Sea Song

[Kate Houser Snare]

OPENING SCENE—Introduces protagonist, antagonistic force, and backstory, as well as foreshadows upcoming events.

 

CHAPTER 1

            “We are going to have a summer we’ll never forget, I just know it girls!” Isabella gushed, with a hopeful smile that temporarily replaced the worry lines and sadness that had plagued her face for some time now.

            “I already know that’s true,” grumbled Cora. “I’ll never forget that you are taking away my phone and forcing me into an internet-free summer away from my friends. How can you do this to me, mom?!”

            “Please Cora, can’t you at least try to have a positive attitude for once? I simply cannot take any more of your complaining!” Isabella rubbed at her temples in an attempt to ward off a brewing headache.

            “Then leave me here and you won’t have to!” Cora fought the urge to yell at the paid driver to stop the fast-moving transport car as it sped down the busy interstate. She took her hands off the door handle, afraid she might just fling herself out into traffic if she didn’t, and then with her hands clasped tightly together, she begged, “Can’t I just stay with one of my friends or even home alone? I’m practically an adult anyway. Pleeeeaaa-se?”

            “We have discussed this a hundred times already and the answer hasn’t changed. No, no, and in case you didn’t hear me—NO! Sixteen is hardly an adult and I am not about to leave you home alone in Florida while your sister and I are halfway across the world. Nor would I drop you on another parent for a whole month when they are no doubt already struggling with their own teen. Goodness knows, one teenager in the house is enough!” She threw her hands up in the air in complete exasperation.

Cora gave a haughty toss of her long brown hair as she declared, “I’m almost seventeen.”

“Almost is not yet and it’s not as old as you seem to think it is either. I cannot believe you are not more excited about this trip! Do you know how many people dream of having this opportunity?” She bit her tongue to keep from adding the biting remark, what is wrong with you anyway? It would have been a pointless question because she already knew what was wrong and that was part of the reason for leaving behind what they knew to go to a place they didn’t know. It was a rescue mission for her daughter, and in truth, for herself too. 

            “I’m excited about it, mom,” chirped Sadie from her spot in between them.

            “I know you are and I’m thankful for that. At least one of you is easy to be around.”

            Cora rolled her eyes and let out a dramatic sigh. “Of course she is, that’s because she’s always been your favorite.”

            “I do not have favorites,” protested Isabella.

            “Yeah right! You’re only saying that because it’s your motherly duty to give that response but it’s obvious that you do have a favorite and it certainly isn’t me.”

            “Enough already, Cora, I’m tired of arguing with you.”

“I should’ve just stayed with dad.” Cora instantly regretted saying it when she noticed a painful wince flicker across her mom’s face and then disappear with obvious effort. “I just mean that he would have let me have limitless use of the phone and see my friends as much as I wanted.”

Isabella’s lips pursed together tightly, then she let out her breath slowly. “I’m sure that’s true but I don’t think being able to do whatever you want at any time would be in your best interest. Besides, I told you to ask him if you really wanted to spend the next month with him. Although, we would have missed you terribly if you did.”

Cora crossed her arms and diverted her eyes out the window. “Staying with him and his annoying floozy of a girlfriend would’ve been worse than not having a phone I suppose.” She didn’t want to admit that she had asked him, and he had made it obvious from his long silence and then bumbling excuses that staying with him was not an option.  

“I can’t say I blame you for not wanting to spend the summer with her,” retorted her mom, unable to hide her obvious disdain for the woman she blamed for the divorce. “Well, sounds like you’re going to have to make the most out of being stuck with us. Do you think you can do that?” she practically pleaded.

“I guess I don’t have much choice.”

The driver slowed down as they pulled up to the drop off zone for departing flights at Orlando International Airport. Isabella sighed, “I guess not because we’re here.”

            Any further conversation was dropped for the moment as they grabbed bags and began the necessary bustle through security and a maze of lines in preparation for their long flight to Sicily. 

 

Their luggage was checked, their passports and tickets had been scanned, and now they just had to wait. As they sat on the hard, uncomfortable chairs in the noisy terminal, the girls were munching on giant pizza slices they had just bought from a nearby stand. Isabella stared out the large glass window at the planes coming and going on the tarmac. She watched as a small plane pulled away from the loading dock and began to roll towards the runway. Unconsciously, the smell of the pizza and steady humming of the planes made her mind wander back to a month ago. . .

Plopping the pizza box down on the circular table in the sunny kitchen, Isabella beamed at her daughters. “My proposal was accepted! You are looking at the newest travel writer covering the must-see sights all over Sicily!”

Sadie jumped up and down cheering. “Good job, mom!”

Cora eagerly grabbed a piece of hot pizza and took a bite. With a mouthful she grumbled, “What does that mean for us?”

Isabella laughed. “It means that the magazine will cover my travel expenses, and I am going to dig into my savings to take you girls with me. It means we are going to spend a month in Sicily this summer!”

“Isn’t that where our ancestors were from?” asked Cora before picking off a pepperoni and popping it in her mouth.

“Yes, and I’ve always wanted to go. Now I finally have the chance and there is no one I would rather go with than you two!”

The girls watched as their mom whipped out a world map and showed them where they would be spending their summer.

When Sadie peered down at the map of Italy and Sicily she declared, “Look! Italy is like a woman’s glamorous boot and Sicily is like a jewel she is balancing gracefully on the tip of it!”

Cora glanced over her shoulder. “You’re right about the boot part but wrong about the jewel. Sicily looks more like a rock that the boot is kicking. It is trying to fling it far out to sea, but it’s stuck like gum to the tip.”

Isabella squeezed between them and put her arms around both girls. “I can see what you both see and although the land is close to each other they are not physically attached. A narrow strip of water called the Messina Strait runs between them. See,” she pointed to the small details on the map. “Some would look at the map and simply say that Italy is a peninsula and Sicily is an island, but where is the fun in that? I’m glad you both can see a story because stories are meant to be told, no matter how different they may be.”

“Do you see a story, mom?” Sadie asked as she took a bite of pizza.

“Yes, I see one too.”

“What is it?” Sadie looked at her inquisitively.

            “I see. . .” but before she could finish, Cora’s phone started buzzing.

            “I gotta take this,” she interrupted. She quickly grabbed one more slice of pizza then walked off with it to talk to her friend.

            Isabella hollered after her. “Thanks for taking an interest!”

            But Cora didn’t even hear her as she squealed into the phone and disappeared into her room with a slam of the door.

            “I’m interested, tell me,” Sadie begged as she handed her mom a plate with a pizza slice on it.

            Isabella tore her eyes away from the closed door and smiled at her youngest. “Okay, I’ll tell you . . .”

            The memory faded as Isabella was brought back to the present by the announcement on the loudspeaker. “Now boarding Flight 5432 at Gate 35 to London, England. We will begin loading rows 1-10.”

            Isabella nudged her girls excitedly. “That’s us! Are you all ready for an adventure?”

            “Yes! I can’t wait!” Sadie stuffed her final bite of pizza in her mouth then jumped up to throw away the paper plate.

            “If you’re talking about the 8-hour plane ride to London and then the 3-hour plane ride from there to Sicily, then no, I’m not ready.” Cora wiped her greasy hands with the napkin, threw away her empty plate, then grabbed her carry-on bag. “But seeing that there is no getting around it, I guess we minus well get in line.”

            Isabella helped Sadie get her bag and followed Cora to the boarding line. “There will be movies and plenty of food onboard so I’m sure it will pass in no time.”

That was all Sadie needed to hear to remain cheerful despite the daunting travel time ahead of them. Movies and food were two of her favorite things after all.

           

            A few hours after takeoff, Cora was staring out the oval window at the soft white clouds below them, thinking about what it would be like to jump into them, above the earth but not a part of it. She shivered at the realization of how lonely it would be and wondered if that was the view from heaven---if it was what Molly saw.

            Sadie leaned into her and studied the clouds. “Do you think we are closer to Molly up here?” she asked, reading Cora’s thoughts.

            “I dunno,” mumbled Cora irritably, not wanting to talk about her deceased best friend.

            Without taking the hint, Sadie continued sadly. “It’s hard to believe she’s been gone a year. I still miss her a lot.”

            “She was my friend,” snapped Cora as though her sister didn’t have the right to miss her.

            “She was mine too,” said Sadie defensively. “She practically lived at our house! She always treated me nicely, like she wanted me around. She never acted annoyed by my presence, not like you.”

            “Well, she didn’t have any younger siblings so maybe that’s why. She saw you like a cute babydoll or something,” was all Cora would say, afraid she may choke on the words if she tried to say more.

“I am not a baby so I wish you would stop saying that all the time,” protested Sadie, crossing her arms, and pouting out her lips.

“Well, you really were a baby when Molly first started coming around,” pointed out Cora. Then she couldn’t help but add, “And you still are sometimes.”

“I am not,” Sadie frowned.

“Are too,” she smirked, then before Sadie could protest it more, Cora shoved headphones over her ears and was about to turn up the music.

However, before she could completely block out her sister, Sadie nudged her side.

            “Look at mom,” she whispered with a giggle.

            Cora glanced over Sadie’s silky sun kissed brown hair to her mom who had fallen asleep. Her mouth was wide open, and her head kept flopping to the side. Every now and then a snore would escape from her open lips making her jump slightly. Although startled, rather than waking up, she simply straightened her head until it once again flopped to the side a minute later.

            Cora’s face crinkled up in an expression that was hard to read as she noticed the slight worry lines around her mom’s eyes and mouth along with sparse sprinklings of gray strands mixed in with the dark locks. “I guess preparing for the trip wore her out,” she observed quietly.

            “Yeah.” Noticing the uncharacteristic softness in Cora, Sadie asked, “Do you know what mom saw when she looked at the boot?”

            “What boot?” asked Cora in confusion.

            “The boot on the map. Ya know, of Italy and Sicily?”

            “Oh yeah,” Cora nodded. “What did she see?”

            “She saw a little boot dancing on the toe of the mother boot the way we used to do when we were little. She said she could still picture us giggling and holding her hands while we tried not to fall off her feet as she danced around the kitchen. Do you remember when we used to do that?” Sadie asked, laughing.

            Cora couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, I remember. I used to like to do that.”

            “Me too.”

            “Now my feet are as big as mom’s,” reflected Cora, observing her mom’s petite frame, “and even though you’re only ten, you’re too big to do it now too.”

            “I know, too bad,” sighed Sadie sadly. Then, she quickly perked back up. “What do you think our summer is going to be like?”

            “I don’t know,” Cora folded her arms and leaned her head back. “If I’ve learned anything this past year, it’s that things never turn out the way I want them to, so I guess it’s better not to make any plans or have any expectations.”

“I think it’s going to be full of wonderful surprises,” Sadie sighed dreamily.

“Why do you say that?”

“I just have a feeling something unexpected is going to happen.”

“I have that feeling too, only it’s ominous.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means something bad is going to happen.” Cora didn’t want to admit that she had carried that sense of dread every day this past year, so it didn’t necessarily mean anything specific to the trip, but just the same fear she couldn’t seem to shake since Molly had died.

“Well, I hope I’m right and you’re wrong.” Sadie lifted her chin defiantly. “And I am usually right.”

Cora’s mouth dropped. “Yeah, right, you only wish!”

“I guess we’ll see.”

“Yeah, I guess we will.”

Cora closed her eyes and turned her music up. She could feel Sadie looking at her but forced herself to keep her eyes shut in the hopes that she would stop talking. It worked. A minute later, she was humming quietly as she drew a picture in her notebook. Cora watched her through tiny slits without moving her head. It seemed so long ago since she was that hopeful and carefree. She didn’t think she could ever be that way again, not now, not since everything had changed. She closed her eyes for real this time and willed herself to go to sleep. At least when she was sleeping, she could temporarily forget.