The Scarlet Thread Read Free Page B

of company?”
    “Computers. Games. The sort of stuff Alex likes to play around
    with at home. He met these guys at a sales conference last spring
    in Las Vegas. He never even told me about them. He says he did,
    but I don’t remember. Alex has been working on an idea he has
    for a role-playing game for an Internet-type program. Players
    could link up with others and create armies and battle scenarios.
    He said it’s right up their alley. And it doesn’t even bother him
    that they haven’t been in business four years yet or that they
    started business in a garage.”
    “So did Apple Computers.”
    “That’s different. These guys haven’t been around long
    enough to prove they can stay in business. I don’t see how Alex
    can throw away ten years’ seniority at Hewlett-Packard when
    people are being laid off of other jobs left and right! I don’t want
    to go to Los Angeles, Mom. Everything I love is here.”
    “You love Alex, honey.”
    “I’d like to shoot Alex! Where does he get off making a decision
    like this without even discussing it with me?”
    “Would you have listened if he had?”
    She couldn’t believe her mother would ask such a thing. “Of
    course I’d listen! Doesn’t he think it has anything to do with
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    me?” She wiped angry tears from her cheeks. “You know what
    he said to me, Mom? He told me he’d already called a Realtor,
    and the woman’s coming by tonight to list the house. Can you believe it? I just planted daffodils all along the back fence. If he has
    his way, I won’t even be here to see them bloom!”
    Her mother said nothing for a long moment. She folded her
    hands in her lap while Sierra rummaged through her shoulder
    bag for a Kleenex.
    Sierra sniffled into the tissue. “It’s not fair. He never even took
    my feelings into consideration, Mom. He just made the decision
    and told me it’s a done deal. Just like that. Whether I like it or
    not, we’re moving to Los Angeles. He doesn’t even care how I feel
    about it because it’s what he wants.”
    “I’m sure Alex didn’t make the decision arbitrarily. He’s always looked at everything from all sides.”
    “Not from my side.” Restless and upset, she walked across the
    room and picked up an old stuffed bear her brother had cuddled
    when he was a boy. She hugged it against her. “Alex grew up
    here just like I did, Mom. I don’t understand how he can turn his
    back on everything and be so happy about it.”
    “Maybe Alex wasn’t treated as kindly as you were, Sierra.”
    Sierra glanced back at her mother in surprise. “His parents
    never abused him.”
    “I wasn’t referring to Luís or María; they’re wonderful people.
    I mean the assumptions too many people make about Hispanics.”
    “Well, he can add all that to the other things Los Angeles will
    have to offer. Smog. Traffic. Riots. Earthquakes.”
    Her mother smiled. “Disneyland. Movie stars. Beaches,” she
    recited, clearly seeing a much more positive side to things.
    Daddy used to call it her Pollyanna attitude, especially when he
    was irritated and in no mood to see the good side of a situation.
    The way Sierra was feeling now.
    “Everyone we love is here, Mom. Family, friends.”
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    “You’re not moving to Maine, honey. It’s only a day’s drive
    between Healdsburg and Los Angeles. And this is the age of
    telephones.”
    “You talk as though it doesn’t matter to you that we’re leaving.”
    Sierra bit her lip and looked away. “I thought you’d understand.”
    “If I could make the choice, of course, I’d rather you were
    here. And I do understand. Your grandparents were far from
    overjoyed when I moved from Fresno to San Francisco.” She
    smiled. “It was a ten-hour drive in those days, but you’d have
    thought I’d moved to the far side of the moon.”
    Sierra smiled wanly. “It’s hard for me to see you as some sort
    of beatnik living in San Francisco,