Really good.”
Hope fizzled.
“I thought you said you weren’t gonna talk to him anymore.”
Wanda made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a scoff. “Why would I say that? He’s my friend, Red.” She glanced at her. “I’m allowed to have friends.”
Red scowled.
“Come on. Don’t be like that! This is our day.” Wanda looked at her with wide, excited eyes. “This is the first time we’ve gotten to hang out just us two in a long time.”
“Three years,” Red grumbled.
“Come on, baby. Let’s promise each other we’ll have fun today. No brooding over silly things,” her mother said, jostling her shoulder. “I promise, Red. Today is all about you. Okay?” She gave Red a pouty look. “Please?”
“You promise promise?”
Wanda nodded, crossing her finger over her heart.
Finally, Red smiled. Three years was a long time. “Okay.” She reached for her mom’s hand. “I’m glad you’re back.”
Wanda squeezed her fingers. Her smile was bright and warm. “Me too. I’ve missed you.”
Chapter
42
“North American Wilderness? Is that where we go?” Wanda asked, looking over the aquarium map.
“Sure,” Red said.
They wandered down the hall of the exhibit, the sound of running water and the tangy stink of aquatic animals filling the air. A group of kids walked away from the otter exhibit as Red and Wanda approached, opening a space in front of the glass. Red watched the sleek brown creatures twirling and diving in the green water.
“They’re so cute!” She turned, expecting Wanda to be next to her, but she wasn’t. “Mom?”
Wanda was sitting on a bench behind her, eyes on her phone. Red called her again. “Mom!”
Wanda looked up, surprised. “Oh, yeah, they’re really cute. Just a second.”
Red waved her over. “Come look at them! This one is playing with a rubber ring.”
Wanda finished typing out a text, then dropped her phone into her bag and came to the glass. She smiled at the playful display. “It looks like a dog toy.”
Red nodded, watching the otter let go of the ring and do a quick flip, diving beneath it and snatching it up before it could touch the bottom of the tank. She lifted a hand to the thick glass. The otter hooked the dog toy on his arm and swam a smooth lap, his eyes on her. He shot through the water and launched himself onto the rock next to his buddy. They chattered at each other, then dove in unison and surfaced against the glass, face-to-face with Red.
“Whoa,” Wanda said.
Red leaned forward and pressed both of her hands against the cool tank. The otters, too, each lifted a paw.
“That’s crazy,” Wanda whispered. She put her hand next to Red’s. The otters launched themselves backward, spinning flips before disappearing into the murky waters on the other side of the tank.
Red looked at Wanda, who raised her eyebrows.
“Impressive,” she said. “Do you speak otter or something?”
Red grinned and shrugged. “Maybe.”
Her mother tugged lightly on Red’s hair. “I’ve definitely been away too long then.”
“Yeah.” Red leaned in to her mother’s arm. “Definitely.”
They wandered through the desert exhibit next. Wanda peered into each tank, occasionally pointing something out to Red. She moved quickly, especially past the rattlesnake display, as if she didn’t trust the glass separating them.
“Why is there a desert in an aquarium, anyway?” Wanda asked, grimacing at a collection of giant tarantulas.
Red shrugged. “It’s cool, though.” She led the way from the desert hall toward the next exhibit. Wanda’s shoes clicked on the path behind her.
The lighting shifted from warm yellow to blue green as they entered the room. An enormous glass tube was before them. Above and all around the tube, an assortment of fish, sharks, and gliding rays meandered through clear blue water. Coral reefs bulged from the sea bottom like colorful, rolling hills, and hundreds of creatures bobbed among the waving fingers of anemone and various corals. The light danced against Wanda’s silver shirt and wove strands of gold and blue and green into her hair.
“It’s kind of creepy in here, isn’t it?” Wanda said.
Red was transfixed by the belly of a spotted fish as it swam overhead.
Wanda tapped her pink nails against the curve of the wall. She looked over her shoulder at Red, her eyes dark and glittering. “Why don’t the sharks eat the fish?” she marveled. “If I was stuck in a bowl with a bunch of food, I’d eat it.”
Red stepped closer to the wall of the tubular tank. A fish darted through the faint reflection of her face.
“Let’s keep moving,” Wanda said. She pulled out her phone again, smiled, then typed another text.
Red frowned, but kept walking. She tried to ignore how often her mother looked at her phone. Whenever it vibrated with a new text, Wanda would grin and stop to respond. She barely glanced at the animals in most of the tanks they passed.
“Mom,” Red whined. “This is our day, remember?”
Wanda sent another text, then put the phone away. “I know. Sorry, sorry. Just a friend.”
A quiet vbbtt from her purse signaled another text. Red turned her back when Wanda fished the phone out.
“I’ll just be a second,” Wanda said, stepping away.
Red listened to the clack of her mother’s shoes fade as she watched a tank fill rapidly with water, the fish inside bobbing back and forth in the current. Irritation rippled from her skin, but Red forced herself to calm down. No wind. Not here.
A little boy appeared at Red’s side. He pressed his nose against the glass and watched as the fish rocked helplessly back and forth in the deluge. They stared in silence for a moment. The water drained again. The lack of floodwater meant the fish could move a bit more freely, so they drifted around, looking for food stirred up by the tide.
“If I was dem, I’d fly away,” the boy said confidently.
Red wanted to say, Me too.
“Corin! Hey, don’t disappear like that!” The boy’s mother came around the corner, her cheeks flushed with worry. “Sorry,” she said to Red. “I hope he isn’t bothering you.”
Red smiled and shook her head. She followed a little ways behind Corin and his mom, into the humid air of the rain-forest exhibit. Birds jabbered overhead and mist clung to the plate-size leaves of the plants and palm trees along the path. The fishy smell wasn’t as bad in here. The air was earthier, like wet, rich soil.
As she rounded a corner, sunlight poured into the room through the clear glass ceiling. She squinted against the sudden glare and moved toward a crowd of excited children staring into a tank so large its glass walls almost touched the translucent ceiling.
Red stopped, amazed. Before her, two enormous tigers were swimming in a pool on the other side of the glass, pawing at each other and opening their powerful jaws. There was a rubber ball between them, its surface deeply gouged with teeth and claw marks. They both wrestled the ball, one clutching it, trying to bite it, until it rolled out of reach. The second tiger lunged for it, wrapping both of its front legs around it and somersaulting over the top. The smaller tiger climbed onto a rock and leaped into the water again, front legs outstretched like Superman in flight. His body sent a wave of foamy water over the head of his companion. The children squealed with delight.
Red looked around for her mother, and finally found her across the room. She almost called out, but stopped herself. Wanda was talking to someone.
Red stepped away from the tiger tank so she could get a better view. Her mom was under an archway near the exit, her body cast in shadow. She was speaking to a thin man with a shock of light brown hair and a web of colorful tattoos up both arms. Red’s body went cold. Ricky.
Wanda touched his arm and smiled. Red clenched her fists and headed toward them. The tall, wide-leafed palm trees along the perimeter of the room rustled and swayed as Red passed.
“Mom.”
Wanda jumped, a mix of surprise and embarrassment flashing across her face. “Oh! Red! There you are. Look who it is!”
Ricky’s smile was crooked. He pushed his knuckles into Red’s shoulder. “Hey, kiddo. Miss your uncle Ricky?”
Red ignored him. “What’s he doing here?” she asked her mom.
Wanda frowned. “I told you I ran into him the other day. Now, be polite.” She
pinched Red’s arm gently but firmly. “Ricky’s the reason we get to do this today. He works here. He got us the tickets.”
Red stepped back, away from both Ricky’s shoulder-punch greeting and her mother’s be-polite pinch. All around them, tree leaves shook and shivered against each other. Shhhkk shhhkk.
“You promised,” Red hissed.
“Don’t be rude, Red.” Her words were clipped. “Say hello.”
Red held her mother’s gaze, glaring. Finally, she shifted her angry stare to Ricky. “Hi,” she said.
Ricky chuckled. “Someone’s getting a jump on being a moody teenager.”
“I apologize for my very rude child,” Wanda said, directing the last words at Red. She rolled her eyes at Ricky like, She’s so dramatic.
“It’s cool. You ladies ready for lunch? I made reservations at the restaurant. We can sit right in front of the mermaid tank.” Ricky waggled his eyebrows at Red. Did he think she was a little girl?
“That sounds nice, doesn’t it, Red?” Wanda reached to pinch her again.
“Fine,” Red said, dodging her mom’s fingers.
Ricky ran his hand through his hair as it whipped around on his head. He looked up toward the vents along the wall, frowning like he couldn’t understand where the air was coming from. Wanda gave Red a pointed look. Red crossed her arms, trying to hold herself together.
Ricky waved them on. “Let’s eat!” He leaned in to Wanda and spoke in a low voice. “We can all get reconnected.”
Wanda blushed and giggled. She put her hands on Red’s shoulders and steered her toward the exit. “It’s just lunch,” she said into Red’s ear. “Relax.”
Chapter
43
The problem with Ricky was that he made Wanda forget. That was what Gamma used to say. He makes you forget yourself.
They fought about it a lot. Gamma said Wanda was treating her life like it was something cheap. Wanda yelled that it was her life and she could do whatever she wanted with it.
All the Impossible Things Page 15