Page 28 of Something New

Molly was at John-Michael's house when he got home Saturday afternoon. She had a small apartment that she shared with a roommate, and she agreed to house-sit for him while the boys were staying at Camp Eden with their parents.

She was standing in the kitchen when they walked in. "What's up y'all two sick-os?"

"I’m not a sick-o!" Ethan said, laughing at her and running across the living room toward her.

"Are you cleaning? It smells good in here." John-Michael asked, smiling where as he put down their things.

"Yes! Just like in the movies where the parents get back and you have to get everything cleaned up just in time."

"Did you have a party?"

"Heyyyy, my man!" she said, catching her nephew and setting him on the counter next to her. "I did have a few people over here, but we didn't do anything we wouldn't do in front of you. We did eat all of your food, though. I put in a Target order to replace a few of the things. I'll go pick them up."

"That's fine. My stuff would have gone bad soon, anyway. I'm thankful you were here. And thanks for getting it all cleaned up."

"How are you guys feeling? Mom said you had it pretty rough."

"Yeah, I started feeling a lot better yesterday, though. I went for a run out in the woods. They got that tunnel finished. It's so cool. We need to have a party out there."

"Mom was telling me about it. Maybe sometime around Halloween. I can't believe you went for a run already."

"I did it yesterday and today. I wanted to finish sweating everything out. I feel a lot better. What's that?"

"Oh, mail. It was at the door last week."

"Where from?"

"I don't know I didn't even look at it. The smaller envelopes are right there, with a rubber band. You had a couple of bigger packages too. They're in your office. I got them out of the way since people were coming over."

"What is this?" He asked again as he approached the envelope.

It was stacked against the wall in the kitchen, being held in place by a desk organizer where John-Michael kept his keys and sunglasses. It was an oversized, rigid envelope, propped on the counter and taking up a good portion of the backsplash.

He picked it up and squinted at it curiously. The handwriting was a woman's—at least he assumed it was. It was neat and clear with an artistic quality to it. It seemed familiar. As he got closer, he could see that the return address was from Sadie Kirkpatrick. His heart sped up when he saw her name. He pictured her. It seemed like it had been forever since he had seen her. He smiled and took the envelope into his hands, opening it carefully.

"How come you didn't tell me this was here?"

"I didn't know it was special. I thought it was something from school."

He carefully slid out the stack of papers that were in the envelope. Each one was individually enclosed in plastic, and he realized they were photographs. The photos themselves looked to be at least 8x10.

"Whoa, what is that?" Molly asked, coming to stand closer.

"Whoa, what is that?" Ethan said, repeating his aunt.

"It's you," John-Michael said.

"Sadie took me of that," he said, almost getting the phrase right.

"Oh, where is that? Is that in your playroom? That is the coolest picture I've ever seen!" Molly gasped and exclaimed when he showed her the second one. "How many are there? That is amazing. Who took these? Who's Sadie? Did you have a photographer come to your house?"

"No, the guys that built Mom's tunnel have a sister named Sadie. She's the one who came over to watch Ethan."

"Oh, yeah, I remember her."

"She took these when she came over that night. When did they get here?"

"I don't know, last week. It's been a while. Probably when you first went over to Mom's. I figured it had to do with school."

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