Harmel - After

T he day my whole world changed started like any other Saturday.

Lacey! my dad called. Are you coming? Its going to be dinnertime when we get there!

I looked in the bathroom mirror and made a face. He said the same thing every Saturday morningbut maybe that was because I took longer getting ready than anyone else.

Why dont you just get up earlier? My brother Logan, who was eleven months older than me, appeared in the doorway and looked suspiciously at my reflection. I knew hed been sent up to get me. I was putting on a coat of mascara and paused to glare at him.

I need my beauty sleep, I said, trying to sound haughty.

He rolled his eyes. No kidding, he muttered. I think you need a little more.

He was gone by the time I threw a tube of toothpaste at him.

Five minutes later, when I came downstairs, my dad, Logan, and my little brother, Tanner, were standing in the hallway, already bundled up in their coats and scarves. It was unusually cold that day, even though it was only November fifteenth. There had been an early freeze, and it hadnt worn off yet. My dad held out my pink puffer jacket, and as I stepped into the hallway and took it from him, he winked, one corner of his mouth jerking upward just a little. I knew he was trying to hide his amusement from Logan and Tanner.

What the heck takes you so long anyway? Tanner said. Im glad Im not a girl.

Logan high-fived him. My dad looked up at me. Is Your Royal Highness finally ready? he asked, bowing slightly.

My dad always called me that when I took a long time to get dressed. Even though he sometimes pretended to be as exasperated as Logan and Tanner, I think he secretly didnt mind.

Wheres my beautiful wife? Dad singsonged as I zipped up my jacket. Mom rounded the corner, dressed in the same ratty pink bathrobe shed had for years, the one she would never throw away because it was the first gift Logan and I ever picked out for her, when Logan was four and I was three and Dad took us Christmas shopping. Wed bought her a new one last Christmas, but she refused to switch over.

She was in her usual state of morning messiness, with sleep-flattened reddish brown, shoulder-length curls flying every which way and her cheeks slightly blotchy before she made it to her vanity mirror and her tray full of makeup. I always wished that I had inherited her pretty hair and Dads flawless complexion, but instead, it was the other way around. I had Dads stick-straight dirty blond hair that always looked stringy if I didnt use a curling iron on the ends (which I hardly ever had time to do considering I shared a bathroom with two boys) and Moms acne-prone skin. Thank goodness for Clearasil, but most of the time my face was sporting at least one major zit, usually in a totally unflattering location like the middle of my forehead or smack in the center of my chin.

Youre taking my family and leaving me? Mom asked dramatically, clutching her hands over her heart. Whatever will I do?

Mom said the same thing every Saturday when Dad took the three of us out to breakfast. He called it Dad time, and while we were out scarfing down pancakes at the Plymouth Diner, Mom was having her weekly Mom time, which apparently included sitting around in her robe, sipping a cup of coffee, and putting on a facial mask while she fast-forwarded through TiVoed episodes of Greys Anatomy and CSI and whatever else shed dozed off watching during the previous week.

Your mom thinks were giving her time alone, Dad would whisper to us while she pretended she couldnt hear, but really, its just a good excuse for the four of us to hang out and eat greasy bacon and hash browns, right?

It had been our Saturday-morning routine for as long as I could remember. And it was the highlight of every week. Dad, Logan, Tanner, and I would sit at breakfast and talk about school and our friends and stuff, and Tanner, who wanted to be a comedian when he grew up, would always tell some silly joke he had just learned from his friends or the Internet that week, and when wed get home, the house would always be a little cleaner, and Mom was always in a good mood. If we didnt have anything big to do, wed all go out for a hike or a bike ride or to play tennis at the local country club, where Mom had insisted we needed a membership, against Dads halfhearted protests.

Mom and Dad kissed goodbye, then she gave each of us a peck on the top of our heads, and we were off.

Everyone have their seat belts on? Dad asked as he started the car. Logan climbed in beside him.

Yes! the three of us answered in unison. Dad turned and grinned at Tanner and me in the back, buckled his own seat belt, and put the car in reverse. As we pulled out of the driveway, he beeped the horn at Mom and blew her a kiss.

Cheesy! Logan and I chorused. Tanner laughed.

Mom smiled, waved from the doorway, and went inside.

It took three minutes for us to get out of our neighborhood, Plymouth Heights, and onto a main street. Its weird how normal everything still was in those final minutes. We saw Mrs. Daniels walking down her driveway to pick up the newspaper, and she waved at us as we passed. Dad and Logan waved back. I noticed Jay Cash and Anne Franklin, two kids from Tanners grade, playing basketball in the Cashes driveway. Anne tripped on her shoelace just before we passed, and I turned my head slightly to see if shed start crying. She didnt. Logan was absorbed in flipping through the radio stations, finally settling on the classic-rock station, which was playing the Eagles Hotel California, one of Dads favorite songs. He started to sing along, and when the chorus ended and a guitar solo began, Dad glanced at Tanner and me in the rearview mirror and grinned.