Less Than Three

Chapter 5: How to Bust a Superstition

11:07 PM Tonight, Craig, Dave Brown and I walked under ladders, spilled salt, stepped on cracks, opened umbrellas inside a house and broke a mirror. We did all of it thirteen times - except the mirror. Note to Self: Never again smash a mirror within eyesight of an adult. They will freak. Much yelling will ensue. We went to the coffee shop to escape Craig's mom. Kiersten made me two vanilla chais. I WAS SO WIRED. Dave pointed out how much wired looks like weird when you write it. He's right. That's so, eh, wiredweird.

It was still early so we tried to find pennies with their 'tails' up but Craig just found a dime and Dave only found a nickel. I didn't find any money. I did find a black cat though. We tried to make it cross in front of us but all it would do was rub against my legs. So far, we hadn't run into any bad luck, unless you count not finding pennies or screaming mothers.

Or crashing into Dave.

By the close of the evening, I wasn't so sure which side of the luck scale Dave fell on.

We ended up at the park. The three of us talked for a while and a whole conversation went by without Dave Brown saying one wrong word. I had to blink when I realized that, just to make sure it was really him. It was. And then he suggested the most incredible thing.

"C'mon," he said, "lie down."

Say what? I looked at Craig. He shrugged, but dropped to the ground. They both patted the space between them. Oh. Kay.

The grass tickled the back of my neck. I smiled at how young and silly I felt. "So now what?" I said.

"Just wait," Dave answered.

For what? I wondered, but I waited. While I did, I watched the sky shift its color from the clear, bright blue of day to something duskier, deeper.

I rolled onto my side to comment but Dave Brown said, "Not yet." I turned to Craig but he seemed lost in some sort of little boy dream. I'd just decided they were both crazy - when I saw it.

A star appeared where there was none before. Then another, and another. The sky lit up like jewels before me and it was so beautiful that tears stung my eyes.

"So," Dave Brown said after, "what'd you think?"

I wanted to ask him how it could be that this miracle was happening every night of my life and I'd never stopped long enough to notice, but then Craig said, "That's so cool."

So I just said, "Yeah. Very, very cool."

On the way home, I tried the eyes closed/skateboard thing again and when I did, I thought of Dave. He seemed like the kind of kid you might be able to talk to about something like flying.

Mom was snuffing out lawn torches in the backyard when I arrived home. "Did you have a good time?" she asked.

"Great!" I said. I hopped up on the picnic table and told her all about superstition busting and star popping with Craig and Dave.

"Dave?" she asked.

"Dave Brown."

She glanced at me sideways, folded a couple of lawn chairs, and motioned for me to follow her into the garage. "The Dave Brown?"

I nodded.

"The same Dave Brown who ..." She flipped on the light and looked at me again. A grin slid onto her face. "Mmmhmm," was all she said. And then she raised an eyebrow.

Sheesh.

Things I ~Love:

Superstition Busting

Kitty Leg Rubbing

Star Popping!

Things I ~Hate:

Doing all of the above w/o Brady

Dave Brown

(Eh, maybe he's not so bad.)

<3