Nat and I slumped on the park bench, staring cirrostratus clouds high in the sky. Kate late on her stomach on the grass.
“I hate Iowa grass,” she said. It’s not green enough. Vancouver. Vancouver has awesome grass.”
“I hate grass,” I said.
“Well, yeah, cuz you’re from this area.”
“No, I’m from Colorado.”
“I’ve been in eastern Colorado, it’s the same as here.”
“Well, I’m from the mountains.”
“And the grass there?”
“It sucks, too.” Nat said.
“Hey,” I said, but didn’t put any emotion in it. “Whatever. Don’t fucking care about grass.”
“Hey, stop being so negative,” Nat said. “Cynical, I get, but I won’t let you be one of these depressing bastards.”
“Wait!” Kate sat up. “That might be it!”
“Reilly’s negativity affected his lightning?” Nat was skeptical.
“No, but his lightning’s negativity might have something to do with it. We almost always fire off negative lightning. It’s our default. But what about positive lightning?”
Nat and I exchanged looks.
Would that work?
“We need to get you back up to the clouds, on top of an anvil would make it easiest,” Kate said.
“That’s going to be a long cloud surf,” I said.
“Screw that,” Nat said. “You’re riding bitch.”