ghost

[shesepankh]

Kindergarten teacher Renée Higgenbotham Swan (36) was killed in a car crash one mile from her residence in Phoenix, AZ, January 9, 2005. She is survived by her daughter Isabella (16). Her service will be held at -

Bella has the entire obituary pasted into a page of one of her compilation notebooks but tends not to re-read past the first lines. It's repellent. The concept of obituaries is repellent. The funeral is over. Renée's vibrant brief life has been summed up over the course of a paragraph, and is also over.

Bella pretends to sleep on the plane. Her neighbor is talkative and she doesn't want to say shut up, my mom just died, because - what if it doesn't work? What if this news doesn't have the power to bludgeon everyone else into stunned silence the way it does Bella?

Charlie collects her. Charlie hugs her. Charlie doesn't make her talk. Good wonderful understanding quiet Charlie does not say a word. He takes her home. Her room's where she left it last August.

It's raining.

Bella stays home, moving in, moping, for a day, and then she shows up at school, gray-faced and withdrawn. First class is English. Okay, whatever.

The teacher wants her to introduce herself. Bella wants to yank on the skinny end of his tie until he regrets making her.

She stands at the front of the room and says that her name is Bella Swan and she's moved here to live with her dad. The teacher makes an impatient go on gesture and she stands there for a moment before robotically saying the same thing she produced at the beginning of the year in her old school in Phoenix when they were doing go-around-the-room-and-share-facts. "I'm one of those people who actually likes Shakespeare."

He lets her sit down.

She sits.

Comments

[castmyown]

"I think my argument against it was, 'How in the world would that help' and that didn't work, either. She's just going to punch me if I'm a twit, it's how the world works. Apparently."

[shesepankh]

"Um, at the risk of totally killing some entirely healthy sibling... thing... you two are doing right now, my dad gets called to a lot of scenes of 'somebody is hitting their family member' and it's not cute?"

[castmyown]

Darren raises an eyebrow. "I should actually clarify - she doesn't punch me."

[morethanimaginary]

"Nope!" adds Savannah. "We should probably stop joking about it, huh? Whoops."

[shesepankh]

"I mean, I have no siblings, maybe all people with siblings think it's hilarious and I'm the weirdo, but yeah."

[morethanimaginary]

"Eh, more like we are just really comfortable with each other and know when each other's joking so we play along. At least in our case. I dunno about other siblings, twinning it up might make things different."

[shesepankh]

"Maybe."

[castmyown]

"Sorry," apologizes Darren.

[shesepankh]

"It's okay. I didn't really think it, it just - wasn't funny."

[castmyown]

He nods.

Back to art.

[morethanimaginary]

"So to update you on the gossip from the gossip-zombies - Lauren is trying to get her ex jealous, again. Hey, Darren, want to play rebound?"

[castmyown]

[morethanimaginary]

Savannah snorts with laughter. "Yeah, thought not."

[shesepankh]

"Am I missing interesting context?"

[morethanimaginary]

"He isn't the dating type and he doesn't like Lauren."

[shesepankh]

"I am curious about the why to both facts."

[castmyown]

"I don't like Lauren much for a variety of reasons, all adding up to her just being rather unpleasant to be around. I haven't dated because I haven't met anyone I've wanted to date."

[morethanimaginary]

"You could try Angela. She's nice."

[castmyown]

"She is, but I'm not going to date someone just because they're there and nice."

[shesepankh]

"Do you have a list?" wonders Bella.

[castmyown]

"Of requirements for someone to have before I date them?"

[shesepankh]

"Yeah. Must have Nobel Prize, must wear tulips in hair, must have Don Giovanni memorized?"

[castmyown]

He snorts. "Um, no? It's not like - a list of qualities a person must have to be dated. It's the end-sum of their qualities and if I think we would work together if we date."

[morethanimaginary]

His sister stage whispers, "He's a romantic."

[shesepankh]

Bella giggles.