Departures (17 page)

t that point the dynamics among the four travelers became strained and awkward and stayed that way the rest of the journey. The morning flight took them directly to Kalispell with no mishaps. Mr. and Mrs. Hill were waiting for them, as was the luggage, which had arrived the day before, having been rerouted on the 7:23 flight out of Minneapolis. The group took off for the cabin, with Jana and Sierra in the Suburban’s backseat, not speaking to each other, and with Gregg and Tim pretending to be asleep in the middle seat.

“You kids must be exhausted,” Mrs. Hill said, smiling at the girls.

No one had mentioned the knockout incident, and Sierra was glad.

“Once we get to the cabin, you can all unwind. That’s what we do best at the cabin. The weather has been beautiful.”

Sierra smiled her appreciation back but didn’t have any words in response. She was so tired—not only from lack of sleep but also from the lack of understanding. How could Jana have given Sierra such a look of disapproval when Gregg had his arm around her? Did Jana seriously think Gregg was flirting with Sierra? And why did Tim let Jana walk through the airport holding on to him the way she did?
Didn’t he realize she was a young, impressionable teenager and she liked him? He was only encouraging her.

Sierra knew she also was an impressionable teenager. But in this situation, she felt she was much more aware of what was going on than either Jana or Tim. Gregg had put his arm around Sierra to comfort her and to tease her a little, but that’s what Gregg did with everyone. Teasing wasn’t the same as flirting. It wasn’t as if they were on a double date.

Closing her eyes and resting her head against the back of the seat, Sierra decided to enjoy the fresh air blowing in from the open front window. It seemed like a long time since they had had any fresh air. The air that now blew over Sierra’s face smelled cool and clean. She wished she could feel the same way inside. It would be so nice if she and Jana could clear the air.

Without intending to, Sierra was lulled into a deep sleep as they drove. Unfortunately, it ended abruptly when the Suburban pulled onto a bumpy gravel road and then stopped.

Sierra tried to focus her bleary eyes as she looked out the window at a cabin nestled in a round of tall evergreen trees. She had seen pictures of the cabin that Mrs. Hill had framed and hung behind the couch in the family’s living room. Sierra knew that the lake and dock were at the front of the house and that the car was parked by the back door.

Everyone climbed out, and Sierra felt herself moving like a robot, carrying her gear to the downstairs bedroom to the left of the living area. The small, simple bedroom had an open window that looked out on the lake. Two twin beds with light yellow spreads awaited them.
Jana announced that she would take the bed on the right. Sierra gladly took the bed on the left, and just to prove how accepting she was of it, she flopped on her back and said, “Wake me in a hundred years.”

“Come on,” Jana said. “You can’t sleep now. We have to go down to the lake. It’s tradition. Whenever we arrive, we drop off our stuff and go right down to the water. Even if it’s the middle of the night.”

Sierra considered telling Jana to go ahead and uphold her tradition without her, but she heard the openness and enthusiasm in Jana’s voice and realized none of the earlier tension seemed to have followed them into this room. Sierra didn’t want to be the one to invite the tension back into the weekend.

“Okay,” she said, pulling herself up.

Jana already had pulled her bathing suit from her bag and had it on. She was wrapping a towel around her waist and smiling brightly. Sierra was amazed how different Jana’s outlook was on life when she was in familiar surroundings and back in step with comfortable routines and traditions. This was the Jana Sierra knew and liked back in Pineville.

“Come on!” Jana urged.

“Are we going to look at the water or get in the water?” Sierra wanted to know.

“It’s your choice,” Jana said with a twinkle in her eye.

“I’m coming to look, not to touch,” Sierra said. She followed Jana out the front door and saw that Jana’s parents and the guys were already out on the dock. Mrs. Hill was sitting in one of the wooden lawn chairs with her camera in hand. The guys were at the end of the dock, both wearing swim trunks. Gregg seemed to be explaining something to Tim.

“Wait for us!” Jana called out, running across the grassy area toward the dock.

Sierra let Jana jog ahead. She watched as Jana joined the guys, and then on the count of three, they all ran off the end of the dock and made three huge cannonball splashes in the water. They came up hooting and hollering about how cold the water was. Mrs. Hill snapped their photos. By the time Sierra arrived on the dock, the three jumpers were wrapped in beach towels, sitting in the sun with their teeth chattering.

“You should have joined us,” Gregg said to Sierra.

Sierra laughed. “Oh yes, you all make it look like such a pleasant experience.”

“It’s much nicer in the afternoon,” Mrs. Hill said. “It’s still a little early for swimming.”

“But we had to keep up our tradition,” Jana said happily. “Gregg and I always jump in within five minutes of getting here. Once we jumped in at ten o’clock at night with our clothes on after we had driven two days. Then we went inside the cabin, put on our pajamas, and sat by the fire until our hair dried. Do you remember that?” Jana turned to Gregg, looking for affirmation.

“I think I was ten,” Gregg said. “I remember it.” He looked as if all the stress from the long journey had washed off his face.

Sierra almost wished she had jumped in with them. But right now her preference was to sit in the empty padded lawn chair next to Mrs. Hill and catch a few winks with her face to the sun. She was still wearing her tie skirt, a T-shirt, and a thin sweater. It didn’t feel warm enough to take off her sweater, but she slipped off her shoes and tucked them under the chair as she settled in.

Gregg started to tell a story about their flight to Minneapolis. “I think the flight attendant wanted to see if anyone was paying attention when they went over the emergency procedures.”

“Oh, I know,” Jana jumped in. “It was so funny.”

Gregg talked over his sister, taking the story back. “When she got to the part about the oxygen mask, she held that sample one up and put it over her nose and mouth and then her eyes bugged out, and she started to turn red, as if she was trying to breathe but no oxygen was coming through.”

They all laughed at the memory.

“I’m surprised the airline let her get away with that,” Mr. Hill said from his lawn chair on the wide dock. “You would think they would monitor the instructions to know if the procedures are being upheld to the full extent of the law.”

His words sounded serious, but something in his tone told Sierra he was teasing. Gregg’s wry wit obviously came from his father.

“Oh, and then that emergency instruction card they hold up,” Jana said. “She held it upside down.” Jana laughed. “Remember that time we were on the plane to Arizona, Gregg? You pulled out that card and pointed to the picture of the guy who had his head between his legs in the emergency crash position, and you said, ‘This is a picture of the last guy who ordered the lasagna on this flight. We better order the chicken.’ ”

Gregg laughed too. “Remember that flight attendant? He gave us such a dirty look. I didn’t think he was going to give us lunch when the cart came down the aisle.”

Sierra thought it was great the way everyone had let go of the tension that had silenced them earlier. This is how she had imagined the
vacation. Maybe yesterday was just a bad beginning. The tension was gone, and the “experimental flirting” was likely to be over as well. They could all settle in and have fun. Jana was in her comfort zone now. She could go back to being the steady, sure, predictable friend Sierra was familiar with.

Tim reached over and grabbed Sierra’s bare toes with his cold hand. “You’re sure the pacifist,” he said.

“Hey, I didn’t get any sleep in the airport,” she protested.

“She was too busy knocking out janitors,” Gregg teased.

“You did what?” Mr. Hill asked.

Jana, Gregg, and Tim laughed as Mr. and Mrs. Hill waited for an explanation.

“I went to buy a can of juice while these guys were sleeping,” Sierra explained.

“No, you have to stand up,” Gregg said, “and show them everything the way you showed us.”

Sierra reluctantly complied. She stood near the end of the dock, out of the way of the others so she wouldn’t accidentally hit anyone. As she continued her story, Gregg sat in her chair, holding the cushion instead of sitting on it.

Everyone laughed as Sierra related the humiliating experience all over again, complete with arm motions and facial expressions.

Gregg rose and took center stage next to her when she reached the part about the janitor coming out of the rest room. Still holding the cushion, Gregg used it as a prop for a can of juice, holding it to his jaw and giving a terrified look when he saw Sierra. They all had another great laugh.

Then Gregg said, “Oh, and I just remembered another line the
flight attendant used.” He handed Sierra the cushion, and she took it, assuming he needed both hands to act out his next joke.

She was right. As soon as Sierra took the cushion, Gregg announced, “And remember, in the event of a water landing, your seat cushion may be used as a flotation device.” With that, he grabbed Sierra and jumped into the water.

y skirt!” Sierra cried when she surfaced from the brisk lake water.

Jana was standing at the edge of the dock, looking down on Sierra sympathetically. Sierra quickly realized that she hadn’t been the first “little sister” Gregg had tricked into the water.

“Did it ruin your skirt?” Jana cried. “Gregg, if you ruined her skirt, you’re going to have to pay for it. She made that, you know! It’s not like she can just go buy another one.”

Gregg had paddled to the ladder on the side of the dock and was back on deck as Jana continued to rail him about the skirt.

“My skirt!” Sierra cried out again, her teeth chattering as she tread water.

“You better come out,” Tim said, directing her over toward the ladder.

Sierra paddled toward the ladder, too cold to say what she wanted to. Suddenly a strange, multicolored, bulbous creature popped to the surface and hovered ominously like a deformed jellyfish between Sierra and the dock.

“What is that?” Jana shrieked.

“My skirt!” Sierra yelled for the third time.

“Oh, you poor dear!” Mrs. Hill said, hurrying over to the ladder with a dry beach towel. “Turn your heads, boys. Sierra has lost her skirt.”

She had been concerned that her skirt had sunk to the bottom of the lake, never to be retrieved. Now that she saw it floating, she was relieved.

The guys turned around. Sierra grabbed her floating skirt, pulled herself up on the ladder and onto the dock, where she let Mrs. Hill wrap her in the warm towel.

Jana took the wet skirt from Sierra and carefully wrung it out. “Such tiny snaps,” Jana said, examining the skirt. “No wonder it came undone. Maybe you should have used a zipper.”