Six days
“Six days.” Six days since the last time she could run. It was all that she could think about. Back home, it was a cold 65 degrees every day. Never had to worry about huge snowstorms that closed all the sno-parks in one big blizzard. Never had to see Kevin on the local news saving a snow-mobiler’s life. Sure, Roscoe helped, too, but GOD, six days!
“You think we can get the IP work done that quickly? I thought it took a lot longer when we filed the paperwork for Zerbitz. Six days seems like…” Randy was asking her a question. FOCUS! “Did I say six days? I meant closer to six months. I might be able to streamline it, but six months seems about right.” Kevin deflated and slouched on the couch with his laptop on his thighs.
Sierra stood up to look out the window. Maybe suddenly it would be spring instead of this early winter. It was a clear day and the sun shining could have fooled her, but the temperature had dropped quickly this year, freezing that blanket of snow solid. There was a car pulling up to the house. A man who looked older than time struggled to get out of the car while Andrea ran around to help. Sierra watched them head to her porch.
“Visitors.” She scanned the house. It was a mess of paper, intellectual property documents and laptop computers. The three of them had been working on Kevin’s “Speed Up the Internet” thing for the last few days. They looked a mess, and there was a knock on the door.
“Come in!” Sierra rushed them into the house before the cold wind could drop the house temperature any more. The two of them smelled like snow and dusty coats. Sierra gave Andrea a desperate and guilty look. Kevin suspected that she was still running and based on the footprints in the snow, she was probably running with someone else. She couldn’t let Randy and Kevin know that she had been running with Andrea. SIX DAYS!
The old man was bent over with osteoporosis. He leaned heavily on a cane, but offered his hand to Sierra. “Hello, I’m Tortimer Andreasson. I’m running for mayor of Merriton and I wanted to introduce myself. You folks moved here when I was in Florida.” Sierra saw Randy fold his arms and lean back in his computer chair. He glowered at Andrea. It suddenly struck Sierra and she spoke out loud, “I just realized that your name would have been Andrea Andreasson when you were a kid.” She kind of giggled to herself and a big smile came across her face. For a fraction of a second, she forgot how many days it had been since she last ran.
Andrea smiled at Sierra. “Why do you think I named myself A.S.?” Sierra shrugged and the two of them fell into their comfortable conversation. “I always thought A.S. stood for Andrea Sebastian.” The old man chuckled. “Ah, no. My Andrea gave herself that nickname long before she ever married John.” Sierra’s mind was filled with curiosity. “So what does it stand for?” Andrea shook her head and smiled. “It doesn’t matter now. It was just a stupid thing back when we were kids.”
Randy piped in, arms still folded, “Some of us have an idea what A.S. might stand for, but you have to add another letter.” He and Kevin laughed, but Sierra was embarrassed and appalled. She threw him a look that normally would have frozen him solid, but he was hot with anger at the last time he encountered Andrea. Her friend was red with embarrassment, but Tort just laughed along with Kevin.
Randy stood up. “Seriously, though. We are close friends with Angie. We’re going to vote for her.” Tortimer inched closer to Randy. He looked up from his cane and Sierra was shocked at how large a back can look when it’s folded in half. “Angie’s a good girl, but I think she’ll look a little silly wearin’ the Onion King Head at the Onion Festival next year.” He noticed the confusion on their faces and asked, “You go to the Onion Festival this year?” The three of them shook their heads and he continued, “Probably best. It wasn’t our finest year.” He looked at Andrea. “Mrs. James’ savory onion pie was the best I’ve had, though.” Andrea nodded at him and the two of them exchanged a look of love that only family can share.
“You registered to vote here?” Tort looked at the three of them as if it was their duty to vote. Kevin spoke first, “Oh yeah! This year, every vote counts, especially here. We registered the minute Obama announced his run.” The room got quiet and the old man smiled. “Well, if you vote the straight Democrat ticket, you’ll end up voting for me. You sure you want to vote for a Republican for mayor?” Sierra loved the twinkle in his eyes. Andrea pat the old man on the arm. “Now Dad, don’t tease them. Angie’s only running on the Republican ticket because you got the Democrat spot.”
Tort smiled and nodded to himself. “I think it was Robert Anton Wilson who said that it only takes twenty years for a liberal to become a conservative without changing a single idea. I don’t know what that says about me, but I think about that a lot these days. Guess I’m glad I’m still a liberal no matter how many generations vote for me.” A quiet hush fell over the room and Sierra realized why Tort had been the mayor of Merriton for so long. She looked at Andrea and the two of them exchanged a friendly glance.
“Well, I gotta go ask Elvis and Vesta ta vote for me.” Mayor Tortimer slowly turned around and Sierra followed the two of them to the door. They said their goodbyes and Sierra closed the door. Six days. Six days since her last run. When would she be able to run again?
Sierra could hear Kevin’s accusing voice call to her from the futon, “So Sierra. How’d you know her name was Andrea?”