Family Ties Read Free Page B

why, but it felt important that Chloe’s best friend like me.
     
    Despite a tense moment or two I think I was able to convince Myra that my intentions were pure, even though that might not have been entirely true.  When Chloe shared her good news about work, my first instinct had been to give her a hug and then maybe suggest a night out to celebrate.  I quickly checked myself, not knowing how that would have been perceived.  Either way, I was happy for her and planned on doing something special to show it. I just hadn’t figured out what.
     
    I’d arranged to meet Charlotte and Orbit at an all night coffee shop called Cool Beans . I’d have preferred to meet her alone, but she’d insisted on her soul mate tagging along when she agreed to come. I arrived a few minutes early and grabbed a booth near the entrance so they’d spot me easily. The shop was filled with students guzzling down cappuccinos and surrounded by thick textbooks, and couples making eyes at each other over the rims of their lattes.
     
    They arrived about ten minutes after I did, just as I was informing the waitress that I would wait for my party to arrive before ordering.  I did a classic double take. My little sister, who as a little girl had charmed anyone she met with her sweet face, expressive blue eyes and soft strawberry blond hair, now looked like crap. The girl who I had once considered one of the most beautiful women in the world now looked like a washed out version of herself.  
     
    Charlotte’s normally well-kept hair was tied at the nape of her neck in a tangled mess.  She was wearing a long floral skirt that looked as though it had never seen the inside of a washing machine, much less an iron. A loose white ruffled shirt hung from her thin frame, and it was very noticeable that my sweet little sister was in desperate need of a bra.
    Orbit didn’t make a better impression. They were arm in arm as my sister introduced me to the six-foot tall leather pants-wearing bohemian who had alienated her from her family and friends for the past few months. He looked like a broke white Lenny Kravitz-wannabe. I was cordial as I shook his hand, calling on all of my acting skills to hide my desire to punch him in the face. I owed it to my sister to give him the benefit of the doubt, and I figured there might be something to the old honey method of catching flies.
     
    “Hi, bro.” Charlotte and I kissed hello.  “You look great as usual.”
     
    “You too,” I lied.
     
    “Hey Patrick, man. Nice to finally meet you.”
     
    “You too,” I repeated—again, a lie.
     
    I wanted to grab Charlotte by her bony shoulders and demand she look me in the eye and tell me what it was she saw in this guy.  Instead I asked, “You guys ready to order?” The waitress reappeared and I could see the Which one of these things does not belong ? question looming behind her eyes. Anger washed over me.  I didn’t like the idea of someone looking at my sister like she was some kind of freak: my sister, who was both smart and beautiful and just a year ago would have had this waitress and every other woman in the coffee shop looking at her with envy. We placed our order and the interrogation in disguise began.
     
    “How are your classes going, Char?”
     
    “Agggh.”
     
    Was that an answer?
     
    “That bad?” I was hoping I’d have a least some good news to report home.  I didn’t think my parents could take her failing school on top of everything else. 
     
    “Man, I want to teach, ya know?  They’re not teaching me how to teach, at least not the important things.  Sure, I can tell them all about this country’s screwed up history, but what about how to be a good person, how to make a difference, how to… be ?”
     
    “Char, I thought you wanted to teach kindergarten. What else is there to learn in kindergarten besides ABCs, 123s, and how to be a good person?”
     
    “You don’t get it, man,” Orbit interjected.
     
    I ignored him.