Shattered by Jennifer Armstrong

Author:Jennifer Armstrong
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780307433749
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2009-04-08T04:00:00+00:00

Things Happen

Lisa Rowe Fraustino

The first thing that happened in 1968 was Sunshine Shaffmaster drowned.

From the time we learned to toddle, Sunshine and I were inseparable friends. Her real name was Lois Ann. Sunshine came from her personality, unlike my nickname, Jacket, which had blurred from Jacqueline Kathleen. I was the only child in a big house that stood in the middle of our family business, a junkyard that ran for acres. Sunshine lived in a little house full of teenage brothers. Her favorite was Francis, the eldest, the only one who never played practical jokes on her. My favorite was Edward, the middlest, a tall, hairy version of Sunshine, complete with long red ponytail, green eyes as bright as the ocean on a sunny day, and a face more freckled than not. He had a sticky-outy singing voice that always made me laugh. He was also an artist, the kind whose paintings always made you think, then smile when you figured them out.

Sunshine and I did everything together. Our favorite activity used to be playing imagination games with storybook characters, but now that we were twelve going on thirteen, we spent more time imagining what it would be like to french a boy.

Everyone said that the accident wasn’t my fault, that things just happen. But it was my idea to play Whip. We were all out on the lake on New Year’s Day, Sunshine’s family and mine, skating, sledding, cooking over a bonfire, living life to the fullest, for the moment, trying not to think about the fact that Francis had completed basic training and would be flying off to Vietnam the next day. The ice wasn’t safe near the docks, so we started our game way out in the middle, where the ice was a foot thick. Nobody realized how close to the edge we’d spun. Someone let go of me. Sunshine’s mitten came off in my hand as I tumbled to my seat. She stayed on her feet and sailed on, squealing with glee until the ice started to crack and her glee turned to terror.

The second thing that happened that year was I lost my voice. I couldn’t even yell for help when I saw Sunshine go through the ice. I was frozen in place, hanging on to her warm mitten while the other kids were all whipping the other way obliviously. Francis was roasting a hot dog on the shore and saw everything. He threw down his stick and charged across the ice, stripping off his snowsuit as he ran, and dove in after her like a true hero.

To witness your best friend die at the age of twelve is not pleasant. I’ve had my voice back for a long time but still can’t talk about the rest.

The third thing that happened that year was that Francis came home from Vietnam in March. Soldiers sent off to war don’t usually come right back. If they do, the lucky ones come back in bandages. The unlucky ones come back in coffins.

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