The Healing Souls

Farewell to Ashley

[Carmen]

Rock was distracted all weekend. Gemma came and got me so I could say goodbye to Ash. We didn’t go to the going away party because my mother or father might show up. According to Gemma, we were right.

I couldn’t even go to my friend’s going away party without them trying to see me. If they had just come to say goodbye and left, someone would have called me. After how my mother acted the last time I saw her, I wasn’t going to put myself in that position again.

Gemma drove me to the airport. We’d always talked about how much fun an airplane could be. Ash would be flying to Alaska and, in a couple of weeks, Gemma would be taking a plane to South Dakota.

Every three years, there was a national gathering and the regional gatherings were all canceled in preparation for it. It too