From Ant to Eagle(18)



Had she slept in? Was she running late for some reason? I decided to wait and see if she showed up. The sky was overcast but it was still hot so I went for a swim. I read. I watched Lake Huron.

And still, Aleta didn’t show up.

By lunchtime, I convinced myself that she wasn’t coming.

As I walked back to the house I thought about what could have happened. Maybe she was sick? But she’d seemed fine the day before. Maybe she’d spent the weekend with her mom? But then why had she said, “see you tomorrow”?

Sammy was playing basketball with Dad when I got home.

“I do have another son!” Dad exclaimed as I walked through the backyard toward them. “I’d completely forgotten!”

“And I’d forgotten how funny you were,” I said.

“Want to play?” Sammy asked. “Dad says I’m getting a lot better.”

“Fourteen baskets so far today,” Dad said. “He seems really intent on getting to one hundred for some reason.” Dad eyed me suspiciously and I knew Sammy probably hadn’t directly told him about the daily mission, but it was never hard to figure out what Sammy was up to.

“Seems like a good goal,” I said, deflecting Dad’s suspicious glare and continuing inside. I really wasn’t in the mood to play. I wanted to call Aleta’s house and find out why she hadn’t shown up.

I tried calling twice but both times it just rang and rang.

Oh well, I thought, she’ll be back tomorrow.

Later that night Sammy asked me if he could try to get to one hundred baskets again the next day. He’d ended up with twenty-one.

“Sure,” I said, “that can be your daily mission until you get it.”

I was happy—it meant that I wouldn’t have to think up new daily missions every day.





CHAPTER 12

TWO MORE DAYS PASSED AND STILL ALETA DIDN’T SHOW UP TO the Secret Spot. On Sunday, I saw Raquel and her dad in church but Aleta wasn’t with them.

“Where’s Aleta?” I asked Raquel as the sermon came to an end and people stood to leave.

Raquel looked hesitantly at her father. He was standing with his back to us but I had a feeling he was listening. “She’s not feeling well,” she said.

“Oh,” I said, not doing a very good job of hiding my disappointment.

“But if you want to call this evening I can make sure she picks up.”

I shrugged. “Okay, I guess I could do that.”

I had to fight to hold back my smile.

Later that evening when I spoke to Aleta, it didn’t sound like she was sick—it sounded like she was sad. She barely said a word and most of the time I could just hear her sniffling in the background.

“Do you want to go to the spot tomorrow?” I asked, not using the word ‘secret’ because I was worried Sammy or my parents were listening from the other room.

“I don’t think so,” Aleta said quietly back.

“Why not?”

I got no reply.

“We could just go for a little while.”

Again—no reply.

“Okay, I’m going to go. I guess I’ll wait for a bit by the burnt tree and if you don’t show up I’ll just go by myself.” I waited a long time to see if she’d say anything but she didn’t. “Okay, well, see you tomorrow maybe.”

I heard the phone click on the other end.

The next day I waited by the burnt tree just like I’d said. I waited for over an hour but Aleta never showed up. I felt angry. Why was she all of the sudden avoiding me? Hadn’t we had fun together? She’d loved the Secret Spot—I knew that—so why had she stopped coming? If she was sad, wouldn’t the Secret Spot make her feel better?

I ended up going to the pond by myself and reading for the day. I could’ve gone back and played with Sammy but I kept worrying Aleta might show up and I’d miss her. But she never came—not that day, or the next, or the next.

And when I’d return home from the pond each day I’d find Sammy in the driveway playing basketball, each time a little closer to one hundred.

“Thirty-four!” he called out as I approached through the backyard on the third day.

I gave him the thumbs up and we shot around for a bit before I headed inside. I was too miserable to play for very long.

After five days of reading and swimming alone at the Secret Spot, I was ready to give up. It wasn’t the same without Aleta. It was boring. I thought about how I’d have to go back to playing with Sammy. He may not have been able to read or climb trees but at least he was reliable. Luckily, it never came to that, because on the sixth day I found Aleta waiting with her backpack in our usual meeting spot.

She was sitting with her back against the trunk wearing a white dress with daffodils and flip-flops instead of running shoes. I guess she had made the decision not to run and that was fine with me.

As I approached, I didn’t make eye contact. I didn’t even say hello. I wanted her to know I was mad. I wanted an apology but it didn’t come—Aleta didn’t say anything. She just studied me for a while before standing up and leading the way to the Secret Spot.

When we got there, I sat down in our usual spot beneath a maple with an above-ground root perfect for sitting and another smaller root that made an armrest. Normally Aleta sat next to me and we’d look through the goods we’d packed for the day but this time she walked straight past. She continued around the pond until she got to a maple tree on the edge of the hill and sat down beneath it. I pretended not to notice but I was beginning to feel really annoyed. After five days of being stood up, the last thing I wanted was to be ignored. I might as well have come alone.

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