The Summer of Bluebells

My Bible

Before my dad died of tuberculosis in 2008, he taught me that a bible is a passage or a book that influences your life spiritually and emotionally. My bible is the 1993 edition artist's guide to capturing the moment in your mind and sharing it with the world. My Aunt Josie gave it to me when I turned 5. She told me how it helped get her career started and after my mom left me and my sister Hazel to travel the world and not be tied down to anything, she thought I could have something to work towards to distract me from the events playing out in my life. The book was so worn down and had so many pages filled with cliff notes and highlighted passages that have been collected over the years that I had to tape  the cover page back onto the book over a hundred times. I can't recall the amount of times my grandma offered to take me to the corner bookstore to replace it with a newer updated version, but each time I declined. This book was too important to me to be replaced and that is worth more than a 27.99$ updated hard copy version. I close it once more and stack up on my bookshelf next to my biology and U.S. History books.

"Honey! Hazel! Time for supper! Get down here before it gets eaten by the dogs!" My grandma hollered up the stair case, and you could hear the floorboards creak and she waltzed back into the kitchen downstairs. We had 2 dogs, Gretchen and June. They were both cocker spaniels but Gretchen was all black while June was brown and white. I have a cat named Chimney, he is all black and has a fluffy raccoon tail. A few years ago, we found him while cleaning out our chimney hence his name and grandma said I could keep him. He usually sits on my bed cleaning himself or sunbathing on top of my banister when the sunshine from my window shines upon it. I scratch his little chin as I head downstairs. Every time I head down old cherry oak stairwell, I see the framed pictures of me and Hazel from when we were little with my Aunt Josie and my grandma at Cedar Falls, Indian head trails, and one from our trip to Honey Dew mountain a couple years back. I could hear the clicking of Aunt Josie's heels against the hardwood floor downstairs as she helps grandma set the table. She doesn't live with us, but you wouldn't know it from the amount of times she comes over (which is about every day) and visits. She has a flexible schedule due to owning the only graphic designing business in the tri-county area called " pic-to-art ". Her daughter Bailey moved to Seattle in 2008, the same year my dad died. Ever since then, she has always been there for me like a mother. I enter the dining room smelling grandma's southwestern goulash and peach iced tea.

My aunt Josie sits down next to Hazel across from grandma as she poured the iced tea into each glass. Hazel sat at the table with her feet propped up as she texted her friend Janey on her phone. She is a sophomore at Gilbert T. Smith High School, the same school I graduate from in 9 months. She didn't know mom very well since she left when Hazel was barely 3. She wasn't the warmest person or the most friendliest but she had her moments. Grandma slapped her feet to get them off her only good table.

She scoops each ladle full onto our plates, I was staring at my mismatched socks under the table. One one pick with blue stripes while the other was green with a yellow and black plaid pattern. I never liked how socks were always sold as the exact same design ina pair, that's why I always mixed them up. I suddenly was pulled out of my trance by the sound of a glass being slammed down onto the counter. Hazel glanced up from her phone to see grandma's glare staring down at her.

" Do you want to explain why the school called me saying that you are failing English, History, and French?" Grandma said not even looking at her while she scooped goulash onto her plate. Hazel rolled her eyes and stared back at her phone.
"Because the school system sucks and you have nothing better to do all day than answer a phone call from the school." Aunt Josie giggled but soon stared down at her plate. Grandma started to get irritated. She put the ladle back into the pot and snatched her phone right out of her hands.
" What the hell old lady?" She whined at her. Grandma smiled and grabbed the ladle as she stuffed her phone into her pocket. Later she will put it in her safe behind the painting of a lilac field she bought at a yard sale. Hazel gave her the death glare and stuck her fork into her food.
"Get those grades up to above a C and then you will see your phone again." I looked across the table at her. She was never one to cry, so she huffed and stomped her way upstairs and slammed the door to her room. Knowing grandma, she will change the wifi password so Hazel can't use her laptop. Grandma sighed and scooped some on my plate. Suddenly, I wasn't really hungry anymore.