Molly trudged up the mountain. Sweat rolled down her back as the humidity of a Virginia August combined with the work of hiking uphill, toiling after her trim mother and her mountain goat of a little brother. Christ, but I hate these trips! Molly thought. I could be playing Sims, or on MySpace with Jenna. Hell, I’d even rather watch The Wiggles with Lucas than be here climbing this blasted mountain!

Molly knew better to say any of this. She knew how Mom felt about her spending time on the computer when she could be outside riding bikes or playing soccer or doing anything that would make her hot and sweaty and tired. Molly couldn’t wait until April, when she would turn 16. She was already signed up for the behind-the-wheel class at school in the fall, and she planned to be first in line to get her license the day she turned 16. Then she could pack up her laptop and go to the library or the sandwich shop or the coffeehouse, and she could do whatever she wanted. But until she had a car, she was stuck going where Mom drove her, which was never anyplace fun.

Mom and Lucas were a long way ahead of Molly, and if she didn’t pick up the pace a little, they would go around a curve and be hidden from her by the trees. Molly always seemed to be twenty or thirty feet behind Mom and Lucas, wherever they went. They didn’t seem to notice that they left her behind, whether the three of them were at the mall, at the zoo, or on one of these mountain hikes. At places like the mall or the park, Molly didn’t mind so much. She could still usually see them, and every so often they would stop to see something that caught their eyes, and Molly could catch up at least partway. In the mountains, on these hikes, Mom and Lucas were always so much faster than Molly. Then they would stop to rest, and just as Molly caught up with them, they would spring back to their feet, ready to get back on the trail. But Molly would be exhausted and ready for her own rest and wouldn’t get a chance for it. It was so annoying.

Molly shuffled her booted feet over the dirt path, kicking a rock or an acorn when one appeared near her toes. She was happier when the ground turned dark and shadowy, because that meant she was beneath the canopy of trees, rather than directly under the hot sun. Her feet throbbed inside the stiff leather hiking boots, and she could feel blisters forming on her heels. From the trail ahead, Molly heard Lucas gasp and call out “Momma! Look!” A moment later, her mother’s laugh rang out through the woods. It sounded like they were standing still for a moment, looking at something, so Molly tried to quicken her steps to catch up with them before they moved on. If she caught them, maybe Molly could convince Mom to sit down and rest while Lucas checked out whatever was so fascinating. EVERYTHING is fascinating to a three-year-old boy, Molly thought.

When she reached them, Molly saw that Lucas was staring at the rocks ahead, and she groaned inwardly. Carefully schooling her features, Molly said, “I’d forgotten this was the trail with the rock scramble.” Mom made a face, hearing the words Molly had left unsaid. I hate hiking, and I hate camping, and I hate climbing rocks, and I hate the summer, and I wish we could just go HOME already.

“I don’t think you remember, Molls,” Mom began. “When you were only a little older than Lucas, Dad and I brought you on this trail. You loved the woods then. Dad carried you over most of the rock scramble on his back. You clung to his neck, but then you’d see something, and laugh, and point at it with both hands. And I was so terrified that you would fall, but you didn’t.”

“I know, Mom. You tell that story all the time.”

“Well, it was a fun camping trip. You had a great time.”

“Yeah, well, that was before Dad died.”

“I know, Moll. I miss him, too.”

Molly looked down at the ground and scuffed her foot against the rock. She was still tired, hot, thirsty, and footsore, but Molly had a sudden urge to get moving again. “So, are we going to do this thing?”

“Sure! Now where is that boy - Lucas!” Molly and Mom heard a giggle. It was very close by. Mom looked at Molly, put a finger over her lips, and pointed to a rock about six feet from where they were sitting. A little too loudly, she said, “Well, Molly, it’s too bad Lucas went back down the mountain. Now he won’t get to do the rock scramble, or get to the very tippy-top, or…”

“MOMMA!!!” Lucas jumped out from around the rock with his arms up in the air. “Here I am!” He ran up to Mom and hugged her hard around the waist.

“Oof!” said Mom, while Molly smiled at the two of them. They really were two peas in a pod, loving to go for long walks outside or ride their bikes through the park or just sit on the back deck and soak up the hot sun. Sometimes Molly was jealous of their closeness, because Mom never seemed to understand her. But she was glad Mom had Lucas, and she was glad Lucas had Mom. After all, Molly had herself, right?

They scrambled around and over and across and up the rocks. Molly was miserable. Sweat pooled between her breasts, ran down her forehead into her eyes, and made her hands slippery. She scraped her shin on one jagged rock, but it was not very deep, and her carelessness stung more than the scratch. About halfway through the scramble, Mom had to pick up Lucas and put him on her back, because his mountain-goat legs were too short for some of the reaches.

Suddenly, Molly reached up and found nothing there. She paused to look around and realized she’d reached the top. Mom was already standing, holding Lucas’s hand, and smiled down at Molly. “Come on up, Molls. The view is incredible.”

And it was. Molly couldn’t remember ever standing at the peak of a mountain before. She turned in a slow circle. Everything she could see was below her, everything but deep blue summer sky and white clouds scudding past. The trees, the rocks, the other mountains - all were below her, just like the river at the bottom of the valley. Molly closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath in. She let the air expand her throat, her lungs, her rib cage. Molly felt her diaphragm expand. She held her breath in, for just a moment, and felt the air all through her. Then she let it out again, softly, so that nobody would hear. As she did, she opened her eyes.

Molly saw, in front of her, Mom and Lucas standing on the mountain’s peak. Lucas was chattering excitedly and pointing here and there, noticing so many details that Molly hadn’t even seen. As Lucas spoke, and as Mom watched him, Molly saw them begin to glow. At first, she thought a sunbeam must be falling through the clouds onto them, but the sky did not reveal anything like this to Molly’s eyes. As she watched, Mom and Lucas grew even more luminous. Their bodies shone so brightly that she covered her eyes, and then Molly reached out a hand to steady herself as she sat on the rocky mountain peak. What was happening here?

Mom and Lucas turned to face her, and their faces were the most beautiful thing Molly had ever seen. Their voices sounded like music - like a symphony, like a huge choir singing, like the roar of the ocean, like the song of the mockingbird - all wrapped up together. A tear rolled down Molly’s cheek, and she didn’t know quite why. The sun evaporated it, leaving a cool little spot behind on her face. Molly reached up to touch the tear that was no longer. At that moment, a breeze blew past, riffling through her hair and kissing her cheek. And the glow faded from Mom and Lucas. As it did, Molly could understand their words again.

“Momma,” Lucas was saying. “I wish we could live here forever.”

Mom laughed. “Ah, Lucas, that would be lovely, wouldn’t it? But what would we eat up here? And where would we go when it rained? No, we have to go back down the mountain again, back to our tent and our sleeping bags. And in three more days, we will have to pack up our car and go back home again, back to our beds and our clothes and all of your stuffed animals. Don’t you miss them?”

Molly clambered back to her feet, walked over, and hugged her little brother tightly to her. “You know what, Lucas?”

“What?”

“You’re my brother, my only brother. I love you.”

And Molly held Lucas’s hand as they started down the mountain together.