Lost and Found.4 (c2009)

Renee walked to the CD player and turned the volume down. "Young lady, please keep the music down. I'm on the phone with your aunt and I can hardly hear her without the added jumble coming from your room." Renee threw up her hands in exasperation.

"Sorry ma. What if I close the door?" asked Mariah

"Please Mariah. Can't you just for once give me some peace without talking back to me?"

Mariah was irritated now. She had apologized to her mother and had even offered a compromise. Renee just couldn't get off her case! Fine, if that's the way she wanted it then Mariah could be just as blunt.

"Mother, you're just pissed off at Aunt Jolie for laying this crap about grandma at your feet. You don't have to piss on my parade."

The color seemed to drain from Renee's face. Very quietly she said, "Mariah Celeste Mayfair, if you speak to me that way again I will take the money I've saved for your eighth grade party and give it to some orphan on the street, who I'm sure would appreciate it more than you would. I am trying to negotiate a very difficult and exhausting conversation with Jolie about getting your grandmother into a nursing home. None of us want to deal with this, not me, not your father, not Jolie, and least of all, your grandmother. So, please, I'm asking for some support from you and if all you can muster is some quiet while I'm on the phone, I'll take it. Because I am just about at the end of my rope and that's the least you could do."

Renee wheeled and as she turned, she grabbed the doorknob and firmly, but calmly, pulled the door closed. The whole time she was talking, Mariah noticed her mother held her voice carefully in check. Renee hadn't wavered in tone or volume but Mariah could tell her mother was seriously upset. Renee's demeanor pierced through Mariah's supposedly stony façade and suddenly she felt ashamed to have spoken so harshly.

In a moment of inspired reconciliation, she went to her dresser and removed a piece of stationary from the top drawer. The stationary had been a gift from her grandmother. It had rainbows at the top and was embossed with Mariah's initials at the bottom. She didn't really like the stationary and only used it for the obligatory birthday thank-you notes to relatives. Somehow it felt right to use it for this purpose. It might cheer her mother and produce the desired result of a truce, or at least a stalemate.

Dear Mom,

I'm sorry I said what I did to you earlier. I know that you're stressed out about grandma. I didn't mean it about you not wanting to deal with it. Dad and Aunt Jolie are not dealing at all and I know you're holding it all together. You always do the right thing and they're all lucky to have your help. Apologies. How about I'll do all the kitchen chores this week and I'll make you pancakes on Saturday? Truce?

Mariah

Mariah could hear her mother talking in controlled quips on the phone downstairs in the kitchen. Quietly, she tiptoed down the hall and gingerly pushed open her parents' bedroom door. She crossed the room to her mother's side of the bed and laid the note on her mother's pillow. She returned to her room but couldn't bring herself to resume her math homework. Desperately she wished the phone line were free so she could call Samantha instead. She cracked her door open so she could hear Renee hang up the phone.

She heard a car in the driveway and went to her window. Her father was home with the groceries. She heard Renee say goodbye then put the phone back on the receiver. She walked across the kitchen and opened the back door for Tony.

"Hey babe. How are you?" Tony could tell she was upset.

"Oh, not great. I just got off the phone with Jolie. And Mariah is being a pill. I can't believe this is how we're starting the teenage years. She is thirteen going on twenty."

"We survived Nicco. We'll survive Mariah." Tony chuckled as he gently held Renee close to him.

Mariah went flush with embarrassment. Her parents were talking about surviving her. She slunk back to her room and latched the door. She flopped down on the bed, picked up the phone, and dialed Samantha.

"Hello."

"Hi Sam. It's me. What's cookin'?" said Mariah.

"Hey. How are you doing?" Samantha was surprised by Mariah's timid greeting. Usually Mariah wasn't this reserved.

"Okay. My mom's all stressed out about grandma and she and I kind of got into it tonight. It wasn't that big of a fight. I just feel bad."

"What's up with your grandma?" asked Samantha. She was an observant kid and she thought the world of Mariah. "Is she okay?"

"Not really. My parents and my aunt are trying to put her in a nursing home. She is stubborn as hell and doesn't want to go, but she fell about two weeks ago. She wasn't seriously hurt but she's all alone in a big house and she's come close to having accidents several times now. Last year she nearly burned the house down when she forgot to turn the stove off. Luckily a neighbor had come over to check on her and caught it before it started a huge fire. But her teapot was completely melted and ever since then my parents have been freaking out that she was going to have a really huge accident. Grandma won't even consider leaving her house and my aunt doesn't even want to deal with it. My dad should be dealing with this. She's his mother. But my mom is always the one to fix things and they'll work it out. But you see, its no barrel of laughs around here."

"Sorry to hear about all the stress." Sam thought it would be a good idea to change the subject. "So, can you believe we're about to leave middle school behind forever?"

Mariah was glad for the change of topic. "I can hardly wait," she replied. "Are you going to the continuation dance?"

"No," replied Sam. " I think I have better things to do than watch Kyle Loggins suck face on Tiffany Spangler or see Greg Martinez make an idiot of himself trying to dance!"

The girls peeled into laughter."How about this - aren't you sad you're going to miss David Beard dressed up in a blue tuxedo?" Mariah was laughing so hard she could feel the tears start to well up in her eyes.

"Did he say he was wearing a blue tux?" asked Sam very seriously. "I think that is hideous."

Mariah knew the image would shock Sam. She snorted and the girls laughed for another minute before a moment of calm silence engulfed their conversation. Mariah got up, tucked the phone under her chin, and went over to the CD player. She skipped the first two tracks, lowered the volume, and hit play.

"I am so glad that middle school is almost over. High School has GOT to be better."

"What, wasn't the routine humiliation, posing, and stupidity any fun?" asked Sam. "What about Eric Miller's boner? Or witchy Amy Ferrell falling on her ass in the middle of the volleyball game. That was a moment to remember!" giggled Samantha.

"My god," sighed Mariah. "If I never come face to face with Eric Miller again I think I'll be okay. Did you know that he told Joe and Evan that he got a boner in math class because I was staring at him? Joe came up to me after 6^th period that day and accused me of telling Heather Combs, who was his girlfriend at the time, that he had a boner in class. And I swear to god I didn't tell anyone but you. I think Joe spread it around just to make a fool out of Eric. He's that kind of scum bucket. It was so embarrassing. I wish I could have died."

Sam, on the other end of the phone, was trying to contain her laughter but burst out in a huge guffaw as Mariah finished her sentence. Samantha had the kind of laugh that had texture. Her laughter was as much a part of the story as the details and Mariah delighted in bringing it out in Sam. "Someday we'll look back on middle school as the good ole days," cackled Samantha.

"Not bloody likely!" exclaimed Mariah. "I will not miss ANY of it."

"I'm excited about your party. Continuation is at 4 o'clock in the auditorium, right? What time are we rollerskating?" asked Sam.

"I think the party starts at 6:30. I hope this continuation is better than sixth grade. That was a thoroughly rotten end to an otherwise pleasant elementary school career." Mariah had a sudden flashback of being surrounded by chanting kids. She shook the gloomy feeling off and tried to put it out of her mind.

"Yeah, that was ugly. But it's all ancient history now. In six days we'll be women among children in the world of Hinkley Middle School," beamed Sam.

"Or babes in the woods of Carval High School. We're going to be the little fish in the big pond all over again," moaned Mariah.

"Don't worry about that. At least we'll be together," said Sam.

Mariah looked at the clock. It was already after ten. "Sam, my dahling, I must retire now. It will take me at least an hour to pick out an outfit for tomorrow. Thanks for cheering me up though."

Samantha smiled. "That's what friends are for. See you tomorrow. Don't forget to bring your scrapbook. I finally got those pictures of the play developed and I want to paste that picture of us at Angelo's Pizza next to your program for Romeo and Juliet.

"Okay. I won't forget. Have a good sleep."

"You too. Don't dream about boners'" Sam chuckled.

"Sam!" squealed Mariah. "I would never! You behave yourself!" Mariah feigned anger but inside was bursting with laughter. "Go to bed!"

"Sweet dreams," said Samantha coyly.

"Goodnight," said Mariah.

Lost and Found INTRODUCTION
Lost and Found CHAPTER ONE: FISH
Lost and Found CHAPTER TWO: DREAMS
Lost and Found CHAPTER THREE: PARTY
Lost and Found CHAPTER FOUR: SCRAPS
Lost and Found CHAPTER FIVE CIRCLE