SATURDAY, 6:58 P.M.
Halfway through the field, almost back to the hotel, Xander reached out and brushed the most obvious grass out of his brother’s hair.
David smiled. “Thanks.”
Xander shrugged. “Don’t want to get in trouble for pounding on you.”
David appraised him. “Who pounded on who?”
Xander pushed him. “Look at you.”
“You’re the one limping.”
“Yeah, right,” Xander said, trying to ignore the pain in his ankle.
“If the cops stop us, I’ll tell them you’re a mugger.”
“I don’t think they have muggers here,” Xander said. “Besides, they’d have to be blind to not know we’re brothers.” They both had dark brown hair, though Xander’s was longer and shaggier. Same smile. And while David had their mother’s hazel eyes and Xander his dad’s blue, they shared an eye shape that was sort of like a teardrop lying on its side. There were times when each of them had mistaken David for Xander and vice-versa in photographs.
Even Dad had done that, but never Mom; she always knew, and without squinting at them to be sure, the way Dad did.
“It’s going to be cool,” David said, “us being in the same school again, huh?”
“Maybe.” Pinedale was so small, it had only one elementary school and another school that served seventh through twelfth grades. It had been five years since the brothers attended the same school at the same time, when David was in second grade and Xander fifth.
“Are we going to find a house before school starts, you think?”
“That’s the plan, but it’s a lot to do in a week.”
“Car’s gone,” David announced.
Xander looked up to see that the 4Runner was not in the motel parking lot. He said, “Dad probably went out for food.”
“Good. I’m starving.”
When they entered, Toria and Mom were sitting on Toria’s rollaway bed. They were looking at brochures for what the locals thought were visitor attractions. Toria had picked them up at a gas station outside of town. She was always looking for something to read, was almost never without a book or newspaper. She even read the sports section, for crying out loud.
“Dad went for some grub,” Mom said.
“When’ll he be back? I could eat a whole cow,” David said. “Gross,” Toria said.
Mom checked the bedside clock. “Should have been back by now. Probably making new friends. You know your father.”
“McD’s?” he asked hopefully.
She smiled. “’Fraid you’re heading for a junk food withdrawal, Dae. None of that here. There’s a café up the street. Bet you like it.” David looked at Xander, neither of them so sure.
“Did you know this is the capital of Bigfoot country?” Toria asked.
Xander made a face. “Bigfoot?”
“Yeah,” she said, consulting the brochure in her hands. “There have been more sightings in this area than anywhere else in the United States. People have launched expeditions to find him, right from Pinedale.”
“So?” Xander said. “Did they find him?”
“If they did,” she said, “it would’ve been in the news. But there’s a Bigfoot museum in town.”
The door opened and Dad stepped in, a brown grocery bag in one arm. The smell of roasted chicken filled the room.
“Dinner’s on,” he announced.
David said, “Oh yeah!”
They sat at a table near the door. It was chipped Formica with what looked like stickers of sporting equipment plastered all over it.
As she heaped meat and potato salad onto paper plates, Mom said, “Eat up! I want us to get to bed early. We have a busy day tomorrow.”
“Doing what?” Xander asked.
“House hunting.”
Xander made a face. “All of us?”
“Would you rather stay here and babysit?”
“No, thanks.”
“I thought we could swing by and see your new schools too.”
“Noooo,” David moaned.
“Oh, come on!” Xander said. “We’re in town less than twenty-four hours and we have to go see the school ?”
Mom said, “You want to see it before your first day, don’t you?”
“I can wait,” Xander said.
“It won’t be so bad. You’ll see,” Dad said, shaking a forkful of chicken at him. “Now eat.”