Chapter 10

Casserole

3. Determine three possible sources of error.

One possible source of error was the amount of soluble starch used in the experiment. We may not have measured it to exactly .5 g, and the scales used to measure it may not have been accurate.

I knew that what I was typing in my lab report was a load of bullshit, but I didn't care. I had missed the entire lab when I went chasing after Emily, so I figured that I was doing my best under the circumstances. I didn't care if I failed the lab report anyway. I was never going to remember this crap. Who needed chemistry, anyway?

I looked up from my computer and stared out the window. It was growing dark outside, and the trees in the backyard were swaying gently in the autumn wind. A few red leaves blew by the window and disappeared from view. The scene was picturesque yet creepy.

My mother called me to dinner. Thankful for an excuse not to work on my lab report, I leapt from my desk and hurried to the kitchen.

The kitchen was full of the heavenly aroma of toasted cheese and chicken. My ginger-haired, blue-eyed mother was standing by the stove and putting on her oven mitts. I took my seat at the small table just as she pulled a casserole dish out of the oven.

"Chicken casserole tonight," she said as she set the dish in the center of the table.

"Yummy!" I said, taking a few spoonfuls of the cheesy goodness. Mom closed the oven, sat down across from me, and served herself some casserole.

"So," she said as we started to eat, "anything new and exciting happen at school?"

"Not really," I lied. I figured that Emily wouldn't want my Mom knowing about the Jedi thing either.

"Nothing?" Mom asked, as if suspecting that I was lying.

"No, how about you?" I asked, trying to get her off the subject of me.

"I had a job shadow at the office today," she said, "a guy that just graduated from Central High last June. Perhaps you know him? His name is Mark Schudel."

"Never heard of him," I replied, pouring myself a glass of orange soda.

"Didn't think you would," Mom continued. "I told him your name showed him your picture, but he didn't know you either."

"Oh no," I groaned, "you didn't show him that collage of me that's sitting on your desk, did you?"

"Yes."

"The one with the baby picture?"

"Yes, why?"

"Oh that's just what I need, my mother showing some random guy my baby picture!"

"What is the big deal?" Mom asked.

"Nothing," I lied.

"What is so wrong with your baby picture?" she asked. "You were so cute as an infant! You had so much bright red hair, and-"

"I looked like a pig when I was born," I complained. "I've seen that picture. I had a pug snout."

"You did not!" Mom protested. "You had the cutest little face and snout in the whole world!"

"You're just bias," I responded.

Mom sighed, smiled, and looked like she was somewhere else. "I remember the day you were born," she said reminiscently.

"Oh no," I said to myself, "here we go again."

"September 15, 9:17 am," she continued, smiling and staring into empty space, "you came three weeks earlier than the doctors predicted, and you were the cutest little thing! The nurses loved the color of your hair. It was so much lighter than it is now. You're starting to take after your father; his hair was a dark red." Her expression darkened when she remembered my father. "That rat bastard," she growled, "left me for a younger woman just two months before you were born, and I never heard from him again."

"I'm kind of glad I didn't know him," I commented.

"What he did was heartless and wrong," Mom continued, "but I didn't need him anyway. I like to think that I managed to raise you just fine on my own."

"You did," I said.

"I had fears at first," Mom replied. "I feared that I wouldn't be able to support you on my income alone. I feared that working wouldn't let me spend enough time with you. After your father left, I was a nervous wreck, and I was even worse right after you were born." She took a bite of casserole and continued. "I remember this bizarre dream I had the night after you were born. I dreamt that there were three people standing in my hospital room. They were all wearing brown robes, one was a woman, and one didn't even look human. They were talking about taking you away from me, and said something about killing you while they still had the chance." She shuddered. "It scared the daylights out of me. It didn't even seem like a dream, and for almost a day afterward I was convinced that it really happened. But once I calmed down, I realized that it was just a paranoid dream."

"That's odd," I said in between bites.

"I had nightmares all the time," she added, "they started when I was about seven months pregnant, right after your father left, and continued through the first month after you were born. About half were of horrible things like war, pain, suffering, and anger. Things calmed down eventually, but my fears for you did flare up again when you first went to kindergarten."

"I remember that," I said, "you were paranoid that I was going to get beat up by the other kids, or kidnapped, or I wasn't going to fit in. You almost didn't let me go."

Mom laughed. "Yeah, I guess I was paranoid," she admitted, "but what mother wouldn't be? You'll understand when you have children."

I snorted. I had no intentions of having children. "Well, you didn't have to worry about any of those," I said, "even the bit about fitting in. I met a friend my first day there."

"I remember," Mom said, "and you and Emily have been best friends ever since."

"I actually remember that day," I said, beginning to reminisce myself. "The teacher sat Emily and I next to each other when we were drawing pictures. I remember that my colored pencil broke, and I asked Emily if I could borrow her pencil sharpener. After that, we got talking about each other's drawings, and we became friends almost immediately."

"I'm surprised that you remember all that," Mom remarked.

"Me too," I replied.

"It's amazing how much time has passed since then," Mom said almost sadly. "It may seem like a million years to you, but your childhood has passed in a blink of an eye for me. It seems only yesterday I was playing peek-a-boo with my baby daughter, and now you are almost grown up. Now you're old enough to drive, and eventually you'll go to college, be dating, and working, and you'll move out someday and get a place of your own."

"That isn't for a long time," I said, "I'm not even thinking about that stuff right now. All I want to do is pass tenth grade."

"You were so cute when you were little," Mom said, evidently not listening to me, "I dressed you as a pumpkin for your first Halloween, and for your first Christmas, I got you a sandbox. You loved that sandbox. You used to play in it all the time until you were almost seven, when you got too big for it." She laughed and looked teary-eyed. "I hung a rope swing on one of the lower branches of that maple tree out back, and you and Emily used to take turns pushing each other on it. She was over here so much she practically lived here part time."

"I remember," I laughed.

"You had such a happy childhood," Mom said, putting her head in her hand and resting her elbow on the table. "I look back on it, and I miss that cheerful, happy-go-lucky little girl you used to be."

"Hey!" I retorted. "I'm cheerful! I'm not depressed or angst! I'm just as happy as I ever was!"

"Oh you're happy," Mom said, "don't get me wrong. But you're troubled by so much now. There are so many things in your life that cause you stress, unlike before, when you were ignorant of the world and had nothing to be stressed or worried about. I guess it's just part of life."

"Life sucks," I said, "I would love to be a kid again, and not have a care in the world."

"Wouldn't we all," Mom said with a laugh.

I looked across the table at my mother. I loved and admired her so much. She worked so hard to support me, and yet she still had time to be there for me whenever I needed her, in both the good times and bad. She was my companion, my family, my mentor, and my role model. I longed to be as strong, successful, and as good a person as her. We had our fights, and I got furious at her at times, but overall we were very close. After all, we were all each other had.

The phone rang and interrupted our conversation. "Oh for crying out loud!" Mom complained. "Right in the middle of dinner!" She looked at the caller ID and frowned. "It's the office," she said, "I'm sorry Lia, but I have to take this."

"No problem," I said as Mom answered the phone. She was one of those desk zombies that worked the midday and afternoon shift at the corporation in town, and often got calls at home when the person who took over for her during the evening had a problem.

Mom left the room to talk, and I finished my casserole. I cleaned up from dinner, turned the kitchen light off, and went back to my room to finish my lab report.

At about one in the morning, I finished the last of my homework that was due the next day. The math problems took exceptionally long, and the lab report questions and calculations took forever as well.

Mom had gone to bed hours ago, so I tiptoed to the bathroom and washed up as quietly as possible. When I finished washing my face and teeth, I tiptoed back to my room, quickly changed into my X-wing fighter PJs, and fell into bed. I fell asleep almost as soon as I hit the pillow, and eventually began to dream.

I found myself in my Chemistry classroom. The classroom was empty except for Liz, Katherine, and Janet. Liz was only wearing a bra and a pair of jeans, and was lounging on one of the lab counters. Janet held a Reichu in her arms, which was emitting sparks and burning everything around it. I was jumping up and down trying to reach a lightsaber that was hanging from the ceiling. Katherine was standing next to me looking furious.

"If you don't get Emily's lightsaber," she warned, "we're never talking to you again!"

"Give it back!" I heard Emily scream from inside the locked science supply closet on the far side of the room.

"Everyone else has already bought back their friendship!" Katherine barked. "Liz even gave up her shirt for us, and look at all these Pokemon cards Janet gave me!" She took handfuls of Pokemon cards out of her jeans pockets and threw them at me. They fluttered to the ground like snowflakes, and Katherine continued to throw more cards at me.

"I'm trying!" I cried, trying to jump higher.

"That's not good enough," Liz said, reaching behind her back. She undid her bra and tossed it at Katherine. "Here!" she cried. "For the friendship!"

"See?" Katherine yelled. "Look how generous Liz is!"

"Liz is just a pervert who likes to go topless!" I snapped.

"Whee!" Liz cried, rolling off the table.

"Reichu, thundershock!" Janet cried, tossing her Reichu in the air.

The Reichu obeyed just as I jumped high enough to grab the lightsaber. I drew the lightsaber and absorbed the Pokemon's electric energy in the glowing magenta blade. As I held the lightsaber, the blade slowly turned red.

The scene faded to darkness, and I found myself walking down a hall with white metal walls. I was alone, and was searching for something. The scene was very familiar.

A cloaked figure carrying a limp body approached me. I drew my blue lightsaber. I looked into the face of the person the figure was carrying, and realized that it was definitely Emily. She looked to be asleep. I hoped that she was only asleep.

The figure put Emily down and approached me. I was paralyzed in fear. I dropped my lightsaber, and it fell to the ground and retracted with a loud clatter. I took a step back, but the figure continued to approach me. I stumbled and fell. I looked up into the figure's hood in terror. When the figure was only a few feet from me, I saw that it was a very tall man. I squinted into the darkness of the hood but couldn't see a face. The figure approached closer and closer. I wanted nothing more than to leave this place. I wanted to get out of here.

I seemed to will myself to wake up, because the next thing I knew, I was back in my bedroom. I sat up abruptly. I had broken into a cold sweat and was breathing heavily. I looked at my alarm clock and saw that it was 4:30 in the morning. I was exhausted, but was too scared to go back to sleep. That dream and that figure were both so frightening.

When I calmed down, I sat on the edge of my bed and tried to make sense of what had just happened. I had had the exact same dream the night before. The dreams weren't just similar; they were identical. The dream was so terrifying, and the fact that I had the same dream two nights in a row greatly disturbed and concerned me.

Since it involved the world of Star Wars, I considered telling Emily about it and asking what it meant. She was probably the only person I knew who would be able to make sense of this.

I debated with myself for a while over whether to consult Emily or not. I seriously considered both options, and in the end decided to only consult her if the dream continued to recur. If it didn't, I was going to leave it alone and dismiss it as a common nightmare.

Once I made my decision, I lay my head back on the pillow and tossed the covers over my body. It took me a while to relax, but I eventually drifted back into an uneasy sleep.