Colors of Joy by Timothy Carstensen (christmas read aloud TXT) 📕

snake.
Sean gave him a quick tour of the house, that ended as they entered the bedroom with their cases. Jamie paused to look around. There were two beds set out, one of them against a corner of a wall and directly beside a large window, the pane being drummed by the rain. On the opposite side of the room from the window was a large desk and a shelf, and opposite the beds were bookshelves and a large closet.

"Which bed is yours?"

"The window bed. But we can trade if you want the window."

"Can we open the window?" Jamie looked out.
"In the morning. But at night it's too cold. We could open it a crack though."

"I think I'd really like the window bed, then. Where should I put my stuff?" He put the case on his bed.

"I only use the dressers on the far side of the room. You can use the other ones."

"Haha! I don't need THAT many!"

"You sure? You have such a huge case!" They laughed, and heard Mrs. Kelly calling them for dinner. Jamie saw the notes linger on the air as an urgent red shadow with brighter white undertones, rotating into stripes like a candy cane.

"I guess we'll unpack after," Sean shrugged. He headed out the door, and paused. "Oh, we've gotta wash up!" They hurried down the hall, and Sean washed up and left."I'll be down in the kitchen."

Jamie arrived just as Mr. Kelly took a seat and Mrs. Kelly welcomed him. He sat beside Sean at the table and paused to take in the menu. There was a steaming pot roast that Mrs. Kelly was finishing slicing, as well as a dark green salad with cranberries and nuts, and on the other side of the table there were warm, fragrant rolls and pickled beets with a large fruit salad, in a fluffy thick green cream. He paused, inhaling the fragrance, and seeing the scents as a mosaic of colors, a dark pink for the salad, a handful of shades of blue and green for the fruit salad, a sharp uncomfortable orange shade for the beets, and crowned with the overpowering brown and white tinged with silver of the roast. He beamed.
Sean watched his face light up, and glanced at Mr. Kelly, and they bowed their heads. Jamie followed suit, and after they gave thanks, they dug in.
There wasn't much conversation during the dinner, but they talked a little. Jamie learned that Mr. Kelly was an attorney, and a little more about them, and they learned a little bit more about him. He didn't take any of the beets, but found the roast to be juicy and full of flavor, and the salad was tangy and nutty, but by far the best was the fruit salad, with melon and strawberry and pineapple and kiwi and banana... he found out the cream was a lime/marshmallow cream that he couldn't get enough of until he was full. Afterwards, the Kelly's retired early, and after finishing unpacking, Sean showed Jamie to several of the games on his computer, and they played a few times multiplayer on the two computers, one upstairs in the den and the others downstairs in the office. Jamie was new to the shooter games, but he got a hold of it quickly, finding that the sounds from the games could be used to track back the presence of the other characters. He soon caught up to Sean's skill, to Sean's dismay.

"How do you keep finding me?" Sean finally interrupted. "I don't get it!"

Jamie laughed. "I just recognize your colors following you wherever you go. Maybe you are making too much noise."

Sean played slower and more cautiously, and the colors faded, but Jamie remained a strong enough opponent to stay neck and neck with Sean's score throughout the competition. Finally the game ended, and the two returned to the bedroom. "I still don't get it! How do you get so good so fast? It took me forever to get that sneaky, and I can't even faze you!"

Jamie laughed. Sean's semi-sarcastic frustration rose in billows of mirthful, dancing pale yellow. "I dunno, maybe it's just the colors!"

"Lucky!" Sean laughed too. "But it's late, and we're getting up early tomorrow morning."

They got in bed, and after asking Sean, Jamie opened the window a crack. Not so much that the cold began affecting them, but enough so he could hear the sounds outside. He watched the almost whispering wind, rolling waves of light and sharp shades of blue, and the slightly louder songs of the crickets, providing ripplingly rising bars of shades of purple, tinged alternately with yellow and brown. He recognized the songs of the crickets as similar colors to the sounds he could see from violins and stringed instruments. He eventually closed his eyes, and the colors faded slightly, thought the sounds continued long after he had fallen asleep.

The morning dawned clear, and the sun rose bright, and Jamie woke from the flowing, bouncing and bubbling yellow, pink, and bright blues of the birds chirping from down the street. He slid to the side of his bed and looked out. The morning shadows stretched out from each house as the sun rose beyond the hillscaped horizon, and he felt the soft breeze still swimming in through the crack in the window. He slipped out of bed and changed, seeing the silver flashes of dishes being rattled downstairs. He started to walk downstairs, paused and gave a quick and bright blue "Wake up, sleepyhead!" to Sean, who was beginning to stir, and entered the kitchen.

Mrs. Kelly was already up, packing a few sandwiches and two bags of chips into a large basket. "Good morning!" Her voice rose from her like a small explosion of cyan colors, miscing with two other colors rising. He noticed the swarming olive and teal shades growing through the room before he recognized them. She was making eggs for breakfast! He saw several other colors, and recognized them as he smelled the bacon, cheese and sausage with the eggs too.

"They look good!" he exclaimed.

"You mean they smell good?" Mrs. Kelly corrected. "Their all still covered."

"Well, their colors look good."

Mrs. Kelly looked confused.

"Just to me, I guess. I'm a Synesthete."

"A Synesthete?"

"Yeah. I see colors for smells and sounds. It's not like I can't hear them or smell them. I just see colors too."

"Ah." Mrs. Kelly paused, and continued. "What color is my voice?'

Jamie laughed. No one had ever just believed him that fast until he'd told Sean, and the first thing Sean had said after was "What color is my voice?"
"What's so funny?" Mrs. Kelly looked perplexed.

"Oh, nothing." Jamie caught her eye and continued. "I just never get that response from people, and Sean was the first who said it that way. Not many people take me at face value like that."

"I have a feeling there's more to you than your face value." Mrs. Kelly winked at him, then called up. "Breakfast!"

Jamie found breakfast to fly by fast, each fare colored to his liking. The Kellys and Sean talked of a picnic by the lake, and Sean pulled him from the table as he finished to get him a swimsuit and towel. They chose to bring a football and a frisbee, and by the time they'd returned, the Kellys had finished hitching a trailer to the yellow and black convertible. It wasn't until they were on the road that Jamie recognized the Jetski on the small trailer.

"A Jetski! Is it yours?" he queried Mr. Kelly.

"Sure is! But for today it's both of yours. Just be careful, Sean."

"Oh, I will!" Sean looked to Jamie, grinning from ear to ear. "I didn't think he'd let us bring it!"

"You didn't tell me you guys had a jetski!"

"I didn't tell you we were having eggs for breakfast either, doesn't mean we won't." Sean winked mischeviously. "Don't worry, the surprises are all good!"

They got to the lake soon, after the short, yet fast (and to Jamie, colorful) trip in the convertible, and found it almost empty. There were a handful of cars on the far side, but the lake was huge, and Mr. Kelly simply pulled the convertible and the jetski onto the grass, and around the bend slightly. There was a rise, and he stopped the car for the others to pile out and sean to remove the cover off the jetski and unstrap it from the bottom before he began backing the jetski into the lake. The boys abandoned their sandals and shirts on their towels, and swam out to remove the jetski, and soon they were on it, Sean at the front, and revving it on. "Hold on," Sean grinned, and shifted. The engine caught, and sped out into the lake. Jamie latched onto Sean, and watched the spray, the wind, and the scent of the water, each with its own color rising from the lake, and parting violently from the jet ski. He watched it boil away behind them, rising and bubbling as the water underneath foamed and frothed in their wake. He whooped, a bright red mingled with yellow flash that quickly faded behind them.

Sean pulled in a little closer to the shore, and increased the speed, weaving side to side to stay a safe distance from the shallows. He laughed. "Fun, right?"

"Are you kidding me? This is awesome!" The words rose and fell behind them into a chaotic palette. Jamie hesitated, and yelled, "SWEET!" The word exploded from his mouth, sending flaming white and bright blue, shooting upward and outward all around the jetski, and quickly curving behind them as they continued speeding forward. He laughed with Sean.

They continued rocketting around the lake, Sean concentrating on steering, and Jamie enjoying the speed, the feel, and the color of the ride. Sean began speeding around several outcroppings, and continued the conversation. "How long have you been at the home?"
"About a month." Jamie knew that was far too long. Usual turnovers at the group home were quicker, only a few days, maybe a week, between foster homes. Not everybody wanted a absent minded, forgetful kid.
"Oh."
Jamie continued. "But it's not all bad. At least there's more kids in the same boat here. It's not like you're, well, alone." Being around people who weren't orphans, who had perfect families and perfect lives made him uncomfortable, and that didn't always have to do with his synesthesia.

Sean continued driving around a corner to a larger part of the lake. He changed the subject. "Would you like to drive?"

"Drive? The jetski? Sure!" He slowed down, and stood. "You stand on the left side, and I'll lean to the right, and you can squeeze in front of me." He pulled the jetski around into the deeper part of the lake, and scooted back, leaning to the right. Jamie slipped around him, and sat in front. The jetski bobbed side to side, but they stayed upright. Sean still had his right hand on the handlebar, and directed Jamie to take the clip tied to his right hand and tie it to his own hand.

"What for?"

"It shuts off the engine if the driver falls out. Kind of like a key."

"Oh." Jamie tied it to his wrist, and then, at Sean's direction, he revved the jetski again and shot forward. Sean grabbed on and whooped, and he joined in. He liked yelling; the colors were so much more powerful, swooping up