The Weeks Between • HS

Week 2 • Harry

"Harry, you are cheating!" Sarah pouts and of course, Mitch takes her side, causing me to lose the round. We have been playing bean bags all afternoon, and though I am normally pretty good, today I just suck. We are teasing one another until I hear it. One of my favorite songs, coming through the open windows at the neighbors house. Nola is not only listening to, but is now also singing along with, the song Sledgehammer.

"That song follows you everywhere, Harold," Mitch deadpans. We'd just played it for the Howard Stern show, before everything shut down, and now it was all over the internet.

"It's such a good song, though," I argue and he rolls his eyes. "What, she clearly has god taste in music," I say. Mitch and Sarah came over to have an afternoon of grilling and outdoor games, but as usual, that turned into an evening of cocktails on the patio.

The sun is going down and the fireflies are glittering over the meadows at the back of the property. I hear little girls giggling next door, and suddenly I hear one more clearly, "I'mma follow this one..."

"Mia, sweetie, come back to our yard," I hear Nola say to one of the girls as she girls come into view way back at the end of my yard where the fence stops at the meadow.

"MAMA!!! I GOT IT!" the little girl screams, full of PURE JOY! She is jumping up and down, proudly holding the jar, and showing it to her mom and sister. "It has blinky butt," the girl shouts. I laugh with a snort and Nola smashes her palm against her forehead and screams out, "Sorry!!" waving in our direction. Sarah and I wave back, as Mitch barely nods in her direction, trying to hold in a loud laugh.

Nola gets down on her knees, right at her level, and celebrates with her before getting back up and guiding the girls back to her side of the yard. "I'm sorry, again" she says. "She really wanted to catch that bug."

"No problem, at all," I call out as they disappear back to their side of the property.

"Well, isn't that just adorable," Sarah says, watching the bouncing little girl proudly carrying the firefly in a mason jar. They follow their mum back to their side of the yard like little ducklings.

•••••

The next morning, I pick the garden's ripe vegetables, leaving a large basket for Nola and her girls, also leaving a note that I'll be out of town for the end of week. I tell them they were welcome to come and pick the vegetables while I am away, giving them the code to open the gate between our yards.

I pull out of the driveway, deciding to take the Tesla to mums. It has been almost four months since I have seen her, due to being stuck in L.A. at the start of the pandemic lockdowns. I spend the ride listening to music and getting lost in my thoughts about the girls next door. Before I know it, I am turning off at Holmes Chapel.

"Harry!" mum greets me from the front of the house, with a black and white cat flanking either side of her as she walks out the door.

"Oh, I have missed you so. I am so happy you're here- safe and healthy," mum says. We waited a bit after my flight from L.A., even though it was private, just in case. Now, weeks after I landed, I can finally be with my family again.

We sit down that evening, at a meal that mum prepared from her own garden. "The garden is going wild, these days," she offers.

"Mine, too. I have been leaving some for the neighbor and her daughters."

"Oh, I thought that it was an older woman."

"It was, but this younger woman, named Nola, is living there now. I haven't gotten the entire story. To be honest, I'm not sure she even knows who I am. We have only ever seen each other from far away, or in masks, and only a couple of times."