The Happiest Jail on Earth

Chapter 16

RORIE:

“Thank you so much, Clara,” Lilah repeated when we reached her youth group’s white van.

“She’th not the one driving you guyth,” her slightly pudgy youth pastor Kevin joked. He had an awful lisp. Or should I say lithp. It was hard to understand him and even harder to keep a straight face when he spoke. I couldn’t imagine how anyone took him seriously in church, but then again, Moses had a speech impediment and he did okay.

I turned to Lilah.

“How does Moses make his tea?” I whispered as Kevin got in the driver’s seat. “Hebrews it!”

Lilah giggled a little louder than I expected and all the youth group kids looked back at us with a judgemental face.

Despite all the craziness of the day, I felt an immense relief at the sight of that van. It was sensible and secure, unlike this whole day. As Lilah and I squeezed into the back, I felt like the whole day had been a dream. It was like wonderland and Lilah and I were Alice. I settled into the seat with a sigh. We would be home in half an hour and then I could take a shower and get this nasty Pirates smell off of me. Then, I would sleep. Probably for a year or so. I was even beginning to doze off in the van until Lilah elbowed me.

“So did Henry get your number?” she asked suggestively, elbowing me in the side.

“No,” I replied tentatively. I had been dreading this conversation.

I took a moment to survey the group in the van. Every last one of them was Korean and I couldn’t help but feel like an outsider. Half of them listened to music through earphones while playing futuristic looking games on their smart phones. Some slept and some chatted with Kevin about the day’s events.

“Why not?” she asked, clearly confused.

I shrugged. How could I get her to understand? How could I explain this? Henry hadn’t even understood my thought process.

“It seemed like he really liked you. That’s so weird. I mean, he even kissed you!” she continued.

The kid next to us was fast asleep, his mouth open and a bit of drool starting to form a pool on his shirt. We’d only been in the car fifteen minutes and he was out like a light.

“Ya, he did really like me,” I told her.

“So, what happened?” she asked.

“I couldn’t do it, Lilah.”

She stared at me, waiting for me to expand.

“You remember that one time we made chocolate chip cookies without a recipe?” I asked her. She nodded, clearly confused. “And they turned out perfect. Like, too perfect. I had never had a chocolate chip cookie that tasted that good. And now, I don’t eat chocolate chip cookies anymore, even though they’re my favorite dessert. I’m scared that none will ever taste as good as that batch we made.”