Darry was there right on time to pick us up the next day. He had even cleaned up the inside of the truck. I hopped into the middle and Anna into the passenger seat.
"Anna, this is my brother Darry. Darry, this is Anna Harvey."
"Hi!" They said in unison.
"It's nice to meet you," Anna said. "Scout talks about you all the time."
"She does, huh?" He looked questioningly at me.
"Yeah. You sound like a pretty great brother." Darry smiled and I was so grateful to her for having said that, unprovoked.
Anna and I talked about practice and the girls on the team the whole ride home while Darry listened with an amused grin on his face. I don't think he was used to the fast pace of junior-high school girl gossip. We finally pulled up in front of Angelo's, and Anna grabbed her bag and hopped out.
"'Night Anna," I said.
"Bye Scout," she answered. "Goodnight, Mr. Curtis. Thanks!"
I burst out laughing. Mr. Curtis! Ha!
"You can call me Darry, Anna," he said, chuckling.
"OK. Well, Thanks, Darry, she smiled and headed inside.
Darry pulled away and when we pulled up to the house I got out of the truck and stared at him.
"What?" he asked.
"Well, just wanted to say thanks for the ride, Mr. Curtis!"
Darry chased me all the way into the house until I tripped and fell onto the couch and was tickled into submission.