Introduction

Nice One, Randa

"M

iranda Cistine, we need to talk. Come down

here...now...please,"said my mother's uneasy voice.

Some people can't tell when their parents are happy. As a matter of fact,
this happens even more with negative feelings. Their parents conceal their
feelings, whether they be mad or sad or angry or annoyed, and hide them easy
as pie. Well, that's not my way of life. My parents are always obvious, like,
really obvious, about their feelings, so, when your mom starts yelling at you
from downstairs when she (a)knows it annoys you (b)hates what she's doing
more than you do (c)knows you are writing in your diary and don't want to
be disturbed, and (d)knows that your father installed a system for this purpose
(where you can touch the screen, choose who you want to speak to, and you
tell it what to say to that person, and then it goes to their room) but still
doesn't use it, then it is really easy to tell that something was wrong. And by
something, I mean something big.

I rolled my eyes and ran the ten feet to the stairs, slid down the banister,
and dragged myself into the kitchen.
Mom was sitting at the table, wringing her hands. When I saw my
mother's face, I knew it was a bad situation. I joined her at the kitchen
table, which seemed to be made of an eerie silence. I knew this silence. It
was the silence of a bad event. We sat in the silence,and I didn't need help to
know that I shouldn't break it.
When I finally found the courage to speak, my mother hushed my words,
and replaced them with her own. "I just got a, um, call from Aunt Ally
saying that she wants you to come and stay the month in St. Louis with
Tess. She says that it's been so long since you've seen her that she wants a
reunion between you two...you know...to have a get-together."
It's true. The last time I saw Tess was 5 years ago when I was in 2nd
grade. Tess was the most adventurous person there is. We were RRCFs,
a.k.a. Related Really Close Friends. But then she moved. We called each
other at least once every other night, to update each other on things. Then
the tragedy struck. She called me and told me, that her 2nd BFF had
moved. Tess' 2nd BFF had moved with her, so she wanted to move with her
BFF, but couldn't. We weren't supposed to call after 9:00 at night but she
called me anyway. I don't care, because I go to bed at 10:30, but my
parents say "I shouldn't spend so much time on my phone". Well, ok. I do

spend at least three hours a day on my phone, but whatever. Anyway, we

had a fight that night. We've never called, or wrote, or talked since.
"Mom, do I have to go?" I whined. Mom looked surprised. She cocked
her head.
"You two used to be friends. Best friends. Since when did you not want
to see Tess? Yes, of course you have to go. She is your cousin," she said,
shaking her head. Nice one, Randa.

Chapter One

GettingPacked

I pulled out my suitcase from under my bed. It was a small bed. I

had been known to kick at night, and because of this, I've fallen off my bed a
couple of times in the time I've had it. Once I had a nightmare and I fell off
the bed, and then 3 hours later I fell off again! I was pondering why I was
such a kicker when there was a sharp rap on the door. "Mom just told me to
tell you I'm coming too, sissy!" Brooklynn, my obnoxious 6 year old sister.
"I can't wait to play with Tess and you! Tess and you will be great to play
with!"
Brooklynn followed me everywhere. In the kitchen, office, bathroom
(when I'm brushing my teeth and flossing), but we made it so she can't come
into my room. When I go in my room, she waits outside the door until I
come out (unless it's for bedtime). We share a birthday, an we are 6 years,
6 hours, 27 minutes, and 19 seconds apart. She isn't the smartest cookie in the

batch, but on our next birthday, she turns 7 and I turn 13. I still don't
understand why I have to share a birthday with that copycat of a Brooklynn.
I wish I had an older sister. Then I would have a private friend to give me
the advice I always have to ask for from Mom. And yet I have to spend a
full month probably sharing a bed, or at least a room, with this little monster.
Ok, she might not sound too bad, but if you had a little sister following you
around 24-7, then you'd understand.
To be honest, I don't really have anyone too close. My mom and I
don't come to each other unless we have to, my sister is to much of a copycat to
be a sister that you'd really hang out with, and I'm not the best at making
friends-a.k.a. I don't have any. Tess was my only friend, a U.T.B. (used
to be) friend.
"Brooklynn, go away. I'm packing,"I said. "Go pack your things for the
month with Mom, 'cause we're leaving Friday."
Brooklynn's eyes widened. "In 3 days? I only have 3 days to pack for
a month!?!"
"Yes. We are there for a month so remember to bring a bunch of clothes
and your toiletries," I said, trying to give her the "go away" look I'd been
working on.
Brooklynn looked confused. "What are toiletries?" she asked, cocking her
head.

I sighed and shook my head. Now you see what I mean about her not
being the best of the batch. "Toiletries are things you use almost every day to
take care of yourself, like...toothbrushes, and floss...your mouthwash...things
like that," I said.
"Oh, so clothes are really called toiletries?" Brooklynn asked, eyes as wide
as golfballs. "That is so cool!!!"
"No, Brooklynn, clothes aren't toiletries," I said rolling my eyes. Like I
said...
Brooklynn seemed disappointed. "What other things are toiletries, then?
Toilets?"
"Brooklynn, nevernind. Go ask Mom." Just like I said, not the
smartest cookie in the batch.

Tess
I have to spend a month with Randa. I have to spend a whole month
with Randa, and sharing a room! I thought. I was in my room, pounding
my pillow with my fury. Randa brought back so many memories of Natalie.
Randa was like a person who put a forget spell on you and after 5 years takes
it back. It was like somebody had slapped me in the face and made me forget
everything, and I was finally remembering.
Natalie used to be my BFF. I told Randa that I was her RRCF,
and I spent lots of time with her, but not as much time as I spent with
Natalie. We had at least one sleepover every one or two months, but secretly.
Randa never knew about them. She never knew about Natalie until the call,
actually. We went hiking together, we liked lots of the same things, and most

of all, her blonde curls, her sparkling green eyes, and white skin seemed
magical, somehow. Every time I saw her, something made me feel...safe
and protected...like she was somebody with powers that made their way into
me and made a shell that let nobody hurt me at all. I know it's crazy, but it's
what I believe. When she was around, nobody could hurt me. But then she
moved. Oh, how she moved. She moved all the way over to the other side of
the USA.
Natalie moved to California. Her mom's job took them there. She was
a marine biologist, traveling around the world for her amazing job, helping
dolphins, orcas, whales, sharks, or other fish daily. It was amazing.
Natalie and I used to go to her mom's place and visit Julie and Natalessa.
They are Maryann's dolphins. Who is Maryann again? you might ask.
Well, I should know. Maryann is Natalie's mom. She named Natalessa
after Natalie and I, because we found her. You know, living on a beach in
North Carolina is pretty convenient for finding bottlenose dolphins.
Natalessa was beached as a baby. She was only six months old when we
found her, her mother nowhere in sight. She had crushed a rib laying on the
beach like that, and wasn't breathing well. You see, unlike people, dolphins
have to think to breath. If they don't choose to breath, they choose to die.
We ran and got Maryann, and she took her to her center. We found out
that she was a girl, that she was only five and a half months old, and that she
had a huge jaw problem, so bad that she couldn't catch fish on her own. She

wouldn't eat the dolphin milk we gave her, or the fish milkshakes, so we tried
cut up fish instead. And, you know what? She took it all down in one gulp!
She absolutely loves them. It's amazing how fast time passes. She's almost
seven now.
Julie is a different story. Well, actually, Julie doesn't have much of one.
She was seven years old when we found Natalessa, making her almost
fourteen. She's about two thirds through her lifetime, because female dolphins
usually live around twenty five years in a lifespan. Julie was Maryann's first
animal in her job. She bought her from a fishing company as a calf when she
was two years old. That's all there really is to tell about Julie-she's an old
gal, she came from a fishing company, she's about 14, and was Maryann's
first animal.
Anyway, Natalie was the best. When she moved, it was like a piece of
my head and heart had been chipped away, leaving me clueless and crying. I
felt like locking myself in my bedroom and never coming out. I felt like going
up in space and never coming back. I felt like slapping myself until I woke
up from this horrible nightmare. And believe me, I did them all, but I never
woke up. Ok, I didn't go into space, but still.
Randa is always the worst of worst. She brought back the worst
memories, she turned me down when I needed here most- and yet I have to
spend a month with her. Same building, same bathroom, same bedroom,
same bed.

Chapter Two

Mira's Mythical Magic

As we pushed our way through the crowd to get off the plane, I thought
about the crowded plane ride. We had gone unsupervised on the plane.
Mom had stayed at home. At least it was only a four hour plane ride. It
was supposed to be only two hours, but "severe lightning storms" and "heavy
rain" were in our original path, so going around it took an hour. And then
we landed at the wrong airport, so it took another hour to fly to the real
airport. Now that I stop to think about it, it was probably more than four
hours.
I'm interrupted by a sharp tug on my left coat sleeve. "C'mon, let's get our
bag! I wanna see Tess!" said Brooklynn, and with such a thrust of
enthusiasm that I couldn't act annoyed. I am secretly pleased that she wants
to spent time with Tess. Maybe I could get them to hang out so much that I
could hang out and do my own thing, alone, maybe without even Brooklynn
following me.

We got the bags and my computer bag. That way, we can call
Mom...although I don't want to. I should have took it as my carry on, I
just realized, but the backpack for Brooklynn with her stuff to entertain her on
the plane counts as your carry on, and you can't take two carry ons,
so...yeah. It really stinks, especially if your sister-sitting.
We rolled our bags out along the airport hallway, a bunch of store
booths on our right side. Food, a mini bar, St. Lewis Souvenirs, but there
was one particular shop booth that caught my eye...
Brooklynn must have seen it too, because she stopped and stared wideeyed at the purple magic ball on the booth sign. "Come on, let's get our
fortune telled, sissy!" she said, tugging at my sleeve.
"Told," I corrected her.
"Telled, told. Whatever," she murmured, sighing. "Anything works.
C'mon!"
I followed her into the store that the booth was located in. A plump little
lady in a purple floor-length dress sitting behind the booth counter stood up
and made an enter gesture. "Welcome, welcome, my dears. Welcome to
Mira's Mythical Fortune Magic, where I, Mira, shall tell your fortune!" she
said,a gleam in her eye. "Come, come, and I shall read the futures of your
beings."
Mira led us over to two throne-armchair crossed chairs, one on either side
of a small coffee table. A transparent crystal ball absolutely filled with

sparkles in purple, blue, and silver sat on a golden stand that was sitting on
the table, like a little queen upon a throne, both the throne and queen covered
in jewels.
"Sit down, please, my dear Brooklynn," Mira said to my sister in a tone
of such a soft and silky voice that it was almost a kitten's purring, with the way
she rolled the r.
Brooklynn stood wide eyed and stared, not moving a mussel. "How'd you
do that? When you...knew my name...how'd you do it?"
"Well, you can't be a fortune teller without the know of magic," she half
whispered half purred, the sparkle in her eye glittering even more.
Brooklynn, with a look of I'm not too sure I want this anymore, sat
down reluctantly in one of the chairs. Mira sat down in the other one, placing
her hands on the transparent ball. She started staring into the ball, or
something like a stare. She seemed to be looking past it, past the coffee table,
past the hardwood floor...like she was staring at something invisible. It's
really quite hard to explain what she was doing, actually. Brooklynn, not
knowing what to do and still pretty creeped out from when Mira knew her
name, sat in the chair, staring at Mira, who stared on and on at the ball,
and after a minute, Mira spoke.
"I see great happiness...and...love from your...it looks like a
girl...copper colored side braid...maybe your sister's age...holding a bouquet
outside in a garden...on a white bench..."

Brooklynn didn't seem creeped anymore. "That's Tess!" she exclaimed.

"Tess, sissy, Tess! It must be her, because she has copper colored braids in
all the time! She's Randa's..." Her face fell. She started whimpering.
"What's the matter, my darling?" Mira asked, getting up and squatting
down beside Brooklynn. She wiped Brooklynn's cheek with the back of her
hand.
"I told my sissy's name and you were gonna magically tell it to her so I
ruined it and...and...and...oh!" Tears flooded down her face like a
waterfall, dampening the floor beneath her. I knelt down beside her, her
tears wetting my purple floor length skirt. I tried to comfort her, but she
couldn't be comforted.
At this point, I was about to cry myself. I stood up and started looking
at the magazines on the shelf beside Mira's booth. If I look at Brooklynn
when she's crying for too long, I start crying too. Ok, so I have to have
some sympathy for my little rascal of a sister. Is that ok?
Not seeing any of the "Cloud 9" ones(the only ones I read) I would like,
I went to the paying desk and got the newspaper. Walking over to a corner,
I sat down in a strait back chair and read the first article I saw.
"CHILDREN GO TO MIRA'S MYTHICAL
FORTUNE MAGIC, DISAPPEAR, AND COME
BACK TWO DAYS LATER WITH STORIES OF A
ROCKET SHIP RIDE, A WIZARD NAMED
TIMOTHY, A TALKING TOUCAN NAMED

BLOSSOM, TWO PEGASUS THAT GOT THEM

HOME, AND A LIFETIME SUPPLY OF REAL
CHOCOLATE!" screamed the front cover. Wait, I thought. Isn't

that the name of the booth that my sister is at this second?

Suddenly, I remembered. Weren't we supposed to be going to see Tess
and Aunt Alissa? I had completely forgotten! How could I? We are at
least 20 minutes late to get picked up by Aunt Alissa by now! I ran over to
Mira.
"Mira, we really must be going," I said talking in such a rush, I
stumbled on my words. Getting Brooklynn's hand, I began to walk away.
"Wait, please, my dear Miranda, come here," Mira cooed, rolling the r
in my name with a long purr. She gestured a shooing motion towards
Brooklynn. "And leave your sister there."
I rolled my eyes, pivoted on the two-inch heel of my flat-high heel-cross
shoes, and crossed my arms. "What?" I asked, a tone of accidental
annoyance in my voice.
She handed me a small, wooden chest, about the size of my palm. "Keep
this. When you arrive to your cousin's house, you will be sharing a room.
When you are in the room you will share, tell her you want to show her
something, and when she is looking, open the box. Only open the box when
Tess and you are in your room, and nobody else is in it. I shall tell you no

more, but both of you will find yourself getting something back that you never
thought you would."
A little confused, I took the box, took out my money, and payed her fifty
cents. "Thank you, Mira. We will come by and return the box in a month
when we come back to the airport to go home," I said, turning and walking
out the shop door, Brooklynn in one hand, the chest in the other.
"Oh, there will be no need for that," Mira said so quietly, I could hardly
hear her, the purr in her voice scarcely showing. "There will be no need."
As I walked away, I thought to myself, "That woman is crazy. I can't
be sharing a room with Tess. There's only one bed. But again, she was
right on our names...she might be right on this, too..."

Tess
Where is she? I've been waiting forever to see her. I'm thinking that we
can just become friends again, because having to spend a month ignoring her
would get me grounded for weeks!
Really, it was Randa who didn't want to be my friend anymore. She
said that since I had some other best friend that I was spending more time
with(oops, I accidentally told her), then maybe she should just give up being
my friend. I pleaded and pleaded that she didn't, but she simply wouldn't
listen. She pledged she would never be my loyal friend again, because I had
had another best friend that I had been more loyal to than her. "I, Miranda
Cistine Keneddy," she proclaimed, "declare that I am no longer, forever
forth, and never again your friend." It upset me so much.

The flowers I had picked earlier from our garden were beginning to dry
out, so I decided to go inside and put them in some water. I got the smallest
vase we had and put some a flower food packet into the water. I carefully cut
each stem in a diagonal, so the flower could get more water. The roses were
especially tricky to do, because of their prickly thorns.
I'm glad that before I moved, Randa's mom had been a florist, and
taught me the tips that every excellent flower arranger(something I liked to
do) knew, and I had never forgotton that day. Sugar cookies baked in the
oven for Randa, who had stomach flu, making the whole kitchen have the
cookies' scent. It was almost as if the cookies wanted the whole place's
attention. Those cookies were so good. I know. Randa gave me one of
them. We arranged roses and daises and forget-me-nots, pink lilies, and tons
others into three bouquets. We gave them to her in three vases. When I
moved, she gave me my favorite one of them. It was a pale see-through
pink, with gold and silver detailing all around the lip of the vase. They found
it at a yard sale on a vacation in Florida, and it was definitely a beautiful
vase.
I put the flowers in that vase that she gave me. Maybe, when I gave
the flowers, it would make her think I still cared about her, which I did. I
went over and put them on the piano. I sat down on the hard, wooden bench
and quietly began to play my favorite song. I , very softly, sang along with
it, and soon, it was up to my loud hum, which is actually still pretty quiet.

Out of nowhere, a soft kneading on my back meant Cinnamon was

listening. I stopped playing, spun around on the bench, and picked her up.
I stroked her soft, tiny head between her ears, her purring so loud that her
head literally quietly vibrated. I stood up and took her over to the couch. I
sat down and covered us up with her favorite brown blanket, only her tiny
head and paws peeking out of it. Her head was down on my lap, and she lay
kneading my leg with her blanket-soft paws.
We found Cinnamon on the side of the road down in downtown St.
Louis about two months ago. Her fur was ragged, her tiny being caked with
dirt and water, making her a copper color, so we named her Cinnamon. She
had so collar whatsoever, and I took her in. When we got home, we gave
her a bath, which she hated. When her fur was clean, it was sparkling white,
like snow, but her name stuck.
I picked her up under her miniature arms, and carried her over to the
piano. "I'm gonna play your favorite song, Cinnamon," I whispered. I sat
down on the bench and, with her on my lap, began to play Fur Elise.
Cinnamon's purring softly vibrated my legs, her mouth making a little mew
every now and then. Whenever she hears this song, she does that. I like to
think she's trying to sing along with the music, but nobody ever believes me.
As the song ended, there was a loud ring! at the doorbell. "Knock
knock. It's me, Tess. The door's locked," said my older sister, Addylyn,
through the mail slot. She isn't always the easiest to get along with.

"Nice to know," I sighed. "What do ya want?"

You see, Red Ant Addy, or Addylyn, if you must, isn't the best older
sister she could be. She talks back so much that sometimes I wish she would
actually turn into an ant so she couldn't snap at you. I still try to be nice,
but...it's not the easiest thing to do if somebody's rolling her eyes and turning
on her heel whenever she has turned away and you say something. About a
year ago when she got her drivers license, she bragged, and bragged, and
bragged, to everyone, literally ever since. It used to make me mad when she
talked back, but now, it just doesn't matter; it just really annoys me.
"What do you think?" she snapped, unsurprisingly, being exactly what I
knew would happen. "I want you to open the door. Mom has the key in her
purse and she let me come back 'cause Randa and Brooklynn aren't at the
airport yet. We'll, they probably are, but they..."
"Yeah, I know. They aren't there yet. I'm coming," I said, suddenly
turning into my sister and almost rolling my eyes. I pulled little half-pound
Cinnamon off my lap with ease, even though her tiny claws gripped my long
brown skirt with all their might. I put her on the floor and then stood up. I
walked over to the giant, white, and yet still a bit tan front door and turned
the lock, with my petite kitten still at my feet, and as soon as Addy came in,
she pushed me out of the way and disappeared around the corner to run up the
stairs.

"Gosh, so much fuss, and for something so little," I said to baby

Cinnamon, as I locked the door and carried her over to the piano with me.
"Do you want to hear another song, my little button?" I asked, pretending,
again, that she could talk.
"Mreow!" she purred, kneading my arm with tiny pinches that made my
whole body tickle.
"That's what I thought," I said, starting to play one of the longest songs
I knew.

Chapter Three
Aunt Ally!

"Where's Aunt Alyssa?" whined Brooklynn, looking at me with big
puppy eyes. "I wanna see Addylane! And Tess! I wan it!"
"First off," I said, " it's Addylyn, or Addy, and second, stop whining
right now, young lady." It accidentally came out like I was 5 years older.
We were waiting for Aunt Alyssa's shiny silver Mercedes outside the
St. Louis airport. Even though she was probably already there, she's not the
person who makes opportunities, she's the one who waits for them.
"Wait! There she is!" Brooklynn exclaimed, almost screamed. "Over
there!"
I followed my little sister's tiny pointer finger to the small, distant
Mercedes in the back, parking. I suppose that could be her. Maybe, she
got so tired of us not being there, that she finally actually came to the front of
the airport.

And we were right. Out tapped Aunt Alyssa in her Marilyn Monroe
red 4-inch high heels, wearing a cream corduroy skirt, a red shirt that
matched her heels, and a jean jacket with a red scarf. Very "trendy", she
would say.

. Auntie Ally is the best of the three. You see, Aunt Ally is the youngestby an hour- of their family's triplets, meaning, she has two twin sisters, Maple
and Lily. Maple and Lily are very unpleasant to be around, but Aunt
Alyssa is the sweetest, understandable, most fashionable person around town,
and that's the one and only reasons I want to be around here.