Short Story: Exiled

“Exiled” (A Bonus Story from Versions of Her)

by Andrea Lochen

Melanie was thirteen and had a brand-new blue-plaid bikini—the top was padded, her sister, Kelsey, liked to point out. When Melanie wasn’t listening to her Discman and paging through Seventeen magazine, she was writing letters to her best friend back home, lamenting her banishment to their summer home on Lake Indigo.

Kelsey was eleven and had a one-piece gray Speedo that, according to their dad, made her look as sleek as a dolphin. Every morning, she rowed to the east side of the lake where the cattails were thick and caught bullfrogs. She liked the frogs’ side-mounted eyes, their polka-dot-speckled backs, and the way they made her sunbathing sister scream when she plopped them down on the dock beside her.

“Mo-om! Make her stop!” Melanie narrowed her eyes at Kelsey over her tortoiseshell sunglasses.

“Kels,” their mom called from the shore. “Stop. Please. It’s not nice to your sister. It’s not nice to the poor frogs.”

Kelsey watched as one of the frogs sprang off the end of the dock and swam away, kicking wildly with its long froggy legs.

“Why don’t you go see if Stephen wants to play?” their mom offered, as Melanie re-adjusted herself, face-down, on her towel. Pink blotches were starting to form around the straps of Melanie’s bikini, Kelsey saw with satisfaction.

“He’s at soccer camp this week,” she said.

Their mom sighed. “I’m making hamburgers for dinner tonight. Why don’t you row to Dern’s and pick up some fresh buns for me?”

Despite the volume on Melanie’s Discman being turned up so loud that Kelsey could hear Jewel’s tinny voice, Melanie’s head shot up.

“Dern’s?” Melanie fumbled for the pause button. “I’ll go for you, Mom.”

 “Why don’t you both go?”

Kelsey waited twenty minutes while Melanie dressed. When Melanie came down, smelling of Victoria’s Secret body spray, a tiny tank top and equally tiny skirt over her bikini, lip gloss slicked on her lips, Kelsey’s suspicions were confirmed. Melanie wanted to go to Dern’s only to see Chad, the older boy who bagged groceries there that summer.

“What if he’s not working?” Kelsey asked, thrusting her oars into the water. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Melanie raised her chin. “I don’t care who’s working. I just wanted to help Mom.”

“Yeah, right. I’m not stupid. You want to see Chad. Chaddy-Chad-Chad-Chad.”

Melanie splashed Kelsey with one of her oars, nearly smacking her in the head. “You’d better shut up, or I’m going to push you overboard.”

“Maybe I should push you overboard. You smell like a candle store for old ladies. Chad’s going to think you stink.”

“If you say his name one more time…”

They tied up their boat at the dock and crossed the street to the parking lot of Dern’s Market. They had been going there for as long as Kelsey could remember. Last summer, if they did the dishes, their dad would give them a few dollars to spend on candy or something out of the ice cream freezer, and they would row there together almost every Friday. Melanie had typically picked a Drumstick, but Kelsey’s treat had always changed. One week a bag of gummy worms, the next a Snoopy-shaped ice cream bar, the next a box of Hot Tamales. This summer they hadn’t gone to Dern’s together, only a few times with their mom, and she hadn’t offered to buy them anything.

“He’s here,” Kelsey sang and was rewarded with a quick pinch to her upper arm.

Chad was smiling and talking to an elderly customer, stacking cans of soup in a paper bag. He was wearing the Dern’s uniform—a red polo shirt tucked into khaki pants—and even Kelsey, who didn’t spare much time to consider what boys looked like—could see he was handsome with his white square teeth, floppy blond hair, and bright blue eyes. 

They headed to the bread aisle together, where Kelsey picked out buns with sesame seeds on top.

Waiting in line, Kelsey eyed her sister’s back. Melanie’s neck and shoulders had gotten a little sunburned. The pink skin looked especially vulnerable.

“Hiya, girls.” The cashier was a middle-aged woman with teased-up bangs and thick mauve lipstick. “Just the buns for you today?”

“Just the buns,” Kelsey said and smirked at her sister. She handed the cashier the crumpled up bills their mom had given them.

Chad turned to Melanie, majestic in his crisp polo shirt. “Would you like a bag for those?” 

It was immediately clear to Kelsey that despite the obviousness of this interaction, this was not a part of the trip that Melanie had rehearsed. Did she want a bag for their one item? Saying yes might make her look stupid but turning him down might disallow the opportunity for further engagement.

Melanie stared dumbly at him. Chad smiled at her with his big white teeth.

“Yes, please,” Kelsey said, giving Melanie a push toward him.

Chad slipped the hamburger buns into a plastic bag and handed them to Melanie with exaggerated care. “Have a nice day.”

“Thank you,” Melanie squeaked.

They had almost made it to the exit when Chad called after them. “Hey! Hey! Hold up.”

Melanie turned even pinker than her sunburn. She swiveled to face him, and Kelsey watched, not sure what to expect, but riveted all the same.

“This isn’t yours, is it?” Chad held something out to them in his large palm.  Kelsey couldn’t see what it was. It was small and sparkly. “Karen just found it at the register.”

Melanie leaned toward him, her eyes bright, her glossy lips pursed. She examined the object excitedly and then her face fell. “No,” she said flatly. “That’s not mine.”

Chad turned and held the object out to Kelsey. It was a hair barrette. Yellow and glitter-encrusted with a smiling cat on one end—the kind a little girl would wear in kindergarten.

Kelsey shook her head. “No. Not mine either.”

“Okay. Sorry. Just thought I’d check.” Chad gave them his toothpaste-commercial-smile again and sauntered off.

Kelsey could feel the humiliation wafting off her sister, as strong as the Victoria’s Secret body spray. Melanie’s long hazelnut hair fell forward like two curtains on either side of her face.

“Hang on,” Kelsey said. “I’ll be right back.”

“Don’t you dare say anything—” Melanie started angrily.

“I’m not going to.”  Kelsey hurried back inside. She opened up the crumbled wad of change the cashier had given her.

It was just enough to purchase a Drumstick for her sister.