A Summer of Sundays (21 page)

We moved as silently as we could across the gravel paths, to the grave.

“This is so creepy,” Jude whispered. The orange-yellow beam of his flashlight bounced off the headstones and gave an eerie glow to the foggy night around us.

“Turn it off and then we won’t think about the graves.”

He gave a snort. “How could we not think about the graves when we’re sleeping in a graveyard?”

“You know what I mean. Just turn it off.”

He clicked the flashlight off, and the night thickened. I tried to ignore the creepiness and unzipped my backpack, pulling out my sleeping bag and laying it behind the stone so we couldn’t be seen. Jude did the same.

“Now what?” he asked.

“We wait.”

The trees rustled. A car drove by on the road below. A bird cawed loudly from somewhere in the black. I shivered and hugged my knees to my chest. I tried to remember why I had thought this was a good idea.

Jude broke the silence. “We have to do something, Sunday, or we’ll go crazy.”

“You’re right. But I don’t know—”

“I have snacks,” he said. “I packed a bunch.” I heard him unzip his backpack and then the loud crinkle of a bag. He threw something into my lap. “Here’s some chips.”

“Does your mom know about these?”

He crunched down on one. “She usually buys veggie chips. I bought these with my leftover birthday money.”

“Ah, I see.” I opened the crinkly bag and crunched down on a single salty chip.

We sat and talked. Jude told me about how long it had been since he’d heard from his dad.

“It was my fifth birthday.” Jude’s voice trembled and I was glad I couldn’t see his face. “Dad sent me a card and told me that he was going to take me to California to see the surfers, and then we were going to go to Legoland. He said that we’d stay up late every night and swim in the ocean as much as I wanted.” There was the rustle of his chip bag and a hearty
crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch
.

“Then what?”

“It never happened. No California, or Legoland, or
surfers. He never even wrote back after that. No calls. No visits. Nothing.” He sighed and faked a yawn. “But I don’t care. Whatever.”

“How long has Wally been around?” I asked.

“About three years, I guess.”

“And you still haven’t given him a chance?”

“Why should I?”

I chose not to answer that one. “Has he asked your mom to marry him?”

“Nope. And he won’t unless I say it’s okay. That’s what he told me.”

“And he’s still around? Jude, Wally adores you and your mom. Think about it. If he didn’t, he would’ve been long gone by now.”

There was silence, and I hoped that I hadn’t made him mad. I didn’t want him to leave me alone out here. “Jude?”

“You really think he might?” His voice was small, and the words were delicate as a spiderweb, like he was afraid the possibility of it being true could blow away at any moment.

“Yeah, I do.”

He sniffled, but I ignored it and made a bunch of noise with my now-empty bag.

“So, what about you, Sunday? To me, it doesn’t seem like you’re invisible to your family.”

I laughed. “Are you kidding me? Sure, sometimes my
parents get my name right the first time. But you’ve heard them. And then there’s the whole gas station thing.”

“Gas station thing? What’s that?”

So I told him what had happened at the gas station when we were coming to Alma. “They never even realized I was gone. They still don’t know.”

“Oh,” he said. “That’s a bummer.”

“Yeah, just a little.” Sarcasm dripped off my words.

“And you haven’t told them?”

“No, why should I? They should’ve realized and apologized.” I sighed. I wanted to tell my parents, but then again … I didn’t. “I don’t want them to pay attention to me just because they feel bad, or just to try and make it all better. That’s why I need to do something that will make sure getting left behind never happens again.”

“Don’t you think it was just a mistake? A bad one, sure, but still just a mistake.”

I crinkled up the chip bag and stuffed it into my backpack. “Of course it was a mistake. I know that. It’s just that it wouldn’t’ve happened with CJ, or Bo, or Henry, or my sisters. CJ is always so funny and loud that he’d never be forgotten. Bo’s the sweetest of all of us, Henry is the youngest and cutest, and Emma and May are both pretty and talented. Me? I’m just easy to look over and forget.”

“Oh, come on, Sunday. I get what you’re saying about
the boys because they’re still pretty little. But I bet it could’ve happened to one of your sisters.”

I shook my head hard. “No way. Never. But forget about it. It doesn’t matter. I’m the one that got left behind and now I’ve got to make myself be recognized.”

“But—”

“It doesn’t matter what I do, okay?” I yelled. “No one ever sees me.”

“I see you.” His words were gentle and quiet.

My heart stuttered. I didn’t know what to say.

“And I’m sure your parents do, too,” he continued. “They just don’t show it enough.” He sighed. “But either way, we’re here and we’ll stay awake and find out who is leaving the flowers for Lee Wren and we’ll get all the other evidence you need to prove that the letters are hers.”

I felt my cheeks flush despite the cool air. “You know, Jude, you didn’t have to start helping me … but thanks. Really, I—”

“Of course,” he cut in. “Do you want a Twizzler?”

I clicked on my flashlight and took one from the bag he held out. “Thanks.”

As we kept talking—about movies, school, and friends—I felt like something was different with us now.

We were officially friends, and I found myself liking that very much.

After a while, we both felt like we were going to have to prop open our eyeballs to stay awake. I yawned. “Maybe we should take turns sleeping.”

Jude yawned back. “Yeah, that sounds good. It’s only one o’clock. I don’t think I could make it until the morning right now.”

We agreed to take two-hour shifts, and because I drew the short Twizzler, I got stuck with the first watch. Jude settled into his sleeping bag next to me, mumbled a good night, and was out like a light a few minutes later.

I leaned back against the gravestone, then shivered and sat back up. That was too weird. I pulled out
The Life and Death of Birds
from my backpack and clicked on my flashlight. Reading would take my mind off the cemetery.

A twig snapped.

I jumped, my heart leaping and the book falling into the grass. I picked it up.

No, Sunday, stop. You’re fine
.

Leaves rustled.

You’re sleeping in a cemetery
.

A dog barked.

There are dead people beneath you, right now. You know that, right?

I took a deep breath in, tried to steady my racing heart, and wrapped my sleeping bag tight around my shoulders. I wanted to get inside it, but I was counting on the chilly air to keep me awake. I tried to focus on Jude’s breathing and not on the sounds of the dark around me. I swept my flashlight across the blackness.

Nothing but foggy shadows and headstones.

Click.

I rested my head on my knees again.

Dead people sleeping beneath you
.

Sleeping beneath you
.

Sleeping beneath
.

Sleeping
.

I awoke to a beam of light shining directly into my eyes. “Cut it out, Jude,” I moaned. The light seemed to brighten. Blinking, I sat up and looked around me. The sun was warm on my cheek, dew covered my sleeping bag, and Jude was still snoring beside me.

The sun!

I shook Jude awake. “Hey, Jude! Jude! Wake up! Did you see anyone?”

He rubbed his eyes, yawned, then sat up next to me, glancing around with a confused look on his face.

“Did you see anything?” I asked again.

“What?” his voice was gravelly with sleep. “No. I don’t think I ever woke up.”

“Drat! I must’ve fallen asleep.” Looking at the gravestone, I groaned at the single daisy lying serenely on the grass, the old one gone. “Drat, drat, drat!”

Jude looked at the daisy and winced. “Oh, no.”

How could I have fallen asleep? How? This was important and still I’d completely slept through the mysterious person walking right up and placing the daisy by the gravestone. I stuffed my sleeping bag back into my backpack, furious with myself.

Jude cleaned up all of his things in silence, knowing enough to keep his mouth shut. I was thankful for that, because I was afraid that I might bite his head clean off if he tried to utter a single word.

It wasn’t until we reached his road that Jude broke the quiet. “Luckily, it’s still pretty early,” he said. “My mom won’t be up for another hour or so. You think you’ll make it back into your house without getting seen?”

“Yeah,” I said. “It’ll be easy. I’m invisible, remember?”

And with the reopening party getting even closer, if I didn’t have another breakthrough soon, invisible was all I was ever going to be.

CAREFUL
to keep from stepping on the creaky parts of the stairs, I snuck up to my room and flopped onto my bed, immediately falling into a restless sleep.

I dreamt that I had climbed Mount Everest, but when I finally reached the top, out of breath, tired, and hungry, I saw that CJ, Henry, and Bo were already standing by the flag, which Emma had sewn by hand.

“I can’t believe we’re the first ones to reach the top!” CJ said. “And now we have time to build a fort.”

“I wanna build a fort with you, CJ,” Bo said.

Then our van appeared. May honked the horn, screeched to a stop, and held up her license. “Excuse me,” she called, sticking her head out the window. “I’m the first one to
drive
to the top of Mount Everest.” Then Jude and Emma got out of the backseat and smiled.

“We’re getting married,” Emma announced, showing off the ugliest ring I had ever seen in my entire life.

A crowd of people appeared, cheering, and pressing
forward toward my family, microphones outstretched and cameras ready.

“Wait!” I yelled. But in the bustle of everyone talking at once and trying to take pictures, someone accidentally pushed me off the side of the mountain.

I was falling, falling, falling.

“Sunday.”

My eyes flew open and I jerked upright.

“Sorry,” Mom said. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” She sat down on the edge of my bed and smoothed my hair off my forehead. Pressing her palm against my skin she asked, “Are you feeling all right?”

I nodded and rubbed my eyes. Clouds had moved in, covering the sun that had woken me earlier at the cemetery. Happy screams echoed outside followed by the familiar sound of an engine starting and restarting.

“Yeah, I think so.” The feeling of falling still clung to me, and I pressed my hands into the mattress to ground myself. “I’m just tired.”

“Why don’t you come have a little breakfast? You can give Jude a break. Henry has become his shadow.”

I yawned and stood. “I’ll be down in a minute.”

When the door closed, I slipped into a pair of shorts and a clean T-shirt, and brushed my teeth. I thought of my dream. Of course I knew that I’d never be pushed off the top of Mount Everest.