* * * * *
Her phone rang.
Janelle sat up in bed and tossed her sheets to her side. The first thing she noticed was that her headache was gone. The second thing she realized was that her phone was glowing in the dark. She snapped it up and raised it to her ear. “Hello?”
“So, you survived? You’re okay? I’ve been worrying since you told me your dad was moving you in yesterday.”
“Uh?” Janelle blinked a few times and recognized the voice. “Oh, hi Leslie.” She yawned. "Sorry. Just woke up.” Should she tell her friend about her father’s weirdness and the water vortex? The whole day crashed back down on her. She’d always been able to trust Leslie with anything.
“I was so worried about you. I miss you already. So, tell me all about Florida.”
Janelle swallowed.
“Any cute guys?” Leslie never waited to ask about that.
“Well…” Vortex Guy hadn’t been bad looking. “I guess, yeah. Leslie, you’re going to think I’m crazy for telling you this.”
“Try me.”
Janelle did, leaving nothing out.
“He had a mark like yours? But I thought your spiral was one of a kind,” Leslie said. “You should go visit that guy if you can find out what hospital he’s in. Make sure he’s okay. It might help you figure out why he was out in the storm, at least. Just be careful, though.”
“Careful?"
"Well, what are the chances of him randomly having that mark on his arm just like yours? Maybe he's your distant relative or something, and that gray spiral is some kind of genetic thing. Palm Grove is the area your dad's originally from. So until you know, don't go asking him for dates or anything."
She hadn't thought of that. "You can find explanations for everything, Leslie." Well, for the marking, at least. Maybe Vortex Guy was related to her. A big part of her hoped not, though. Yuck. She'd just been thinking how good he looked a minute ago. Why did Leslie have to bring that up now? “My dad doesn't have any family except some brother he hasn’t heard from in fourteen years. You know--that makes me feel better. Thanks. And that's a great idea. Going to the hospital, I mean.”
"Guilt trip your dad into taking you. After the day he put you through, he won't be able to say no."
“I’m not sure if he’ll say yes.” Maybe it was worth a shot.
Thirty minutes later, Janelle managed to get off the phone with Leslie. She found her dad sitting on the couch and staring down into a glass of cranberry juice. A pair of emergency candles burned on either side of the table and cast a flicker on the walls.
He glanced up at her and swallowed, shadows dancing across his face. “I’m sorry about scaring you earlier. I don't know what I was thinking, staying here and all. I forgot that you’d never been through this kind of thing.”
Maybe Leslie was onto something. “Apology accepted. Where’s the nearest hospital?”
Her father’s eyebrows lifted. “You want to see that boy.”
Heat crept up her cheeks. Good thing for the power outage. “I just want to see if he’s all right.” And if our birthmarks are somehow connected, she thought. “I helped drag him out of the storm.”
Her father put his chin in his hand and studied the floor. “He was looking better before the ambulance even came to get him. I'm sure he needs his rest, so it might not be a good idea.”
“Come on, Dad. I don't know anyone here. If he goes to my school, it would be a good way to start making new friends. It won't be easy starting in a new place without some connections."
He sighed, deep in thought. “Okay," he said at last. "He’s probably at Laverne Medical Center. That’s ten miles north of here. I’ll take you there tomorrow. It’ll be good for you to meet others, and it’ll give you a chance to see the area.”
Yes! She'd have to call Leslie tomorrow and tell her the guilt trip idea was a hit. “Um…how are we going to find his room? Hospitals are huge. We can't just go around peeking in everyone's rooms for him.”
“Oh, I’ll find a way.” Smiling, he pointed down the hall. “Why don’t you go get some unpacking done if you’re feeling better? It’ll make less to do tomorrow.”
Flashlight in tow, she unpacked her large collection of books and did battle with the wires of her computer, glad for the mindless work that took away the day behind her. Her pictures came out of another box: one of her and her father working at a soup kitchen last winter, another of her and Leslie at the amusement park. The one of her mother came out last. The curly-haired woman smiled at her from in front of Lake Huron, holding up a huge fish. It was one of the only pictures of her they owned. That one always went on her night table, next to her clock.
The bandage started to itch again as she went through a box of yearbooks. She’d forgotten about it until now. Wincing, Janelle peeled it off to reveal her own gray spiral. The gray swirls she had grown used to her entire life seemed alien now, sinister in the dim light. Janelle had a sudden urge to ask her father for a cover-up tattoo, and she wasn’t sure why.