Find Wonder in All Things - By Karen M. Cox Page 0,3
tin cans, a bottle or two, some rusted fishing lures and a bucket.
“I’m going back outside,” James announced. He was tired of the damp darkness, and there was nothing interesting about this tunnel anyway — well, except for the fact that trains used to go through it and now it was under water for part of the year.
“I’m coming too,” Laurel piped up.
“We’ll be out in a minute,” Virginia called. “James, will you watch after Laurel?”
The younger sister snorted and muttered under her breath, “I’m not a baby.”
James smiled to himself; he had said the same thing many times. That’s what you said when you were the baby.
“My big sister is the same way,” he told Laurel.
“You have a sister too?”
“Yeah, she’s 17.”
“How come she never comes with you down here?”
“I come with Stu’s family. There’s no one her age in their family for her to hang out with. She’s too cool now to hang out with middle-schoolers.”
“Oh.”
They walked on in silence, picking their way over the rocks and debris on the tunnel floor. The sunlight from the entrance cast a welcome light on their surroundings.
“What about your mom and dad?”
“Dad can’t get off work, so they can’t come — and . . . ”
“Yes?”
“And my parents can’t afford a boat like the Pendletons’. My dad is a CPA.”
“What’s a CPA?”
“An accountant — he writes up people’s taxes and sends them to the government.” He went on after she didn’t reply. “Stu’s dad is president of a company that makes advertisements.”
Laurel’s face was a complete blank.
“You know, advertisements, commercials, billboards — that kind of thing.”
She nodded, but he still wasn’t sure she grasped the concept. He found that he rather liked the role of ‘older kid,’ explaining all about the world to an eager little girl with big blue eyes. He and Stu were the same age, but Stu had been so many more places and done so many things that he was the one explaining the world to James most of the time.
He turned back around and made his way to the mouth of the tunnel, switched off his light and stood, staring out over the green water and the darker green hills surrounding it. A humid haze blurred and muted the outlines of the trees, and a thick heaviness filled the morning air. The sound of cicadas rose and fell in a lazy rhythm.
“You wanna wait here or climb down?” he asked.
“Wait here, I guess. They won’t find anything in there. Virginia said she told Stuart as much, but he still wanted to come, so she came with him.”
“Hmmph.”
“She likes Stuart a lot, so she’ll go along, even if she knows it’s stupid.”
James said nothing.
“I left with you because I think she wants him to kiss her.”
James turned around to look at Laurel, alarmed. He threw an involuntary glance back at the tunnel. “Nuh-uh.”
“What’s the matter? Doesn’t he want to kiss her?”
“I don’t know,” James replied, annoyed. “He probably does.”
“She says now that she’s thirteen, it’s time for somebody to kiss her, and he’s a good choice.”
James had no idea how to respond to that, so he stayed silent.
“Boys like Virginia. I think it’s because she’s beautiful and tall and thin, but Daddy says it’s because her soul draws people and makes them feel comfortable.”
James decided that girls thought about the strangest things.
“Do you like Virginia?”
He shrugged and looked off in the distance. “She’s okay — for a girl.”
There was another long silence, which Laurel finally broke.
“A bunch us are gonna play Kick the Can up by the cottages later. You wanna play with us?”
“Maybe.”
“I can’t play tomorrow because Daddy’s taking me and the boys to the Appalachian craft fair.”
“Really?”
“I told him I want to be an artist, so we’re going to look at different kinds of arts and crafts. But the boys don’t care about that stuff. They just want to eat funnel cake.”
“Hmm.”
“What do you like to do?” she inquired politely.
He grinned. “I like to eat funnel cake.”
Laurel rolled her eyes. “No, that’s not what I mean.”
“I know. Let’s see — I like to play dodge ball, and I’m a good runner, so I’m going to try out for the track team when school starts. And I like to read comic books and play cards. And I wanna learn to play the guitar.”
“Ooh, playing the guitar — that sounds fun.”
There was another lull in the conversation. Laurel swung her feet over the ledge of the tunnel’s entrance. She turned at the sound of footsteps behind her.