Page 1 of Another Love, Another Time

“Owie, owie, owie. It hurts!” I wail with big tears running down my face.

“Shake it off!” Auggie shouts back.

“I did, and it still hurts.”

A few minutes before, we were playing in the ocean.

Auggie and I found something clear and squishy floating in the water.

I wondered what it was, so I decided that I was going to pick it up to get a closer look.

When I picked it up, it moved around and scared me.

I dropped it on my foot, and as it slid off, I felt a burning pain.

Now, I’m screaming and crying for my mom and dad. Auggie is now crying too. He does that sometimes; when I cry, it’s like he can feel my pain.

Our parents run over to see what is going on, probably thinking we were attacked by sharks since we are both crying and screaming bloody murder.

My mom runs over with my baby brother, Brock, on her hip and asks Auggie, “What happened?” Auggie is able to point to the squishy thing but can’t get words out. My dad kneels, sets me on his knee, and peers at the injury.

Aunt Connie bends over to get a closer look at what Auggie is pointing at. “Oh no! It’s a jellyfish. Did you pick it up, Riv?” I nod my head in agreement.

“I think I remember hearing the best way to relieve the pain is to have someone pee on it. Does anyone have to pee?” Uncle Eddie asks.

“I think I’ve heard that too. It can’t hurt to try, right?” Mom offers.

My eyes widen. “I don’t want anyone to pee on me!” I start to cry again, and tears and snot become a horrid mask under my nose.

The adults are silent as they look at one another. No one needs to pee. Auggie stops crying, steps closer, and pulls me into a hug while I cry. My foot still hurts a lot, but now I have to let someone pee on me. If I want the pain to stop, I know what I have to do. I have to be brave like Daddy.

Auggie pulls me in and whispers into my ear, “River, I can pee and make it go away if you want. I’m so sorry. I wish it was me who got hurt. Is that okay?”

I nod my head and wrap my arms around him, so he doesn’t go anywhere. “I’m okay with that, but I don’t want anyone to see it—just me and you, Auggie. No one else, kay?” I ask.

Auggie leans back, looks me in the eye, and nods his head in agreement.

Then, he steps back and sticks his chest out before talking to our parents.

“I’m going to pee on River’s foot, but you all need to turn around.

She doesn’t want anyone to see me do it.

” Our parents are concerned, but they do as they are told.

They circle around us, blocking us from view. “Close your eyes, Riv.”

As soon as my eyes are closed, I hear rustling, and then I can feel warm liquid running down my foot. I start to gag, but he continues.

I hear my dad ask Uncle Eddie, “What the heck are you teaching your son?”

My mom and Aunt Connie are laughing. When I don’t feel the pee anymore, I open my eyes.

“Did the pain go away?” Auggie asks.

It still hurts, but now I’m thinking about the pee on my foot. Eww!

“Honey, does it still hurt?” my dad asks, repeating Auggie’s question.

“Yes, it still hurts,” I answer.

My dad picks me up, and we start walking to our towels.

He sets me down and says, “I knew we should have Googled it.” I’m still crying a little bit.

He picks up his phone and starts typing something.

I hope he’s Googling how to make the pain stop.

After reading for a short while, he looks up as my mom and Aunt Connie walk up from where the jellyfish incident was.

“Ashley, Connie, do we have any vinegar up at the house?” he asks.

Aunt Connie responds, “Yeah, I think we bought some to go with the cucumber salad I’m making today. Let’s head up, and we can get the pee washed off. Did it say vinegar would work on it? Poor girl.”

“Kendall, go ahead and take her up there and get something on it so she’s not hurting anymore. We’ll get everything and bring it up.” My mom glances at the sky. “It looks like it’s going to start raining anyway.”

“Wait for me, Uncle Kendall! I want to go with you guys,” Auggie tells my dad as he starts to follow us.

“Okay, little man. Keep up.” Auggie follows us without shoes, not wanting to be left behind.

As we enter our vacation house, my dad sets me on the kitchen counter and tells me, “Sit still and do not move. I’m going to find the vinegar.” Auggie comes up and holds my hand. “Sorry that my pee didn’t work. I really thought it would.”

“It’s okay, Auggie.” I squeeze his hand.

My dad comes back with the bottle of vinegar.

He places a big bowl in the sink and fills it with vinegar.

Then, he slides me to the sink and places my foot in the bowl.

It’s freezing until my foot gets used to the temperature.

Then, I don’t feel the burning as much. The whole time, Auggie is still holding my hand.

“Let’s keep that in there for a little bit. Stay here with her, Auggie. I need to go run and get a towel.” My dad turns and walks off towards the bathroom.

“That stuff stinks.” Auggie scrunches his nose.

“Yeah, but it does make it feel better.”

“I can’t believe you let me pee on you,” he says with a smirk.

I smile back. “Me neither.” I have a feeling I will never live this down.

My dad comes back in with a towel in his hand and then turns the water on, waiting for it to warm up. “How does it feel? Do you still feel any burning?” he questions.

I shake my head. I can feel it a little bit, but definitely not like earlier. He dumps the vinegar down the drain, moves my foot to the warm water, fills the bowl up again, and starts to soak my foot again.

The door opens, and everyone pours in from the beach. “We headed in at the right time. It’s sprinkling,” Uncle Eddie tells my dad.

My dad removes my foot from the warm water and dries my foot off.

“I want you to stay off your feet and take this.” He holds a spoon up to my mouth, and I swallow whatever is in the spoon.

He pulls me off the counter and sets me back on the floor.

“Go sit on the couch. I won’t make you take a bath just yet.

Let your mom or me know if it starts hurting, okay, honey? ”

~

If you haven’t figured it out, Auggie is my best friend, and our moms are best friends.

They went to the same college but did not become friends until they started working for the same company out of college a few years later.

They both lived in neighboring towns but hung out with similar crowds.

They started hanging out and have been best friends ever since, living together and getting into trouble together.

They even enlisted in the Army together.

My mom introduced Aunt Connie to Uncle Eddie. Uncle Eddie was my mom’s friend first. I think it’s funny that Aunt Connie and Uncle Eddie argue over who her best friend is.

When it was time to start families, my mom and Aunt Connie wanted their kids to grow up together, so they tried having babies at the same time.

My mommy had Serena first. Aunt Connie and Mom did not give up; they wanted their kids to grow up together, so after my mom found out she was pregnant with me, Aunt Connie was devastated.

Aunt Connie and Uncle Eddie went to the doctor to find out why she couldn’t get pregnant like Mommy, and she found out she was pregnant too, with my best friend, Auggie. Auggie is older than me by a few months, but we have always been close.

Even though our mommies are best friends, we don’t live in the same town. We live hours away from Auggie, but we get to see them a lot during the year. Auggie and I have pictures of us in bathtubs, sandpits, beaches, and messes of food.

Our families do not get to see each other every day, but when we do, we make it count. We’re on a family vacation, making memories right now. That’s what our mom’s keeping telling us.

When I say “family,” that includes my mom’s and Aunt Connie’s friends.

This year, our family decided to vacation in Maine.

We are staying in a huge cottage-style house with a view of the ocean.

My mom, the dreamer and idea finder of said vacations, is trying to fulfill all her different lives through our vacations.

She is an avid reader and loves to escape in her books, but she also likes to see and experience the places in her books.

Aunt Connie, on the other hand, is the organizer of said vacations. She makes sure we have planned activities and alternatives. Everyone else goes along with what the moms say, including the dads. They always say they are along for the ride.

After the jellyfish accident, we are all stuck inside because of the rain.

Always the organized one, Aunt Connie has a plan B to keep us busy.

Today is going to be craft day for the rest of the day.

My mom said that we are going to make friendship bracelets.

Connie and my mom start pulling out the supplies to make the bracelets.

There are so many colors of lettered beads to choose from.

“Think of someone who means a lot to you, and you can give the bracelet to them,” my mom directed.

As I look at the colors, my first thought is to make a green and blue bracelet—Auggie’s favorite colors. I start picking them out, and Aunt Connie notices. With an eyebrow raised, she asks, “Who are you making one for, River?”

I cringe. “Do I have to say?”

“No, I just figured you would choose different colors.” She shrugs.

I see Auggie choose yellow and blue, which are my favorite colors. I hope Auggie will give me the bracelet he’s making.

I have friends I go to school with, but Auggie and I Facetime every night and talk about everything from what we watched to what happened at school.

We have been doing this ever since I could work my mom’s phone.

At first, we talked about cartoons. We also make faces, take screenshots, and laugh at each other.

“How do we make this, Mommy?” I ask.

“Does everyone have their colors picked out?” she asks. “There are a few ways to make these. We’ll show the easiest way to make them.”

Aunt Connie, who is the cheesiest person I know, says she is going to make one for her ‘Bestest’ friend, my mom.” She asks my mom, “What are your favorite colors again?”

My mom laughs and starts showing us how to make the bracelets.

After going through it a couple of times, I think I have it figured out.

I start making mine. It’s very similar to braiding Barbie’s hair, just like how my mom showed me.

I secretly slide a bead that has an “A” on it for Auggie.

I really hope Auggie likes his bracelet, that he wears it, and that the bracelet he is making is for me.

My sister is making one for her best friend. My little brother is making one for my dad (insert eye roll). What a suck-up!

I finish mine and put it in my pocket. I don’t want to give it to Auggie in front of our moms; they will make a big deal about it. I think they already have our wedding planned. At least, that’s what I hear Uncle Eddie, and my dad say all the time.

Auggie is my favorite person. I don’t know about kissing him, but my mom says my dad is one of her best friends.

We talk every day like Mom and Dad. When we stay over at their house, Auggie and I sleep in the same bed.

When something exciting happens at school or home, the first person I call is Auggie.

I know he has other friends, but he doesn’t talk to them like he does me. He is my best friend.

I need to give him a friendship bracelet, so he knows. It’s kind of like the rings my mom and dad wear. My bracelet will be like that.

After we get the crafts cleaned up, it’s family movie time with popcorn, M&Ms, and soda. It’s the only time we get soda.

It’s Auggie’s family's turn to pick a movie. The moms pick all the movies to watch before vacation for movie nights and write them on popsicle sticks. When it’s movie time, one person from the assigned family gets to pull a movie choice.

It stops the disagreements. Auggie’s dad chooses tonight’s movie.

Aunt Connie has all the snacks ready. Aunt Jess helps her hand them out to all the kids.

Everyone is situated, ready for the movie to start.

Auggie’s place is next to me, like always.

Uncle Eddie starts the movie. Eventually, the snacks are finished being passed around, and the adults turn the lights off.

Auggie leans over, grabs my hand, and puts something in it. I turn away and look to see what he put in my hand. It’s the bracelet with my favorite colors. I smile to myself. Then, I reach into my pocket, pull out the one I made for him, and repeat what he just did. We smile at each other.