Anywhere But Here, Chapters 54–57

This novel is an experiment in fiction + serial posting on Medium. I wrote the first draft during NaNoWriMo 2012.

Chapters 1–3 | Chapters 4–6 | Chapters 7–9 | Chapters 10–12 | Chapters 13–15| Chapters 16–18 | Chapters 19–21 | Chapters 22–24 | Chapters 25–27 | Chapters 28–30 | Chapters 31–33 | Chapters 34–36 | Chapters 37–39 | Chapters 40–42 | Chapters 43–45 | Chapters 46–48 | Chapters 49–50 | Chapters 51–53 | Chapters 54–57 | Chapters 58–60 | Chapters 61–63

Chapter 54: Emily

Livie and Emily took the 24-Divisadero bus along, appropriately, Divisadero Street, except that Livie called it “Duh-vis” and said San Franciscans knew that meant Divisadero. Emily wasn’t sure how long they were on the bus, the advantage about traveling with Livie was she got to watch the scenery instead of paying attention to bus stops.

Not that the scenery was any different than the rest of the city: gas stations popped up on random corners, Victorian-ish houses snuggled up to apartments built more recently than the last century, and many, many store fronts selling all kinds of everything at the sidewalk level.

What would it be like, Emily thought, if the place her mom rented was above a bar? Would it get noisy at night? What if they were next door to a greasy fried chicken chain, would the smell be worse than asbestos after a week? She tried to imagine living on a busy street, with bus drivers blaring their horns all night. Would she get any sleep? Wherever they ended up, she hoped it was somewhere more quiet.

Mostly she hoped Livie didn’t ask why Emily had been hiding out. Was existential transient angst a valid answer?

“We’re getting off at the next stop — Market and Castro Streets.”

“How did we end up on Market?” Emily glanced at Livie. “Never mind, all roads lead to Market somehow, don’t they?” Emily glanced up at a colossal flagpole in front of a Diesel store, with a flag made of rainbow colors instead of the American Flag. “What’s up with that?”

“Dorothy, you’re definitely not in Kansas, welcome to the Castro, let’s hope there are no naked old men today.”

“Ewwwww!” Emily scrunched up her face in disgust. “Why would there be naked old men?”

“Well, they are probably gay, but why they are naked, I still haven’t figured out yet. It’s cold out in August! It doesn’t scare away the tourists, they come anyway.” Emily followed Livie off the bus, walking across the street to an escalator leading underground.

“Where are we going, exactly?”

“Exactly?” Livie flashed her a mischievous grin. “To the L, then we’ll go through the deep underbelly of the city, for so long we feel like it will never end, until we come up for air, then catch the 48. Got that?”

“Um, no?”

“Good, follow me!” Livie fast-walked down the escalator, tagged her Clipper card, walked through the gate, and took another long escalator down to a train platform. Emily was running to catch her when a white-orange train pulled up.

“This is the bus?”

“Sort of, this is the light rail, but it’s part of Muni.” She sat in a hard, red seat, facing the aisle. The train pulled away, making none of the usual bus exhalation noises, driving into a dark tunnel.

“This is weird,” Emily said. “Are we really below the city? How did they build this?”

“No clue, and oddly enough, I’ve never tried to find out. Maybe someday? No, not worth the Someday List.” Emily wondered whether she was talking to herself. Livie was right about the tunnel going on forever. Emily wondered if she looked at a map of the city, where she would be.

“We’re not going to the beach, right?”

“No, I promised you not a beach. Besides, I said the highest point in the city, right, how could that be the beach?”

“Oh. Right.”

Ten minutes passed, and Emily saw lights approach through the front window near the driver. The train slowed down as they reached another platform. “Forest Hill?” Emily questioned. “Never heard of it.”

“I’m surprised that you thought you might,” Livie teased. “But we’re not getting off here so keep your bottom in that seat!”

After the brief stop at Forest Hill, the train continued its journey in the endless tunnel. More minutes passed, and more light became visible, until the train was at the entrance to a busy street. “This is us, let’s go!” Livie exclaimed.

“I hate to ask a dumb question, but …”

“No spoilers, but I will tell you we’re in West Portal.”

“We’re still in the city, right?”

Livie smiled again, “Yes, we are still in the not-so-vast 7 by 7 square miles of San Francisco.”

“Okay Ms. Vague,” Emily said with mock resignation, “after you!”

They waited briefly at a nearby bus stop, as Emily looked around the tidy store-lined street, with branches of streets leading into manicured residential housing. “This looks like a nice place to live.”

“Moving soon?”

“Maybe? My Mom was talking about finding our own place.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“I thought it was a good thing until she said we had to be there for a whole year.”

Livie was silent for a minute, then said cautiously, “Do you want to leave?”

“I’m not sure anymore, but a year is, like, forever. I guess that means my Dad will never live with us again.” I wasn’t sure, Emily thought, until I met you.

“That bites.”

“Yeah,” Emily said, swallowing down emotion. “Is this our bus?”

“The 48-Quintara, yes it is!”

A standard white and orange bus pulled up, taking them around the corner, up the street, around another corner, then up, up, up a big hill, longer than the usual peaks and flats around Parker’s house. There was not much of a view, aside from houses rolling away on the sides of the street.

They weren’t on the bus long before Livie announced, “Off here, and then we walk!”

“Here” didn’t look like much out of the ordinary. Maybe they were high up, but they walked through almost unusually normal looking houses, or at least ones that didn’t look like over-decorated Victorians. They reached some kind of a park, with tall trees growing up towards the sky.

The muscles in Emily’s legs burned from exertion, and she breathed in quick pants. She was distracted keeping up with Livie, and didn’t notice the city peeking through the trees. Livie paused at a flat, broad stretch of ground and allowed Emily to catch up. Emily looked up at a colossal white cross, perched on a concrete pedestal ahead.

“The cross has a great story, but turn around,” Livie said.

Emily turned quickly, wondering what could be more interesting than a three-story tall cross, and gasped. “Wow!” Beyond the hill she could see the entire the city, in all directions. The bay bridge arched silver, with oceans of houses, even more than she saw from the swings. Was that only a few weeks ago?

“When I need to escape, I come here. Promise you won’t tell.”

“You need to escape? From what? With all the meditation and Oms and bliss, what do you need to escape from? Even your parents are together and happy.”

Livie sighed, “Well, until I met you, I came up here to forget that I was by myself, and really didn’t have any friends.”

Emily was stunned. “You’ve lived here forever? No friends? How is that?”

Livie stared out at the rolling waves of houses, perched on the hills before them. “Next topic.”

Wow. Something Livie didn’t want to talk about. Emily could respect that. She asked instead, “Do you ever meditate up here?”

“Sometimes. Want to try now?”

“Okay, do I have to say ‘om’?”

“Nope. Chant to ‘Twinkle, twinkle little star’ or ‘Happy birthday’ if you want.”

They settled down on the bench, Livie crossed her ankles on top of her calves, then closing their eyes.

In, Emily thought, inhaling; then out, exhaling. The trees, the cross, the millions of houses melted away. Emily only noticed her breathing, the cool air as it entered through her nose, chilling her nostrils, the air warmer as she released it. No chatter, no noisy thoughts, just her breath.

“Ooooommmm,” Livie chanted softly, “if you’re ready, open your eyes. It’s been fifteen minutes.”

Emily felt better than if she’d taken a nap, opening her eyes and looking around. The scene around her looked the same, but less intimidating somehow. “That was cool,” Emily said, wishing she had a better word.

“I hope you get to go to my school,” Livie said, almost shyly.

“Me too.”

Chapter 55: Sandra

Sandra walked up the steps to Parker’s flat, wondering what kind of mood Emily would be in when she arrived. She unlocked the door, and walked in with trepidation, although it was the first good day at work ever.

“Mom, is that you?” Emily called. She didn’t sound sad, or crying-congested. Did she actually sound … happy.

“Hi honey,” Sandra replied, walking into the front room to see Livie and Emily reading on opposite ends of the couch.

“Hi Sandra,” Livie said.

“Livie, how are you? Did you two get out today?”

The teens looked at each other conspiratorily. “Yes, we had another Livie adventure in the city,” Emily said vaguely. “How was work?”

“Great, actually! My best day ever. I also called Livie’s school, and you’re third on the waiting list.”

Livie looked at Emily, “Well, that’s not too bad?”

“Livie, do you want to stay for dinner? I don’t know what I’m making yet, but it can be without animals,” Sandra said convivially.

“Sure, just let me call my Mom.”

Sandra walked into the kitchen, opening the refrigerator for ideas. Everything she thought of usually had meat: spaghetti had sausage; tacos had beef; stir fry had chicken or shrimp. Stir fry! That would work, she could make chicken on the side for herself and Emily. She opened the fridge again to see a couple limp carrots, and yellowing broccoli. That wouldn’t work; time for a walk to the store.

When she returned, she cajoled the girls into helping her prep, listening to their animated banter with a pleased smile.

“I am the master vegetable chopper!” Livie announced, “All vegetables bow to my chopping greatness!”

“No!” Emily exclaimed, “I am the master vegetable chopper, the vegetables run from me to you to find mercy!” The girls started giggling uncontrollably. Sandra sighed happily, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d heard Emily laughing like that.

Dinner was a success, with Livie declaring Sandra’s stir fry with tofu was a daring delight. Emily poked at the white squares suspiciously, then ate them because Livie dared her. Nice use of peer pressure, Sandra thought to herself, amused.

“Emily! We have six more days until school starts! I can’t play tomorrow, but how about Wednesday?” Livie asked.

Emily looked at her Mom, questioning, then back at Livie.

“What?” Livie asked.

“My Dad,” Emily said, “I think he’s coming to pick me up on Wednesday for the weekend.”

“Your Dad?!” Livie questioned. “I thought he was in India?”

“He was, or maybe is, or is on a plane from India now, I don’t remember. Anyway, he said he’s coming to get me on Wednesday.”

“So you’re gone the rest of the week?” Livie questioned. “But I wanted to take you shopping to all my favorite places!”

Emily and Sandra glanced at Livie’s outfit du jour: purple leopard print leggings over which she had a large yellow and orange striped shirt that she may have borrowed from the cast of Sesame Street. Her magenta pixie hair,pointing out in all directions, completed the outfit.

The mention of Emily’s dad was forgotten, however briefly.

What Sandra hadn’t noticed before was the delicate sprinkling of freckles across Livie’s cherub nose, and ocean blue eyes. She really was a pretty girl, despite the fashion eccentricities.

“Livie, I’m not sure I’d find anything at your stores,” Emily said, joking.

“Sure you would, I thought you might want to edge out of your traditionalness…?”

“I’ll go with you, but I think it has to be tomorrow?”

“Let me check with my Mom. I have French class in the morning, but maybe she’ll let me go in the afternoon. Be prepared for clothing adventures!”

Emily cleared her throat, “How much money should I bring?”

“Oh, less than you’d think,” Livie grinned.

“It’s getting late, I should get you home,” Sandra said.

“Do you have a car? My mom can come get me if you want? She doesn’t like me taking the bus in the dark.”

“And neither would I!” Sandra exclaimed. “I do have a car, but the challenge is finding where I put it and guessing how many parking tickets I have from street cleaning.”

“DPT, the bain of all San Franciscan drivers, my Dad says.”

After looking in three different parking spots for the car, Sandra was starting to get nervous. Would they tow her car, rather than ticket? She needed to remember to pay at least the oldest of her parking tickets tomorrow.

“Mom, didn’t you leave it on the other side of the park?” Emily asked. “Or did you move it after we went out on Sunday?”

“Oh! That’s right, we circled the park twice, and ended up parking on the far side. Good memory!”

Thankfully, the car didn’t have a parking ticket. Sandra glanced up at the street cleaning sign and felt like she dodged a bullet: street cleaning was tomorrow from 6–8AM. She never would have remembered to move her car before tomorrow morning.

Livie navigated easily to her house, surprising to Sandra who was used to vague, misleading directions from Emily’s friends. “We’re following a bus route,” Livie grinned, “I don’t know the other ways to get to my house.”

Livie insisted she didn’t need to be walked up to the door, and Sandra was almost sad, hoping to ask her mom about the waiting list, and if that meant there was a chance. She didn’t want to get Emily hopeful nor did she want to discourage hope. Rock, she thought, and hard place. Both suck, as her daughter would say.

Emily and Sandra drove home in silence, until Emily’s phone rang. Sandra checked the clock on the dash: 8:30. She swallowed down a wave of sadness.

Emily glanced at the number on the phone, answering, “Hi Dad.” She glanced up at her mom, a guilty look on her face like she was caught cheating. Sandra nodded, she hoped to say, it’s okay, just talk to him. He is your dad.

“You’re delayed until Thursday?” Emily said into the phone. “No, that’s okay, my friend Livie wanted to do something on Wednesday.” Silence as Emily listened. “You’ll pick me up on Thursday morning then. Do you have the address?”

Silence again, then, “Okay good. Love you too, Dad, bye!”

Emily looked down at her hands. Sandra felt ashamed for reasons she didn’t understand.

Chapter 56: Emily

Emily’s phone rang early the next day, waking her from a groggy, drug-like sleep. “’lo?” she said into the phone.

“Emily! Bad news … my day is booked. Shopping adventure will have to be postponed.” Livie’s animated voice said.

“’Sokay, my dad’s not coming until Thursday, how about tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow is perfect, I’ll be at your house at 10, be ready!”

Emily said goodbye and hung up the phone. Now she had a whole day, but the thought of having an adventure without Livie seemed pitiful, daunting, and lonely.

Chapter 57: Sandra

Sandra arrived early, buzzing around the office to make sure the final preparations were ready for her inaugural new hires.

“Relax, Sandra, they’re just people, and they know they’re coming to a start-up. They don’t expect a perfect process!” Dana teased.

But it mattered to Sandra. The new hires were told to come in at 10AM, giving everyone enough time to arrive, she hoped.

She couldn’t have asked for a more clockwork day. All of the managers scheduled to speak arrived on time. The best part for Sandra was hearing the updates and perspectives of the other managers. When Cesco gave his brief overview of the company, Sandra was enthralled. He spoke with charisma and authority, weaving everyone into his spell of why this was a great company, and why they would succeed. After his speech, Sandra felt like a warrior, preparing for battle and wanted to run forth and conquer the enemy.

Of course, there was no enemy, except time, as Cesco pointed out. The quicker they were to market with their product, the quicker it could be adopted by consumers, and the quicker they could be less reliant on investor’s money.

Everyone cheered after he spoke, and as the Marketing Director stood up, he said nervously, “It’s always hard to follow Cesco, I guess that’s why he’s the CEO!”

Even Tad arrived on schedule, curious, she supposed, as to this event Sandra put together. He answered questions with conviviality and ease, making sure everyone got logged in and email was loaded. Sandra had just added all the new people to email lists that morning, to make sure they didn’t know about the past week’s lunch menus.

After two hours, lunch arrived, and each new person was met by someone in their department, to introduce them and get prepared to work.

Sandra felt elated and exhausted. It seemed to go well, and everyone was settling in. The office Improv activity was scheduled for Friday afternoon, an hour before everyone headed into the kitchen for their first afternoon beer. Sandra thought drinking was strange her first Friday, but now it was normal. What’s the harm? she thought. HealthCo, her past employer, could have used a bit of levity to make the place more fun.

She sat down at her desk, for the first time all day with a plate of Indian curry and basmati rice. Dana walked over, “Is there room at this desk for one more?”

“Sure!” Sandra said, smiling.

“And before you ask, that was great. Really, really great. All of the managers are buzzing, and there’s an energy in the office today with the influx of new people all at once.”

“You think so?” Sandra was surprised.

“Oh come on, you can’t feel it?”

Sandra looked around. Instead of people eating quietly at their desks while typing into their laptops, they were clustered in groups chatting amicably.

I pulled it off, she thought, nodding to herself.

The adventures of Sandra and Emily will continue, as soon as I finish editing the next three chapters.

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