1、Chapter 1: The Forgotten Birthday “And ...
-
“And I gotta tell you something’,
I really really really really really really like you
And I want you, do you want me, do you want me to…”
At this moment, Melinda Hanson just came back from the last day of school before summer vacation. There was no way she was going to take off her headphones, at least until she starts doing her assignments. Ms. Hanson wasn’t in any mood, or had time to say anything about this typical teenager thing. She was busy cooking lunch in the kitchen, holding a six-year-old girl in one hand, telling fairytales while flipping over pancakes.
After a slight “click” of Melinda closing her door, she sighed as she stared at an empty seat and an equally empty blue bed beside her chair, throwing her schoolbag on her chair.
John was busy attending a school meeting, which Melinda had no idea about what it was. Although John wasn’t some person who’d be interested with meetings, Ms. Hanson was actually pleased that he went. Well, having to take care of two kids is definitely better than three.
But there’s one thing that Ms. Hanson didn’t know. John was Melinda’s best and only friend in this home.
More importantly, it was her and John’s birthday.
She struggled between trying to find mom and talk to her about it, and not doing it at all, which means having the worse birthday ever. At last she opened her bedroom door with a click, and tip-toed out of her room. The kitchen was close, and she only had to peek to see Ms. Hanson’s ruffled hair and little Isabelle being not only completely unhelpful, but actually making things way worse. She changed her mind, and said softly: “Hey mom, need any help here”
Ms. Hanson turned around, giving her a weak smile: “Not really, sweetheart. You can just go back and do your schoolwork.”
Melinda nodded and went out of the kitchen, closing the door behind her back. After returning to her room, she took a deep breath and covered her face with her hands. After what seemed like a long time, she grabbed her pencil, plugged it into the sharpener and took it out, finishing her schoolwork that seemed literally unfinishable. (If that’s a word.)
After a few minutes, Melinda’s phone suddenly rang. As she picked it up she saw her brother’s selfie and “Bro” on the screen. Pressing down the green button, her ears were instantly filled with an extremely familiar voice.
“Hey, Mel! So… how was your day”
“It was, well, pretty fine.” Feeling confused, she said to herself, did John forget our birthday as well
“Umm, happy birthday sis! Hah, of course, my birthday too. Open up, I told my buddy Kevin to bring up your gift. Perhaps you guys didn’t hear the doorbell. Oh, and also, this gift cost me my half-year allowance. You’re not really easy to please, sis.”
“Thanks, John… Happy birthday. To you, too.”
Melinda tried to hold down her excitement as she rushed out of her room and slammed the door open. Standing at the door was Kevin, her brother’s best friend. He was holding a box in his hand, and opened his mouth to talk in a kind of stupid way: “Oh, umm, your brother wanted me to give this to you. He says happy birthday.”
“Thanks a lot, Kevin.” Melinda took the box, and ran back to her room to open it. She was way too happy to care about manners and somewhat.
What she was looking at was a sailor suit, the whole package. From the hat, to the nice-looking skirt and shirt, even socks and shoes.
“Gosh, John, thank you so much! How did you even know I wanted these”
“How did I know You should just go through your Instagram homepage, Melinda. It’s full of them. The whole world knows, sis. Took me decades to pick one out. Once I asked Kevin for advice, and he even thought I got a date.”
“That was just so nice of you… But I didn’t prepare a gift…”
“You Come on sis. You’re my little sister. You’ll always be. Mom always tells me that you’re the most important person in the world for me. Making my decisions already, huh Oh, I should go, break’s over. Bye sis!”
Melinda put down her phone, felling blank. After a few seconds, you could hear her screams radiating down the hallway as she opened her bag of clothes.
After looking at herself in front of the mirror for hours, she finally remembered she still had homework to do. She took a deep sigh as she crumbled down her desk, taking out her phone to have a look. And that is when she saw a news that made her jump.
“July 22, 2018, the “New Sailor’ will depart from New Jersey, opening up its third trip. The purpose of this mission is to discover new islands and possibly new species on the Atlantic. What’s worth mentioning is that the members attending this mission is no other than the most famous sailing team in the States, the Sail’s Adventure team from New Jersey. Their authority in the area of sailing is undeniable, as this team includes the youngest sailor in the whole country, 14-year-old Melinda and John Hanson…”
Melinda stood up in a dash, calling her brother with her trembling fingers:
“Bro! …I don’t care if you’re halfway through a meeting, it’s important… This summer, we have stuff to do again! ...What We always do I mean what we do for a living! Now you understand! Open your phone, and just look at what I just texted you!”
Despite how thrilled Melinda was, she had to mock her brother’s high-pitched screams from the other side of the phone.
At that time, Ms. Hanson just had to put everything aside, and make preparations for her two wonderful children. John got back home just in time before she started to take care of John’s packing by herself.
“Three days before departing Wow, those people in charge just couldn’t waste a single day, couldn’t they …Melinda, don’t forget your sunscreen! …Hey John, bring a proper suit, wouldn’t you Your father told me about having a ball for all the team members ever few years, just to be in case…”
No matter how busy and how much things Mr. Hanson had to take care of every day, she never hesitates about helping her two successful children going on missions. As a matter of fact, they were her greatest proudness. She literally couldn’t live without telling every neighbor she met about how Melinda got an A+ again and John winning a prize in a school competition or so. And she loved them with all her heart, even if she knew that sometimes she wasn’t being the best mother.
“You guys are going to look so, so beautiful and handsome.” Ms. Hanson said as she stood up from the now filled suitcase, looking from her daughter to her son, and finally giving both of them a huge hug, “I am so proud of you guys.”
At this time, John’s phone started ringing, ruining the possibility of Ms. Hanson giving a short speech about how proud she was of Melinda and John. “Hey, it’s from Captain Mark. The call.” John said, his voice trembling with excitement as he lifted up his phone to show his mother and Melinda. “Well, pick it up then, what else would you do, put him on voicemail” Shouted Melinda, helping her brother to press the button and putting it up to his ear.
John was as nervous as anyone can be when they faced THE most famous captain of THE most famous sailing team in the States, but he still put himself together and pushed himself to speak, and, as Melinda and Ms. Hanson realized, was lowering his voice intentionally: “Umm, hi, sir… Yes, this John… No, nope, there’s nothing wrong with my voice…Yeah, yeah, I heard it, my sister was at home and she saw the notice… Yeah, I’m with her now. A meeting OK, tomorrow morning, 9 a.m., in our base Got it. We’ll be there right on time. Thank you.”
Putting down his phone, John winked to his sister, as Melinda already knew what Mark said just by hearing John’s words. “Yep, I know. Meeting. Tomorrow at 9.”
“You always get me, Mel.” John patted his sister on the shoulder, as Melinda gave him an eye roll for completely not taking the credit.
John was a great brother, she had to admit. Though he can be really annoying sometimes.
作者有话说
第1章 Chapter 1: The Forgotten Birthday
