Page 6 of Never Forever

But Carrie Piedmont was pretty cool.

Mr. Piedmont glared at me like I’d given his daughter leprosy or something.

“This will be reported, Patrick,” he said. “You were reckless and endangered everyone on the ferry.”

Dad kept his mouth shut while the Piedmonts filed out.

“What a fecking twat,” he said when the door closed behind him. Dad’s language was nothing new and in this case I had to agree. He rubbed those big hands over his permanently sunburned face.

“Son,” he said. “Let that be a lesson to you. Don’t ever take your eyes off the ocean. Not even for a second. It always comes to a bad end.”

“Yeah Dad,” I said, laying back down on my blankets, suddenly tired and drained from all the commotion. I liked things quiet. I closed my eyes.

“And son?”

Something in his voice made me open my eyes. He was looking at me with his serious face. His serious face rarely came out. Dad was a laugher. A joker. A singer, sometimes. But right now he looked like he did when he told me Mom had left.

I got a cold chill all down my body.

“Don’t get mixed up with those Piedmont girls.”

“Because of the curse?” I asked. The Piedmont Curse was part of Calico Cove legend. The kind of stuff that people whispered about. The way they whispered about my mom.

“Mark my words, boyo. They are the curse.”

Carrie

“Why did you take his homework?”Annie asked me as walked up the path to William Whipple Elementary School. It was K-8, with two classes for each grade. When we graduated we would go to the high school next door. Our recess area was the high school practice field.

I didn’t like to think about a time when Annie and I wouldn’t be at the same school, even if it would only be for one year.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “To be nice.”

I knew who Matt Sullivan was, of course. I saw him on the ferry all the time. But this was the first year we were in the same class together.

He was pretty quiet and he never picked on any of the girls during recess like the other boys. Sometimes he took a book outside to read. If the other kids said anything to him about it, he shrugged it off like it didn’t matter.

Things never seemed to bother him. I liked that.

And his eyes were the color of the pine trees on the island.

“Carrie, why is Dad always so mad about everything?” Annie asked.

I stopped and looked down at my sister. Her forehead all wrinkled like Dad was a puzzle she just had to figure out. I didn’t know how to tell her that Dad was never going to make sense.

Dad got mad today because of waves. Because Matt was sick. Because Dad got a little wet. Which…we lived on an island for Pete’s sake.

But Dad got mad because he could. Because he was a straight up bully.

“I don’t know,” I lied.

“Is it because of the curse?”

“Who told you about the curse?” I asked. God, she was only in 5thgrade.

“Gran.”Oh. Gran.“She said Piedmont women are doomed to marry disappointing men but none have been as disappointing as Dad.”

“Don’t listen to her. There’s no curse. And Dad’s just grumpy. Have a good day at school, okay?”

---