The Incident – Chapter 3

Mary and I try to pretend we’re too old to be impressed by Disneyland, but it’s really amazing. The rides go on so much longer than anything I’ve ever been on before, and we aren’t the only teenagers there.

The lines suck, though. It’s summer and crowded. My parents insist we all stay together. Fortunately, the little girls are both tall enough to ride anything, and my parents let Mary and me pretend we’re not with them while we wait in lines, so other teenagers talk to us. Some cute boys flirt with us for over an hour while we wait for the Space Mountain ride. They’re from Arizona, and their parents let them do some of the rides on their own because they’ve got really little kids with them and because they’ve been there a bunch of times.

“It’s better to come when school’s in session,” says the one who’s been focusing on me. “The lines aren’t nearly as bad then. That’s when the locals come.”

“Local kids come here?”

“Yeah, they get season passes and treat it like any other amusement park.

That idea floors me. Maybe there will be benefits to living somewhere new, though it’s going to be a small town again. But maybe we’ll go into Chicago sometimes. Or maybe Rockland, where my dad’s going to work, will be big enough to have interesting stuff happening.

We stay at this condo right by the park. It’s some kind of perk from Dad’s new position. Once we’re back at the condo, Mom and Dad let Mary and me hang out in the public areas by ourselves. There’s a big pool and two whirlpools and a recreation room with a big flat screen, game tables, and some video machines. There’s a workout room, too. We’re supposed to be sixteen to use any of this without adult supervision, but no one questions us. Mostly it’s older people, but there are a few other teenagers there and we have fun flirting with some college guys, too.

After three days at the theme parks, my parents can’t take it anymore. We get into the rental car and head to the beach for the next three days. Now THAT is awesome. It’s my first time seeing the ocean. We drive past beaches with huge waves and lots of surfers to a beach they recommended at the condo, where the waves are a lot smaller. We’re all good swimmers, from the river, but Dad makes us watch awhile before we go in with the boogie boards we borrowed from the condo.

“You have to keep alert,” he says. “Sometimes there’s a rogue wave a lot larger than the others, for one thing. Also, when you’re in where the waves break, you have to dive under so they don’t pound you into the ocean floor. See how those kids are doing it? Use the leash and let go of the board.”

“Okay, I got it,” I say. The other girls echo the same.

“You actually want to go out past where they’re breaking, but it’s likely to be over your head. The salt makes it easier to float and tread water, even if you lose your board, but be careful not to stay out so long you have trouble getting back in past the breakers.”

“We’re coming out with you,” says Mom. “But we’re going to be riding waves, too, so stick with your buddy and watch out for each other.”

That’s my parents, super careful. But I don’t mind, because I know that’s why they’ve never had a serious accident with all the mountains they’ve climbed and the rapids they’ve run.

In spite of Mom demanding we keep slathering up with sunscreen all day, we all get burned where our swimsuits expose more skin. My stomach’s still hot when we fly back to Denver. Dad walks us out to the car and gets his business stuff out of the trunk. He packed his work clothes in a separate suitcase and left it in the car when we left for California. He gives us hugs, then heads back into the airport for his flight to Chicago.

It’s late and the little girls and Mary are all asleep before we get to the tunnel above Golden. It’s a quiet three-hour trip home. This is really happening.

www.sherimcguinn.com www.amazon.com/author/sherimcguinn

The Incident is contemporary YA (Young Adult). Following time-honored tradition, I’m publishing it here in installments. To be alerted when the next segment goes online, “follow” this blog. The entire story will be published here. You are welcome to share this link with others, but please respect copyright by contacting me for permission if you want to publish the story elsewhere. Thank you.

#teenintrouble #teenincrisis #YA #Movingasateen #Disneyland #YoungAdultFiction

The Incident – Chapter 2

Chapter 2—Dinner

At least the secret seems to be something that makes both of my parents happy, so they can’t be telling us they’re getting a divorce or anything awful like that. I’ve heard kids talk about stuff like that happening.

When we get to Jack’s, Rose wants pepperoni pizza and I want veggie. Usually we end up with a large half and half, except the grease from the pepperoni leeches over onto the veggie side, too. It’s cheaper to order one extra large than two mediums. Dad usually has us drink water, too. He says drinks are overpriced when you eat out.

Tonight, however, is different.

“Two mediums,” he says. “And a glass of soda for each of the girls, and a pitcher of beer for us.”

My parents don’t drink a lot, usually at parties or a couple beers on hot days at home, so his ordering a pitcher is really strange. We get our drinks and sit down to wait for the pizza. Dad clears his throat.

“I know you’ve been wondering about our trip,” he says.

Then he stops and takes Mom’s hand. They give each other a look like newlyweds or something.

“So, what is it?” I demand. “What’s going on?”

“Several things,” says Mom.

“First of all,” says Dad. “The reason we went to Chicago is that I had a job interview. The company is bumping me up.”

“That’s why we’re getting two pizzas?” I ask. “You’re going to make more money?”

“A lot more,” he says.

“Cool,” says Rose. “Can I get a new bike then? The one that was Tina’s is too small for me now.”

“We can do that,” says Dad. “When we get back from California.”

“California?” I’m suspicious. “When, why are we going to California?”

“Well,” he says. “My new position is going to be very demanding. I won’t have much time with you while I’m learning all the ropes. But they’re giving me a couple weeks to make the transition, and your mother and I decided we’d take one week of that for a family vacation to Disneyland.”

“Disneyland?”

I can’t believe this is the big surprise. I’m fifteen. I’ve been learning to drive for six months. So my parents have decided it’s time to go to Disneyland? Rose is the perfect age for that, and she’s bouncing all over asking them a million questions, but I quit wanting to go there a long time ago. Mom picks up on this.

“We’ll spend some time at the beach, too,” she says. “You’ve never been to the ocean. And Mary and Laurie are going to come with us.”

“When?” asks Rose.

“We’re leaving tomorrow morning,” says Mom.

“You’re flying all of us there?” I ask.

“Yup,” says Dad.

This new position must really make some bucks. But something is bothering me.

“Why are they giving you two weeks off to transition into a new job?” I ask. “That doesn’t make any sense. Shouldn’t they want you to start right away?”

They look at each other again. This time it’s not that newlywed thing, this is my parents worried about delivering bad news.

“The transition time is so we can make moving arrangements,” Mom says.

“When we get back from California, I have to go on ahead and start in my new job,” says Dad. “Last week was the first of my two weeks and your mom and I found a house. The closing date’s the week before school starts, so that gives you and your mom the rest of the summer to pack up and get our old house ready to sell.”

“We’re moving?” Rose finally catches onto that. She doesn’t sound so excited anymore.

I’m speechless. Sell our house? I’ve never lived anywhere else. Even when I was a baby, we lived there with Dad’s mom, until she passed away when I was four and left the house to Dad. Mom’s parents live in Arizona. I haven’t seen them since I was ten, except for Skype. All of our friends live here, too. Mine, Rose’s, our parents’ friends all live here. But they’re still acting happy about this.

“Aren’t you going to miss your friends?” asks Rose.

Good question. Why are they so happy to move?

“Where are we going to live?” I finally find my voice to ask.

“Jackson, Illinois. It’s a small town, about the same size as ours, but a reasonable commute from Rockford. That’s where I’ll be working. It’s about an hour west of Chicago.”

“There aren’t any mountains in Illinois,” I say.

Dad looks sad for a moment. “True. But it’s really green and pretty out there, and there’s a lake not far from the house we’re buying where you’ll be able to swim and kayak.”

“On a lake?” I ask.

Besides climbing mountains, my parents have always done whitewater kayaking. They’ve always taken us rafting once the spring melt is done and the rivers are milder, but last summer I got my own kayak and practiced enough that they let me do a few runs this spring while there was still some Class Three whitewater. I’m not interested in being a fourteener, but kayaking those rapids was a rush.

“What about skiing?” asks Rose.

She’ll be in fourth grade next year. In sixth grade, Colorado kids get free passes to world-class ski areas.

“I can’t kid you on that one,” says Dad. “There are some ski areas close enough to go to, but they measure vertical drop in feet, not meters.”

“That’s because Illinois has no mountains,” I say.

Dad’s not looking nearly as happy as he was, and that obviously bothers Mom, so she starts talking it up.

“It’s going to be an adventure,” she says. “We’ll have to try out cross-country skiing. I’ve only done it a few times, but it’s a real workout. And I’m sure with all that water we can find some rivers for the kayaks. It doesn’t have to be Class Four to be fun. And we’ll be meeting new people, making new friends. And while your father may not be able to get away much, I’ll bring you girls back here to visit in the summers.”

“Are you going to work?” I ask.

Mom’s had a part time job at the elementary school since Rose started kindergarten.

“I’m going to look for something once we’ve settled in,” she says. “We have two kids to put through college, you know.”

“We’re leaving for Disneyland tomorrow?” asks Rose.

“Yup,” says Dad. “Your friends will be ready for us first thing in the morning.”

It’s dawning on me that the main reason for Dad to take this job is money for college for me and Rose, so I need to stop whining and get with the program.

“With internet and Skype, it’ll be easy to keep our friends here,” I say. “It’ll be cool, trying out a new place and making new friends.”

Mom looks relieved. Dad gives me a big grin.

“Yup,” he says. “This way you won’t be so lost when you go off to college, either. I was miserable my freshman year, because I’d never had to make new friends before and I’d never lived anywhere but here. There’s a whole world out there and lots of different kinds of places.”

There are a lot of things I think, but do not say, like he chose to come back to his home town. So did Mom. Neither of them has ever shown interest in travel outside Colorado. That’s part of why their trip seemed so strange. They don’t even go into Denver much. We go to Grand Junction for school clothes and special stuff like my dress for the dance, and Grand Junction may be a city, but it’s not a big one.

Of course, they say we’re moving into a town not much bigger than ours, which means about seven thousand people, so it shouldn’t be that crazy. My school should be about the same size. Maybe it won’t be that bad. And meantime, we’re going to California!

www.sherimcguinn.com www.amazon.com/author/sherimcguinn

The Incident is contemporary YA (Young Adult). Following time-honored tradition, I’m publishing it here in installments. To be alerted when the next segment goes online, “follow” this blog. The entire story will be published here. You are welcome to share this link with others, but please respect copyright by contacting me for permission if you want to publish the story elsewhere. Thank you.

#freefiction #teenintrouble #YA #YoungAdultFiction

Curves in the Road

At sixteen my plan was to spend my senior year of high school as an exchange student, then go to Northwestern for journalism and become an international reporter. I’d make the world a better place and have adventures at the same time. I was on that road. I was editor of my school paper and studying both French and Spanish. I joined AFS and met exchange students from all over the world. I brought home the application.

But my mother had been a stay-at-home mom for almost forty years and she wasn’t ready for an empty nest, so she insisted I could wait and go abroad while I was in college. That last year of high school, there were few academic courses left for me to take. Instead, my interest in art, music, and drama, which had been largely dormant for two years, came back full force. I never even applied to Northwestern.

The killings at Kent State, a month before my high school graduation, did nothing to change my mind. The paranoia of the day seeped into me. Publication of the Pentagon Papers could have inspired a renewal of my interest in journalism, but instead the content increased my detachment from world events. Then Watergate filled the television and my first choice for president was a crook or the man he’d made look like a buffoon. I did a write-in vote for “No Body” and wanted nothing to do with any of it.

I just wanted to live my life.

It’s a good way to live, focused on immediate surroundings, the things where you may make a real difference in lives, one at a time, or one small community at a time. And that is one way to change the world without taking on the big issues.

Looking back, there have been many other roads not taken, some of which might have brought me back closer to my original intent. It’s okay I didn’t take those roads. There have been rough spots, but overall, life has been full and interesting and right now it’s really good. I’m writing fiction full of strong women, providing good role models. . .but, every so often, I wonder if I’m playing hooky from another destiny.

A few weeks ago, I bought the January 15, 2018 Time because it was supposed to be a good news edition, edited by Bill Gates. This morning it got to the top of the reading pile. In it, there’s an article by Melinda Gates about how women’s movements around the world are bringing about significant changes not just for the betterment of women, but for society as a whole. She advocates for an increase in financial support for grassroots women’s organizations and women’s funds.

The article makes me feel as if there’s more I need to do.

It could be a diversion from projects already in place, to avoid completion. I need to guard against that temptation. But I suspect the road I’m on is curving and will eventually intersect with the one not taken long ago.

Update 12/13/2020 When I wrote this blog, I was working on a novel that used many of the locales of my life as the character went through many life changes. However, the character had taken over the story and her life was much more dramatic than mine. I definitely let that project be diverted many times, but it's finally published: Peg's Story: Detours

www.sherimcguinn.com www.amazon.com/author/sherimcguinn

#resilience #planofaction #howtowritebetter #lifegoals #transition #expectations #metoo #adventure #MeToo #goals #Writing #DefiningMoments