Skies Like These (3 page)

“Yodel-ee-yo,” a woman called out, coming over the top of the ladder and onto the roof.

Jade sat up and saw a tall, thin woman with yards of filmy fabric draped about her shoulders. Jade could see her clearly because she held a lantern in one hand, illuminating her sharp nose and chin and showing the purple and green of her wide, breezy shawl. Behind her, a short man with a round face and rectangular glasses stepped onto the roof. Then Roy came up behind his parents.

The moment they were all up the ladder, the woman passed the lantern to her husband, clapped her hands, and exclaimed, “Jade!” She ran over to the lounger, gauzy fabric flowing, reaching both arms out in greeting. “Elise has told us so much about you. How wonderful to have you here.”

“Hi,” Jade said. The word seemed hollow and thin next to Mrs. Parker's grand welcome.

It was quiet for an awkward moment before Mr. Parker said, “We're so thrilled Elise was able to talk your parents into letting you spend part of your summer with us.” He turned to Aunt Elise. “How long have you been trying to get Jade here?”

“Since the day I left Philly.”

“What made them decide this was the year?” Mrs. Parker asked.

Aunt Elise looked up to the deep purple sky. “The right set of circumstances, I guess.”

Jade was grateful her aunt didn't elaborate on that right set of circumstances. She actually wondered how much her aunt knew about that morning, two Saturdays before, when her mom had been cleaning out the top shelf of Jade's closet and came across her “What I Did Over My Summer Vacation” papers. Jade didn't know what had possessed her to save them through the years. And worse, to put them into one binder so her mom could accidentally stumble across it and see what she had been writing every September, from Mrs. Minshew's first grade all the way through Miss Maybury's sixth grade last year.

But she guessed Aunt Elise knew something about it because, twenty-four hours after that discovery, Jade was presented with a round-trip plane ticket to Wyoming and a promise of
real
adventure. What Jade's mom didn't understand, however, was the fact that Jade liked her Philadelphia summers. She made up stories for those assignments because it was easier than standing in front of the class and admitting she had spent another summer watching
Addams Family
marathons on TV Land or writing the city council about when they were going to get off their rumps and enforce the No Skateboards on City Sidewalks ordinance. The rule had been on the books forever but no one cared about it because politicians rode around in their fancy cars with their drivers and never actually had the pleasure of getting mowed down by Phillip Turnbill or Chase Saunders.

Aunt Elise looked over to Jade and smiled, bright as the stars above. “I guess they figured twelve was old enough to strike out and have an adventure.”

Mr. Parker smacked a hand on Aunt Elise's back. “We're all grateful for it, too. Isn't that right, Joshua?”

Roy twisted in his cowboy boots. “Dad! I told you to call me Roy.”

“Oh, right. I sometimes forget that one. Isn't that right”—he paused and took a deep breath before finishing—“Roy?”

Roy looked thoroughly dejected. “Yes,” he mumbled.

Now it was Jade's turn to give Roy the stink eye. What was he up to?

The adults clustered around a telescope off in one corner and Roy took Aunt Elise's lounger next to Jade.

“Hey, Joshua,” she said, trying not to laugh.

“Very funny.”

“Why the fake name?” It was surprisingly easy to talk to someone while lying on your back in the dark. No face-to-face pressure.

“It's not fake. They would have named me Roy if they had known our heritage. They settled for Joshua because they didn't have all the facts.”

“And now you've enlightened them?”

“That's right. I'll make it legal when I'm old enough. In the meantime, it's what I go by.”

“Like a nickname?” Jade asked.

“I guess, though I'd consider it more than that. We have the same last name and I can feel Butch's blood running through my veins. Some days he seems so close I swear he's right with me. Like an angel.”

“An outlaw angel, now that's a concept.”

Roy's voice grew tense and hard. “Butch Cassidy was the Robin Hood of the West. He was a hero!”

Mrs. Parker turned from the telescope. “Go easy on her, son. Poor Jade doesn't understand your unusual interest in that old-time cowboy.”

“He's not just an old cowboy, Mom, and it's not unusual to want to know about where you come from.”

Mrs. Parker flicked a thin hand in the air. “Whatever you say, dear.”

“That's right,” Jade said, once the adults were busy chatting again. “I only know about how old Butch stole people's hard-earned money from banks and held up stage coaches full of innocent passengers.” The truth was, Jade had known next to nothing about Butch Cassidy before Googling him that afternoon on Aunt Elise's computer and asking her mom about it when she called home to let her parents know she had arrived safely. She remembered her dad watching a movie by the same title and her mom explaining how Butch was a long-ago cowboy. After Roy's wisecrack about her not knowing what stars were, she figured she should be better prepared. “That's why he went by a fake name,” she continued, reciting information from
Wikipedia.
“Because he was a crook. Still, if you say that's being a hero and you're related to him, I guess I won't argue.”

Jade was half teasing so it surprised her to hear the quiver in Roy's voice when he responded. “Soon enough I'll have proof he's my great-great-uncle, for you and everyone else who doubts me. For your information, Jade”—he got all snotty on the
Jade
part—“I'm saving up to get my full genealogy.”

Jade could see on Roy's face the pain she had caused him. “One thing you should know about me is that I'm lousy with jokes. I think I'm being funny, but I usually get it all jumbled up and wrong.”

Roy's expression relaxed. “So that was your idea of a joke?”

“Sort of,” Jade said.

“And you don't think Butch Cassidy hurt people? Because he didn't, you know. Can I tell you a true story?”

Jade shrugged. “Go for it.”

“All right,” Roy began. “One time Butch was passing by a ranch outside Heber City, Utah. By chance, he happened to have a satchel full of cash.”

“How'd he get that cash?”

“Just listen, will you?”

“Fine,” Jade said. “Continue.”

Roy settled into his lounger. “He was tired so he asked the poor widow woman who owned the place if he could stay there for the night. She kindly obliged. In the morning, over breakfast, she told Butch he was lucky he'd come the night before because later that very morning, the banker was coming to take her ranch. She couldn't afford the back taxes and was about to lose it all. Can you guess what Butch did?”

“I have a feeling you're going to tell me.”

“Dang straight, I am. He went to his satchel, pulled out that cash, and gave it to the woman. Just gave it to her!”

Jade had to admit she was impressed.

“Now the best part is still to come. Butch, being smart, left the ranch. He hid out in the brush, waiting for the banker to come along. Well, the banker man came, the widow paid him off, and then Butch jumped out and robbed the banker soon as he cleared the property. Whoeee!” Roy swung his arm in the air. “He done secured that woman's land and kept his loot in the process!”

“But the bank lost their money,” Jade said.

“Who cares about the stupid bank? They've got tons of cash and those taxes nearly crushed the poor homestead ranchers.”

“Interesting,” Jade said, not wanting to argue. “How do you know so much about Butch Cassidy?”

Roy turned back toward the winking heavens. “When I was in kindergarten, my teacher read a book about him to the class. I would watch the clock every morning, waiting for story hour to come. Then we'd all sit on the carpet in a half circle as she settled into her big blue chair in the corner and read another chapter. I suppose that's when I first wondered if there could be a real connection. Over the years, I've made it a point to learn as much as I could. Then for spring break this past April, I talked my parents into driving me to the town of Cody to visit Butch's Hole in the Wall Cabin. That's the famous hideout he and his gang used when they were on the run from the law. I tell you, when I stepped across that threshold it was like I was coming home, and I decided right then and there to take his name as my own.” Then his voice got all wistful. “Now can you see how Butch Cassidy was a real hero?”

“If you say so, I believe it.”

Roy smiled under the stars. “I say so.”

They stayed up on the roof deep into the night, taking turns peering through the telescope and counting the shooting stars, which Aunt Elise said were not stars at all, but meteorites. “Meteorites are ice and rocks smashing into the Earth's atmosphere,” she explained. They were tiny smears of light flashing through the blue-black sky and, by Jade's count, they had seen fourteen.

Mrs. Parker floated across the rooftop deck, pointing out constellations and chattering on about how Mr. Parker had spent the day pouring a concrete wheelchair ramp for someone named Angelo.

“What was that you were talking about earlier, when you said I came just in time?” Jade asked Roy.

Roy glanced over to the adults and shook his head. “When we're alone.”

“It better be more than looking at some pregnant cow.”

“Don't worry,” Roy assured her. “It's more.” There was a shadow of something outlining his words.

Aunt Elise suggested they call it a night and everyone gathered around the edge of the rooftop.

“How high are we?” Jade was looking at the driveway below.

“Are you afraid of heights?” Mrs. Parker asked.

“Not exactly,” Jade said, “but I've never stepped backward off a roof onto a ladder before.”

“It can feel intimidating at first,” Aunt Elise said. “Take it one step at a time.”

Mr. Parker gave a few pats to his round belly. “Let me go first. That way you'll have something soft to land on should you fall.”

Jade couldn't help but smile. Still, the thought of turning around and stepping blindly off her aunt's roof in the pitch-black night had her feet feeling like worthless lumps of granite.

“Like it or not, you've got to do it,” Roy said matter-of-factly. “You can't spend your whole vacation on this rooftop.”

“You're right, Roy,” Jade said.

“Then let's go.” He walked over and stepped down first.

His parents followed, leaving Aunt Elise and Jade alone at the top. “Look right here,” Aunt Elise said, lifting the lantern and pointing to her face. “The whole time you're taking that first step, hold on to these rails, feel with your foot, and keep your eyes on me.”

Jade wiped her sweaty palms along the sides of her jeans and took a long, slow breath. She did like she was told, feeling with her foot and keeping her eyes focused on Aunt Elise's face. She noticed how her aunt's smile pushed her cheeks up into her bottom eyelashes and how the lantern light made her teeth gleam. She focused intently on the brown lines of pencil that made up most of her aunt's eyebrows and soon she realized she was halfway down the ladder.

“Chin up,” Aunt Elise said. “Keep your focus on me.” She was leaning over from the rooftop, smiling in a yellow circle of light. From where she was, Jade thought the image wasn't unlike those patron-saint pictures she had seen with the golden halos framing each divine head. Saint Elise, guardian of the ladder descenders.

And then Jade's foot hit the ground.

“Huzzah!” Mr. Parker punched a fist into the night.

Aunt Elise was down in a flash. “You were so brave—exactly like Robinson Crusoe in that moment.” She was beaming at Jade's side. “In that scene where he saw the eyes of a devil in the cave and decided to confront his fear face-to-face.”

A muddle of relief and elation was pulsing through Jade's veins. “I read that part. He was freaking out, but when he went inside the cave, it was only a goat.”

“Exactly.” Aunt Elise gave a pat to the side of the ladder. “Tonight, my fellow adventurer, you turned this devil into a goat.”

“It will get easier from here on out,” Mr. Parker promised.

“Not bad for a city girl,” Roy added.

“Let's head home,” Mr. Parker said.

“You were right about Jade,” Mrs. Parker said. “She is something else.” Then she took Roy by the hand and followed her husband down the driveway.

Aunt Elise turned to Jade. “You must be exhausted.”

Jade
was
exhausted. Philadelphia time was two hours later than Wellington time so their midnight was her two in the morning. She followed Aunt Elise inside, went to her new room, and climbed into bed. The room was cozy enough, but it still wasn't
her
bedroom. It still wasn't home. She let out a ragged breath, thinking of her own blue-and-yellow bedspread and perfectly cushy pillows back home. More than anything, that was where she longed to be.

Rain started up again, pelting the windows and clattering against the flat roof. Jade snuggled in and thought of what Aunt Elise had said about her being brave. There were a lot of words Jade would use to describe herself: smart, thoughtful, loyal, occasionally funny if she got it just right, prudent—that was a good one—but never brave and never ever anything close to adventurous.

Jade decided to read a few more pages in her book when a soft
purr
slid through the crack in the door and, a moment later, Copernicus bounded onto the bed. He circled around, working the quilt this way and that, nestling down to sleep.