A Million Miles Away Read Online Free PDF Page A

forgotten all the fun, stupid things about Michelle that made her herself, like that time she’d spent all of her birthday money on a new, elaborate “elfin maiden” costume for the Kansas Renaissance Fair. But that’s not what support groups were about. Thanks to the slogan they all said before every meeting, Kelsey knew exactly what support groups were about.
    “LEARNING TO LIVE AND LOVE AGAIN,” they chanted before they sat down. Like a bunch of zombies.
    Kelsey had to get out of there. But she wasn’t going to go back to school. Not yet, at least. She found her shoes and the car keys.
    As she snuck past the foyer, she noticed a postcard among the unopened mail.
    At the airport in Maine , it said. On the plane out tomorrow. Ate a lobster sandwich. Can’t see the fall leaves through the darkness. Love, Peter.
    Kelsey drove the Subaru five miles under the speed limit. Because any amount of light hurt her sleepless eyes, she had taken to wearing sunglasses at all times. She yelled along with the lyrics on the radio, and when she didn’t know them, she just yelled. Then she parked and held her breath, waiting for whatever it was she felt to go away.
    The sign read KANSAS ARMY AND ARMY RESERVE RECRUITING STATION . It was a tiny storefront in a strip mall at the corner of Louisiana and 23rd, next to a Schlotzsky’s Deli, and it was the only trace of military Kelsey could find in Lawrence.
    Inside, one chair sat across from a neat, empty desk with a bell on it. An American flag stood in the corner. The walls were pasted with posters of burly men helping each other over walls, Army Strong emblazoned across their determined faces.
    Kelsey reached her hand to the bell and rang it.
    No one came. There was no noise from the other room.
    She rang the bell again.
    “What can I do for you, young lady?” A woman with a blonde bob and an official-looking sweater vest materialized behind the desk. Kelsey jumped.
    “Hi,” Kelsey said. It was strange to hear her own voice.
    “Would you mind taking off your sunglasses, please?” Even as the woman sat, she still seemed tall.
    Kelsey crossed her arms. “I’d rather not.”
    The woman’s eyebrows knit together. “All right, then.”
    The woman stared at her, waiting. “My sister died,” Kelsey said. Wow, there it was. It had just come out. Over the days since it had happened, Kelsey had never once said it aloud.
    The woman pointed at the chair. “Have a seat, honey.”
    Kelsey found herself sitting immediately. She wanted to lay her head on the desk for a second. Just for a second. But she remained upright.
    “Was she deployed?”
    “Who?”
    “Your sister.”
    “Oh, no. No.”
    The woman folded her hands. “I’m confused.”
    Kelsey hadn’t really thought this through, and the lack of sleep was no help. With the woman’s eyes on her, unmoving, Kelsey found she missed the feeling of being able to talk. Of knowing what to say. She forced herself to continue.
    “Here’s the deal. My sister had a boyfriend in the army, Peter, and he doesn’t know that she… that she’s gone. He’s in Afghanistan somewhere, and I think someone should tell him.”
    The woman spoke slowly, emphasizing her words. “So you came to the Army Recruiting Office?”
    Kelsey could see the woman searching for her eyes behind her sunglasses.
    “How else am I supposed to reach him? I don’t know his parents or any of his friends. And I was thinking maybe you could look him up and send him a letter or something. His name is Peter.”
    A smile twitched on the woman’s mouth. “You said that.”
    Kelsey sighed. “Can you look him up?”
    The woman turned to her computer. “If he enlisted around here, I might have a record of his address, but I can’t give that to you.”
    “What about—” Kelsey began.
    “Nor can I give you his location in Afghanistan. But I might be able to talk to someone who can reach his parents. What’s his last name?”
    Kelsey’s mouth, which had opened to