Standing in front of me, Harmony did a little wiggle, possibly dancing. “You know. Girls won’t think you’re cool if you’re reading Greek mythology?”
Not able to stop the laughter crawling up my throat, I begged, “Please stop,” I one-handedly gestured to her movements, “whatever that is.”
Faking hurt feelings, she stomped her foot. “I can dance!”
“Ifyousayso.”
Her jaw unhinged, then she said, “But… Dale says I move like a siren.”
“Like a blaring fire truck siren? Yes.”
She plopped next to me, the cushion barely adjusting to her small form. “He’s been lying all these years?”
I assured her, “He’s been loving you for all these years.”
My mind drifted with those words, Lying all these years. Loving all these years… There were so many hidden secrets in my life. Some the librarian was holding from me, and some not even she seemed to know. This was beyond frustrating. Now I had no one to fill in the blanks. Would I ever learn the truth? “Harmony, for real, lying out of love, it’s a forgivable offense, right?”
Affectionately, and for long moments, she smiled at me. “Old soul Johnny.” She exhaled and stared out the bay window. “Is there anything that is wrong when coming from love? Love, no matter its form or timing, is a life force we all need.” She looked at me again. “Without it, we wither away.”
It was as if I suddenly understood her. Truly. Harmony, every little tear she shed with her fosters’ sad pasts was a grateful one because she got to us before they withered away.
She put an arm around my shoulders. “There is no shame in loving another when one love has passed. That love is still present, too.”
I understood Harmony was talking about Noma, hinting at allowing another mother figure into my life, but it also hit home for Tallulah. She wasn’t my water friend, but she was here, trying to offer me something.
“Hey.” Harmony pointed to the book. “You want to keep it?”
Yes, it was only a book, but Harmony’s kindness appeared to be limitless. “That would actually be pretty ‘cool’ but, you’re not going to dance, are ya?”
She playfully shoved me. “Teenager!” Then she got up from the couch and wiggled—danced—off to the kitchen.
After taking the book to my room, I lay on my stomach on the bed and opened it up again. The concept of this ‘journey’ to the underworld was quite fascinating for a couple of reasons. There was a price to be paid to reach the afterlife. The river, the water, binding together souls with divine oaths… However, I was also greatly intrigued because of the different names of the rivers. Styx, the name of one of them, was also the same as a river goddess. Coincidence? Maybe so. But then I thought about my uncles. What about the others? Uncle Heron was the first to be shot that horrid day with my dad. Now I’m reading a book about a river called Cheron. My gut was experiencing all these pings as if tiny electric shocks.
Then there was the river Lethe. I also had an Uncle Letti.
River Phlegethon. Uncle Pledge.
River Cocytus. Uncle Cocky.
And Dad’s clubhouse just happened to be on a peninsula with only one bridge? Where I happened to almost die but was saved by a?—
Rolling to my back, I threw the book across the room, pissed at the similarities. Pissed that I now felt even more crazy than before. I lay there, about to blow. My ears were ringing. My eyes refused to open to read one more word. My mind was spinning, and so was my stomach. My face covered with my palms, I growled, “I need help.”
I needed water of a different kind. So, I ran downstairs while pulling a piece of paper from my front pocket. Finding the houseline, I picked up the receiver and started dialing the digits, feeling it could be a lifeline. When Tallulah answered her cell, I insisted, “My choice is to be of the highest intelligence.”
As if sensing I was about to unravel, she calmly promised, “You won’t regret it.”
And I didn’t. Tallulah was an old soul in her own right. I found it easy to talk to her in our quiet moments. She was also vivacious. A welcome challenge. And a beautiful distraction. Forgetting my past was a drug of its own. And I was a willing addict.
As far as I could see, there was only one downfall to dating Tallulah.
One day, while I was brushing my teeth, Finn appeared in the bathroom doorway. He casually warned, “Watch your back,” while tossing a baseball in the air, only to catch it again. “Locker room is full of talk by some jealous Tallulah fans.”
Fuck me.
Around my toothbrush, I smarted off, “Thanks fo’ carin’, as’hole.”
“Better than getting a lecture from Dale or Harmony when you come home with a black eye.”
