Chapter Eleven: Dinner with the Van Burens
"I washed your favorite outfit, Duo, so you can wear that today." Diana was standing in the middle of my room, holding a basket of clean laundry under one arm. "Everything else in this basket I want folded and put away. You're sixteen--"
"Seventeen," I corrected, peeking out from under my pillow with one eye.
"Sixteen according to the government's records," Diana shot back. "Either way, you're old enough to be able to take care of your clothes. And I want all these dirty clothes on your floor in the bathroom hamper when I come back up here in half an hour, got it? The Van Burens are going to want to see your room, and I want them to actually see the room and not a pigsty."
"Okay," I mumbled. I really just wanted to go back to sleep for another few hours.
"I'm gonna leave now so you can get up. But if I come back up here and you're still in bed, heads will roll, starting with yours. I'm not joking this time."
"Sure."
Diana had been trying to wake me up all morning. Now, at one in the afternoon, she had finally had it. It was the first time she had really put her foot down since I had moved in. She had been pretty easy going up until now. I guess having company over was important to her.
She left the room, closing the door behind her. Groaning, I flung my comforter off and pulled my head out from under my pillow. Sunlight was streaming through my window, illuminating a big square on the carpet. It was a nice day out.
I stood up and stretched, reveling in the feel of various joints cracking through out my body. I stooped down, gathered all my dirty clothes up into one huge bundle. Then, grabbing my towel and the clothes I was going to wear that day, I headed to the bathroom.
I dumped my dirty clothes into the hamper, stripped off my boxers and the t-shirt I slept in and stepped into the shower.
The hot water felt good against my skin, and I thought that if I couldn't stay in bed all day, the shower would be the next best thing. But the Christophers had to pay for their water, so I didn't take any longer than I had to with washing my body and my hair.
When I was done, I dried off and got dressed in my priest-like outfit. It was funny: Hilde had gone out and bought me a ton of new clothes so that I wouldn't have to wear the same outfit everyday, but I still wore my priest outfit as often as possible. I guess there are somethings even the God of Death can't let go over easily.
I straightened up my room, made my bed, and vacuumed the carpet. Since I didn't have too much stuff my room wasn't a complete mess, and Diana was satisfied when she came back upstairs to check on my progress.
"Good job Duo," she said, patting me on the shoulder. She eyed my hair that was still wet and still needed to be brushed and braided. "Would you like to borrow my hair dryer?"
I shook my head and grabbed my brush up off my desk. "Nah. If I braid it when it's wet, it'll stay in better."
"Suit yourself," she said with a shrug and went back down stairs.
I brushed and braided my hair and then went down stairs. Benny was sitting in the middle of the front hall, looking quite dejected.
"Hey Benny, wanna go for a walk?" I asked him as I bent over and patted his golden head. He licked my hand in answer.
I took Benny for a walk and when we got back, there was an incredible smell coming from the kitchen. I went in to find Diana reading a cookbook and Jon mixing something in a bowl.
"Hey, Duo, come over here and stir this stuff for a while," Jon said, holding the bowl out to me.
"Mmmkay," I said, taking the bowl from him and sitting down on a stool. "What's for dinner?"
"Leg of lamb," Diana replied. "Jericho's favorite."
I nearly dropped the bowl. "Jericho?"
"Yes, the Van Burens' daughter, Jericho. Do you know her?" Diana asked when she saw my face.
"Yeah, she's in a few of my classes at school," I replied.
"Good! This will be an opportunity for you two to get to know each other better. She's a nice girl, but I don't think she has many friends."
I know she doesn't, I thought. I couldn't believe it. Out of all the families in town, Jericho's had to be the one to come over for dinner. At least I wouldn't have to give her the locket back at school. But this also meant I had to spend four or five hours with the girl who thought I was lower than a dog.
I sighed. I had a feeling I was about to develop a new respect for diplomats.
The Van Burens arrived right at three-thirty, just as had been arranged. I answered the door and asked them in. Diana and Jon came out from the kitchen and greeted Megan, David, and Jericho with hugs—well, Jon and David shook hands. Then they introduced me. I exchanged warm handshakes and smiles with Megan and David, but when I shook Jericho's hand, I felt like I was shaking a stone. And while I gave her a genuine smile, her smile was forced and almost sarcastic looking. I tried to ignore her cold glare, and I hoped the adults wouldn't notice it.
"Where's Benny?" Jericho asked as soon as we let go.
"He's outside on his run," Diana said as Jon led Megan and David into the front room. "Duo, why don't you take Jericho out to see Benny?"
"Okay," I said. We went out the sliding glass doors in the dining room and out on to the patio. I closed the door as Jericho walked over and greeted Benny.
I watched her for a moment before joining her. She was wearing a nice pair of black pants and a pretty dark blue top that looked really good on her. Her hair had been pulled back into a low ponytail. I had noticed when we had shaken hands that she had band-aids over the cuts she had gotten on Thursday. Finally, sighing, I walked over to her and Benny.
"You weren't in school on Friday," I said.
"My, my," Jericho replied coolly, not looking up at me as she petted Benny. "Aren't we the master of the obvious?"
"Were you sick?" I asked.
"No," she replied, now scratching Benny behind the ears. "I was at a competition."
"Really? Whatsort of competition?"
"Visual Art and Design. I had stuff entered in a couple of different categories."
"Cool! Did you win anything?" I asked.
She didn't answer.
I cleared my throat. "So, um, how's your hand? You hurt it on Thursday, right?"
"Yeah, I did. It's healing. Why do you care?" she asked, standing up. Her voice was cold, but not hateful. I saw that as a good sign.
I shrugged. "I was just wondering."
"Well, wonder no more."
We stood in silence for a while. Jericho was still devoting all her attention to Benny who was soaking it up like a sponge. Uncomfortable, I stuck my hands into my pockets and felt the locket I had put in the pocket. I had almost forgotten it was in there.
I cleared my throat, and Jericho and Benny both turned their eyes to me.
"Jericho, I…I'm really sorry about what happened on Thursday."
She laughed, a bitter, forced laugh. "Don't be sorry. It happens all the time."
"So since it happens all the time, I shouldn't care or be sorry?" I asked.
"None of your friends do, why should you?" she replied.
I shook my head. "You've got it wrong. I don't make friends with people who treat others like dirt for fun. 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you', and all that jazz. Here." I pulled the crushed locket out of my pocket andheldit out to Jericho.
She took it and looked down at it. "Where did you get this?" she asked. She looked pretty close to tears.
"In the street, after you left. I felt really sorry about what happened, and I figured the least I could do was give it back to you."
She looked up at me. "If you were so sorry, why did you let it happen?" she demanded.
I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn't find anything to say that would be a good enough answer. "I guess I just didn't want my friends to think I wasn't cool," I said, my cheeks burning with shame. "I'm really sorry."
"Hn," Jericho said with a slight smile. "You should wear that priest outfit more often. You're nicer when you wear it. More honest, at any rate." She paused as if thinking for a moment. "If you really are sorry," she said, "You can prove it by not becoming one of them."
"One of them?" I asked.
"One of James' lackeys. All those people who just adore him and look up to him and hang out with him, and don't step in to stop him when he's picking on kids who don't fit into his idea of normal."
I looked at her without speaking. Her face was set with a determined and hopeful look. She's pretty, I realized with a shock, but she doesn't know it. Something told me that if she had known she was pretty, things would have been much different for her. "Deal," I said. "I'll be your lackey instead of James's"
Jericho let out a loud, happy laugh. "No, I don't have lackeys. I have friends. Will that work for you?"
I shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat, kiddo," I said with a grin.
"Alright, then maybe we should start all over, eh what?" she asked. She backed up a step and put her hands on her hips. "So, why are you wearing it if you're not a priest and you're not studying to be a priest?"
I smiled, remembering our first conversation. "I have my reasons. I suppose you're gonna tell me that impersonating a member of the clergy is illegal now?"
"Nah. Diana's gonna call us into dinner in…three…two…one." Jericho snapped her fingers as Diana's voice came calling from the house, "Duo! Jericho! Dinner's ready. Come in and wash your hands. And bring Benny with you!"
My jaw dropped and I stared at Jericho who was standing there, smiling smugly at me. "Coming Diana!" I called. I let Benny off his run and we went inside.
It felt so good to be on good terms with Jericho. It had actually been a lot easier to talk to her than I thought it would be. And she was happy to have her locket back, even though it was pretty well ruined.
"Look what Duo found, Mom," Jericho said as we sat down at the dinner table.
"You're locket! Oh, what happened to it?" Megan asked as she looked at what was left of the necklace.
"Duo found it in the street. I guess the chain must've broke and it fell off on my way home from school. It was getting old anyway," Jericho said with a sad shrug.
"Well, Jericho, you should be more attentive with your things. At least the pictures weren't ruined. But really the chain wasn't that old. We just got if a few months ago; I don't see how it could have broken…"
I opened my mouth to speak up and say exactly what had happened to the necklace, but I caught Jericho's eye. She gave me a pleading look and she shook her head very slightly. She didn't want me to tell her mom. I gave her a questioning look, and then the light came on in my head. She hadn't told her mom about what had happened on Thursday, and she didn't want her mom to know. So I shut my mouth without saying anything.
After the meal, I took the Van Burens up to see my room. The adults only seemed politely interested, but Jericho was fascinated with it. She examined the diagram of the space colonies on the wall above my desk. "Wow, cool! I was looking at one of these at the planetarium a few weeks ago," she breathed. "But I got a poster of Jupiter instead—more color, you know?"
"Jericho loves anything that has to do with astronomy," Diana explained to me.
"Jericho loves anything that has to do with anything," Megan corrected. "You should see some of the books she brought home from that last discount book sale, Diana. One was a book on Aerodynamics; another was an old calculus textbook. I think she brought home a few books of foreign poetry, only one of which had English translations. And she's already finished most of the books she bought that are in English…" she kept talking, but I stopped listening. I walked over and stood next to Jericho. She was still looking at the Space Colony poster.
"I have a friend that I think you'd get along with," I told her. "He loves books. He has a rare book collection that he keeps under lock and key."
"Really? Maybe I should take up lock picking for my next hobby," she said, a mischievous look coming over her face.
"You will do no such thing, young lady!" Megan cried.
"Yes ma'am," Jericho sighed.
As soon as the adults were talking again, I leaned over closer to Jericho. "I can teach you how to pick locks, if you want," I whispered.
Jericho's eyes lit up and she nodded.
When it was time for the Van Burens to go home, Jon, Diana, and I walked them to the door and said goodbye.
"See ya tomorrow, Duo," Jericho said as she stepped outside.
"Yep. See ya tomorrow," I answered. I waved good-bye and Jon closed the door.
"Well, that went much better than I originally thought," Diana said as she went into the kitchen to start the dishes.
"What do you mean?" I asked, following her.
"Well, with the look Jericho was giving you when she first got here, I could have sworn she thought you were lower than dirt," Diana replied. I winced and wondered if Diana had any idea how close she was to the truth.
"But she was definitely pleased with you when she left," Jon added. "I guess finding her locket won you her favor." He winked at me.
Diana rolled her eyes and hit Jon with a dish towel playfully. "Duo, do you have homework?"
"Yeah."
"Why don't you go do it."
"Cause I don't want to?" I replied with a charming little grin.
Diana laughed. "That wasn't a question, Duo. That was an order."
"Yes ma'am!" I laughed, giving her a mock salute. I then turned and went upstairs and did my homework.
