Almost Perfect - Brian Katcher [20]
Thanksgiving was the next day. Jack was in Iowa, celebrating with his extended family. Tim was probably sitting in front of his parents’ stove, watching the turkey and drooling. There were never any leftovers at his house. Sage was vague when I asked her about her plans. She said she didn’t visit her grandparents anymore, but she didn’t elaborate. She told me she might call if she got bored.
My grandfather was spending the holidays in St. Louis with my uncle and his family. Mom couldn’t get a lot of time off work, so we were staying in Boyer. Just the three of us.
I smiled when I saw the trail of dust approaching down our gravel road. I made sure the fire was burning okay, then ran to meet my sister.
I’d never seen her car before. She’d saved her pennies from her job at the MU library and bought it from a friend. It was a white Taurus that had seen better years. As she parked, I realized that Laura now drove the nicer car in the family.
I whistled when Laura stepped out of the car but mentally did a double take. Laura looked stylish! She was wearing a long brown coat, a scarf, and leather boots. Her dark hair was much shorter than when I’d last seen her over the summer, and she was wearing makeup, which was unusual for her.
It was hard for me to picture this sophisticated woman as the same girl who used to have water balloon fights with me. The same sister who knocked out two of my baby teeth during a softball mishap. And here I was wearing torn jeans and leaning on a rake like some hillbilly.
“Aren’t you going to help your sister with her bags?” Laura said with a smile.
“Nice to see you, too.” We laughed and hugged.
I hauled Laura’s suitcases into her old room.
“So are these full of bowling balls, or what?” I asked, dropping the bags at the foot of her bed.
“Just wanted to give you an opportunity to show off those muscles, studly.”
Laura removed her boots and sat on her bed. She looked around her old room like she was expecting big changes since she’d left. Actually, almost nothing was different. Her gymnastics and softball trophies were still on her dresser, the pictures of her old friends were still on the walls, and, I suspected, the little metal pipe and box of rolling papers were still hidden in the back of her closet.
“I thought you and Mom would have taken over my room by now.”
I straddled Laura’s desk chair. “Desecrate your shrine? Never. At least, not until I figure out how to remove that wall so I can I have a big room.”
My sister lay back on her pillow with her arms folded behind her head. “Your small room is good training, Logan. The dorms at Mizzou are even tinier, and you’ll have to share with someone. Are you still thinking of rooming with Jack?”
I didn’t answer. As I tried to think of a way to change the subject, I realized Laura had sat back up and was staring at me.
“Logan, you are still planning on going to college, right?”
It was funny. I could look my mother in the eyes and tell her the biggest whoppers and sound as sincere as a minister on Easter morning. But when my sister suspected I wasn’t telling her the truth … She’d realized Brenda and I had broken up long before Mom had even suspected.
“Yeah, I’m going. I guess.” I’d sent in the application the week before. According to Tim, I qualified for several grants and interest-free loans from Uncle Sam. All that was left was deciding that I really wanted to go.
Laura patted the bed, and I sat down next to her.
“Logan, I know how you feel. I grew up here, too. And it’s not easy to leave. But think about next year. You won’t be at school for eight hours a day. Jack will be gone, and so will Tim. And me.”
“Twenty miles away. You’re practically on Mars.” Laura punched me in the arm. I think she assumed it didn’t hurt me. “Listen to me. Not a week goes by I don’t hear about some concert that I think you’d like, or meet some guys you’d get along with, or do something fun and wish you were there to enjoy it with me. You could work out in a real