Author: Sara Decker
Copyright © 2015 by Sara Decker
Excerpt from She’s A Rainbow
April, 1967
John hummed in contentment as he poured more tea into his ceramic mug. Steam wafted up from the spout, fogging up the lenses of his glasses, the warm vapor a nice contrast to the brisk morning air. Rain pattered rhythmically against the window; it was a calming noise. He turned back to Catherine, who was sipping at her own cup of tea, watching absent-mindedly as the rain droplets raced down the window pane.
Without warning, she snorted, triggering her recognizable cackle that filled the room. John glanced up at her, a brow quirked in curiosity at his sister’s sudden outburst.
“What’s it this time, Cate?” he asked, a hint of amused skepticism slipping past his lips.
Catherine looked at John; her thick taupe hair pulled back in a haphazard ponytail revealed her eyes were still gleaming with levity. “It just dawned on me,” she mused, her eyes flashing back to the rain. “I chose a lovely time to visit you in the sunny, cloudless city of Los Angeles.”
She laughed again at her newfound irony, and John couldn’t help but chuckle himself. As if Catherine didn’t see enough rain back home in Washington. “What can I say, Cate? It’s just your effect on nature.” John smirked slightly as he watched his sibling scoff in response to his teasing.
Catherine fought back the urge to stick her tongue out at John as though they were daft children again. Instead, she simply grinned. “Need I remind you, April showers bring May flowers, so you’re welcome.”
John shook his head, biting back a smile. God, he had missed Cate. It had been ages since he had seen her last—he struggled to think back to the occasion. His parents’ twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. That had been two years ago.
Taking another sip of his tea, he turned towards his sister. “So, what’s been keeping you busy? Are you still writing for that newspaper of yours?”
Catherine sighed, cocking her head to the left. “Yeah, I am. It’s getting a bit...oh, I don’t know, repetitive, I suppose. It’s the same thing every week.” She pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and her forefinger. “I just thought I’d be at the center of it all—the music, the riots, the action.”
A sympathetic smile played at John’s lips. Leaning forward in his chair, both of his hands cradled the warm cup. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to that paper, Cate, and we both know it.”
She flushed at his compliment, averting her eyes as she sipped idly at her tea.
John sighed. She deserved so much better—she was so talented. It should have only been a stepping stone to get her moving on to bigger and better things, things she was most certainly capable of.
“What about you,” Catherine deftly changed the subject, shifting the focus off of herself and onto John, “how’s school going?”
He grimaced at Catherine’s mention of school. John could have never mentally prepared himself for college, despite his endless attempts to. It was a strenuous daily effort that he had to put in, struggling to keep up on his studies and rushing to and fro between his two jobs. Studying to be a doctor wasn’t all that it had originally seemed to be.
“It’s alright, you know,” John spoke, pausing for a moment. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s good.”
Catherine looked concerned. She couldn’t bear to know her brother was working himself to excess. “Are you still working those two jobs?”
“Yeah.” John shrugged one shoulder, gaze flickering from Catherine to his tea. The predicament he found himself in wasn’t what he would refer to as favorable by any means, but it paid the bills and kept food in the fridge. Or so he had originally thought. “Money’s a bit short, but Rob’s giving me an extra week for rent.”
The look in Catherine’s eyes was one of doubt. She stared at John inquisitively, searching his calm demeanor for any tell-tale signs. Tucking a loose strand of her hair behind her ear, she set her teacup down. Catherine knew that look. “You’re not going to pick up another job, are you?” He hesitated, and she snapped. “Christ, John! You know, you’re going to work yourself to death if you keep this up!”
John knew that she instantly regretted her little outburst—her hands shot up to cover mouth directly after the last word rolled off her tongue. He couldn’t help but chuckle inappropriately. “I know, Cate. There’s not just many other options though, now is there?”
She pondered this, her eyes closed in thought, shifting her head slightly to the left, and then to the right, and to the left again. Her eyes shot open, and John watched in amusement, ready to hear his sister’s million-dollar idea. “You could rent out the apartment!” she declared, eyes roaming the bare surroundings before her. The furniture was sparse in the main room, as with the rest of the house, but it was livable and clean by typical standards. It did the job.
John shook his head, dismissing the possibility and wiping the glee from his sister’s face. The ways in which her idea could go wrong were manifold. “You know I’m not a people person.” He paused to take a sip of tea before returning to his thought. “What if I ended up rooming with a criminal? Or one of those pot head hippies?”
Rolling her eyes, Catherine playfully tsked her brother. “Consider it a learning experience.” Her eyes flickered earnestly. “You need to get out more often, anyway. I don’t want you rotting away in here,” she added, attempting to lighten the mood.
“I know you mean well, but I—”
“No buts,” Catherine interrupted. She wasn’t about to let him get off of the hook that easily. “Rain or shine, I’m going out tonight, do you hear?” She smiled deviously, drinking the last of her tea before setting the cup down. “And you’re coming with me.”