The Next Great American Novel

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by emeraldmist01

Pronunciation Key
Enimsaj: E-nim-SAJZH
Nagem: Nah-gem
Semaj: Say-majzh
Kaveh: Cah-vay or Cahv-ay

Chapter One
"Stuck in the Traffic"
(and a fight)

    Sitting in the back of the car, Jewel stared out the window at the cloudy, pale blue sky as they slowly creeped forward on the freeway. Sitting up a little straighter, she coughed and waved her hand in front of her face. Carefully, she slowly leaned to the right and glared at the odiferous truck in front of the car. The truck was puttering along, apparently the cause of all the traffic, and spewing out diesel. She wrinkled her nose.
    "Yuck", she said a matter-of-factly. "They should ban cars like that from public highways. They stink up the air!" Jewel returned to staring out the window, a little more melancholy this time. With all of the traffic, she would never get to the beach today, let alone this century.
    Sighing, she looked down at her surfboard that had been jammed into the car what seemed like an hour ago, but was really only a few minutes. The traffic had made the time go by slower. This particular board was a beauty, dark, dark blue at the top that faded down for six feet, four inches to a whitish blue at the bottom.
    Ring! Ring! Her cell rang, startling her out of her musings as she scrambled to get it out and quickly flipped it open. "Hello?" she stared at the truck in front. How could something move so slowly? "Hello? Oh, hi Enimsaj. How's it going? Mm-hmm, good. Listen, are you at the beach yet? You are? Okay, because there is all this traffic out here because of this smelly truck. It's a rolling hazard. You can hardly see anything. It looks like me and my sister won't be there for another hour or so, so get out there! Catch a wave for me, will ya? Thanks! Bye. See you." She hung up and closed the cell.
    "So, you really think it's going to be an hour until we get there, little sis?" Jade inquired, raising an eyebrow.
    "Yes, I do. And don't call me that." Jewel replied.
    "Sure thing, little sis," her older sister said, openly laughing.
    "I give up," Jewel grumbled, trying her best not to get Jade mad. The only reason Mom had said she could go to Enimsaj's party was because Jade would be there. If she got Jade mad, that would be the end of her going to parties. Jade knew how to drive. She didn't. It was as simple as that. Besides, this was the first party of the summer, and the only one she would be able to go to. She and Enimsaj had shed many tears over this fact, not to mention spent all of their month's allowance on phone bills. She would be going to a little cabin up in the mountains for TWO WHOLE MONTHS. The nearest town was 30 miles away, and the nearest phone was in the center of town in the grocery. She figured that if the nearest phone was thirty miles away, the nearest computer must be at least fifty miles away. At first she had thought that there would be a phone in the cabin, but her idea had been quickly squashed when she had learned about the situation. Maybe, she thought, she could bring a bunch of quarters. That should get the phone to work, and she could volunteer to go to town on the first day to go grocery shopping. What to do next, she had no idea.
    Suddenly, the traffic speed up. Jade had somehow managed to pass up the environmental hazard truck and they were speeding along the freeway. At this rate, they would get there in twenty minutes, max. This is great, she thought, not at all sarcastically.
    Ten minutes later, they unloaded her surfboard and took down her sister's surfboard from the top. Scanning the beach, she spotted the party, or at least where it was set up. Everyone was out in the waves, surfing or boogey-boarding. Seeing Enimsaj, she smiled and waved. Enimsaj started crashing out of the water to greet her.
    "I thought you weren't coming 'till later. The truck thing?" she said, a little worried.
    "Yeah, but Jade managed to pass up the truck. What's wrong?" Jewel asked.
    "Oh, nothing," she replied, glancing around nervously and licking her lips.
    "You're lying. I can tell. You're licking your lips again. You only do that when you're lying. What happened? WHAT DID YOU DO?" She started shaking Enimsaj.
    "Nuh-uh-thing-guh. St-top sh-shak-kuh-king muh-me. I-I-I-I muh-mean i-it-ti-ti-tuh!" Enimsaj said, her words distorted from being shook.
    "I won't stop until you tell me!" Jewel yelled.
    "Fuh-fine th-then, BUH-BE that-at wuh-way! Nuh-nagem thuh-thinks thuh-that Say-semaj wuh-was chuh-chee-tuh-ting aw-on huh-her-er, UH-GUH-GAIN. Ah-and   huh-he wuh-wasn't-ti chuh-chee-tuh-ting aw-on huh-her-er thuh-the fuh-first tuh-tuh-time, oh-or thi-iss tuh-tuh-time, fuh-for tha-at-tuh mah-atuh-ter." Enimsaj said, exasperated. "Nuh-now wi-ill-luh yuh-you st-top?!"
    "Yeah. Sorry. She does that every time he talks to a female that isn't his relative."
    "Yeah, I know. Don't you dare ever do that again, or I shall be forced as the Chocolate Nymph to TAKE your place as Sugar Goddess."
"No! I'll be good!" jewel replied in mock terror.
"You better. I won't forget this, you know. What were we talking about again? Oh well. No use crying over spilt milk. Now come on down to where the waves are. The waves are wonderful."

Chapter Two
"Roast Pig"

    The sun was setting, and the party-goers were retreating to shore to eat. When Jewel had asked what was there to eat, Enimsaj simply waved her hand rather vaguely, saying that there was "some stuff" back where they had staked out a spot. To her surprise, they passed by where a beach umbrella, a couple of beach bags, and some towels were and continued up the beach after grabbing their stuff, up towards the fire pits.
    Someone in sunglasses sat next to a fire pit, reading a book and occasionally glancing at the seemingly empty fire pit, which on closer inspection was filled halfway to the top with coals, with a wire 'net' stretching over, supported by spindly legs on the corners and anywhere else it would help. Looking up, the guy spotted them and smiled at Enimsaj. Smiling back at him, she picked up a cooler that had accidentally been buried halfway, and took out a bunch of uncooked corn and used long wire tongs to place it on the net. Jewel located another pair of tongs and helped, the warmth of the coals washing over her, drying off the sea water.
    "Hey, I know you," he told Enimsaj. Smiling still, he put down the book and hugged her.
    "You looked familiar," Enimsaj replied, obviously joking. "Ak. Can't breathe. Lungs squashed. Choking. Not breathing. Let (gasp) me (Deep breath here) go!" She gasped, rubbing her windpipe. She quickly began glaring at him, then collapsed into uncontrollable giggles as he tickled her. Jewel just stood there, staring. Who was this guy? He wasn't Enimsaj's dad, that was for sure. For one, he was blond. Blond blond. So blond, his hair looked white. Well, almost white. It was closer to the color of cream. Not that she had ever seen cream, except the kind from the carton that she got from the grocery store. And that just looked like milk, only thicker. Either way, Enimsaj's dad was not blond.
    "Sorry," he said, smiling. "And who would this be?" he said, finally noticing her. "Could this be the illustrious Jewel I have heard so much about? I must tell you, the story about The Great Library Scheme made you sound brilliant. Not to mention taller. I expected someone with your reputation to be a bit taller." he said this all slowly, a smile quickly spreading on his face.
    That made her mad. "I'm petite, you moron, not short." she glared at him. How dare he insult her! How dare he!
    He opened his mouth to reply. "Mo-" he started, and was quickly cut off.
    "Whoa, slow down everyone, slow down. I haven't even introduced you two and already you guys are fighting! Okay. Let me catch my breath here. Kaveh, don't call her short, call her petite if you must even mention her height. Jewel, don't call my big brother a moron, unless he really deserves it. Now, you two are going to apologize and-"
    "Whoa. You slow down. This guy is your big brother? I thought that you were the oldest. Where did this guy come from. No offense," she added the last part upon seeing him still there.
    "Well, I'm actually boarding, in a sense. Exchange student from Europe that is also a relative that is called something no-one can ever remember. She likes to call me her big brother. Anyways, the pig is almost done." He smiled again. He does a lot of smiling, Jewel thought. Then she realized what he had said.
    "P-p-pig?" she said, horrified. She had been born of the year of the pig, and knew that in reality, pigs are extremely loyal and intelligent animals, and she felt that they don't deserve to be eaten.
    "Not really a pig. It's a turkey wrapped in foil and cooked in an underground oven. It's really good. I call it a pig because I went to Tahiti once and at a show they fed us a pig cooked in an underground oven. It tastes better than turkey, but I doubt that all of us will want to eat a whole pig." Frowning, he added, "Nor do I think that we could buy a whole pig from the local supermarket." He smiled encouragingly as he checked the turkey again.
    "Done!" Members of the party came rather quickly at the call, all clamoring. Joining into the frenzy, she shouted. "I call the drumstick! Drumstick is mine!" Kaveh handed someone a pair of tongs as he donned gloves and began removing the foil off of a turkey. He pulled apart some of the turkey and pushed it into some boat-shaped paper, well, boats. Peeling off a drumstick, he handed it to her. Biting it, she nearly burnt her tongue. She looked up and glared at Kaveh, who grinned impishly. Looking around, she also noticed stuff like potato salad and bread out. Peeking into a cooler, she saw pre-cooked bacon and some sausages.
      She spooned some potato salad into her boat and sat down on a folded up towel. Jade came over and sat down on her own towel. Jewel, who had been eating slowly, was suddenly motivated to eat faster. Gulping down the last of the potato salad, she tossed out her dish and strolled down the slope to where the waves broke. Taking off her sandals, she carried them as the sun rolled down the sky and down the horizon. Enimsaj joined her as she got closer to where everyone had staked out. It was Enimsaj who finally broke the silence.

What will Enimsaj say? Tell me at my blog!