"Thanks for the wonderful meal, Aunt Bertha," Jayden said, smiling warmly as she swallowed the last bite of her chicken pot pie.
"Yes, thank you. It was great!" Zac chimed in, after feeling Jayden's elbow dig into his side.
"May we please be excused?" Jayden asked politely,"Or would you like us to help with the dishes?"
Waving her hand, Bertha shook her head,"Don't you worry about doing any dishes... You two run along now, before it gets too dark out."
"Well, this is certainly turning out a lot more enjoyable than I had expected," Jayden observed, as she and Zac left the house.
Zac nodded,"And it's definitely nice to be away from the city for awhile..."
"Ah yes, the bustling metropolis that is Tulsa..." Jayden joked, while stretching her arms above her head & taking a deep breath of the humid mid-summer air.
"I bet you're bummed about that art internship, huh?" Zac asked, walking over to an old wooden fence and sitting on the top rail.
"Well yeah - I was really looking forward to it," Jayden replied, leaning against the fence next to Zac,"I'm just lucky that Mrs. Livaro is so understanding, and is willing to let me start a little bit late."
"And this way, you'll have your parents off your case," Zac said brightly, to which Jayden nodded.
After a few minutes of swatting mosquitos and glancing around the farmyard, Jayden searched for a conversation topic to end the uncomfortable silence.
"Hey, how's Isaac doing these days?"
Becoming noticeably tense, Zac grimaced,"Bad."
"Bad?"
Zac nodded,"Very much so..."
"Bad how?"
Looking down, straight into Jayden's eyes, Zac frowned,"I'd really rather not say."
"Oh, okay. Sorry for prying... He's going to be alright, though?" Jayden couldn't resist asking. She hadn't noticed anything strange about Isaac's behaviour, but then again, a lot had been discovered over the past week.
"Yeah, I sure hope so. Once this is all over," Zac answered. He glanced at his watch. 7:12.
"Listen Jayden, I know it's still early but I'm feeling pretty tired. Would you mind if I just went inside and read for awhile?"
Jayden shrugged and closed her eyes,"Sure, go ahead. I'll be fine."
"Cool. See ya later," Zac said, hesitantly sliding off of the fence rail and walking the short distance to the house. He made his way up to the second floor guest room where he was to stay, only to find the room was unbearably warm. Zac struggled with opening the old, stubborn window - hoping that there would be a breeze of some sort.
No such luck.
"...Ahhhh, such wonderfully refreshing moist, humid, hot, soggy air!" Zac exclaimed, hoping that Jayden's aunt wouldn't hear him and begin to wonder what kind of strange young men her niece was acquainted with...
After spending an hour or so restlessly flipping through several magazines he had packed, Zac decided to follow through with his promise of calling home each of the 6 days that he was to be away. Zac had protested, saying that long-distance phone calls were a waste of money considering he was so close. His mother, however, had said she only wanted to check in on things, and that the family could surely afford a few dollars in collect calls.
Stepping out into the hallway, Zac peeped into the room next to his, where Jayden was to sleep. To his surprise, the room was silent and dark. With a shrug, Zac turned & headed downstairs, planning on calling home, and then joining Jayden outside again.
Creeping through the now-silent house, Zac noticed dim light coming from beneath a door adjacent to the living room. Bertha's room... he concluded. Zac continued on his way outdoors, where Jayden was barely visible as she walked along the tree-filled edge of the yard.
"Hey, Zac! Over here!" Jayden called, when she first noticed him. She gave a wave, encouraging Zac to venture over to where she stood.
"Look over there," Jayden instructed Zac, grabbing him by the shoulders & turning him to what appeared to be a miniature forest.
"Wow. Trees. A lot of them," Zac observed plainly,"And you find this so entertaining because...?"
Jayden rolled her eyes,"Not the trees, ass-wipe. Look a little to your left, and then down."
Doing as he was told, Zac still found nothing of interest,"A rock? A twig? ...Maybe the country air has given you some form of mental enlightenment, but my urban mind has drawn a total blank."
Tossing her hands up in the air, Jayden spoke,"You know, I used to believe that the Blondes Are Ditzy stereotype was complete B.S., but you've caused me to completely re-think that theory."
"Ha ha, you're hilarious. Now why don't you just directly point out what seems to have caught your eye, seeing as how I can't handle verbal instructions," Zac quipped.
Taking only a few steps foreward, Jayden reached her destination.
"Ok, Zac, now see where I'm standing?"
Zac nodded.
"Great. Now see how there's a little clearing? About 3 feet wide?"
Zac nodded again,"I may be blonde, but I'm not blind."
"Ok, now we're at the tough part. Wrap your mind around this... The 3-foot-wide clearing? Notice how it extends right into the trees?"
Zac nodded slowly, faking intense concentration,"Why yes, Jayden. That's what we normal folks refer to as a 'path'."
"Well then, 'normal folk', what do you think about checking out that 'path' tomorrow?" Jayden suggested,"As lame as it sounds, I'm up for a little cross-country adventure."
Zac shrugged, without much enthusiasm,"Doesn't matter to me. Who knows what kind of thrills the wild, ravaging Oklahoma landscape might hold?"
"Now THAT'S the spirit!" Jayden exclaimed, giving Zac an extra-firm pat on the back,"This is going to be so cool. My first off-road adventure."
Zac snickered,"Off-road adventure? You're starting to sound like a television advertisement for a sport utility vehicle."
"Uh, ok, Zac..."
"Without the vehicle, I mean."
"So that makes me what? A TV ad for a sport utility... running shoe?"
Zac shook his head,"Jayden, c'mon, you've really got to stop that."
"Stop what?" Jayden asked, oblivious.
"Stop the corny attempts at humor. You're starting to sound like Tay..."
Screeeeech. The light-hearted conversation came to a lurching stop.
"It's not surprising, really," Zac said, a hint of tension in his voice,"They say that when you're around someone all of the time, you start to mimic them..."
"Oh God, Zac," Jayden said, putting her hand to her mouth.
"What? What's wrong?" Zac asked, noticing the look of sheer terror on Jayden's face.
"What you said - about being around someone all of the time - does that- I mean-"
"Does that what?" Zac coaxed.
Jayden swallowed hard, then looked Zac directly in the eye,"Does that mean I'm going to start acting like you?"
Before Zac could shoot back with an appropriate insult, Jayden had stabbed herself in the chest with an invisible knife. She then flung herself to the ground, in what Zac noted was one of the world's worst attempts at playing dead.
"Mmmhmmmmm," Zac murmured, as he slowly circled Jayden's 'corpse' which lay in a patch of long wild grass.
Through her right eyelid, which she had opened a tiny sliver, Jayden watched as Zac, temporarily playing the role of criminal investigator, spoke into an imaginary tape recorder.
"The deceased appears to have died of a self-inflicted injury... Female... 16 years of age... Approximately 492 pounds- Ouch! Geeze, Jayden, you've got one hell of a kick!"
Jayden did her best to hold in a fit of giggles, feeling more like 6 instead of 16. It seemed playing soccer in gym class had finally done her some good...
"Now, my dear dead friend, do you have any objections to heading inside?" Zac asked, nudging Jayden's side with his shoe. In response, Jayden lifted her left arm into the air. Zac grabbed hold of her hand & pulled her up off othe ground.
"Thanks, Zac," Jayden said, brushing bits of dry leaves & grass off of her jean shorts & pale blue tank top.
"My pleasure," Zac said, tipping an imaginary hat in a gentlemanly manner,"With my massive muscles, lifting all 492 pounds of you was a breeze..."
Placing her hands on her hips, Jayden twisted her mouth,"Zachary Walker Hanson. You have 5 seconds to run into that house before I use all 492 pounds of myself to throw you into that nice little bush to your right."
"The one with the thorns?"
"That would be it."
"Uh, I'll pass!" Zac exclaimed, darting off towards the house while Jayden walked behind, smiling.
~Chapter 45~
~Chapter 43~
~Chapter Index~
~Home~
