Summer of Yesterday (12 page)

This is gonna suck.

I close my eyes and feel the sun's warmth on my body. It's not as hot as it would normally be in the summer. Or has that changed too, global warming and all? The smell of coconut oil wafts under my nose. The shrieks of children in the background remind me of the night I stood at the iron wall with Dina and listened to what I now realize were the ghostly echoes of River Country. I felt its presence calling me.

And now I'm here.

Except . . . I didn't choose to come here. I've always believed our choices and actions form our future, so how did I end up here? I hate to think this, but could it have been fate? I can't subscribe to that. It would mean that fate was responsible for my parents' split-up and my time apart from them. That doesn't seem right. It was their actions, or inactions, that caused it. It was also me, being born and taking sides, that eventually forced them apart.

Fate had nothing to do with that. It can't
possibly
be in control. I am. I'm in control. Which means there's something I'm not doing right in my efforts to return. I need to enjoy my last responsibility-free moments in River Country and Fort Wilderness, then go try to prompt a seizure at the slides again and hope that Jake doesn't see me.

“And so we meet again.”

Who always appears right when I least expect him to.

fifteen

Q
uickly, I gather my shorts, shirt, and flip-flops, but he grabs me by the arm. “So, what's your good reason?”

I yank my arm out of his. “For what?”

“For being here at night?” He stares at me awaiting an answer, standing there, hands on his hips, mustache twitching. “For trespassing and throwing my walkie-talkie down the slide and nearly getting me into a boatload of trouble.”

Despite my nerves being on high alert, I hold down a snicker. “You gotta admit, that was pretty funny.” I walk toward the main entrance in a huff, but he runs ahead, takes me by the arm again, and steers me toward a nature path where some guests are pointing and taking pictures. The nature trail! Where I climbed into River Country that fateful night.

“I think a
thank-you
is in order. You're lucky I didn't tell security exactly where you were when they asked for your location. That's why you're not sitting at the Orange County Police Department right now.”

I stare at him. You know, upon closer inspection, there's something gentle hiding in his eyes. It's hard to see, but I think it's there. “You didn't tell them where I went?”

“Like I said, a thank-you is in order. Only because my brother seems to have it bad for you. Otherwise, I wouldn't have cared. Believe it or not, I have a heart. A little one.”

His brother has it bad for me? I wonder if he thinks this because he saw us together in the golf cart, or because Jason told him all about our evening last night. “Thanks. I appreciate it,” I say. “Now can I go?”

“Not until you tell me what you were doing in the park after closing hours. And what this is . . .” He pulls something out of his shorts pocket. My phone! The screen has a big crack across the top corner, but otherwise it's still in one piece. “Where did you get this?”

“It's just a phone, a cellular phone. And I was there because sometimes I can't control where I go. I suffer from seizures, remember?”

“You suffer from lying, I think.” His stern face challenges me. Not one muscle moves. “Why were you there? And don't lie, because you tend to look to your left when you do, so I can always tell.” He smiles underneath his mustache, but it's not a very nice smile, and . . .
Do I really look to my left?

Sigh. Okay
. Fine, I'll give him a clue. Just a small one, enough for him to leave me alone. “Look, I'm lost. I'm not trying to break in, steal anything, or cause trouble. I'm just looking for my way out.” I
was
, anyway. “Because the thing is—”

“Out of where?” Jake asks, and I can see that he's really trying to understand.

Suddenly Jason is there between us, pulling Jake by the arm and making him turn away from me. “What do you want with her?” he says impatiently to his brother. I take the confrontation as an opportunity to slowly back away. “Haley, where were you going?”

“She's leaving. She's looking for her way out, she just told me. And get this, she says this thing is a phone.”

Jason glances at the object in his brother's hand. “It
is
a phone, stupid.” And then he turns to me with hurt eyes. “Is that true? You're leaving now?”

“No. He didn't let me finish. I have to explain.”

“You knew that?” Jake asks, surprised.

Jason shrugs and shakes his head. “What's going on with you two? Is something wrong?”

“Little brother, you should know . . .”
No! You can't tell him. I'm telling him!
I try getting in between them and putting my hand over Jake's mouth, but his arm is too strong for me as he holds me back. “That your little girlfriend here isn't who she's pretending to be.”

“I'm not pretending to be anybody,” I scoff, and turn to Jason. “Whatever he says, don't believe him. I'll explain to you myself. When he's not around.”

Jason's eyes are focused on me, not sure what to believe, especially after I just tried to shush his brother. “Okay . . .”

“Dude,” Jake says, showing Jason my phone. “She lost this at the top of the slides last night, and you know how I know that? Because I was helping to close up after the park closed, and she was there, Jason. In the park . . .
after
hours. You figure it out, man.”

Jason takes the phone from Jake. I can see the wheels in his brain working overtime as he looks at it, at his brother, and at me, trying to figure out what the hell is happening. “What were you doing there?” he asks me. “I thought you were at the trailer getting ready to come see me.”

“Which trailer?
The
trailer?” Jake is beside himself with shock. “You took her
there
? Bro, I told you, you are not allowed to use that place! That is just for me and Marsha.”

“Except Marsha never wants to go there with you,” Jason mumbles under his breath.

“Shut up!” Jake yells. “She does; she's just taking her time.”

“Yeah, okay, buddy, whatever you say,” Jason says.

How does Jason know this? Does he talk to Marsha? Are they close? A pang of jealousy hits me suddenly.

“You'd better watch yourself,” Jake says.

“Or what? Look, the girl needed a place to stay.” He turns to me. “Haley, what were you doing here at night? Be honest with me.”

Before I can answer, Jake does a little hop, then brings his hand to his forehead. “Holy shit, dude. First, you let her use the trailer I told you
I
had dibs on. Then you're asking her for the truth when I
just
gave it to you! Whose side are you on? You've known her for what, two days?”

“Shut up!” Jason turns and pushes his chest up to his brother's. “I wasn't talking to you.”

“Yeah? Well, I was talking to you, dipshit.”

“Fuck off.” All of a sudden, Jason pushes Jake away from him hard, and now it's really on. You can tell because the people walking on the nature trail are not talking about the birds anymore. They're trying to tiptoe their way around these two without getting hurt. It's weird to see Jason so pissed off. And worse knowing it's over me.

“Guys, stop! I'll talk, but not here. We need to go somewhere else.”

Jake shakes his head. “I can't go anywhere. I'm on a break. I need to get back.”

I hold out my hand. “Then can I have my phone, please?”

He smiles in a way that makes me want to break his teeth. “Until you explain why you have no parents, no place to stay, why no one can explain who you are . . .” Jake counts all my offenses off on his fingertips, then snatches back my iPhone from Jason. “I'll hold on to this. I'll be back later. I expect to find you still here. And you”—he looks at Jason—“figure out a way to get this thing to turn on.”

Yeah, good luck without a charger. Although, I guess if anyone could figure that out, it'd be Jason. He did say he would've worked at Radio Shack if he had a car. Wait. . . . “You can get this to turn on?”
That's it!
Once he gets it on, I'll take it back with me to Whoop 'n' Holler and try the whole forced-seizure experiment all over again, this time with a charged phone. Hopefully, the conditions will match, and I'll go home.

Jake laughs. “He hot-wired a car. I'm sure he can turn on a dead appliance.”

Wait . . . huh?
I stare at Jason, my mouth open. “You hot-wired a car?”

“Oh. Didn't he tell you?” Jake asks in mock surprise.

Jason looks like he could fold his brother into a pretzel right about now. “Shut. Up. Jake. And how the hell should I know how that thing works?” He shrugs, pointing at the phone.

“You're the crafty smarty-pants. You figure it out.”

“I thought you said college wasn't for you,” I mumble under my breath.

“I said I wasn't sure, Haley.” He looks hurt that I would even mention what we talked about in private. Even more that his brother would throw him under the bus like he just did.

“Is that what he said?” Jake scoffs. “I suppose car theft on his record never came up in conversation? The only reason he even has a summer job here is because of me convincing them he needed help getting rehabilitated. And because he's a cute kid.” He laughs, reaching out to condescendingly slap Jason's face.

Jason shoves his hand away. “It was one time, asshole. What's done is done.”

“Take it easy, buddy,” Jake says, raising his hands in mock surrender. “Let's hope, huh? I gotta get back.” He walks off, his stocky body pushing forward with every step, like a robot on a mission.

Jason shakes his head and crosses his arms. I think he's going to tear into his brother again, but he just looks off into Bay Lake, not even defending himself, like it's all true, or he's just really good at containing his anger.

“You're demanding answers from me; meanwhile, you have secrets of your own?” I ask.

“It was one time, Haley, two years ago. I'd never been in trouble before.” He leans back against a lamppost. “And we didn't have money, not that that's any reason. I know it was wrong.”

“Is that why you won't apply to college?”

He doesn't answer.

This burns me. Here we have a smart, sweet guy, with a good head on his shoulders, but more important, with the drive to do better, and still his brother has to give him a hard time for it.

“So what?” I call out after Jake, glad to have something else to argue about besides me and my mysterious phone. “He's doing the right thing now, isn't he? He just got a slow start. Give him a break.”

Jake looks back at us and points to my phone in his hand. “Figure it out.”

“Dick,” Jason mumbles to himself.

I agree, but I can't do this.

I can't get so involved nor care this much. I need to tell him the truth, then try my experiment again. As soon as possible. Around us, people continue about like someone released the pause button. Bad thing is, I'm left with a hurt and confused Jason. He side-glances me, eyebrows narrowed together.

“Who are you really, Haley,
if
that's your real name. Are you going to tell me what's going on?”

“Are you going to judge me?” Our gazes lock on one another. If he's not going to listen with an open mind, then I'm not talking. But, somehow, things are different. He seems to regret having helped me out, now that he knows I'm a liar with a secret. Not that he should talk.

His voice is soft, wounded, and tired. “Have I judged you yet? There's a bonfire tonight on the beach. Eight o'clock. Look for me there.” And as he's walking away, I feel like my head is going to explode.

It all hits me at once.

How his brother almost blew my cover. How Jason's slightly-below-average self-esteem and juvenile record explain a lot about him. How much I've grown to care about him in so short a time. How I'm going to have to explain what's happened to me the past seventy-two hours in a way that won't confuse the crap out of him. But most important, how I may get out of 1982, and if I do, how much my life is going to suck without him.

sixteen

W
alking out of the River Country restrooms, I run into Marsha coming in, red bikini, hot body, and all. “Oh, hi, Haley! Long time no see. Nice chase you gave us last night.” She giggles.

“Hey, you. Yeah, that was fun. Maybe we'll do it again later?” I'm about to keep walking when I realize opportunities like these don't come every day. In fact, they will never come again. I touch her on the arm. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

She stops and flashes a polite but curious smile at me, towel dangling from the crook of her elbow. “Yeah, sure.”

“If you're not into my dad—I mean, Oscar, sorry—would you tell me?”

At first she seems confused by my slip of words. Then she cocks her head slightly and puts on a look that reminds me of that Scarlett lady from
Gone with the Wind
, one of my grandma's favorite movies. “Why, Miss Haley, are you interested in Oscar?”

“Huh? Oh, no. It's not like that.”

“Are you sure, because I'm almost positive you had it for Jason. Not that I blame you.” She shrugs. “And he's really taken a liking to you, too.” She takes a moment to scan my body from top to bottom. A little smirk appears at the corner of her lips. “Not that I blame him.”

“It's not me. I have a
friend
who likes him.”

At this, her eyes widen, and her playful smile spreads across her face. “Oohh, a friend. Well, if you must know, I was trying to make Jake a little jealous by flirting with Oscar. He's too controlling. I need to keep him on his toes. You know what I'm saying, don't you?”

“Uh, yeah, sure. He seems controlling.” I move out of the way to let someone into the bathroom.

“He is. It's so annoying.” Her voice falls flat. She stares at a spot on the bathroom wall. “I'm sure it's given poor Oscar the wrong idea, so . . . I'll make it clear to him later that we won't be more than friends. Sorry, I didn't realize.”

“Oh, no, no. That's okay. I'm just trying to help my friend out.” Actually, I'm hoping that between his sadness over Marsha's confession to him and my mom in her new, hot monokini, they'll get that love-at-first-sight start they really need to have.

Marsha smiles at me. “You know, you're a real sweetheart, and quite the matchmaker. I hope you win your father-daughter challenge. I wouldn't want to say good-bye to you just yet.” Her smile grows wider.

“Wait, how do you know about that?” I ask. I don't remember telling her about my dad fake-leaving me behind in Fort Wilderness. I only told that to Jason. And I'm pretty sure he's tried his best to stay away from his brother the past couple of days, so she didn't hear it from Jake.

“Why, Jason, of course. He can't stop talking about you. Haley, Haley, Haley . . . makes me want to change my name to Haley!” She laughs and walks into an empty stall. No way. Is Marsha really hot for Jason?
My
Jason? But for some reason, he hasn't been interested in her. A part of me feels sad. All those looks, but the guy she wants doesn't even notice her. But more important, she said he talks about me all the time.

Another part of me is reeling—he thinks about me as much as I think of him. This is only going to make things harder when it comes time to say good-bye.

Outside, I walk by a row of lounge chairs and see my dad lying out in the sun. He's got headphones on, and he's pretending to be reading
Muscle and Fitness
magazine.
Seriously, Dad? Ha-ha.
But I know he's on the lookout for Marsha, because he keeps glancing at the restroom door and twiddles his fingers at me when he notices me walking by.

Not only that, but next to him are Anpa and Anma, who died when I was a baby, so I don't remember her much. I slow down to take a good look at them. There they are, younger, tanned, and happy. Hardly any gray on either of them. None of them thinks twice about the girl getting a nice long stare at them as she walks by. In fact, my grandmother is reading a paperback, and Anpa is folding back the pages of a newspaper.

Wow. Look at her. So pretty. I'd only seen her in old pictures. They don't do her justice. We really don't know anything about life, do we? This is all so . . . life changing. So much, in fact, that I'm totally overwhelmed. I stop to take in all of River Country like a living old photo.

Amazing place.

And even though I really don't care for the rides at water parks, I'm here. My dad would kill me if he knew that I'd been and didn't experience it all for myself. So instead of heading back to my chair, I venture into the attractions. I wade into the lagoon and bump around my inner tube on the rapids; I even do the zipline and notice Jake watching me right before I smack the stopper and fall into the clean, green water. I make sure to stay away from the Whoop 'n' Holler, even though it looks like the most fun of them all.

I'm not sure why I stay away.

Maybe because I'm already planning to slide tonight, with my iPhone on this time, assuming Jason can get it to turn on, my attempt at re-creating the same conditions as when I fell through. Or maybe there's another reason. Maybe I'm not ready.

I stand in the lagoon, wipe the water from my eyes, and try to see Jason's rental shack from here. There he is, working. Working hard. No. I don't want to go yet. I want to see him overcome this rut of his. I want to see him get whatever it is he wants. I want to see what becomes of him.

Of us.

***

The bonfire on the beach is a way bigger deal than the smaller one after the Marshmallow Marsh. It's huge, with tons of people hanging out around it. First of all, this sort of thing would never be allowed in my time. An unsupervised fire near Disney guests? That is a lawsuit just waiting to happen! Second, approaching it from even way back here, I can hear the laughter and shrieks of girls that always indicate a good time. But for me, my time has arrived to come clean. My heart pounds in my chest as I approach the beach.

It's a hot and dark evening. I know this beach well, after having spent the night a hundred yards from here with Jason. The familiarity of this area of Fort Wilderness—Pioneer Hall, the Settlement Trading Post, River Country, this stretch of beach—has been a big comfort to me these past two days. The biggest comfort being Jason. Even the faces of guests I've come to see around here are like the faces of family welcoming me home.

Whether I stay in 1982 or go home, one thing is for sure—I can't live here. And I'm going to miss this place when I'm gone. It's all about to change. The innocence, my preservation of this illusion, the perfect summer night with the most perfect summer boy. In just as little as half an hour, it could all escape me, rise into the sky like the lit embers of these fires.

I take a quick inventory of who's who and recognize a few girls from River Country and a big group of teens who hang out every night, but that's it. Except a guy sitting by himself on a wooden dock post. Oscar-Dad? He looks so serious, his eyebrows so dark, so young. He looks . . . wounded.

I'm guessing Marsha talked to him. He plays with a little rock, dropping it from one hand to the other, until he finally flings it into the lake. Is my mom here? I look around but don't see her. But I do spot Jason sitting in a hammock that's tied between two palm trees. One flip-flopped foot rests on the ground, and he uses it to slowly rock himself. He watches the bonfire from back here, his thoughts lost in the flames. He went back to his trailer to shower, apparently. He's wearing a black Police T-shirt with some old-school, red digital symbols on it.

He sees me approaching in the sand and, for once, doesn't smile. “Hey,” I say, hooking my thumbs through my belt loops, stopping right in front of him.

“I like your shorts,” he says, mustering up some words.

I look down at my Daisy Dukes. “Thanks. I know how much you love them.”

He laughs to himself, more like a hiccup than laughter. Whichever girl was screeching before starts up again, and now I see a guy pick her up and carry her to the water, pretend-threatening to dump her in.

“So what's going on, Haley?”

I take a deep breath and let it out real slow. “You promised you were going to believe me.”

“I said I wouldn't judge. Which I won't.” His eyes capture the firelight and movement of the people on the beach.

“This isn't easy, so bear with me.” I sit on the edge of the hammock and ease myself in with him slowly, managing to get into a cross-legged position. His eyes are flat, observant, and cautious. “I know you're wondering,” I begin.

He looks down as he plays with a piece of dry palm frond between his fingers. “Wondering only begins to describe.”

“Well, before I say anything, I want you to know that I've really enjoyed being here with you, Jason. No matter what happens, I'll always appreciate everything you've done for me. Really, you're a good friend, and you didn't even need to be. I'll always cherish that.”

He tosses the piece of palm frond onto the sand and crosses his arms. “Is this a good-bye?”

“No. At least, I hope not. But what I'm going to tell you isn't something you hear every day, so you need to be ready. As ready as you can be.”

“Just spill the beans, Haley.”

“Right.”
One more deep breath. And . . . here goes everything.
“Jason . . .”

He waits. He pushes his chin out a bit, patiently waiting for me to find the courage.

I close my eyes. I can't control what anybody will say or think of me. I can't control anything anymore at this point. I may as well get it over with
. Just say it and see what comes.
“I'm from the future.”

There.

I wait for his response but realize I'm not going to get one right away. His eyebrows draw together, and there's a sort of bemused look on his face. He's waiting for me to explain more, so I do. “I'm from the year 2014. I was staying here at Fort Wilderness when I had a seizure while on a scavenger hunt with some friends. I fell down the Whoop 'n' Holler slide, and I ended up in the water where you and your brother found me.”

I don't tell him how River Country was abandoned at the time, nor anything about my parents. He watches me intently, no doubt analyzing all that I'm saying. A muscle in his cheek twitches. Still, he says nothing.
What is he thinking? He thinks I'm crazy, doesn't he?

“Remember the little girl said she didn't know where I came from? Well, that's because I just appeared. Or how I wasn't wearing a bathing suit? That's because my shipwreck shorts are what I was wearing when I disappeared. Remember I asked you what year it was?”

He's listening. Listening, but not talking.

“Well, that's because I honestly didn't know. Everything looked so strange to me.”

On the beach, some people cheer and clap, and I see that the nightly water parade is starting. Soon there will be fireworks again like last night, but it will never be the same. I'm losing Jason.

I fight back the tears. “My iPhone? The thing that your brother kept? That's a really common cell phone in the future. Like, practically everybody has one. We use them to call each other, text—which are these messages you type when you don't want to talk. We can look at weather, make lists, research on the Internet, which is probably the thing you'll find the most fascinating when you get there, Jason. You can find information on just about any topic in the world, pictures, music . . . It's pretty much the world at your fingertips.” I cover my face with my hands, then flip them up in frustration. “It's like EPCOT, only way more amazing! And I've been holding all this in since I met you when I knew how much it would fascinate you.”

But still . . . he says nothing.

I still don't mention my parents. I can't risk them finding out through Jason or Jake and losing their potentially big moment. Besides, I don't want to intervene in their lives anymore. It doesn't seem right. It feels like cheating.

“Jason?” My brain is going a mile a minute. I really need to hear his thoughts. I lean forward and touch his hand, but he pulls it back. “Can you say something?”

“Like what?” His words are bullets. Short and quick, but painful. He doesn't believe me. I'm hurting him, and he wants me to stop and say things that make sense. Not this crap. “I thought you were going to tell me that you were homeless. Or a runaway, or something. I don't know what I'm supposed to say to this.”

“I know.” I let out a sigh. “But it's true. I wouldn't lie to you.”

He gives me a scolding glance.

“Okay, well, I wouldn't lie to you
anymore
. That's the reason I'm here telling you all this, because I really care about you, and I didn't want us to go on unless I was totally honest with you. So that's it.”

“That's it, huh? And I'm just supposed to accept that.”