Special Rock

I went over to Luna's house to give her back her CD. Donna let me in and offered to just give the CD to Luna for me, but just as I was about to hand it to her Luna came down the stairs.

"Why are you here?" she asked me. Her tone sounded slightly hostile.

"Luna, mind your manners," Donna reproached. "Jackie's here to give you back your CD."

I held it out to her, but she shook her head. "Come upstairs," she told me, then turned and ran up the stairs to her bedroom. I followed.

Once we were in her bedroom, I tried to apologize. Said something about how I was sorry I hadn't told her about the vacation earlier, that it just "slipped my mind", something like that. I don't remember exactly what I said; I was babbling, honestly. I didn't want her to be mad at me. Not only could that mean the loss of a friend, it might mean the loss of a job.

Luna didn't talk to me or look at me during this, and finally I fell silent.

"I don't know what I'm going to do when you're gone," she said quietly.

I tried apologizing again, but she cut me off. "Last time you were gone I barely slept at all. What am I going to do this time? What if it gets even worse?"

Her eyes were wide and accusatory. It was almost frightening. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but Luna has pretty unusual eyes. They're very large and round and gray — and I don't mean gray-blue, I mean gray like the eyes of a black-and-white photograph. I've never seen anyone with so little color in their eyes.

"I'm so sorry," I said quietly. "I didn't know it was that bad for you when I was gone."

Luna slumped onto the bed face-first. "Sorry," she said, voice muffled. "I didn't mean to get mad at you. It's not your fault. You didn't know."

"Look," I ventured, "maybe when I'm on vacation I can call you at night, or you can call me. Okay?" She sat up, giving me her full attention. "We could Skype with each other or something. Do you have a Skype account?"

Luna shook her head.

"You could make one. It's easy. I'll show you how. Then we can chat with each other — audio or video chat, if you want, or just text. It's what I use to talk to Erin."

"Can you show me how to make one?"

"Sure, if you get the laptop."

Luna left the room and returned with Donna's laptop. We set up a Skype account for her together (Donna didn't have Skype installed, so it took a little while.) As I was explaining how it worked to her, Luna suddenly jumped up and pulled a shoebox out from under her bed. She handed it to me.

"Open it."

I did. Inside was a reddish-brown rock, worn smooth as though by water. I picked it up. It wasn't very big — a little smaller than my fist — but it was surprisingly heavy.

"What's this?"

"My grandma gave it to me," Luna said. "It's special."

"Seems like kind of an odd present," I ventured.

"No," Luna told me, shaking her head emphatically. "You don't get it. It's not an ordinary rock."

"What's special about it?"

She looked at me like I was stupid. "Don't you feel it?"

"Feel what?"

"It doesn't feel special to you?" Luna made a vague gesture with her hands. "Like, you can't feel it... come on! You don't feel how warm it is?"

"It doesn't really feel warm to me."

"You don't hear it? Put it up to your ear."

I raised the rock to my ear, feeling distinctly idiotic. "No, I can't hear anything."

"That's strange." Luna frowned. "We can hear it. Why can't you hear it?"

"Who's we?"

"I mean, I." Luna frowned again. "Sorry," she said as if to the air, not looking at me.

"Well, anyway, I should head home. Thanks anyway." I started to get up, but she tugged me back down into a sitting position. "Luna, let me go, kid. I have to finish packing."

"I don't want you to leave," she said quietly.

"I know. But I'll be back before you know it. Promise."

"When?" Luna asked. "What day?"

"Ten days from now. The 22nd. That's not too long away."

She gave me a look like a hurt kitten, and I felt instantly awful for suggesting that the 22nd was anything short of a lifetime away. "Sorry. We can talk every day if you want. Whatever makes you feel better, okay?"

Luna nodded slowly, then slipped her hand into mine. I put my arm around her. We just sat like that for a while.

Finally, I disentangled myself and told her I had to leave. Luna nodded (it was like she was giving me permission) and offered to walk me downstairs. I almost laughed, because she was treating me like I was the twelve-year-old and she was the fifteen-year-old.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, she slipped the smooth rock into my hands and told me to take it with me. She looked so earnest I didn't even ask her why.

I biked home with the rock in the front pocket of my sweatshirt. It kept knocking against my stomach as I rode. I didn't feel it much at the time, but now it's starting to ache. I think I might even have a bruise.