Heartland had been to San Francisco once when she was four. It had been for a “family business trip” her father had said. It was a weird trip. But ever since she went there, people always said that she had “left her heart in San Francisco.” She thought those people were stupid. Heartland figured they must know nothing of human anatomy. All the same, she took after her mother. She loved the sun.
So when the skies turned gray and dripped then dried, then dripped then dried, Heartland wanted to stay far from the front door and simply sit and have her staring contest with the bleak sky.
Rylan ran in with a burst of energy and an aftertaste of mischief. But Rylan was Rylan, and he always proved that his head could stay between his shoulders. He had a gleeful smile about him, because his heart was far far away from the “Golden State.”
Heartland scooted over to make room for Rylan’s predictable bound onto the window seat. He smashed his face against the window, in the way that your nose goes all wibbly wobbly. Rylan breathed his hot breathe onto the window and made a little smiley face. He turned to his sister,
“Don’t be all glum, Heartland. Have you ever thought about why the rain is wonderful?”
“Oh, plenty of times. But have you ever thought of why the rain isn’t wonderful?”
“No. I never needed to.” Heartland gave a smiling sigh and turned her face slightly back towards the window.
“Ha! I made you smile.”
“Yeah, but only because I was laughing at how dumb you can be.”
“Well, if liking smiles is dumb, then I’ll gladly be labeled dumb ‘til the day I die.” Rylan lifted up his chest and crossed his arms in short defiance. He couldn’t quite wipe the smile off his face though.
“Who have you been listening to? You don’t talk like that.”
Rylan smiled bigger now,
“I heard Dad talk like that. But I don’t think he was talking about smiles, or being dumb. And Dad can’t be dumb anyway.” Heartland smiled again.
“You did it again! See! Smiling is better. Happy is better. Rain is better!”
“Well, some of that is true.”
Heartland sat in another staring match. This time her opponent was white, not gray. Her foe had red battle paint down its whole body. It stared at her with evil intent. Finally she reached for her pencil and began to write.
“Napoleon Bonaparte was the Emperor of France for 11 years, he was the abolisher of feudalism, and the idea of a “Napoleon Complex” was understandably based off his misrepresented life. Napoleon, born the 15th of August in 1769, grew up in a noble Italian family from Corsica. An interesting fact about him is…”
“Hey Heartland!” Her pencil stopped moving and she looked up from the paper to notice her brother’s call.
“Yeeees, Rylan?” She asked in legato tone.
His small head leaned around the door, “Come outside!”
“Rylan, I have a paper to write. And it’s raining!”
“Heartland, please! It’s important. I really really need your help.”
Heartland gave out an exaggerated sigh, “Right now?”
“Yes! Come quick,” Rylan replied and then his head dipped away from sight. Heartland slowly rose from her seat and left Napoleon on the table. She made her way to the door.
“Heartland, where are you?”
“I’m getting my coat!”
“Leave it, come now!” Heartland began to hurry slightly, thinking that there might actually be something that Rylan needed help with. She walked outside, the cold grabbed at her, she ran to her brother to keep away from it.
Rylan was sitting near a tree, crouched down. Heartland rubbed her arms and impatiently asked, “Ok, Rylan, what do you need?” Her brother looked up and her.
“I need you to come up in the tree with me.”
“Rylan, do you actually need help with something or not?”
“Pleeeeeease!” Rylan fake-whined at his sister.
“Fine! But then I need to rush back to my paper.” The two of them in turn climbed the wood pieces that were nailed to the tree. They slowly ascended into the leaves and then clambered their way up onto the wood planks that were molded around the tree.
Heartland felt the temperature change from the insulated warmth that the tree provided. She made sure not to mention it. Rylan sat across from her and looked just right at her face with a silly smile.
“What?” Heartland asked after he stared for five or so moments.
“Nothing. I’m just happy that you’re happy?”
“Oh? And why am I happy right now?”
“Because you’re here and you have a brain.”
“Mmm, riiiight. I may have a brain, but I’m not psychic. What are you talking about?”
“You remember when mom would bring us sandwiches after dad first built it? Remember the little bucket we had to send up food or send down messages? Remember that?”
“Yes, I remember all that.”
“Then you’re happy, right?”
“Umm, I guess.”
“I guess, Or you are?”
“Rylan, stop. It’s whatever. Stop worrying about me. I’m happy. See, I’m smiling.”
“Don’t whatever me.”
“Oh, and now you’re copying Mom, eh?”
“Yeah, because mom is always right.”
“Okay, Rylan. Whatever you say.” Heartland rolled her eyes then set them back on her little brother who looked right at her. He just stared for a while.
Heartland opened her mouth,
“I… Okay. I’ll try to smile more. You happy?”
“Only if you are.” Heartland smiled. She crawled over the creaky wood and sat on her knees in front of her brother. She reached for Rylan and pulled him into a hug. Heartland lightly spoke in his ear,
“I’m smiling now, Rylan."
