The house was old, nobody lived there; it had been empty for as long as Will could remember. The house next to it was empty too, come to think of it, but it didn’t seem to hold the same magic as the white house.
The white house hadn’t been painted in years, but still looked more beautiful than Will’s own freshly painted house. His mother had called in dark suntanned men with dirty paint stained clothes to paint their house. The paint was labeled ‘Robins Egg Blue,’ but it looked nothing like robin’s eggs he had found in a tree. The house next to the white house, it was on the right when Will stood in his front yard across the street, was a pale yellow color, the color of banana pudding, and there was a big white moving truck in front of it. Dark suntanned men in dirt clothing were carrying a couch towards the front door. Their clothes weren’t covered in paint though, they were simply dust covered and grey looking. Will vaguely wondered if they knew his mother’s painters.
A girl with long blonde hair stepped out of the moving truck. Her hair reminded him of lemonade: it was straight and yellow and looked like it could flow out of a pitcher and into his cup when he was hot and sweaty from the summer heat. She was dressed like a girl should be, in pale blue. But clothes didn’t interest Will much.
She held a bag, a small, pale, pink purse that she dropped down on a box sitting around and she walked over to the black paved road. A young girl showed up behind her suddenly, and Will wondered how intently he was staring not to have noticed her coming. Her hair wasn’t as graceful as the older girl’s. It was blonde, but more the color and texture of the stringy things inside the peel of a banana. The younger girl must have seen Will staring because she pointed towards him and the two girls started across the street together.
The younger spoke a lot for the older one.
“What’s your name?” she asked. Will felt she should have at least said hello first. His mother always stressed manners.
“Will,” he said. She had a sort of rude, to-the-point demeanor. The older girl was still silent.
“Is that short for William?”
“Yes.”
“How old are you?”
“12.”
“My name is Viv. It’s short for Vivian. My sister is Veda. We have a brother, Victor, but he’s just a baby. My mother likes V’s.” Though rapid, she spoke clearly and sounded much older than she looked. “I’m 9 by the way. And Veda, she’s 10.”
“Do you talk?” Will asked Veda, who had yet to speak a word.
She nodded. Viv looked somewhat annoyed that Will had not replayed to her, as she was one who obviously need much attention.
“Billy.” Veda finally spoke. “Billy is better than Will.”
From then on, Will was known by two names. Billy to Veda and Viv, and Will to the rest of the world.
It was summer and the days were hot, much like Will imagined hell to be. The children spent most of the next few weeks together. During the day they would play whatever game pleased Vivian, as she was obviously the leader of the three. Neither Will nor Veda spoke much, but Will felt as if few words were needed to fill the space between them. At night, they would go home, and Will would often sit at his bedroom window staring at their house wondering which windows belonged to the girls.
In between the white house and the sister’s house, was a tree. It was a large maple with branches reaching across to both houses. The bark was old and carved in many places. It was beautiful. It connected the two houses. It was the tree Will had found robin eggs in.
It was storming one night and Will went to bed. Lightning crashed across the sky like it hated the world. He woke up, the clock said it was one a.m., and the rain had stopped but the lightning still flickered and the thunder rumbled in the background. Will looked out of his window, across the street at the dark windows and the tree between. He had been staring for some time, zoning out into his thoughts. He was jerked back to reality as one window slid opened up by set of pale arms. With the window open, a head blonde hair flowed out of the window and looked around. It was Veda.
by, Jorden Wiggins
PUBLISHED AT THE ELEPHANT'S DEN
Go give them some lovin' and submit something while you're there!
PS- a little bird told me that the first zine is almost ready for release in the Greensboro area
Or you could go BUY IT FROM LULU!
