#fall 6

“Guess we have different ideas of what ‘all night’ movie marathoning means. Think we should wake them?”

It wasn’t a serious question, and Jo knew Lee understood with the sound of his muffled chuckle.

“They just can’t keep up like we can, hm?” he whispered back. “Poor kiddos all tuckered out after a long move. The real question is who’s gonna start snoring first.”

They waited.

Brandon was the first they heard, technically, though not by much; Kate was a close second, followed by Ben peacefully soon after. It would be fairer to say this trio probably started sawing logs at the same time given the synchronized rise and fall of their chests and the three calm, contented heart rates hiding inside.

“You’re sweet to stay with me,” Bonnie Weseman sniffed, “but don’t let me hold you back on your big day. Go on, go, be with your friends. Wouldn’t be the first time, hey? Dropping you off at school like this?”

“No big deal, Mom,” Brandon shrugged.

She sniffed again. “I’ll be crying for months over this one, kid. Seriously, honey, don’t wait for me. Is that Kate over there?” Her son’s subtle nod made Bonnie’s knowing grin grow. “Go say hi to her for me. Go, go! You can tell her that your mother misses hearing the two of you bicker over those games of yours. What do you think? Would that work, or too sappy?”

He didn’t have the heart to tell her those days were probably long over, but his mother’s teary eyes were brimming with new hope for him and his future. He stalled. “I, uhh—”

“Just use me, sweet pea, I’m the perfect excuse. Say whatever you want, even if it’s just an opener, like, ‘Hey, my Mom says hi.’ I promise I won’t watch, sheesh! I told Sadie I’d meet her at the sorority house after dropping you off.”

“Sure, Mom. Say hi to Sadie for me. Tell her to visit the house more now that your favourite son has moved out.”

“Nick still has his blonde hair, wise guy.”

“I’m a good excuse too, Mom.”

“Okay, okay. I get it. On your way, favourite son of mine.”

“Hey! Long time no see, weary traveller.”

Kate Rose was distracted taking in all the changes approaching her that she forgot to answer. His voice was a lot lower than she remembered, it sounded almost fake. Was that real stubble? And chest hair? He made a face that brought her back. “Brandon. Sorry—hi.”

“Everyone’s dying these days.”

“What?”

“Your hair?”

“Oh, phfft, yeah. You like it? Jo’s handiwork. It’s a big change but that’s what university’s all about, right?”

“So they say. Definitely heard that one a few times today already.”

Jo Payne swooped in then. “I’m gonna miss you, roomie! Just kidding. Did you know she snores?”

Kate made a face but before she could protest Lee Sato called her out too: “It’s true! She slept most of the way here, I can attest.”

All Kate wanted was to keep her problems quiet. If Kate sleeping was the excuse the couple wanted to disguise all their heavy road trip conversation with, fine, but—snoring? Brandon laughed predictively with Jo and Lee which gave Kate little room to say anything else but:

“Umm—okay, well, obviously these two are in kahoots and therefore can’t be trusted. Let’s focus instead on getting all this crap inside, yeah? Hooray, move day.”

“I can’t believe you,” Kate pouted to Jo. “I don’t even snore.”

“Shut up, it’s cute.”

Behind them, Ben Parker Green waddled over carrying a big basket of records as Lee whistled to win back their lovesick friend’s attention. “Yoohoo? Brandon? Any chance you’d like to help sometime today?”

“Right, yeah, I will—I’ll help. Sorry. What’s next? Ben’s guitar?” He really didn’t have a clue.

“Kids, please! This is the last thing we’re asking of you before you leave for university.” That was their very unimpressed father, Reginald Barber the Third, speaking for the entire Cambridge Barber clan standing subject to the teenagers’ constant slew of complaints.

Lillian snorted at his blatant lie. “Okay Dad, sure. Like we won’t be doing this same thing all over again tomorrow when the next generation of Barbers set foot on their own campus.”

“Daring to go where no Barber dare yet go: the financial aide office,” Reginald the Fourth mumbled to his sister, who giggled, though everyone heard him. Even the artist stifled some laughter.

“Reginald, honey, you know that’s not appropriate behaviour.” That was their golden-haired mother Camilla, who was also unimpressed but noticeably more polite.

“This was a stupid idea,” Reginald III cursed.

Reigning matriarch Sarah Barber barked back at her adult son, “Dammit, Reginald. Will you stand up straight? No wonder your children are wild, look at what they have for a role model.”

Lillian and Reginald IV snickered at Dad for getting swatted down by Grandma.

The artist, Vivian Catherine Rose, was only too happy to announce, “It’s finished.” The family’s bickering helped her work impossibly quickly and she took home a generous commission for her discrete service.

Once the painting was hung, Sarah stepped back and spoke for the family all crowding around it: “Ah, see? There it is, and isn’t it just perfect. This portrait is what makes it all worthwhile, seeing our family displayed so proudly. Don’t you agree, Reginald dear?”

Reginald III answered his mother with a noticeably distracted “Y-yeah” as his thoughts drowned out the reality around him.

Perhaps it was the painted permanence of the portrait that reminded the heir of his own budding power within the family. All his life Reginald III was told what to do and when, but one day soon, he realized in the brushstrokes of his father’s silver hair, Reginald the Third would determine the Barber legacy. He could choose to change everything or nothing, either way was following one of his grandfather’s or father’s footsteps.

He wondered what his father, Reginald the Second, thought about the aging changes. He had been mentally checked out for a while. Dad barely bothered keeping up appearances anymore. The son was sure that smile was painted on.

“Don’t mind your father,” Sarah said with a quick wave of her hand. “He’s always been quite aloof. I’m running things just fine without his help, and I have been for a while now.”

“So I’ve noticed,” Reginald III answered, crossing his arms. “Why did you consult on my children’s names without me, Mother? Are you trying to go above me?”

“Oh no, no, nothing like that.” She circled the rim of her wine glass with a fingertip. “An old habit, I suppose.”

“Aren’t you coming, Dad?” Lillian asked, with her brother Reginald IV watching their father’s reaction carefully beside her. The family was moving on to afternoon tea with or without Reginald III, apparently.

“You two go on ahead, I need to—meditate on some things.”

Kate quickly smeared stray tears across her cheek and smiled through a brave face as Jo told Lee, “We’ve got one more comin’ to RBU with us.”

“Aww, but I just took the car seat out.”

A shy, goofy grin flashed over Kate’s face. “Very funny Dad. I don’t have much. In fact, what I have on me is all I got. Just a shit tonne of emotional baggage, heh. I promise I won’t take up much space.”

“Yeah right, like we wouldn’t make room for you,” Jo snorted.

Kate sniffed before quickly adding, “I can pitch in for gas, I just need to open my own bank account first. Um, I think the financial aide office is in the Admin Building, right? You can just drop me off there when we get, um, there.”

“Forget it, I wouldn’t take your money,” Lee answered.

“Lee’s parents are loaded,” Jo explained with a smirky shrug, “don’t worry about it.”

“Not loaded exactly, but they do okay.”

“He’s just being modest. Seriously Kate, it’s fine. We’re just glad you’re back home with us. Screw Feverfew! Screw your parents! Lee and I adopted you forever ago anyway, we got dibs.”

Kate looked to her feet that held her otherwise shaky legs steady enough to stand on her own.

Home? What’s that? And, parents? Don’t know those either. The only thing these two adopted are my problems, and if I had any other means to get to RBU on my own I would.

She mumbled back, “Thanks, guys. I, um, really, really needed to hear that.”

It was what they wanted to hear, Kate figured. If only she could believe her own words.

Jo immediately reached out to hug Kate. “Oh, don’t cry now you dumb cow! We’re all starting over starting now. Remember your hair; remember how we cut off the bad together, and remember what green means: nature, new life, tranquility.”

Kate squeezed back though a bit lifelessly.

“I’ll start loading up the Jeep,” Lee offered.

The past twenty-four hours rushed at Kate in a big gust when her dorm door swung open on loose hinges. The bang of the doorknob hitting the wall scared her back to the present.

The eager sunrise of the second day on campus crept further into the room. Kate hoped her exhaustion was strong enough to fend off dreaming lest her thoughts continue to torment her unconscious mind too. Her body ached from tight, tensed muscles that she couldn’t seem to release. With any luck this was another good sign for a few dreamless hours, at least. She gripped the edge of the bed. Jo’s bed. On the drive to campus the couple explained their plan to share Lee’s room and insisted that Kate take Jo’s dorm despite objections.

“Hey, wait, that’s not fair. I mean, that costs money I’m not sure I can pay back here.”

“Will you stop?” Jo snapped. “We’re your parents, let us provide for you.”

Lee glanced to Kate in the rear-view when he said, “Jo’s tuition and residence fees are all looked after already, the room would go empty for the whole semester anyway. This isn’t charity, you really should take it. And when it comes to getting a loan for tuition, keep me posted ‘cause if you need a parent to co-sign that’s where my folks can step in.”

“Aren’t they already covering yours and Naomi’s fees?”

Jo insisted, “Gen and Michi are great, Kate. You can trust them.”

“I’ll pay you back with interest, both of you. I don’t know how, or when, but it’ll happen.”

Lee asked the long stretch of highway in front of them, “Why?” But Kate didn’t have an answer.

She still didn’t. Without a family of her own, would she be stunted as her friends’ adult-child forever? Was a clean start in RBU even possible with so much emotional baggage cluttering her bare room?

“A-hah!”

“Whatthefu—Lee? Oh my god. What the hell is wrong with you?!”

He laughed. “Scaring you wouldn’t be so easy if you weren’t so jumpy, and you wouldn’t be so jumpy if you weren’t hiding something. Fess up, who’s the boyfriend?”

“Really? That’s what you gave me a heart attack over? His name is Jon and we’ve been dating for a while now. Congratulations Lee, you really got the jump on old news.”

“Yeesh, you’re getting snippy in your old age,” he teased. “Dating for a while, huh? So why the secrecy?”

“No secrecy, what secrecy?”

He laughed some more. “Is that why you’re pushing me in the opposite direction? Afraid I’ll embarrass you like you embarrassed him just now?”

In a low voice she told him, “You are talking about things you don’t understand.”

He smirked. “You mean your bet?”

“Shut up, I need this. He thinks he knows everything about everything sometimes, it’s super annoying. Jon needs some humbling, trust me.”

“Introducing Jon to your ego before the ‘rents is probably a smart idea, actually.”

“Hey, speaking of Mom and Dad, how’s about we don’t mention Jon to them anytime soon, ‘kay?”

“Why? Scared he won’t get Winston’s approval?”

She spoke a little softer now as they walked outside. “No, I just like to keep my lives separate, that’s all. I have a campus-life, home-life, school and work-life, a social-life—”

“Okay genius, I think I get it. Lots of lives. Sounds like lots of work, too. Why bother?”

“Hmm, not sure. I guess it started somewhere in my teens? I didn’t want Mom and Dad finding out about Dallas stuff. But now, I guess it’s become something of a comfortable habit.”

“Wait, Dallas stuff?”

Naomi held sweet nostalgia for lost teenage nights doing bubble in the MacDonald Barn with Dal and Jane. She didn’t think of them as often anymore but that didn’t mean she forgot her Whibley-friends. She was a junior, busier than ever before, with the added bonus of post-university anxiety on the horizon. Still, Naomi decided to make a mental note to call Jane Parker to catch up soon. In the meantime, Naomi continued: “I think it’s sorta nice that I can jump into different me’s without any messy overlap.”

“You realize that sounds psychotic, right?”