by Jim Bessey

Created on: October 08, 2010

The last normal day of Gina's life started out like a lot of others. She overslept, but not by much. Besides, it was Saturday. Dad was working and mom was puttering. Gina shuffled from bedroom to shower, put on pink sweats, and wandered out to the kitchen. She ran her fingers through her damp brown hair.

"Nice of you to join the living," Mom said.

"It's only 9 o'clock," Gina mumbled.

"But the sun's been up for hours, honey." Right off the script. Gina smiled, then caught herself. Her phone hummed in her pocket, and she slipped it out to read the message.

"Is that Zack, so early?"

"Yes, Mom." Sigh. Gina fast-fingered a reply. She headed for the table as she typed, head down. Her calico cat, Skittles, leaped up to the seat beside her.

"Do you want some breakfast, or are you too busy texting?"

"Yes, Mom." Another sigh, more typing. Gina's tongue was tucked in the corner of her mouth. The cat kept quiet.

"Baked bat wings and scrambled newt eggs sound good to you?" Mom was a humorist.

Gina surprised her mother with a real reply. "Little early for Halloween, isn't it, Mom? Didn't think I was listening, didja?" She reached out to pat Skittle's head.

Mom laughed and shared a rare moment of eye contact. She pushed up the sleeves of her Denver Broncos sweatshirt, brushed back a lock of straw-colored hair, and headed for the stove. On the six-inch TV by the stove, a tiny head was talking about national security or something.

"Can't we just listen to music?" Gina asked.

"You get up first, you can pick the channel," Mom replied. They'd had this discussion before.

Gina snorted and plugged in her earbuds. Listened to something from The Muse, "Resistance" maybe. She typed some more, stopped, typed again, and talked over the music in her ear.

"Zack wants to go for a hike a little later, ok?"

"Homework done?"

"Ya, right, Mom. Very funny. Anyway, I've got tomorrow for it, and I need the exercise." She moved the cat aside, pinched an imaginary inch on her belly and offered an angelic smile. Skittles headed for the kitchen, following the scent of food.

"Well, you've still got laundry to do. Where did you plan on going hiking?" Mom was fussing with bacon, stirring scrambled eggs, and keeping an eye on the toaster. The bacon-smell filled the sunlit room, and the toaster popped. "Butter the toast, please?"

Gina padded barefoot to the counter, typing as she went. "Zack says Bear Creek Trail?"

She put down the phone long enough to smear butter and apple jelly on the toast.

"Which Bear Creek? That's pretty

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