EMIT (THE EMIT SAGA) by Barbara Cross Read Free Book Online

was a winery.” Some people hired cars when they went winetasting.
    I saw Mom driving up the driveway and ran inside to grab my bag and saddle.
    As we exited the farm, the two black cars were parked across the street and a police officer was talking to one of the drivers. Why were those cars still around almost thirty minutes later?
    I felt s o gross and sticky that I ran up to shower. There was horsehair all over my arms and face. As I walked out of the bathroom, someone screamed, “Boo.”
    I jumped for dear life and there stood Lily laughing. “Wow, you were really scared!”
    “You almost gave me a heart attack . Don’t do that.”
    “Why did you shower?” Lily asked, as she put on her bathing suit. “I want to go swimming.”
    “I went riding. Why are you here? Weren’t you catching the bus with our dads tonight?”
    “The office didn’t need me today , so I came out with Mom.”
    “ Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “I wanted to surprise you.”
    I wanted to tell Lily about my possible sighting of him, but decided to wait till later.
    After we got out of the pool and Lily was wrapping herself up in a towel, I said, “Lily, I saw that blond guy from the park jogging on our beach this morning.”
    Lily sighed and sat down on a chaise. “Give me a break. That’s impossible.”
    “It looked just like him. I swear. I know it sounds crazy, but I’m pretty sure it was him.”
    “There’s no way. You’re hallucinating.”
    “ But it’s possible it was him,” I insisted.
    “I’m 99.9 99% sure it wasn’t him. Want to bet ten dollars?”
    I didn’t, but said, “Sure.” It wasn’t like we would ever know anyway.
    Lily put on her ear buds and closed her eyes. She was done talking about imaginary people.
    I checked Facebook and texted some friends. When that got dull, I decided to start my school reading since I found one of the books. The first poem on the list was written by John Keats called ‘To A Lady Seen for a Few Moments at Vauxhall.’
     
    S ONNET TO A LADY SEEN FOR A FEW MOMENTS AT VAUXHALL
    Time's sea hath been five years at its slow ebb,
Long hours have to and fro let creep the sand,
Since I was tangled in thy beauty's web,
And snared by the ungloving of thine hand.
And yet I never look on midnight sky,
But I behold thine eyes' well memory'd light;
I cannot look upon the rose's dye,
But to thy cheek my soul doth take its flight.
I cannot look on any budding flower,
But my fond ear, in fancy at thy lips
And hearkening for a love-sound, doth devour
Its sweets in the wrong sense: - Thou dost eclipse
Every delight with sweet remembering,
And grief unto my darling joys dost bring.
     
    Time normally makes memories fade, however, that wasn’t the case here and I felt a little less foolish fantasizing about a stranger. The words “sweet remembering’ explained that perfectly since my reaction to the boy in the park was comparable.
    “How come you look so miserable? Stop reading that stuff and let’s do something.”
    “Sure, what do you want to do?” I asked, snapping out of my doldrums.
    “I don’t know, but I need some exercise. How about tennis?” Lily rose from the chaise.
    We went inside to ask one of our moms for a ride and they wanted to join us.
    “If the courts are full we’ll play doubles,” Mom suggested.
    “ Otherwise, we’ll play singles,” Lily countered.
    When we arrived, there was one court available so Lily and I had to play with our moms.
    As we were leaving the park, I noticed two cars idling in the parking lot with dark tinted windows. It looked like those same two cars from the morning.
    Back home , Lily and I were doing laps when both dads appeared.
    That night, t here was a new moon and it was eerily dark on the beach when Lily and I took Amber for a walk. Apart from the intermittent house lights, the only illumination came from the boats in the bay.
    “It’s really eerie out here when it’s this dark,” Lily said.
    “I know. The other night I