Page 13 of Dry as a Fish
"You can really sing," I said, my own voice softened with the edges of my emotions.
"One day, when you're ready, I would like to sing for you," he said.
"What will you sing?" I asked.
"Our heartsong," he replied.
"What on God's green earth are you wearing?" a loud voice shouted out from the porch, shocking me out of the moment. I didn't need to look to know that my younger brother Noah was standing there, seventeen years old and wearing the same dirty jeans he liked to put on every day to do the yardwork. "MOM!" he yelled back into the house. "Sloane's back and she's joined a cult!"
"I haven't joined a cult!" I shouted back at him.
My mom emerged from the house wearing a polka-dotted dress, her hair freshly curled, and her makeup absolutely perfect. She was holding her selfie stick in one hand, the camera up and lifted.
"Stay right there!" she said. "Let me get the shot of you walking up to the house!"
"MOM!" I yelled back, sounding just like my brother. "Delphon doesn't consent to be filmed! Don't film us!"
"If he doesn't want to be filmed, why does he have makeup on?" she called out.
"He was born like that, Mom!" I shouted. "Stop it!"
"I'll fuzz out his face in post!" she cried out. Then she tapped her phone. "I can't believe it!" she wailed, holding up the camera. "The prodigal daughter has returned! Sloane ran away months ago, and she's returned wearing... what are you wearing? Have you joined a cult? Oh my galoshes, my daughter was stolen away by some cult! Thank the Lord she is safe and back with us!"
"MOM!" Noah said, reaching out to tug on her selfie stick. "Sloane doesn't want to be filmed."
"You're ruining the shot!" My mom glared at him, pulling it back. "It's fine, I can use it for B-roll. Ok, let's get the two of you walking up to the house."
"I'm leaving if you don't put that down and talk to me!" I said. I hesitated. "We can film it later. Let's talk first."
My mom let out a huge, overexaggerated sigh and tapped on the phone before letting it drop down to her side. "It's so much better to get this raw and live than to act it out later. Noah, you'd better go get your father. The two of you better come inside."
Noah jumped down off the porch and headed out towards the barn.
She crossed her arms and stared down at us as I trudged up to the front porch, Delphon beside me. "You need to go change."
"They're sarongs," I said.
"I don't care what which way those are," she said. "You better go put on some real clothes before your father sees you in that getup. Now, who is this... I'm sorry, young man, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone who quite looked like you. Are you wearing body paint?"
"Mom, haven't you ever seen vitiligo before? It isn't contagious," I said.
She looked at me and looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Vitiligo?"
"I was born this way," Delphon said.
I could just send him away now and save him from this. I could do this on my own and pacify them enough. My mom would be happy if she could get some high views on her videos out of the incident, and as much as her subscribers liked her sourdough and calf birthing videos, they would love the drama that would come of aprodigal daughter story and she would drag every second of video she could out of my earning my families love and forgiveness. The only thing Delphion could do was take some of the weight of it all off of me, and the cult angle was actually a good way to go.
Plus, Delphon kissed me without even the slightest bit of my consent, so now he needed to help me deal with my dad.
"Mom, Delphon rescued me from the cult and brought me back to you," I said. "He came to ask Dad something."
"Praise his name," my mother said, throwing one hand over her chest. "I never thought this day would come! You're back safe and sound, and of course, you are welcome, come on in, young man. You come with me while this foolish girl goes and gets herself into some proper clothes."
She ushered us into the house, and I peeled off to head into my old bedroom.
It was a small room, a tight room, and it had a twin-sized bed shoved into it that took up half the space. The other half was a dresser, which I got to keep my things in the drawers, though I had to keep the top clear for laundry, because the rest of the space was taken up by the vertical washer and dryer. When my third brother was born, I was told they needed the space, and so, being the eldest and only daughter, I got the laundry room.
I changed quickly, pulling on the long-sleeved shirt and leggings that went under my pastel colored dress.
