woman who has been in the earth for over two years. She cries for the woman’s husband, for the woman’s children. She cries for her own mom’s future, bleak and blurry.
After a long time, she runs out of tears. Exhausted, she finds a tissue and blows her nose several times. She puts her glasses back on.
Macadamia comes over as if to comfort Mari. She nuzzles into her and licks the back of Mari’s hand. Mari hugs her and then imagines the dog saying, “If I could, I would hug you back.”
Mari suddenly wants to leave. Or she wants somebody to come over. Her parents had taken her brothers to the aquarium for the day, and Mari does not want to be alone. Dante is the only one of her friends she feels comfortable enough to open up to, but he’s working.
Then she remembers Archie’s text. She feels a pang of guilt that nearly a day has passed and she has not replied to it.
can you come over right now?
She finally texts back.
Her phone immediately chirps with a reply:
how many condoms should i bring? j/k! on my way :)
Despite his perverted joke, his text actually makes Mari feel better because it reminds her that someone is there for her. While she waits for Archie’s arrival, she lies back in her bed and considers the difference between happiness and success and goodness.
• • •
All at once, the rain begins. It thrums upon the roof, patters against the windows. The wind howls. Mari goes to her window to watch the storm, perhaps the summer’s last. Charcoal clouds mute the light. Trees sway. A single bird flits across the sky. An empty garbage can skitters across the street.
It’s a mesmerizing sight, a reminder of nature’s strength and beauty. Mari hopes Archie will arrive safely. The wind is strong, and he does not weigh that much.
A few minutes later, though, she spots him coming down the end of her street. He is umbrella-less and soaked through. As he gets closer, she notices that he is smiling to himself. It’s kind of strange.
Mari waits for the doorbell, but it never chimes. Finally, she heads downstairs, grabbing a towel on her way. She pulls open the front door. He is just standing there like a creepster.
She invites him in and gives him some clean clothes that he changes into.
She makes some popcorn.
They watch an episode of
Firefly
.
They talk about the episode.
All of it is such a nice change of pace. It’s like stepping from shadow into sunlight. She finally stops worrying about whether she should contact her biological mother, she stops worrying about what will happen with her mom. She just loses herself in the show, in the conversation, in Archie.
She moves closer to him on the couch.
Concerns about death and loss fall away. She wonders if she’s starting to like Archie Walker.
It’s such a weird possibility—her and Archie. She’s never really considered it before. If anything, she had always thought of Sam, Dante, and Archie as family. Not close family. More like cousins.
Archie?
He is smart and kind of cute in a dorky way. Into the same stuff as her. He had even shown up wearing a Ravenclaw
T-shirt, before he changed into the dry set of clothes she gave him—she’d always thought Ravenclaw would be her house if she attended Hogwarts.
But he was also . . . Archie. Immature. Kind of self-absorbed. A little too obsessed with math and school.
She could do worse. Maybe. She’d never really dated anyone before.
She moves even closer to him on the couch. Just a few inches away. She wonders if he notices. She smiles, asks if he wants to watch the next episode. Who knows how close they might be by the end of the night.
“There’s nothing more I’d rather do. In fact,” he says, turning to her and putting on a mock evil face, “I would kill my own mother to continue watching this show with you.”
And even though Mari knows it’s just a joke, all of her concerns return in a rush, like water busting through a damn. She drops her face into her hands and starts
After a long time, she runs out of tears. Exhausted, she finds a tissue and blows her nose several times. She puts her glasses back on.
Macadamia comes over as if to comfort Mari. She nuzzles into her and licks the back of Mari’s hand. Mari hugs her and then imagines the dog saying, “If I could, I would hug you back.”
Mari suddenly wants to leave. Or she wants somebody to come over. Her parents had taken her brothers to the aquarium for the day, and Mari does not want to be alone. Dante is the only one of her friends she feels comfortable enough to open up to, but he’s working.
Then she remembers Archie’s text. She feels a pang of guilt that nearly a day has passed and she has not replied to it.
can you come over right now?
She finally texts back.
Her phone immediately chirps with a reply:
how many condoms should i bring? j/k! on my way :)
Despite his perverted joke, his text actually makes Mari feel better because it reminds her that someone is there for her. While she waits for Archie’s arrival, she lies back in her bed and considers the difference between happiness and success and goodness.
• • •
All at once, the rain begins. It thrums upon the roof, patters against the windows. The wind howls. Mari goes to her window to watch the storm, perhaps the summer’s last. Charcoal clouds mute the light. Trees sway. A single bird flits across the sky. An empty garbage can skitters across the street.
It’s a mesmerizing sight, a reminder of nature’s strength and beauty. Mari hopes Archie will arrive safely. The wind is strong, and he does not weigh that much.
A few minutes later, though, she spots him coming down the end of her street. He is umbrella-less and soaked through. As he gets closer, she notices that he is smiling to himself. It’s kind of strange.
Mari waits for the doorbell, but it never chimes. Finally, she heads downstairs, grabbing a towel on her way. She pulls open the front door. He is just standing there like a creepster.
She invites him in and gives him some clean clothes that he changes into.
She makes some popcorn.
They watch an episode of
Firefly
.
They talk about the episode.
All of it is such a nice change of pace. It’s like stepping from shadow into sunlight. She finally stops worrying about whether she should contact her biological mother, she stops worrying about what will happen with her mom. She just loses herself in the show, in the conversation, in Archie.
She moves closer to him on the couch.
Concerns about death and loss fall away. She wonders if she’s starting to like Archie Walker.
It’s such a weird possibility—her and Archie. She’s never really considered it before. If anything, she had always thought of Sam, Dante, and Archie as family. Not close family. More like cousins.
Archie?
He is smart and kind of cute in a dorky way. Into the same stuff as her. He had even shown up wearing a Ravenclaw
T-shirt, before he changed into the dry set of clothes she gave him—she’d always thought Ravenclaw would be her house if she attended Hogwarts.
But he was also . . . Archie. Immature. Kind of self-absorbed. A little too obsessed with math and school.
She could do worse. Maybe. She’d never really dated anyone before.
She moves even closer to him on the couch. Just a few inches away. She wonders if he notices. She smiles, asks if he wants to watch the next episode. Who knows how close they might be by the end of the night.
“There’s nothing more I’d rather do. In fact,” he says, turning to her and putting on a mock evil face, “I would kill my own mother to continue watching this show with you.”
And even though Mari knows it’s just a joke, all of her concerns return in a rush, like water busting through a damn. She drops her face into her hands and starts
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