Working Title - The Waterpark Mom - August 15 10 AM Unpacking

August 15 10 AM Unpacking

Sad.  Tired.  Anxious.

Met - Sis

The shadow of Me Before stands by the closet in my old room in Marianne’s house.  Half of the clothes are pulled out on the bed.   

“Are you still in cheer?” I ask.

Me Before nods her head.  She bounces when she does this as if it's a move and she is wearing sneakers, even though she pads in front of the closet in bare feet.

“And I made it into Princeton,” she says.  “Do you know where Beast is going to school?” She asks me why he’s being so secretive about everything – why he won’t meet her for breakfast before class, tell her his plans for the summer or next year, or even where they are going on their date tonight.

“Why are you asking me?”

“At school everyone calls me Sis.”

It's what I used to call her when I was little.

“Come on, let me help you unpack.”

Sis asks where I want to put my stuff.  It takes me a few seconds to catch up, and to get my shadow is speaking.  I move in slow motion.

“There’s plenty of room for your shirts and shorts,” she says.  The closet is taken up by her clothes.  All those outfits from before I left to live with dad.

And I leave and check out Marianne’s porch.  The view isn’t much, a couple of half dead hanging ferns, a flimsy plastic patio table and folding chairs, and a lounger to match squeeze into the corner. 

“The real view is across the way,” Sis says.  “The neighbor’s porch, and the porch after that.  Watch.  All the swimming pools combine to make a giant ocean.  It isn’t a beach.  But then it is.”

“It’s sure hot out here.”  Maybe I am delirious (as delirious as my shadow).  But Marianne and I don’t live in a house anymore.  It’s summertime, we’re in a condo at the beach.  All those swimming pools in Avocado Grove joined to make the ocean.  There’s the beach and sand and seagulls.  People play volleyball.  The breeze is good here.  And for a little while I don’t care about being hungry or I share a room with my shadow.

Beast is in this place.