The Other Half of My Heart (5 page)

“Come
on
, Skinny!” Keira shouted. “You’re holding us up!”

“Wish me luck,” Minni said as she fed Bessie Coleman a sunflower seed through the cage bars.

Daddy’s mama—who lived in a condo in nearby Discovery Bay, and whom they called Gigi, short for Grandma Gretchen because neither name suited her very well—was taking them twenty-five miles to Sequim, the closest big town and the only place in the area with a gown shop.

They were going shopping.

For silly, frilly, long dresses.
Yuck
.

The bird took the seed and cracked it with her beak.

Keira called down the hall. “Min-ni!”

When Gigi had heard about the pageant, she’d gotten so worked up about it you’d have thought it was the most exciting news she’d heard in twenty years. She’d insisted on providing the girls with their formal gowns and, of course, Marla Ray makeovers. Gigi was a Marla Ray consultant.

Minni fed her bird one more seed and slipped a plastic headband into her hair to keep it out of her eyes. “See ya later, Bessie.”

“See ya!” Bessie replied.

Keira was saying goodbye to their parents in the kitchen.

“Nothing too racy,” Daddy said, kissing Keira on the forehead. “You may be eleven, but that doesn’t mean I’ve changed my mind about unchaperoned dates. Not until you’re old enough to spring yourself from jail.”

Keira threw back her head like always and said, “Don’t be silly, Daddy.”

And Mama added her usual “Don’t be ridiculous, Gordon.”

But Daddy just shook his head and said, “You think I’m joking. I’m not joking.”

Then he saw Minni standing in the doorway, skinny as a piece of uncooked spaghetti, and said, “Same goes for you, Min. No solo flights until you’re eighteen.”

Minni knew he only said this because he didn’t want her to feel left out or to think she wouldn’t have boys calling her all the time like Keira would. But Minni was a realist. She wasn’t nearly as pretty as Keira, and she knew it. She was lanky, like Daddy, with wavy red hair that frizzed in the rain, big feet and freckles—a description that sounded a bit too much like a clown. Keira was shorter, like Mama, and compact—the perfect gymnast’s build—with smooth, clear skin the color of cinnamon sticks and, of course, that dazzling smile.

Fortunately, Minni didn’t really care about the boy thing. The fewer boys she had calling her, the more time she’d have to read and study, which she would need to do a lot of if she wanted to get a PhD like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Let’s go!” Keira snatched Minni’s arm and pulled her toward the front door.

“Have fun!” Mama called.

They went outside to Gigi’s long, lavender Lincoln Continental with the white leather interior. She had won the car by selling Marla Ray cosmetics. Mama and Daddy joked that she had probably purchased most of the makeup herself—she wore so much of it.

Minni and Keira didn’t care how Gigi had gotten the car. They loved to be seen driving around Port Townsend in it. They would sit in the back and pretend she was their chauffeur. “To the bead store,” they would say, or, “To the ice cream shop,” and she would play along and say, “Yes, my ladies. Your wish is my command.”

Banjo was in front, as always. He did a few circles, then put his paws on top of the seat and panted at Minni in greeting. “Hi, boy,” she said, letting him lick her mouth.

“That’s so disgusting,” Keira said.

Minni kissed Gigi’s cheek.

“After the dog licked your lips? That’s
totally
disgusting.” Keira made a face.

“Gigi doesn’t care.” Minni slid back and fastened her seat belt.

“It’s true. I don’t.” Gigi laughed and put the car in gear. “Put down your windows, girls. I’m taking Minni’s advice about being environmentally friendly and not using the AC.” She glanced at Minni in the rearview mirror, and they smiled at each other. “For
now
. The second I feel a hot flash coming, the AC’s back on.” She pulled the car away from the curb. “So…looking forward to your big trip?”

“Yes!” Keira bounced on the seat.

Minni sighed.

“Not so much, huh?” Gigi asked.

Banjo did a few more circles, jumped up on the door and stuck his head out the window.

“Minni doesn’t want to go.”

Minni kept her eyes on the houses they passed.

“You don’t? But you get to see your other grandmother.” As if that should make her excited. “Hasn’t it been a couple years since she came out to visit?”

“She doesn’t want to do the pageant.”

“But why?” Gigi looked at her in the rearview mirror.

“You’ll be fantastic, kiddo!”

Minni’s eyes met Gigi’s.

“Have you been out on your deck without sunscreen again?” Gigi asked.

Minni looked away. “Maybe.” She’d been trying to bring out a little more color, was all. Too bad all it brought out was more freckles. Why all her melanin had to clump together in tiny dots she would never understand. And no matter what she tried—suntan lotion, olive oil—her skin just turned pink in the sun, not brown.

“What have I told you about that, young lady?” Gigi’s dangling silver fan-shaped earrings with the turquoise beads tinkled as she shook her head. “You’re going to end up looking like a piece of venison jerky! Do you want to look like you’re seventy-five when you’re thirty?”

She had just turned eleven and Gigi wanted her to think about being thirty? The car kept motoring forward while Gigi turned and looked over her shoulder. “Hmmm?”

“Look out!” Minni pointed with one hand and covered her eyes with the other.

Gigi slammed on the brakes and Banjo shot to the floorboard with a thud. They screeched to a stop just in time to avoid the car in front of them. Good thing they all had their seat belts on. Except Banjo, of course.

The dog jumped back up and licked Gigi’s face.

“That’s so gross,” Keira said. “Why do you let him do that?”

“What can I say? He likes the taste of Marla Ray. And with our all-natural, one-hundred-percent purely botanical ingredients, it’s good for him, too.”

“But he’s getting you all slobbery.” Keira made a face.

“It keeps me cool. And when you’re going through ‘the change,’ you need all the help you can get in that department.”

Gigi was always talking about going through “the change” and how it made her hot. When they’d asked Mama what “the change” was she’d said it was an old-woman thing and they didn’t need to worry about it for a long time. Gigi got offended when they told her what Mama had said. “You’re only as old as you look. Do I look old to you?” Of course they knew to shake their heads no to that one. And with all the makeup she wore, and her short hair dyed as red as the sun setting on the Pacific Ocean, and her big silver and turquoise jewelry, she didn’t look
that
old.

Minni often wondered what Gigi would look like without all that stuff. Would she still look like herself, or would she be someone else?

The light turned green and Gigi set Banjo on the seat.

“When I have my own fashion design company, I’ll be able to help you stay cool, and it won’t involve slobber,” Keira said.

“How’s that?” Gigi asked.

“Well, you know about global warming, right?”

“You don’t even believe in global warming!” Minni said. She was the one who was always telling Keira about it, trying to get her to take shorter showers and turn off the lights in their room when she left so they’d burn less fuel and do less damage to Mount Rainier’s precious glaciers.

“As I was saying…” Keira put her arms on the back of the front passenger seat, stretching the seat belt as far as it would go. Banjo jumped up and head-butted her. “Ow!” She fell back. “Dopey dog,” she muttered.

“As you were saying…,” Gigi repeated.

“As I was saying,” Keira said, eyeing the dog, “I’m working on a new line. I call it Global Chillin’. Get it? ‘Cool fashions for a warming world.’”

Minni groaned. Leave it to Keira to take a global crisis and figure out how to make it into a new fashion fad.

Keira stared at Minni. “What? You wouldn’t get so sunburned if you wore my ultrabreathable, sheer UV-protection jumpsuit and matching sun hat—in reflective silver or bronze.”

“Sounds brilliant, Keira. Sheer genius!” Gigi looked back and smiled. She returned her eyes to the road just in time to avoid hitting a man crossing the street.
Screech!

Thud
. Banjo hit the floor again.

“Sorry!” Gigi yelled out the window. The man gave them a dirty look.

They weren’t even out of town and they’d already almost gotten into two accidents. This trip was doomed.

Keira continued to describe her latest fashion line as they pulled onto Highway 101 and picked up speed.

Minni listened in awe. Keira was super-smart—something not all their teachers had understood, since she struggled so hard with reading. But Minni had always known her sister’s intelligence, starting from when they were five and Keira had gotten the word “freedom” during a family game of Pictionary. She had drawn a picture-perfect version of the Statue of Liberty.

Banjo jumped onto the seat and stuck his head outside. His tongue flapped in the breeze. The air was warm, and fresh with the scent of evergreen. The highway skirted the Olympic National Forest. Pine trees came right up to the edge of the road, with only an occasional break for a cluster of tiny resort cabins.

At the wide spot in the road that was the “downtown” of booming Discovery Bay, they passed Fat Smitty’s, a ramshackle joint with a giant plastic cheeseburger out front, and Discovery Bay Railroad—a line of parked train cars painted in pastels that served pizza and ice cream. Minni and Keira loved both places and had eaten at them with Gigi many times.

Minni was about to recommend that Keira could make her Global Chillin’ line even hipper by using eco-friendly fabrics when a long string of slobber released from Banjo’s mouth and flew in through Keira’s rolled-down window—just as Keira opened wide to speak.

Keira practically hit the ceiling. “Ahhh! Banjo slaaah-buh im-mah mouw! Stah the cah! Stah the cah!”

“What?” Gigi said. The car careened toward the highway shoulder and Gigi jammed on the brakes.

Thud
. Poor Banjo.

Keira shook her hands in front of her. They looked like rubber chickens. She scrunched her face. “Slaaah-buh!” Keira moaned. The way she was acting, you’d have thought she’d just swallowed a huge, hairy spider and not a little dog spittle. Minni stifled a giggle.

“What is she saying?” Gigi turned to look.

“Banjo slobbered…” Minni felt a laugh attack coming on. “In her mouth!” She stopped trying to contain her giggles and laughed so hard she snorted.

Gigi sounded like a parrot choking. “Wuh-ut!” Her shoulders jumped up and down with her guffaws.

“Thnot fuh-neh!” Keira cried.

Gigi kept laughing.

Minni put her hand over her mouth and tried hard to swallow her laughter, but she couldn’t help it. It wasn’t like Keira was going to die, even if she acted as if she were. Keira wiped her tongue on her shirt, then let it hang out of her mouth, as if it were a towel on a clothesline and she was trying to get it to dry.

Banjo put his paws on the seat in front of Keira. His shiny black eyes peered at her from under thick tufts of hair, and Minni swore his mouth formed a crooked little smile.

Gigi let out a big sigh. “Oh, I haven’t laughed like that for ages. Whew, did that feel good!” She opened her glove box, grabbed a pile of paper napkins and handed some to Keira, who snatched them and wiped her tongue some more. Gigi took one and dabbed at her cheeks. “I knew there was a reason I reached for that waterproof mascara this morning.”

Keira’s eyelids lowered and her lips pooched out. “It wasn’t funny,” she grumbled.

“Don’t be a Grumpy Gus. Banjo didn’t mean to slobber in your mouth.” Gigi held Banjo in the air between the front and back seats. “Did you, boy?” She waggled him so his head moved back and forth. “Say you’re sorry.”

Banjo barked.

“Apology accepted?” Gigi asked. Keira glared at the dog.

“What if it had been me, Keira?” Minni said. “Wouldn’t you have thought it was funny? Even just a little bit?”

Keira’s mouth slid to the side of her face. She looked like Mama when she did that. “Maybe. But only a
little
bit.” She ran the back of her hand over her mouth once more and shivered. “And I never,
ever
want that to happen again.”

Minni put her arm around Keira’s neck and squeezed. She was glad to be here, even if the last thing in the world she wanted was a silly, frilly, long dress. If she had to do this pageant, at least she’d be doing it with her twin sister.

F
ifteen minutes or so after what would forever be known between Gigi and Minni as The Slobber Incident, they pulled into a Sequim strip mall and parked. Keira immediately headed to the Burger Barn across the street to kill the dog germs with some fizzy cola.

Since Minni was boycotting Burger Barn (she’d read online recently about the treatment of animals sold for meat to its restaurants), she decided to start looking at dresses without them.
Might as well just get it over with
, she thought. The sooner she found something, the sooner she could rejoin Banjo in the car.