Ann Lamparski

 

                                                                                                    

.Com

 

Her hair danced under the water like red seaweed as she quenched her weltering body a good six feet under the surface. “Commie Girl” he had called her. Then he started with “.Com.” Though the term “commune” never once left her mother’s lips, she knew that’s what this was. She opened her eyes under the blue sky, blurred by the water. She left out an explosion of air from her lungs and rose to meet the sun, inhaling a deep breath of oxygen.

A silhouette of her mother pranced through the trees. A man half her age bounded behind her. He resembled her father. The same dark hair pouring out of his chest. Eyes like a cartoon villain. She recalled the last time she saw him. Her chubby five-year-old fingers twirled his black hair like a mini soot filled tornado.

Her mother wore a bright yellow dress that day. Her “divorce dress” she would later cackle as she held it to a female member’s frame. “This looks better on you. Besides, what’s mine is yours and what’s yours is ours.” The women embraced at the newfound arrangement on the twenty acres that would be home for the next decade.

Her mother’s holler pierced through the sounds of the festivities and music, bringing her back to present day.

            “Sasha, don’t look so sad. The water is a gift from the earth. Praise her. Don’t mope around on this beautiful day.”

The man that had been chasing her mother stared at her for a moment and then continued with the chase. Her mother giggled into the woods.

            “One with nature, huh?” mocked Sasha. How was selling berry jam and poorly woven rugs on the internet natural? That stuff her mother bought with the extra cash was far from nature. The UPS man always seemed a bit nervous as he approached the gate, handing over the boxes filled with cosmetics.

            “I think he thinks we are going to sacrifice him to some god or something,” said mother’s latest mate. This semi-humorous comment sent mother collapsing into a spasmic mass of laughter into his firm arms. From what Sasha could remember, she used to do this with her father when he’d tell a joke. Only his jokes were actually funny. She felt him escaping from her mind more and more every day. Mother would change the subject whenever her father was mentioned.

            “Leave the past in the past and open up your arms and love toward the future,” mother would shout into the open fields.

Sasha bobbed in the water some more, contemplating if she should take advantage of the empty shed with the rickety chair and laptop mother used to make extra cash.

He popped up one day as a welcome, friendly visitor she had discussed life with. A few chit chats here and there delved into family life, music preference and so on. She wasn’t the one who chose to live an isolated hippie life. The girl her mother gave Sasha’s favorite hair clip to bounded by, waving a delicate hand her way.

            “Hey, Sasha! Do you want to have a picnic with me?”

            “No Thanks. I want to stay in the water a little longer.”

            “Okay. See you later tonight at the meeting.”

Sasha nodded toward her with no intention of joining the meeting. As soon as the girl was out of sight, Sasha hopped out of the water and sprang toward the shed. She toweled herself off as she sat on the noisy chair. A soft ding noise pulled her eyes to the screen. It was him!

_I’m sorry I called you .Com._

Sasha’s heart pounded beneath her polka dot bikini.

That’s ok. I just didn’t know how you meant it_

_Don’t be scared. Okay_

_Why? What do you mean?_

_Remember when you told me you liked classic rock?_

Sasha bit her bottom lip.

_Yeah_

Just then, the music that had been playing on the speakers throughout the land had switched from that wordless mountain music crap everyone but her liked so much and was replaced by Robert Plant’s intense howling. Everyone on the land stopped their swimming, dancing, eating and sharing and looking around, stunned by the rhythmic pounding of drums and screaming guitar.

Sasha clasped her hands together and squealed like the girly girl she never wanted to become. She danced to the music in the seclusion she so desperately craved, pounding her hands on the imaginary drums as her bare feet pitter-pattered across the ground. When the song ended there was a high-pitched emergency broadcast tone. Sasha peered through the shed’s cracks and watched everyone frozen in silence. Then a broadcaster voice came over.

_This is not a test. This is the emergency broadcast system for the Jester County area. I repeat. This is not a test_

Sasha looked at the computer screen for answers.

_Don’t leave. Stay right where you are_

Sasha nearly ran off to find her mother, but something told her to stay put.

_There is flash flood warning for the Jester County area. Residents are urged to take immediate shelter, especially those near bodies of water_

Sasha watched as the people scattered like a dropped box of BB gun pellets. Her mother pulled her lover’s arm, leading him to safety. Sasha’s heart twinged at her mother’s lack of interest. She stole a kiss from her man as they fled for safety.

The shed door swung open and there stood a tall, worn looking man. His eyes matched hers. Sasha smiled knowingly and fell into his arms. He squeezed her tight as she looked up at those dark eyes, like a cartoon villain. He lifted her chin and said, “Let’s go home.”