Time Lifts the Light

I was standing awkwardly in the middle of the parking lot. D.B. had said he was going to drive me home after school... But I was staring to wonder if the offer still stood. He had, after all, been sent to the principal's office. Maybe he got sent home early? Maybe the excitement had made him forget his offer to me... Maybe he, Kim, and Mikey had already left? Maybe he couldn't find-

"Indigo!"

I turned sharply to my left. A familiar car was heading my way; scratched red paint, bent-in bumper, and D.B.'s smiling face behind the cracked windshield. I sighed in relief and hitched up my backpack.

"Hi," I said through D.B.'s rolled-down window.
"Hey," he replied. "Get in shotgun, you're wasting gas!"

I slid into the front passenger seat and D.B.'s squeaky car pealed out of the parking lot. The upholstery was a healthy-smelling, soft, worn leather. I could feel it burning on the back of my thighs, no doubt releasing the remainder of sun that had soaked into it during the hot day.

"Guys," D.B. said, addressing Kim and Mikey without taking his eyes off the road. "This is my friend Indigo."

I turned around in my seat to face them.

Mikey looked at me uncertainly. His eyes darted from the back of D.B.'s head to my face and back again. Kim was looking distractedly out the car window. She blew a large pink bubble with her gum and popped it with an electric blue fingernail. It burst with a sharp sound that made me jump slightly. I opened my mouth, aiming to end the awkward silence, but no sound came out.

"D.B.," Mikey hissed. "You... How much did you...? She knows that you - uh - right?"
"I told her everything, you idiot," D.B. sighed. "I wouldn't have let her in the car if she didn't know everything." He made a slightly wild left hand turn at the last second. "Oops," he muttered. "Almost missed it."

Mikey breathed a sigh of relief and then turned to grin at me. His smile was warm and wide, only marred by a small - almost unnoticeable - gap between his two front teeth. He had probably neglected his retainer after he'd gotten his braces off. It seemed like a thing he would do.

"Okay, so a priest and a zookeeper walk into a bar -- ouch!"

Kim had smacked his ear.

"I apologize on Mike's behalf," she said lazily to the ceiling, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. "He's the only one who doesn't know how bad his jokes are."

Mikey took this as a joke and smiled. (Looking at it a second time, I realized that the gap really added to the charm of his smile.) He reached over to tickle her side with his long, clumsy fingers. She sucked in her breath, her face going quite red, and slapped his hand away. She rolled her eyes and turned back around to look moodily out the window again.

"Be sociable, Kimmy," D.B. scolded, turning his right blinker on.
"Be sociable, Kimmy," she mocked in a whiny voice and kicked the back of the driver's seat.

"So, Indigo," Mikey said in mock fascination, leaning forward to strain against his seat belt. "You're new."
"No, she's just been invisible for three weeks."
"Shut up, Kim. How do you like our fine school so far?"
"Oh, it's..." I struggled to find the right word. "Uh..."

"Oppressive?" D.B. suggested. "Dream and/or soul crushing?"
I laughed uncertainly.

"Hey, I love this song!"

Mikey unclipped his seatbelt and climbed over the back seat. He stretched his long arm out and fumbled wildly with the radio for a second before - finally - gaining enough motor control amidst D.B.'s wild driving to turn the volume up, full blast. I immediately recognized the song as "Sympathy For The Devil" by The Rolling Stones.

I had been brought up on classic rock. During infancy, my father didn't worry about fatal ear infections or fevers induced by teething. Instead, he fretted about how my lullaby tapes were poisoning my mind.

"She'll grow up and want to play Mozart instead of Lennon!" I remembered him saying to my mother, his face screwed up in disgust. "She'll like Chopin and Beethoven instead of Hendrix and Dylan!"

"Please allow me to introduce myself," Mikey yelled along with Mick Jaggar, bobbing his head in an uneven and off-tempo manner that, sadly, suggested he would never be a dancer. "I'm a man of wealth and taste!"

D.B. placed his hand on Mikey's forehead and shoved him into the back seat. The back of Mikey's head hit the seat with a muffled thwump, and he recovered instantly, wiggled around for a moment, and pushed his head into Kim's lap.

He was too tall to rest his feet comfortably on the seat, so he rolled down the window with his heel and hung them outside the car.

"I've been around for a long, long year..."

My heart started to beat thickly as I chimed in with my uncertain falsetto: "Stole many a man's soul and faith!"

Abruptly, Mikey sat straight up - staring at me with an awestruck look in his glazed eyes. He was in shock for the next few lines, his light brown hair falling messily into his face. I failed to hold back a smile at his stunned face.

"Pleased to meet you..." He sang the first line of the chorus in a wavering, hesitant voice.
"Hope you guess my name!" I answered, allowing my voice to slide out of tune as I tried to yell the words over the blaring radio.

It was clear to see that Mikey was getting very, very excited. He was bouncing up and down and I was willing to bet that - even if he wanted to - he couldn't stop.

"But what's puzzling you is the nature of my game!" we both shouted, smiling.

"You like The Stones!" Mikey yelled over the music.
"I love The Stones!" I replied.

He leaned over the back seat and turned the volume back down, twisting so that he could look at me seriously. With a puff of air aimed at his eyebrows, he blew his bangs from his eyes. They were dark and intense, clearly stating: Mikey don't joke 'bout The Stones.

"Have I ever mentioned how beautiful you are?" he asked forcefully - but with an air of whimsy. He took my hand. "When we get married, I want our wedding cake to be shaped like a viking."

D.B. rolled his eyes and shoved him back into his seat again. He landed on top of an already disgruntled Kim. Casually, he leaned his head onto her shoulder and snorted in laughter at the pieces of her hair that fell into his face.

"Put your safety belt on like a good boy, Mikey," D.B. muttered.
"Hmph."
"If you stay quiet I'll buy you some candy."
"If Mick Jaggar was a girl, I would dump you so fast," he told Kim, ignoring D.B. and twirling a piece of her long blonde hair.
"Oh, please," she scowled. "You'd totally go gay for Jaggar."
Mikey seemed to think about it. "Yeah. Yeah, I probably would."

Kim huffed and turned to sulk and look out the window once again.

"Aw, come on!" he whined, pulling on her earlobe. "I was kidding!"

He caught my eye and winked.

Suddenly, D.B.'s car squealed up in front of a stately white house. There was a slight catch that flung everyone against their seat belts as he pulled the car into park. It seemed to be a normal thing because the three of them - unlike me - did not gasp and clutch at their chests like they were having a minor heart attack. I blushed as D.B. turned around to face Kim.

"Kimberly," he said formally. "It was a pleasure driving you this afternoon. Everyone enjoyed your witty comments and additions to the conversation. I'm sure our guest appreciated her warm welcome to - Oh! - By all means, please do keep that scowl on your face, it's so becoming. Ouch! Okay, it is not polite to hit Ms. Marcolini!"

Kim got up and flung open the door. She stepped out, turned sharply around, and reached inside the car to pull her backpack (which was covered with fraying patches for various punk bands) up from the floor. She proceeded to sling it over one slim shoulder, and nod icily to D.B. before turning on a heel to march up her front walkway.

"Kim!" Mikey called, opening the car door.
Kim whorled around. "What?" she hissed dangerously.
"Aren't you gonna give me a kiss g'bye?"

She flew back over to the car and slammed the door in his face with a decisive swing of her arm. D.B. frowned and rolled down his window.

"Hey, what's your problem, Marcolini?" he demanded.
"Nothing!" she yelled from her doorstep, her house key in hand. "I just didn't like how crowded it was in the car today, that's all!"

And, with that, she opened her front door and disappeared inside her house.

"Hm," Mikey commented. "I don't think she likes you very much, Indigo."