Preface

The Wishing Trees

I am eighteen years old today, at least I think I am. It's so very hard to tell time when all you have to go by is the sun and the moon. It won't really make much of a difference anyway. No one will be celebrating, not one card will be sent, not one birthday song sung. Of course, Dustin always tries to make it seem like the most important thing when in reality, its a small somewhat good bit compared to the gigantic problems around us. You might have figured this out by now but, my brother and I are not privileged like most teenagers. We don't have a permanent place to call our home. We find it challenging to get food for that day let alone the entire week. You could call us orphans, street rats, or riffraff. No matter what you decide to name us we will always try to make the best of what we have and in my eyes I think that is above all the foul names you can think of.

Chapter 1

Dawn is breaking behind the clouds. I see brilliant shades of oranges, yellows, and pinks through my make-shift window. I close my eyes and wish for more sleep to come. That is the only time when I don't have to worry about how I’m going to feed us, if we'll have to find another place to live, or if we'll survive another day. I wish I could live more hours in unconsciousness, but to my utter dismay I can't seem to drift in my dreams another minute. I curl up against the wall dragging my flimsy sheet, I call a blanket, with me. I notice that if my markings on the wall are correct, than it is indeed the 12th of may. I start to dream of what it would be like to have a house, to have a family. How wonderful would it all be to never have to worry about anything more than what I will choose to wear that day. If I concentrated just enough I could actually see a whole different life that I might have lived. I would have had a nice cottage in the forest to live in with my family. My parents are there with Dustin and me. We are laughing and having a nice homemade breakfast together. All of a sudden, right in the middle of a good joke our dad was telling, reality breaks into my one true dream.
I hear Dustin's feet bounding up the stone stairs to my supposed room. I lean my head back against the rough wall and wait for him. His brown hair comes bobbing up around the corner. I close my eyes and pretend to sleep knowing how much joy he gets from his usual morning wake up tricks. I can sense his presence in the room, hear his ragged breath, and I hear something else I cannot place. It sounds like something sloshing. I can feel him getting closer, and I hear what he brought with him more distinctly now. I realize with a rush what exactly he plans to do. I'm about to reach out and open my eyes to stop him when I’m drenched up against the wall, my soaking wet clothes sticking to me like a second skin. I hear my brother's laughter coming from my right. I slit my eyes open to glare at him. I'm about to ask him why the heck he chose to try and drown me when he snickers out:
"Come on Olivia, you didn't honestly think you were getting a normal wake up call on your eighteenth birthday?” I laughed with him glad he was smiling today.
"A girl can hope, can't she?” I say, "oh and I hope you know by now you are responsible for leaving this stuff out to dry, right?”
"I figured it out before, but I still think it was worth it. Don't give me that look I'll figure it all out later just come down the stairs.” he calls out from a few feet away, rolling his eyes when I don't join him. "I promise no more bad surprises for you today. Now get down here." I sigh and bounce up on my feet to follow him down the cracking rocky stairs.
* * * *
By the time I pounced into to main area of our abandoned building, which was going to cave in a couple of weeks, Dustin was practically bouncing off the walls. I was about to ask what the merry-go-round was about when I see an actual cake on the old crate along with a big cardboard box beside it.
“Dustin, how did you get this?” I ask, worried for his safety.
“Oh, don’t worry about that, all you need to do is enjoy it.” he replied, kneeling beside the small birthday cake.
“I’m serious, Dustin.” My voice came out harsher than I intended, but I didn’t want him to be out there risking his life for some silly cake. Hurt flashed across his face which was quickly overcome with a serious expression.
“Fine, I got it from Chep.” he snapped.
Chep is a kind baker who tries any time he can to help us out by giving us leftovers that were not bought in the bakery he worked in. He attempted to help any way he could, but wasn’t able to do much in fear of being caught. We understood his dilemma and appreciated (and tried to repay him even though he insists on not worrying ourselves about it) every service he has done for us. We don’t want anyone risking anything for us. He is, in some ways, our only friend besides each other. Many people also ‘accidentally’ leave a pie or meal out on their window knowing we would come by, but that’s just simple once a week deals. Chep is somehow different. I gave Dustin an apologetic look.
“I’m sorry. It’s just you know I don’t like for you to make unplanned rummages without telling me about it first,” I responded softly.
“I know, but I wanted to surprise you. If I would’ve asked I would have had to tell you what I was going for. I couldn’t do that. It would have ruined the fun.” he admitted. I sighed. Dustin was always trying to surprise me in any way he could think of. Some surprises were good some on the other hand not so much like my wake up call this morning for instance.
“Come on and help me cut this thing. I know you want to dig in as much as I do.” I teased. I was trying to get his mood back up instead of tearing his excitement down any more than I already had. It worked. He cheered up immediately.
“I knew you would be thrilled. I thought it was the perfect thing. Your eighteenth birthday had to be special and this was one of the things I thought of. You’ll have to wait and see for the rest. You’ll have to be very patient though!” he chattered on excitedly.
“Okay, okay. First, we have to figure out the best way to cut our treasure of the day without a knife on hand. I don’t know about you, but I think this cake is too good to dirty up with my pocket knife.” I said, starting to think of all the things that would work as a knife that was clean.
“Already got it!” Dustin exclaimed, throwing out a plastic knife beside the cake onto the wooden box.
“Let me guess. Chep?” I mused. He nodded vigorously, and I rolled my eyes. Chep was always prepared. I picked up the knife, and let Dustin cut it with me, because he was so excited about it. After, several pieces had been cut I laid out an old worn out piece of cloth I had found. It was the cleanest thing we had for plates at the moment. I laid out two slices of cake with Dustin following my every move. I laughed. “What are you waiting for?! Dig in!” I exclaimed, but he wouldn’t touch it.
“No, you have to try it first.” He stated staring at me like it should’ve been obvious. My face expressed my surprise.
“Why, do you think Chep poisoned it or something?” I joked. He, however, didn’t take it so lightly.
“No of course not!” he fretted, “I just wanted you to have the first taste since it is your birthday and all. If I did think he poisoned it I would be the taste tester. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, Olivia, as long as I can help it. I love you. You’re my sister and my best friend. Sure, we fight, but I don’t know what I would do without you.” By the time he finished I had tears in my eyes.
“Oh, Dustin! I love you too. I wouldn’t let anything or anyone hurt you. I would rather die trying to protect you. You’re my best friend too. You don’t ever need to worry about what you would do if I wasn’t here. I will not leave you freely, and I’m not going to be forced anywhere anytime soon for that matter. I’ll always be here for you even if it’s not physically, but mentally and emotionally.” I pulled him into a vice tight hug with tears streaming down my face. I could tell he was trying to be strong and not cry, but he let a couple of sobs stifle out against my shoulder. I was the first to pull back. I wiped my eyes dry with the back of my hand. "This is no time to be sad. It's my birthday after all or did you forget?" I teased as he wiped stubbornly at the tears across his cheeks.
"Of course not. Now, am I going to have to force feed you or what?" he snickered, "Come on, my mouth's already watering!" he stared down at the two pieces or cake in front of us. I laughed at the longing that was plain on his face. I slowly lifted up a bite of the cake to my mouth with Dustin hanging on my every movement. I decided that he had enough waiting and pooped the piece into my mouth. Dustin followed my lead and immediately started scarfing down his piece of cake. I would've laughed at his rush, but i was to busy savoring every last bit of the cake that was already in my mouth. We didn't speak while we ate. We were each to busy enjoying every last crumb of our dessert.
* * * *
Dustin rubbed his stomach slowly as he leaned back against the wall. I sat back next to him and stretched my arms over my head. I had put the cover back over what was left of my birthday cake to save it for later on. I snickered as Dustin let out a long sigh.
"You should start begging Chep for more food like this more often." I say, poking my elbow into his stomach making him bump me in my shoulder.
"I didn't beg! He was the one that brought it up. He wanted to do it for you since it is your eighteenth birthday. I just lightly suggested that the bigger one would be better. That's all." he shrugged. I couldn't help the smile that spread over my face. I pulled him into a quick bearhug and ruffled his hair. "Oh come on, Olive. It finally stayed down today!" he complained, trying to style it back down, but failing miserably.
"I wish you wouldn't call me that. I don't even like olives!" I exclaim, letting my voice echoes around the crumbling brick walls. Dustin tried to disguise his laugh as a cough.
"Sorry! It just kinda stuck ever since.." he grew quiet, all the joking was gone from his face. I knew we were thinking the same thing. We were both remembering back when our parents were still alive.

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 23.10.2011

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