Parker Lowell
“Oh you big baby,” Theresa said, taking the hat off for me.
“Thank you!” I said, beginning to hand-comb my hair immediately. I hate wearing hats. Especially on a day when the temperature felt like it was somewhere near ninety-five degrees and completely, utterly, miserably humid. I had been afraid that we would have to use a spatula to get the thing off my head. I probably could have worn it on the wildest ride there and not lost it.
“Oh, I hate roller coasters....I hate roller coasters....I hate roller coasters,” Rose moaned over and over.
I bit my bottom lip to stifle my laughter, and, out of the corner of my eye, saw Theresa doing the same. We had tricked Rose into going onto a roller coaster with us, knowing perfectly well that she absolutely hated roller coasters and wouldn’t get on one within an inch of her life. We had succeeded in convincing her to go on this particular roller coaster (the Predator, in case any of you have heard of it) by telling her that it didn’t go nearly as fast as most of the other roller coasters in the park (whether or not that’s true, I have no idea) and that it doesn’t go upside down at all. What we didn’t tell her was that despite all that, it can easily be counted as one of the rougher roller coasters in the park because of the way it throws you around and bounces you up and down--hard. And plus, it’s made of wood, so we couldn’t help but tease her about termites all the way up the first hill.
Needless to say, she hadn’t liked the ride very much and apparently hadn’t quite gotten over it yet. Theresa and I knew that it would be a while before she spoke to either of us again (although Zac was in on it, too).
“Do you want some aspirin?” Mr. Mayfield offered, holding out a bottle of said medicine to her. She simply gave him a long, withered look.
“Does anyone else feel really conspicuous?” Kim (remember her?) asked no one in particular, her gaze crawling over the rest of the occupants under the pavillion. Namely, an old woman and her grandkids and a young couple. None of which seemed to even notice we were there.
“No....,” Beth said slowly in her slightly condescending tone. “At least not since you stopped hypervenilating and yelping every time one of the Hansons got within two feet of you.”
“I did not!” Kim said as though she had no idea what Beth was talking about. Like she hadn’t freaked out every time either Isaac, Taylor, or Zac came within arm’s length of her. Especially at first, before they had given up trying to make conversation with her due to the fact that the only thing she ever answered their questions with was a squeal or some similar noise. At least one of us was acting the way a person who was faced with a situation like this was expected to react.
To be truthful, I had been surprised at the calm reactions of the rest of the group. Though Corey had seemed insanely jealous every time he couldn’t pry Kim’s stare away from you-know-who, he and Jared had eventually simply befriended the guys. Like they were just regular people and not people they regularly made fun of when their girlfriends were not present. Beth had worn a stupid grin on her face the whole ride to the park, but she had quickly wiped it off once we got there. It didn’t take long for her to become Zac’s partner in crime. They had done little things throughout the day just to annoy the rest of us, had gone on all the rides together, and had basically just become buddies. Beth told me later, though, that most of the time was spent answering questions about Theresa. I had to laugh when I heard that.
The adults had also acted fairly normal around the Hanson family, which wasn’t as surprising since neither Rose nor Mr. Mayfield knew who Hanson was except through their daughter and her friends. In fact, I had even heard Mr. Mayfield get into some huge discussion with Mr Hanson about tools...or cars...or...something while we were eating.
So the day had been pretty cool. Until it was time to say good-bye.
The flight the Hansons were taking back to Oklahoma was leaving an hour or so after the show, meaning that they had to basically do the show and then haul ass to the airport, having no time for good-byes between. I knew I wasn’t the only one dreading the end of our little picnic-type meal.
But the time had to come. We had all risen to say our good-byes simultaneously. While Mrs. Hanson said good-bye to Gina and Mr. Hanson shook hands with the Mayfields and Taylor and Isaac did some last minute autographs for Beth, Kim, Theresa, Corey, and Jared, Zac had come up to me to be the first to say good-bye.
“It was fun,” he said, offering his hand to me.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “But we still have a game of Mario Brothers 3 to finish.”
“Ah, just admit defeat. You were clearly losing anyway,” he said, grinning. “Besides, we don’t have any of the original Nintendo stuff, so we couldn’t finish at my house.”
I narrowed my eyes teasingly. “If I remember it correctly, you were the one who was losing quite sorely before Theresa took my place,” I said.
He snorted. “Please. I never lose a game. Just ask Isaac and Taylor.”
I rolled my eyes. “See you in a few weeks?”
“You bet,” he said, letting go of the hand he had been shaking.
I watched as he walked over to where his parents were patiently waiting for them. I knew that my good-byes to Mr. and Mrs. Hanson had been done when we had agreed that I was to come down the Oklahoma two weeks after school ended.
Isaac came up to me next, giving me a friendly smile.
“Well, I suppose Zac has already covered the ‘see you in a few weeks’ bit, so, uh, see you in a few weeks?” he offered, raising his eyebrows in search of approval.
“You bet,” I repeated what Zac had said only because it seemed appropriate somehow.
He smiled again and went over to join the rest of his family.
Taylor came up to me last.
“So...,” I said, knowing this good-bye wasn’t going to be as easy as the one for Zac and Isaac had been. Even if we weren’t going to be permanently separated, it was still hard to say good-bye.
“I don’t know what to say,” he admitted.
“Yeah, you’d tell me it was fun, but, you know, you ended up in the hospital and were bored out of your mind before that, so you kind of can’t,” I said.
He laughed. “Well, I couldn’t tell you ‘It sucked, I hated it, I can’t wait until I get home,’ could I?”
“I guess not,” I replied.
We both sighed at the same time chuckled from it before hesitantly pulling each other into a brotherly hug. I saw the flash of two cameras (Gina’s and Theresa’s, as I was later to find out) go off in the corner of my eye before we finally parted and Taylor went back over to his family as Isaac and Zac had and they left for the stage.
I had stared after them for a minute, the reality of it all hitting me once again before walking back toward the table where we were all sitting, threatening Gina’s camera. A fairly unconvincing threat since my voice shook the whole time I was making it.
You know what happened from there.
“Well, I suppose you kids should be heading toward the stage. There’s probably going to be a mad rush of people getting in there and finding their seats since the doors open in about fifteen minutes,” Mr. Mayfield said.
“Yup,” Gina agreed, getting up with us. She had been the adult nominated to go with us this time in Mr. Mayfield’s place while he and Rose rode some more rides and then went to go see something called the Laserlight Reality Show. I had been there once and was glad to be going to the concert instead. “Load ‘em up, move ‘em out.”
Obediently, we filed out of the pavillion and somehow managed to make our way through the throng of people also making their way toward the concert area. I had a feeling of deja vu the whole way there, except for when I sat down in my seat and was actually a part of the audience this time. A position I found I much preferred.
I think I'm out of smartass ways to get you guys to e-mail me...
Index
Chapter Sixty-Two
Chapter Sixty-Four