Chapter 3: Birthday Blues
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Reggie rolled over on the top bunk in the room he shared with Terry. It was dark. Then again, it was always dark. Terry had tacked a blanket over the bedroom window to block out the sun. He said it was to keep the glare off the television screen where he and Reggie used to play video games for hours at a time. Reggie suspected the darkened room was a reflection of Terry’s matching mood.
Since Mom’s health began to decline, Terry had taken on more and more responsibilities in the house. So had he and Ryssa, but they still managed to have a little fun once in a while. Terry never seemed to have time for fun at all. It was as though the fun was being sucked out of him. Reggie missed that side of his brother.
Reggie popped his head up to see the clock on the other side of the room. The small red numbers glared brightly into the dark. 11:08. He sat up quickly. There were only a couple of hours left before—but he didn’t want to think about it. He hopped down from the top bunk, landing quietly on the floor. A quick glance told him that Terry had already gotten out of bed. Strange, usually he was the one up early and Terry up late. Until now, he had suspected that Terry had forgotten the meaning of the word morning. His sister and foster brother were alike in that sense.
A yawn escaped and he stretched it out, briefly running a hand through his hair when he was done. He hadn’t slept well. He threw on a pair of multi-pocketed baggy jeans found hanging over the rail of the bed. Rifling through several t-shirts on the floor, he found one that satisfied him. Taking a tentative sniff to make sure it didn’t smell bad, he nodded in satisfaction and put it on to drape wrinkled and loose past his hips.
Reggie left the bedroom and moved down the short hall to the open family area. Debra and Mary were again talking in low tones, their backs toward him. On the dining room table, he noticed balloons and a cake, nicely arranged amid a few presents. He frowned. No Ryssa or Terry. With a quick glance at the two women in the kitchen, he headed toward the front door.
Outside, he stopped to let his eyes adjust to the light. It was a bright, sunny day. Storm clouds on the horizon gave him a touch of satisfaction. It was more in tune with his present frame of mind. This time of the year in Florida brought daily storms. While it normally didn’t matter to him one way or another, it seemed fitting today.
He walked across the front porch that ran the full length of the house to an open deck on the side. At the edge of the far corner, Ryssa sat on a raised wooden bench next to a ladder, her feet dangling in the pool. She didn’t look up when he sat to join her on the other side of the ladder. Reggie kept his feet on the deck, not wanting to take the time to roll his pant legs up to keep them dry. He turned partially toward his sister, staring down into the pool where her feet idly moved the water around.
“Stop staring at my toes,” she mumbled.
Reggie smiled and rolled his eyes. His sister, for some reason understandable only to her, had decided her feet were ugly and felt self-conscious if anyone looked in that direction. He thought it funny that half the time she actually drew attention to her feet without realizing it. Even in the Florida heat, she always kept them covered and refused to consider wearing sandals.
“I wasn’t looking at your feet.” Reggie peered over the edge of the pool into the water. “I was looking at those white squirmy things that got in—oh, wait, sorry.” He laughed.
“Oh!” Ryssa pulled her feet from the pool in annoyance. Bringing her knees to her chest, she covered the toes with her hands, resting her chin on her knees. “I hate you sometimes.”
“As my sister, you’re supposed to—didn’t you read the handbook?”
“Yeah, but I flunked Sibling 101. Just like everything else.”
“I don’t know. You’ve managed to ace Advanced Brat.”
Ryssa stuck out her tongue. They fell into silence, staring at the sunlight reflecting off the crystal clear water of the pool.
“I don’t want to go, Regg. I’m worried about Mom.”
Reggie felt his heart go out to his twin. She could be a pain at times, but when it came to their mother, she was extremely protective. Debra had that effect on people. He’d never met anyone she couldn’t get along with or win over with her quiet patience. He opened his mouth to speak, but it was Terry who answered, coming up the back stairs of the deck.
“You’re only going for the summer,” he said. Dropping into a chair next to the pool, he flipped a package over and over in his hands. The look he gave his foster siblings was earnest. “I’ll take care of Mom, I promise.”
“Sure, if you can keep yourself away from the video games and your creepy old shed.” Ryssa didn’t bother to hide her sarcasm. Terry’s eyes darkened.
“Whatcha got there, Terry?” Reggie tried to break the tension between the two. They were always sniping at each other. There had never been an actual full-blown screaming match, but Reggie didn’t want the first one to be today.
Terry stopped to stare at the package in his hands. Reggie thought it looked like a book wrapped in old newspapers. He handed it to Reggie.
“Don’t open it now.”
“What is it?” Ryssa watched with curiosity.
“It feels like some sort of book.” Reggie gingerly tested the weight in his hands.
“It is, sort of.” Terry grimaced. “Look, Mom hasn’t been herself much lately. I knew about the conditions of your fosterage, because if anything happened to her she wanted me to know what was coming. When she couldn’t find you guys a teacher for some of the stuff Mary was hinting about last night, I started looking in some of the more obscure places, like the Internet, to find what I could.
“It’s a little disjointed and fragmented because I had to handwrite all of it. It may get tough to read in places. I wanted both of you to be able to use it, so I left out a bunch of stuff that looked too long-winded and boring. It’s sort of a condensed version of what you were supposed to be learning up until now.”
“You gave us the Cliff Notes version!” Reggie laughed. “This is the mysterious project you’ve been working on?”
“I didn’t want them to have any reason to take you guys away.” Terry defiantly stuck up his chin. Reggie knew his brother was embarrassed. “For what it’s worth, we’re a family. And it would’ve killed Mom.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Reggie thought back to the mean words he had said to his brother yesterday and was ashamed. He had accused Terry of not paying attention so they’d be taken away. Now he knew the truth.
“I do.” Ryssa looked at Terry with a light shimmer of tears coating her eyes. “Despite the fact that you’re a big pain, you’re the best brother we could’ve found anywhere. Thank you.”
“Forget it.”
“Thanks, Terr,” Reggie said.
“Just forget it, will you?” Terry looked uncomfortable. He had never been one for big displays of emotion. “And keep that thing hidden. It’s got some pretty weird stuff in it. Plus, we don’t want those other people to think you haven’t learned anything. So we’ll just keep this our secret, okay?”
“Children!” Debra’s voice carried across the porch from the front door. “It’s time for lunch!”
The three looked at each other for a long moment, the bond deepening between them.
“What’s our secret?” Reggie shrugged.
“I don’t know anything.” Ryssa shook her head, swinging her feet around to get up from the pool.
They crossed the porch, following each other into the house.