Swept up in emotions

Sally lay awake in bed, waiting for the click. She watched the sway of the shadows against her wall, watching the pace occasionally quicken and intensify then soften as the wind pushed the tree branches across her window. A rumble groaned out from the dark sky, soft at first then a louder bellow. She shuddered. She didn’t remember Pa mentioning a storm brewing at dinner tonight.

Pa always mentioned storms.

"There’s going to be a big one, " Pa said last Friday over dinner while passing the rolls to her brother, Sammy. "Forecaster said to stay indoors. There’s a chance for flooding too."

Sammy scoffed at this. "They always think there’s a storm and a flood, Brian, and every time they are wrong."

Sammy had started calling Pa by his given name last year after Ma and the new baby died and Sally could see the way Pa winced every time Sammy said his name.

Sally chimed in. "Will there be lightning and thunder?"

You don’t need to be scared of lightning and thunder, that’s just the sky letting off its extra light and noise energy, Ma would usually say. Pa stayed silent and looked down at his lap at his hands as they wrung this way then that, using his toe to pull at the edge of the worn, curling rug.

"If there’s thunder, you can crawl into bed with me, he whispered, ruffling her hair and kissing the top of her head.

But Sammy had been right. There was no rain and no thunder last Friday. Sally was wide awake when Sammy crept out of the house that night. She could hear the floorboards creaking under the weight of him even though she knew he was trying very hard not to wake Pa. After he crossed the landing and walked down the flight of stairs, he usually crossed the kitchen towards the back of the house. The backdoor always made a clicking sound behind him when he closed it.

She never knew where he went and once, she asked when they were alone at the bus stop waiting on the school bus.

"What? " Sammy said, pulling off his headphones and pressing pause on his Walkman.

"Where do you go off to at night? Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Sally, I don’t know what you are talking about," Sammy said

"I hear you walking out of the house at night you know." She spoke. "You probably think you’re so quiet, but the floors make so much noise. I bet Pa...."

"Brian is as deaf as they make them." He interrupted, putting his headphones back on and standing to his feet.

"Where are you going, Sammy?" Sally called.  

He kept walking, crossing the busy street with his head occasionally coming into view before she lost sight of him completely.

The floorboard was creaking now right outside her door. She strained her ears to hear his shoes on the staircase, but he probably kept his shoes off until he was outside.

Sally stood up pulled her jacket on and stood waiting at her door until she heard the click. Then she opened her door moving deftly across the landing. She was able to move silently across the floorboards and Sammy always made a noise. She wondered about this and figured it was because she didn’t weigh as much as Sammy did. She pulled on her sneakers and rushed out into the night.

She had never tried to follow Sammy before but decided that she wanted to know what he was up to every night. She had thought at first that she was sneaking out to meet a girl but now she thought maybe that wasn’t right. Yesterday when he kicked his shoes off, she noticed red and green specks of paint on the tops and the bottoms of his shoes. When she asked him about the paint, he had shone almost neon red as he looked down at his sneakers and after dinner, he had started on the task of scrubbing away the paint.

She could see his head outlined by their neighbors' walkway lights and saw the flashlight beam from his hands. The wind picked up her dark brown curls and brought them across her face. There was a light drizzle. She pulled up the hood of her jacket. She walked quickly feeling her heart pounding hard against her ribs. Maybe she should go back inside, she thought but changed her mind after glancing behind and seeing the complete darkness of the street. "Forgot the flashlight," she mumbled to herself, and she hurried along making sure to stay quiet and keep up the pace of her brother.

Sammy stayed on Main Street at first, his flashlight bobbing along the top of a red fire hydrant, the grocer’s cats as they darted up the fire escape, cross the side streets he crossed until he got to the Hendrickson hardware store. He turned into an alley and kept walking until he came into an open lot. He walked along a fence that started sloping down towards a paved area below.

Where is he going, she thought.

Up ahead, there was a faint light that grew brighter as they walked along.

"Bro," shouted a husky voice from the lights. Sally stopped at the fence and waited to watch her brother walk towards the tall figure standing by the light.

She crouched down and crawled on all fours keeping close to the wire fence.

"Hey, Patrick. Where’s Barbara and her sister?" Sammy said. 

"Where’s Barbara?" the tall figure mimicked in high pitched voice. "I dunno, Bro. I guess they got sick of you. You never want to talk to them; all you want to do is paint. And chicks dig it especially because it’s your mum and whatever but Bro you also gotta talk to her man."

"Anyway, I was about to skip." The rain was falling harder now and the tall figure hugged his hands to his chest. "I don’t think the fires going to last much longer with this rain. See you, tomorrow man. You coming?" he asked as he picked up his backpack and started heading up the hill. 

"I'll stay another five mins You don’t have to wait," Sammy said. 

 The tall figure disappeared in the blackness and Sammy dropped down to his knees fumbling with something and then a bright spotlight came on high above his head. It shone brightly on one of those billboards that usually had an advertisement with lots of smiling faces. This one also had a smiling face.

"Ma, " Sally whispered. It definitely was Ma but Ma like she had never seen her. Her face was filled with love with cheekbones high, and her skin radiated happiness. The colors were so bright. Ma's eyes seemed to twinkle, and she had the very biggest smile.

"Oh Sammy, " Sally said as she stood up and started walking down along the fence towards her brother.

Just then, she could hear a rumbling sound from behind her sounding louder as the time ticked by.

She turned to face the darkness but couldn’t see anything in the dark and then she was floating. The water picked her up like she weighed nothing at all. She screamed "Sammy!"

"Sally?" He asked before the water swept him up as well. 

"Sally? Is that you?" he sputtered, spitting water out as they were both swept over the field. 

"Sammy, help me." Sally cried. 

"What are you doing here? Ugh. I’m coming." he said as he started making strong swift strokes towards her, but the water current was just too strong. "There's a fence coming up on the other side of the field," he shouted.

"Keep talking to me, Sally. Sally? Sally?" He called. 

Sally was finding it hard to speak constantly spitting water out of her mouth. She tried to tread water like Pa had taught her, but it felt useless against this current.

She could hear Sammy saying there was a fence somewhere but what was she supposed to do with the fence. Hold on she supposed. Then she was swung into something, and she hit her head hard. She arms failed around as the force of the water tried to take her down and through the fence. It felt like a barbed wire fence and a wooden post. She clung to the post and called out. "Sammy. Sammy."

 Then she could feel his arms grasp her. 

"Sally, I was so worried are you ok?" Sammy said. 

"My head hurts Sally, " said feeling the barb cutting into the flesh of her arms.

 His firm grip peeled her hands away from the post. He looped his belt around two loops in her jeans and then two loops of his own and fastened it. He held her face and said " Sally, I need you to swim. We are going back along this fence to higher ground, ok?" And with that, he started swimming along the fence. 

"Sammy, was that mum up here?" Sally asked. 

"Sally, not now Let’s get out of here," Sammy said. 

"You painted her beautiful Sammy. Ma would be proud. So very proud. " 

Sammy sighed and started up the fence one arm firmly along her waist and the other arm pulling them along the fence until they were no longer in the water. He lifted her off her feet then and carried her out of the field stopping at the entrance to the alleyway.

"Sammy look," Sally said arms outstretched to the field. 

Sammy turned around, following Sally’s finger towards his painting, high up with the lights on. Ma’s smile beaming across the field at them.

"You brought Ma back," Sally said before she yawned and snuggled into Sammy’s shoulder. "You know, Sammy. Ma wouldn't want you to be so sad. She wants you to miss her but not be so sad. "