Not too long after Karissa had left, Guthrie came thru from the kitchen, cookies in his hands. Adam was stretched out on the couch, one arm over his
forehead, sleeping. Clare was sitting with her feet in Brian's lap, as he read the Sunday newspaper.
"Okay if I go play some basketball?" Guthrie inquired in a general way.
"Where at?" Brian asked.
"Over at the elementary," Guthrie told him.
"You got all your homework done?"
"Yep. Sure do."
"Go on," Brian said, waving a hand at him.
"Wanna go with?" Guthrie turned to look at me.
The thought of getting out in the sunshine, and away for a little while was hugely appealing. I nodded at Guthrie gratefully and got to
my feet.
"Okay, Bri?" I asked.
"Get going," Brian said, in answer.
So Guthrie and I headed into Murphys to the elementary school. For awhile it was just the two of us, and then Trent and Lori showed up. After that, more kids
began to stop, parking their cars and trucks, and joining in the game. We had enough to play Horse by now. One of the girls had some cold drinks in her car, and left the trunk lid up, so everybody could go grab a Coke from the cooler if they wanted.
I was opening a bottle of Coke when someone behind me said hello, startling me.
I turned around to see Kenny standing there, grinning at me, another boy with him. Well, technically, he wasn't a boy. I figured he was at least
Evan's age.
"Hi, Kenny," I said in greeting.
"Hey, Harlie." Kenny introduced the other guy as his cousin, Jake.
"Hi," I said.
"Hi, Harlie," Jake said in greeting.
The game continued, and another game was started at the other end of the basketball court.
As Kenny ambled away, I was left standing there with his cousin. I gave him a slight smile, not knowing what to say.
"You live around here?" he asked me.
"Uh huh." After a moment's hesitation, I said, "Where are you from?"
"I live in Stockton." He gave me a grin. "My little cousin's pretty gone over you."
That was embarrassing to me. I shrugged in answer.
"I can see why. You're real pretty," he added.
Now I felt my face turn red. "Thanks," I said, and after that, we both joined the game. More and more people stopped, until it seemed as though half
the town was either playing in one of the ongoing games, or sitting around and watching. I wasn't all that surprised to see Evan and Ford show up as well.
After awhile I sat down on Guthrie's tailgate, talking to Lori, and drinking another Coke.
Ford came over and half-sat down beside me.
"I'm heading back," he told me.
"Okay."
There was a moment of stilted silence, and Lori said, "I'll let you two talk," and jumped down.
"Should you be drinkin' that?" Ford asked, with a gesture toward the bottle of Coke in my hand.
"Nope. And guess what? This one is even better than the first one I had a little while ago. I may even have a third one."
"Whew," Ford said. "You still have a lousy attitude."
"I do not."
After a couple of minutes of silence, Ford gave me a dig in the ribs with his elbow.
"I'll see ya in a couple of weeks then, probably."
I nodded, and then I watched as he headed towards the street where his battered white truck was parked. I saw him give a wave to Guthrie, who stopped
playing long enough to sprint over to Ford, where they exchanged a quick conversation and some back-slapping.
As Ford was climbing into the truck, I realized that I'd never, ever, not said a proper goodbye to Ford whenever he headed back to college. I was
suddenly ashamed of myself, and hopped down from the tailgate, running towards his truck.
I yelled, "Ford!" as he began to pull away from the curb.
He braked to a stop, and I ran around to his open driver's window.
"What's wrong?" he asked me.
"Nothing," I said, a little out of breath from running. "I just wanted to say goodbye."
Ford gave me a brotherly look that suggested quite strongly that I was crazy.
"I know, I know," I said. "Don't say it."
Ford shook his head a little, and grinned at me.
"Sorry I've been a grouch to you," I said.
"It's okay."
"I'll see you," I said.
"Yep. See ya," As Ford pulled out onto the street, he leaned out the window enough to call back at me, "Don't drink any more Coke, though!"
I stuck my tongue out at him playfully, and watched until he'd driven out of sight.
7
Riding home later, sandwiched in the middle between Guthrie and Evan, I was quiet. It had been a long day, and I was tired.
I was busy with my own thoughts, so I was startled when Evan gave me a nudge.
"Huh?" he prompted.
"What?" I asked, looking at him.
"I said, who's the guy?"
"What guy?" I asked.
"The guy that was talkin' to you all afternoon."
"I don't know what you're talking about," I said impatiently.
"That's Kenny's cousin," Guthrie volunteered into the conversation.
I looked from Guthrie back to Evan. "Oh, you mean that guy? Yeah, that's Kenny's cousin."
"So, is that the mystery guy?" Evan demanded.
"What?" I said, blinking a little. "What mystery guy?"
"The one you've met. The one you told me and Ford about."
Oh, that. I'd forgotten all about my little joke on Evan, where I'd deliberately tried to stir him up.
"No, silly," I said.
"So this isn't him?"
"No!"
"Why was this guy chatting you up all day, then?" Evan asked, sounding irritated.
"He wasn't," I denied.
"I saw him, Har."
Now that I thought about it, Kenny's cousin had sought me out a few times that afternoon, talking. I hadn't thought that much
about it. He'd just been being friendly, I thought. Maybe flirting a little bit. I hadn't found him all that appealing. He was too overbearing
for me.
"He barely said two words to me, Ev."
"Humpph," Evan said.
"He didn't talk to me anymore than he did to anyone else," I protested.
"He kind of did talk to you a lot, Har," Guthrie said, and I glared at him.
"Thanks a lot, Guth," I said sarcastically, and Guthrie flashed a grin at me.
"I don't know the guy at all," I said, "And I'm tired of talking about it, okay?"
"So if he's not the mystery guy, then who is?" Evan continued, relentlessly.
I twisted in the seat to face Evan. "There is no mystery guy," I said. "I made it all up."
"Why would you do that?" Evan asked.
"Because you made me mad, teasing me about Kenny. I was just trying to yank your chain."
Evan looked as though he didn't believe me. "Is that so?" he asked.
"Yes, that's so!"
"I don't know, Har," Evan said slowly. "It seems like you're protesting an awful lot for somethin' that's not true."
"I'm protesting because you won't shut up about it!"
"Yeah?" Evan asked, raising an eyebrow at me.
"Guthrie!" I hollered, and Guthrie flinched.
"What?" he asked, startled.
"Stop the truck," I told him.
"Huh?"
"Just stop!"
Guthrie pulled to the side of the road, and stopped the truck, looking at me, wide-eyed. "You sick?" he asked.
"Yes! Sick of Evan! Let me out!"
Guthrie got out and I hopped out after him.
"I'm walking the rest of the way," I told him, as he stood there staring at me.
"A mile or more?" he asked.
"Yes. Just go," I told him, and started walking, and I heard Evan laugh.
"You've made your point, Har," Evan said. "Get back in."
I walked on, ignoring him. It had gotten hot that afternoon, and I felt sweat pooling on my neck, under my curls, before I'd hardly begun
walking. The truck door slammed, and Guthrie began driving slowly, creeping along behind me.
I stopped in frustration. "Go ON!" I yelled.
Guthrie stopped, and Evan opened the passenger door, stepping out onto the running board.
"Come on, Har," he said.
I stood there, hot and sweaty, and fuming.
"I'll stop. Okay?" Evan said, and I could tell he was barely holding back his laughter.
I was still mute, glaring at him.
"I said I'll stop teasin' ya. Come on," he coaxed.
"Do you promise?" I asked.
"Yeah. I promise. Now get in."
I turned to survey the road in front of me, calculating how far it was to our driveway, and then adding in how hot it was, and how
thirsty I was. I weighed all that against my stubbornness. Thirst and heat won out. I stalked back to the truck, and Evan moved aside
so I could get back into the middle of the seat, then he got in, too, and slammed the door. And we were on our way.
7
I was so tired that I ate my sandwich, leftover roast from lunch, and then headed up to take a shower. I was in my room, getting ready to
climb into bed, when I heard voices in the hallway, and I remembered then, about the morning.
I went to open the door, waiting as Crane, Adam and Brian, paused there in the hallway, continued talking for a minute.
"Hey," Adam said, to me, as they all three looked at me questioningly.
"I was wondering about the morning," I said.
"It'll come. It always does," Brian said, with a grin.
"Funny," I told him. "I mean about talking to the animal control about the case."
"What about it?" Adam asked.
"I was thinking that I could go over there, and finish really quickly, and get right back to school," I began.
Brian, since he didn't know what we were talking about, didn't say anything. But Adam, and Crane, too, both looked
serious, really fast.
"Oh, you were thinkin' that, were you?" Adam asked, in a quiet voice, that didn't mask his irritation .
"Well, yeah," I said. "This is really important. And they probably need to get things finished up soon, and all-"
"Harlie, we told you earlier, we'll call in the morning after you head to school, and set up another time," Adam said.
"I know, but-" I commenced to argue.
"Subject is closed," Adam said, and he gave me a look I felt to my toes.
"Okay," I said, mildly enough, but I shut my door harder than was necessary.
7
