Love, Margo.

Chapter One

Emmaline struggled to get her duffle bag into the rusty, old station wagon. The trunk was already crammed full of camping equipment; a tent, a couple of sleeping bags, three fishing poles, a laundry basket full of non perishable food, a cooler full of bottled water and cans of Coca Cola, her brother's rather large backpack, and her grandmother's old suitcase. After finally finding a spot for it, next to the cooler, she used all the force she had to get it to fit.
"Whatcha doin', Em?" asked Emmaline's brother.
"Oh, you know, just playing Tetris with the baggage, Tenn." said Em with a bit of frustration in her voice.
"Now, now, Em. There's no need for the hostility." joked Tennyson.
"I'm not being hostile," said Em, "I- just-" she grunted from the struggle, "can't get this damn bag to fit!"
"Move. Let the dominate twin show you how it's done." said Tennyson as he pushed Em to the side.
"Uh, okay. No. You are not the dominate twin." Emmaline punched him in the arm.
"Ouch!" Tenn rubbed his arm and looked at her with sad eyes and pouted lips. "I was just trying to help you!"
"Too hard?" Em grimaced. "Sorry."
"Apology accepted. But, only if you drive the night shift." replied Tenn with a devious grin.
"That's hardly an acceptable ultimatum. You know I stay up till sunrise, and sleep till noon on the weekends." Emmaline was a major book worm. During summer break, she would read an entire book per night. That is, until she ran out of reading material.
"I know. I just couldn't think of anything else right now." Em gave a little half-laugh, and smiled.
"But I'm definitely the dominant twin." mumbled Em. Tennyson looked back at her and huffed.
"Hardly, Emmaline. Hardly." and he walked back into the house.
In the house, their grandmother was rechecking her mental list of what they had. And rechecking. And re-rechecking. Margo was like that. Always repeatedly checking and rechecking. She could never decide if it was because she had OCD, or if she was just scared that she was going to forget it if she didn't. But either way, Margo was probably the most forgetful person you would ever meet. Another thing you should also know about Margo, is that she was not your typical cookie baking, scarf sewing- granny. She wasn't frail, or tiny, or softspoken. She was the polar opposite. Margo was quite muscular for her age of 65. She was about 5'7'', and weighed roughly 180 pounds. She had been getting in shape for this trip for about 2 years. Everyday, she exercised with her dog, Poppy, three times. She walked him twice, and rode her bike with him running along side her once. She was also very outspoken. Margo was always the one who would be brutally honest with you. If those pants, indeed, made you look fat, she would tell you. And to top it all off, she was very, very religious. Which was hard for Em and Tenn to handle sometimes. They both didn't really believe in God. The whole family had shoved their beliefs down their throats since day one of their existence, so neither of them got to "find" God or religion on their own. Nor did either of them really want to. But Emmaline and Tennyson loved their Jesus-Freak of a grandma with all their hearts. They were both really close to Margo. Emmaline more than Tennyson, but still pretty close. There was a time where it was Tenn who was closer to Margo, instead of Em. You see, at one point, Margo was practically Em's mother. She would stay over at her grandmother's little house in the woods every weekend. For the whole weekend. They'd sit and read, and order pizza and watch musicals in her living room. And Sunday morning they would go to church, and then Margo would take her back home. Em told Margo everything. She'd tell her about what stupid stunt Tenn pulled that week, and what was going on in her books, and she even told her about the man her mom was secretly seeing for a while behind her fathers back.
So, when Emmaline got the news that Margo would be moving down to Arizona, it crushed her. Em was about to lose her best friend. And to some preacher who lived in the freaking desert. A preacher, for God's sake. She didn't know what she was more upset about; the fact that her grandma was marrying someone, or the fact that Arizona was quite a ways away from their small town in Ohio. Either way, Em was furious. She wouldn't, couldn't, talk to her. She was constantly thinking 'How could she be so selfish, as to just up and leave? How could she do this to our family? We need her. I need her.' That's when Tennyson became closer to Margo. He felt bad for her, and the way that Em was treating her, even though he understood why she felt the way she did. He could see the pain in his grandmother's eyes, for she had disappointed her dear Emmaline, and to her, there was no greater fault. So, Tenn swooped in to comfort her whenever he could.
The first time that Em met the wretched soon-to-be husband, she was constantly glaring at him, rolling her eyes at his every word. He spoke of true love and how it was God's will that they are to be together. Well, it wasn't. They had gotten a divorce a little more than two years later. Emmaline got her best friend back. Granted, she had made amends before the divorce, but she had gotten her back, for real this time. Margo moved back to the tiny Ohian town, and got a little house, since she had to sell her house in the woods (which Em missed dearly). That was about four years ago. And now, the twins had just finished their last day of High School. And their celebration was a trip with their grandmother; camping in Utah. When Em and Tenn were just about to start their junior year, Em had found an article showing all of the national parks, mountains, caves and lakes in Utah, and immediately showed it to Margo. They each fell in love with the pictures. The Kolob Canyons, the Delicate Arch, the Flaming Gorge, and Em's personal favorite (and the one she was most excited about), Mirror Lake. They've all been patiently waiting for two years for this trip. And now, that day had finally come.
"Tenny, my dearest grandson, will you please go and fetch my pillow off my bed? I simply cannot sleep without it." said Margo. They all talked like that when they were too lazy to get it themselves. But what it really translated to was; "Hey, kid of my kid! Go get my damn pillow off my bed so that we can get on the road already!"
"Why of course, dearest grandmama. I shall fetch your pillow so you may have the sweetest of dreams whilst we are away from the homestead."
"Oh dear Lord, you certainly are the greatest display of man that I ever did see!" Margo reached up and patted her chest and sniffled jokingly. Em laughed as she watched her grandma. Tennyson turned around and walked away from the car and back into the house, taking long strides as he always did thanks to his tall, lanky structure. Margo turned around and faced Em, and gave her a sly smile. Then she reached over the center consul and honked on the horn for an obnoxiously long amount of time. Margo laughed and looked back at Em again, and gave her a smile as if to say "Funny, huh?" Em gave a little laugh and reached over to pet Poppy who was sitting in the back with her. Em always got a kick out of the way Poppy sat. Pitbulls have a tendency to sit like humans, with their backs against the back of the chair and their legs stretched out in front of them. Tenn came back out and slid into the driver's seat and handed Margo her pillow. He slammed the car door and started the car, and proceeded to back out of the long driveway.