Amber
Title: Amber
Author: InsolentScrawl
Rating: General
X X X
Long, straight roads bored the hell out of him. The alternate made him shudder, though, because his sister Megan drove like a heathen.
Kermit Donovan liked living, thus he drove from Seattle to Pullman, Washington - home of Washington State University. Simple, straight, logical, and the source of an hour-long argument prior to leaving.
“Come on, Kert, stop driving like an old woman,” she cajoled, her lilting tone giving away her humor. “We’ll never get there at this rate.”
“Yes, we will,” he replied, forcing his face to remain stern. “We’ll get you there and checked into the dorm in no time.”
Lapsing into silence, Kert contemplated his sister’s future. Full of promise, the budding 18-year-old had been praised by many as having the same aptitude and eye as her uncle Bryce Donovan, a world famous photojournalist. Constantly energized, she seemed to buzz around everyone with a sense of optimism that only came with youth.
Glancing over to where she sat with her bare feet propped on the navy blue dashboard of the car, he withheld the snorting laugh that almost escaped at the sight of her neon blue toenail polish. “That’s my sister. So full of life,” he thought, almost reverently.
In so many ways, she reminded him of their mother. The woman who bore them. The woman who showed them happiness. The woman who died when Meg was just a small child, and Kert a pre-teen.
In some ways, it seemed only yesterday that Kert came home to find his parents had died in a car accident. As days had first passed into months and then into years, it always caused his breath to hitch when he realized he’d forgotten just a little more here and there. The boy with the photographic memory could remember the way her lips crinkled when his mother smiled, but couldn’t quite grasp the feeling of it anymore. Details slipped into the horizon, but when he looked at Meg, he could pull them back a little.
“Watcha thinkin’ about Kermit?” Meg asked from the passenger seat, forcing his attention back to the present.
“Mom,” he softly replied. “I’m thinking how proud Mom would be of you Megan. She’d be proud that you’re following your dreams, and she’d be proud that you’re going to attend her alma mater.”
“I’m living in the same dorm,” Meg softly replied. “I chose it because mom lived in Stevens Hall when she went to Wazzu.”
“You know what else?” he said. “I’m proud of you, too. You’ve always gone after what you want, and having been willing to work, too. The fact that you’ve already had a couple of gallery displays is amazing.” Nonchalantly, he stated, “People have always called me a genius. I may have a high IQ, but I think you’re the brilliant one.”
With silence reverberating from the passenger seat, Kert began to shift uncomfortably. The frown only formed when he heard a sniffle from Meg. Breaking the taut silence, he decided to lighten the mood.
“It’s a small town,” Kert said. “While you know small towns, this one doesn’t have fir trees or ferns or foxglove.” In fact, he remembered being about eight and visiting the campus as a child with his mother. “There’s not a whole lot around. Just fields and fields of wheat.”
“How can you say that?” Meg asked, her tone a study of incredulity. “Just look around.”
“Yeah, and all I’m seeing are miles upon miles of fields,” he responded.
“Right. They’re good enough for a song, though. You know… ‘Amber waves of grain’?” she smugly replied.
This time, he couldn’t withhold the snorting laugh. His baby sister always had a sharp retort for anything he said. “Point made.”
“You know, when it’s ready to harvest, it’ll be almost the same color as yours eyes,” she stated, giving a shrug. “Although, I don’t think all the wheat fields in the world could be quite as beautiful. I got my eyes brown eyes from Mom, but… if you look at yours, they glow gold like a piece of amber.”
“Yeah. Like Dad,” he responded.
“And Uncle Bryce,” Meg tossed in, thinking of her beloved uncle and man who’d raised her.