FALL AWAY ⇢ JONATHAN BRANDIS

nine ↠ sarah

I'd never been embarrassed by where we lived before. I also never really thought about money. I knew we weren't rich, but I didn't feel like we were missing anything. That is, until Jonathan Brandis called our home a complete mess.

"What's your name?" Adam sang with his brother, Christopher at the table for my family and I.
"What's your name? Is it Mary or Sue? What's your name? Do I stand a chance with you? It's so hard to find a personality With charms like yours for me!"

I had to do something and I knew what it was.

"What's your name?" My brothers finished with a huge smiles.

We all applauded as my mom laughed. "Oh, you're sounding really good!"
"You think?" Christopher's eyes lit up. "We'll record it in Skyler's garage."

"That's a wonderful project." My mother, Beverly, smiled.
I took this as my chance. "Speaking of projects... I was thinking it might be cool to fix up the yard."

"What?" My father, Steve, questioned.
"I mean, how much can grass seed cost? I could plant a lawn, maybe some flowers. I could even put up a fence." I explained.

Beverly sighed. "Honey, that's a major undertaking-"
"I-I could pay for it with my egg money." I stammered, cutting her off.

"No. That's your money. The landlord should be the one taking care of all this." Steve spoke up.
"But he doesn't. And we live here. And it looks so bad." I complained.
"Sarah, what's going on?" My dad asked.

I shrugged. "Nothing, Dad."
"It's okay, sweetheart. You can tell us." My mother gave a soft smile.

I took in a deep breath before exhaling. "The Brandis' have been throwing away my eggs because they're afraid of salmonella. Because our yard is such a mess."

Beverly gasped. "Did Mary say that?"
"No. Jonathan did."
"But it must have been a family discussion - a boy doesn't come up with that on his own." Steve stated.

"Who cares what they think?" Christoper scoffed.
Adam nodded. "Yeah, who cares?"
"I care!" My mother snapped.
"Beverly. Let's not get into this-" My father started.

"No! I'm tired of living like this, Steve! I'm tired of having to take temp jobs just to make ends meet. I'm tired of having to push a chair up against the washing machine just to keep the door shut. I'm tired of having to borrow Mrs. Matthews' vacuum cleaner every time ours breaks down."

My heart sank as I listened to my mother go on.

"Do you think this is the life I pictured for us? Sometimes you have to sacrifice to do the right thing. We always end up agreeing that Devonhurst is the right thing for Daniel. Well, maybe we should start thinking about what's right for us. Our daughter is suffering because we won't fix up our own yard-"

"It's not our yard." Steve interjected.
"How can you say that, Richard? How?! We've lived here for 12 years and for 12 years we've been saying it's temporary, but it's not. This is our home! Is it wrong to wanna live somewhere you can be proud of? To have enough to send your kids to college? Maybe it's time we considered government care."

"We are not moving my brother!" My father scolded.
"He's more important than your own children?" Beverly questioned.

"D-dad!" I stuttered.
"How dare you!" Steve gasped.
"Stop it, Dad!" I cried, silencing my family. "Please, just stop!"

My father sighed. "I'm sorry. Sarah, this is not your fault. We'll work this out, I promise."

That was the first time I ever heard my parents really yell at each other.

That night they each came into my room. My father talked about his brother and how much he loved him and how he promised his parents he'd always take care of him.

My mother talked about how much she loved my father for his strength and kind heart. When she kissed me goodnight, she whispered that of all her many blessings, I was her best.

I felt sorry for my father. I felt sorry for my mother. But most of all, I felt lucky for me that they were mine.

I wanted to think the reason I started working on my yard had nothing to do with Jonathan. It was about making our house better. After what he did with the eggs, why should I care what he thought? But I did.