MR. PERSISTENT
1
Maddie—Age Sixteen
Nate—Age Seventeen
January
Maddie Grace
Why wouldmy parents think this is a good idea?
Quickly, without them noticing, I narrow my eyes at my brother in bewilderment, wondering if he had anything to do with the bomb being dropped.
When the look on his face tells me he is just as surprised as I am, I’m more confused than ever.
How could my parents even afford to send me to camp up north?
My brother Mason attends only because he was offered a football scholarship. That’s how you know it’s fancy…when they hand out scholarships for a sleep-away camp.
I slide the brochure across the table, back toward Daddy, who already has a scowl of disappointment plastered on his weathered face.
“I appreciate you thinking of me, but I’m not sure camp is for me. That’s more Mason’s thing.”
“Now you listen to me?—”
Mom silences Daddy with a hand on his arm, always the one to calm his short temper. “Maddie Grace Cunningham, your daddy and I accepted this generous donation from our church family to give you the same worldly experience your brother has had. Now, your brother might’ve been blessed with his God-given talent to throw a football down the field farther and prettier than anyone else in our great state of Georgia, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want you to have the experience, too. We thought you’d appreciate your birthday gift.”
Daddy grumbles something under his breath, most likely to do with me spending the summer up north with the Yanks. Lord knows he wouldn’t be too happy about it.
“I wish someone had spoken to me before asking the church for help. Couldn’t the money go to someone who truly needs it? Haven’t you seen the news lately? The women’s shelter has been packed every day of the week.”
Daddy stands, and I know that look. It’s the one I would typically run from. But I’m not backing down.
I don’t feel right taking the church’s money to frivolously spend the summer horseback riding and sitting around bonfires only so my parents feel like they treat me equally.
Newsflash: they haven’t treated me equal to Mason since the first football left his hand.
Before Daddy can speak, Mason chimes in to defuse the situation, “Don’t you want to spend time with me before I leave for college? We could hang out all of July and part of August before I leave for team practice.”
He’s got to be kidding me. I know what camp entails for him.
Mason spends a lot of his time in a completely separate area for athletes who train in clinics, then hangs out with his friends and whatever girl of the summer he picks.
Like when he talks about what he’s done with Jennifer, and Maggie, and Stacey, and whoever else he let hang off his arm that day.
Ugh, gross.
I know I’ll be beside myself once my brother leaves for college, leaving me here with my parents. So, any time I get with him, even for a short time, would be better than nothing.
And I think he knows that. But still…camp…is not for me.
I swallow down the lump in my throat when the emotions of my brother leaving choke me up.
He’s been my best friend for as long as I can remember, the one person who makes living in this house bearable.
My parents, well, at least Mama, love me very much. Daddy’s debatable, but I’m not sure he has it in him to love anyone. He’s too cold and closed off.
