Zapped by Sherwood Smith Page A

between our houses, and I thought, she doesn’t want to go anymore than I do. I was waiting for her to invite me over again, but it was my turn. Was she waiting for an invitation?
    If you have a friend, you invite them over. It sounds so simple, but it was a big deal for me, almost too big.
    Almost. “Want some limeade?” I asked, trying to sound cool. My voice squeaked in my own ears. I coughed. “My Mom Tate always makes it fresh.”
    She didn’t look at me weird, or exclaim ‘ Mom’ Tate? in a voice like Dracula? She said, “I love limeade.”
    â€œIt’s not actually just limeade,” I said as we started riding again. “It’s limeade and ginger ale and some other healthy stuff, but it doesn’t taste like a health drink…” I babbled stupidly all the way.
    It was so late in the afternoon that they were all there.
    â€œDad, this is Mercy, from school.”
    Dad looked up from reading the news on his tablet. “Hi, Mercy.” He added hopefully, “I don’t suppose you love math?”
    â€œMath’s okay,” she said cautiously, turning to me.
    â€œFamily joke,” I gabbled. “Dad keeps hoping one of us will turn into a math geek. Like him. She’s a dancer,” I told Dad.
    â€œCool!” Mom Tate said as she brought out the jug and a bunch of mismatched glasses.
    She and Mercy went from dance to manga art, which got into scanlation translations that were so bad they were a crackup. Mom Gwen bustled around getting ready for a night shift, putting in a couple comments about how much she loved the art in Miyazaki’s films, and the boys ran in and out again, impatient for dinner.
    It was all boring little stuff. Everyday stuff. But somehow every bit of everydayness chipped at the ache I still felt about those big questions no one could answer.
    It wasn’t like the big questions went away. Or the little ones—I expected that Mercy would probably ask about how I had two moms in the same house—but the way they were all talking, I figured she’d be okay with the answer.
    And I began to feel okay, even a little dizzy, the way you get when at least some of those big questions turn into possibilities, and the ones that don’t are slightly less painful because maybe you’ve found a friend to share them with.
    Zapped .
    â€œC’mon,” I said. “Let’s go up to my room. I’ve got links to a couple new webtoons I don’t think you’ve seen…”

 
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    Copyright © 2015 by Sherwood Smith
    Art copyright © 2015 by Junyi Wu