A Handful of Red Earth

I had spent most of the day out walking with Jen, and as I walked back up my road the sun was just beginning to set. It had been a beautiful day, the first one that had truly felt like summer this holiday. It was also the first time I had truly felt at ease with the world since God knows when.

Last November, I’d say.

However, all thoughts of that kind stopped when I reached my house.

There were four removal vans outside it.

It took several moments for me to realise that my parents hadn’t decided to pack up and more away whilst I was out, and that actually they were going into the house next door.

That was almost as big a surprise as my parents leaving without me: the house had been old over a month ago, and the couple who lived there had moved out but there had been no sign that anyone was going to take their place.

I watched the removal men carry in bulky items of furniture that I wouldn’t believe could fit through the door, then shrugged and carried on to my own gate.

“Howdy neighbour.” The voice that had stopped me was male and came from the ground by my feet. I looked down at the boy's upturned face, my first thought being that he was really rather hot.

“Hey,” I said unsurely. He laughed, and hauled himself off the ground, brushing off the seat of his jeans before holding out a hand.

“I’m Adam, just moving in,” he said with a charming smile. I took his hand, shook it. It was calloused, but gentle.

“Artemisia,” I said, wincing. I never used my first name.

“Pleased to meet you, Artemisia,” he said, his grip and his charming smile both redoubling.

“Umm, you too,” I said awkwardly. I’d never been very good at talking to guys alone, my conversational skills are absolutely crap.

“Am I holding you up? Sorry,” he said, withdrawing his hand.

“Oh, no- not at all.” I said, too quickly and too loudly.

“You don’t have to be polite, it’s fine,” he said, laughingly, and pushed open my gate for me.

“Well, I’ll… I’ll see you later, I guess…” I said, going in and up the path. I looked back when I had reached my door. He was still standing there, smiling.

Suddenly I felt bad for leaving him there.

“You know, if you want you can come in,” I called.

“Won’t your parents mind?”

“Of course they won’t- I don’t even think they’re in. It’s better than staying here.” His face lit up at my words.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, of course,” I said, even though I wasn’t. But I couldn’t refuse that look of hope.

He slipped through the gate and up the path.

I opened the door and walked in, glancing behind me to make sure he was following.

“Do you want anything to eat or drink?” I asked, leading the way through to the kitchen.

“No thanks,” he said, from the hall, looking around.

I poured myself a glass of water and came back out.

“How long do you think they’re going to be hauling stuff around at yours?” I asked, indicating for him to go through into the living room.

“God knows. But they’ve been at it for hours. I had to leave. Everyone was shouting at each other and then a mirror broke and…”

“General unpleasantness all round, right?” I asked, sipping my water. Adam laughed.

“Exactly. It was craziness. So I explored for a bit but they still weren’t done by the time I got back.”

“That sucks. Well you can hang out here till they finish.”

“Thanks Artemisia.” I winced again.

“You know, everyone just calls me Ath,” I said, putting my glass on the table.

“Ath?”

“Umm, it’s from my middle name. Athene. Don’t laugh,” I pleaded, but he was already laughing.

“Artemisia Athene, huh?” That’s a bit of a mouthful.”

“Yeah, I know. My parents are both Classics buffs. My dad wanted to call me Athene, my mum Artemisia. So they settled for both.”

“But why Ath?”

“Because you can’t really shorten Artemisia, unless you change it to Artemis, and ever since Eoin Colfer’s books I can only think of it as a boys’ name,” I sucked in a deep breath. There was a small silence then;

“They’re Greek goddesses, right?”

“Yeah. My parents specialise in classical Greek history and architecture.”

“Jeez. My parents didn’t even go to college,” he said, genuinely impressed.

“That’s probably why you got off with a decent name.”

“Adam? I don’t like it. I’d rather have one of yours.”

“God knows I’ve got enough,” I added, then hurried on. Artemisia and Athene are only the tip of the iceberg, but I wasn’t going to tell him that I had more, because they didn’t get any better. “You know, I like Adam. I never used to, but it’s grown on me. It’s from the Hebrew for red earth,” I looked up to see my very own handful of red earth staring at me, and bit my lip.
“Sorry. That’s, umm, that’s a bad habit of mine.”

“I don’t think so. I think it’s interesting,” he said, but I laughed.

“You don’t have to say that. I won’t be offended if you say I’m a nerd.”

“But nerds have interesting hobbies. Do you know what William means?” he asked, but I shook my head.

“No. I can only remember some names.”

“Tell me one then.”

I looked into his face. He did seem genuinely interested.

“Umm… I like the name Ira. It’s for a boy, but I think it could do just fine for a girl. It’s from the Hebrew for watchfulness.”

“Did you learn Hebrew?” he asked but I laughed.

“God no. I’ve got a book of baby names. That’s where I find these things.”

“Oh,” said Adam, also laughing a little bit. “It would have been pretty cool if you could speak Hebrew.”

“Yeah, I guess. But it’s hard.”

“Still. If people just gave up when something was hard then life wouldn’t be worth living.”

We fell into silence. Nothing I could say could equal the profundity of that statement.

“So what… what do you do with your free time?” I asked, when the silence threatened to become uncomfortable.

“Me? I play the guitar. Bass.”

“Really? Are you any good?”

“What sort of question is that?” he asked after a bark of laughter. To be honest I hadn’t known where it had come from, but I stuck by it.

“I think it’s reasonable. Are you?” A smile spread across his face.

“I’m passable, yeah.”

“Do you play in a band or…?” I asked, feeling a bit stupid.

“Yeah. We haven’t got a name right now though,” he said frowning.

“Oh. What type of music do you play?”

“Actually, we play sort of… funk. Sort of. With an indie twist… you’re laughing!”

“You never asked me not to,” I said, spluttering. “You play funk?”

“Sort of. What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing, nothing. You just seem a little young for funk, is all,” I giggled, trying to reign in my laughs.

“You don’t know how old I even am,” he cried, indignant.

“Well how old are you?”

“I’m eighteen. I’ll be nineteen in October.”

“So you’re still a wee bit young for funk. But kudo’s to you. I like funk.” Adam’s face relaxed into a smile.

“Oh. Well that’s okay then. How old are you?”

“I’m seventeen. My birthday is in December.”

“So you’ll be doing your second year of A-levels next year. What college do you go to?”

“Woodhouse,” I said, suddenly proud.

“Ooh, get you! The really intense one, where everyone works hard,” he said, and was shocked when I laughed outright.

“That’s such crap. Maybe it’s just some talent of mine but all my friends there are the biggest group of slackers ever.”

“Yeah, but that’s probably just because you have work-a-holic standards,” he said in an attempt to defend his statement. I shook my head, not wanting to have to reveal my lazy core so soon, and moved the focus back to him.

“So will you be going to uni next year?”

He shook his head. “Nope. I’m focusing on my music. But if that falls through then I’ll think about applying but… I think I’m good.”

“That’s a pretty bold move,” I said, but he just shrugged, and smiled mysteriously.

He was about to say something then an odd look passed across his face. He pulled out his phone, looked at the screen and sighed.

“Mother,” he said, before pressing a button and answering. “Yes mum?” I’m next door, calm down… well of course, what do you… they’ve what? Shit! I knew we should have- okay, I’m coming back. Bye,” he put the phone down with a glare.

“Is everything” alright, I was going to say, but it obviously wasn’t. “What happened?”

“Those bloody removal men dropped my amp. If they knew how expensive that was-” he cut himself off. “I’m sorry. I’ve got to go back, see the damage for myself.”

“Oh… okay then,” I said, feeling a little flat. I had enjoyed his company. He seemed to pick up on this.

“Give me your number. I’ll call or text you later. You can take me out tomorrow, if you’re free, and show me the area, okay.”

“Yeah, okay. I’m free during the day so whenever you’re ready…” I trailed off and took his phone, keying in my number.

Then I saw him to the door, and watched as he walked down my path and up his own.

And I wondered if I had just done something stupid.