First Time

   I turned sixteen today, and Mom and Dad woke me up for a special surprise. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting a whole lot. I’ve never been one to care about gifts. Well, maybe I did when I was a kid, but since I got into high school, I stopped worrying so much about what kind of things my parents would buy me. Mandy says I’m nuts, considering how much money Mom brings in, but Judy disagrees. She says I should be happy Mom and Dad are still happily married after all these years. She’s right, I think – it's sort of a miracle that they’re still together in this day and age. I know, I know, that sounds kinda geeky, but that’s who I am. Always has been. 

    Dad likes to tell me that my personality was set by the first movie they ever took me to. It was Phantom Menace, or so he claims. I was only two, so it’s not like I remember. But I’ve always liked the nerdy stuff. Star Wars, Dungeons and Dragons, videogames – they’re all my jam. Cost me more than a few cool points when I was younger, but as I got older, other girls seemed to realize that hey, the stuff I liked was actually pretty cool. ‘Course, Mom always says that I just happened to find my own clique, and maybe that’s true, but I think I like my version a bit better. It’s like Heath Ledger said: “I’m just ahead of the curve.” That’s me alright. I’m a trend-setter. 

    But anyway, like I said, Mom and Dad woke me up to present me a special birthday surprise. Dad said it was because a girl only turned sixteen once in a lifetime. Mom shot him with “that” look. You know the one. The one that says Dad’s being an idiot, but what are you gonna do, and we love him anyway. They told me to hurry up and get dressed, ‘cause the present was outside.

    Now I’ll admit, I kind of figured it out from there, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up, ‘cause what if I was wrong? Still, my heart was pounding in my chest while I got dressed. I brushed my teeth before I went downstairs – I hate hate hate morning breath – and when I got to the living room, the front door was wide open. I could hear Mom giggling outside, and Dad hushing her. 

    I went outside with both my hopes and my head sky-high. I know Mom and Dad said something, but I didn’t really hear them. All I could see was the car sitting in the driveway. A blue Camaro – a Camaro! – with a big red bow sitting on the hood.

    “Do you like it?” Dad asked, and he sounded nervous, like he wasn’t sure. Mom was smirking behind him, but at the same time giving me a “c’mon, c’mon” motion with her hand. I did like she was hinting and rushed over to him and gave him a big hug. 

    I know it surprised him. I’ve never been a touchy-feely kind of girl, not since I started school and that little shit Jonny Blake got a rumor going that I had cooties. It’s stupid. I tell myself it’s stupid all the time, but it’s stuck with me all these years later. It didn’t help that Jonny’s uncle happened to be my kindergarten teacher, and he decided it would be funny to play along with the joke. 

    Just so you know, I’m not feeling sorry for myself. I just want you to understand why my dad stiffened up for a second before he hugged me back. Mom joined in and we got a bit of a group hug going.

    It didn’t last long. Mom pulled away first. “Alright,” she said. “Enough of the mushy stuff.” She nodded her head at the Camaro. “You think you’re responsible enough for this beast, Lucy?”

    A part of me wanted to protest that of course I was, but that’s not how things work in our family. My parents always demanded serious consideration for a serious question, so I took a few seconds to think things through.

    “I think so,” I said. “I mean, I don’t have my license yet, but you guys have been driving with me. You know I’m pretty good.”

    “That’s true,” Dad said. “But it’s not just about whether or not you’re physically capable of driving the car. What else do you need?”

    I shrugged. “Insurance?” I guessed.

    “That’s right,” Mom said. “And we may have paid for the car, but the insurance is your responsibility. We’ll put you on the family policy, but you’re responsible for your share. Deal?”

    I shrugged again. That seemed fair. I’d been working for the last six months at a bookstore near my school, and I had a bit of money saved up. “Deal,” I said, and we shook hands with a solemnity broken by the fact that all three of us were giggling madly.

    With the business portion of receiving a new car taken care of, Dad walked over to the driver’s side door and opened it. “Would my lovely daughter like to take her car out for a spin?” He asked with a courtly bow.

    “Damn right I would,” I said.

    At the same time, Mom called out, “Shotgun!”

    “Hey,” Dad protested. “That’s not fair!”

    “Sorry, hon’,” Mom said unapologetically. “You should have said something sooner.”

    “Oh, like when? When I was offering Lucy the driver’s seat?”

    “Well, yeah,” Mom said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

    “If you two are done flirting,” I said, getting into the car – my car! a part of me squealed gleefully - “I wanna put this baby through its paces.”

    “Just a short drive,” Mom said as she slid into the seat next to me. 

     I heard Dad grumbling good-naturedly as he climbed into the backseat, but I ignored him. Mom had said a short drive, but I wanted more than that, and I knew I’d have to be convincing. Mom was used to running the show, which was fine most days, but I wanted some wheel time, dammit!

    “Define short,” I said. “Like, just a couple of miles, maybe to Albertson’s and back, or – “

    “Lucy Heather Jackson,” Mom said, holding up a hand to put a stop to my bargaining before I could work up a head of steam. “Just stop. Did you really think Dad and I were going to get you a car and not let you drive it?”

    “Well no, I suppose not,” I said, a little chagrined. “But – “

    “No buts,” Dad said, speaking up from the backseat. “Relax. You’ll have plenty of time to drive. No more school bus for you, love.”

    I couldn’t help but smile. That was something that hadn’t occurred to me in all the excitement. My own car meant that I wouldn’t have to take the bus to school every morning, which meant I would be able to sleep in a little later, which meant I wouldn’t have to go to bed so early, which meant…

    “And now you’re starting to get it,” Mom said as though she’d read my mind, smirking knowingly. “Yes, driving is a privilege and a responsibility, but it also affords you some freedoms you’ve not had before.” She shook her head. “But that’s not the point.”

    “That’s right,” Dad agreed. “Like I said when we woke you up, today’s a special day. And the car’s only one part of your present.”

    I was a little surprised. Mom and Dad weren’t, despite the money Mom brought in, overly extravagant. A car was more than I’d hoped for, and to be honest, more than I’d expected. Besides, what else could they have gotten me? I had everything I wanted.

    “You think you can get us to the lodge?” Mom asked, breaking into my thoughts as neatly as a talented thief breaking into a minimum-security vault, and I looked over at her in surprise. The lodge, a little cabin Mom and Dad owned and liked to use as a retreat when they needed a mental recharge, was a treat I was rarely able to sample. It was in the middle of some wooded land about an hour from our home in Colorado Springs, and all told, I’d only been there maybe three or four times my entire life.

    “Is it just gonna be the three of us?” I asked. I kind of wanted them to say yes, but at the same time, I kind of wanted them to say no. Mandy and Judy were my best friends, and as much as I wanted to go to the lodge, I also wanted to spend some time with my friends on my birthday. Hell, they probably wouldn’t even complain if Mom and Dad were along for the ride. 

    “As it happens, your Dad and I thought you might like to see your friends on your sweet sixteen,” Mom said. “They’re waiting for us at the lodge.”

    My face must have shown how flabbergasted I was, ‘cause Dad burst out laughing. “When are you going to learn you’ve got to trust your mom? Lord knows, that little truism has made my life a lot easier over the years.”

    Without turning around, Mom flipped Dad the bird. “Smartassery aside, your dad’s right. Most of the time, Mom knows best. Now, you remember the way, right?”

    I did.

    When I pulled into the clearing and the lodge came into view, it struck me as it had the few times I’d been there before how quiet it was. It was like all the cares in the world faded away the closer you got to the place.

    I put my Camaro in park and stepped out. For a moment, as cliché as it was, I let myself just breathe. Even the air out here was different. Cleaner, maybe. Untainted. 

    I barely noticed when Mom and Dad got out of the car as well. They both came over and stood next to me. Mom, still about two or three inches taller than me in spite of my newly advanced age, put an arm over my shoulders. Dad stood behind me and Mom, resting one hand on her shoulder as his other hand brushed the fringe of my hair away from my neck. 

    “Happy birthday, sweetheart,” Dad said, Mom echoing the sentiment only a second later.

    “I love you guys,” I said. The words didn’t really feel adequate in that moment to express how much I cared for them, but I think they knew anyway.

    We stood quietly for a few moments longer before Dad cleared his throat and stepped away from me and Mom. “Well, hey,” he said. “We probably shouldn’t keep your friends waiting any longer, huh?”

    The tarp on the floor of the lodge rustled noisily when we walked in, but it was just background chatter compared to the sight that greeted me in the middle of the one-room cabin. Mandy and Judy were tied up, naked as the day they were born, to two straight back wooden chairs. They were both gagged, but fully conscious, and as my parents and I walked through the door, they began to struggle against the nylon ropes holding in place. I’m sure they were saying things, too, but their words were muffled by the rags in their mouths. 

    Regardless, Dad stalked over to them and slammed their heads together, effectively halting their struggles and shutting them up at the same time. I laughed a bit. They had no idea how often I’d wanted to do the same thing.

    Other than what Dad had just done, there didn’t seem to be a mark on either one of them. I turned to look at Mom, and she seemed to know what I was going to ask before I did.

    “Like Dad said, it’s your birthday. We weren’t going to start without you.”

    Dad walked over to the folding table set up near my friends, waving his hand over it as though he were a gameshow hostess exclaiming over fabulous prizes. But there was no home version on this table, no home appliance or fabulous new TV. 

    I took my time making my decision, but finally pointed to what I wanted. “That one,” I said, verbally emphasizing my decision. 

    “Good choice,” Dad said, and picked up a gleaming, foot-long hunting knife from the table. The blade was a muted chrome, a serrated spine standing out from the back three inches near the guard. The handle was black with deep finger grooves. It had looked wonderful on the table, but when Dad handed to me in a more serious version of the courtliness he’d shown when opening the car door for me earlier, I found that it felt even more wonderful in my hand. 

    “Remember,” Mom said as she and Dad walked over to the table to grab knives of their own. “I gave their parents a week to pay the ransom.”

    “You think they’ll come up with the money?” Dad asked. After all, it could happen. It had before. Not that it mattered to him. Dad had told me when I’d first found out what Mom did for a living that the money wasn’t the point for him. That was Mom’s department. Dad just liked the torture. 

    Mom shrugged. “They might. They’ve got enough of it. But the point is, they’re not expecting to be contacted for seven days.” She turned to me, a grin on her face that promised agony for the two girls who’d had the misfortune of crossing paths with my family. “Until then, though, we have all the time in the world.”