Sunday mornings are peaceful in our house. My dad lets himself sleep in, my mother lets herself not fix breakfast. If my brothers have been out late playing with their band, you won't even know they're around till noon.
But this Sunday, I woke up feeling weird. I had to do something to shake off the confused feelings about Jonathan that were starting to creep back in.
"You really did it, didn't you?" My dad smiled as he walked out of the door. I brushed the dirt off my gloves and took them off. "I'm proud of you."
"Thanks, Dad." I grinned. "Where you going?" I asked. My father looked as if he was dressed to visit someone special - considering his clothes were slightly smarter than usual.
"To see Daniel. It's his birthday." He replied.
"I wanna come with you." I said, standing up.
My dad chuckled. "Oh, honey, just enjoy the morning, stay with your mom."
"No, Dad. I wanna come." I said, firmly.
"Sweetheart, listen. Sometimes, with Daniel-"
"I'm coming, Dad." I interrupted. I wasn't letting him talk me out of this.
My father sighed before smiling. "Okay. We'd better leave a note for your mother."
In all of the years, I'd never visited my Uncle Daniel. I don't know why. It was always something my dad did alone.
We didn't say much to each other on the drive to Devonhurst, but I didn't care. I just liked being with my dad. Somehow the silence seemed to connect us in a way that words never could.
The residents tend to the grounds as part of their therapy. It takes some getting used to. They're good people, though.
"Daniel?" My father asked. "Daniel?"
The flap of the door suddenly opened, to reveal a pair of excited, brown eyes.
"Richard! You're here! Richard for my birthday!" He grinned, opening the door.
Once he saw my father, he began to jump up and down before pulling him into a big hug.
He pulled away once he saw me. "Who's that?" He questioned, backing away a little.
Richard put his hands on Daniel's shoulders to calm him down. "Daniel, Daniel, it's Sarah. It's my daughter - your niece. Sarah."
His eyes lit up. "Sarah!" Daniel held his arms out.
"Happy birthday, Uncle Daniel." I smiled, letting him pull me tightly close to his chest.
Daniel laughed. "Richard. It's my birthday! I have your pictures, Sarah. I have your pictures!" He said to me, making me giggle.
"We have a present for you." My father said.
"A puzzle? A puzzle, Richard?" Daniel eagerly asked.
"Not just a puzzle. A puzzle and a pinwheel!"
Daniel jumped up and down again. "A pinwheel! Thank you, Richard." However, he was quickly distracted by the sunlight beaming through the small window in the corner of his room.
He pointed at the window. "Outside? Outside, Richard?"
"You wanna go outside?" Richard asked. Daniel nodded, making his brother smile.
"All right, we'll go to McEIliot's! We'll walk out there for an ice cream." I announced.
"Ice cream... oh, no. No, no, we can't. Daniel doesn't like ice cream." My father sighed.
Daniel gave his brother a worried expression and frowned. "I-I do like ice cream, Richard."
My father stayed silent for a moment before laughing. "I'm only kidding. I know you like ice cream."
I grinned. "You love ice cream!"
"I do!" Daniel nodded, clapping his hands together.
***
"Alright, here you go. You got it?" Richard asked Daniel as he handed him his ice cream. He nodded and started to devour his favourite food.
"Here you go." My father handed me my ice cream. I smiled as a thank you.
"It's my birthday." Daniel told everyone we walked past as we made our way to our table in the middle of the store.
"It's my birthday." Daniel repeated.
I giggled.
"You like it?" My father asked, earning a fast nod from Daniel.
"Alright!"
Daniel bounced up and down in his seat and waved his arms around. He gasped when his ice cream ended up on the floor within a split second.
"My ice cream! My ice cream!" Daniel cried.
"It's okay. Daniel." I said, putting my hand on his shoulder, but he quickly shook my hand off.
"Daniel! Daniel! Leave it, I'll get you-" My father panicked, looking over at the man at the ice cream stand.
"Ice cream on the floor! Ice cream on the floor!" Daniel announced, jumping up and knocking over his chair. By now, almost everyone in the store were looking at us.
"Would you go get him another cone?" My father asked me.
I nodded and quickly stood up. "Okay."
"I need ice cream, Richard! It's my birthday, Richard. It's my birthday! Ice cream, Richard! Ice cream, Richard!"
I spun around when I heard a crash. I saw that the table was now flipped over and I gasped. I turned around to face the ice cream man. "Could you please hurry up?" I asked, as politely as possible.
The man quickly nodded.
Within another few seconds, Daniel's new ice cream was ready. I snatched it from the man's hands and ran over to Daniel and Richard.
"Stop! Stop it!" Richard yelled. He let out a sigh of relief once he saw me with Daniel's ice cream.
"Here we go!" My father said.
Daniel stopped yelling and eyed the brand new ice cream.
"Ice cream! Thank you, Richard!"
Richard nodded and smiled. "Okay, okay. We've got some ice cream. Birthday ice cream." He happily sighed.
Richard then turned to him. "I'm so sorry. He hasn't done anything like that before."
I slowly nodded and forced a smile.
I'd often heard my father talk about how difficult life was for Daniel. But I never really understood it until now.
On the walk back, Daniel acted like nothing had happened.
On the ride home, my dad told me that Uncle Daniel used to live with him and Mom before we were born. But after a while, it became too difficult.
When we got home, everything looked the same. But it wasn't. Before today, Daniel had always been just a name to me. Now he was part of the family.
"Hey." I smiled as my father and I reentered the house.
"Hey." My mother called from the kitchen. "How'd it go?"
"I'm glad I went." I stated.
My father rubbed my shoulders with his hand. "I'm glad you went too."
My father's happy expression soon changed to a rather confused one when he saw my mother mopping the floor.
"Trina, honey, it's Sunday. What are you doing mopping the floor?"
"Mary Brandis invited us over for dinner Friday night." She smiled.
"Shouldn't she be mopping her floor? Or did she ask to borrow ours?"
Trina chuckled. "Nervous energy."
"Did she invite all of us?" I asked.
She nodded. "Yes, she did."
"Even our friend Sal Monella?" My father cocked a brow. I snickered.
"Richard." My mom frowned.
Richard threw his arms up in the air. "Why, after all these years?"
"Well, she said she felt really bad that they hadn't invited us before and apparently they want to get to know us better." Trina explained.
"And you wanna go?"
"Well, she insisted. And I think it would be really nice."
My father sighed. "All right. We'll go."
I wasn't too thrilled about dinner with the Brandis', but I could see it meant a lot to my mother.
***
At school the next day, I couldn't seem to concentrate. As I walked down the school hallways towards the cafeteria, my thoughts kept running back to Daniel. I wondered what my grandparents had gone through having a son like him when reality interrupted.
"Jonathan Brandis likes you." Dana Tressler, the girl who sat next to Jonathan in chemistry class ran up to me.
I nervously laughed as I felt my cheeks heat up. "What?"
"He's got a big crush on you."
I tried to stop myself from smiling, but I just ended up shaking my head with the smile stuck on my face. "What are you talking about? Jonathan Brandis does not have a crush on me."
"Oh, yeah? In chemistry, I caught him staring at you. He said it was because there was a bee in your hair. Is that the lamest cover-up or what?" Dana laughed.
"Maybe there was a bee. The only bee you're attracting is Jonathan. I'm telling you, that boy is lost in love land!"
I playfully rolled my eyes. "Come on-"
"I saw him sneaking off with Oliver." Dana almost squealed. She grabbed my arm. "Come on!"
Dana lead me into the very corner of the school library. We knelt down and looked through the small gaps between the books at the two boys.
"Are you freaking mental? Sarah Conway? You hate her!" Oliver laughed.
"That's what's so weird. I don't think I do. I can't stop thinking about her!"
I shuffled a little closer towards the gap as Dana nudged me.
"You got it bad, man."
Jonathan sighed. "What do I do?"
"You gotta nip this in the bud. These aren't real emotions." Oliver told Jonathan.
"They're not?" Jonathan asked.
Oliver chuckled and shook his head. "You feel guilty because of the egg thing."
"Yeah, and I insulted her yard."
Oliver nodded. "Exactly!"
Jonathan sighed. "The place is a dump anyways. Her dad's got a retarded brother and all their money goes to helping him."
"A retard? Well," Oliver chuckled. "that ought to tell you something.
Jonathan folded his arms. "About what?"
"About Sarah."
"What are you saying?"
I furrowed my eyebrows. I wanted to hear what this guy had to say.
"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, my friend."
I eagerly waited to see what Jonathan was going to respond with. To my surprise, he laughed. He actually laughed. "Oh, right! Yeah..."
Oliver smiled and patted his friend's shoulder.
"I'll talk to you later." Jonathan said.
Oliver nodded. "Okay."
Once Jonathan and Oliver left, Dana and I slowly stood up.
"I-I'm sorry. I thought-" Dana stumbled.
I turned to Dana and smiled. "It's okay. It's fine."
And it was. Because now my confusion was gone. I was sure that I no longer liked Jonathan Brandis.