Chapter 3: Visitation and Grass-Covered Cookie Chunks



“So, should we call them or not?” Kat asked me the next day. I held the small piece of paper that Zac had given me in my hand.

“I don’t know. Tay- I mean, they’re all pretty nice,” I hoped she hadn’t caught my slip-up. I had never had a crush on any of them, and I wasn’t about to start now. Kat would milk that as far as possible.

“You started to say Taylor!”

“Did not! I have no idea what you’re talking about!” I lied.

“You do, too! You were about to say Taylor!!” Kat squealed.

“You must be hearing things, Kat. ANYWAYS, I....think I’m going to call,” I decided slowly.

“Well, then call, before you change your mind!” Kat expressed excitedly. I picked up the phone with a shaky hand and slowly dialed the number. The phone rang three times and then someone picked up.

“Hello?” I heard an out of breath voice answer.

“Hi, is Taylor there?” I asked quietly.

“It’s me. Who’s this?” he asked, his breath coming out in choppy gasps.

“Joey Baldwin. We met when you were playing with undies,” I chuckled.

“Oh! Hi, I didn’t recognize your voice. I’m glad you called,” his breath still hadn’t been caught, so I inquired about it.

“Why are you so out of breath?” I asked.
“Well, I’m actually not home. No one is. We’re over at a neighbor’s house with a portable phone from our house. We’re swimming and playing and stuff in their backyard,” he informed me, his breath finally slowing to a more normal pace.

“So, I guess this isn’t a good time to talk,” I said.

“Actually, I was just leaving with Ike and Zac. We have to practice some. Oh! Hey, would you like to come over and watch us practice or something? Maybe then you can see we’re not complete perverts,” Taylor suggested.

“Well, where do you live? It depends on if I can get a ride or not,” I told him. I looked at Kat whose eyes lit up excitedly. She motioned for me to tell her what was going on in Sign Language, and I told her to wait.

“On West 78th. Are you too far away?” he asked timidly.

“Not really. About three miles, but I can weasle into getting to rollerblade or bike over maybe. What’s the house number?” I grabbed a piece of paper and jotted the number down as he related it to me. “I just have to get permission. Will you hold on a second?”

“Sure,” he told me. I pressed the “mute” button on the phone and yelled, “MOM?”

“Yeah, I’m right here, hon,” my mom appeared from the office across from my room.

“Can I go over to a friend’s house for a few hours? I have their house and phone numbers,” I smiled sweetly.

“I guess. Be back by six, though,” she agreed. I punched a fist in the air in excitement and went back to the phone.

“Taylor?”

“Yeah?”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can, all right?” I almost laughed.

“Okay, see you soon.”

“Bye,” with that I hung up and collapsed on the floor.

“Jo! What he’d say? Huh? Huh? What did he say? Huh?” Kat pressed for details.

“Little anxious, aren’t we Kat?” I laughed.

“Just a little,” she smiled.

“Get your blades and I’ll tell you on the way every single word he said.”



Half an hour later, we sat in the Hanson’s garage, sipping cans Coke and listening to them practice. The practice wasn’t quite how I pictured it. I figured they would play a song full through and then talk, but instead, they often stopped in the middle of the song to make comments. They were midstream of Weird when Taylor stopped the piano.

“ZAC! Are you awake? You’ve missed every one of your parts. Where’s your head. You’re off by three counts!” Taylor snapped at him.

“Sorry, I’m just out of it today,” Zac apologized.

“Get with it. We have to get through this once, with no mistakes before we move on,” Isaac warned.

“I know, I know,” Zac sighed.

“Take it from the top, Tay,” Isaac commanded.

“Okay, here we go,” Taylor rushed through the piano solo at the first to get to the vocals and slowed down to the right tempo. I watched him intensely, studying his every move. The way his fingers slid deftly over the keys. The way he tossed a flirtatious smile my way when he noticed my staring. The way he raised his eyebrows at points, adding to the music’s expression. I looked over at Kat. Her eyes were locked on Zac and a small smile played upon her lips. Zac looked up at her, smiling also. I glanced at Isaac. He was much too involved in the music to look at anything but his guitar and his keyboard. He only glanced up once and smiled at me before turning his head back to his music. I then looked back at Taylor whose eyes warmed me with their stare. They finally got through once without a hitch, except when Taylor hit a foul note on the keyboard. All three guys winced, but played on. At the end, Kat and I stood to deliver a standing ovation to the guys. They took small bows then took their places at their designated instruments for the next songs.

“What next?” Zac asked.

“Um, well, we haven’t practiced-”

“Do we have to play MMMBop again?” Zac whined.

“Yeah, we probably should since we haven’t in a week,” Isaac advised.

“Okay, fine. Let’s do it,” Zac smiled. He was apparently glad to finally be able to actually play the drums. He counted off the beat and began the song. They went through it almost flawlessly, but they weren’t trying to perfect it. After criticizing a few more songs and doing some stop-and-go playing, they decided a jam session was in order. Taylor grabbed a stool and sat down on it. Without warning, a count-off or a signal, Taylor just started playing. His fingers flew across the keys, playing a made-up song that came to him. Zac joined in with a drumbeat, and Isaac soon found the melody and joined in with guitar. I got up and began dancing around to the music. Soon, Kat found herself wanting to move as well. She got up and we began doing a 50’s style dance with turns. We pranced around, laughing as we got tangled in each other’s arms and I could even hear the guys laughing at our antics. I got down on my knees and held my hand up in the air as Kat pranced around me, one finger on my hand. We then switched positions, with me prancing around her. After about a five minutes of jam, they finally stopped, all rolling with laughter. I had started break-dancing.

“What?” I asked, innocently.

“Jo, you are so weird,” Kat managed to spit out between eruptions of laughter.

“Gee, thanks. I work so hard at it. Someday I hope to be a professional weirdo like you Kat.”




“So, how long have you lived in Tulsa?” Taylor asked me as we sat in his backyard. Kat and Zac were being wild and running up and down the half-pipe while he and I sipped lemonade and snacked on cookies.

"Actually, since my grandma died when I was four. We lived in Dallas, but when she died, we had no reason to stay in Texas. None of our family lived close and we had moved to Dallas for the sole purpose of taking care of her. So we moved here." I paused, taking a sip of my lemonade. It tasted more bitter than before and I winced at the sourness. Taylor gave me a sympathetic look and then began to say something.

"I'm sorry. I know how it feels," he stopped, closing his eyes, "I know you've probably heard about our grandma.......she died of cancer three years ago." Taylor let his head fall, as if to give a moment of silence to her. Then he brought his head back up and put a piece of cookie into his mouth.

"Sensative subject?" I asked, as if I didn't know, taking another sip of the sour lemonade.

"Yeah, we sat there and watched her die. There was nothing we could do. Nothing at all. She gave everyone in the family something, but I got the most treasured and most valuable, sentimentally, to her. She gave me this." he pulled a choker out from the fold of his collar and showed it to me. It was some type of bird engraved into a piece of turquoise stone. It was on a pure leather chain and it was polished and shined almost professionally.

"That's so beautiful." I took the shiny stone in my hand and rubbed it between my thumb and my fore finger. It was very smooth.

“Her great grandfather, who was in an Indian tribe, made it for her on her twelveth birthday. She gave it to me for my twelveth birthday as she lie on her death bed." Taylor looked down again. I heard him sniffle and then he rubbed his eyes.

“I'm sorry. I was too young to understand when my grandmother died." I said.

Then we just sat silently.

We probably could have stayed like that for awhile, but Kat and Zac interrupted us. They ran by and Kat tackled Zac on the cookies and lemonade. We were sitting on the ground, the cookies and lemonade on a piece of board and the two insane people had to land on the food. Lemonade and cookies were all over Kat and Zac.

"Awwwww.....that's it!" Zac said laughing. He took the tipped over lemonade pitcher and poured the remaining contents on Kat. He collapsed into fit of giggles and watched Kat stare horrified at him. Taylor and I were already laughing; the serious conversation we had just had was not forgotten, but placed farther back in our minds. Seeing the look on Kat's face was just a Kodak moment. I knew she had her camera, so I searched the yard and spotted it on the patio table. Knowing she wouldn't have that look forever, I darted over to the table and got back in just enough time to snap the picture.

"You punk! I can't believe you did that." she then began to pick up the little chunks of crushed cookie that were lying on the ground and throwing them at Zac. He threw his head back, laughing, as a wet, grass covered cookie chunk flew toward him. It flew right into his mouth.

"Nasty!" he yelled, spitting everything out. They got into a big cookie fight. One chunk finally hit Taylor and he threw some at me. Zac and Taylor then began to back us up and Kat and I kept moving backwards. Finally we stepped back and fell right into the pool. Yes, they definately had a pool. I gasped and swam to the surface. I felt my feet touch the bottom and then I cleared the wet hair out of my face. Kat did the same. I put my hand out and swam to the side, Kat swimming next to me.

"The least you guys can do is help us out." I said reasonably.

"I guess that's true." Taylor said. He obviously didn't see what was coming. Kat and I had formed the same idea though. When Taylor's hand was locked with mine, I pulled with all my might and he came crashing into the pool next to me.

"I guess we deserved that." Zac said, removing a piece of cookie from Kat's hair.

"Yeah. Ya did." she laughed. Taylor began to go toward the steps to climb out, and as he got near Zac, he dunked him. And of course, we got into a dunking fight. I got dunked what seemed to be 500 times. Kat, of course, took pictures of the wet us, posing with some of the shots. She had each of us take pictures, even Zac. Normally, only she touches her camera, especially when people were wet, but today was the exception.

"Crap! We've gotta' go! It's seven o' five and I told my mom we'd be back at six!" I turned my watch over on my wrist. Luckily it was waterproof. "Come on Kat!" I hurried her as I gathered my belongings.


Chapter 4: Family Ties



“Did you get grounded?” Kat asked me as we talked on the phone late that night.

“Nah. Mom was napping when I came in, so she didn’t even notice I was late. She had fallen asleep around five, and she didn’t wake up until about an hour after I got home. Everyone else was out for the day,” I said thankfully. My butt would have been in a sling if my mother had been awake. She didn’t take too kindly to tardiness.

“My mom didn’t even expect me home until ten, so she didn’t give a flip.”

“I kind of figured as much,” I smiled. Kat’s parents was never one to punish her very of ten. They only time she did, was when she hit her brother, and she hadn't done that for years, nor had she seen her brother for years. Her parents had believed in giving her freedom. They had been a major hippies. Kat was allowed to swear, smoke (which she didn’t, but she was allowed), drink(which she didn’t), and come and go as she pleased. Her mom was cool sometimes, especially when she let Kat decorate her room however she felt like, but sometimes it really seemed as though they didn’t care. They were nice though. They had gotten divorced a few years back, so now, it was just Kat and her mom most of the time. Suddenly, my phone made a tone. “Hey, Kat, hold on. I have-" "Another call. Okay.”

“Okay, just a sec,” I pressed the “flash” button on the phone and soon I could hear faint music in the background of whomever I was talking to.

“Hello?” I asked.

“Hey, it’s Taylor.”

“Oh! Hi, Taylor. Could you hold on a sec? Kat’s on the other line. I gotta hang up on her real quick,” I said quickly.

“Okay.”

I switched over and explained to Kat who was on the other line and she obliged in letting me talk to him. Soon, I was back on his line and greeted him again.

“I’m back,” I said happily as I returned.

“Hey. Did you get in trouble today for being late?” he asked me.

“Nope. Mom was asleep. She didn’t know when I got home,” I informed him.

“Cool. I had a really fun time. Thanks for coming over. If you hadn’t, it wouldn’t have been as fun as it was,” he thanked me.

“Hey, no problem. If you ever want me to come over and bother you again, I’ll be happy to oblige,” I smiled.

“You weren’t a bother. I’m sure we would have been bored out of our minds if you guys hadn’t come. In fact, I’ve got a little secret,” Taylor whispered.

“What?” I whispered back.

“I think that Zac has a little crush on Kat,” Taylor whispered.

“How do you know?” I asked quietly. “Wait, why I am I whispering?” I asked out loud.

“Zac showed all his classic signs. Dreamy looks, extremely happy, he told me,” Taylor slipped in.

“Boy, that last one was extremely subtle. I don’t think he’ll appreciate you telling me,” I laughed.

“I know, but it was too cute to pass up. He’s got a crush on an older girl, which is so cute,” Taylor gushed.

“Cute? I don’t think I’ve never heard a guy claim his little brother as cute,” I commented.

“Well, once you’ve had six other siblings, you begin to think a lot of things are cute that you wouldn’t if you only had one brother or one sister,” Taylor explained. “Do you have any younger siblings?”

I sighed thinking of our own Baldwin brood. I loved my family dearly, though sometimes it seems as though they’re using my last remaining nerve as a trampoline. “Three. Tara is 10, Jake is 7, Chris is 3, and she hasn’t said so yet, but I think Mom is thinking about having another kid.”

“Sounds like your parents have the same problem mine do,” he snickered.

“And what would that be?”

Taylor snickered some more before remarking, “Lack of self-control.”



“Sissy?” Chris came in and crawled up onto my bed with me the next morning as I laid in bed watching cartoons.

“Yeah, Chris-myster?” I put down the remote control and hugged Chris next to me. He was one of the cutest little kids I had ever seen. He had a mop of straight strawberry-blonde hair sitting on top of his head. His small red lips framed a tiny smile that appeared quite often.

“What is ‘pregan’ mean?” he asked quietly.

“Why do you ask, bud?” I was unsure of what word he was talking about, since his words weren’t quite perfected yet. “Where did you hear it?”

“Mommy was talking wif Daddy in deir room and Mommy told Daddy dat Mommy was pregan,” he explained. My eyes shot wide open when I realized what Chris was talking about.

Knowing that Mom wouldn’t exactly appreciate me telling Chris what pregnant meant, I brushed him off. “Ohhhh, pregnant... It’s just a mood, like mad or happy.”

“Oh,” satisfied with the answer, Chris smiled and jumped off my bed to run off to his room. Figuring it was about time to get up anyway (and besides, who could sit still after being told that your mother is pregnant for the fifth time?) I decided to get dressed. I went to my closet, wondering about the new baby. I had been in my own room since I was born. Jake had to share a room with Chris, and Tara had a room just large enough to fit a twin bed and one dresser. I prayed that the baby would have to sleep in a closet. I had my own personal space. It allowed a lot of personal and emotional freedom, and I didn’t think I was quite ready to give that up for a baby I didn’t even know, whether it was a sibling or not.

“Kids!” my dad bellowed from the living room. “We need to talk! Family meeting!”

I groaned. We only had family meetings when something was broken, a job was a stake, or a baby was on the way. I pulled on a tee-shirt and a pair of jean shorts and grabbed a brush to try to tame my thick blonde hair for when I listened to our parents announce yet another child in our family.

I drug myself into the living room where everyone was already seated and waiting on me.

“Okay, now that we’re all here, we have something to tell you,” my dad slipped an arm around my mother’s still-thin waist and looked into her eyes. “We’re having another baby.”

Almost instantly, my face fell.

“Cool!” Jake exclaimed, running to our parents. He loved having someone younger than him in the house. It made him feel like he had a responsibility to uphold. He was still at the age where he actually wanted responsibility.

“Another baby?” Tara asked, unsure.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” my mother asked, noticing the forlorn look across my face.

“Well, Mom, where are we going to put it? I mean, Tara’s room is too small to share and Chris and Jake are pretty crowded already,” I informed her. She pulled me off to the side, away from where Jake, Tara and Chris pelted my father with questions.

“Honey, we need to talk about that,” she said quietly.



Kat and I sat in her room later that day, munching on chips, while I poured my heart out.

“Kat, it’s the only place in the house that is mine and all mine. I know it sounds selfish, but it’s my haven. My shelter away from all the stress. I can do what I want with it, and no one cares. If my mom puts Tara in there with me, it all changes. I’ll no longer be able to be away from everyone, and I’ll have to give up my emotional freedom away from my family. I love them and all, but having to share a room? Twenty-four hours of the day? It’s just too much for me to fathom right now,” I sighed. I fell back onto the floor and stared up to the ceiling.

“Did you tell your mom all that?” she asked me.

“Yeah, and she said that it was either move in with Tara or take her room, but I can’t even fit my big toe into that tiny crawl space, much less my bed and my stuff. I have no choice,” I rolled over and put my head into a pillow.

“Do you feel like going for a walk? Maybe you’ll be able to clear your head a little.” Kat suggested.

“I guess,” I agreed. I pulled on my sandals while Kat pulled on a less ratty pair of shorts. We always went on walks when either of us was worked up about something. When we were both prepared a minute later, we headed downstairs and out the door.

“So, you have to go through the whole pregnancy thing again, huh?” Kat sighed. She knew about how my mother was when she was pregnant. Kat and I had been friends since before Tara was born, so she had seen my mom through all pregnancies, leaving mine out.

My mom was almost unbearable to live with when she was pregnant. She had late cravings, which usually meant I had to get up and go to the corner store at ten o’clock at night. My mother had to be the moodiest pregnant woman alive. She would be crying over a soap opera one minute, yelling at me for walking in front of the TV the next and then cooing at her stomach the next. It was almost hilarious, except for the fact that I usually ended up grounded for half the time she was pregnant. When she was pregnant with Chris, I was grounded for not putting a pen back where it belonged for two weeks.

“Yep, the moods, the midnight pig fests, the strange foods.... We’re going through it all again....” I sighed. Though all the negatives were there, I always loved the kids. I loved the way they were always this perfect little chubby person that was totally reliant on you. Not that I was ready to give up all my freedom to have a child, but I loved taking a part in caring for my siblings. (All except for when I have to change diapers. Somebody get an air freshener, because the Baldwins really know how to stink! Whew! Don’t wanna catch a whiff of that!)

Kat and I turned the corner to see a street hockey game in progress at the end of the road. I squinted my eyes, looking for someone we knew in the crowd of guys.

“Wanna go cheer them on?” Kat asked. That was one of our things. Whenever we saw a game or anything happening, even if we didn’t know anyone playing, we loved to go cheer. I had gotten a boyfriend once that way, but it didn’t last long. Even if there wasn’t anyone cute or crush-worthy there, we almost always succeeded in making a few friends.

As we approached the group of guys, I noticed a familiar head of blonde hair, and then another.

“Taylor!” I called out.

“Zac!” Kat called out at the same time. Both heads of the guys turned to look at us. The game was paused at the moment, so Zac skated quickly over to us.

“Hi,” he greeted as he approached. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We’re just taking a walk,” Kat offered.

“Cool. Our game is almost done, so would you guys want to go to Micky D’s after this with us?” Zac asked.

“Sure, I’d-- I mean we’d-- love to,” Kat smiled, realizing that I was still there.

“Zac! Come back here! You guys come, too!” Taylor yelled from their game area. Zac skated back over and we followed suit, and joined them, watching the final leg of the game.

Chapters 5-6
home

EMAILS: