by Brian Rowe
“So you finally used that grenade,” Frankie said, stopping beside me. “After all these years.”
“I thought it might come in handy one day. Turns out I was right.” He looked at me, with a pained grimace. “Sorry you had to see that, Zippy. I know how much you love dinosaurs.”
I rushed toward him and hugged him tight. “No, no, Mr. Balm. It’s okay. That one could go.” I smiled, in complete shock that the old man wasn’t dead. “All I care about is that you’re all right.”
“My heart hasn’t given out yet,” he said. “And as long as it doesn’t, you guys will just have to keep putting up with me.”
“You know what? I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Elle hugged him, too, and Frankie gave him a pat on the back. I turned around and smiled at Mira, who stood, shaken but alive, a few yards away.
But my smile subsided. I looked around the area, past all the bloody Tyrannosaur parts.
“Where’s…” I said, scanning the beach, and then the water. “Where’s my dad?”
Judy barked in the distance, over by the lighthouse.
I didn’t think. I just bolted toward the terrier, my heart leaping to my throat with every step. I never got along with my dad. I never saw eye to eye with him. I dreamed of him dying so often, wished it even.
But here I was, in the reality of it all, and I could only think one thing: please be alive.
I turned to where Judy was barking. Two arms flailed in the water.
“Dad?”
“Zipporah!” he shouted. “I can’t swim!”
That’s right, he couldn't. My dad loathed the water.
“Can you grab onto anything?” He’d stayed afloat for the past minute or two by keeping a tight grip on the lighthouse wreckage. But there was nothing left to grab onto now. He was sinking. In seconds, he’d be gone.
“Zipporah, please!” he screamed.
I turned back to the group. “Mr. Balm! Frankie! I need help!”
Mira collided against my back and almost knocked me over. “I’m here for you, Z,” she said, and ran past me, toward the water. “Let’s save your dad.”
Mira got to him first and propped his left arm over her head. I paddled up to him. Blood gushed down his face.
“Get his other side,” Mira said, and I did. The two of us swam forward, slow but steady, and kept my dad’s head above water. It took more than a minute, but we finally reached the shore, and Mr. Balm and Frankie were there to pull my dad out of the water. They brought him halfway up the beach and laid him on his back.
I crouched down on top of him and patted my hand against his face. “Daddy? Dad? Can you hear me?”
He didn’t respond. His mouth hung open, but he didn’t answer me. I shook him harder. Nothing.
“Answer me! Come on, Dad!” I brought my right hand over his face. “Wake up!” And I slapped him. Hard.
That did the trick. He sat up and started coughing.
Frankie looked at me with concern, his eyebrows raised. “Are you sure you wanted to do that?”
“What? The slap?”
“No,” he said. “Save him.”
Mr. Balm put his hand over Frankie’s mouth and shot me an awkward smile. I turned back to my dad. His left eye was in better shape than the right; his right eye was damaged beyond repair.
“You’ll be okay, Dad,” I said.
He looked up at me with the one eye that worked. “Zipporah. You… you saved me.”
I pulled Mira close to me, made him stare at my beloved.
“It wasn't just me who saved you, Dad. We both saved you.”
He nodded, and then, without warning, reached out for Mira’s hand. I readied myself to push him away, but he didn't grab her in a forceful manner. He took her hand, leaned in, and kissed it.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Mira.”
I stared at the person in front of me. It couldn't have been my father. “What did you just say?”
“Now I want two things to happen here, you understand me?” he said, ignoring my question. “First, I need someone to call an ambulance and get me to a hospital. And second, and this is only for Mira…” He glanced at me, before he turned back to her. “I want you to take good care of my little girl, all right?”
I was blindsided, again. “Uhh, what?”
“Do I have to spell it out for you?” he said. “I’m doing as you asked. You're much older, much smarter... than I ever give you credit for. You're going to be eighteen in a few months. And if you want to be with her, then be with her.”
“You mean...”
“I'm letting you go, Zipporah. If that's what you want.”
The tears returned. “Really, Dad?”
“Yes.”
I kissed my dad on the cheek, and gave him a big hug. I couldn’t remember the last time I hugged my father. It must have been years. “You have no idea how much this means to me.” I leaned back, hoping and praying he was being sincere. “So no anti-gay camp?”
He shrugged. “Well, if you really want to…”
I shook my head so fast I got dizzy. “No! Absolutely not!”
A slight grin appeared on his face. “Then no.”
“Mom would be so proud of you,” I said. “She really would.”
“I don’t know if I’d go that far.” He looked up at my friends and said, “Now could someone please get me some help? I need to see a doctor.”
Frankie pressed his hands against his back. “That might be a problem since we kind of wrecked the car.” He pointed toward the other end of the beach, at the upside-down Explorer.
“Oh, right,” I said. “Is your car wrecked too, Dad?”
“I was able to drive it most of the way here. But then the whole engine shut down.”
“What about your phone? Didn't you have a cell phone?”
He shook his head. “It's out of battery.”
“Damn.” I slammed my palms together, glanced in every direction. “What are we going to do?”
“I guess we have to walk,” Frankie said.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
Frankie turned toward the car. “Should we go that way?”
“Sounds good to me,” Mr. Balm said.
“Where does it go?” Elle asked.
“I know exactly where it goes,” Mira said. “If we head in that direction, we’ll find a roadside phone up ahead. We can call an ambulance from there.”
“How far?” I asked.
“I don't know. A mile, maybe?”
“Okay, perfect.”
Everyone but my wounded father started walking down the beach, but Frankie turned around and stopped me and Mira.
“No,” he said.
“No?” I asked. “No, what?”
“You two stay with your dad. We can’t leave him here all alone.”
I nodded at Mira. “He’s right. We can't all go.”
“Plus,” Frankie said, “it’ll give you two some alone time…”
I shoved my elbow against his chest, and laughed. All three of us did.
“Okay,” I said. “You sure you guys will be safe?”
Frankie grinned. “Positive.”
Elle and Mr. Balm were already a few yards up ahead, Judy prancing in circles around the car, when Frankie ran up to them. I watched them for a few seconds. I didn't, couldn't, stay put for long.
“Be right back,” I said to Mira.
I rushed up to Frankie and wrapped my arms around him.
“Whoa, whoa,” he said. “What's the matter?”
“You think I’d let you go without a proper hug?”
“We’re not leaving, Zippy. We’re just going to get help.”
“I know,” I said. “But I just wanted to say, again, thank you.” I backed away from Frankie and smiled big.
I turned to Mr. Balm and hugged him, too. “Thanks, Mr. Balm. For everything. And for, you know, saving our lives.”
“It’s my pleasure,” he said.
I backed away from hi
m. “I just have one question.”
“Anything.”
“Frankie’s in Seattle to find his dad, Elle has cousins here, I came for Mira.” I sighed. “What did you come to Seattle for?”
I watched him try to fight back tears. “To find my son,” he said, then looked down at the sand.
“That's great, I'm glad,” I said. “We'll help you find him, okay?”
“Thank you, Zippy.”
“You're welcome, Lyman.”
Mr. Balm slugged me in the shoulder, playfully, then stepped aside to reveal Elle. I gave her the strongest hug of all. “I’m so happy you’re safe. I’m so happy that dinosaur didn’t eat you.”
Elle chuckled. “Yeah, me too. You know what I got the most out of all this, Zippy?”
“What’s that?”
“Friends.”
I kissed her on the cheek. Then I leaned down to pet Judy, who had run up to me on cue.
I stepped back, locked arms with Mira again. I stared at the strange, funny quartet, like they were my family.
“They are my family,” I said.
Mira and I stood close together and watched as they walked down the beach, past the Explorer, around the corner and out of sight. The wind picked up, and the crash of the waves against the lighthouse rocks shook me from my daze. I turned to my father. He sat up straight, and appeared to have gained a bit more strength, despite his nasty eye wound.
“He wasn’t the Red Queen, or the Big Bad Wolf, or the Wicked Witch, after all,” I whispered. “I guess he’s just… my dad.”
Mira looked at me. “What was that, Z?”
“Nothing,” I said. “So what do we do now?”
“What do we do now. That’s the million dollar question, isn't it?” She smiled at me. We moved closer to each other.
“I can’t believe we finally got to meet,” I said. “After all this time.”
“I know. Two whole years. It’s been like an eternity.”
Mira glanced to her right and grinned. The expression on her face was one of pure joy.
I tried to follow her gaze. “What is it? What do you see?”
“Look.” She pointed in the distance. “A rainbow.”
“Wow,” I said. “A double rainbow.”
The incredible sight didn’t appear to be real. It was the sharpest, clearest pair of rainbows I had ever seen.
Mira held my hands tight, and brought her face close to mine. I saw tears in her eyes.
“Make a wish,” she said.
I peered down at the ground for a few seconds, as she waited for my response. Then I looked back into her eyes. “I don’t need to. It’s already been granted.”
She smiled again. Our faces moved even closer. I took a deep breath, and tapped my dirty red Converse together.
Mira glanced down at my shoes, then back up at me. “You trying to send yourself home, Z?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m already home.”
I closed my eyes and kissed her. Her lips were soft and smooth, and tasted like sweet peppermint. I bowed her head toward the sand and broke my lips away.
“Oh my God,” Mira said. She kept her forehead tilted against mine. “Nothing could make this moment more perfect.”
“I know. Absolutely nothing.”
A creature landed on the sand behind us. Mira saw it first, then I turned to it. The dinosaur spread its wings and gazed at us with what didn't seem like fear or animosity, but affection.
Mira and I smiled at each other. “Are you…” I started. I had to chuckle before I finished my sentence. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“I hope not,” Mira said. “Because what I’m thinking… is a little crazy.”
I looked at the dinosaur, then back at Mira. “That’s okay. I love crazy.”
#
Mira and I held on tight to the pterodactyl as it pushed up off the ground and launched us into the welcoming sky. I waved down to my dad, who waved back, and then we passed over Frankie, Mr. Balm, and Elle, who all waved up at us, too.
“At this rate,” I said, as the winged creature zoomed through the air, “we’ll get help for my dad a lot faster.”
“Yeah, for sure,” Mira said, holding onto me tight. “Plus we can look for my parents.”
“Absolutely. They’re out there, Mira. I know they are.”
“Was this a good idea, Z?” she asked, pressing her cheek against my shoulder. “Getting on the back of a pterodactyl?”
“No,” I said. I kissed her on the forehead. “It was a great idea.”
The pterodactyl took us high enough in the sky for Mira and I to see all of Seattle. We saw the dinosaurs and the destruction. We saw the people, small in numbers, but big in possibilities. The world was a damaged place. But as I looked out over the city, with Mira behind me, I knew a life, a good one, existed for us out there. We just had to find it.
I pointed to the right. “Look, Mira! The rainbow!”
The pterodactyl flew us even higher and took us up toward the clouds.
“Oh my God, Z,” Mira said. “We’re doing it. We’re flying over the rainbow.”
“I know! Can you believe it?”
Mira smiled and started to sing. “Some… where… over the rain—”
I covered my hand over her mouth. “Don’t even think about it.”
Mira laughed. “Okay,” she said. She pointed up at the clouds. “Do you think there really is a God up there?”
“I know there is,” I said.
“Do you think there’ll be a second rapture? To take up the ones He missed the first time?”
“I don’t know. All I know is, whatever happens, whether we’re on the ground, or up in the sky, I want to be here, right here, with you.”
“I think that’s a wonderful idea,” Mira said. She turned my head around, and kissed me on the lips a second time.
I smiled, and said, “Is this all going to be... just one big dream?”
Mira smiled back, and shook her head. “If it is, it’s the best dream I ever had.” She leaned her head against mine and held my hands in hers. “I love you, my darling Z.”
“And I love you, Mira.”
The pterodactyl swooped back down, toward the ground, toward the center of the Emerald City. These last few days had been an unnerving fantasy, but now I was in a hopeful reality. We would help my dad. We would find Mira’s parents. We would again see Frankie and Mr. Balm and Elle and Judy.
But for now it was the two of us, together, today for the first time, flying up high in the friendly sky.
It was just us, just Mira and me, ready as ever—for the next adventure.
# # #
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Brian Rowe is a writing fiend, book devotee, film fanatic, and constant dreamer. He's written ten novels, dozens of short stories, five feature-length screenplays, and hundreds of film articles and essays. He is currently pursuing his MA in English-Writing at the University of Nevada, Reno, and is hard at work on his next novel.
ALSO BY BRIAN ROWE
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I'm indebted to author extraordinaire Shaunta Grimes for being there from the beginning, letting me toss ideas off her, editing my book with a keen eye, and just being forever enthused about this project. Shaunta, you're the best.
&nb
sp; Thanks also to Katie Bode for her beautiful cover, and to Michelle Kathleen and Nessie Siler for their smart and lifesaving copyediting.
Over the Rainbow would not be the book it is today without the donations from all the generous backers on Kickstarter. Here they are, in alphabetical order: Natalie Erica Anderson, Sarah Avampato, Shannon Badcock, Shalene Balensuela, Katie Bode, Audra Bolster, Kieran Bright, Jacy Ceccarelli, Lynn Checca, Butch & Nancy Corum, Allyson Edgington, Amanda Ellexson, Winn Ellinger, Julie Fisher, Scott Gairdner, Marcus Gorman. Shaunta Grimes, Kelly Grossart, J.D. Haley, Sandra Hancock, Ambur Hostyn, Leanne Howard, Sharon Ing, Katie Irving, Tee Iseminger, Christopher Jackson, Thomas Klonecke, Mark & Julie Krueger, Erin Leach, Kimberly M. Lowe, Christopolis Markus, Emily McKay, Jonathan Moore, Erin Pade, Megan Padilla, Myriam Pennington, Michael Pietrzykowski, Brian V. Rowe, Mark Salamon, Rob Stone, Carmen Thomas, Shari & Steve Tough, Karen W, A.J. Walkley, and Megan Walling. I love you all!