When Danielle left for Spain, Terry was eleven. Ten years apart they never connected until that point. The only thing they had in common was that they liked to do penciled drawings, but neither sibling knew of the other’s hobby. They were always involved in separate things, either in school or personal interests. When Terry was a toddler, Danielle was jealous of the attention he got. When Terry was between five and eight, Danielle was a teenager, and having a little brother around was clumsy baggage. Then Danielle tried college, but she quickly tired of the instructors and the way they seemed to only go through the motions in class, showing little enthusiasm in the subjects they chose to make a career of. Yet, more than that, the class work appeared trivial, antiquated, and built around teachings that seemed to be simple common sense. Besides, she was too anxious be a part of the adult world. Independent, she took on a job and shortly moved out on her own, but that was no simple task. In order to make rent and car payments she had to take on two jobs. So, needless to say, even that phase of her life left no time for Terry. More simply put, the age difference kept the brother and sister apart.
Danielle was now flying to Barcelona and then taking a short bus ride to an olive farm where her friend and family lived. This was a vacation that Danielle needed badly, and her parents helped to arrange so they could see their daughter have some sort of social life. The friend that she was visiting had been a foreign exchange student three years earlier at the school Danielle went to. Terry went with his parents on a two hour drive to the airport to drop his sister off. The siblings rode in the back seat. Danielle watched quietly out the window into the night, excited just as much about flying in a plane for the first time as she was going to a different country. Mom and dad periodically gave last minute advise on what to do and what not to do, but Danielle paid little attention, although she was grateful for all they did, including handling most of the finances for the trip. And Danielle knew what a sacrifice it was, because her parents both made a very modest income.
Terry however cared very little about taking his sister to the airport or that she was going to Europe. He quietly played his Gameboy and listened to his portable radio with a headset on, not liking the station his parents were listening to, and having nothing really to talk to his sister about. In fact, he sarcastically said his goodbye to Danielle before they got in the car, suggesting it may be too hard to do at the confusion of the airport.
