“Seattle 2094”

Sunday, May 30, 2094

4. Meeting Jackie

(2:14 am)

Nate landed in front of a small apartment complex, in the heart of Seattle. We got out of the van, stretching our stiff legs at last, and yawning. I glanced up and saw the Space Needle. What a beautiful, calming sight! The tall structure seemed to hold a special, splendid power over the city in its majestic pride.

“Tomorrow I want to go there,” I declared, pointing.

“It is tomorrow,” Green muttered, shouldering her bag and slouching over to River to get the keys.

I followed her through the door, up the creaky stairs, and to River’s door. He pushed it open and then someone came flying into me, nearly bowling me into Nate, who was behind me and oblivious.

“Madagascar, the tropical island!” shrieked the blonde girl.

“Blonde Ape!” I shrieked right back and then burst out laughing.

Green shot me an I-am-very-tired-and-so-don’t-scream-or-I-will-cut-you-up-with-the-keys-and-bury-you-under-the-Space-Needle-with-Darth-Erickson look I pretended to cower behind the Blonde Ape.

“Aw,” she groaned. “I wish you wouldn’t call me that name!”

Nate looked confused, a gap-toothed smile forming on his face as he tried to piece together what we were talking about. “Blonde Ape?” he finally asked.

River explained. “Maddie gave that name to Sondra when they were all freshmen back in high school, and Sondra wouldn’t stop acting like an ape, throwing apple peels to a couple of guys who were eating lunch with them that day.”

Sondra blushed.

“Ha!” I crowed.

River only shook his head in slight amusement, used to her wild mood after having shared his apartment with her for a year. I had to thank him again for allowing her to stay free of payment. Sooner or later, she’d have to start paying him for his charity. Her father had probably given up searching for her, and if she wanted a decent job someday, she had to go back to high school to finish her senior year.

The small apartment consisted of a living room, tiny kitchen, and a single bedroom. River entered his bedroom, Nate following, and left the door open. I turned to our ready-made air mattresses on the living room floor. Sondra must have been up late, preparing for our arrival. Green was very crabby, so Sondra turned the lights out. Neither of us wanted to tread on the wrong side of her.

(11:47 am)

Someone shook me gently. No! Not morning already! I just fell asleep! Dad doesn’t grasp the concept of sleeping in! Ugh...

...Dad? Wait... faint memory... memory... coming closer... farther... closer. Oh.

My eyes flew open and I immediately regretted it. The room was bright with the morning sun—or rather, the noon sun—and almost everyone was already up except me. I saw Sondra sitting by me, River in the little kitchen making breakfast, Nate lounging on the couch watching a holovision show, and Green still fast asleep.

“Why did you wake me up?” I groggily asked, nearly incoherent.

Sondra said something, but I couldn’t understand her. I was deaf again.

Where was my cochlear implant? I picked up my pillow and looked under it, then inside my blankets. There it was! Stuck between the edge of the air mattress and a blanket. Yikes, it could’ve been lost.

“What?” I asked, putting the tiny brown magnet back onto my head, where it slid into the electrical output hole. This makes me sound like a robot, doesn’t it? Like Darth Erickson!

“Breakfast is the delicious trademarked pancakes by River!” Sondra replied happily.

“Ooh,” I hooted. “Don’t wake up Green, then!”

“Why not?”

“She’ll eat them all! I want them for myself!” I laughed, getting up to jump away from Sondra’s playful slap.

“Selfish tropical island!”

“Girls, girls.” River shook his head, handing us each recyclable paper plates upon which fantastic smelling, golden pancakes piled up high. I took a deep breath, savoring the smell of melted butter mixed in with the pancakes and maple syrup.

(1:12 pm)

River locked his apartment door at last with his enter code, and we headed down the stairs and out to the beautiful outdoors. Today was one of these rare sunny, magnificent days where the skyscrapers positively shone. Seattle was usually cloudy and rainy, even after the major global climate change in the 2050s.

I spun around on the sidewalk, my arms outstretched, unaware of the confused glances of passing pedestrians. “Oh, Seattle, I love you!” I called happily.

Green laughed carelessly, her mood considerably lighter now that she’d gotten enough sleep and something in her stomach. “Oh, Seattle, Maddie loves you!” she parroted.

Sondra laced her arm through mine and we skipped ahead, her singing some ghetto city song I’ve never heard of before. Green hurried up to stroll by me, staring in awe at the beautiful, towering buildings with millions of shining windows. I was so happy I lived in this time. G-G-Ma Bri used to say Seattle was very ugly way back in the 2010s but now it was one of the prettiest cities in the world! Its towering Space Needle, giant computer capital skyscrapers, colorful lights swimming through the city, and so many stores, shops, and cafes!

River and Nate suddenly lost their maturity and began chasing each other, throwing fallen, shriveled up pinecones at each other. Green and I giggled, shaking our heads. Sondra was busy singing to herself, rhythmically clapping her hands now that her arm was free from mine.

Nate shouted in laughter. “You can’t catch me!” he pointed a make-believe gun at River and shot it, throwing a pinecone with the other hand. It bounced off River’s forehead.

I climbed up onto the brick wall, the one covered in beautifully tangled green and brown vines. Sondra and Green both followed me up. We just sat there in silence watching River and Nate fool around like young monkeys.

“Hey, Blonde Ape,” I said. “You should join them.”

Sondra grumbled, “I’m not a blonde ape! Smelly tropical island.”

Green closed her eyes. “Why do you do this to me?” she finally burst out. “Drop it, please. Sondra, you are a blonde ape. Maddie, you are named after a tropical island. Accept it, girls!”

“No,” I replied gleefully, jumping off the brick wall and running up the street toward the Space Needle. It was towering beyond a couple of computer companies’ skyscrapers. Far above us, there were delivery vans soaring to and fro the buildings.

“Wait!” Green called after me.

“Nuh-uh! Run faster,” I shouted over my shoulder. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, so I crashed into someone.

The girl shouted in surprise, breaking her fall with her hands. I quickly scrambled up off her lap, brushing imaginary dust off my pant legs.

“Sorry, sorry,” I apologized.

“That’s okay.” She smiled. Her vividly red hair was swept up into a loose ponytail and I longed to swish it. It was so... swishable! Haha. “I’m Jackie,” she added. “Jackie Depp.”

“I’m Madagascar,” I stuck out my hand. “Nice to meet you.”

She shook it. “Unusual name!”

“Yep. A true, smelly tropical island,” panted Sondra, finally catching up. River and Nate were still back at the wall, trying to kill each other with oh, ever so dangerous pinecones.

Green grinned as she jogged past. “A big fat, stinky tropical island where blonde apes mate.”

I shrieked in disgust. “Sondra mated on me!”

Sondra edged away from me and exclaimed belligerently, “I did not!”

Jackie stared at the both of us in wonder, confusion written all over her soft features. “What the...” she shook her head and laughed. “Never mind. I don’t want to know!”

“Who is this?”

I turned to River, whose blond Mohawk had several brown speckles stuck in it. “You’ve got shreds of pinecones in your hair. What did you do, lose the fight?” I smirked.

Nate stuck his fist into the air. “King Nathaniel won!”

“And King Nathaniel loses,” Green muttered, shooting a pinecone at Nate’s chest. They began their own fight, rushing off in search of more ammo. River rolled his eyes and then returned his attention to Jackie.

“Who is this?” he demanded in sign language.

I hastened to interpret. “This is my friend, River. He’s deaf, and so am I, but I can talk—”

“I can sign.”

“W—w—ha—” I was startled. A random hearing stranger we met on the streets knew sign language? That wasn’t common, since American Sign Language had kind of disappeared since the early 21st century, when deaf children began getting surgeries to become hearing.

“I’ve got a deaf cousin. Her name’s April,” Jackie explained, noticing our startled expressions.

“Oh,” River, Sondra, and I all said in unison. This was very unexpected and left us with a momentary silence.

“Well.” I shrugged. “Good! Makes things easier.”

Jackie smiled. “I guess so. Where are you going by the way?”

“Space Needle!” River danced around me. “The famous sewing needle that flew to space!”

“Did it really fly to space?” Sondra asked, her blue eyes wide.

“No!” I laughed.

That was how Jackie joined our little clique. She went with us to lunch on the Space Needle’s expensive dinner, patiently waited through a pinecone fight between Green and Nate and River, and then left, leaving her cell phone number with us. We were taking her on our road trip.