The connections run deep but the pain runs deeper. How had I missed this in my capstone work? I’d seen Tammy in one of those old yearbooks I’d looked through in the Willow Valley Public Library.
Annie passed away a few years ago from a stroke. She continued to work in New York until she, like Alice, returned to the out-of-service Kelly farm to take care of their ailing mother who was battling cancer.
When it rains, it really does pour.
Alice is the only surviving member of the original Kelly family. She might have an estranged niece or nephew out there somewhere but no one close, which explains why she’s holing up inside that house, living off disability checks, letting the wood rot around her.
To wake up every day in the home that used to be filled with life and laughter but is now devoid of either must be terrible. Her sorrow is a boiling pot without a lid, dangerously close to overflowing.
Alice may be curt and demanding, hard to read, and even a little mean, but maybe it’s all a defense mechanism. I feel for her in a way I didn’t expect to. My preconceived idea of her, the one I developed alongside my collegiate thesis, is shattered.
I decide to be more tender with her. If she sees me as an ally, she might be more open. She’s a well of lived experience in my chosen field. She needs a friend. I might not be her first choice, but oh well.
Nobody knows what happened to her when she ran away from it all. Who’s going to survive those stories when she succumbs to old age? No children. A deceased ex-husband. Nobody’s story deserves to die with them, just like no film deserves to be suppressed after its first showings.
Death makes the air in my room heavy and hard to breathe. I start to spiral, thinking about the people I love in my life and how horrible it would be if I ever lost one of them too soon. Especially someone who I had more to say to, more to experience with. Mateo. Avery. Mom. Dad. Claire. Earl.
Now I’m even including Derick.
What if he had died before coming home this summer? I can’t even imagine the never-ending pain of our unfinished business.
I pull my favorite (stolen from Claire) purple blanket up onto my bed and pick out a Penny Marshall movie from my VHS collection. I need a feel-good hit to lift my spirits. As theComing soon to home videotrailers play, I realize this is the blanket from the night of the almost-kiss that I mentioned in my original email to Derick. That trigger sets off a domino chain, and during the opening credits, I end up pushing aside the neatly hung clothes in my overly organized closet—color, cut, size, etc.
In the back corner, there’s a box filled with a hodgepodge of old vestiges, including those Polaroids starring High School Derick that Mateo mentioned a few weeks back. There’s even the lei I wore to the party where Mateo and I almost-kissed. It still feels sandy somehow.
My hand clamps around a soft strip of fabric in the depths. From the clutter, I find Derick’s scarf, the one I wore in Baskersville on Halloween night. The pièce de résistance of his Ken doll costume. It still smells faintly like him. Even after all these years. Even as it’s fraying at the edges.
I thought about dumping it, but maybe it’s time to give it back, let loose the feelings I clutched onto that night. A friendship is better than a summer fraught with unresolved tension.
I lay it out on my bed and snap a picture.
In a text to Derick, I write:
Ahoy! This look familiar? Thought you might want it back. I’ll bring it to the lot this weekend. See you soon, sailor.
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WileysDriveInWVMEET THE STAFF SPOTLIGHT. Wren Roland is the newest manager at Wiley’s Drive-In, but this will be his EIGHTH summer with the establishment. With years of experience and a film studies degree, he’s the perfect person to spearhead a very special screening at the end of the season. Here’s a hint: a premiere that almost was. Want to know more about what that means? Say hi to Wren next time you see him around the lot!
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IMAGE DESCRIPTION:A white, medium-height, handsome, shaggy-brown-haired boy with facial scruff sits at Dunkin’ Donuts wearing a niche movie reference T-shirt.
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#drivein #moviesPA #WileysDriveIn #comingsoon #moviepremiere
NessaRoseKnowsBestA Willow Valley premiere sounds
MovieMagic_MikeWait, is this going to be a movie made in the area?! @DontYouForgetAboutPod aren’t you obsessed with a movie made in Willow Valley?
DontYouForgetAboutPodChompin’ at the Bit??? Yes! I’m in conversations with Wren to make this happen. Keep your eye on this space.
MovieMagic_Mike@DontYouForgetAboutPod Can’t wait!
