Thursday, December 19, 2021
The little girl who had skipped to the train station on her first trip up to Kumpunotko to meet me now looked like a young adult in her ripped jeans and a fur coat. I could tell she had seen me standing outside the station building, but when she just adjusted her earphones I kept my hands in my pockets and waited for her to be right in front of me. I didn’t want to embarrass her.
Sofie lifted her earphones and placed them on top of her head so that they reminded me of Mickey Mouse’s ears.
“Hi, Uncle Peter. Well, here I am,” she said.
“Welcome. Good trip? Love your fur coat.”
“It was fine. It’s faux fur, of course. You know I’m vegan. No snow here, either,” she said as we crossed the street and headed back toward the town centre. “That’s a bummer.”
“I know!”
“Is it supposed to snow before Christmas?”
“I don’t know. I don’t watch much TV,” I said as if that was the only way to get weather information.
“Oh, that’s right. Because you’re a … time traveler,” Sofie said under her breath, just a little too loud so I heard it.
“Used to be,” I muttered, just as quietly. There was no point in getting into it now.
Sofie’s head was on a swivel all the way to Atlas, as she was checking out the sights, pointing at her own landmarks, making sure Kumpunotko hadn’t changed since her last visit in June. It hadn’t. The market square was there, as was the coffeeshop, and Kim’s record store, as well as the bank building, and the City Hall.
“And there’s Atlas, of course,” she said when we turned a corner onto the street where the movie theatre was. We walked inside just to say hello to Sara, who was in the office getting ready for the evening show.
“Whoah,” Sofie said when she saw Sara. I had forgot to tell her that Sara had dyed her hair red again. I liked it, it reminded me of the little punk girl I knew her as in high school.
“Keeps the gray away,” Sara told Sofie, and winked. I pretended I hadn’t heard her comment and instead, I walked over to the small key cabinet by the side of the door, and took the car keys.
“See you later, I hope. Are you coming tonight, Sofie?” Sara shouted as we walked out the side door.
“Maybe,” Sofie yelled back. I opened the front trunk and tried to push Sofie’s luggage inside but had to give up when it was obvious that it wouldn’t fit inside. I opened the door and pressed the suitcase into the backseat. Sofie picked up a few of my mixtapes from a box between the seats and turned them over.
“Top 10 for the road,” she read out loud. “‘Side B: Top 10 heavens’. What’s that?”
“Oh, those are only the best songs with the word “Heaven” in the title,” I replied and turned the key while wiping the fog off the windshield with my left arm.
Sofie put in a tape. I was worried. Not that any of our tapes were sensitive in any way, and God knows Sofie needed a proper music education, but I didn’t want my teenage niece go too deep in my mixtapes.
I heard the first bars of the song and I recognized it. It was Madonna’s “True Blue” from our Top 10 Colours -tape. Sofie turned up the volume and I mouthed the lyrics as we drove through Kumpunotko’s only traffic lights. Fortunately, Sofie missed it because she had her nose pressed against the glass of her smartphone.
We’d only got about a minute and a half into Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors” – a borderline choice made on Kim’s insistence – when I turned right and stopped the car in front of Mom and Dad’s house. Mom was already standing outside, waiting for us. Or, waiting for Sofie. She even gave her a hug. I expected to find Dad standing in the hallway, waiting to give Sofie a firm handshake but when I got in after Mom and Sofie, I saw him sitting by his computer in the downstairs study.
He shouted a “hi” over his shoulder, but it was obvious that whatever was on his screen was more interesting that what we could offer.
Sofie went straight upstairs and I rushed after her, and into the room I had now moved out of twice. It was now my DeLorean. I quickly dialled up to our BBS and left a message to Twisted Sister. It was a little different to chat with Sis now that I knew it was Mikke but it was also better because now we could talk about Kumpunotko, and old friends, and other things I maybe not have brought up with Twisted Sister.
Have you made up your mind about Xmas?
I waited for an answer for a few minutes but when there wasn’t one, I got up, saluted Venkman in the Ghostbusters poster and took the five steps to the threshold of Tina’s room.
“Mom, I have to go,” I said. “Sara’s waiting.”
“It’s movie night, isn’t it?”
“Which one is it?” Sofie asked me.
“Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. A classic, of course,” I said. “By the way, I have plans for you for tomorrow night. I’m taking you to see a play.”
“Oh, A Christmas Carol?” Mom said, asking but not asking. “It’ll be fun, Sofie, your Mom was in it when she was in school.”
That was news to me. I had never realized the play was such a big deal.
“That’s heavy,” I said.
“Cool,” Sofie said, and added with a shrug, “I guess.”
Eight minutes later, I parked the Beetle by Atlas’s side door and walked in to fill up the popcorn machine.
➡️ More on Someday Jennifer (HarperCollins Canada 2019)