Waiting by Erin Dennington ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 20 Stella shifted from foot to foot as she waited for her parents to pick a car for their stay in the city. She was bored. Needless to say, she wasn't surprised when they began arguing over the car prices and rental plans and insurance, so she finally plopped down on the ground and reached inside her backpack. Making sure that Rose was occupied with her earlier sketch, she pulled the rock out of the bag and dropped it on her lap, where she carefully peeled away the note from the twine. Picking the rock up again, she tossed it back inside her backpack and slowly unfolded the note. Humming underneath her breath, she again checked and saw that Rose hadn't moved from her position against the wall to her right. She spread the note out on her lap and saw again the familiar taunting message: "You aren't wearing it, are you?" But this time there was something different about the note. Squinting, she could see a faint scribble behind the words, as if someone had scrawled something and then changed their mind. Abandoning all caution, she held the note up to the light and squinted even harder. Tongue stuck out of her mouth, she silently mouthed the letters to herself until she formed a half-coherent sentence. "You're the key," it said. Angry that once again the note was something stupid, she crumbled it up and almost pitched it across the room into the wastecan. At the last minute, something changed her mind and she instead put it into her jean pocket. Folding her hands in her lap, she stared at the clock across from her; the time now read 10:15. Her parents finally agreed on something and approached the two girls. "Welcome to Dc," they said, "We'll be your tour guides." Rose laughed but Stella said, "You two are too cute, even for me." She reached under Rose's arm and helped her sister up, and the four proceeded out into the icy coldness. "Most people head south for the winter, Dad," Stella said. "We must be nuts." "You said it, honey," he replied, and reached down for her mother's hand and squeezed it. "We're just a family of nuts." Rose laughed again. 22:16 - 11.06.02 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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