Chapter 14
Esther Jacobs opened the door to her apartment only to almost drop her sewing. "David! What are you doing here?" Dave's lips grazed his mother's cheek in a swift kiss as he brushed past her, Becca following him closely.
"I came here with Becca, Mama."
"Came back with? Wha—"
"It turns out that my father lives in Kingston," answered Becca softly. "I went to visit for a few weeks." The confusion on Esther's face molded to a bright smile,
"Why, how wonderful! Did the two of you have a good time? But why are you back now? If—" Dave raised a hand to try to quiet his mother.
"It's nothing like that. Becca's grandfather is real sick, so she had to come back. I couldn't let her do it alone." Esther was taken aback.
"Oh, Becca, how awful—if there is anything we can do…"
"It's okay, Mrs. Jacobs. We don't need anything."
"Still, you may never know…" Esther argued.
"I know, Mrs. Jacobs." Esther gazed at her son lovingly,
"And you…David, that was such a gracious thing you did, coming back with her. I'm proud of you."
"Thanks, Mama. But there's something I need to talk with you and Papa about."
"Alright. He should be home for lunch in a few minutes."
"Where are Sara and Les?"
"Sara's at work. She dropped Les off at the Distribution office this morning. I would assume he's with Jack."
"Jack was at the hospital this morning with us," Becca informed Dave's mother. "He left to sell papers right after we left, but I don't think he was going to meet up with Les. Mush is selling with and watching Les, that's why he wasn't with Blink and Race this morning. Jack told me about it last night."
"That's fine, so long as he's with someone," Esther replied. At that moment, Mayar entered the apartment. He was equally shocked to see David, but waved away Dave's explanation until after lunch. Becca, of course, was promptly invited to eat with them, and she accepted.
***
When lunch was over, Dave explained to his parents and Becca about being dismissed from the Institution when he made the decision to leave. His parents were upset, but they slowly agreed with Dave that he had made the correct choice. When they were finished discussing this, Dave glanced around. Becca was no where to be seen. Mayar and Esther did not know where Becca was either. "Her things are still here, and I didn't hear the door open or shut, so she didn't leave," Dave thought aloud. An idea came to him, "I'm going to check the roof," he told his parents.
Sure enough, there Becca was. She was showing an unusual amount of concentrated interest in the tomatoes that Esther was growing. Becca looked up when she heard Dave approach. "I stayed long enough to hear was I needed to. I figured that the rest was probably family stuff so I slipped out."
"You could have stayed." Dave stood a couple of feet away from Becca, not sure of what to say or do. Instead of answering him, Becca launched into what she knew he really wanted to know.
"I don't know whether to be upset, angry, sad grateful, or a little bit of all of the above." She looked to Dave for help.
"I wanted to tell you right away, but with all you were feeling and going through…this morning I figured I'd better tell you sooner than later, and since I also had to tell my parents…" Becca fingered a tomato leaf,
"Race and Blink know, right?" A small trickle of guilt penetrated Dave's voice,
"Yes." When Becca did not say anything, he continued, trying to elucidate. "They asked, and I couldn't lie."
"No, that's okay," Becca assured him in a convincing tone. A tone, however, that still contained the quietness from earlier. "I understand. I'm not mad, not about anything. What the Institution did, even that makes sense when you look at it from an unbiased point of view. Now that I keep thinking in this frame of mind, I'm not upset either. A little sad, maybe, that you've missed that opportunity, but you're the Walking Mouth. There'll be others." Becca smiled at Dave,
"Thank you. What you've done…thank you. I don't…that was the sweetest thing anyone's ever done…" as she trailed off, Dave closed the distance between them and hugged her shoulders.
"You're more important than some boarding school. I'd make the same decision in a split second." Becca drew away suddenly from Dave.
"David, what does this mean? Are you—are you back here to stay?" Dave beamed,
"Yup." Becca grinned resplendently back at him,
"You're back! I'm so glad you're back! Or, you're going to be back, or—wait, I've confused myself…never mind." Dave shook his head with an amused smile on his face.
"You are so funny." Becca's nose crinkled,
"Is that a good thing?"
"Oh yes. It's part of what makes you, you."
"Ah, I see."
"You wanna head to the Lodging House so you can drop of your things?"
"Okay."