The Weight of the World Read online

  “Yeah. I’ve been babysitting for Livingstone and my laptop didn’t come with one. So I figured, why not?”

  “Have you seen Lewis’ email? He’s got another power,” Teddy said, “and Minnie.”

  “Yeah, Lewis, Minnie, Evan, my Mom.”

  “Your Mom has one?”

  Penny nodded. Celene hadn’t broadcast it to the Pantheon yet, but she had told Penny in the car on that last day of school. “She was the one who figured out Devon is pregnant. Apparently she can just tell, now.”

  “Yeah, why is nobody talking about that?”

  “It’s none of our business?”

  “Well, it is,” Teddy said. “I mean, what if the baby pops out with god powers?”

  “You saw the gossip blog, right?”

  “Discordia, yeah. Surprised it’s not savvy to the rumors about the good doctor and your mom.”

  Penny wrinkled her nose. “That’s old news, right? Lewis said that to get heat off of us in February. Nobody cares anymore.”

  Teddy supposed that was true. Gossip died fast if nothing was fueling it. He shrugged, “Could happen. Your mom’s hot. Livingstone would have to be gay not to notice.”

  “Ew, ew, ew. No.”

  “Well,” he said, “anyway, I think Ms. Matthews would be ready to fight your Mom for the Doc if that were true. Have you seen how she’s always hanging around his office?”

  “And shooting my mom death glares,” Penny added.

  “Did you hear about Alex and Seth getting into a fight at the Y? Discordia says they were fighting over Jenny M--”

  “I don't really know who any of those people are,” Penny interrupted.

  Teddy shrugged. He kept a miniature refrigerator under his desk and he opened it up and pulled out a bottle of soda. “Want one?” he asked, holding it up to the camera with a smile.

  Penny laughed. “Your attempt to buy me drinks is flawed,” she joked.

  “I suppose dinner and a movie can’t move through webcam, either.”

  “Well, the movie can.”

  “Right,” Teddy said, “But my best moves would fall flat.” As he spoke he faked a yawn and mimed stretching his arm around the shoulder of an imaginary girl next to him. Penny giggled. Teddy liked it when girls laughed at his jokes.

  “At least I wouldn’t have to worry about you eating all the popcorn.”

  “What are you doing tonight?” he asked.

  Penny stopped giggling. Her cheeks flushed a very noticeable pink, even with the poor lighting in her room.

  “Nothing.”

  “Wanna go see that new Marvel movie? Get some ice cream after?”

  “Sure,” she said. “Well, wait, let me ask my Mom.”

  Penny vanished from behind her desk. Teddy looked up the show times online while he waited. He thought about what he could wear on a first date.

  Penny came back a minute later. “Alright,” she said. “What time should I be ready?”

  “I’ll pick you up at six-fifteen. We should make it for the six-fifty with time to get popcorn and then ice-cream will still be open after.”

  “Okay, well, I gotta help Mom with some chores this afternoon. See you at six fifteen.” The screen went black. Teddy got up from his chair and went to his closet to look at what he had to wear. Maybe he’d go shopping and get something new. It was a good excuse to not be in the house at the same time as his mother.

  Penny had never been on a date before. She was fifteen and she hadn’t been one of those girls who held hands with boys in middle school so that she could call them her boyfriend. It took her some time to pick out an outfit. Her wardrobe had once been very girly and pink. Everything new that she bought for herself was the opposite. It wasn’t conducive to composing a cohesive ensemble.

  Celene knocked on her daughter’s door at six. “You got your cell phone?” She called through two inches of pine.

  “Yeah, Mom.” Penny tied her blonde hair back, then changed her mind and let it down.

  “And you’ll call and tell me where you are every step of the way?” Celene leaned her head on the door.

  “Yes, Mom.”

  Celene was imagining Penny through the door. In her mind she wasn’t fifteen. She was five and playing dress-up in her mother’s clothing. She supposed this wasn’t the end of the world. Sure, things would never be the same now that Penny was dating, but she’d expected this since September. At least it was Teddy.

  What was she thinking? Teddy could make liquor with a touch! That made for an incredibly dangerous influence. Celene knew she was really thinking, at least it wasn’t Peter.

  Teddy left his car parked on the side of the road and approached the door, dressed in a white dress shirt and a purple, well-tailored vest. He smoothed his hair and popped in a breath mint strip before knocking on the door.

  Teddy chose the drive-in theater. He had a nice car, free of screaming children and sticky floors, and he could bring his own snacks. The movie he wanted to see was in its last weeks and had sparse show times at a traditional theater anyway.

  They pulled through the gate in his little purple Jaguar. Teddy had a bag of snacks stashed under Penny’s feet. He parked at a prime spot and tuned in to the station to pick up the sound. They were early, and so the station played 90’s soft rock while they waited.

  “So, what have you been up to this summer?” Teddy asked. He didn’t want to sit in uncomfortable silence.

  “Babysitting, mostly. I watch Dr. Livingstone’s kids.”

  “Cool.”

  “How about you?” she asked.

  “Sleep, drink, party. Sleep, drink... it’s a vicious cycle.”

  “That’s it?”

  “What do you mean, that’s it?” Teddy frowned. “Most people wish that could be their summer.”

  “Hung over and unproductive? A party every day?”

  Now that she pointed it out, Teddy was rather bored. Parties just weren’t special anymore. Going to parties had once made him feel like a king, but when he slept until after lunch and didn’t brush his teeth until dinner time, he felt kind of like a loser.

  “So,” he said, trying to divert her attention from his sad way of life, “What do you do, you know, besides being Persephone?”

  “I read. I listen to music. I grow plants in my room.”

  “What do you read, Twilight?”

  She laughed, “God, no! If you want vampires, read Anne Rice.”

  “I’m not really turned on by the undead.”

  “Well, yeah. That’s the thing. It’s deeper than sexy super-powered immortal romance. It’s mortality, survival, how you cope with powers and how you marry that with immortality. Do you live as a God and prey on mortals or try to hold on to humanity? How much of our personality and behavior is dictated by a fear of death or delusion or immortality?”

  Teddy felt his throat close up. The only time he’d ever examined the theme of a book was in Lit class and he never had been able to relate to Mark Twain or Earnest Hemingway. This, though--everything Penny had just said-- was exactly what he imagined both of them were going through.

  “Wow,” he said after a long pause. The tension in his throat relaxed enough so that he could speak again, “You really think about this stuff.”

  “I do.”

  Teddy fiddled with the volume buttons on his radio. They had moved from soft rock to local ads. It was almost time for previews.

  “So what do you do besides Drama Club and hosting parties when your parents are out of town?”

  “Mainly that. Theater and booze. And music. I like to go to music stores. I like European rap and a few select people here. The ones doing something new, mostly, like Nicki Minaj.”

  “What did you do as a kid? Before you got your hands on alcohol?”

  “Grape juice?”

  She laughed.

  “Seriously? Uh, I was quite a little explorer. My adoptive mom resents me so I’ve dedicated my life to finding ways to be out of the house or locked in my room.”
/>
  “Resents you? Then why did she adopt you?”

  “Because my Dad rules the house. Because saying she was a kind-hearted woman who adopted her housekeeper’s baby looked better than letting everyone know that her husband knocked-up said housekeeper.”

  “Oh.” Awkward. Penny looked at her hands. “So you explored.”

  “Yeah. Summers when my brother and sister were still around, before they got married, we went to a summer-house in California. My dad owned a vineyard there for a few years. I used to explore there. When I turned twelve they started letting me have a half-a-glass of wine with dinner, but by the time I got to high school they sold the place.”

  “Hence the love of wine,” she suggested.

  “Sorta. I mean, I am Dionysus. That’s likely a bigger factor.”

  “Just maybe.”

  The previews started. Teddy turned up the volume.

  “Penny?”

  “Yeah?” She looked away from the action movie trailer to Teddy.

  “Barring any major foot-in-mouth scenarios, is it alright if I kiss you when I take you home?

  Penny blushed. Well, that answered the looming question of the night. “Okay.”

  Teddy folded his arms and leaned back in his seat. “Oh, crap,” he shot back up, “I promised you’d call each step of the way. Call your mom so she doesn’t kill me.”

  Penny pulled out her pink and black cell phone and dialed her mother, “That would be a twist. Boy survives Titans, killed by school teacher.”

  “She drives a station wagon. That would be humiliating.”

  “Man is a wingless animal with two feet and flat nails.”

  -Plato

  vii.

  When Artemis saw the priestess with the child

  and learned that the pregnancy had been concealed,

  she raised up her palms and transformed Callisto

  into a great bear.

  The orphan matured without his mother's love

  and became a revered and mighty hunter,

  until the day that he spotted a great bear

  and fixed his long bow.

  Zeus, foreseeing this impending matricide,

  knew that he could not undo his daughter's will.

  So the boy, too, was transformed into a bear

  and called to the stars.

  “Let who does not wish to be idle fall in love.”

  -Ovid

  VII.

  Diana ran past Astin, dressed in a bath robe, a towel turban wrapped around her hair, and stopped outside the laundry room. She fingered through the clothes hanging on the rack above the washer and dryer, looking for something.

  Astin casually sidled up to her and leaned on the door frame. “Mom would probably appreciate it if you just took your clothes and hung them up,” he said.

  Diana shook her head, “Not right now, Astin, I have fifteen minutes.”

  “Till what?”

  “Ryan's coming to pick me up.”

  Astin stood up straight.

  “Bear?”

  “Yeah. Ryan Bear.”

  “Is this a date?”

  Diana's head snapped around. She narrowed her eyes at him. She didn't like her brother's protective tone. “Yeah, it's a date. S'there a problem?”

  “That guy, really?”

  “What's wrong with him, Astin?”

  “He's...”

  “Tall? Good-looking? Nice? Oh dear God, how much worse could he get?”

  “Stop being smart.” Astin turned to walk back to his room.

  “Stop being grumpy.” Diana pushed past him in the hall and slammed her door shut. She still had to do her hair before her date arrived.

  The drive into Miami took about twenty-five minutes. Diana played a recent Poe album through the car radio from her MP3 player. Ryan talked about an article he read about epic prehistoric beasts that had evolved into some of the least feared modern creatures. As they slowed through a toll booth, the topic had changed to the diversity of dog genetics and curiosity about how dogs saw breeds vastly different from their own, and by the time they arrived at Jungle Island, Diana was explaining that dogs care more about smell and energy than what other dogs looked like.

  They spent the afternoon walking around Flamingo Lake and socializing with the animals in the Petting Barn. Ryan paid for concessions.

  “You really like animals,” he said, watching a lamb eat a handful of straw. Diana was busy trying to coax a rabbit into taking food from her outstretched palm. She was very quiet and still, but she twitched her nose at the creature as she waited. Slowly, cautiously, it hopped closer.

  “What're you doing with your nose?” Ryan asked, staring at her with complete focus.

  “Oh,” she shrugged, “Just twitching my nose like a bunny. It's fun. You should try it.”

  “So you were a rabbit in another life?”

  Diana laughed. If only he knew.

  After the park closed at six pm, they stopped for dinner at a Chinese restaurant near home.

  “Have you seen that blog,” Ryan asked over a plate of Mongolian Beef.

  Diana nodded. “Discordia. Chaos. They're just trying to stir things up.”

  “I think it's someone with delusions of grandeur,” he said.

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Like they think they're Perez Hilton or something. As if the lives of high school students are gossip worthy of Hollywood.”

  “It's pretty stupid.”

  “It's pretty evil.”

  Diana put her fork down. “Do you know someone who has been feautured?”

  Ryan shook his head. “No. Not yet. I mean,” he knocked on the table, “thankfully. Do you?”

  “Devon Valentine.”

  “You're friends?”

  Diana hesitated, “Kind of? Not really. But we--”

  “Oh, right. You guys had that whole thing in February.”

  “Yeah,” Diana picked her fork up again. “That thing.” Diana had been stabbed during “that thing.” It wasn't a moment she liked to relive very often.

  There was a moment of quiet before Ryan spoke up again. “So what was your favorite movie as a kid?”

  “101 Dalmatians,” Diana said. “Yours?”

  “Cinderella. I liked the mice. Favorite TV show?”

  “Now or then?”

  “Any time.”

  “Wilfred.”

  “Mine's Battlestar Galactica.”

  “Favorite book as a kid?” Diana asked.

  “Goodnight Moon.”

  She smiled. “Good answer.”

  The waitress came with their checks. Ryan paid while Diana opened her fortune cookie. She ate the entire cookie before even glancing at the tiny slip of paper. It read, “A dubious friend may be an enemy in disguise.” Ryan's simply said, “You have a long life ahead of you.”

  As night fell, they took a walk around the lake out behind the Hill family's one story home. There weren't many places within the city limits to commune with nature. Some nights Diana had to settle for the mowed lawn and scattered palms around the banks of the lake.

  “Next time we go out, I'll have to take you out to Snapper Creek Trail,” Diana suggested.

  “S'that out by Kendall?”

  Diana nodded.

  “So I get a next time?” he asked with a smile.

  She nodded again, looking down at her feet. Diana didn't have much experience with dating or boys, but she liked Ryan. He made a good companion and the girl couldn't help but notice how his almond-shaped eyes and deep voice combined to make him extra attractive.

  Ryan took the suggestion of a second date as a good sign and decided to try his luck. Diana wasn't very short, but he still towered over her. He bent down and pressed his lips against hers. She closed her eyes and breathed in, allowing herself to relax in the moment. It was Diana's first kiss.

  In this life or the one before it.

  Ryan kept the kiss simple and polite. When he stood up straight, he was smiling. Diana really wanted hi
m to kiss her again. She was debating whether or not she should tug him down by his collar when his expression faltered.

  “Uh, are there bears in this area?”

  “In a suburb?” Diana asked. She looked behind her. It didn't make much difference if there were supposed to be bears in a densely populated area. They were here. Fifty yards behind Diana, two bears, one very large and one just a cub, stood on their hind legs, watching the couple. “Walk very slowly backwards,” she told Ryan. They weren't very far from her house.

  “Alright, my son,” Diana understood from the larger bear, “The tall one is slower on his feet, but don't underestimate him.”

  “Yes, mama. Can I eat him?”

  “Of course,” the mother bear said, sounding all too pleased. “Divide and conquer, my little one. Happy hunting.”

  “Run!” Diana shouted. She didn't worry too much about Ryan keeping up. He was no Lewis Mercer, but he was on the varsity track team for a reason. They sprinted up the grass, the bears running after them. Diana vaulted over her mother's herb garden and ran up the short steps to the back porch.

  She could distinctly hear the padding of bear feet, four large, four larger, and Ryan's gym shoes as he clamored up the steps behind her. She grabbed the handle of the screen door. Diana was relieved to find the back door unlocked. She threw it open, jumped inside, and slammed it behind Ryan.

  She flipped the lock, even though bears couldn't normally work doorknobs. Diana heard the beasts on the porch. She heard their breath as they sniffed the trail the two teenagers left. Their claws scratched at the wooden doorframe. She heard the doorknob jiggle.

  Diana was overwhelmed by the smell of Ryan's sweat mixed with his cologne, and she could hear his heart beat like a nearby drum. Diana turned to look at him, confused. The scent of his cologne, the Chinese food she had dropped on her jeans, the potpourri in a basket on the coffee table... the smells were getting stronger. So were the sounds. The ice-maker kicked on and the resulting noise was thunderous. The lights in the room seemed to get brighter. The smells were so strong now that Diana thought she might throw up.