--the end of an era--
Ten years of waiting. Over.
Ten years. Away forever. Things will never be the same. Time can’t stand still.
Unfortunately.
6:00PM.
I now leave my normal life behind. Leaving my job. Schedule. Leaving behind my simple one-colored shirts and jeans. Leaving my plain, brown hair for vivid pink. Pink, and sparkly. Layering up with outrageous colors. Patterns. Multiple shirts, in 90 degree weather. Bright pink lipstick. Sometime more of one thing, matched with less of another, is a good and unusual combination. Crazy wild hairdos. Mine, short. Spiked. Limp with the humidity. I spend care getting ready. I’ve had ten years, waiting for this moment. There’s never been something this important. For me, at least.
It took me forever, the week before, to choose what I would wear. It didn’t take long, before that, for me to know who was going to wear me. Pink shirt. Bright green shirt too. White shirt underneath the other two. After I choose the shirts, I cut and tore and adjusted the way they layered on me. I didn’t want it to be like I had simply thrown it together in the last few moments. Because I hadn’t. it had taken me forever. Forever and a day. At least. I wear a tacky pair of brightly colored leggings, with a crazy-looking mini skirt put too low, over it. Several fake earrings I don’t really wear. You will only catch me wearing something like that that one time in my life—tonight. The only sensible item I’m wearing now, are my shoes. But barely.
I leave my room. My parents look up. Then go back to their reading. My appearance doesn’t startle them in the least. So you’re going now? Yes. I am. Does your brother want to go? Will you be taking him? They ask. Of course. He’s also been waiting… just not as long as I have. He doesn’t spend as much time thinking on what he is going to wear. It isn’t as important to him. He’s just eleven. He hasn’t been with this era for near as long as I have. But he loves it too. But he has other loves as well. For me, this is my one love. My only love. It has been for ten years.
My brother comes out of his room. He looks silly. He’s put on a flowing cape. Red and black. Together. Left over from a Halloween costume of mine years ago. Before the era began. He’s slicked his hair. Too much. I don’t tell him. It really doesn’t matter anyways. Even if his hair is flat against his scalp like a swimming cap. It will dry slick. It’s what he wanted. That’s all that really matters.
We get into the car. I’m driving. At the last gathering we had gone to, my dad drove. Two years before. I hadn’t been able to drive then. But this time, I can. It’s like a rite of passage. It happens only once. Because it will never happen again. Not in my lifetime, probably. My brother sits in the front seat. For him, that’s also a rite of passage. To sit in the front seat, without our parents. He’s happy.
Driving into town, I wonder. If the people driving the other way could see how I was dressed, what would they think? Would they judge me because of the crazy items I was wearing? Probably. Unless they, too, understood. Unless they too were part of the era. If they knew that, they wouldn’t really care.
First stop.
I’m picking up the boy I babysit. Bryan. He’s ten.
His dad looks at me when I get there. Wow, you’re really decked out. He tells me. Bryan has really been looking forward to this. He’s been talking about nothing else.
He’s a rather new recruit, you see. To the era.
Then he comes out the door. He’s wearing two capes. A long black one that goes past his feet, and a short, wide one. That one is see-through with a spider-web pattern. He’s told me many times that the spider cape is his favorite. His mom made it for him. He’s wearing a blue shirt. He says because that means he’s smart. My brother John is wearing a green shirt. He says because that makes him evil. Whatever floats your boats. I tell them.
Next stop.
My sister’s work.
I need to ask her if she is planning to go. She says she’s not sure. She will probably go later. But now, she has to work. But she likes how I’m dressed. Neat. She tells me. I buy each of the three of us a smoothie. My brother gets a sweet tart smoothie. Bryan doesn’t know. He ends up getting the same. And also a chocolate-chip cookie. Me? I get a peach-lemonade one. My favorite.
As we leave, I can feel people’s eyes following us.
But we don’t care.
If they were in the know, they would understand too.
As we approach our destination, my brother and Bryan chattering in the back seat. They ask me why they have to leave sooner than I do. It’s because your dad doesn’t want you to be out until midnight. I tell Bryan. He’s disappointed. Of course. But that doesn’t stop him from having fun. My brother doesn’t mind, though. As long as he gets his own copy soon. He tells me. very soon.
Me? I start to get a bit apprehensive. What will I do, after this is over? Without another gathering to look forwards to? What if this one is disappointing? There is always a chance of that happening.
As I turn into the parking lot, I am amazed on the number of ‘fellow era members.’ I see one of my friends, waving. She came to every gathering. Even if she never truly got involved with the era. Everything she knows, or says she knows, she got from me.
We enter through an archway. It’s supposed to represent the transition between our world, and the next. The world inside.
Bryan and my brother rush inside. I take my time.
There’s food. Games. Trivia pursuit. Contests for the best dressed. And the most creative. I don’t get one for my costume, but I do for something else.
Which is fine for me.
Time goes by quickly. Although I really don’t want it to go anywhere. My brother and Bryan leave to go home. I stay on.
Midnight comes quickly.
A countdown.
Down from five minutes. To one.
And then, down from 12 seconds.
4….3….2….1….0!!!
We are standing in line now. Waiting. I wander about. I’m too tense to stand still.
12:50AM comes quickly. I’m usually not here that late.
It didn’t take this long at the last gathering. I guess that this era has grown in popularity. At the last gathering, it took me about twenty minutes—thirty minutes at most to receive my ‘prize.’ This time around, it took longer.
I tried to savor every moment. Every second. Minute. Hour.
Yet time had slipped past me, unaware.
I wander around the room. There are many others who already have their copy of the treasure. I ask them if I can touch theirs. They say yes.
And are puzzled when I get super excited.
It isn’t that important to them.
There are several guys from my high school. They try to spoil the surprise of my treasure.
I run away.
After that, every time I see them, I don’t listen to what they try to say. What they try to tell me. so I make loud funny noises. And run I don’t want to know anything yet.
Soon enough, it is my turn. My turn, to receive what millions of people around the world have been receiving. After midnight, of course.
I step up to the desk.
Do you have your receipt? They ask? Yes. I’ve had it for months. I say. I bring out the slip of paper from my purse. Yes. That is it. They say.
Louisa Cheslock. One copy. Looks good.
The lady stoops down. She picks up the box from the ground. There is one left in here. She tells her assistant. Go get some others from the back room. She turns to me.
Smiling.
Did you have a good time? She asks. Yes. I did. I say. And then I ask. What will you do with that box? May I have it? She says I can. She leaves my copy inside.
As soon as it’s in my hands, I run to the nearest chair.
Slowly, I reach into my box. Yes. It’s still there. Of course. It wouldn’t go anywhere. I grasp it in my hands. Gradually, I take it from the box. Lovingly, I read what is written on my treasure.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Pause.
JK Rowling.
Pause.
Book Seven.
Pause.
I squeal.
There’s no stopping me now. As I run my hands along the spine of the book, I squeal. I giggle. I squeal again.
The heavy weight of words in my hands.
Satisfaction.
When I get home, I will read it.
There will be sadness. Of course. But there is also bound to be many good things as well.
As in life.
I can’t wait to get started. Again. But this time, with the ending.
What a way to end the era.
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