Departures (2 page)

“Can we play one of those video games?” David asked, pushing up his glasses. He was big for his age, just as Christy had been, and he resembled their red-haired father more every day.

“No. We’re only getting something to drink.” Christy led her brother through a maze of small round tables. The two of them were almost to the counter when David tripped over a girl’s foot that was
sticking out from under a table. She was wearing large clunky boots and had her dark hair up in a clip. David stumbled and bumped into her chair, causing the girl’s backpack, which had been slung over the chair’s back, to fall to the floor.

“Sorry,” Christy said, apologizing for her brother and urging him to move on quickly.

The girl and her friend, who was sitting next to her, were probably a year or two younger than Christy was, yet they appeared to be traveling by themselves. At that moment Christy wished she were traveling with her best friend, Katie. A summer adventure would be so much more fun with a friend than with her family.

When Christy had graduated from high school two weeks ago, several classmates went on senior trips to exotic locations like Mexico and Hawaii. This was Christy’s exotic trip—a family weekend in Brightwater, Wisconsin, population 832.

Two days ago Katie had told Christy, “You shouldn’t complain. At least you’re going
somewhere
—unlike
some
people we know.” Katie then had flopped onto her bed and let out a sigh. “If you come home on Monday and find me here, in this same position, call the Guinness Book of World Records.”

Even though Christy knew better, she asked why.

“Because I will be the first person in history who will have died from boredom.”

Christy had argued that her grandparents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary in Brightwater, the town Christy had grown up in, would be twice as boring, but Katie didn’t buy it. She reminded Christy that more than once mystery, romance, and adventure had found her when she had least expected it.

Then Katie had lifted her head and added, “And don’t forget. You happen to be very available at the moment.”

Yes
, Christy thought while handing David his drink,
this would have been a much more exciting trip with Katie along
. Christy directed her brother to a nearby exit she had spotted where he would have less human traffic to navigate through. With each of them holding two full drinks, Christy knew the chances of disaster with David were pretty high.

They had just made it through the café when Christy caught sight of a flash of sandy blond hair that looked so familiar. She held her breath and watched a guy enter the bookshop next to the café.

“David,” Christy said, “stay right beside me. I want to check on something in that bookstore.”

“That’s not fair. You wouldn’t let me play video games.”

Christy’s heart pounded wildly as she caught another glimpse of the broad shoulders and a tan neck. He wore a white T-shirt with a familiar surfing logo on the back.

“Hurry up, David,” Christy said, walking faster.

“Where are we going?”

Christy couldn’t answer her brother. She was too absorbed in not screaming out “Todd!” at the top of her voice and running to the guy who was now standing with his back to her, looking at a magazine.

With cautious steps and protecting the drinks she held, Christy blinked away sudden tears from her blue-green eyes. She now stood only a few feet from the person who had held a special place in her heart. Only two months ago, as they watched the sunset at the beach, Christy had said good-bye to Todd. She never dreamed she would be saying hello to him so soon.

“Hello,” she said aloud before she had a chance to think of a better greeting.

When he didn’t turn around, she stepped closer, her heart pounding loudly in her ears, and said, “Hi.”

“Christy?” David said. “What are you doing? Who are you talking to?”

The guy turned to face both of them, and Christy nearly dropped her drinks. This guy, who stood only inches from her, was definitely not Todd Spencer. He was good-looking, but he wasn’t Todd.

“Oh, sorry,” Christy mumbled. She turned before her crimson cheeks painted her whole face a bright red.

“What were you doing?” David asked, following her fast stride out of the bookstore. “Who did you think that was?”

Christy ignored David, trying to calm her emotions. How could she have made such a fool of herself?

“Did you think he was someone you knew?” David asked, trotting to keep up with Christy.

“Yes,” she answered. “From the back, he kind of looked like Todd.”

“Todd?! He didn’t look like Todd at all. You should have asked me before you went up to him. I could have told you it wasn’t Todd.”

Christy was about to turn and tell David to just drop the whole thing, when a voice over the loudspeaker announced, “Flight 73 to Madison, Wisconsin, is now boarding at gate 10.”

“Come on, David, that’s us.” Christy strode through the terminal, leading the way to gate 10. When they entered the waiting area, their parents were anxiously looking for them.

“Where have you been?” Mom asked, taking her drink from Christy.

“Christy thought she saw Todd,” David announced for the whole world to hear. “She followed this guy into a bookstore and started to talk to him.”

“David!” Christy scolded.

“Well, you did.”

Christy grabbed her backpack and started for the line of passengers boarding the plane. Mom stopped her. “We have to wait. They’re only boarding rows 15 and higher. We’re row 14.”

David tugged on the strap of Christy’s backpack and said, “Hey, look! There he is.”

The guy from the bookstore had entered their waiting area and stood in line to board the same plane. Christy tucked her chin and turned her head so he wouldn’t see her.

“He doesn’t look at all like Todd, does he?” David said.

“David, lower your voice!” Christy pleaded.

“Come on,” Dad said. “They just called our row.”

Christy slowly followed as her family stood in line. The guy was only two people ahead of her mom.

“He’s looking at you,” David announced, punching Christy in the side.

“David,” Christy threatened through clenched teeth. “Don’t you dare say another word. I mean it!”

David pretended to lock his lips with an invisible key. He stood with his shoulders back, playing the role of the model child. Christy moved along behind him with her head down, avoiding eye contact with any of the passengers, especially the tall blond surfer who was definitely boarding the same plane.

nce her family was seated, Christy nonchalantly began to look around to see if the guy was sitting near them. Fortunately, he wasn’t. She settled back and buried her nose in a magazine.

Since the flight was short, Christy didn’t expect to have any more awkward encounters. She knew it was ridiculous to have thought he could be Todd. What would Todd be doing in the Midwest? Most likely he was off on some tropical island, sipping coconut juice, surfing the world’s most remote beaches, and telling the natives about God. As long as Christy had known Todd, that had been his dream. And now he was living it.

She quickly tried to push her thoughts on to other things. Her mind and heart had been over this a thousand times. She had made the right choice when she broke up with Todd. She knew it. It was time for her to move on.

The Fasten Seat Belt sign came on overhead, and Mom tapped Christy’s arm. “David has been in the rest room an awfully long time. Since you’re in the aisle seat, would you mind checking on him?”

Checking on David was the last thing Christy wanted to do. But since Dad was napping and Mom would have to crawl over her, Christy reluctantly unfastened her seat belt and made her way to the
rest room. Of the two doors, only one had the Occupied sign up, indicating that someone was in it.

Christy self-consciously looked to the right and left, hoping no one was watching. Leaning closer to the door, she said in a low voice, “Are you almost done in there?”

When she heard no answer, Christy knocked and said in a louder voice, “We’re about to land. You need to come back to your seat. You better not be playing with the soap.”

The door’s handle moved, and Christy stepped back to make room for David to come out. With her hand on her hip, she said, “What took you so long?”

When she looked up, she saw David wasn’t the person who emerged. It was the blond guy from the bookstore.

“What’s with you?” he asked, glaring at Christy.

“I thought—I didn’t … My brother was … I’m …”

Just then the door to the other bathroom opened, and David joined them in the tight area. The guy turned with a shake of his head. Christy spouted, “David, you’re supposed to lock the door.”

“I got sick, Christy,” he said, holding his stomach.

“Oh, great,” she muttered. “Do you need to go back in the bathroom or can you make it to your seat?”

“I think I can go to my seat.”

Christy ushered David down the aisle ahead of her and turned him over to Mom as soon as they reached their row. David moaned and complained, but fortunately he didn’t get sick again during the landing.

As Christy and her mom collected their luggage at baggage claim, Dad stood in line at the car rental desk. David sat on a bench looking
forlorn, with only a cold can of 7UP to keep him company. But it seemed to be good company for him, because half an hour later, as they left the airport in their dark blue rental car and drove north on Highway 12, David started to point out places he recognized.

Christy was just glad to be away from the airport and from the blond guy, who had practically run in the other direction when he saw her at baggage claim.

As they left the suburbs and traveled down the country road, Christy watched the blur of green fields against the fresh blue summer sky. Every quarter of a mile or so, a weathered barn accompanied by a farmhouse would appear. Some homesteads had kids’ toys in the front yard, some had gardens along the side, and some were partially hidden from the road by huge shade trees planted long ago.

Fields of cornstalks stood at attention in orderly rows. Christy knew that in a few weeks the corn would be ready, and nothing she had ever tasted was better than corn fresh-picked, boiled immediately, and smothered with butter and salt. Her mouth watered just thinking about it.

Not much seemed to have changed since Christy had last watched all this landscape roll by. She wondered if she was right in thinking that Wisconsin had stayed the same while she had changed so much.

“Can we go to our old house?” David asked.

“Maybe tomorrow,” Mom answered quickly.

Christy hadn’t asked that question, even though she had thought it, since seeing the farm might be a difficult memory for her parents. They’d had to sell the farm and leave family and friends behind three years ago when it became apparent they could no longer make it financially. Her dad had decided he wanted to work for someone else rather
than be his own employer. So they had moved to California, and he had found a job at Hollandale Dairy. The move had been a wise choice, even though Christy got the impression that some of their relatives still disagreed with the decision.

“Do I have to sleep on the floor at Grandma’s?” David asked.

“I’m not sure,” Mom said. “But try to make the best of it, no matter where we end up sleeping, all right?”

“Are we going to eat when we get there?” David asked.

“I don’t know,” Mom said. “I’m glad you feel like eating again. We’ll make sure you get some food as soon as we can, David.”

Dad drove nearly an hour before arriving in the small community where Christy’s grandparents had lived all their married lives, which, by tomorrow, would be fifty years.
Half a century
. The thought sobered Christy.
What a long time to live in the same place with the same person
.

Her parents’ old farm was only a ten-minute drive from her grandparents’ home in Brightwater. She watched David look at the turnoff as they passed it and kept heading straight on the country road for town.

“Our old house is down that road,” David said.