Why not? - English

12-11 Blazing a Trail

I took a deep breath as I walked in to the front door and leaned against the inside of the door for a moment before pushing myself off again and dropping my backpack with the books onto a chair at the kitchen table. I turned the kettle on and leaned on the counter with both hands as I waited for the water to heat up. I had the exam in two days and I felt less prepared than I had ever been for a course before, or even for one of Elvis' clumsy accidents - even with those, depending on the situation, we always knew when to expect one or not.

What was I thinking, making my garden available for Sam's surprise party? I had thought it was such a good idea and really thought it would be easier to hide from him than the annual preparations at the station - especially since Sam and I were so much closer now.

Instead, it had become a gauntlet. Jenni had informed everyone in town about it and everyone wanted to contribute something. I had arranged to meet Jenni and Padrig at my house the evening after I went fishing with, him to show them everything. Jenni was extremely enthusiastic and promised me that she would organize and prepare everything.

She did that too, but I quickly had to get into the habit of putting my cell phone on silent because otherwise it would constantly ring and beep as she always thought of something else that she had to consult with me about. Yesterday I had managed to avoid Sam so I could answer her countless questions by sending him to Radar's training with Elvis, but I had realized that with every rejection I gave him since the afternoon before yesterday, it had devastated him more and more. First to go fishing with Padrig, then to visit the Party ground with Jenni and Padrig; next time to be available to answer her questions; and even last night I had to cancel him again so that I could finally learn what I had been using as an excuse the whole time.

Instead, I had come home last night to find my garden brightly lit and full of people bringing in and setting up tables or using my house, the garden wall and the trees to hang fairy lights and garlands. I had been busy all evening rerouting cables to avoid tripping hazards and overcrowding the sockets and was also able to prevent my colleagues from having to be alerted by stopping Mike from testing off the fireworks and Joe from his try out the Sparks sky writing machine 2003.

I had fallen into bed dead tired and today the fire in the forest and the rescue of the Floods had kept us busy most of the day, while Jenni had going on to planning the meal and sending me cell phone messages about everything what had to do with food and asked me for the number of my cutlery and my dishes.

And again I had to tell Sam that I was going to study tonight, but he handled it much better today. I, on the other hand, really didn't plan on doing anything today other than studying while I finished my tea and moved into the living room with my backpack.

I had just opened the first book and taken a sip of my tea when my phone rang again. I sighed in annoyance, but the moment passed when I read that for once it wasn't Jenni, but her eldest son.

"Hey, Sam. Are you bored?" I greeted him with a smile. I couldn't help it. It was good to be able to talk to him. I just wish I could talk to him about everything right now.

"Not really. My Mum just went down to Bronwyn's cafe, but my Dad really wants to play chess with me. He's looking for my old board at the attic and I thought I'd take advantage of the moment and say goodnight to you," He replied annoyed and I involuntarily glanced at the clock.

"It's not even half past eight. Why do you want to go to bed so early?" I replied, confused. Did he always go to bed so early?

"I don't want to, but I'll probably fall asleep sitting up by my father's third move at the latest. He needs 10 minutes to plan each individual move," he explained to me with a sigh.