Fire & Water & Earth & Air

8: Air

Robert

           In my nightmare, I'm being chased by trees.

           Now, don't go nagging me with, "But Robert, trees can't walk," because that is a lie. I mean, have you ever watched Rango? The one with the lizard? That movie has walking trees.

           Anyway, the trees are chasing me. I'm running and running but no amount of speed can lose the suckers. They're about to kill me when my mom intervenes.... by waking me up....

           "Mom," I groan into my pillow, desperately grabbing onto sleep.

           I hear Mom's laugh. "Get up, lazy. You already missed breakfast, do you want to miss lunch, too?" I just groan again and curl up under my blanket. "Come on, get up," I hear, right before I [ironically] get the air knocked out of me.

           A pillow. Who the hell can make a pillow feel like a ten ton elephant? I'm about to roll over and fall asleep again when she starts tickling me. I swear, I haven't seen her this happy and playful since.... never, I think. I sit up and give my mom a glare. "What's wrong with you?"

           Her smile gets big. "Do you remember Jeremiah Trevor from my book club?"

           I give her a nod. My mom, being the book freak she is, signed up for a book club when my dad was still around and has stuck with it ever since. She's made plenty friends and they all helped her cope with the divorce. And now she's happy because.... Jeremiah?

           She nods along with me and then excitedly flops on my bed, squishing me under the blankets.

           "He asked me if I wanted to grab coffee with him after next week's meeting!" I smile because my mom is really, truly, happy. "I mean, technically, he asked if I could go today, but I've my entire week booked. See the pun?" she adds with a wink. I groan because I realize I'm too much like her.

           My mom elbows me and continues, "Anyway, I agreed and it's a date!"

           I manage to wiggle my way out from under her and sit up. "Mom, I'm glad he asked you. It'll be good for you." She looks at me with a huge smile on her face and I realize that she's never been this excited about anything. She did love my dad, but even then, her smile never beamed this much when he took her out on the occasional date.

           Or maybe that's because they drifted apart the second they learned of my powers. But it's not like he stuck around much longer than that. After all, he did leave when I was nine.

           Still, my mom encouraged me to use my powers, applauding me when I learned a new trick or reached a higher level of control and scolding me when I used them to get even with a mean kid at the park.

           "You're different from them," she would tell me. "But you're also my kid, which makes you better than them. You need to act like you're better than them, but treat them like you aren't. You know what I mean?"

           Mom was never good with her tongue, so she became an author. I mean, she's great with words, but not verbally. So even though the frightened four-year-old me didn't understand what she meant, I nodded.

           She would then respond with, "Good, now go play."

           And that's exactly what I'd do.

           Snapping out of my thoughts, I say, "I just don't understand what you see in him, Mom. He's kind of a creep, don't you think?"

           Mom turns to me with a frown. "It's not nice to say things like that, Robert."