Shades of Odd (2)

Chapter 2

            Sparrowpoint had that perfect postcard town feel to it that almost made you sick. It was founded way back in 1901. Most of the original buildings are still here but with new plumbing and electricity. Main Street is entirely constructed from the original buildings.

            My family’s house is pretty huge. It’s in the center of town and has a lot of yard space. The founder of Sparrowpoint, Fredrick Sparrow, built it for his wife Laura. So the Street I live on is perfectly named Sparrow Drive. The townspeople said the house was haunted so Mom was attracted to it of course. We moved in when I was 3 months old. To Mom’s dismay, there were no signs of paranormal life at all, just a old creaky house. 

            I peddled at a moderate pace towards the bridge at the end of my street that led to Banks Road, where my friend Heather Dalton lived.

            Heather is well, to be honest: gorgeous. She has long wavy blonde hair, blue eyes, and a slim figure. I’m so jealous of her looks. Heather has serious problems though. Her mom and dad died in a car accident when she was 11 so she moved to Sparrowpoint from Florida to live with her grandpa.

Her grandpa, Henry Dalton, is a Vietnam War veteran and is the meanest old man you’ll ever meet. Heather practically lives with me during the school year. He’s doesn’t care where she’s at as long as she’s not bothering him. In the summertime he ships her off to a boot camp so she “can toughen up.”

Heather has a lot of depression problems that Ji and I can’t help with. We try our best to cheer her up when she’s down but when she gets stuck in a rut she’s there for days.

I passed by Heathers house, which was right on the riverbank. Mr. Dalton has a row boat that he spends most of his days fishing in. Today was like no other. He sat in his boat with his reel cast in the water. Next to him was a radio blaring a Hank Williams song.

I biked up Banks Road and made a right turn on to Main Street. Ji’s older brother Xing Zi was washing the glass doors of the China Sunset.

His name is pronounced Zing Z. So I call him Zingy. Zingy is tall and has a faux hawk with a purple tint. He and Owen are in the same grade but Zingy is a year older because he failed a grade.

I parked my bike and walked up behind him. “You missed a spot, Zingy.” I said. He glanced at me and then stared at the door with his dark eyes. All of the Xu’s have very deep brown eyes. 

“I think that’s just your reflection, A.J.” he chuckled.  He pushed open the door for me and I went inside.

The atmosphere inside the China Sunset was so peaceful and relaxing. The front room is the lobby where customers wait to be seated and pay their bills. Ji usually plays host/cashier. The lobby was a white room with blue marble tiles and a huge river mural on the wall behind the cash register. There was an ambience of birds and running water playing on speaker’s overhead.

Ji sat behind the counter playing a game on his laptop. Ji is much different than his brother. Ji wears glasses and is very shy. He makes very good grades in school while Zingy would rather cut class to have fun and makes D’s.

Ji looked up and smiled when he saw me.  “Hey, A.J. What’s up?”

“Nothing really. Just coming to see if your warden will let you have a free day.” I said.

“Oh, well. I don’t know. Dad’s been kinda moody today.” He frowned. As he spoke I heard a large crash coming from the kitchen followed by the yelling of foreign profanities.       

“I can tell.” I said widening my eyes.

“Maybe you can ask for me?” Ji shyly requested. Ji was very afraid of his father. His dad has never physically abused him but Ji says verbal is just as bad.

“Sure.” I said walking into the dining area. This room was bright red with a huge black dragon coiled on one wall and a city scene with Chinese characters on the adjacent one. There were booths to the sides and tables and chairs in the middle underneath four stunning glass chandeliers. I walked across the black marble and pushed the kitchen door open. Mr. Xu was glaring at Ji’s sister Lana.

“Lanying, why do you have to be so clumsy? Always breaking things! You will never be good wife.” He yelled at her in his Asian accent. Lana was busily trying to sweep up a broken plate into a dustpan.

When my presence was noticed, he smiled warmly. “Hey! It A.J.! How you doing A.J.?” he said stressing the J in my name.

“Great. I came by to see if Ji could come with me to the park?” I smiled sweetly.

“Oh yes. Yes. Take him with you. All he do is play on computer. He needs to go outdoors and have fun.” he agreed.

“Thanks, Mr. Xu.” I said skipping out the kitchen. Ji was still sitting behind the counter but now his laptop was shut and he looked nervous.

“So?” he questioned me.

“I got you covered. Come this way, Jianyu Shi.” I said in a fake Chinese accent while bowing. Ji giggled and followed me out the door. Ji walked down the alley next to the restaurant. He came back in a few seconds riding a red bike. I hopped on my own white one and we took off towards the park.

We cycled down Main Street towards the park and about 20 minutes later we switched off the main road unto a trail. After a few moments we arrived at a secluded area. It wasn’t in the park technically, but it was still on the river.

This is where our clubhouse was. Ji and I started building it when we were 10. Dad does woodwork our side porch sometimes and I started stealing random board from it. My mother noticed this after a while. Kind of hard not to notice your kid putting boards in squeaky wagon and then banging over every bump in the yard. 

Being the weird person Mom is, she asked me what I was up to. I told her and she went with me to our secret spot. She surveyed it and said “Alisa, dear, while I find this a very creative idea, I must also point out that this land is not yours and you cannot build on it.” I sulked away defeated.

For a while Ji and I hung out at in the alley by the China Sunset. One day Mom told me she had a surprise for me and to go get Ji. I did and we loaded up in her car. She drove us to our secret place and parked by the trail. We got out and walked up to the river.

To our surprise there was a small building there. Mom had bought the land and built our clubhouse! We went inside and she had even furnished it and put in electricity and a bathroom. She had used the money from her latest book and gave it the works. My mom is awesome like that. Then she gave us a key and said, “I don’t know anything about a clubhouse.” And left. She hasn’t been back since. When Heather moved to Sparrowpoint we let her in on the secret and started sharing it with her.

Ji and I parked out bikes next to the building.

“I can’t wait till my birthday, A.J. Cause then I’m gonna get a car and we can drive up here instead of riding our bikes. I’m getting too old for this.”

“A. You’re not old. You’re only 15 and B. How are you going to get a car? You’re dad’s a penny pincher.” I stated the obvious as we walked to the riverside.

“Zing has a friend who’s gonna help me get one.” He said.

“Help? As in…?” I said cuffing the bottom of my jeans. Then I tossed my flip-flops to the side.

“I’m gonna trade one of my old laptops for his car.” He said doing the same with his jeans and sneakers.

Ji was a computer geek. He knew everything about them and could build one from just the parts. He had about 4 laptops and they were freaking awesome. You couldn’t ask for a better computer than one that Ji had made himself. They were flawless. He wants to make a career from it. We always joke that one day the most popular computers in the world will be Windows, Mac, and Ji. 

“Ha. See? Your business is already making a name for itself!” I laughed dipping a toe in the water. Whoa! It was cold! 

“Yeah. It’s pretty cool.” He said quietly. I knew he was trying not to be boastful but inside he was bouncing off the walls with happiness.

We waded out to the middle of the river where there was a flat rock that we liked to sit and talk on.

“So, you excited?” he asked.

“For?” I replied.

“Freshman year. It’s looming over us. I’m kinda scared. You know how it was for me in middle school.” He said. He was referring to the bullying he got from the male population of Sparrowpoint Middle School. They were downright horrible to him. They would mock his parents and ask him if he could do karate and a lot of other racist stuff.

“Yeah I know.” I said patting his leg. “Well, I’m not like ‘Omg yay’ excited but I’m still pretty impatient about it.” I grinned.

“Yeah, I’m like…” Ji started to say but stopped. “Am I seeing things A.J.?” he said squinting his eyes towards the trail.

“No you’re not.” I said. There was someone walking up it.