Lost and Found.1 (c2009)

Mariah's eyes wavered from the activity in the fish tank just long enough for her to lose track and she had to start all over again. Heaving a sigh, she rolled on to her back and tried to focus on the 19 sparkling tetra fish schooling in the upper currents of the tank.

"Jubilee, Jumbo, Nelson, Cubbie, Swish, and Zip. Nemo, and today I think I'll name the slow one Gary after the slo-mo who shoved me today."

As if on cue, Mariah's dad, Anthony, popped his head from around the corner. "Pumpkin, you alright?"

"Yeah, da. I was just playing with the fish."

"I thought I heard you say a boy at school..."

Mariah cut him off. "Oh, da, forget it. He's just a bother, not trouble."

Anthony, flashing a grin that betrayed adoration for his youngest child, now 11, began to hum a tune. It was a song Mariah had heard almost every day of her life, or so it seemed. This particular afternoon, Tony's tune wasn't endearing. It was annoying.

"Dad, do you have to hum that song all the time? I know you know more songs than Don't Fence Me In. You could at least try to update your repertoire."

"Young lady," Tony replied, " the sooner you realize that Willie Nelson and Keith Richards are the landlords of the Fountain of Youth, the sooner you will..."

"The Fountain of OLD, you mean?" Mariah quipped. "Those men look like a couple of nursing home candidates!"

"Well, we all grow old. But what I mean is that their music will keep you young because it is the Fountain." Tony began to feel that Mariah was not in a great mood.

"Da, you are positively out of touch."

"I do believe I spied you dancing your heart out to my copy of Dead Flowers yesterday on the iPod." Tony said gently, not wanting to make Mariah grumpier.

Caught in what felt like a net, Mariah hesitated. "Well, it's a good song to clean to" she said after a moment. She knew it sounded like a lame answer as soon as she said it. Tony resumed humming. This time it was "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones, another one of Mariah's secret favorite songs. "Pumpkin, would mom rather have some zucchini or the peas, carrots, corn medley?"

"Zucchini."

"Would you like to make the salad?"

"Sure, in a minute." Mariah rolled on to her stomach and glared at the tetra fish. "Stupid fish. I should just name you all Ralph," she muttered softly. "Dad, when will dinner be ready?"

"Well, I'm trying to time it just right. Nick's game should be over right about now, so say, 35 minutes."

Nick was Mariah's brother. He was seven years older than her and had shown very little outward interest in his sister, except for the occasional harassment over bathroom time. Mariah was convinced he spent all his time in front of the mirror, fawning over the fuzz he was trying to pass off as a goatee. Nick had never really bothered his sister much, but Mariah would have been surprised to learn that he was very fond of her. Behind her back, to his friends, he referred to her as the runt. In truth, he would have beat the daylights out of anyone who hurt her feelings. When Mariah was in Kindergarten, Nick threatened a six-year old girl who had ripped the arm off of Mariah's favorite doll. Mariah had taken it to show and tell and was devastated by the mutilation of her cherished toy. Nick held the girl's lunchbox for ransom for three weeks before she agreed to leave Mariah alone. Apparently, the girl didn't care about her lunchbox, but her mother eventually became upset that it couldn't be found and had stopped the brat's allowance.

By 7:30, Nick and Renee, their mother, joined Mariah and Tony at the dinner table. Nick's basketball team had won their game by an exciting, 4-point margin, and though Nick had only played 8 minutes, he was triumphant in the retelling.

"Coach decided to take the last time out with 36 seconds to go and it was the perfect thing to calm down Ric and Dale. With Mark down low and, well, all of them were just brilliant in the last 30. We were tied and Ric made the first long pass to Dale for a fluid lay-up. The Spartan's Forward bobbled on the next possession and Ric was right there for a quick steal and a sharp pass to Mark, who was right below the basket. The Spartans couldn't crack the tight defense and they ran out of gusto there in the clutch. It was a great game!"

Renee and Tony shared a wink over Nick's exuberance. His fine hair bobbed over his brows as he looked at everyone in succession, building the mood into one of excitement as Mariah tried to look uninterested. She picked at he zucchini her dad had over cooked. What a shame, she thought. I should have made dad make the salad.

"You would have been proud of Nico's performance, Tony. He was great." Renee shot Nick an encouraging look and a smile. She had always been concerned at his extreme modesty. She worried, like any doting mother, that his self-esteem was suffering because he was always right in the average. He was fairly good looking, with high cheekbones and wide blue eyes. He was a solid B student and had played third chair clarinet in the middle school jazz band. Nick seemed to be handling his responsibilities in high school well but there was no area that stood out to Renee. He had only had one blind date and didn't seem to want a steady girlfriend. But his chums on the basketball team were devoted to him and he was a loyal friend. Sometimes Renee would let her anxiety over him get the best of her. She recently caused a fight because she kept asking him how he was doing and Nick finally told her that he was fine and would she please stop treating him like a fragile little boy. In haste, and with regret afterwards, he called her a "smothering, rotten nag of a mother", along with a few other choice words, sending Renee into a funk for a week. Nick enjoyed the space she gave him, but after a week the novelty of it had worn off. The two soon came to a mutual understanding that they loved each other enough to trust the other was okay. Renee and Nick both knew that if one of them needed anything, the other would always be there. They had not had a single rough word between them since the fight.

"It was a great team effort. We should make the playoffs after that win too."

"Well, I think it would be nice if all of us could make it to your next few games," said Renee. Tony gave them all a smile before jumping up and exclaiming, "I had a feeling that you would return home victorious so I too the initiative to make some chocolate Victory Pudding, a la Antonio. When you're done."

"I'm done!" said Mariah and Nick simultaneously. "Jinx!" squealed Mariah.

"Oh, jinx yourself, runt. I don't play stupid kids games." Nick retorted.

"Be nice you two. Nick, why don't you clear the dishes and Mariah, bring out some pudding for your brother." Renee handed her plate, polka-dotted by a few conspicuously uneaten pieces of zucchini, to Nick, who dutifully began to clear the table.

"Would anyone like milk with their pudding?" asked Mariah.

With nods all around, everyone decided milk and pudding was a winning combination. Mariah turned towards the kitchen and nearly ran right into Nick, who was carrying a full load of dishes.

"After you, runt," said Nick.

"No, after you, Sport. You won the night and you have your hands full," replied Mariah.

Over dessert the family discussed the early winter storm that was supposed to move in by morning and their dinner party scheduled for Saturday night. "I was thinking that we could ask Sandy and Tim to bring some bread and have Kenny bring a bottle of wine. Mariah, Dana said she is going to bring those mint brownies that you love."

"I know, mom. She told me she was going to be making them because they were such a hit at my birthday party."

"Have you decided who you would like to invite?" Renee asked tentatively.

"I think so," Mariah lied, "if she can come. She might be busy."

"Well, I'd love to meet your new friend." Renee was trying to hide her happiness over knowing Mariah had made a new friend. Mariah was trying to hide her misery at having to lie to her mother. But there was only one person Mariah wanted to ask and she couldn't. All of a sudden, Mariah didn't feel like talking any more.

"Can I be excused now? I have some homework and I have to feed the fish."

"Sure Pumpkin," said Tony. "How many of them have you managed to name?"

"I'm only set on one name so far; Ralph." Mariah skulked to the fish tank, pinched out a small pile of fish food, and dropped it in through the lid. She could smell the saturated water plants and the fresh odor of clean water, and the just barely detectable aroma of fish. The tetras swarmed around the food, and as Mariah watched them eat she overheard her mother ask, "So, Nicco, are you going to ask Janet to come to the dinner party?"

"Mom, just because we're talking to each other again doesn't mean that we're dating or asking each other to dinner."

"I was just curious. She is such a nice young girl."

"Mom..."

"Okay. Okay. I won't ask again."
Mariah sighed and went upstairs to her room. She felt miserably lonely.

Lost and Found INTRODUCTION
Lost and Found CHAPTER ONE: FISH
Lost and Found CHAPTER TWO: DREAMS