CHAPTER 2: Dawn

The next day after Kristy's phone call, Sunny and I closed up the shop about 5:30. Our plan was to drive to Albuquerque, get a bite to eat, and a motel room for the night. We'd check out the next morning, get some breakfast at the airport, change planes in Denver, and fly to New York. Mom and Richard would meet us at the airport and take us back to their house, then we'd return a week later, or so the plan was.

"All set?" I asked.

She nodded, and locked the door. "Let's hit the road."

We didn't have to stop at the apartment, because we'd already loaded our suitcases into the trunk of my silver convertible, whiuch had been a graduation present from Dad and Carol. We rode with the top down, all the way to Albuquerque, singing along with Pat Benatar's "Invincible", which was playing on the radio.

"Oh, before I forget," Sunny said after the song ended, "last night after you went to bed, I made dandelion necklaces for all your friends."

"Really?" I asked. "Wow, you didn't have to do that."

"I know, but I just felt like it."

"Thanks."

We arrived in Albuquerque about two hours later, and pulled into Burger King. As we got out of the car, I couldn't help remembering the cast party we'd had after Carnival opened. In fact, if you looked up "Kodak moment" in the dictionary, you definitely would've seen a picture of what happened that night.

"Did I ever tell you about the cast party we'd had at Burger King after Carnival opened?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"Oh, you should've been there," I said. "You see, all the little kids were running toward the condiments counter with their eyes on the sugar, sweeteners, and basically anyting to keep them bouncing off the walls all night. When Kristy's stepfather saw them, he said..." I cupped my hands around my mouth, just like he'd done. "'STEP AWAY FROM THE SUGAR'."

Sunny burst out laughing. "I would've, if I were him," she said. "It seems like he knew what they were up to."

After we sat down with our food—vegetable soup and unsweetened iced tea for me, and a veggie burger with the works and lemonade for her—I saw Sunny smiling, and I knew that she was not only thinking of the story I'd just told her, but she was also wishing that she could've been there.

A little while later, we arrived at Motel 6 and checked in. It was a nice hotel and all, but the only problem was, it was built right beside the highway and next to a construction site. I couldn't help feeling sorry for all those people who would be waking up to all that noise. The hills are alive with the sounds of jackhammers, cement mixers, and dirty jokes, I thought.

When we got to our room, the first thing we did was turn on the TV, and saw that the featured movie was Anger Management. The movie was already up to the part where Jack Nicholson throws the eggs at Adam Sandler. The last time we'd seen it was at our graduation sleepover at Sunny's, and we still laughed ourselves sick.

After the movie was over, we got up, and Sunny asked, "Did you want to shower separately or together?"

I guess I should explain something here. You see, after I'd returned to California for good, the summer after I'd finished my sophomore year of high school, I noticed that my relationship with Sunny was changing. We were still good friends, but I saw a new side of her, one I'd never seen before. She was more touchy-feely than usual, but at the time, I just wrote it off as needing someone to be there for her, especially since Mrs. Winslow had just died. That was until the next year, though, when we went swimming in the lake behind the Caters' house.

Oh, I don't mean to get off the subject here, but their daughter, Whitney, who's a year younger than me, has Down's syndrome, and I was hired to be a baby-sitter/companion to her for a short time, and we eventually made her an honorary WLKC member. She currently lives in an apartment complex near her parents, and a woman comes in twice a week to help her with cooking, cleaning, and grocery shopping. I recently got an e-mail from Whitney, telling me that she was training for the Special Olympics in San Diego. She's a great swimmer.

Anyway, that was the first time Sunny ever kissed me. And on the lips, too. That was when I finally realized something was up, and Sunny confessed that she was a lesbian. Eventually, I started discovering that I had the same feelings for her that she had for me. The only difference was, unlike her, I was bi. Well, after a while, our families got used to the whole situation, and thank God, they still love us the same way they always did.

Okay, back to us. We took a good look at the shower, and it looked big enough for both of us. "Together," we decided, then got undressed and in the shower.

We were washing each other's hair, kissing, and soaping each other up, and all was going well until I started rinsing the shampoo out of my hair. I guess I wasn't watching what I was doing, because I accidentally flipped my hair in Sunny's face. No, she didn't get any suds in her eyes or mouth, but she did get a big mouthful of water from the shower head and spit it right back at me. Before too long, we were splashing each other, laughing, and squealing like we were six years old again. I'm pretty sure the person in the next room was banging on the wall and telling us to shut up. If they were, there was no way we could've heard them.

After our shower, we finished drying ourselves off, and I went to the phone to ask the front desk for a wake-up call. "Five a.m.," I told him. I wasn't about to wake up to all that noise.

"Sure," the desk clerk answered, and we hung up.

That's when Sunny came out of the bathroom, and just as I'd expected, she hadn't brought anything to sleep in—other than her white robe, which looks like Christine's dressing gown from Phantom of the Opera. (We'd brought that, and my Wonder Woman pajamas, which I'd bought at Spencer's at the mall in Albuquerque last summer.) In case you're wondering, Sunny likes to run around the apartment naked. The only times she ever wears any clothes are when we have company, or when she's on her period. It drove me crazy at first, but I soon got used to it when I saw how comfortable she was about it.

I took off my towel and got into bed. "Good night, Dawn," Sunny whispered, kissing my forehead and climbing into bed beside me.

"'Night, Sunshine," I said, not only using her birth name, but it's also the nickname that Dad had given me when I was really little. I turned off the light and settled myself on Sunny's shoulder. As I drifted off to sleep, I wondered what my old BSC friends were up to.

"Go-o-od morning, Albuquerque! It's 5 a.m. on a Monday morning, and it's going to be a beautiful day, so get out of bed and face another day!"

That's the first thing I heard. When I opened my eyes, I saw that it was a beautiful day, even though it was daybreak. If you ask me, that deejay had way too much coffee! And speaking of which, I decided I could also use some.

I got out of bed just as Sunny was coming out of the bathroom. "'Morning," she said cheerfully as she finished brushing her hair.

"Hey," I said, grabbing my outfit for the day. "I hear it's going to be a great day for traveling."

"Yeah, so did everybody else on this floor, I'll bet," Sunny commented as she packed her brush in her carry-on and started braiding her hair. "Is it just me, or does the volume control on that radio have a mind of its own?"

I shrugged as I finished brushing my teeth. Then while I was packing, I noticed that Sunny wasn't wearing any shoes. I didn't think anything of it, since she hardly ever wears them. I also knew that her wicker sandals were in her suitcase.

"You ready?" Sunny asked as I slipped on my white Crocs.

"Yup," I answered, pulling my hair back in a ponytail. After locking the room door and returning the keys, we took our suitcases to the car, and were soon on our way.

When we arrived at the airport, we made our brief stop to drop the car off at the long-term parking lot, as well as curbside check-in and security, then grabbed a quick breakfast—which was really a granola bar and a bottle of juice from the vending machine—then went to the gate.

When we got there, we saw a crying little girl, maybe around six or seven years old, standing near one of the trash cans. She had dark brown hair in braids, just like Mary Anne's had been when I first met her, and was wearing a pink Disney Princess tank top, shorts, and matching Crocs. "Wait here," I told Sunny as I unwrapped my granola bar and started toward the girl.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" I asked.

She looked up. "I can't find my daddy," she sniffled.

"Where did you last see him?"

"I think it was over where they have those TV screens that tell you where the planes are coming from and going to," she answered.

"The destination charts?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"Well, let's start there, okay?"

She nodded and slipped her hand into mine. "This little girl can't find her daddy," I told Sunny as we walked back. "We're going to look for him, starting at the destination charts."

"Good thinking," she said.

The three of us headed in that direction, but we didn't get very far when we saw a brown-haired man with a moustache coming our way. He was also wearing light blue scrubs and black running shoes. "Destiny!" he called out.

"Daddy!" the little girl exclaimed. She let go of my hand, and ran to him.

"Oh, thank God you're safe," he said, kneeling to pick her up. "Where were you?"

"I dropped my boarding pass near the trash can," she answered. "And when I picked it up, I couldn't find you."

"Oh. Well, I'm glad you found your boarding pass, but next time, please let me know, so it doesn't happen again, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy," she promised. "Oh, this nice lady found me."

The man picked up his daughter and walked over to me. "Thank you so much," he said, shaking my hand.

"No problem," I smiled. Then after they left, I turned to Sunny and said, "Well, let's get to our gate."

Sunny nodded and slipped her hand into mine. "I'll bet you're glad all our baby-sitting experience came in handy, huh?"

I nodded in agreement. And boy, would we have something to tell our friends.