Page 2 of Sol
He gave me a grateful chin lift. “I’m kind of numb about it right now. I’m sure it will hit me. Probably on the plane when we leave. It was time, you know, but still, I wasn’t really ready. When you wait to have kids until you’re older, well, I guess it’s expected…” He trailed off, blinking, hiding a tear escaping his eye by gazing at the parking lot over to theside.
“I get it,” I said, squeezing his shoulder. “Still, I’msorry.”
Kicking at the signpost for the entrance, he muttered, “Thanks.”
“Do you think Dani’s going to be okay byherself?”
He pursed his lips. “I don’t know. She pretends it’s all okay, but we really know itisn’t.”
I gave him a tight nod. “What’s she going to donow?”
“Since she just has a few more weeks as a Banana Slug until she graduates, she’s gonna finish up, and then she’ll travel.” Dani was a Spanish major at U.C. Santa Cruz, which had the completely appropriate banana slug mascot. “You know how she’s spent every summer at a different school in South America teaching English? I think she’s gonna go do that. At least for a littlewhile.”
“Youthink?”
“I do. I’m convinced she’ll regret selling the house and come back here eventually. She talks all this nonconformist bullshit, but you know as well as I do that underneath it, she’s not likethat.”
I narrowed my eyes and thumbed my ear, but I shouldn’t argue with him. Especially not after the morning we had at the funeral parlor watching them sign papers to have their dadcremated.
“Are you going to miss her graduation?” Iasked.
“Yep. It sucks. Boot starts the week before.” That meant I’d miss it,too.
“Do you guys need any help with the arrangements for yourdad?”
“Nah. The house is already in escrow. Three offers on the first day it waslisted.”
“Man. That house. I spent my childhood at your place, you know?” Degan and Dani’s home wasn’t huge or anything, just a 1960s tract house across the street from mine, but I knew every hiding spot, every place to play. I’d eaten countless meals there. It’d become my secondhome.
“I know. I’ll miss it too.” He scuffed his toe against arock.
“How many bowls of Cocoa Puffs did you eat inthere?”
“Well,” he said, pretending to calculate, “if one had two boxes a day during one’s entire life, it adds up to eleventybillion.”
I shoved him, joshing. My best friend had a problem with dried cereal. Other people mainlined drugs. His substance of choice was anything by Kellogg’s, General Mills, or even those generic trash bags of cereal at the bottom shelf of the supermarket, the more sugar the better. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, didn’t matter what meal, that dude practically ate only cold cereal for the past eighteen years. His mom used to replace the lyrics of the Madonna song “Material Girl” with “CerealBoy.”
Because you know that we are living in a cereal world, and you are a cerealboy.
My mellow best friend had already suffered too many losses with his mom passing away when he was fifteen from a rare blood disease. They’d had more time with her than they’d expected, but it wasn’t enough. After that, he and Dani got used to hiding theirsorrow.
I fumbled for words, wanting to say more, and crossed my arms over my chest. All I could muster was, “I still can’t believe that house will be gone. You can always come over, you know. Use my parents’ address as your permanentone.”
A weak smile hit his face. “Appreciate that. We’re gonna be in the barracks before the housecloses.”
“Airborne.” I held out myfist.
“Airborne.” He gave me an exploding fistbump.
We continued up the path, and I thought about boot camp, little metal springs bouncing in my stomach. Degan and I had joined the army and were headed to Fort Benning, Georgia together. I’d already packed my bag, even though we had a few days to go before we left. When I got on the plane, I could come back home and crash at my parents’ house until I figured out where I’d go next. College, probably. Him? With the house sold and a sister who traveled overseas, he’d never be able to go homeagain.
Man.
Degan shuffled on the path, his feet heavy. I was torn between wanting to take him somewhere to forget all these changes—or talk about nothing but what was going on. And my own nerves were popping when I thought about leaving. My entire life I’d wanted to be a soldier. My grandpa was career military. So were my uncles. My dad served. Now it was my turn. I could barely stand still thinking aboutit.
We joined up with Dani and got in her beat-up old silver Subaru. I always made a point to sit in back, because then I could watch her without feeling like a creeper. “You guyshungry?”
“Famished,” said Degan with a fakewhine.
