FALL AWAY ⇢ JONATHAN BRANDIS

seven ↠ sarah

When Mrs. Brubeck first suggested hatching eggs as my science project, I was less than excited. That is, until I saw my first sign of life.

"Is that it?" I asked Mrs. Brubeck.
"That's the embryo." She responded.
"Wow. It looks like a bean." My friend, Trina remarked.

"It does. Let's try the other ones." Our teacher smiled.

Suddenly it felt real. All the eggs were alive. There were, like, little bean babies inside every one. On the day of the fair, all six chicks hatched. What are the odds?

"This year's top prize goes to Sarah Conway for her wonderful project: "A Chicken is Born." Mrs. Brubeck announced to everyone attending the school fair.

I won first place. And that was cool, but all I really cared about were my chicks.

My mom wasn't crazy about us raising chickens. But I begged and pleaded. I told her I would take care of everything. And I did.

"Where's Clyde? Clyde? Hey, Clyde. What's the matter? Are you okay? Aren't you hungry? Come on. Come here. What's wrong, baby? Come here. Hey, you're not Clyde. You're Clydette." I laughed, once I realised that she wasn't Clyde.

As it turned out, my hens laid more eggs than we could eat! At first we tried to keep up, but after a month of boiling, frying and deviling, like that movie 'The Blob', we were being overtaken by eggs. Then opportunity in the form of our neighbor, Mrs. Matthews, knocked.

"Hello, dear. If you ever have any extra, I'd be happy to buy them from you."
My eyes lit up. "Really?"
"Certainly. And I happen to know that Mrs. Wilson would be interested as well." Mrs. Matthews smiled.

Between Mrs. Matthews and Mrs. Wilson, my egg overflow problem was solved. Then I realized that Mrs. Brandis deserved eggs too. But I didn't think it would be right to charge her.

She had been such a good neighbor, lending us supplies when we ran out, giving my mother a ride when our car wouldn't start... it was the least I could do.

Besides, if I happened to run into Jonathan, that wouldn't be the end of the world...

By the third time I brought eggs over to the Brandis', I realized that Jonathan was waiting for me... waiting to pull open the door and say, "Thanks, Sarah. See you at school." And in return, I got a few moments alone with the world's most dazzling blue eyes.

It was a bargain. Until the day it wasn't. It was two weeks after the sycamore tree was cut down and I was just starting to feel normal again.

Before I could even knock on the Brandis' door, Jonathan opened it and smiled at me.

"Hey, Sarah. Right on schedule."
"Yeah, well, neither rain nor sleet." I laughed nervously.
"Huh?"
"You know, the mailman thing?"
Jonathan was silent for a moment before nodding. "Oh. Right. So, um, will you start riding the bus again?"

"I don't know. I haven't been up there since..." I trailed off, not wanting to talk about it anymore.

"It doesn't look so bad anymore. It's all cleared away." Jonathan reassured.

"Well, um, I better get ready for school. Guess I'll see you there." I smiled, changing the subject.
"Yeah... see you."

Jonathan closed the door and I slowly began to walk away with a small smile on my face. I stopped at the gate of his house and thought to myself:

Maybe Jonathan was right - maybe it was time I started riding the bus again. After all, didn't he just tell me he wanted me to?
Could it be that Jonathan Brandis actually misses me?

"Sarah. What are you still doing here?" Jonathan asked, snapping me out of thoughts. I spun around to see him holding a cardboard box full of something that I wasn't able to see.
"Oh... I-I was just thinking." I stammered.

"It's pickup day. The cans are in front." Jonathan smiled, nodding his head in the direction of the bins.

"I know. You need some help?" I offered, taking a few steps closer to him and peering into the box he was carrying.

"No. Maybe I'll do it later-" Jonathan nervously chuckled.

I squinted to get a better look at the unknown round objects, when I suddenly realised what they were.

"Are those my eggs?" I gasped.
"Yeah. Yeah, I dropped them." Jonathan replied.
I raised an eyebrow. "They're not broken. Why are you throwing them away? Don't you want them?" I questioned as I folded my arms.

"It wasn't me. My dad didn't think it was worth the risk..." Jonathan replied.

"Risk? What risk?" I scoffed.
"Salmonella." Jonathan mumbled, just loud enough for me to hear.
"What? He's afraid of being poisoned?"

"Well, Sarah, I mean, look at your back yard. It's a complete mess. It's, like, covered in turds." Jonathan chuckled.

I frowned. "That's not true. I clean up after my girls every day!"

"We just didn't wanna hurt your feelings." Jonathan tried to save himself.

"Have you always thrown them away?" I questioned. "You know, Mrs. Steuby and Mrs. Helms pay me for my eggs."

"They do?" Jonathan seemed surprised.
"They pay me 60 cents a dozen." I said, grabbing the box from his hands.
"I-I didn't know." Jonathan stuttered.
"How could you?" I almost yelled.

"I'm sorry." Jonathan said, hoping that he'd earn her apology.
I laughed and shook her head. "No, you're not."

With that, I turned on my heel and stormed away. I never wanted anything to do with Jonathan Brandis again.