“Uh, mommy, do I have to go?” Taylor frowned in disgust as his mother brushed his hair.
“Yes, Taylor, you have to go,” Mrs. Hanson informed her son. Taylor made faces while his mother finished readying him.
“Why doesn’t Ike have to go?” Taylor continued his whining.
“He had plans already.” Taylor stomped his foot.
“He could change them!”
“Taylor, watch it,” Mr. Hanson warned from the doorway. Taylor looked at his father sheepishly.
“Sorry,” He said.
Girls were stupid. Taylor hated girls. They just giggled at him. They weren’t any good at playing fun stuff. Only dolls and silly girl games. Girls of all ages were stupid, but especially six year old girls. Six-year-old girls were Taylor’s enemy. He sulked on the ride to the Coleman’s house. Chelsea Coleman, how Taylor hated her. He sank down in his seat as they pulled into the driveway.
“Come on, Taylor,” His mother said, opening the van door. Taylor crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head.
“Now.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Don’t argue with me!” Diana reached in and grabbed Taylor, half-dragging him out of the vehicle. He put on his infamous pout as they knocked on the front door. Mrs. Coleman smiled widely as she greeted the Hansons. Taylor wrinkled his nose as the strong smell of…something…hit him. They always had candles or something burning. Taylor thought they were extremely weird.
“Well, Taylor, Chelsea isn’t here, she’s at a friend’s house.” A huge grin lit up Taylor’s face.
“But, my niece, Glory, is here. She’s your age too.” The grin vanished. Not another girl who wanted him to be the daddy while playing house, or play Barbie’s, or something equally as bad.
“Well, Taylor, isn’t that nice? You will have someone to play with,” Diana said, poking Taylor in the back. He nodded, sighing.
“Glory is in the back yard, you can go on back there,” Mrs. Coleman said. Taylor slowly walked through the house. This was going to be a terrible afternoon.
“Hey! Don’t touch that!” Taylor jumped, and turned around. A girl his age stood with her hands on her hips and an angry look on her face.
“You shouldn’t mess with other people’s trucks!” She exclaimed, walking over to the immaculate setup of roadways and toy cars.
“These are yours?” Taylor asked, surprised.
“Yeah,” She said, “Who are you?”
“I’m Taylor, are you Glory?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve never met a girl who played with cars before.”
“Well, I’ve never met a boy who looks like a girl before.” Taylor glared at her.
“I don’t look like a girl!”
“A girl with short hair. Yes you do!”
“No I don’t!”
“Do too!”
“Well, you dress like a boy!”
“No I don’t. Boys are stupid!”
“Girl’s are stupider!” Glory shoved Taylor. He stepped backwards, and tripped over a yellow dump truck, landing hard on his bottom. Glory burst out laughing. Taylor felt tears spring to his eyes, but told himself he wasn’t going to cry in front of a girl. Glory stopped laughing.
“Are you okay?” She asked quietly. Taylor nodded, wiping his eyes. She walked over to him and stuck her hand out.
“I’m sorry,” She said. Taylor grabbed her hand and she pulled him up.
“It’s okay, it didn’t hurt,” He lied. Glory looked at his backside.
“You have leaves on your butt,” She said. Taylor reached behind him and brushed himself off.
“Did I get them all?” He asked. Glory nodded. Taylor thought that maybe she wouldn’t be so bad after all, for a girl.
“I’m hungry,” Taylor said, setting the truck he had been playing with down.
“Me too. Hey, I can cook, want me to fix us something?” Glory said. Taylor looked at her.
“You can cook? By yourself?”
“Yeah! Come on!” They got up and went inside. Glory went to the pantry and pulled out a jar of peanut butter and some bread. Then, she grabbed the jelly from the refrigerator.
“I hope you like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,” Glory said.
“Yeah, they’re good.”
“This is what I can cook the best. I can make toast too. And cookies, but my aunt has to help me some.”
“Where is your mom?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
“Oh…” Glory handed Taylor a sandwich. He took a large bite.
“Is it good?” She asked. He nodded. She smiled. Diana walked into the kitchen.
“Taylor, it’s time to go,” She said. Taylor frowned.
“Already?” Diana looked surprised at his reaction.
“I’m sorry, you can come back later and play with Glory at another time.” Taylor looked at Glory.
“Thanks for the sandwich,” He said. She shrugged and looked at the ground.
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
Taylor walked into the room, and heard his mother on the phone.
“I’m so sorry…Yes, yes…He’ll be devastated…Take care…I’ll talk to you later.” She hung up. Taylor’s couldn’t help but have a bad feeling about this. He was thirteen and had just gotten home for a short break from recording Hanson’s first album. His mother turned around. She looked startled to see him standing there. She had tears in her eyes.
“Taylor, we need to talk,” She said. Taylor knew he didn’t want to talk about whatever it was she needed to talk about. He must be the one that will be “devastated”. He stood in his spot, frozen.
“Come sit down,” Diana motioned for him to join her on the couch. He shook his head.
“Just tell me.” She looked at him sadly.
“Glory is dead.” Taylor didn’t hear anything else. Everything seemed to blend into a giant blur. Her words repeated themselves in Taylor’s head. Glory was dead…no, she couldn’t be. Not Glory, she was tough, nothing could hurt her. Taylor felt choked up. He hadn’t seen her in months. He had been looking forward to seeing her so badly. She was his best female friend. She was his first female friend. He felt his mother’s arms around him.
“I’m so sorry, baby.” She said. Taylor began to cry. This couldn’t be real. It was some sort of nightmare.
“What happened?” He choked out.
“It was a drunk driver…” Taylor shook his head.
“No…not Glory. This couldn’t happen to her,” Taylor wanted to crawl into a deep, dark hole, and forget this whole thing.
Taylor looked at the rose colored headstone. Why had they picked that color? It should have been black. Like Glory’s hair. He couldn’t imagine never being able to look at her smiling face, and her big green eyes, again. She would never get them into trouble again. She would never have chocolate chip ice cream with honey over it, again. And they would never eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches again.