Lola McAffrey's Great Disappearing Act

Aunt Liv's Place

Saturday afternoon my mom and I were in the car heading to Aunt Liv's place. I had my earbuds in because Mom insisted on listening to NPR. She wasn't the type to boogie down to anything that resembled music—at least she had never done that in my presence. Still, I had always wondered what she was like when she was a teen. I just couldn't picture it.

I watched her carefully take the right-hand turn onto Courtland Boulevard, Chesterville's main thoroughfare and the street where Aunt Liv's apartment was located. As I watched the fast-food restaurants and chain stores go by, I realized that Chesterville was almost a carbon-copy of Walterton. There was nothing that distinguished the two towns from one another other than the high school mascots: the Fearsome Walterton Warriors versus the Charging Chesterville Cheetahs. It was a forced rivalry that no one except the football team really got into.

Unfortunately, it was late enough in the afternoon that all of the parking spaces on Courtland were filled. Mom had to park three blocks away. I pulled my earbuds out of my ears and stuffed them into my purse. We walked down the sidewalk. We could feel the occasional blast of air conditioning coming from the open doors of the few boutique shops that were below Aunt Liv's swanky downtown apartment.

I opened the nondescript door that led to Liv's apartment above the florist. I stepped in and walked up the narrow stairway. Her door was at the top, just off to the right. I gave it a good knock. Sometimes Aunt Liv slept in.

The door swung open with gusto. "My, my, my. How my Lola has grown!" She held her arms open wide. I rolled my eyes as Liv gripped me tightly.

"Hey, Sis." My mom shut the door behind her. She not-so-secretly locked it. This was one of Mom's biggest complaints about her sister—she never bothered to lock her front door.

"Hey. How's your boring life treating you?" It may have sounded harsh, but she said it with a wink."

"Oh, you know. The usual." Mom smiled politely.

"Great! I'll get the coffee, then we can have our gabfest." I sat down in my favorite spot—Aunt Liv's overstuffed blue beanbag chair. Mom sat down on one of the three mismatched side chairs that flanked the hideous red plaid couch. Did I mention how much I loved Aunt Liv's apartment?

Liv came in with coffee on a fancy tray. The cups didn't match, but that made everything so much better. More authentic. I knew this was exactly how I wanted to live once I was on my own. "It's nice out. Let's take this to the veranda." The apartment was on the third floor, so technically it wasn't a veranda. It was a balcony. A very small one, but it had enough room for three lawn chairs and a tiny side table where Liv sat the tray.

As she served us, she asked, "So, what's Lola gotten up to at school that needs my attention?"

"She's going to do a project, and she needs your help." Mom gave me the cue to tell Aunt Liv all about the project. I let her in on all the details.

"So, what do I have to do?"

"Well," I said, taking another sip of my coffee. It was what Aunt Liv called her September blend—a hint of cinnamon, lots of sugar and cream. "I would need to you observe any P.E. lessons that Ms. Francis sends to you."

"Ugh. Can't I just sign off on them? It'll be our secret." Aunt Liv winked at me, but Mom had a worried pout.

"Livvy..."

"Okay. I don't like watching people sweat, but I can do that."

"You'll also have to make sure that I'm doing all of my assignments for my other classes."

"Of course."

"And, well, I'll have to live with you for the next two weeks." Aunt Liv didn't respond right away. She carefully sipped her coffee. She looked at Mom, then back at me.

"I never made it a habit to learn to cook."

"That's fine with me." Mom's face told me that it wasn't fine with her.

"Okay, roomie. You have a deal." We sealed it with a proper handshake.

*

When Mom and I were getting ready to leave, she looked at Liv and said with as much seriousness as anyone could muster around Liv, "Please feed my kid some vegetables."

"Oh, you know I will." They hugged. When Liv hugged me, she whispered, "Potato chips and pizza sauce are totally veggies, you know." I smiled. Spending two weeks with Aunt Liv was going to be amazing.

By the time we left, the sun was poised to sink below the tops of the buildings. I thought about taking a photo, but I wanted to take it all in.

"Have you heard from Cori today?"

"I never hear from her on Saturdays. She usually has tennis lessons."

"The team practices on Saturdays?"

"No, she gets private lessons." I never understood athletes. They practiced, practiced, practiced and most of them still choked when it counted. Not that Cori had anything to worry about. Her natural ability was only enhanced by the additional lessons.

"She's going to run out of energy one of these days."

"I think she already has."

"Really?" Mom's curiosity was piqued. "Anything that should be brought up to her parents?"
I thought about that. I never saw them pressure Cori into doing any of her extracurricular activities. I always thought that Cori had been harder on herself than anyone else ever was. "Nah, they've got it covered. She's just getting used to being back in school."

Mom nodded in that knowing way. She wasn't going to push it, even if Cori might as well have been another daughter to her.