October 2012
1 post
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October 2011
3 posts
Chapter 23.
No wait, that’s not what happened. This is what happened.
Helen called Jane at 5 in the morning.
“There’s an enormous hot air balloon here,” Helen said. “At the park. And nobody’s guarding it.”
“Hot damn! I am on my way,” Jane replied.
Jane parked her bike against a tree, and the two girls approached the balloon. The hot air balloon was...
Chapter 22.
Jane called Helen from the train station, the day she was supposed to leave.
“I thought your train was this afternoon!” Helen said.
“I got the time wrong,” Jane said. “I had to take a taxi down, and my train’s already boarding.”
“I can take a taxi down there too,” Helen said. “I can be there in like twenty minutes.”
...
Chapter 21.
This was their last summer before they went off to separate schools. They were laying on their backs looking for faces in the clouds, talking about the future. When they talked about the future, they didn’t discuss school. They made plans for some undefined future when they were together again.
“We can get a train pass for like five hundred dollars,” Helen said. “A...
September 2011
7 posts
Chapter 20.
When the windows started bursting out of the buildings above them, they went inside. A hotel was sheltering people, and handing out glow sticks. So Helen and Jane sat at the back of the hotel’s lobby, glow sticks lit around their necks, and listened to the broken glass whipping around outside.
“My father wants to pay for my tuition,” Helen said.
“So you don’t...
Chapter 19.
Hurricane Anthony was on his way. It was all the news would talk about. It was a powerful storm, especially for so early in the hurricane season. Even at school, the announcements took a break from talking about the upcoming prom to warn students about the impending hurricane. When the bell rang for their last class, Jane and Helen went outside and stood looking at the sky.
The wind was...
Chapter 18.
After the movie, they walked along the highway. When they started walking, the sky was grey, but it got darker and darker as they headed away from the city. They climbed up the rocks along the side of the road, so they were up above the approaching cars.
“Why does it have to be so far?” Helen said. “Oh god, I am going to sleep forever.”
“We’re almost to...
Chapter 17.
The secretary’s name was Ruth. She led Jane and Helen to a leather couch, and asked if they wanted juice or coffee. The couch was so comfortable. It was ridiculous. There was no reason for a couch to be that comfortable, especially not in a big office building. Jane ran her fingers up and down the leather stitches.
“Juice?” the secretary said again.
“I’ll have...
Chapter 16.
The next day, Jane called Helen again. It rang twice before Helen picked up.
“Pigeon phone,” Helen said. “Pigeon speaking.”
Chapter 15.
Back in Halifax, Jane felt she was running out of time. It was just a feeling. Time for what?
She called Helen in the morning, before she left for school, but Helen sounded funny when she answered. Her voice was weird, and Jane wasn’t sure it was her.
“Hello?” Helen said.
“Uh, is pigeon there?” Jane said.
“What?” Helen said. She laughed and...
Chapter 14.
The Smithsonian Air and Space museum was everything Jane wanted it to be. Sputnik, the lunar lander, cosmonaut suits. It took her breath away. There were strange things, too. Unexpected things, like a homemade chess set for playing in zero gravity on the space station. It was the chess set that got her excited about going to the gift shop. It was so small and simple. They must have a replica for...
August 2011
9 posts
Chapter 13.
In Washington, DC. there were men with machine guns in the train station. American soldiers.
“This country is insane,” Helen said, watching them. “Are they worried that someone is going to hijack a train and drive it into the White House?”
“You know what we should do?” Jane said. She kept her voice low. “We should hijack a train, and drive it into...
Chapter 12.
Jane and Helen decided to take a weekend trip to Washington. Adam and Helen were sort of dating by now. So Adam drove Helen to the train station in his dad’s car, and he was quieter than normal.
“I still don’t like this,” he said. “For the record.”
Helen reached into the back seat for her bag. “I believe your objection has been noted...
Chapter 11.
After school, Helen was waiting in the same place as always. She fell into step beside Jane, and they started walking home. They were quiet for a while, Helen had been crying, but Jane didn’t know what to say. She decided it was better to pretend that it wasn’t obvious.
“I can’t believe she suspended you,” Jane said. “Did they suspend him, too? What is it,...
Chapter 10.
Helen, on the other hand, did get suspended. The music teacher walked in on her and Adam from the chess club, on the sink in the teacher’s bathroom. He had his shirt entirely off, and Helen had her legs wrapped around his waist.
“Why don’t you take a picture?” Helen said to her. “It’ll last longer.”
Adam put his shirt on fast, and ran. Helen slid...
Chapter 9.
Jane and Helen were in the same physics class in high school. And, unlike the other classes they shared, their teacher had latched onto them as stand-out students. In private, he told them to call him Greg. He confided in them about his frustration with the school administrators, and his frustration with empty-headed students. When he won the Mayor’s Teaching Medal, it was Jane and Helen...
Chapter 8.
Helen called Jane at 5 in the morning.
“There’s a hot air balloon here,” Helen said. “At the park.”
“Hot damn! I am on my way,” Jane replied.
It took Jane one minute to get dressed and out the door, and it took her five minutes to bike down to the park. This was one of Helen’s favourite things about Jane. When she said, “I’m...
Chapter 7.
Jane and Helen read every book the library had on serial killers. They read sections out loud to one another, and they underlined passages. They even had a pact. If they turned thirty and they weren’t happy with their lives, they would go on a cross country killing spree. They would go out in a blaze of glory!
So when Jane saw that a behavioural analyst was scheduled to speak at the...
Chapter 6.
Jane bought another Richard Feynman book. He was fast becoming a hero of hers. He was just so curious about the world around him, and he made Jane curious, too. The way he wrote made science seem fun again. He had written a book called The Pleasure of Finding Things Out. How great was that, Jane thought.
He wrote an essay about bloodhounds, and about how under-appreciated the human nose was....
Chapter 5.
Jane picked up the telephone and dialled Helen’s number. After a ring, Helen answered.
“Hello?” she said.
“Hey!” Jane said.
There was a long pause, and Jane realized that she couldn’t remember why she called.
“Hello?” Helen said.
“Just calling to make sure you’re still alive,” Jane said.
“As far as I can...
July 2011
4 posts
Chapter 4.
Helen sometimes calls Jane, “Watermelon Head.” Because Jane has a big head, is the reason. She does it a lot, in front of other people, and at school, and Jane likes it. She hates it when other people try to be a part of the joke, and she acts sour, but she secretly likes it when Helen calls her Watermelon Head.
Jane’s obsessed with Richard Feynman now, too. He was a...
Chapter 3.
Jane and Helen walked everywhere. The bus was expensive and slow, and the bus didn’t go most places. They walked home from school, a different way every day, just roaming the streets, just enjoying each other’s company. They skipped school to go to the library, some days.
Then they sat between the shelves, looking at books about UFOs. Books about female serial killers. Books about...
Chapter 2.
Neither Helen nor Jane were very good at chess. They joined the chess club anyway, though. It was Helen’s idea.
“One day,” she said. “We’re going to be criminals. And let’s face it. We’re too smart to just be regular thugs. We’re going to be criminal masterminds and criminal masterminds play chess. Or that Chinese game, Go.”
But there...
Chapter 1.
This is how Jane and Helen met.
It was the Halloween dance. They were both dressed as male FBI agents. Jane’s hair was pulled back in a pony tail. No makeup. She wore an ill-fitting suit that she borrowed from her brother. The jacket looked silly over her breasts unless it was closed, and the pants were way too long and had to be rolled up at the ankles. Her father had printed out an FBI...
