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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
I wake up the next morning feeling more rested and rejuvenated than I have in I don’t even know how long. When I look at myself in the mirror, I’m wearing a wide, foolish smile that I’ve probably had on my face since I fell asleep.
I start to wonder if there was more to the feelings I felt when I saw Alanna for the first time that urged me to visit her. Or was it just a spark of attraction? Leyla always used to say ‘nothing happens by chance’. I wonder if this was meant to be. Sure hope so.
All I know is, everything about her is perfect. Except for the two minor details—she’s from the past, and she died 10 years ago.
While I’m taking a shower I think about how careful I’m going to have to be in what I say to her. She can’t ever find out that she dies so young. I can only imagine how she would react. I can only imagine how I would react.
Breakfast is ready as usual, but neither Bud nor Estelle seem like their usual selves. For one thing, they’re both on the couch watching TV instead of at the table.
“Hi, guys!... Everything okay?”
“Sure!” Estelle says. “It was just a long night. Bud couldn’t get to sleep. He’s been coughing all night.”
He shoots her a “Don’t worry the boy” look and tells me. “I’m fine. It’s a cold. That’s it. That’s what happens when you get to my age and forget to take your vitamins.”
But his voice is hoarse and he has to stifle another cough. It’s hard for me to imagine him as being sick because he always seems so strong to me. I tend to think that Estelle’s the frail one because she’s so tiny.
“So,” he says, obviously trying to change the subject. “Looking forward to your first day on the job?”
“Yeah, I am.” I head into the kitchen where I grab a plate of pancakes, come back into the living room, and begin devouring them standing up. “I just hope the uniforms don’t suck!... Hey, you think they’ll give me a gun for security purposes?”
“Let’s hope not!” Estelle teases as she tucks the comforter around Bud. “But if they don’t, we’ll run over to the toy store and get you the best water gun there is!”
“Yeah, and some of those plastic cuffs!” Bud puts in. “What do ya say?”
“I say you guys can’t be that tired if you can manage to be this funny! You’re lucky it’s just the gift shop and not the security office!”
We joke around for a few more minutes before I head up to my room to get ready to go to the museum. I decide not to tell them about Alanna. I’m afraid it may worry them. Plus, I know what they’d say anyway and I don’t want to hear it. Even if they are right. With Bud feeling under the weather and all, I figure I’ll spare them. Though I know, that if I did say anything that they’d summon all the energy remaining in their bodies to listen to me.
They love me so much- I can tell; and I love them just as much back. It’s finally a real family. I used to wonder how someone knew they were loved. I didn’t understand the concept. Until now.
* * *
I get to the museum by 10:30. Early on my first day! Oh yeah!
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