Chapter 3

I once again woke to the voice of one of the news reporters on NPR. Only this time the news caught my attention. It was Thursday morning and there had been another series of bombings on the subways in London. I took a few minutes to read British news reports I pulled up on my computer. This had been happening for over half of the past year. What was it about Thursdays that caused the attacks to fall on that particular weekday? All I really could think was to wonder what sort of world I'd soon be entering as an adult.

Mom was already out the door by the time I got downstairs.

Katrin looked at me a bit oddly as I came down to get breakfast. She could see that something was bothering me. "Mark, what's wrong?"

"London. There've been what seems like more terrorist bombings."

Katrin gasped. "Oh no! What happened?"

I told her about the subway bombings as I ate what little breakfast I could stand. I have an unfortunately creative imagination to go along with my generally high intelligence. And I'd read enough of the past news reports from London, Iraq, and other places to have some understanding of what bombs could do. Breakfast and my imagination didn't make for a good combination.

Anyhow, we got out the door and I drove us to school. We were running a little later than usual. As I pulled into the parking lot I could see Lori's Lexus down in the nearly empty far end of it. I drove down and saw another car parked alongside Lori's car. It looked like a nicely preserved, older BMW. I saw Tom get out of it and realized that it must be his car.

Lori was still in her car and seemed to be looking for something.

Katrin jumped out and ran around to Tom. "Tom! Is this your car?"

Tom smiled. "Yeah, it was in the shop yesterday. I guess I didn't tell you about it, did I?"

"No, you didn't. It looks nice." Katrin turned towards me and grinned. "Hey big brother, would you be upset if I didn't need to catch a ride with you every day?"

I was just hauling my bookbag onto my back and was shutting the door when Katrin asked her question. I smiled at Tom. "I owe you, Tom." Katrin stuck out her tongue at me.

I smiled.

Tom smiled.

Katrin smiled.

And Lori was still in her car.

So, it was me who walked around Lori's car this morning. "Hey Lori."

"Mark!" Lori jumped up out through the driver's side door and nearly knocked me off my feet. And there was the kiss. The long, lingering, tongue-tying, breath-stealing kiss. I still almost fell over from the kiss. We finally separated and proceeded to perform some deep-breathing exercises!

"So, how are yuh feelin' this mornin' - lover-boy?" Lori was grinning with that patented, shit-eating grin.

I shook my head a bit to clear the near fainting spell I'd come close to experiencing as Lori had stolen away my breath.

"Lori, I'm doing a lot better - now! Before that kiss I was kinda depressed after I heard this morning's news."

Lori's face clouded over a bit. "What news, Mark?"

"There were a series of terrorist bombings in London this morning, Lori."

Lori's eyes got big. "What!? London?! Oh, no! Not again! My parents are in London!"

She spun away from me and dove back into her car! "Where the hell is the damned thing!" That came from Lori as she tossed around things from place to place inside her car.

OK. I was not used to having Lori desert me in that way. Since Monday things had been hot as hell between us. And suddenly she just turns away from me and the news about London. Where her parents must be. What was happenin'?

"Lori! What's goin' on!?"

Lori looked back at me for a moment. "My cellphone is here in the car, somewhere! I left it in here on Tuesday and I haven't been able to find it since! I've got to call my parents!"

"Lori, let me look for you. You're too worried and excited. You're just throwing things around without really looking for it!"

She spun around for a moment. "What did you say!?"

"You're too worried to find it. You'll overlook it. You're frantic."

She stared at me for a moment. "Oh."

"Let me look for you."

"OK."

She backed out of the driver's side door and I kneeled down and stuck my hand up between her seat and the console. I'd done this sort of search for my mom in the past. I felt something and pulled it out. It wasn't a cellphone. It was a softcase holding a pair of shades. I handed it to Lori and grinned. She looked at it with a touch of surprise as she took it from me. "I've looked for these things for weeks!"

I stuck my hand between the passenger-side seat and the console and flinched back. Something had stuck me on my index finger. I checked my finger and found a small line of ink and spot of blood. I carefully reached back in and pulled out an inkpen. I'd stuck myself on the pen. I tossed it on the seat.

I reached in again and felt something like a small notebook. I pulled it out and discovered that I was holding a checkbook. I held it out to Lori and she her mouth momentarily dropped open. "You found my lost checkbook!"

As I reached back between the seat and console I asked myself how a sixteen year old girl like Lori could have a checkbook. I mean, I was eighteen and I didn't yet have my own checking account.

My hand worked around the frame of the seat and whatever you call the thing that holds up the seatbelt buckling mechanism. Then my fingertips ran into something that moved. I got my fingers around it and pulled the thing out and discovered that I'd found Lori's cellphone.

I pulled myself up and turned to Lori. "This yours?"

"Mark! You're a wonder!"

She grabbed the phone and started punching buttons. It quickly became obvious that it wasn't working. The battery had to be dead.

Lori recognized the problem right away. "Mark! Let me sit down. I've got a charger cable in the car!"

I got up and Lori kissed me on the cheek in passing as she got back in her car. I watched for a moment as she found a power cable and plugged it into her cellphone.