break the window

OMG! I FINALLY ****ING FINISHED IT! IT'S A MIRACLE!

Okay, I started this story in April of 2020 because I had just been, sort of, laid off from my job because of the pandemic and a staffer testing positive within our company and our company is rather small. Then life happens, as we all know, and it took three years to complete this labor of love. I put so much into this story, I cannot even tell you.

Throughout this process I was able to put truth to the role of Ephram losing his mom because in March of 2021 I lost my mom to Covid and also my sister to Covid in about the same week. I feel like it stunted my growth a little bit. I have an idea of what it was like for Andy Brown to pick himself back up time and time again when the cards were consistently stacked against him. I did inherit my sister's very emotional hundred-pound mastador (mastiff/lab mix) which, on some occasions, was like Andy now having to deal with Ephram being a pain in the ass ninety percent of the time.

When I write stories, especially big stories, I write the entire story as an outline basically. So, it's all written, and I can update parts that I post to match how everything ends up.

This story, on a font size of 12 is 50 pages in a word document, 45,971 words. So yes, probably the biggest story I've written in quite some time. I hope you all enjoy it and comment if you like


THE OUTCAST


Chapter 1


Edna called her to walk over to the steps, sighing, this was the second attempt.

“Amy, your breakfast is getting cold.”
Not even five minutes later, Amy came rushing down, finishing her hair in a messy bun, and fixing her glasses correctly to her face. “I’m here. Sorry. I lost track of time in the shower, I guess.”
“In the shower? Do you need an egg timer?”
“No, I wanted to try something a little different with my hair. I put a bunch of products in my hair last night and forgot that it doesn’t do well and by morning I, well, had to strategically pull my hair apart. I was this close to wearing a hat.”
“If you want, I can take you to Redmond’s Salon in town, he styles your hair whichever way you want.
“Nah, not important. It’s hair, it grows back and when I get it trimmed, it’ll be back to normal.”
Edna sat down, sitting her napkin on her lap, looked again at Amy, and sighed...again. “Amy, we haven’t had a girl’s day in a while, why not go this weekend. There’s the new movie you said you wanted to see with that actor you like and we can go shopping and of course, dinner...my treat.”
“I’ll probably have mounds of homework.”
“Amy, you have more homework than anyone I’ve ever seen. Honey, you have more homework than your father did when he was in medical school.”
Amy shrugged. “I want to get into a good college.”
“You had an almost perfect score on your SATs last year, what more can you prove that any college would deny you for?’

Amy swallowed the rest of her breakfast quickly. “Grandma, thanks for this, but I have to go.”
“But...I made you lunch. It’s on the counter.”
Amy kissed her grandmother on the cheek, “Thanks Grandma,” and rushed out of the house.
“I’ll surprise her!” She spoke softly to know Amy wouldn’t hear a word of it.
Edna wrote a list of things they can do this weekend. She even thought it would be nice for Amy’s mother Rose to visit them when they stop in Denver.
“Hello.” Rose spoke softly on the other end of the phone.
“Rose, this is Edna.”
“Oh, Edna, how are you. It’s been, gosh, it’s been a little while.”
This sentence broke Edna’s heart, but not for her, but for Amy “Well, Rose, since it’s been so long since we’ve all seen each other, I was hoping you would join Amy and I when we have a girl’s weekend. I was thinking of visiting Denver. We could do room service and just be girls for a while.”

“Oh, Edna; that would be a treat. When were you thinking of coming up?”
“Oh, what about this weekend?”
You could hear shuffling of papers going on in the background, sounding like Rose was searching through her calendar to see if she had any plans this weekend. “Well, Edna, Brighton has a football game that day. What about next weekend?”

“Well, that could certainly work. I know I’m free.” Edna smiled, looking at the blank box on her calendar.
Rose sighed. “You know, Edna, I will have to get with Brighton and his agent both to see which weekend would be best. How about I call you back?”

“No, you cannot just call me back.” Edna had to get up and start pacing as she spoke. “I thought you would be thrilled to spend some time with your daughter?”

“Oh, I am. I would love to spend some time with you and with Amy, but the scheduling...”
“The scheduling? I have to get you to pencil in time with your own daughter?”
“That's not fair, Edna...”

“Rose Abbott, I have held my tongue long enough and you are going to hear this!” Edna honestly waited to see if Rose would hang up in her face, but so far, she is on the line, so Edna continued. “You and Harold, without hesitation moved to support Bright’s football career. Okay, I get it. I’m delighted to have Amy living here. But all she needs is to spend time with her own mother. A mother, who obviously picked sides and she isn’t not one of those sides. You don’t visit, you don’t call, Amy might as well be an only child. Hell, I doubt anyone new to County High School knows Bright has a sister. She’s a pretty great kid, you know, But. then again, you wouldn’t, because YOU ARE NEVER HERE!” Edna hung up harshly. She felt relieved. Partly because Edna was the one to hang up first and not get the phone hung up in her face and finally...finally, was able to speak her mind to Rose about how awful this entire situation is.
Edna sat down, looking at her list and immediately crossed Denver off the list. “Yeah, that’s probably not a good option right now.”

~*~

“Ephram, breakfast!” Julia called from the kitchen and looked up to see Deliah making her way downstairs. “Is your brother ready?”
“I don’t know, his door is closed...” She saw the look Julia made to her. “What, just because we’re twins, I’m supposed to know exactly what he’s thinking every second of the day?”
Julia sighed, taking the full plate of food away and the fork out of Deliah’s hand. “Get Ephram down for breakfast and then you may eat.”
Deliah sighed. “I’ll be right back.”
Julia smiled and very pleased with herself. “Two can play this game.” She spoke quietly to herself.
Andy kissed his wife on the cheek, while still fixing his tie. “You look happy this morning.”

“Yes, I am quite happy with my parenting skills this morning.”
“As you should be. I am in awe of you.”
“It’s like Everwood was the fix. The kids listen when I actually need them to listen. But I do give them a little leeway since we did uproot them to Everwood.”
“And I became the town doctor.”
“Yes.” She started putting Andy’s breakfast plate together. “And I got my husband back.”
Andy smiled as he started eating. “This is really good, Julia.”
“Thanks. I was looking at new breakfast ideas on the internet and would you know, there’s like thousands.”
“The internet can be a scary place. Half my patients come to me at their worst point for what they learned from Dr. Internet.”
“And you are always their saving grace.”
“I am. I just wish I could be their saving grace before they try to diagnose themselves. It would save a lot of confusion and a lot of time without them having to question me with, but I saw these pictures on the internet, and they were worse than what I have.”
“Speaking of people with questions. How is Christina Dashwood?”
“How did you know I’m her doctor?”
“Well, ‘A’, you’re the only doctor in town. And well, ‘B’, I saw her in the market, and she said for me to, and let me get this right or it won’t mean as much.” Julia cleared her throat and spoke with the best southern accent she had talent for. “That husband of yours, my gosh, he cured me like no other doctor has. I’ve been to five doctors, and they all said I was crazy, but, your husband, finally told me...I wasn’t crazy.”
“Well, there’s a little more to it than that.” Andy sipped his coffee.
“Let me finish, it gets better.” Julia smiled and cleared her throat again, continuing her southern accent. “And when he examined me, I felt like I had the hands of God around me. I felt so much better, and I knew I was in the best hands God had ever created. You know what he finally was able to diagnose me with? Sleep Apnea. I got some breathing equipment and some different medication to help me sleep better and I feel better than I did when I was in my...fifties!” Julia ended up giggling when she finished the story, continuing in her normal tone. “It was literally, the funniest thing I had heard ever since we moved to Everwood. If you cure no one else, Andy Brown, you have cured Christina Dashwood for life.”
Andy shared the laugh with his wife. “She is definitely a patient I will never forget.”
“She will certainly never forget you.”
Ephram finally came down with Deliah right behind him.
“My son, he is alive!” Julia set both plates of breakfast on the table. “Ephram, why do you take so long to get ready in the morning. You barely have time to chew your breakfast, much less taste it.”
“I value my sleep, mom.”
“Go to bed earlier...” Julia stopped when she saw Ephram mimicking what she was going to say, having heard it enough times. “You know, Andy, I think our son could use a couple of days without my famous pancakes, eggs, sausage, sometimes bacon in the mornings, what do you think?”
“Wow, not sure how to take that. What do think, Ephram?”
“That’s not fair.” He said, before drinking his juice.
“Is it fair that I slave over this stove in the morning to cook you breakfast that you barely taste? I mean, sounds, fair it me. What do you think, Delia?”
“As long as it means that I don’t have to eat my breakfast cold because I’ve had to pry you out of your room. Seriously, dude what do you do?”
“Some people care about their appearance.”
“You sound like Hannah.” Delia laughed. “You change teams or something since we moved to Everwood?”
“Ha, funny.”
“Ephram.” Julia spoke, waiting for Ephram to look at her. “All seriousness. Downstairs by eight, no later. You will have thirty minutes to eat.”
“It doesn’t take me thirty minutes to eat.” He threw it back.
“It might if you actually tasted the food.” Julia gave him a look. “Don’t throw sass at me, either.”
Andy sighed, hoping to lighten the mood. “It’s almost eight thirty, we all have to go.”
“I’m not done yet.” Ephram was still chewing his food.
“My point exactly.” Julia spoke harshly when putting out her hand for Ephram’s plate and fork.
“I’ll be so glad when I move out.” Ephram started to say. “Then I can eat whenever I want and take as long as I want.”
Andy laughed at his son. “Yeah, who’s going to cook it for you then.”
Ephram didn’t know what to say but to scowl at both his parents. Deliah was right behind both of them. “Give it up Ephram, they’re right, you’re wrong. Let’s go. Some people relish being on time. Me, being one of them.”
“How are we twins again?”
“Well, I am three minutes older, and we had to wait for you. As usual.” Deliah made a face. “Some things never change.”
“Enough!” Andy called them down when shutting the door behind them as they walked out of the house.

~*~

Hannah sat down at the desk to Ephram’s right. “You look like you’ve had a morning already.”
“Am I a slow eater?”
She laughed. “What? Where is this coming from?”
“Do I procrastinate?”

“Just about every moment of your life.” Hannah laughed. “But seriously, you and Deliah get into this morning.”

“Well, yeah and with my mom and with my dad.”
“Wow, you really have had a morning...this morning. What bought all this up.”
“I took longer to get ready this morning and I was late to breakfast.”
“You do realize your mom is like this amazing cook. You have no idea how excited I get when I’m invited to dinner.”

“Wanna come tonight for dinner. I might need a wingman...woman for dinner.”
“Yeah, I’ll go.”
Amy walked in, just as the bell rang, sitting in front of Ephram.
“Good morning seniors!” Mr. Gray bellowed, clapped his hands together. “I know you are not tired of hearing that since it’s the first week of your senior year but the end of the year, you will be glad to not hear the word senior ever again, well, until you hit senior year in college. I know I have quite the reputation around school. Yes, I do assign very hard projects every year because I want to challenge you to think. But you only hear from the students in my freshman, sophomore, and junior students. Because the senior assignments are different and seldom talked about, because they are a lot more personal.” Mr. Gray took out his workbook. “I will be pairing you up with someone else in class. So, if you think of pairing up with your best friend...like I see Ephram Brown and Hannah Rogers are whispering about.” Mr. Gray waited to get everyone’s full attention and then continued. “Think again. I have assigned you...completely at random. So, you might get someone you’re familiar with or you just might get someone you didn’t know existed and have shared at least one classroom together at least five times over the course of your life.”

Mr. Gray started to write down on the whiteboard the topics of the report.

“The topics on this board are what you will include in your report. This report will be due at the end of the term, which is at the end of the school year, which for seniors, will be in April. Now, given that this is...well...September, you think you have all year, and in fact, you do. But I don’t want, and I can tell if you do this, I don’t want you to start connecting with your assigned partner in March. I want you to really connect with these people. I’ve been assigned this project every year for a number of years, and I can tell which partners have been working on their project since the beginning and who have not. Now, I’m not saying that your project needs to start today, but the sooner the better. Because this project will count for...drumroll...seventy percent of your final grade.”

Mr. Gray waited for the moans and groans of the percentage to filter through the students’ minds.

“That is why this project has a timeline for the whole year. Give it thought, give it heart...give it your all. The topics I put on the board are just an idea of what I want you to include in your final paper. If you discover something in your findings that you want it to bring up in your paper, absolutely. Just be sure, and I cannot stress this enough, be sure to share your paper with your partner so you don’t mention something in your, and wait for it, ORAL presentation. Yes, you are giving your presentation to the entire class. So, if there is something you have learned about your partner that they are not okay with the whole class knowing about...they don’t want it being told in your paper. So, please, please, be open, be honest. Above all else, be respectful.” Mr. Gray was holding a stack of envelopes. “In my hand are envelopes, as you can see. Each of these envelopes has your name on it and inside is the name of your partner. As you leave, as you walk out of this classroom, I will be handing you your envelope. So, it is up to you and your partner to meet up, start this project and do this completely on your own. Because you are seniors and going out into the world and have a lot more real-world experience than most of the lower classes, I feel this project is appropriate. So, everything with this project and I know can trust you all, yes, I know I can. This paper will be worked on, out of class. Don’t take it upon yourselves to work on it if you happen to share a class with the partner I choose for you. Also, if you happen to dislike the person very much, I pair you up with...life is life, tough luck, figure it out. I know who I assigned you, I have it written down. So, I will know if you switch partners, you will be given a big fat ZERO!”
“So, we just work on this project, the entire year, that’s it.” A student asked.
“Class, was he listening?” Most of the class nodded and a few called out ‘no’. “No, that is not all. This project is worth seventy percent, so for those of you who can do math, there is thirty percent left over that you have to make up. But that will not lighten the workload that is also expected in Advanced Placement English Literature Class. You will have class assignments, you will have homework, in addition to this project. The reason I put so much percentage on this final paper, so if you are struggling in this class, you would benefit from a really good seventy percentage of a good grade to go towards your final grade which might be the difference in graduating or spending another year at County High. I do not apologize for my curriculum being the hardest in the state, this is advanced placement. You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t smart. You’ve proven that you’re better than the senior level English Literature. Now it’s time to prove that you’re worthy of placing better than every other student that walks by this classroom and wonders why they can’t get into this class.” Mr. Gray finished with a solemn voice. “You are good walking in here and I want you to be great walking out of here.”

The bell rang, all the students started packing their things together.

“Remember, get your envelope. Today offering only. I am not going to follow you around to make sure you do this. Your seniors now, you can follow directions.”

~*~

Deliah plopped herself down at the same picnic table Ephram was eating at and took out her brown bagged lunch.
“This year is going to be the worst, thank goodness it’s the last.” She took a big bite out of her turkey and mustard sandwich. “Why, who’d you get?”
“You, first.” She nodded towards his envelope.
“I asked you first.”
Deliah rolled her eyes. “Colin friggen Hart!”
“Wow, didn’t know his middle name was...” He stopped when Deliah flung a bread crumb at him. “Maybe you’ll find out his real middle name.”
“The guy doesn’t take anything seriously. I might as well just do the project myself and make it up as I go along, not like he shows up to class anyway.”
“I didn’t know Colin Hart took AP English...is he smart enough to take AP English?”
“Trust me, I’m sure he batted his lovely brown eyes at all his teachers and told them how needs good grades to play basketball.”
“How do you know his eyes are brown?” Hannah spoke up, both of them looking at her. “What?”
Delia looked at her friend strangely. “When did you get here?”
“Um, about the moment you had your friggen freakout about having Colin Hart for a partner. I feel for you.”
“Thank you? Seriously, I’m going to fail English! Maybe, I can get some extra credit during the year.”
“Maybe it won’t be that bad.”

All three of them looked to the middle of the quad to see Colin throwing one of his textbooks like a football to someone just a few feet away.

Hannah placed her hand on Delia’s arm. “We’ll be back next year to see you graduate.”
“Yeah, you should, because I am so going to fail. Ephram, tell mom and dad for me.”
“Nope, I have my own problems.”
“Oh yeah, mom laying the smack down at breakfast this morning.”
“Yeah, Ephram told me had rounds with everyone this morning.”
“Ephram complains about never having enough time for breakfast and doesn’t come downstairs until twenty minutes after 8.”
“But school doesn’t start until nine.”
“See, someone is on my side.” Ephram looked at his friend. “Thank you, Hannah. You are definitely invited to dinner tonight.”
“What’s on the menu?”
“No idea.” Ephram shrugged.
Delia made a face. “You invite your best friend over for dinner and don’t even know what’s on the menu?”
“It’s good, mom always makes good food.”
“This is true.” Delia nodded in agreement.
Hannah nodded towards Ephram’s unopened envelope. “Who’d you get?”
“I totally forgot about it.” Ephram saw Delia roll her eyes as she was eating. “So, I have...Amy Abbott.” He shrugged again, putting the envelope back in his backpack.
Hannah and Delia spoke in unison, smiling. “The Other Abbott,” then laughed.
“Who is “the other Abbott”?”
“Bright Abbott?”

“Yeah, basketball, football, the guy is great at everything. I hated having him as a partner in gym class.”
“Amy is Bright’s sister” Hannah made a face at her friend. “She sits in front of you in English Class, like this morning!”
“Wait, someone sits in front of me in Mr. Gray’s class?”
Hannah rolled her eyes. “Yeah, she’s Bright’s younger sister.”
“But I thought Bright moved and his whole family moved with him when he got some big-time scholarship to some big college football program.”
“There’s stories about what happened, being a small town.” Delia continued. “Bright got this scholarship, his parents decided to follow his dream of football. Those parts are true, but what’s weird is that Amy now lives with her grandmother and isn’t really seen by anyone. Unlike her brother, who you know is within fifteen miles of you because of his personality and the crowd that follows behind him constantly. Amy is quiet, shy I would guess. Who wouldn’t be with Bright having more personality than most two people combined.”
“How do you know all this, and I don’t.”
“Well, the same reason that I have to explain that Amy Abbott sat right in front of you in English and you didn’t know she was there.”