CHAPTER 5

A New Horizon

∞

Whitney woke up early Sunday morning. She wasn’t brought out of her sleep by an alarm clock, or the sound of a car horn, or by the morning cry of a rooster. None of these things were capable of reaching the neurons of her brain. What did bring her out of her sleep were the aching pains of her muscles. Nearly every muscle in her body felt the way that a tree sounds as it is slowly falling over when someone cuts it down.

But the pains she felt as she laid in bed were nothing compared to those she felt as she swung her legs over the side of it. Those pains were as if a thousand tiny firecrackers were exploding throughout her entire body. The pains, however, were worth it.

For the first time in her life she felt like she was something. She wasn’t sure what that was yet exactly, but she was something. Before that she didn’t feel like she was anything but her thoughts and imagination. She wasn’t a student at any school. She wasn’t an athlete like Tommy, or a cook like Carol Anne, and she wasn’t a real-estate agent like Blake. The only words that could be used to describe her were a blind and deaf couch potato. Other than that she had nothing.

It didn’t mean that she wasn’t smart. She was and she knew that. They lived close enough to the school so that she could piggy back with Tommy and she would spend most of her days during the school year in Tommy’s head. She would listen in on the lectures, study his books, and would often give him the answers to the test questions that he didn’t know. Her memory was immaculate.

Whitney forced herself to get out of bed. She cringed against the aching pains in her muscles and she had to walk very slowly through the house. She had no idea of what time it was, but time really didn’t have much meaning to her anyway. She made her way through the house, through the back patio door, and to her favorite lounging spot—the reclining lawn chair.

Whitney’s memory was so immaculate that she could navigate her way through the house without the use of any kind of aids. She didn’t use a seeing cane, didn’t wave her hands through the air searching for walls, and she didn’t scoot her feet like a robot. She could imagine the layout of the house so clearly that she could visualize every nuance of it as if she was seeing it. Of course it helped that she had seen it so many times through Tommy’s eyes. Without that original visualization from which to draw upon, she would just be guessing.

Whitney sat on the lawn chair and leaned it back. It must still be fairly early in the morning, because she barely had any sense of the sun. It was definitely out there, and definitely coming over the horizon, but it was still early enough that there was no real heat coming from it. That meant that Tommy probably wouldn’t be up for a while. That was just fine with her, because she was in no shape to do much anyway.

Oh my God I feel like I’m gonna die, she thought to herself. She had made fun of Tommy a million times before for complaining about the pains he felt after a really hard work out. She had been smart enough to separate herself from feeling those pains of his herself, but she didn’t have that option with her own pains.

Pinky, ring, index, middle, pinky, ring, index, middle. Whitney touched her thumb to her fingers in this pattern. It was something she did whenever she was feeling anxious about something. She usually did it just after separating from Tommy because she often had separation issues after leaving him. Spending time in the seeing and hearing world and then suddenly being shut out from all sources of light and sound was usually a difficult task. Touching her thumb to her fingers somehow made her feel better. It calmed her and centered her. She did it as she lay on the lawn chair because the screaming pain of her muscles was deafening.

She imagined the pain going away as she repeated the finger dancing pattern and the faster her fingers moved the less her muscles seemed to hurt. Whitney paused her fingers on her lap. Hmm, she thought. Am I imagining this? She moved her arm in a wide, sweeping circle. It still hurt, but the firecracker, creaking pain was less than it had been before. She began her finger dancing again and again she focused on the pain receding. She imagined the pain draining from her body as if it were rainwater washing down a gutter. It did feel like it was working, and before she knew it she felt as if she hadn’t strained her muscles at all.

Sweet! She thought. They say no pain no gain, but maybe they didn’t know what they were talking about!

She was relieved that she wasn’t going to have to walk around all day like a rusted robot, but it still didn’t answer her original question. She had something that was personal and specific to her. She had finally found something that she was actually good at, but what she hadn’t found, or didn’t know, was what she was going to do with it?

And she still didn’t have an answer for that, because ultimately, it didn’t make sense to her. She had no idea how she was even capable of doing the things that she had done in the arena. Common sense dictated that Tommy should absolutely dominate her in everything they did or tried together. Tommy was the one that could see. Tommy was the one that could hear, and Tommy was the one that was athletic and active. She was just a couch potato (or a reclining lawn chair potato–whichever way you wanted to look at it).

But from the very start of their mock battle she had felt very comfortable. Having swords in her hands had felt as natural to her as a slice of pizza would feel to a fat kid. And what to do with those swords seemed to be a natural instinct to her. It was as if she had spent the first twelve years of her life as a penguin that was born in the middle of the desert. Suddenly she was thrust back into the arctic and suddenly she was surrounded by water, but that was no big deal because surviving the cold and swimming were not activities that she needed to be taught. They were hard wired into her brain. But only the discussion wasn’t about the arctic cold or swimming. The discussion was about swinging a sword and using it to either deflect and offensive blow, or to deliver one of your own.

She could do both.

But to who? She asked herself. I’m blind and deaf and just because I can fight an opponent (my brother) in a world that he creates in his mind (the arena) doesn’t mean that I could do it while I was stuck in a world in which I cannot hear or see anything.

So what did it mean? Why could she do it then? It had to mean something. Didn’t it?

She wanted it to mean something, but reality kept stepping its way into her mind. The reality was that the world had no place for swords. Reality said that bringing a sword to a gun-fight was a stupid idea and the modern world had cast swords away a long time ago. So, good at it or not, her talent seemed pretty unspectacular.

The morning sun began to smile its rays down on her and she was able to feel the beginning of the warmth from it as a cloud kissed its way by it. Whitney returned the smile of her own to it because, finally, she had something to smile about. She may not have a reason to keep up with the sword fighting in the arena—at least not a logical one—but that didn’t mean that she was going to stop. She knew that much for sure. As a matter of fact she was looking forward to the next time that she could give Tommy another good thrashing.

CHAPTER 6

Learning a Lesson

∞

Whitney laid on the recliner until the eventual tap from Tommy came to her forehead. The moment that her family had started getting up and around she had known it, but she was enjoying the morning sun so much that she felt no compunction to get up and around, nor did she feel any immediate or urgent need to piggyback with Tommy. She knew that they would be spending the day in the arena because that was the plan.

Good morning sleepy head, she said to Tommy as soon as the piggyback was completed. She noted through Tommy’s eyes that the sun had made its way more than a quarter of the way up in the sky and that meant that it was about ten in the morning.

“Good morning,” he answered back, but there was something about the way that he said it that Whitney didn’t like. The tone of his voice reminded her of when he told her he was planning to spend a day with Jacob. His voice was riddled with guilt.

What? She asked him.

“Nothing,” he answered her out loud. “I just wanted to see if you were up to fighting today. I know I’m sore as hell, and I figure that means that you’re probably miserable.”

Language! And I’m fine! I’m ready to go!

“Huh? You are?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she answered back out loud—giving up on just thinking to him. “Whenever you’re ready!”

Tommy stood straight up and slowly put his arms onto his waist. “You’re full of crap!” he said. “There’s no way! You’re completely out of shape! I can barely move!”

Whitney could feel that he was telling the truth. She could sense that same creaking muscle feeling in his arms and legs, but his wasn’t nearly as bad as hers had been. That didn’t mean that she was going to let him off of the hook, however, she got her body up from the chair and did ten jumping jacks in front of him as Tommy stood in front of her with a slack jaw.

“Let’s do this, bro!” she said after she finished. “I think you’re just trying to make up an excuse so that I don’t kick your butt again!”

“No I’m not! That doesn’t even really bother me,” he said. “That much.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Not ‘that much.’”

“I guess we don’t have any choice anyway. I guess Blake wants to see what happens when we fight in the arena himself. I think mom freaked out to him last night about how hard you breathe and pant and now he wants to see what she’s so worked up about. They want us to try it while he’s here.”

“Let’s go then!” Whitney said. She started walking toward the patio door. She paused when she got there, opened it, and walked inside. Tommy followed behind her.

“Are you really not feeling any pain?” he asked her.

“Look for yourself,” she said. “If I’m lying I’ll let you beat me today.”

Tommy didn’t have to try very hard to sense that Whitney had none of the pains that he was feeling. If she had been he would have had to work at not feeling it.

“I’m so jealous of you right now,” he said as he followed stiffly behind her. “My legs aren’t too bad, but my arms feel like there are a thousand people throwing darts at them.”

“Sit down,” Blake said when the two of them got into the living room. He had a serious look on his face, which meant, that he meant business. Blake was almost never serious.

Whitney and Tommy both sat on the couch, but only Tommy’s gaze was directed at Blake.

“Your mother …”

“Aunt Carol,” Whitney interjected.

Blake’s gaze was momentarily shifted to Whitney’s body, but quickly turned back to Tommy. “You’re Aunt Carol is concerned about what you two are doing. We both love the overall effect that it seems to be having on your temperament Whitney, but we have to make sure that it’s not having any bad side effects.”

“What side effects?” Whitney asked in a defensive tone. “It’s exercise. Of course I’m breathing heavy! I’m out of shape!”

“It’s not just that, Whitney,” Carol Anne said. “Both of your temperatures go way up! I monitored both of your temperatures and they both got up to 102° before you guys came back out of it. And that brings up another point. What if you guys can’t come back out of it for some reason. Neither of you seem to know anything about what’s happening in the ‘real world’ when you’re in there. I tried getting you two to come out of it because I was worried and nothing I did seemed to get through to either of you. I even slapped you both in the face and I mean hard, but nothing happened. You just kept going!”

“You’re not going to make us stop are you?!” Whitney asked.

“That’s not what we’re saying,” Blake said. “At least not yet. I want to see it for myself. And I don’t want you two turkeys to take it easy just to get the go ahead either. I want you to run as fast this time as you did yesterday.”

“That might be a problem,” Tommy said. “I’m really sore from yesterday.”

“That doesn’t’ make any sense, Tommy! You weren’t running for real. You were both running in your heads,” Blake countered.

“Somehow it must still work the same I guess. I can’t really explain it, but you know how they say that if you die in your sleep that it’s possible to die for real. I think this kind of works the same.”

Blake and Carol gave each other questioning looks and then shrugged. “Well just do the best you can then,” Carol said. “All we’re saying is that Blake can’t make an accurate judgment call if you two go in there and take it easy.”

Blake and Carol made both Whitney and Tommy agree to do the best they could not to minimize their little ‘experiment.’ They both promised that they would and then positioned themselves on the couch. Whitney withdrew from Tommy while he set up the arena. When she came back they were no longer in Burnsville.

The crowd seemed excited, as usual, when they appeared in the arena. They were both dressed in their usual attire and they both had two swords in the scabbards on their backs, and they were both facing each other.

“What do you think this means,” Whitney asked Tommy.

“I think Blake and Carol are just being their normal over-protective selves.”

“No. That’s not what I’m talking about Tommy. Why do you think I’m so good at this? I mean, I am … right? I’ve been thinking about it all day and I can’t come up with an answer.”

“You are good at it. No question, but I don’t think it necessarily means anything.”

“But it kind of has to, doesn’t it? Tommy this feels so natural to me. When I’m fighting you I barely even have to think about what I’m doing. It’s like I was born to do it, but at the same time in the real world I wouldn’t be able to do it at all because I can’t see or hear. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Tommy thought about it for a second. He crossed his arms in front of him and really sunk his mind into the question. “Maybe you could,” he said. “If we worked together on it. You know like left hand and right, but only for real.”

“I’m not getting you,” she said.

“Do you think you could fight while you were looking through my eyes? You know the same way that you can walk while you look through them?” he asked her.

“Fight who though! That’s the other part I can’t answer.”

“I don’t know. Bad guys,” Tommy said.

“Tommy, you’re not really making any sense right now. We don’t know any bad guys. At least I don’t and unless you are living some kind of double life then you don’t either. How in the world would we ever find a ‘bad guy’ to fight,” she said raising her fingers and giving him the quote sign as she said bad guy.

Tommy knew the answer to that, but he couldn’t tell her without being forced to show her his dreams. He shrugged and said, “I don’t know right now, but they sent us in here for a reason so we should get started before we run out of time.”

“We’ve got all day. We won’t run out of time,” Whitney said.

“Well …” Tommy began. His shoulders drooped and guilt poured over his face like warm syrup.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN WELL!” Whitney yelled. She instinctively drew both of her swords and took a step toward him he reacted by taking a tentative step back.

“The Festival starts today. Jacob begged me into going,” he said. The words came out quick and mashed together and he raised his hands in front of him defensively and cowered away from her as if he expected her to start using her practice swords on him.

“You’re not going,” she commanded through gritted teeth. She raised her swords at him as if they had the final say.

“I’m going,” he returned.

“Draw your swords Tommy,” she said. “If you beat me you can go!”

“What if I said I wanted you to go with me? Would that change your mind?”

“You know I can’t, Tommy.”

“I don’t know that. I don’t know that at all,” he answered.

Whitney lowered her swords. “I can only piggyback so far, Tommy–one or two miles at the most.”

“I’m not talking about piggybacking,” he said. “I’m talking about you coming with me.”

“Blake and Carol would never allow that, and you know it; they’re too worried about protecting our secret.”

Tommy’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve been thinking a lot about that, Whitney and I’m not so sure that protecting the secret is such a good idea. Look at what it’s been doing to you. Up until yesterday you were miserable and like you suggested yesterday; you have no life! You have no potential to develop a life. You sit at home and that’s it. Maybe it’s time to change that.”

“And what would my life be like if people figured out what we can do huh? What would our lives be like? We’ve been over this a thousand times Tommy. We’d end up running from God knows who for God know why!”

“Screw it, Whitney. If we have to run then let’s run together. Left hand and right! Now that I know what you can do I think we could pull it off!”

Whitney turned from Tommy. She thought about it for a second and then started to pace back and forth. “They’d end up catching us. They have guns and Tasers and sleeping darts. We wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“Put your swords away and hold out one of your hands,” Tommy instructed.

Whitney gave him a questioning look, but did as she was instructed. She sheathed her swords and held out her right hand. A pistol appeared in it.

“Shoot me,” he said.

“That’s ridiculous Tommy. I’m not going to shoot you.”

“It’s not a real gun, Whitney. It’s a dart gun, but there’s no sleeping dart; just a regular one. I’ve been experimenting this morning and I think I can pull something off. I want to try it. Just shoot me.”

Whitney looked down at the weapon and considered it. A part of her wanted to shoot him for even suggesting that he leave again. Even if whatever he had in mind worked, she still wasn’t going with him. She raised the gun toward his waist.

“Go ahead,” he said.

“Are you sure? This seems stupid.”

He braced himself and nodded. She pulled the trigger.

The gun made a hissing noise and Whitney watched as a dart splattered against nothing two feet in front of Tommy and dropped to the mat.

“How’d you do that?” she asked.

Tommy gave her a big smile and bent to pick up the dart. “I got the idea from the arena; from the force field that I put around it.”

“Yeah, but that only works in here.”

“Nope,” Tommy said. “I can do it out there too,” he said nodding his head to the side. “I just use my invisible fingers. I already tried it by bouncing a super ball against the wall and I can block it every time.”

Whitney had seen Tommy do some pretty amazing stuff with his telekinesis. In the beginning he could only manage to float a quarter and make it spin, but as his skill with it improved he was able to pick locks and manipulate computers. Apparently blocking projectiles was the next phase of his development with his talent.

“We’re still not going,” Whitney said. “I’m not going and neither are you. Too risky, and Blake and Carol would never go for it anyway.”

“I’m definitely going,” Tommy informed her. “Jacob’s cousin is coming and I’m not missing out on seeing her again.”

Whitney knew who he was referring to. She had seen the girl through Tommy’s eyes once. She was a little bit older than they were and Tommy had a huge crush on her, but Whitney could also tell that Jessica Miles had no interest in someone younger than she was. Her brother was wasting his time with her.

“Over my dead body,” Whitney said drawing her swords again. “Now let’s get this over with before Blake and Carol start wondering what we’re doing in here.”

“Is your offer still good,” Tommy said drawing his swords.

“You know you can’t beat me,” Whitney responded.

“I couldn’t yesterday, but today you’re giving me something to fight for,” he replied.

“Sure,” she said. “But no force fields. If you beat me I’ll let you leave without an argument. If I win … you’re not going.”

“Deal,” he said and he didn’t hesitate. He spun and delivered his first blow. Whitney blocked it, spun dodged to the side, and countered. Tommy kept his eyes on hers and was ready. He brought his sword up just in time to deflect her counter, and he even got there in time to deflect her second.

“Not bad,” Whitney said. “But I’m just getting warmed up.”

Whitney delivered a series of blows to him. It wasn’t just a one-two set. She gave him a flurry of attacks and she put some speed on them. Tommy deflected them, but on this day he decided to use the only weapon he had against his twin sister. He used his strength and, every blow that he deflected, was deflected hard. And every attack he gave, he gave with every ounce of strength he had.

Whitney scored the first point. She was thrown a little off of her game with the intensity of Tommy’s attacks, but she was able to recover every time he knocked her off balance and was still able to get her swords to where they needed to be in time.

“Man you must really want to go,” Whitney said. “You’re doing much better today than yesterday.”

“Losing is not an option today, Whitney. You made the first point, but I can tell that I’m already wearing you down. Don’t get cocky.”

Whitney squared off, bowed, and went right into her next series of attacks. She delivered two blows, which Tommy deflected, spun once with another blow, and then twice more with two more blows. Tommy met them all and then countered. He knocked her back with his first strike and her balance was off enough that he was able to land one against her.

“Point,” he said and the crowd roared their approval.

Whitney was already beginning to show signs of wear. Tommy’s strategy of using his superior strength and endurance to his advantage was working. She was starting to pant and she was losing her timing.

“Wait,” she said. “Let me rest for a second.”

But Tommy didn’t wait. She was hunched over trying to catch her breath, but Tommy went into his next set. Whitney blocked his attacks, but he didn’t let up. He continued swinging his swords and attacked her aggressively. She deflected and tried to counter, but gave Tommy an opening and he saw it in time. He swung his sword quickly to the inside and struck her in the thigh.

“Point!” he said. “That’s two to one.”

“This is not fair, Tommy. I get tired faster!”

“Is that what you would tell an enemy that actually wanted to kill you?”

“No, but you’re my brother.”

“And I’m not trying to kill you. But we are fighting for something and I’m going to win.”

“You don’t have a shot with her you know,” Whitney said in between pants.

Tommy must have realized that Whitney was trying to stall. She knew she needed time to recuperate and she was trying to distract him long enough to catch her breath a little. It didn’t work. Tommy went into another series of attacks. Whitney hadn’t let her guard down, however, and she ducked under one, spun, and delivered a point to his back before he could turn around.

“Point!” she said. The crowd booed in disapproval.

“What? Did you pay them off or something?”

“They’re rooting for the good guy,” he said with a smile. “Two-two. Next one to score is the victor.”

Whitney’s eyes furrowed with determination. She had underestimated Tommy which allowed him to score two points. She wasn’t going to make that mistake again. Out of breath or not, the last thing in the world she was going to let him do was beat her—not at this. Fighting was her thing. It was the one thing that she knew she could do better than him and she wasn’t going to let him take that away from her. She was going to make sure that he stayed home for the day and she was going to make sure that he knew she was the better sword fighter.

Whitney fought past her fatigue and attacked Tommy ferociously. Tommy had been using his strength against her and that had taken her off guard. The day before his deflections were tentative and he had countered her but when he countered her there was no heart behind it. This time had been different. He was fighting her with passion and with vigor and even though she hadn’t been prepared for it she still liked it. Having an opponent that was willing to fight as if their life depended on it was better.

Whitney attacked him with every ounce of speed that she could muster. Tommy had his strategy and she had hers. She couldn’t out power him, but she could out maneuver and outpace him. She didn’t let up on him and she gave him everything she had.

Tommy deflected her blows but his deflections came awkwardly. He was able to get his swords to where they needed to be, but barely. All she had to do was keep it up and eventually his timing would fall behind enough for her to get that last point in. All she needed was one more and she knew she would have it.

Her body didn’t agree, however. She delivered seventeen blows before her vision began to blur. Her breathing became so labored, and her muscles so tired, that she couldn’t maintain the pace, and it was Tommy that scored the final point.

Both of them collapsed to the mat after he scored and both of them could barely breathe.

“Point-set-match,” Tommy said in-between breaths.

FINAL CHAPTER

Tommy Leaves Again

∞

Whitney sat on her bed brooding over her loss. She still couldn’t believe that Tommy had beaten her. But his victory had ultimately been her fault. She had allowed herself to become weak and out of shape. Her instincts were great, her speed was great, but those things would only get her so far. Ultimately she needed to get her body into better shape. She needed to increase her stamina, and she needed to build stronger muscles. If she didn’t do those two things then that would keep happening.

Blake hadn’t been too impressed when they came back to the real world. The look of concern on his face was just about as intense as Carol Anne’s had been. At first Blake was adamant about not letting them continue, but eventually the twins convinced him that they would tone it down and let Whitney get into shape in steps. He agreed, but was still very reluctant about it.

Both of them had excused themselves for showers, but Whitney still wasn’t piggybacking with Tommy. His shadow was still in his room which meant that he was still getting ready to leave. He was going through with it. He was going to leave her again and she had agreed to let him go without giving him a hard time about it. She was regretting that decision.

Tommy’s shadow moved from his room and headed for the living room. Walls were not boundaries for Whitney. She could sense a person’s shadow despite her physical separation from a person. His shadow moved to the living room which meant that he would be leaving soon. Whitney stretched her consciousness around Tommy and piggybacked with him.

Please don’t go, Whitney pleaded. I really hate it when you’re not here.

Come with me, Whitney, he answered. You know they’re going to keep asking me to go all week and I really want to go. Just come with me! Let’s start living our lives!

Whitney got up from her bed and walked into the living room. Doing that during a piggyback, while Tommy was in another room, was more difficult. She felt her way through and into the living room, looked toward the peg on the wall which her seeing cane hung from, and thought about it.

The idea was terrifying to her. It wasn’t that she never left the house—sometimes she did, but those occasions were rare. Most of the time, when she did leave the house, it was only a quick trip to the grocery store with Carol Anne, or to a party store with Blake. Tommy was usually there too, and Whitney usually just sat in the vehicle and piggybacked with Tommy while they went in.

This would be entirely different. Tommy was asking her to go and she knew that it meant that she would be out there, in the real world, the entire time. She would be spending who knew how much time standing next to people that she didn’t know herself for who knew how long. She would have to walk around in the middle of crowds if she actually did go to the festival and there was always the chance that she would lose her footing and trip over something. That was the most terrifying thought out of any of her thoughts. The idea of falling in the middle of a group of strangers and having them laugh at the poor blind and deaf girl would be humiliating.

I can’t, Tommy, she thought to him. A part of me wants to, but I just can’t.

Tommy walked up to Whitney’s body as she stood there in the living room. Blake and Carol were both standing there and it was apparent that they were wondering what the conversation they were having was about. They probably thought Tommy was just consoling her over him leaving again. The expression on Carol’s face said that she wasn’t happy about him leaving again, but she wasn’t harping on him about it and that was probably because Blake’s opinion was that Tommy should have a life even if Whitney couldn’t.

Well they’re here to pick me up, Whit! You sure I can’t change your mind. I know you’re scared, but I would be with you the entire time, he thought to her. I saw what you’re afraid of and if that happened, if you did fall, you know I would pick you up, Whitney. Falling might be scary, but sometimes you gotta fall. It’s a part of life.

Whitney heard a horn honk through Tommy’s ears which meant that they were waiting for him outside. She knew that he wouldn’t back down. The car in the driveway was the point of no return. She was going to have to spend the rest of the day without him. There was no way around that.

Just go, Tommy. They’re waiting for you.

Tommy wrapped his arms around his sister and gave her a hug. She hugged him back but her heart wasn’t in it. He turned from her and walked away.

Whitney didn’t withdraw from him right away. She stayed with him as he walked to the car in the driveway. It was filled with people that were happy. They wore smiles on their faces and their smiles were easy. They were laughing and joking because that’s what normal people do and because they knew that they were on their way to have a great time with each other. What that kind of thing would be like was a mystery to Whitney because she didn’t have that for herself.

Whitney took a step forward. How easy would it be to take a second? She knew that her cane was hanging there next to the door. She couldn’t see it but, if she chose to, she could still navigate her way over to it even without Tommy’s eyes there to guide her.

Outside Tommy paused on the sidewalk and looked back toward the house.

Do it, Whitney! He thought to her. Grab your cane and let’s go!

Whitney took another step toward the door. Carol Anne asked what she was doing because she has a funny feeling she’s not going to like what was coming next, but Whitney can’t hear her. Her eyes and ears have left the building and her world is dark and silent. At least the world that exists inside of the house, but there’s another world waiting for her outside and its calling to her. She takes two more steps toward the door, grabs her cane and reaches for the screen door. It opens easily for her, but she knows that not everything that will happen to her that day will be so easy.

She doesn’t care because sitting on the couch all day is no way to live and Tommy was waiting for her on the sidewalk.

The End.

---