Point of Retreat

up.”
     
    Eddie, along with the rest of us, stare at Kiersten without responding. Kiersten is oblivious, turning to Lake to repeat her question. “What’s your major, Layken?”
     
    Lake lays her burger down on her plate and clears her throat. I know how much she hates this question. She tries to answer confidently. “I haven’t decided yet.”
     
    Kiersten looks at her pitifully. “I see. The proverbial undecided . My oldest brother has been a Sophomore in college for three years. He’s got enough credits to have five majors by now. I think he remains undecided because he’d rather sleep until noon every day, sit in class for three hours and go out every night, than actually graduate and get a real job. Mom says that’s not true…she says it’s because he’s trying to ‘discover his full potential’ by examining all of his interests. If you ask me, I think it’s bullshit.”
     
    I cough when the drink I just swallowed tries to make its way back up with my laugh.
     
    “You just said bullshit!” Kel says.
     
    “Kel, don’t say bullshit!” Lake says.
     
    “But she said bullshit first,” Caulder says, defending Kel.
     
    “Caulder, don’t say bullshit!” I yell.
     
    “Sorry,” Kiersten says to Lake and I. “Mom says the FCC is responsible for inventing cusswords just for media shock value. She says if everyone would just use them enough, they wouldn’t be considered cusswords anymore and no one would ever be offended by them.”
     
    This kid is hard to keep up with!
     
    “Your mother encourages you to cuss?” Gavin says.
     
    Kiersten nods. “I don’t see it that way. It’s more like she’s encouraging us to undermine a system flawed through overuse of words that are made out to be harmful, when in fact they’re just letters, mixed together like every other word. That’s all they are, mixed up letters. Like, take the word ‘butterfly’ for example. What if someone decided one day that butterfly is a cussword? People would eventually start using the word butterfly as an insult, and to emphasize things in a negative way. The actual word doesn’t mean anything. It’s the negative association people give these words that make them cusswords. So, if we all just decided to keep saying butterfly all the time, eventually people would stop caring. The shock value would subside…and it would become just another word again. Same with every other so-called bad word. If we would all just start saying them all the time, they wouldn’t be bad anymore. That’s what my mom says, anyway.” She smiles and takes a french fry and dips it in ketchup.
     
    I often wonder when Kiersten’s visiting, how she turned out the way she did. I have yet to actually meet Kiersten’s mother, but from what I’ve gathered, she’s definitely not ordinary. Kiersten is obviously smarter than most kids her age…even if it is in a strange way. The things that come out of her mouth make Kel and Caulder seem somewhat normal.
     
    “Kiersten?” Eddie says. “Will you be my new best friend?”
     
    Lake grabs a french fry off her plate and throws it at Eddie, hitting her in the face with it. “That’s bullshit,” Lake says.
     
    “Oh, go butterfly yourself,” Eddie says. She returns a fry in Lake’s direction.
     
    I intercept the french fry, hoping this doesn’t result in another food fight like last week. I’m still finding broccoli everywhere. “Stop,” I say, dropping the French fry on the table. “If you two have another food fight in my house tonight, I’m kicking both of your butterflies!”
     
    Lake can see I’m serious about the food fight. She squeezes my leg under the table and changes the subject. “Suck and sweet time,” she says.
     
    “Suck and sweet time?” Kiersten asks, confused.
     
    Kel fills her in. “It’s where you have to say your suck and your sweet of the day. The good and the bad. The high and the low. We do it every night at supper.”
     
    Kiersten nods as though she understands.
     
    “I’ll go first,” Eddie says. “My suck today was registration. I got stuck in Monday, Wednesday, Friday classes. Tuesday and Thursdays were full.”
     
    Everyone wants the Tuesday/Thursday schedules. The classes are longer, but it’s a fair trade only having to go twice a week, rather than three times.
     
    “My sweet is meeting Kiersten, my new best friend,” Eddie says, glaring at Lake.
     
    Lake grabs another french fry and throws it at Eddie. Eddie ducks and