“Yes,” she said, smiling at me. “He’s in his office.”

Oh, this girl is way too young. I warned Jim Bob about this when we started the commune. No underage girls. “Thank you, Willow,” I said.

I walked to the back of the house to Jim Bob’s office. He sat in a large, dark gray wingback chair, one of Grandmother’s, behind a midsize mahogany desk, also Grandmother’s, and typed on his laptop.

“Hey,” I said, walking inside the room. I sat on the wide jacquard patterned couch, Grandmother’s favorite couch, opposite the desk.

He looked up and closed the laptop. “Dream, close the door. I want to talk a bit before we leave.”

“So do I,” I said. I closed the door and sat back on the couch. “I met Willow.”

Jim Bob’s face broke out in a wide smile. “Oh, yes, sweet Willow. She just joined us last week. She was a runaway I met at the swap meet.”

“How old is she, fifteen, sixteen?”

“Eighteen.”

I snorted. “She is not and you know it. You can’t have underage girls here.”

“I don’t know it. She’s eighteen and she’s staying. Sunny isn’t much older than her. She’s twenty-one now, right? But she was nineteen when she joined us.”

“Barely. She turned twenty a month later.”

“Dream, I know what you’re saying. But there are no underage girls at Listening Lark. Why are you so hung up on this? I thought you didn’t want to be involved with the details. You just want to do what you do and get your money every month.”

“True,” I said. He was right. I didn’t want to know many details, and the money I received increased every month, so Jim Bob must have known what he was doing. If Listening Lark folded, I had plenty to buy Sunny and I a nice little place, or maybe an RV to travel the country, and live out the rest of our lives; but housing underage girls would bring the cops here. We couldn’t have that, especially me, and he knew all of this. That was why he handled all the details and paid me my part in cash every month. I was a ghost in the real world, but I was still an equal partner in Listening Lark with Jim Bob. I held Jim Bob’s secrets, and he held mine. Loyalty existed between us not only because of our family bond, but the private matters we knew about one another. I couldn’t say I liked Jim Bob in any substantial way, but I admired some of his traits, and I trusted him when it counted, at least in reference to me. Others he would screw over. I’d seen it happen many times in the past.

“Anyway, that’s settled.” Brother Jim sighed. “I think I must change up my group talks, sprinkle in a little more Eastern philosophy. Talk about my travels in Tibet.”

“Tibet?” I laughed. “I think you mean your travels around Encino.”

Jim Bob chuckled. “You know too much about me.”

“We know too much about each other,” I replied. “Well, the other day on the mountain was impressive. That was some costume Moonbeam made for you.”

He nodded. “Good, yeah everything felt fresh and intense that day. That is the feeling I want to nurture with the family.”

“I like that idea. The vibe of the group chanting on the top of the mountain was so intense.”

“Yes, I agree.” He cocked his head to the side. “I really want to stress the importance of us being one. Everyone sharing with one another, their earthly possessions, their gifts, their bodies. If we achieve this, it will solidify our power with them, and be very profitable, too.”

“I agree to a certain point. Everything still needs to be an individual’s choice; you can’t bully a family member into complying with your vision. They must want it too,” I said. “I know we want to make money, but it must be a choice. You can’t force people.”

He laughed. “Always wearing your heart on your sleeve, Dream. Of course it would be the individual’s choice, but it’s my job to create a desire for them to make that choice. The right choice.”

Now I laughed. “You’re always the persuader. Have been since we’ve been kids.”

“And it’s worked well for me. Worked well for both of us.”

I nodded. “You’re right.”

“One other thing I’ve been wondering about. Raindrop and River, are they fucking each other?” Jim Bob leaned back in his chair. His eyes narrowed.

“They’re really friendly, but I haven’t seen them doing anything,” I said. No way in hell I was telling him what Sunny said. That would only stir a hornets’ nest and make things uncomfortable for everyone involved. I wasn’t going to stir up that mess. I was sure he would eventually find out, but it wasn’t coming from me. I could tell Jim Bob believed me, and he relaxed a bit. We discussed a few more Listening Lark issues, but I knew he wasn’t going to let go of his theory about Raindrop and River.

A theory I already knew as true.

THIRTY-TWO2023

Aimee

The police and paramedics swarmed Robin’s house. Red lights blinking everywhere I looked, people standing around, talking about the victim, and staring at me. I was standing in the driveway, by my car, going over my statement with Officer Henning, when Archie drove down the lane and parked beside me. He jumped out of the car and ran over to me.

“Is she…?” He stared at me.

“Dead.” I nodded, tears running from my eyes. He hugged me.

“Okay, Mrs. Greencastle,” Officer Henning said. “I have everything I need. If you think of anything else, please call me. You two can head home. We’ll be in touch if we need anything else.” He handed me his card and walked toward the house.

“How?” Archie asked. “What happened?”

“They think she had a severe allergic reaction to something,” I replied; images of her swollen face popped into my mind. I wiped the tears away from my eyes. I looked back at the house, so full of activity now. “It was awful. She was just lying on the kitchen floor. Her face was so swollen.”

“But why didn’t she use her EpiPen? She has them everywhere. I know she keeps one in her purse.”

“I don’t know. Maybe she couldn’t reach them, if it happened quickly.”

“This is unbelievable.” He paced. “I just talked to her at school yesterday.”

“I know,” I agreed, staring at the house. “And I stopped over at her house yesterday.”

I looked at Archie. “Do you have to go back to school?”

“No, they got a substitute to fill in for the rest of the day.”

“Okay.” I got into my car. “I’ll see you at home.”

We snuggled on the sofa together watching random TV, trying to understand how our friend, Robin, could be dead. None of this made any sense. Only this weekend we had our little slumber party, watching movies, making pizza, and now… she was gone.

We would never see her again.

I thought about her parents getting the call on their vacation in Yellowstone that their daughter was dead. Nobody should have to receive a call like that in their life. I could only imagine the shock they must have felt when they answered the phone call. They left home not even a week ago, with Robin perfectly fine and probably excited to see their son and go on vacation. Now, they had to come home and plan their daughter’s funeral.

She was so careful about her nut allergy. How had she gotten something with nuts? Why hadn’t she used one of her EpiPens? Like Archie mentioned, she always had one close by. None of this made any sense.

Archie’s phone rang. He answered. “Hey, John, did you hear?”

I stared at him. So strange sitting here listening to Archie talk to John about Robin. The whole situation felt surreal. I hadn’t known Robin very long, but I really liked her and enjoyed spending time with her. She was my only real friend here. How could she be gone?