I met up with Anna in the parking lot. I had walked past a few car and and trucks until I came upon a small car with Alabama plates and assumed it was hers. Anna walked up to me with a young girl skipping along behind her.

“Bryce, this is my sister Wendy.”
“Hi.”
Wendy only nodded and then kid a bit behind her sister.
“I see you found my car. Well, not exactly mine.”
“It’s mama’s,” Wendy chimed in.
“You want me to bring you, or you take the bus?”
“You have to drive me anyway. That’s what you promised mama.”
Anna looked at me and rolled her eyes as she took out her keys and unlocked the doors.

Wendy opened the passenger door and moved the seat forward in order to sit in the back.
I say in the front passenger seat as Anna climbed in. The car was immaculate condition, like it had been bought the day before or they took better care of their vehicles than anyone on the face of the Earth.
“We took two cars, well a truck and this card. Piled all our stuff in like the Campletts and drove her.”
“Long trip,” I replied.
“Woo yeah. Okay, this is a manual so if I kill it a few times don’t tell..mama and pa.” Anna turned her head to the back seat towards her sister as she spoke. “You have a car?”
“No job for one. Need a job for a car but need a car for a job. Kind of a catch-22.”
“Oh well, I’ll take you home. No problem with that. Is this okay ? I mean, you have to come with us.” She turned the engine over. The car was whisper quiet.
“She likes you,” Wendy snickered.
“You wanna walk or sit on the hood of the car? Keep it up, Wendy.” Anna’s face was a mic of slight anger, fear and embarrassment. “Sorry, Bryce for that.”
“It’s fine. Oh, and Wendy?”
“Yeah?”
“I like her too,” I replied as Anna shifted into reserve and then turned onto the street.

We drove out of town, about eight miles down the Springdale highway-a straight line road that passed by several farms. There was a turn off that lead to Springdale and the Spokane Indian Reservation, but we kept going straight ahead but eventually turned off onto a well-paved driveway that winded around a hill and up to a large farmhouse.

The house had a multi-car garage and a large barn several hundred feet away. I had to wonder what her father did for a living that would make him want to move his family 2370 miles away from Alabama. In addition, who had owned the land before they did as the house looked brand new.

Anna parked the car in front of one of the garages, set the parking brake and transmission to neutral and tuned off the engine.
Wendy handed over their backpacks and they got out of the car. I tried to hide all of my questions as I closed the door and looked around.
“It was my grandpas. He left the Dixieland to come here and do whatever it was he wanted to farm.”
“What did he farm?”
“I don’t know, really. I don’t see a lot of fields for plantin’ anything. Come on in. Not a word from you, Wendy.”
Wendy shrugged her shoulders and nodded.

We walked into the front foyer or the two-story house and I was shocked at the inside. It was like I had been invited to Jay Gatsby’s farmhouse…assuming The Greta Gatsby ever lived in Washington state.
“Mama!” Anna yelled.
“We’re home,” Wendy added.
“How as your second day?”
“Anna brought a boy home!” Wendy raised her voice as she said that and then ran up the stairs to the second floor before Anna could grab her.
“A boy, huh? Anna?”
“Mama, this is Bryce.”
Mrs. Joel walked in from what appeared to be a large living room and looked at the both of us.
“Happy to meet you, Bryce. I’m Mary Anne. You may call me ma’am or Miss Joel.”
“Yes ma’am.” I replied. “I like your home.”
“It’s growing on us,” she replied.
“Bryce, go ahead and sit at couch. I’m going to take my backpack up and try to not kill my darlin’ little sibling in the process.”
“Anna Renee,” her mom warned in a low tone.
“I will try,” Anna shouted as she she ran up the stairs.

I walked into the living room to see it was connected to the kitchen and that the updates hallway could be seen from the couch. There wasn’t a television or a computer anywhere in sight but there were bookshelves everywhere.
“How did you two meet, Bryce?”
“This morning. I fell and she helped me up.”
“He didn’t fall, ma. Someone tripped him and never apologized.”
“Really?” Her mom asked as we both looked up at Anna.
“Just like in the movies, I guess,” I replied as I felt kind of embarrassed by the fact that her mom’s first impression of me would be this guy who allowed himself to fall flat on his face,
“Some people,” her mom said as she shook her head. “We’d all be better off if we weren’t so unkind. Teenagers and politicians are masters of it. One only hopes they can grow out of it.”
Anna ran down the steps and stood a few feet away from me and her mother.
“So, what’s your plan, Anna Renee?”
“No real plans…but if we’re going to make anything special, then?”
“If I make it, then it’s special; even if’s corn beef and hash.”
“She makes a great everything.”
“I’ll take out a few things. You have chores to do.”
“Can we first play a round of air hockey or pool?”
I looked at Anna and wondered—judging by the size of the house—how big these tables were going to be.
Her mom nodded but then pointed a finger at is. “Leave the den room open.”
“Yes ma’am. Hockey or pool, Bryce?”
“Pool?”
“Come on.”
“Anna has a boyfriend,” Wendy sang from behind her room door.
“Wendy!” Anna shouted and her face turned red again. “Stop listening through the door!”