YOU JUMP, I JUMP
Chapter Two

Three Years Later

"Philadelphia?" I asked, wondering if I’d heard Mama right.

"Yes, James. We’re going to go to Philadelphia for a little while," Mama replied calmly, sitting Luke down to brush through his thick brown curls.

"Where is that even at?" I asked, irritated.

"Pennsylvania," Jo said without even looking up from the book she was reading. Her long hair hung over her shoulder in a messy plait.

"What about school?" I went on, intent on questioning them until I understood why we would up and leave home in the middle of the school year.

"You’ll have lessons with a tutor until we come home. I’ve already cleared things with your school," Mama responded quickly.

"Mama, stop!" Luke cried, agitated. He was nearly three now and never shut up.

"Jo, can you take Luke so that I can pack the boys?" Mama asked, clearly frazzled. Jo nodded calmly, sweeping Luke up and tickling him.

"Are you going to behave?" she asked him teasingly.

"No…" Luke giggled. I rolled my eyes.

"What a brat," I muttered, following Mama up the stairs.

"Jamie, my love…be patient with your brother…he does look up to you," she gently urged. I scowled.

"Fine. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to like him." I was cranky, and for good reason! Moving to Pennsylvania? Away from my friends at school? Away from home?

"You’ll have fun, darling," Mama said, taking out my suitcase and beginning to pack.

"No! I won’t!" I cried, rushing forward to stop her. "I won’t know anyone and I’ll be stuck with dumb ole Luke! Jo don’t even talk to me no more." A loud sigh came from her.

"Jo doesn’t even talk to me anymore," she corrected, and I felt my face flush.

"That’s all you have to say, Mama? You don’t even care that I’m mad?"

"Jamie…" she said quietly, sitting on the bed and guiding me to sit beside her. "You are such a special boy…but Jo deserves this chance. This…" She stopped, looking into her hands. "This may be her only chance. I don’t want her to miss it. I would do the same for you and Luke." I began to feel a horrible guilty feeling in the pit of my stomach as I thought of Jo. Jo, who went to work every day after school to help Mama pay bills. Jo, who read to Luke and I every night before bed and told us stories about Daddy. As much as I hated to admit it, Jo did deserve a chance. And her drawings were really good. I wasn’t much of an artist. Oh, I did the art projects in school, but they never seemed to come out looking like Jo’s. Once, she tried to show me how to draw like her, but I couldn’t seem to get it. She told me I was really good, but deep down, I knew she was lying.

"Okay," I said after a long while.

"Okay?" Mama asked, looking down at me with her ice-colored eyes.

"I’ll go to Philadelphia," I muttered. A small smile came to her lips.

"Aren’t you the sweet little guy?" she asked, putting an arm around my shoulders.

"I’m not sweet," I said sulkily. "And I’m not little."

"Of course not…" she comforted, resting her cheek on my head.

*****

In the end, we ended up in Philadelphia a couple of weeks before Christmas. Jo started her lessons straight away, leaving us with Mama at Mrs. Banks’ house during the day and at the hotel at night. Mrs. Banks was Jo’s aunt, and she insisted on us calling her Aunt Livy. I told myself I would hate her no matter what, but she was pretty and had gold-colored hair with light eyes that reminded me of Jo. She also had this way of making you feel good about yourself, as if she were a sort of guardian angel. We went to her during the day, and surprisingly, she herself gave me school lessons. I found myself looking forward to seeing Aunt Livy each morning and learning more about her.

"Aunt Livy?" I asked one afternoon as we were finishing history lessons.

"Yes, dear?" she asked, sitting beside me.

"Why don’t you have any kids?" Her eyes became shadowed with grief and I instantly regretted my question.

"Oh, James…I wasn’t able to have children, darling," she said quietly. My childish curiosity got the better of me and I asked.

"But why not?" Mama had appeared in the doorway with Luke and gave me a look of warning.

"James…" she said. Aunt Livy smiled at her.

"No…it’s quite all right, Rose. He’s just made a little observation," she replied patiently, though she sounded oddly choked. "You see, Jamie, my darling…when Uncle Grant and I were first married, I found out I was going to have a baby shortly after. But I had a fall and my baby died…and…" She sighed. "The doctor said that we wouldn’t be able to have anymore children."

"Oh, Olivia…" Mama breathed, looking pained as she came to her, setting Luke down beside me. "How far along were you?"

"Seven months," Aunt Livy whispered. "I had to give birth to a stillborn."

"Oh, my God," Mama whispered, looking at me. I had no idea what stillborn meant, but it couldn’t have been good. I watched a single tear run down her smooth cheek and I hated myself then for hurting her.

"I’m sorry, Aunt Livy…" I said miserably, blinking back tears of self-hatred. "You would have been the best mother…"

"Oh, sweetheart," Aunt Livy said patiently, pulling me into an embrace so like one of Mama’s. "It’s all right now." Standing, she composed herself admirably and smiled at all of us. "Well, then, who wants something to eat?"

"I do! I do!" Luke cried excitedly, finally interested at something he understood. Mama laughed, taking my hand.

"What do you say?" she asked him firmly.

"Um…please?" he asked, giving her his most angelic grin. I scowled at him. Mama raised an eyebrow at him, but I noticed a smirk threatened to emerge as she looked down at me for my opinion. I simply made a noise of irritation and she laughed.

"Oh, James, you are so like me," she said with a smile. "I had that temper when I was your age."

"Not to mention that beautiful red hair," Aunt Livy chipped in, looking from her to me. "I envy you."

"You wouldn’t if you had red hair." Mama laughed, pulling Luke along as we followed Aunt Livy to the kitchen.

*****

To my surprise, Aunt Liz and Uncle Randy were waiting for us back at the hotel with Dave, who was my idol. He was everything I ever wanted to be when I grew up and he was the closest thing I had to an older brother. Mama excused herself into the bedroom to get ready for the dinner party that she and Jo were going to that night.

"Hey, sport," he said, looking up when we walked into the room.

"Dave! What are you doing here?" I asked, trying to sound casual and hide my excitement. He chuckled.

"Your Mom thought it would be good for Jo to have a friend here, so she secretly invited my parents. Not to mention, I wanted to see my best guy friends, Jimmy and Luke." He winked at me and shook my hand before he, too, went to change into a tuxedo. I swelled with manly pride. Well, as manly as a ten-year-old could be. Dave was the only person who ever called me Jimmy, with the exception of Jo when she and Dave were around each other. Daddy was called Jim, so I felt sort of close to him when he said that.

Jo arrived soon after we got back, bursting with energy. She looked as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

"Hey, Jamie!" she sang out as she saw me. I stared at her sullenly, jealous that I had to stay in that night.

"Hi." I sulked, my arms crossed. She grinned and kissed me on the cheek. A kiss I quickly wiped off with the sleeve of my shirt.

"Josephine, is that you?" Mama called out desperately.

"Yes, Ma. Is everything all right?" she asked, setting her folder on one of the end tables and disappearing into the bedroom where Mama was. I heard a laugh and then I heard Jo gushing to Mama about her stupid art teacher. I rolled my eyes. He probably wasn’t as good as Aunt Livy. She was a painter. Next, I heard a squeal as Jo realized Dave and his parents were here. Luke looked up, curious for a moment, before reverting his attention back to his tower of blocks.

They left not long after arriving, leaving us with Aunt Liz and Uncle Randy, who were always fun. At least there was that. Uncle Randy taught me how to play Blackjack while Aunt Liz played with Luke.

"Where is Lindy?" I asked aloud. Aunt Liz smiled.

"She’s staying with a friend back home," she replied.

"We’ll see how long they can handle her…" Uncle Randy replied wryly. The two exchanged a glance and laughed out loud.

"Teenagers," they said at the same time.

*****

Later that night, after I’d fallen asleep next to Luke, there was a loud knock on the door to our hotel suite. I heard voices and then Mama fighting with someone. The door opened suddenly and I pretended to be asleep, light spilling into the dark room. Luke didn’t even stir. I envied his ability to sleep through anything and everything. I felt someone sit on the edge of my bed after closing the door. She sighed loudly.

"Jo?" I whispered, sitting up. She turned to me.

"What is it, James?" she asked tiredly. I swallowed hard.

"Is Mama cryin‘?" I asked, and Jo hesitated, confirming my suspicions.

"She’s got company and I was coming to see how you’re feeling." I had begun to feel sick over the course of the night and Aunt Liz had said my head felt warm to the touch. My eyelids felt so heavy I could barely keep them open as I spoke to my sister.

"Jus’ tired, Jo. I’m tired…" I said with a yawn. She moved up to lay between Luke and I. She wrapped her arms around me as she used to do when I was very little and stroked my hair back from my face.

"Then sleep…just sleep."

*****

Luke and I both woke before Jo did and decided to play jacks for a bit until she woke up. However, our quiet resolve soon became excited chatter as we got better at the game. I heard her grunt and sit up, as did Luke, who ran to her, abandoning our game, the filthy little traitor. She patted my head as she passed and shut our door softly behind her.

After Jo had left for her lessons, Mama decided to take us shopping for treats for being so good for Aunt Liz and Uncle Randy before we headed over to Aunt Livy’s. She took us into a candy store and we were allowed to pick out some taffy as well as a lollipop! Mine was green and yellow. Luke’s was stupid. It was green and pink. Everyone knew pink was for girls. Excitement bubbled in my stomach, however, because Aunt Livy and Uncle Grant were having a ball tonight and we were all going to stay at their house! We were even allowed to attend!

I didn’t like seeing Jo all dressed up. It didn’t look like her at all. After so many years of seeing her with a long braid and grubby pants, it was odd to see her with her hair perfectly pinned and her dresses tailored exactly to her. She looked like Mama, but when she smiled, it was just Jo. It was amazing to me how two people could look so much alike while looking so very different all at once. Sure, Jo was kind of annoying in a sisterly kind of way and she was a little bossy sometimes, but Luke and I adored her anyway. Even when she drove us crazy. My favorite thing about her was that I would tell her about some imaginary world I had created and she would draw it for me and place it on my pillow before bed, so I could dream about it. Together, she and I had created so many exotic lands, we could barely keep them straight anymore.

Once, we created a magical ship that appeared out of nowhere when people were in trouble at sea. I was the captain, of course, and Jo was my first mate. I decided to show it to Mama, and for some reason, she became all teary-eyed even though she said it was wonderful. I felt guilty for it and I didn’t even know why. Jo told me it was because Mama had been in a horrible shipwreck when she was very young. I hadn’t known…but I never brought it up again in front of Mama.

Jo and I both knew for a very long time that Mama had nightmares. They had gone away for a long time and then, when Daddy died, they had started again and she would cry out in the night. Sometimes she would call for Daddy and sometimes she would cry out for Jo’s father, Jack. I barely ever heard Mama speak of Jack. In fact, she had never spoken of him directly to me. I had happened to witness one of her night terrors and asked Jo about it early the next morning.

"Jo?" I had said over breakfast.

"What is it?"

"Who’s Jack?" I asked, biting into my toast. She looked up, surprised.

"Where did you hear about him?" she asked curiously.

"Mama called for him last night," I replied, and her face darkened.

"Oh…you heard that?" she asked. I nodded. "Well, Jack was my father."

"How?" I asked. She looked confused.

"Well, Mama was married before she met Daddy…I was just a little girl when she married Dad." Her eyes misted, talking about Daddy, whose death was so fresh in our minds.

"Oh…I didn’t know. I thought Daddy was your father," I exclaimed dumbly. She smiled fondly.

"He was, Jamie…in every way possible."

"Jo?" I asked again. Expectantly, she looked at me. "I miss him."

"Me, too, buddy," she said with a sigh.

Now, as I stared at her in her pretty dress, I almost wished she was wearing her tired old pants and suspenders with her ratty boots. She seemed ill at ease with these people. I missed the old Jo. I missed my sister who drew me pictures from my imagination and sang silly songs with me as we helped Mama with dinner. She looked so somber and sad all of a sudden and I had no idea why. And I felt helpless. I wanted us all to be happy again…especially Mama.

Chapter Three
Stories