The unnatural grayness rose from every edge of the world and continued to rise until it met and faded into a perfect dome of blue, smooth and absent of any white taint, extending endlessly overhead as a limitless sheet of silk. Roads aged and black criss-crossed from side to side, waved puffs of heat exhaling from their surfaces. Along the side sat a line of dwellings, some larger than others, some with wider spans of property, but all were old and decaying. In front of one of the moldy, stucco structures sat a teenage girl tossing a hand ball back and forth and watching with quiet amusement as a small terrier chased it about the unkempt yard. She was in a sad state of mind despite the entertainment provided by her pet, and the animal was most aware of this. She threw the ball again, but this time he didn’t chase it. Instead, he jumped in her lap and licked her chin. The girl smiled. The unmistakable sound of skateboard wheels rattling across asphalt caught her attention. She stood, pushing the dog aside, listening to the sound growing louder. Finally, a blond-haired boy of average height wearing a baseball hat rode up to the house. A brief moment of ecstasy overcame them both as she leaped out, clasped her arms around him, and kissed.

“Won’t I get in trouble with your brother again?” he asked.

“Oh, Sean doesn’t count.”

They stepped back, smiles fading.

“So, today’s the day,” he said.

“Today’s the day.”

* * * * * *

The trees grew tall in Magnolia Center—a smaller section of a much larger city. On Jason’s particular street they grew tall and thick enough to block out the noon-day sun. Of course, it wasn’t his street anymore. It wasn’t even his house. He knew how the rest of his family felt, but he was glad to finally say good riddance to the town that had held in its confines so many bad memories. In his arms he held a large cardboard box containing objects and mementoes of various types, and he carried it into the back of a mid-sized trailer. After setting the box back down, he turned to see a pick-up truck decorated in company decals rolling up the street. It settled in front of his house, parked, and out of the bed hopped his cousin Lonnie and her boyfriend Josh, holding hands. Behind the steering wheel sat Joe, and to his right, Sean, who was in the process of exiting the vehicle even before it came to a full stop.

“You’re late,” Jason said.

“His fault,” Sean replied, pointing at Josh with one hand and slamming the passenger door with the other. “He doesn’t have goddamn phone line, right now.”

Jason looked at Josh and Lonnie.

“How’re we s’posed to load up the truck if two of you are sitting in the back?” He turned back to Sean. “And why does Josh even need to be here?”

“I asked him to come,” Lonnie answered. “Don’t be mean.”

Jason sighed heavily and walked back inside.

The interior of the house was wide and cluttered with crates and boxes holding assorted household items, ready to be moved out onto one of the trucks. Jason took hold of another box, realized it was a bit too heavy, and set it back down. Joe, who was far larger in terms of raw strength (but a bit shorter), stepped in and brought the box out to the trailer.

“Where’s Dave and your mom?” Lonnie asked, still holding her boyfriend’s hand.

“On their way to Anaheim,” Jason answered. “Didn’t you wonder why the moving van is gone?”

“I didn’t know you rented one.”

“Where the fuck do you think all the furniture went?”

“Quit being so mean! I just didn’t think of it, okay?”

Jason sighed again, this time in response to his own callous attitude.

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” he said, and he hugged his angry cousin. “Now, would you and John the Savage, there, make yourselves useful and give us a hand with all this crap?”

Lonnie and Josh both giggled.

* * * * * *

Joshua Loeffler was seventeen, but many people thought he was at most fourteen (and often even younger than that). His charming boyish features were exemplified even further by his attitude, which was, to Lonnie Rheed, innocent and pure. This would have been true save the fact that neither he nor his girlfriend were virgins when they met, and they certainly did not seek to remain chaste in their own relationship. But what Lonnie found so strikingly odd about Josh was how effeminate his beauty was. His nose was curved, his lips were thick, and his blue eyes, round and perfect, were especially weepy, which all the girls found absolutely irresistible. And despite the fact that his shiny yellow hair was now mostly hidden underneath a hat, it still protruded out from under the edges, descending down to his shoulders beautifully.

Both Jason and Sean had very masculine countenances, and they often teased Josh about his lacking such qualities. But unlike Jason, who merely mocked Josh for sport, Sean was very suspicious of him. Sean was a good brother who would never let anything happen to Lonnie, so he often bullied Josh, and sometimes threatened him. He knew his baby sister was quite young, and as a result, naïve as just about any teenage girl out there, so he took it upon himself to make sure she didn’t do anything stupid. Of course Lonnie found this to be annoying. She knew she could handle herself, and she wasn’t dumb enough to get herself pregnant, or get mixed up with the wrong guy, and she hated having to deal with her overprotective brother badgering her boyfriend. That’s why on this particular excursion they chose to ride in separate cars. Joe and Sean were still in the pick-up that Joe had managed to convince his boss to lend him, Josh and Lonnie were in the Honda owned by Jason’s mother, and Jason, who had just earned his license to drive, was by himself in his brother’s Nissan. Even though she was a year older, Lonnie still couldn’t drive, so Josh sat behind the wheel. They were trailing after Jason because they didn’t know the way.

“Why did your cousin call me ‘John the Savage?’” he asked.

“Oh, it was probably from some TV show or a book, or something.”

“He’s a smart guy, but doesn’t he get on your nerves?”

“Jason?”

“Yeah.”

“No.” Lonnie shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Jason’s my base. Sometimes I wonder where I’d be without him.”

“What do you mean he’s your ‘base?’”

“He keeps me sober.”

Josh gave her a puzzled look.

“Well, I’m not talking any kind of inebriation,” she went on, “It’s just, I get goofy a lot of the time and he brings me back down to earth.”

“Y’know, Lonnie,” Josh said, “That goofiness is what I like about you.”

She smiled, saying, “Well, I like it, too, but sometimes I get delusional. Jay is real practical, you know? Whenever I or anyone else starts getting all goofy he’s the sense-talker. He’s the guy who’s always like the voice of reason. And he’s also helped me through so many hard times in my life. Well, I mean, so’ve Sean and Joe and Joe’s girlfriend, but they’re brothers, y’know? They’re guardians. Jase is like, my pal, or my…well, I don’t wanna say soul mate but he’s like a kindred spirit, and he makes sense. He’s like, something solid to sit on to myself know that I’m still here.”

Josh nodded in understanding. “Is that why you’ve been acting so somber today?”

Lonnie looked down at the floor of the car. “Yeah,” she said. “I don’t want him to leave.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Well, I still have you—” (Josh smiled.) “—But…”

“But what?”

“I just think it’s bullshit what his dad did. I mean, it’s great that his mom is smart enough to do whatever math shit she’s gonna do in OC, but I know she hates it, and no woman should ever have to have her man do something like that.”

“Yeah, that is bullshit.”

* * * * * *

By now the sun was beginning to retreat to the hills but the ambience moving from the Inland Empire to Orange County had changed little. The sky was still absent of any clouds, and the grayness, which was slightly less dense, still bleached the edges of the horizon. The line of houses running along Jason’s new street were large, most of them two, or even three stories high, and Lonnie’s jaw dropped open when she first saw them. The street was well-maintained and the sidewalks were of actual concrete (as oppose to the dirt that moated all the houses in her neighborhood). The trees were full and thick, and the air was moist with the spray of active sprinklers. When they arrived David and Jason’s mother were waiting, most of the furniture still inside the moving van. Now everything had been unloaded, and the Rheeds (along with Josh) were ready to head home.

Lonnie walked toward the pick-up, but she stared after Jason, unaware that she had let her grip on Josh’s hand loosen so that her arm fell and dangled with every step. Jason looked at her, but said nothing.

“I kinda wanna stay here,” she announced.

“You have school tomorrow,” Joe said.

“And what about Josh?” Sean crossed his arms over his chest menacingly. “He has school, too, and you two sure as hell ain’t gonna—”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“Right,” he growled.

Lonnie pursed her lips and glared at her brother. She then turned back to Jason, who still stood there with his hands in his pockets, completely aware of all that had just been said. Lonnie smiled and waved. Jason just looked at her, but said nothing.

Sitting in the bed of the pick-up truck now pulling her away from him, Lonnie continued to stare as Jason turned his back and walked into his new home.

“So long, solid ground,” she whispered.