Skateboards, Magic, and Shamrocks

Taryn stepped out into the sunlight amidst the pressing horde of her classmates. Chestnut High had just let out for the day, and almost every student was racing to escape. The seventeen-year old girl, however, had no intention of rushing to her car. She knew it was easier to wait till the daily traffic jam of teenagers had passed rather than fight her way through the mob. Why no one else had figured this out was beyond her. Taryn walked out to the parking lot towards her car, a “sweet sixteen” present from her parents. Taryn had smiled wryly at the statement when she received it. The car was an old hand-me-down and not a very attractive one at that. It ran, though, and that was all Taryn cared about… besides the stereo system. As she reached the vehicle, her reflection stared back at her from the driver’s side window.

Taryn Kelly. Besides her sharp tongue and hot temper, she was best known for her Irish features. These, she was always proud to say, came from a long line of red-headed, green-eyed full-blooded Irish ancestors. Her parents had actually immigrated to the U.S. before she was born. Taryn even spoke with a prominent lilt in her voice, which grew stronger when she was feeling particularly vehement about something.

“Coming through!”

Taryn spun around at the sound of the voice, which sounded like it was coming closer.

She turned to see a blur of a student speeding by her car on a skateboard. He had called to a group of teenagers who were blindly walking into his path. The group scattered like roaches as soon as they heard the warning, barely escaping a collision. Taryn grumbled to herself, immediately recognizing the young man.

Ozzie Thomason seemed to always be in Taryn’s vicinity when he was at his most irritating. His longish brown hair had been lightly highlighted by all of his time spent out in the sun and hung in messy waves to his eyebrows. His tall, lanky body was well tanned and his eyes were a stormy grey.

What really annoyed Taryn about him was his seemingly carefree and reckless attitude. As he raced by on his board, dodging cars and students, she yelled after him snippily.

“Take your stunts somewhere else, git!”

Ozzie turned back towards her and simply saluted her with a grin. As he did so, he was too distracted to notice that he was headed for a grassy median. Ozzie’s skateboard hit the curb and snapped back while he went flying into the grass. There was a moment of silence throughout the parking lot as Ozzie laid there unmoving. No one breathed, including Taryn. Another moment passed, and he moved. Rising forward from the waist with his arms outstretched, he moaned like a zombie. He then jumped to his feet and held his arms out triumphantly. The entire parking lot erupted into applause, and Ozzie took several bows, making quite a show. Taryn breathed again in a huff of exasperation and got into her car while Ozzie retrieved his skateboard. As she backed out, she spotted a fellow student clapping Ozzie on the back, probably complimenting him on his performance. Taryn grumbled to herself and thought for a moment about backing up into the two boys, knocking the skater down again. Then she remembered that doing so would be a crime. Resigning to disappointment, she put the car into gear and drove off.

)(

“Hello, dear. How was your day?” came a voice from the kitchen.

“Fine,” Taryn replied automatically.

Taryn’s mother, Shannon, was working at the island in the kitchen, making a snack for herself and her two daughters. Shannon shared the same features as her daughter, but her Irish accent was still as prominent as it had been the day she left Ireland.

“Anything exciting happen at school today?” Shannon asked, handing her daughter a piece of sliced apple.

Taryn set her bag down and replied, “Nothing out of the ordinary. Ozzie almost got himself killed today.”

“How’d he do that?” Shannon asked, reaching for a bowl to put peanut butter into.

“By being an idiot, as usual.”

Taryn took a bite out of her apple.

“I’ll bet it was funny. Have you spoken to him lately?”

“No, and I don’t intend to.”

“Why not? You still keep tabs on him.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Kyla, come get your snack,” Shannon called. She then turned to Taryn with a meaningful look, but said nothing.

Taryn sighed and leaned back against the counter. A little, red headed seven-year old then entered the kitchen to receive her afternoon snack.

“Hi, Rinnie!” she said, giving her older sister a hug, which was gladly returned. “What are you talking about?”

“A big, dumb boy named Ozzie,” Taryn answered without thinking.

“You saw him today?” Kyla responded quickly. “When is he coming over again?”

“He’s not.” Taryn replied.

Kyla looked hurt and opened her mouth to say something, but Shannon interjected before the two could get into it.

“Kyla, love, take your apples before they brown,” Shannon interjected. She then turned back to her eldest and said softly, “Taryn, I think it might be time for you to move on. We all miss Annie and Ozzie. I could invite them over for dinner. What would you think of that?”

Taryn looked sideways at her mother. Under normal circumstances, she enjoyed chatting with Shannon very much. The two had a good relationship, and Taryn was usually mature enough to handle it when Shannon offered a different point of view. Fortunately, now was one of those times, and Taryn realized she needed to bend a little when she saw the deep pain in her mother’s eyes.

“Whatever you like, Mum. I’m sorry I brought it up.”

“Is he coming over?” Kyla asked excitedly.

“We’ll have to see what suits,” Shannon replied with a warm smile.

Kyla nodded and then took this opportunity to turn the attention on herself, telling Taryn about what she had done at school that day. Taryn listened to her younger sister with a smile on her face and soon forgot about the heavy conversation between her and her mother.

)(

Ozzie steered his skateboard back and forth over the pavement of the old neighborhood. He hopped the curb as he headed towards a long, winding driveway. The driveway was cracked and badly in need of repair, like many other things in that neighborhood, but led to a warm place for Ozzie—home. He navigated his way up the driveway, avoiding the larger cracks and broken bits of pavement, until he reached the front door, behind which he could hear Timber barking excitedly.

Timber, though he resembled a wolf more than anything else, was really nothing more than a big, puppy-hearted lapdog. Ozzie opened the door and walked in, taking a minute to greet the happy creature. He didn’t bother calling after anyone, as his mother would be working until dinnertime. Ozzie made himself a sandwich and headed out to the back porch where he would eat, fall asleep in the sun for a few hours, and wake up in time to start dinner for himself and his mother. As Timber curled up underneath the hammock that his master was lying on, Ozzie allowed his mind to wander.

They had discussed heroes that day in history class. Martin Luther King, Florence Nightingale, Lance Armstrong, and others had been brought up. While this was nice—a little food, a comfy place to nap, a furry companion—he wondered if this was all he had to look forward to in the long run. For a long time, Ozzie had always imagined his life would be exciting somehow, that he would do something. It didn’t have to be anything earth-shattering or life changing, but he had always wanted to do something that would be memorable at least to someone. All the comic books and fantastic fiction he had read since childhood surely had contributed to these ideas, yet here he was, about to graduate, and life could boiled down to one word.

Monotony.

Those grand thoughts had planted themselves long before everything had changed, though. Long before he and his mother had had to move to this little house, before he had had to stay up late each night studying to maintain scholarship-earning grades, and before his best friend had stopped talking to him. For now, the only goal he was looking to achieve was to be able to put himself through college once this summer was over.

Ozzie shook his head. He shouldn’t be worrying about those things or taking what he still had for granted. He couldn’t control the way most things would play out and he would ride it out either way. He thought about other, happier things as he finished his snack and then he let himself drift off into a comfortable drowse.

)(

It was Friday. Taryn hated Fridays. She loved the weekend, but loathed Fridays. In her opinion, people seemed to lose their brains on Friday. She had endured more high school drama that day—she’s going out with him tonight. I’m totally going shopping this weekend. Chestnut High School basketball rocks!—than she thought she could stand. Finally, the day ended and Taryn went home, confident that her weekend would be easy and relaxing.

Meanwhile, Ozzie skateboarded home more quickly than usual that day. His mother had sent him a text message on his phone telling him to hurry home, but hadn’t picked up when he had tried to call her back. He was a little worried, especially when he saw her car in the driveway when he got home, and called after her when he got in.

“I’m upstairs, sweetheart,” came his mother’s reply. “I’ll be down in a minute.”

Her tone was cheerful. That was a good sign, so Ozzie relaxed. A few minutes passed, and Annie Thomason came trotting into the living room, her hair still wet from the shower and clearly in a hurry.

“Hey, Mom. Why are you home?” Ozzie asked. “Is everything okay?”

“Oh yes, it’s fine. The air conditioning died at the office today, so they sent everyone home. Thank goodness! It was miserable in there, but you’ll never guess who called me.”

“Ed McMahon, and he said he’s got a huge check for you.”

“Don’t I wish? Shannon Kelly! You know, Taryn’s mother,” she replied enthusiastically.

“Oh, great,” Ozzie said, trying to sound like he wasn’t disappointed.

“And you’ll never guess what she did.”

“Let me guess.”

“She invited us to dinner!”

“Not what I was going to say.”

“So I need you to get cleaned up and ready to go. Then, if you could, I need you to help me prepare something to bring for dessert.”

“Um, Mom,” Ozzie said carefully, “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Of course it is. You’ll get a chance to catch up with Taryn again,” Annie replied quickly. “I always liked her. She’s such a sweet girl.”

“Mom, have you seen how she looks at me nowadays? I’m not exactly her favorite person in the world.”

“I’m sure she just feels awkward. It can be like when people have been through as much as our families have. She probably just doesn’t know what to say.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not it.”

“Nonsense. Now, please, go get ready or we’ll be late.”

“Ready,” Ozzie said with a shrug.

Annie gave her son a look and said sternly, “Oswald Matthew Thomason.”

Ozzie cringed at the sound of his full name and promptly left to go change.

)(

Wow, I would have thought this much smiling would have killed her by now, Ozzie thought as he sat at dinner with his mother and the Kelly family.

Dinner was over, dessert had been served, and the adults were now making friendly conversation, while Kyla was devouring her second helping of cobbler at an incredible rate. Both Taryn and Ozzie were bored out of their minds and longed for an escape. Besides that, Taryn was trying not to fume over the fact that her mother had gone through with her idea to invite the Thomasons over for dinner. At the time, she had thought Shannon was just throwing out empty ideas to try and get Taryn to speak to Ozzie again.

This is ridiculous, Taryn thought to herself in annoyance. We’re not five and in daycare anymore. What—Oh no, what is he doing?

Taryn looked at her father, Donovan, as he turned to Ozzie and began to promote his own company.

“Now, Ozzie,” he began animatedly, “have you ever thought of working for an advertising business? I could get you a job as a data entry clerk… after you graduate, of course. I know you have exams coming up that you need to study for.”

Please! As if the social graces aren’t bad enough, he’s offering me charity, Ozzie thought. Maybe I can pretend to die, and he’ll stop talking.

Wow, Dad must not realize the grades Ozzie makes. That kid could get into any school he wanted with his GPA.

This is just sad. Thanks, but no thanks, Mr. Kelly. I have to get out of here.

“Mom,” both teenagers said simultaneously.

Both mothers looked at their children, and Taryn and Ozzie looked at one another for a tense moment.

“You go ahead. You’re the guest,” Taryn said with a forced politeness and a pasted-on smile.

“Thank you,” Ozzie replied in the same manner. He then turned to the adults and asked, “Mom, Mr. and Mrs. Kelly, would it be alright if I hung out on the back porch for a while?”

“That’s just what I was thinking,” Taryn said quickly.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea,” Shannon said brightly. “You two go on. We’ll just be catching up.”

“Thank you,” the teenagers said together, and with that they left quickly.

)(

Neither Ozzie nor Taryn said a word until they were outside, and even then it was several minutes before a sound was uttered.

“Well, that was fun,” Taryn said sarcastically, wondering if Ozzie would take it as a joke.

Ozzie made no reply except for a noise of acknowledgement. He walked over to the railing and looked down.

“You have a nice house,” he said finally.

“You’ve seen it before,” Taryn replied.

“It’s been a while. Your mom redecorated and stuff.”

“Um, thanks.”

Taryn moved over to the gazebo and stepped into it. Moving over to one of the seats, she sat down and looked out.

“Remember when we used to play in here?” she said, making some attempt at being nice.

“When we called it our watchtower?” Ozzie replied, walking over to join her. “Yeah, I remember.” There was another long pause and Ozzie then asked, changing the subject, “Was your dad always like that?”

“Like what?”

“Offering lame handouts to make himself seem generous,” Ozzie said almost accusingly.

She replied defensively. “He was being nice.”

“Come on, Taryn. You saw him in there. Does your mom feel sorry for us too? Is that why she invited us over here tonight?”

“No. She invited you over here because she cares. She cares about her friendship with your mom and the friendship we used to have.”

“Hey, you stopped talking to me!”

“Well, maybe if you had—”

Taryn stopped short. She didn’t want to finish.

“What?” Ozzie demanded.

“Nevermind. I’m going inside,” she said acidly.

With that, Taryn swept back into the house without another word. Ozzie followed a few minutes later, and the two spent the rest of the night in silence, each doing their best to mentally remove themselves from the situation. Finally, Ozzie and his mother left, Annie promising to invite the Kellys over for dinner sometime soon.

)(

The whole dinner thing had been a stupid idea, and it wound Taryn up so much that she’d gone to bed soon after it was over. She couldn’t tell her parents how she felt, especially her mother since the friendships were clearly important to Shannon. It made Taryn feel guilty that she was so opposed to reconnecting with Ozzie, but the guilt didn’t outweigh her bitterness. She’d had a hard time falling asleep that night, which was why she felt like she never really had when she opened her eyes to a bright, clear light that seemed to permeate right through her curtains as if they weren’t even there. At first she thought she was watching a white-hot fire dance into her room. The light bounced and moved like a living creature, and she realized it wasn’t fire after several moments of watching in confused, sleepy wonder. She continued to watch the dancing light for many minutes until she was able to pull her eyes away and towards the window where it flowed in from.

I have got to be dreaming, she thought to herself. She considered closing her eyes, snuggling back under the covers, and going back to sleep. Her curiosity about the dream got the better of her, though, and she added, Well, if I’m dreaming I might as well explore.

Taryn climbed out of bed and walked towards the window. As she approached, her bare feet stepped into the light that was spreading over the floor of her room like a mist and felt that it was warm and soothing. The mist swirled about her feet and moved with her as she walked towards her window. Taryn stepped up to the sill where the light was pouring in from, and looked out. There, stretched out before her, was not her backyard, but a vast, green, moonlit forest. The mist was light from the full moon, high in the sky, and the raw, rugged beauty of it all drew Taryn to it like a moth to flame. She stepped out through her window and onto the ground only a few feet below. She began to walk through the forest, looking around and trying to take everything in at once. It wasn’t long before the thick trees blocked her window and the house from sight.

“Taryn!” a familiar voice suddenly called out, clear as a bell, breaking the ethereal trance that she seemed to have fallen into.

She looked in the direction of the voice and saw Ozzie running towards her and looking elated.

“What are you doing here?” Taryn said, annoyed that she was having dreams with Ozzie in them.

She made a mental note not to mention this to anyone.

“Man, even dream-you is snippy,” he said easily. “At least that’s one normal thing about this dream.”

“Whatever,” Taryn muttered, shaking her head and turning away.

She looked up at the moon and smiled to herself. This was a nice, albeit strange, dream, even if Ozzie was in it. Taryn began to walk again, feeling the cool grass beneath her feet. She could hear Ozzie casually trailing after her, but she paid him no mind. After a little while, the trees started to thin out, and she came upon a small clearing. There were several interesting things to see here, but the first thing Taryn noticed was the massive creature sleeping there on the edge of the clearing. Every molecule of her body suddenly froze. Then the creature opened an eye. Then it opened five more, and Taryn screamed. She heard Ozzie running towards her, calling her name, but her brain wouldn’t register it. All she could focus on was the creature that was standing up now and heading straight for her. Taryn willed herself to wake up, and the sweet darkness of sleep overtook her.

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