Isaac
"Hey Tay."
"Shut up, Ike," Taylor snapped, grabbing the control and flicking the station.
"Dammit, Tay, what's your problem?"
"Her! Say 'I told you so' and I will kill you," Taylor replied angrily, shuttering at the memory of the park.
"My lips are sealed," Isaac promised. He had learned long ago that when Taylor acted like this, it was best to let him vent on his own (which eventually he did) than try to help, and get your head bitten off. Simple philosophy.
"Do you want to know what she said?" Taylor asked, his tone turning into one of utter disbelief.
"Sure, Tay. You're going to tell me anyway."
"My, aren't we the supportive brother."
"Tay, calm down."
Glaring at Ike, Taylor told him his story, whether Ike wanted to hear it or not.
"She called Mom's hair ugly?" Ike asked, in suprise.
Taylor nodded rapidly, his eyes very wide, "And she was awful to Cheyenne!"
"You owe Cheyenne an apology," Ike stated.
"Me?!? Excuse me? It was Britt!"
Isaac shook his head, "Think about it, Tay. I'm sure eventually you'll get it."
Taylor glared at him some more, "I don't want to play games."
Ike rolled his eyes at his little brother, "You simple-minded child. If you wouldn't have talked to Cheyenne, Britt couldn't have said any of that."
"But she called Mom's hair ugly!"
"Okay, you don't have to apologize for that, Tay. Jeeze!"
"You phoned Shae yet?" Tay asked, his voice softening.
"Yeah, but she won't talk to me."
"Hang in there, Ike. She'll forgive you, or she isn't worth the effort."
Isaac smiled at Taylor. Did Taylor really still believe that Britt was worth the effort? Did he ever believe that? Ike sure didn't.
"Sorry, the number you have dialed is no longer in service...."
Ike hung up the phone, cutting off the plastic voice of the operator.
"Ike, I need a ride!" Taylor announced, coming into the kitchen, "Would you give me one?"
Just as Ike had predicted, after a night's sleep, Taylor was back to his chipper self. At least one of them was. Ike was, well, Ike was depressed.
"Sure," Ike replied.
"Huh?" That was too easy. No begging, no pleading.
"Get in the car, Tay."
"She disconnected her phone line," Isaac said, once they were in the car.
"I'm assuming she is Shae. Didn't she say she was on welfare? Use your brain, Ike. Phone lines do cost money," Taylor told him, sarcastically.
"Shut up, Taylor. Remember who's driving you half way across Tulsa."
Taylor rolled his eyes. There it was. The blackmail.
"Fine," Taylor surrendered.
Taylor
"Bye, Ike," Taylor called, waving at Ike. He had just gotten out of the car, when Isaac accelerated.
"Sheesh! Is he trying to run me over?" Taylor muttered to himself.
Whistling, Taylor began to snoop around Cheyenne's garage trying to figure out if Mr Spring was home. He had decided to put this off if Mr Spring was there. He had this vision of Mr Spring running him off his property with a shot gun.
Shuddering, Taylor rethought the whole apology. Cheyenne, after all, hadn't been totally honest. She didn't say her parents' musical career had been a flop, or that her mother was dead. When he thought of Cheyenne, he thought of a question mark. So, what it all came down to was that he was not really ready to apologize.
After concluding that Mr Spring wasn't home, Taylor swallowed his pride and rang the bell.
A couple of minutes later, Cheyenne swung the door open.
"Hello, Taylor," she greeted, burying her hands into the fabric of her long, white skirt.
"Hi, Cheyenne. Uh, can I come in?" Taylor stammered.
She thought for a second, before replying, "Sure. But Dad's not home, so you can't stay long."
"Okay," he shrugged, stepping into the house.
It was a lot bigger than he recalled, and very nice inside. As she led him to a living room, they passed a pool, a music room, and many more things Taylor would have liked to stop and take a look at.
"So......" Cheyenne began, sitting herself down on a cream colored couch in the living room.
"So......." Okay, so his pride wasn't 100% swallowed yet. Oh, how he hated apologizing!
"Well, why'd ya come?" she prompted.
Eck!
"To apologize for putting you in such an awkward situation with Britt," Taylor recited in a monotone voice.
Cheyenne nodded.
Taylor couldn't help himself, "You lied too!"
"I did not!" she exclaimed, her voice turning indignant.
"You did too! You didn't say your mom was dead or their band was a fall out."
"Well, you never asked," she told him, before rushing in again, "And the band didn't fail."
Taylor new his battle was an uphill one, but he tried one last approach, "Okay, Cheyenne. I will be awaiting the next album."
Cheyenne looked like she wanted to punch him, but Taylor grinned tauntingly at her anyway.
"He, uh, doesn't do that anymore. Not since Mama died," she told him softly.
All Tay's anger vanished, "I'm sorry, Chey."
"Yeah?"
"How'd she, uh, you know..." He couldn't say die. It sounded too final.
"Cancer." Death was the snake, and cancer was the venom, "That's why we moved back to Canada. Mama was from Regina, you know."
He didn't know.
"She died when you were 5?" He tried to imagine life without his mom, but couldn't.
"No. When, I was 13."
"Didn't you move to Canada when you were five?"
"Taylor, if I tell you something, do you promise not to laugh?"
"I promise."
"Just after Mom and Dad released their fourth album, Mama was diagnosed with cancer. Her doctors set up chemo sessions for her here in Tulsa, but she was stubborn, because she didn't want to lose her hair. It was longer than mine, Tay, and just beautiful. But Daddy convinced her. She did chemo, and lost it all. And she took her hair and put it away in her hope chest, and boy, did she cry.
Anyway, her chemo wasn't working. And doctors gave Mama 4 months to live, at most. So, Dad packed us up and took her home to Regina, so she could spend her last months with her family. She continued her chemo there. And you know what, Tay?"
He could tell by the lift in her voice that it was good.
"Her cancer was cured! God wanted her to live longer. But her pretty hair was gone. So, I cut mine, and we had a race to grow it back," Cheyenne paused to laugh, "We looked like two skinheads!"
Taylor laughed too, because Cheyenne without hair was pretty darn funny!
"But, she went in because of a cough, and they found spots of cancer on her lungs. They put her back on chemo, and radiation this time. It was awful, Taylor. With the side effects, all she did was throw up, cry, and sleep. That was right around Christmas, because she missed my Grade 5 Christmas play because of a radiation appointment. I was mad at her. I didn't speak with her for a week, Tay. I felt, feel, so bad. That's a week I could've spent with Mommy that I didn't.
On the last night of that week, I woke up at 5am because I could hear crying.
I went to the kitchen table, and Mom was at the table, with a bowl of Skittles, and clumps of her hair clutched in her hands on her lap. It was weird, because she had gone to bed with hair. I asked, 'Are you crying because you think you're going to die, Mommy?' and she said, almost laughing, 'No, Sunshine. Nothing as serious as that. It may sound silly, but I'm crying because I lost my hair again, and I'm so tired of the fight.'
So, I told her, 'It's only hair, Mommy. It'll grow back.' She started to cry again, and shook her head over and over again, saying, 'Not this time, Cheyenne.' I was scared, Tay. I didn't like seeing Mom like that."
Her voice broke, and she stopped, gazing sadly at Taylor. The anger inside him had tripled, but not at Cheyenne, at Britt.
"Cheyenne," he didn't know what to say, so he said that, and took her hand to comfort her.
"I told her she could have my hair, and climbed onto her lap. She told me that that was the best thing I'd ever offered her.
After that, at 5, every morning, I went downstairs, and there'd be Mom, with her Skittles, that she got cravings for. And, she'd braid my hair.
One morning, she told me, 'Cheyenne, promise me that you'll never cut your hair. So that even when the other memories of me fade, you'll have your hair.'
I cried so hard, and told her that I didn't need memories, when I had the real thing.
She came down every morning, Tay. Even when she got so weak that she could hardly walk, and when it would take her 20 painful minutes to walk from her room, down the stairs, and to the kitchen. Even when she was too weak to braid, or chew her Skittles.
And, one night, when I went to bed, she said, 'You've made me so happy, Sunshine, do you know that? I love you, and I wish I could be with you and Daddy forever.'
I knew she knew, and I think I knew too, because I wasn't really surprised when I went down to the kitchen the next morning and she wasn't there. Those were the last words she ever said to me, Tay, and I don't want to forget ever."
She was crying what his mom called alligator tears, but wasn't sobbing. She just looked at him, her eyes filled with pain so deep that it hurt Taylor just to see it.
He squeezed the hand he was holding, and shushed her, while fiddling with a piece of her hair, in the way he imagined her mom had. And then, because it seemed so natural that he never even considered the consequences, he leaned toward her and touched his lips to hers.
*Sniff.* Well, where do you want to go?
Home?
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