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  Chapter 20

  Asia Fisher was a girl that they both had seen at school. They didn’t know much about her other than she used to have a totally different name: Delilah Johnson. No one knew why, but in the middle of the sixth grade her name suddenly changed. She only went to school with them for half a day and she didn’t have to get dressed for gym. Waverly had always been a little jealous of that. “Umm..hey?” was all Astrid could say. The girl came a few steps closer to them and held out her hand to shake. Waverly looked at Astrid and shrugged her shoulders, but took the girls hand. “Nice to finally meet you.” She said trying to sound reassuring. “My name is Waverly, and this is Astrid.” She took a step back to stand next to her friend, her feet wet from the night time grass. “I know who you guys are; I came here because I have to tell you something.” She handed Astrid a pamphlet with a cross on the front that read “The Wages of Sin are death.” Both girls just stared at the pamphlet. “I mean, thanks? I guess? Are you trying to save our souls or something?” Astrid said just as short and direct as Asia had been. “No, that isn’t my purpose on this Earth. I came here to tell you that my mom’s church is going to start picketing your house. She thinks that what you are doing is the work of the devil himself. I just came to tell you that she’s making me picket too. I don’t want to. You have always been real nice to me at school. But, I can’t go against my mom and I don’t want you to be mad at me.” It took Astrid a second to process all of this new information. “Well, can’t you tell her that the devil isn’t in any way involved in what we’re doing?” Astrid asked. Waverly put a palm to her forehead. “Astrid, look at the pamphlet. They pretty much think everything is the work of the devil. It’s unfair of us to ask her to go against her own mom.” Astrid apologized, she knew Waverly was right. “Listen Asia, thanks for coming here to warn us or whatever. We really do appreciate it. We won’t be mad at you. Do you want us to walk you home?” The girl shuffled back and forth and shook her head no. “It’s no problem; we can just go grab our bikes real…” The screen door opened and Astrid’s dad said “Time to come inside girls, it’s getting pretty late.” Asia quickly took Astrid’s hand in hers. “You guys will still be my friends, right?” Waverly looked at Astrid and nodded her head yes. “Of course we will. It’s all good. No worries.” And with that Asia turned and ran back into the darkness. “Since when are we her friends? When were we nice to her at school?” Waverly asked. “I’ve never even talked to her at school. Have you?” Astrid couldn’t remember ever saying anything to her. “I think I said “cute skirt” to her once, but that’s it. How sad is it that she thinks we’re her friends?” Waverly crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, aren’t we?” Astrid threw her hands in the air. “Let me rephrase that. I’m just saying that it’s sad that we’ve never even talked to her, and she thinks that we’ve been nice.” I mean, how mean is everyone else? Astrid yawned. “Hop on sleepyhead.” Waverly turned around and gave Astrid a piggyback ride across the yard. Astrid’s dad was waiting for them in the kitchen. “What was that all about?” He was too tired to be mad at this point in the evening. Both girls explained the whole thing to Astrid’s dad. He didn’t seem too pleased about the picketing part, but there is such a thing as peaceful protest, he reminded them. “I guess it just goes to show you that you never really know how you’re being perceived by others. There’s a lesson in there somewhere girls.” Astrid’s dad waited for the girls to get upstairs before turning out the kitchen light. He was at the top of the stairs when Astrid opened her door. “I sort of love you a lot.” She said hugging her dad. “You are my sunshine and I love you more” He said kissing her forehead. Astrid turned to go back in her room, and her dad started down the hallway when he stopped and said “But, you still only get two hours a day.”

  Chapter 21

  The next morning when Astrid’s dad went outside to leave for work the whole street was lined with television cameras and news crews. There were actual tents on the sidewalk in front of the QAV. He immediately rushed back inside to wake the girls. When they looked outside they thought it must be some kind of joke. There were at least 30 different news stations camped out in front of their house. “The neighbors keep calling; they can’t get out of their driveways to go to work.” Astrid’s mother said pouring a cup of coffee. “I guess I will go outside and try to manage some of this chaos, at least to keep the peace with our neighbors.” He said walking towards the door. Astrid felt bad, she knew that this was all her fault and she followed her dad outside to try and help. But, as soon as the reporters saw her they swarmed around her like bees to their queen. Her father attempted to protect her by backing her up onto the porch, but it was no use. There were too many of them. The bright lights and camera flashes were like lightening, and she had barely been awake for ten minutes. She was pushed backwards onto the porch, and she fell down hard. Hard enough to make tears well up in her eyes, she began to tremble. At that moment, Waverly opened the door and pulled her inside and slammed the door shut. The two girls sat on the floor staring at each other. After a few minutes, Waverly spoke. “They aren’t just going to leave ya know. We have to go out and say something to them.” Astrid wiped her nose on her palm and brushed her hair out of her eyes. “I have never been so scared in my life; they just came at me from every direction.” Astrid began to tear up again. Waverly wrapped her hands around her friend’s neck and kissed her on top of the head. “I am so sorry that happened to you, I can go out and talk to them if you want.” Astrid looked up at Waverly and for a moment she almost said “okay” but she didn’t. “No” she said sniffing up all her tears. “I dragged you into this, and we’re partners, we will think of something to say, and we will go out there together, a united front.” She stood up and held her hand out to Waverly and pulled her up from the floor. Waverly looked own at her feet and said “Maybe we should change out of our pajamas first. There will be hot boys all over the world seeing us.” She poked Astrid in the ribs. “The WORLD, Wave? Don’t you think that’s a tad ambitious?” Astrid said bounding up the stairs. “Well, duh? Why else would they call it The World Wide Web? I mean it’s pretty obvious to me.” Astrid agreed that Waverly did have a point. The girls got dressed and had prepared what they were going to say. They were starting to go back downstairs when Astrid stopped suddenly. “What’s the matter?” Waverly asked. “Pick up your phone and look at it.” Astrid said. She was just standing and staring at her phone and Waverly was confused. “Why? What’s wrong with it?” She said looking around the room for her phone. She had left it charging on the floor next to the bed. She bent over and picked it up. At first she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “I have over three hundred text messages.” Waverly said staring at Astrid with her mouth hanging open. No other words would come out. It was like her brain couldn’t process the information fast enough. “Me too, I don’t even know who most of these people are. How do they know our phone numbers?” Astrid spoke like someone who had just witnessed an accident. “Are you reading them? They all want answers to …something.” Waverly threw her phone down on the floor; she didn’t even want to touch it. What are we supposed to do? This is seriously freaking me out right now.” Waverly said looking at her friend. She walked over to Astrid and took the phone out of her friends hand and put it on the dresser. “Step away from the phone Astrid” She said in a fake-serious voice. “It can’t hurt you.” She tried to be funny for both of their sakes, but it wasn’t really working. “Let’s just compose ourselves and go back outside, we can deal with the text messages later. One thing at a time okay? Baby steps.” Astrid agreed. Hand in hand they went outside to face the media together. Astrid was relieved the see that her father had the reporters backed up onto the sidewalk. It wasn’t hard to convince them after they learned that he was in fact a lawyer. The girls walked slowly down the brick pathway to the sidewalk. All the reporters were shouting questions at them. Astrid’s father held up a hand and said “One at a time please or the girls have no comment.” The first r
eporter was from a global news network. Astrid knew that everything they would say was about to become viral. Quickly. Across the street she could see Asia trying to stay in the shade as much as possible behind her mother. They were standing with two other picketers who were praying. “Can you tell us what started this whole phenomenon? The first person asked. Astrid tried to get closer to the microphone. “Well, I was bored one day and my mother suggested I get a summer job.” The crowd laughed. “It appears to be working. We have reports that you have a three month waiting list. Is that true?” Waverly looked at Astrid and shrugged. It was her turn at the microphone and Astrid was more than happy to let her take over. “We do in fact have a waiting list, I’m not really sure how long it is, but we do have to go back to school at some point.” She then added: “Next question.” As usual, Astrid was in awe of her friend. “Can you tell us how two middle school girls have been so accurate in their readings? From what we’ve learned, you’re never wrong about anything.” This was news to Waverly and she was trying to think of something witty to say when Asia’s mother began to speak from across the street. “It’s not them! It’s the devil’s work. He’s just using these poor children! He’s speaking through them! Lord have mercy on their young souls.” Asia hid behind her sign. The crowd turned back to Waverly. “Everyone has the right to their own opinions, but this isn’t the work of anyone besides Astrid and me. We just tell people what we see in the cards that they themselves draw. It’s pretty simple really.” Astrid tried to take a cue from Waverly. “We can really only take one more question. We’re only allowed two hours a day to work on our summer job, and I’m afraid my dad is going to consider this as working. Upon hearing this, the reporters all started shouting questions at once. It was so hard to make out what anyone was saying, that Waverly just pointed randomly to one of them. “What plans do you have for all of the money that you’re making?” Someone shouted. Waverly tried to steady herself amid all of the ongoing flashes of light. “Well, I’m not sure yet about mine, but Astrid is using hers to buy a coffin for her room.” At once, all of the reporters were swirling around and furiously snapping pictures. Asia’s mother fainted, but none of the reporters noticed. Astrid could not believe what her best friend had just said. She crossed her arms over her chest and walked back across the lawn. By the time they reached the porch, the coffin news had already gone viral.

  Chapter 22

  “Hey grammykins, what’s up?” Astrid said as she walked into the kitchen of her grandmother’s house. It had been a week since the press incident, and she hadn’t left the QAV since then. She was getting all kinds of creepy messages on social media and she was afraid to go anywhere. “Mom said you called and wanted me to come over, she just dropped me off.” Her grandmother looked up from the cake she was frosting and smiled. “How’s Waverly?” She asked. “Can we please talk about something else grandma?” Her grandma could see that she was still pretty upset, so she changed the subject. “Whatever you wish my dear. Jordan is here mowing the grass and I thought you kids might like some cake.” She said still smiling like a grandma who was up to something. “Grandma! Stop trying to hook me up with Jordan please…I mean he’s cool and all, but I don’t like, like him.” Astrid said licking frosting off of a spoon. “My dearest, I am not hooking anyone up with anyone, I just thought it’d be nice if you had some cake with us, the boy never lets me give him any money for mowing my lawn and I feel like I should do something nice to repay him, besides….you can never have too many friends, I always say.” Astrid thought about this for a minute, and she would practically do anything for cake. Not to mention for a friend at this point. “Okay, but just so we’re straight I’m doing this for you ONLY, not Jordan.” She said sitting down at the table and looking out the window. Jordan was all done mowing and he was walking up to the backdoor. “I suppose the cake has nothing at all to do with your decision.” Her grandma laughed. Jordan knocked and walked inside. “Oh hey Astrid, I didn’t know you’d be here, nice surprise though.” He seemed awkward to Astrid, she thought it was cute. “Jordan, sit down and have some cake and lemonade, both made fresh.” Her grandma smiled. “You didn’t have to go to all this trouble Miss Lilly, not on my account anyway.” Astrid’s grandma patted Jordan on the head and handed him a piece of cake. “Now my dear, you know all we grandma’s like to do is make people eat, so don’t be silly and have some cake, trouble is the last thing you could ever be.” There was a loud buzzing from the hallway; it was the dryer in the laundry room. “Well, there’s my laundry….you kids eat as much as you want, while I go and fold some clothes.” Astrid rolled her eyes at her grandma while Jordan wasn’t looking. Her grandma smiled at her and made a talking mouth motion with her hand and pointed at Jordan. “So, Jordan you really should be charging my grandma a LOT to mow her grass, she always WINS BIG at bingo.” Astrid said in a loud enough voice so she was sure her grandma could hear. “Oh, I could never do that.” Jordan said in an almost sad sounding voice. “Astrid, after we eat, will you go somewhere with me? I want to show you something.” Jordan said, his face was either red from embarrassment, or he was still hot from mowing, Astrid couldn’t decide which. “Yeah, sure, of course. Where are we going?” Astrid wondered. “Just for a walk, not too far I promise. I just want to show you something. I promise you’ll like it.” They ate their cake in silence, until Astrid’s grandma came back into the room. “You kids all done? Who wants a second piece?” Astrid looked at her grandma and smiled, she really did have the best grandma ever. “Actually, is it okay if we go for a walk? Jordan wants to show me something.” Her grandmother had started to clean off the table and nearly dropped a plate. “Is that a fact?” she said winking at Astrid. “Of course you can go for a walk my darlings.” This time she was winking at Jordan. Astrid and Jordan had only walked a few blocks when they came to a lovely brick house with a beautiful lawn. “This is it” Jordan declared. “I suppose you cut this lawn for free too” Astrid said just noticing the rose bushes. There were tons of them. Lining both sides of the front yard, and from what she could tell the back as well. Beautiful roses, in every color and variety imaginable. “This looks like a park, instead of someone’s home.” Astrid had said to Jordan who was heading up the steps to the front door. “Yep, they’re my grandma’s. And yes, I do mow this lawn for free also.” Jordan smiled. Astrid was walking up the steps behind him, when Jordan suddenly turned around. “Astrid, there’s a reason that I like being around your grandma and helping her out. My grandma died last year, and...well...I just miss her so much, we always used to work on her roses together, and I feel so lost without her. So, someone had mentioned to me that I should get out in the community and volunteer to help me feel better, and I found your grandma, and that’s why I couldn’t possibly ever charge her. It would be like charging my own grandma. I hope that makes sense and isn’t too lame.” Tears were welling up in Astrid’s eyes as she thought of how much she missed her grandpa. “Jordan, it isn’t lame and I would be happy to share my grandma with you.” She said choking back the tears. “Is this what you wanted to show me? They are very lovely, and I am sure your grandmother is very proud of you.” Jordan cracked his knuckles and Astrid could see that he was nervous. “Well, not exactly all of it, there’s more. Follow me.” They went up on the porch and Jordan knocked on the door. No one answered, so he took a key from a flower pot near the door and unlocked it. Inside the house was very dark, and it was taking Astrid’s eyes a minute to adjust. There was no one in the living room, so they walked through the house and into the back yard. “Hi grandpa” Jordan yelled. The old man turned around and saw the two and waved. “Hang on a sec, let me turn down the radio, I’m just listening to the ballgame.” Jordan’s grandpa was sitting at a table in the back yard with an old metal radio. “I didn’t expect you today Mr. Jordan, and to what do I owe this pleasure?” he said in a cranky voice. “Sorry, if we interrupted you grandpa, we were just out for a walk.” Jordan explained to his grandpa who had gotten up and was walking i
nto the house. Astrid and Jordan followed behind. “Do you want something to drink?” the old man asked. “That’d be great” Jordan replied. “Well you know where the fridge is.” His grandpa had said. Astrid was beginning to feel rather uncomfortable. “Are we bothering him?” Astrid whispered to Jordan in the kitchen as her grandpa went into the living room and turned on the lights. “Oh, don’t mind him, that’s just how he is sometimes. We’re fine.” Jordan sighed. They got their drinks and headed into the living room and sat down. “That’s an interesting desk” Astrid said trying to be a good guest. “I’ve never seen a desk with so many drawers before.” She shuffled her shoes on the carpet. “That desk, my dear, as you call it, is a card catalog. I suppose you kids don’t even know what that is anymore these days what with all of your fancy wee-fee’s and hotspots and nonsense.” Jordan whispered to Astrid “He means Wi-Fi.” His grandpa cleared his throat. “You all look up everything online these days; no one would ever think to even look inside of a book now would they?” Astrid was stunned. Beyond stunned. Something way past stunned. “Umm…I know that’s how people looked for books in the library back in the olden days.” She managed to sneak a word in edgewise. His grandfather scoffed. “Well, it wasn’t that long ago, but yes you are correct.” He smiled. “What’s your name again Miss? I don’t believe Jordan told me.” Astrid looked at Jordan and kicked him under the coffee table. “Oh, sorry grandpa, her name is Astrid. She is Lilly’s granddaughter.” All at once, the mood in the room changed. “Well, you don’t say, are you really Lilly’s granddaughter?” His grandfather said beaming. Astrid noticed that he seemed to sit up straighter all of the sudden. “Yes, Sir…as a matter of fact we…..” suddenly Jordan’s grandpa jumped up. “You kids, wait here, I’ll be right back.” He walked quickly, almost running, out of the room. Astrid looked at Jordan and he just shrugged his shoulders. His grandpa returned a few minutes later with a huge vase full of roses. Beautiful red roses with some pink and yellow smaller ones mixed in. He handed the vase to Astrid. “These are for your grandma Lilly, please give them to her for me, won’t you?” He winked at Astrid. Astrid had no idea what had just happened. “Yes?” was all she could muster. Jordan nudged her in the ribs and smiled. “Well, grandpa, I guess we better get going before Miss Lilly thinks we were kidnapped or something.” Like that could ever happen is this town Astrid thought to herself. Jordan got up and hugged his grandpa.“Ok, you kids be careful and make sure you tell your grandma that I picked those especially for her.” He said waving from the porch as they walked down the stairs to the sidewalk. “We certainly will!” Jordan yelled back. As Astrid walked up the street she chuckled to herself and wiped a tear from her eye. She finally knew something that her grandma didn’t. And she couldn’t wait to tell her.