Page 26 of Sombra
Six
Kim - Front-facing camera
“Kim! How was your flight?”
My laptop streams a video of the wall of my parents’ living room. My mom answered my Skype call without turning around the camera to front-facing. The other side of the room back home is nicely decoratedand all, but I’d rather see her.
“Mom, do you know how to turn the camera around?”
“Like this?” She physically turns around her phone so it moves past my academic awards. Past posed family photos. Past the ribbon-cutting for her business. And now it’s showing her face, showcased against those framed family photographs of my accomplishments on the wall behind her. Her familiar, normalface. She grimaces and furrows her brows, rubbing her chin with her free hand. “Now I can’t see you.”
Great googly-moogly.I clench my jaw and pinch my lips together.
“There’s a button,” I force between my teeth.Be patient, Kim. “It has a little swirly arrow to turn around the camera so we can see each other at the same time on the same screen—”
The world on my screen goestopsy-turvy, whirling around to the ceiling and the floor and then the screen goes black.
Great. She hung up on me.
I’ll take Obligatory Check-in with Extra Techno-aggravation for 300, Alex.
Immediately, I touch the button and call her back. She answers,hello living room wall again, clears her throat, and audibly swallows. “I’m sorry, honey, I can see you, but—”
Ishake my head. “Just let it be. Maybe Shane can come over and show you how to Skype.” My face in the little rectangle in the screen is now more tired and irritable than it was five minutes ago.
“I’ll talk to his mom,” she says. “How are you? How’s Spain?”
“I absolutely love it here. It’s beautiful and different. The colors of the landscape are all brick red and silver green. Thepeople are lovely. This house is amazing!”
“That’s wonderful! Are you settled in your new place?”
Am I?
My head swivels around and takes in the bare-bones room. While I say, “Yeah,” automatically, I think about it.
For the first time ever, I’m living away from home. I can’t see what’s going to happen the next few months. My life isn’t laid out before me like a map ofNebraska with no hills, twists, or scary bits. I’m not getting Eeyore vibes because what I want to do doesn’t fit into someone’s plans.
And holy shit, I love Spain!
I love it so much I’m starting to swear in my head, because I don’t know how to explain it otherwise. This land is so beautiful. This house so soaked in atmosphere. The people so elegant.
And my God, Tavo.
I’ve been given delicate wings and allowed to fly. I’m a dragonfly skimming the surface of the water, darting down to touch it and then continue on until I find where I want to land.
So, no Mom, I’m not settled. I’m the farthest thing from settled.
But do I tell my parents I’m happy without them? That I’ve figured out in one airplane trip that I like making my own decisions?
No. I can’t say that.
Not knowing my thoughts, my mom continues on. “I’m so glad. The flight was okay?”
I take a deep breath and hold it, trying not to let the tiredness rob me of the reality of Spain. “I loved it. I was so anxious the whole time, just watching the little dot of where we were over the map. The food was nothing to write home about, though.”
Unlike thebeautiful and exciting man who met me at the airport.
But is he something to write home about? Or should I keep him to myself?
