//------------------------------// // FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Turn! Turn! Turn! (There is a Season) // Story: Seven Days in Sunny June, Book V: The New Frontier // by Shinzakura //------------------------------// FOURTEEN YEARS AGO Ashburn, Virginia “So, how long do you think it’ll be before you and the girls are reduced to a hunter-gatherer existence?” asked the voice over the phone. Sky laughed. “Mom, there’s an IHOP down the road. If the girls and I are reduced to that, at least we’ll be fat and happy.” He looked over his shoulder from his perch in the kitchen, where a trio of toddlers quietly watched Noggin on TV. “Besides, Lo is only going to be in LA for a couple of days, so we should be fine.” “You must be really proud of her.” Sky nodded. “I am – a cooking segment on ABC will do wonders for Lo’s already stellar career,” he commented, “and then I can have my in-laws get off my case about my career.” “They still asking you if you’re planning to run for office?” “Yeah; Lo’s dad thinks I should start small and just run for the state legislature. Seriously, though, I have no interest.” It was at this point that there was sudden hammering on the door. “Well, someone’s pounding on the door, so I better go see what’s going on. Talk to you later, and give my love to Dad, okay? Bye.” Sky hung up the phone and made a beeline for the door. “I’m coming, okay? Hold your shirt!” Sky opened the door to find his next-door neighbor, Muddy Trails, and his daughter, Softspoken, standing there. Muddy was a USMC lieutenant colonel assigned to the defense coordination office at State, down the hall from his office, and the two had hit it off immediately. Muddy, like Sky, had taken the week off, but his reasoning was different: he was expecting his in-laws in town in a couple of days. Meanwhile, his college-age daughter, Softspoken, had babysat for the girls on numerous occasions and just loved them to death. “Oh, man, Sky! Thank God I found you! Get dressed; we need to get going immediately!” Muddy insisted. Sky immediately noted that Muddy was in his military uniform. “What?” “Don’t worry, Mr. Sky, I’ll watch over the girls,” Softspoken said. “They’ll be fine – you have my word.” “Muddy, what’s going on?” The urgency of his friend started to worry; as a Marine, usually he was the kind of cool customer that didn’t even yell at the idiots driving on the Toll Road heading into DC. So to see him this frantic really worried Sky. “Attacks – we’re under attack in New York and here as of thirty minutes ago,” he explained. “C’mon, my car’s ready. I need to drop you off at the Emergency Site, then I need to get to Quantico and see what the hell’s going on.” “Attack?” Sky asked, pausing only to grab his ID and a blazer; he was in a t-shirt and jeans but given the situation taking the time to change into something more formal was out of the question. “Who’s attacking?” “Dunno,” Muddy told him as they both got into the man’s car, a brand-new Mustang. Muddy gunned the engine and took off, adding, “Called the Sheriff’s Office; they’re going to have an officer meet us at the Toll Plaza. From that point, State Patrol will escort us in the rest of the way. Turn on the radio and see what you can find.” Sky turned it to the news and was horrified to hear what was going on the radio: “We’ve just received confirmation that American Airlines Flight 77, departing Dulles for Los Angeles, has been identified as the aircraft that was crashed into the Pentagon thirty minutes ago. Firefighters are on the scene and we take you live to our reporter on-site, Investigative Query. Investigative, can you tell us what happened?” Sky slunk into the seat of the car. “Oh, my God….” Muddy did not like the sound of Sky’s voice. “What’s wrong?” “Lo was on Flight 77.” A few days later, a flamingo-pink S3T Lightning motorcycle pulled up in front of the house. The rider got off, pulled off her silver helmet and shook a shaggy mop of teal and black out. Golden eyes scanned the area. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, seriously? This place has El Rancho Camelot written all over it!” she groaned. She put her helmet on the bike, then went to the front door and rang the doorbell. After a few minutes, Softspoken opened the door. “Yes, can I help you?” “Hi!” the newcomer said, blowing a bubble from gum. “Is this 54920 Lakeview Lane?” “Yes. Can I help you?” “Hot Touch Prostitutes, Inc. Got a client here, says he needs his rocks off. You the other girl they hired?” the girl removed her sunglasses. “You’re kinda hot, but I don’t do girls unless I get paid enough, or I get enough alcohol, okay?” The door was slammed in the girl’s face, and she groaned. “No fucking sense of humor, I swear….” she moaned. She knocked on the door again and Softspoken opened the door once more. “You have ten seconds to leave before I call the police,” she warned. “Look, okay, it was a bad joke.” The girl pulled off her sunglasses. “Seriously, I’m Twilight Glitter. I’m Sky’s kid sister, and I just drove up here from Miami since the country’s got every fucking plane that isn’t military grounded right now. My mom and big sis Velvet both said I had to get up here, so I hauled my very cute little college girl tush up here. Somebody want to explain what’s going on?” “And why should I believe you?” “And who are you? Wasn’t aware Sky and Lo were into threesomes.” Softspoken was about to slam the door in Glitter’s face again, but the girl stuck her foot in the door. “You do not have a sense of humor, do you?” “No, and if you’ve been paying attention to the news, you wouldn’t either,” the other girl growled. “Look, I get it okay? Some fucking towelheads did their Allahu Snackbar into the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon. I’m not dead, so the President just gets an excuse to nuke the Middle East and call it that, right?” Tears started filling Softspoken’s eyes. “Your sister-in-law was on one of those flights, you bitch!” The cocky smile fell from Glitter’s face. “Oh, fuck. Shit, I didn’t know. Godfuckingdammit, look, I didn’t know, okay? I love my family, but we’re not exactly the talkative types, okay? It’s why I went to school at UM – wanted to get away from everyone.” “I’ve been here trying to take care of the girls, because Mr. Sky is just too broken up right now!” Glitter bit off a joke she was going to say; making suggestive comments that this girl go take her brother to bed and clear his problems that way suddenly didn’t seem funny anymore. “I know. I loved Lo. I probably got along with her more than I do my actual big sister – Vel and I just don’t see eye to eye, and Tia and Lu never had time for me since they’re older than I am and…you know what, nevermind. Let me get my bag and come in, okay?” Softspoken nodded, and Glitter went and retrieved her saddlebag and ran back over. “How’s he doing?” “Dad’s with him next door at our place. He didn’t think that it was a good idea to leave Mr. Sky to his own devices right now.” “Yeah. I’m a bartender and I’ve seen more than a few people try to drink their sorrows away – never works,” Glitter admitted. “Where are the girls?” “Watching TV right now. Mrs. Garden was supposed to come back today and sooner or later, the girls are going to figure it out. They’re very smart for their age.” “Yeah, I know.” She walked into the room and stripped off her riding suit; she was in a babydoll tee and cutoff shorts right now; she’d change into something more modest later – contrary to Velvet’s arguments, Glitter did know what propriety was. She looked at Softspoken. “Go get my brother. He needs to be here for this shit. I know he’s hurting – we’re all going to be hurting, especially the girls – but he can’t back out. They need their father.” Softspoken nodded and left. Glitter approached the girls, looking at them as they continued to watch the TV. Even at their age, they were already watching Sesame Street, which was probably for older kids. They’re going to be smart and beautiful, Lo, Glitter said, feeling her eyes sting with tears as the crushing reality of what was going on hit her. I’ll make sure of it. She was going to have to find a university to transfer to up here and talk to her boss to see if she could transfer from the Hooters she worked at to one that was local. Or maybe she’d have to get a real job in addition to college, because she was going to have to be a role model now. She sat down next to her nieces and hugged the three of them, fighting tears. She needed to be strong for them. Unlike Vel, that bitch, she was going to show her nieces what it was like to be a girl in this family. I’ll take care of them, Lo. I promise.