This story was named after the song "Wind Of Change" by the Scorpions
"The future's in the air
I can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of change."
Chap. One: Blowing
This day my mother had given Matt and I permission to skip school like we had every year since Dad died. Our ritual was that we woke up, dressed in mournful clothing, and visited Dad's grave. We each had our time to speak with him, telling of our lives so far. Then we left Mom at the grave as we went to the car. Every year she took about fifteen minutes and came to the car with red puffy eyes. This morning I drove.
We would always come back to the house, and spend quality time playing family games and eating pizza. Since Dad died, Matt and I had learned not to complain about spending time together. In fact, it made us realize how important family was. Don't get me wrong, we still fought like cats and dogs; but at least we didn't act like we hated each other.
These nights, we always went to bed early. I couldn't sleep, however. I mean, it was only seven o'clock. Somehow Matt had conned Mom into letting him buy a TV and put it in his room. So I did the only thing logical, I got up to go downstairs for a bite of cold pizza.
When I got to the top of the stairs, I noticed that Moms door was open just a crack. I could hear her crying. I decided to check on her. As I opened the door, I remember seeing her on her window seat gazing out at the setting sky.
"Sam. I'm so sorry." Mom confessed while she sobbed, "I didn't mean for this to happen. I didn't mean to betray your love." she cried openly. I wondered what she was talking about.
"But I love him, Sam. Is it too soon to be in love again?" she asked to the moon. "He asked me to marry him the other day. I told him I had a lot to think about. I don't want this baby to think that it's parents don't love it." she cried and started to get up. I quickly closed the door and headed back to my room, forgetting all about the cold pizza.
A baby? Mom was pregnant? Who was the dad? A lot of questions ran through my mind. I didn't want to let Mom know that I had overheard such a private conversation with my dead father, but I couldn't help my curiosity. I was bursting at the seams with it. I wanted to know who Mom was in love with.
For a brief moment I felt betrayed. Mom had been seeing someone, obviously. She hadn't told Matt or I. She was also pregnant. She didn't show so she was probably only a month or two along. That meant that in less then eight months, I would have a baby brother or sister. What was Mom thinking?
I began thinking of all the different men that mom had come in contact with on a regular basis since Dad had died. The first one had been Dr. Gordon, but that was professional. My mom began seeing him when Dad died. After a month, Mom had decided to take a creative writing course in college. She had told me that writing was a creative outlet for her emotions.
For a long time, every Tuesday had been coffee night. This fellow student came over to talk to mom and share coffee. He was younger then Mom by about ten years, but they seemed to enjoy each others company. That was probably the most logical, but he hadn't been around in a while.
Then there was Mr. Miller. He was the unmarried hermit that lived across the street. He kept to himself most of the time but always came over to do things around the house that Dad used to do.
None of them seemed like logical probabilities. Was Mom seeing someone else that she hadn't brought around the house? I decided then and there that I was going to do a little bit of research.
I fell asleep that night, trying to devise a plan that would help me. I had to enlist Gordo and Miranda to help me find out.
When I woke up the next morning, I called my two best friends. I had woken up Miranda who hadn't been happy about the interruption. Gordo had obviously been awake. They knew I was serious when I had told them to meet me at the Digital Bean. We never went to the Digital Bean unless it was important. We had out grown the pre-teen hang out shortly after our freshman year had started.
"So what is this all about, McGuire." Gordo asked me as we took a seat.
"Yeah. You woke me up at seven in the morning, Lizzie. Seven! This better be good." Miranda informed me, her eyes droopy from waking up so early. It was summer, she had expected to sleep in.
"It is important. I need you two to help me investigate something." I told them, watching for their reactions.
"What now? It better not be like the time you enlisted us to spy on Ronny Jacobs when you thought he was cheating on you." Gordo said with a roll of his eyes. My freshman year brought Ronny Jacobs to my high school. We had started dating again. It had all ended up being a complete fiasco. I had turned out to be wrong. He had been spending time with his cousin, not a girlfriend. He ended up breaking up with me because I couldn't trust him.
"Or when you made me dress up like a boy so we could spy on Gordo and Brooke!" Miranda added in. "I am not going to dress up like a boy." she shook her head at the thought.
"Guys, it's nothing like that." I told them, "My mom is seeing someone. She didn't tell either Matt and I." I sighed.
"What makes you think that your mom is seeing someone. She still cries over your dad. You are probably imagining things." Gordo concluded.
"I wish I was Gordo. I heard her with my own ears. She was talking to 'Dad' last night and I overheard her. And that's not even the biggest thing. She's in love and she's pregnant." I told them. They looked up at me, their eyes wide.
"Are you sure about this, Lizzie? Maybe you heard her wrong." Miranda told me.
"Guys, I didn't imagine this. I didn't hear it wrong. She is pregnant and whoever the father is, asked my mom to marry them!" I exclaimed. I was exasperated that my two best friends were so skeptical.
"Okay, okay." Gordo said as he held up his hands in defeat. "We'll help you but what do you want us to do?" Gordo asked.
"We have to spy on my mom to find out who she is seeing." I explained.
"Who are our prospective suspects?" Miranda then asked, that sparkle glowing in her eyes, mischievously.
"Mr. Miller, the guy across the street. This guy named Mike who had classes with my mom and used to come over for coffee. And," I paused and looked at Gordo. Our eyes met. He knew who the last one was.
"You think my father is seeing your mom?" Gordo asked incredulously.
"I don't think she is seeing any of the guys that I mentioned. I'm just not leaving anyone out no matter what. You can understand that." I pleaded to Gordo.
"Okay, you are right. So what do we do?" Gordo relented.
"Gordo. I want you to spy on my mom's therapy sessions with your dad." I told him.
"Do you know how much trouble I can get in for this, McGuire? I don't want to be sent to Hawaii to live with my mom and my dad said that if he couldn't handle me, then he would send me to her." Gordo sighed. I knew and he knew that he would do it anyway.
"I'll owe you big!" I promised him.
"Very big." he agreed.
"So what do I do?" Miranda asked.
"You are going to follow my mom when she gets out of the house, see where she goes and who she sees." I told Miranda.
"Are we going to do everything for you?" Miranda asked, not seeing how there could be anything left to do.
"Of course not!" I scoffed at her. "Mine is also very dangerous guys. I'm going to snoop in my mom's stuff while she is out of the house. That is also why I need your help. I need you to call me and tell me when she is on her way home. I can't do it without you. Gordo, you need to make sure Matt stays away from the house while I'm doing this. I can't let him know what I'm up to or he will cause more then enough trouble." I told them, the plan coming to a close.
"I see what you mean. That would get us all in trouble, but you the most." Gordo sighed. I could tell he knew it would not be easy to pull off.
"So are you guys in or what?" I asked them, looking back and forth. I was pretty sure I had them, but you never can be one hundred percent sure about anything.
"You got me." Gordo smiled at me while Miranda just nodded vigorously.