Free September Wind by Kathleen Janz-Anderson Page A

started to pull away, and she stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. This time he was the one staring after her as she walked home. That’s when thoughts of Claude crept in and tried to ruin what she’d just experienced with Daniel. It wasn’t over between her and Claude and that’s what worked her stomach into such a knot she bent over the ditch and threw up her lunch.
    For the next two weeks, she didn’t see Daniel. And whenever Claude showed his face, she ignored him as much as possible. He had never come for meals on a steady basis, and she was grateful he hadn’t been around lately. If only it were remorse that kept him away.
    Then on the day she was to meet Daniel again, Claude came up the front steps as she was walking out the front door. She knew by the look in his eyes, her days of ignoring him were coming to an end. She jumped off the porch and hurried across the lawn, through the arbor and to the side of the house until she was sure he was inside. Then she went up the road to meet Daniel.
    She was nervous the whole way, and stood at the end of his road, shaking. Until now, she hadn’t let herself dwell too long on what happened between her and Claude, but after the way he looked at her, she couldn’t ignore all the emotions stirring up her insides. Right now, she didn’t trust herself not to tell Daniel.
    She saw him come up the road, then and as he approached, she noticed he wasn’t carrying the basketball. He seemed troubled.
    They walked to the school in silence, although that wasn’t unusual for them. He took her hand, led her to their spot against the building, and sat. She slid down beside him, thinking, this was a good time for them to talk about their future. He had to know that she needed him more than ever now.
    She turned to him ready to tell him how she felt. He leaned forward, and her blood rushed through her veins, pumping her heart until she was breathless.  Oh, Daniel, I love you,  she wanted to say.
    He pecked her cheek, and then pulled himself up and w andered off toward the swings.
    She followed. “Daniel.”
    He turned and waited for her to catch up, and then took her hand, but he wouldn’t look at her.
    She wanted to ask him what was wrong, but then maybe, she really didn’t want to know.
    They always tried to see who could go the highest. Most of the time, it was neck and neck, making sure to never go past the limit where the swings would take them over the bar, but far higher than the teacher allowed. Tod ay, he went higher than normal.
    “Not so high, Daniel. You’ll go over!”
    All at once, he bailed out and landed on the gra ss a few feet beyond the dirt.
    She stopped her swing and ran over, droppin g to her knees beside him.
    “Daniel. Are you okay?”
    He rolled onto his back and stared up at the sky. She lay beside him, and placed her head on his shoulders.
    “We’re moving,” he said quietly. “We’re going back to South Carolina.”
    She sat up. “But you can’t! We’re supposed to be…” She moved to her knees and looked down at him, using every ounce of strength to hold back a sob. “You can’t go. You can’t leave me.”
    She noticed how uncomfortable he was, biting the inside of his lip, his eyes narrowing, staring straight up, not even at her. This made her angry. She leaped to her feet, went over and heaved herself on a swing, and pumped higher than she had ever been.
    “Hey, slow down,” he said, standing beneath her.
    She didn’t care if she went over.
    “I’m sorry, Emil y. I don’t want to go.”
    “Makes no difference now, does it, Daniel!” No words would stop the pain. Begging wouldn’t change a thing. She had already lost him, just like everyone else she ever loved.
    He forced her swing to a stop.
    She hopped off and started for home.
    He came up beside her, taking her hand. There was so much to say. Yet she was too numb to say anything at all, even that she was sorry for yelling at him . She knew it wasn’t his fault.
    At his