Smilin' Sam's Corn Maze by Stephanie Perry Scissom

Author:Stephanie Perry Scissom [Scissom, Stephanie Perry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-09-13T00:00:00+00:00

I’m back in the car, listening to Bobby singing Drive, but this time, Smilin’ Sam sits on the middle seat beside Josh, drinking a cartoon carton of milk with Lizzy’s face on the side. He gives me that ferocious grin when he catches me looking.

“You should’ve seen your face!” he says. “What a hoot!”

“I hate you,” I whisper and he tries to look dismayed.

“Aw, c’mon Cath. It gets boring rolling around up here in your empty head. I gotta get my kicks somehow.”

He snaps his fingers and suddenly I am sitting on a cartoon couch across from Sam, who is in a suit. A light turns on, blinding me, as Sam says in a serious announcer voice, “On today’s episode of The Most Negligent Mothers of All-Time, we have Catherine, who lost her daughter in a corn maze 39 years ago … AND HASN’T FOUND HER YET! What do you have to say for yourself, Catherine?”

An audience I can’t see boos and hisses.

“Stop it!” I cry and Sam rolls his eyes.

He snaps his fingers again and we are standing just inside the gates of the corn maze. I watch Will Harton stalk past, staring at Elizabeth. She backs behind her father, grabbing his leg and Bobby bends down to swoop her up. She squeals and he grabs her cheeks, forcing her to do duck lips.

“But look how cuuuuuuuute!”

Dimly, I hear Josh and Bobby talk, see the twins laughing at the green slime hanging from their noses. Then Bobby takes my hand and smiles.

“You ready?” he asks.

We walk into the petting zoo first. The twins protest, but even they stop to pet the baby goats.

Suddenly, a Raggedy Andy steps forward and yells, “Hi, there!”

His high-pitched, squeaky voice is too much like Sam’s, and so are his shiny dark eyes. I want to turn away, but I don’t. He tells Lizzy to hold out her arm and when she does, he strikes her wrist with a slap bracelet. She squeals in delight as she admires the tiny black cats on the orange bracelet that now encircles her wrist.

“What do you tell him?” Bobby asks, and she shouts, “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome!” he cries. “Hey! I like your shoes.”

He points at Lizzy's mismatched sneakers and she giggles.

“Let’s go to the maze!” Lizzy says.

“We told you,” Caleb says. “It’s not for babies.”

“And I told you,” Bobby says, “That Lizzy and I are going to beat you. But let’s do that last, the big finale. How about some games?”

“Yes!!” all four kids cry in unison.

They throw darts first. Bobby wins an ugly, misshapen toy that was supposed to be E.T., I guess, and hands it to Lizzy. She hugs it to her like it is her prized possession.

“I love you more than watermelon,” Bobby tells her and kisses her nose.

“I love you more than …” She pauses to think, then her eyes grow wide. “ICE CREAM!”

Bobby matches her wide eyes. “That is a LOT!”

She beams at him and nods furiously.

Next, Bobby pays for them all to shoot mounted guns at pop-up targets.

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