It Can't Rain On Planet Crayne

• Chapter Twelve: World's Largest Twine Ball •

• Chapter Twelve: World's Largest Twine Ball •

When I was seven, my parents decided we would go on a road trip. It was our first, and last, road trip as a family. I had suspected this had something to do with me having to use the bathroom every hour, my dad arguing with my mom over directions and just the fact that we had to wake up ridiculously early in the morning. You might be wondering the destination of the road trip. No, it wasn't to visit weird Aunts and Uncles who lived in the middle of nowheres who still had an outhouse. It wasn't to go to a theme park and spend copious amounts of money to ride rickety carnival rides that you could possibly die on. We had set out to see the "World's Largest Twine Ball Rolled By One Man". Now, this riveting sight could be found in Darwin, Minnesota. 

Unfortunately Minnesota was about six hours away from Riverton, but fortunately my dad couldn't stop thinking about this giant twine ball after hearing about it on TV. He had to see it for himself. Although my mother wasn't completely stoked about the trip, she had to admit standing in the presence of a twelve foot wide ball of twine was kind of amazing. It was the coolest thing I'd seen, until now.

We stood, all three of us, outside the tent. The sky was now dark, a purple hue casting an ominous glow on Hianas face. The meteor shot across the sky in a blur of white light. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. It seemed, and it was, so far away--but at the same time I felt as though I could feel it right in front of me. For a moment I forgot about Hiana and getting her home, her lies, everything. My eyes couldn't peel away from the meteor and the purple washed night sky. 

"Guys," Logan sniffed, "I don't want to tear you away from this beautiful moment but we kinda do need to do something. It was kinda part of our plan for us to--"

"--It looks like it's pretty far away." Hiana said, scrunching her face and holding up her hands to the sky as if to feel  the distance of the meteor. 

"Well, yeah. It's super far away until a meteorite lands, right?"

Hiana smiled a little bit, her eyes were closed now and her hands still outstretched. Logan was looking at her like she was a maniac but I wasn't that surprised. I would say compared to literally lifting things with her mind, this was a bit mediocre. 

"No, no. I mean, I feel like the meteorite is going to be pretty far when it lands." She explained to us, letting her arms fall back to her sides and her eyes snap open. 

"Okay, well, how far away are you thinking?" Logan took a seat on the grass and we all took his lead. I glanced over at Logan's watch. It was 2:34AM. I had hoped we hadn't been too loud, Logan's mother was very insistent that she needed her nine hours of beauty rest every night. 

Hiana seemed to calculate again, gazing up to the sky. There was no sign of the meteor anymore, it must have landed. "I don't think it'll be too far, but not in this town."

Logan shrugged. "Sorry, I thought this made sense. This was really the only idea I had."

Hiana told Logan that she didn't mind and she had enjoyed camping. She apologized again for lying, Logan said he forgave her. I was deep in my thoughts and their voices began to sound like the Adults in Charlie Brown. Wah wah wah. I couldn't help but think that something wasn't adding up. I turned quickly to Hiana.

"If your parents were trying to send you a message, wouldn't they be sure it got to where you were?" I asked. Hiana nodded slowly, and then a little harder. 

"Gavin, you're right!" She smiled wide, but frowned after a bit. My realization, although helpful, only meant we were still back where we had started with figuring out how to get Hiana home.