At 2:30 I did call the number that Mrs. Wilson had left for me. When the voice that answered said, "Kelsey's," I was surprised. Instead of
just a simple 'hello'. And it was a man's voice. I'd thought she was at a friend's house. Of course, she still could be at a friend's house.
"Is Mrs. Wilson there?" I asked tentatively.
"Mrs. Wilson-I don't know who that is, kid," the man said. "What's her name? First name, I mean."
I hesitated, realizing that I didn't know the answer to that.
"I don't know her first name," I said. "Can't you ask if there's a Mrs. Wilson there? Please?"
I could hear him sigh and then holler out, "Mrs. Wilson, phone call! Anybody here named Wilson?"
After a couple of moments, he spoke into the telephone again.
"Nobody answerin' to that handle, kid."
"Well, but she's supposed to be at this number," I insisted.
"I don't know what to tell ya. Like I said, nobody claims the name."
"Is there a group of ladies there, playing cards?" I asked, then, still insistent.
"There's ladies here, but they're not playin' cards," he said, with a laugh.
I wasn't sure just what he meant by that.
"Sorry, kid," he said, and abruptly hung up the telephone. I sat there for a couple of moments, stunned. Why wasn't Mrs. Wilson
there, if this was the number she'd given to me.
I hung up, and went to get the baby, who was beginning to fuss from her crib in Mrs. Wilson's bedroom. I changed her
diaper and then took her with me to the kitchen, to fix her a bottle.
The phone began ringing again, and I went quick-like to answer it.
After my hello, Soda said, "Did ya get ahold of her?"
"No. She's not there."
"What d'ya mean, she's not there?" he demanded.
"She's not there, the man said."
"Where's the number for? A friend's house? Call back and ask when she left," he said.
"He didn't seem to know that she'd been there at all-"
"Give me the number," Soda said, sounding irritated.
"Let's just give her a little more time, Soda-" I said.
"Number," he said.
I read off the telephone number to Soda and he said, "I'll call ya back."
I set the baby on the floor with some toys and her bottle, as the other kids began to rouse from their naps. Darn it, I'd
been hoping they would sleep a lot longer.
I fed them snacks, sitting around the kitchen table, and then went to answer the ringing telephone a third time.
"That's a bar, Junie," Soda said, when I answered.
"A bar?" I asked, shocked.
"Yeah. A bar. Read the number off again."
"I gave it to you-"
"Junie, just check it. I don't have time for all of this."
"Fine," I grumbled, and then read off the number on the paper pad slowly and carefully.
"That's what ya gave me before."
"That's what she wrote down, Soda!"
I could hear the kids fussing in the kitchen.
"What should I do?" I asked him.
"Nothin' to do, right at this moment," he said. "Just sit tight and take care of the kids. I'll come by there when I get
off work and see if you're still there. If ya are, then we'll figure somethin' out."
"Okay," I said, and again, he hung up.
I fed the kids their snacks, and then had them play with toys in the living room. I would have taken them back outside, but
I wouldn't be able to hear the telephone then, in case Mrs. Wilson called. To explain why she'd been delayed.
It wasn't too long after that, maybe an hour or so, when I heard a rapping of knocking on the front door. I went to look out the
window, and wow, I was surprised to see Darry standing there, on the porch.
I pulled the front door open, and then the screen door.
I hadn't seen Darry in two days, so I don't know if that's why I was so darned glad to see him standing there, or if it was
because I was in a situation that I really didn't know how to handle. I could tell he'd come right from the job site, because
he was sweaty and hot looking, and his clothes were covered with the stuff that comes off the roof shingles.
"Hey, Darry!" I greeted him.
"Hey. Mrs. Wilson home yet?"
I shook my head. "No. How did you-"
"I stopped at Buck's when I got finished workin'. He told me what was goin' on."
"Oh." I was glad that he hadn't left work because of all this. That would have been so not good.
He gave a look inside at the kids all around, and the oldest one, John, came over to look up at Darry with unconcealed
curiousity.
"Is you June's daddy?" he asked, innocently.
"I'm her brother," Darry told the John.
While the little boy kept staring at Darry, Darry turned to look at me again.
"What did she say when she left this mornin'?"
"That she'd be home around noon, and she left a telephone number."
"That's all she said?"
At my nod, he sighed.
"She'll be along probably any time," I said, though I was beginning to wonder myself.
"Uh huh," Darry said, not looking pleased.
The baby began to fuss, and I motioned Darry to come on inside, and went to pick her up. I was holding her against my chest, while
the other kids played, and the oldest one continued to study Darry as if he found him fascinating.
"This is-" Darry began to swear, and then caught himself, remembering the kids. "Nonsense," he said, in substitution.
"Maybe somethin' happened to hold her up," I offered. I didn't like the look on Darry's face. I was fairly certain that that particular
look meant that he was gonna forbid me from working at the Wilson's any more.
"No excuse for not callin'," Darry said, in a low tone, still mindful of the kids who might be listening.
"What's your dad's name?" Darry asked the John.
"Dennis Wilson. My mama calls him Dennie," he answered.
"Dennis. Yeah, I remember now," Darry said, almost to himself in thought.
Darry told me take the kids outside so he could make a telephone call. I wondered what he was thinking, and I asked
him. All he said was, "Go on. Take 'em outside."
I did that, and after a few minutes Darry appeared to stand beside me in the yard.
"I got ahold of their father," Darry said. "He's gonna be along within the hour to take over with the kids."
"How did ya get ahold of him?" I asked.
"I remembered him sayin' one time a year or so ago that he worked at an insurance office downtown. I called a couple of them,
and managed to locate him."
"Oh," I said. "I could have stayed till he got off work-it's probably only another couple of hours, isn't it?"
"He's comin' within the hour," Darry repeated.
"What did ya tell him?" I asked.
"I told him the facts. That you've been here since seven this mornin', and you're still here, even though it was supposed to
only be until noon. That we called the number his wife left and she's nowhere to be found, and we haven't had a word from her."
I winced at that.
"I'm sure she didn't intend for this to happen-" I began. Truthfully, I was more than ready to go home, and I wasn't real happy
with Mrs. Wilson, either. But, that did not mean that I wanted Darry to put a stop to me coming here.
When Darry didn't answer, but only looked stony-faced, I went on, "Sometimes ya just have to be understanding of
people, right?"
"Not when there's no excuse for their behavior," Darry said, sounding definite.
"But, Darry-"
"We'll talk about it later," Darry said, shooting me a glance. "At home."
I knew there was no option but to do what he said. We were still outside in the back yard, when, about forty-five minutes later,
Mr. Wilson arrived home. He came walking out from the house to the yard, wearing a suit and tie. The kids got excited to
see him, and ran to greet him. He patted them absent-mindedly, and told them to go back to playing.
"Darry-" he said, and put out a hand.
"Dennis," Darry said, in return, shaking his hand.
"And-June, right?" he said to me.
When I nodded, he said, "I'm as sorry as I can be about this whole mess. I can't imagine what Carol was thinking. She
should have known the bus trip to her mother's could run well past noon." Bus trip to her mother's?
I didn't know what to say, so I said nothing, and neither did Darry. Not about that, anyway.
"Well, it's like I said to ya on the phone," Darry said. "I only agreed for Junie to be over here a couple of hours a day. There
was nothin' on my part agreein' about days like this."
"I understand that, Darry. I sure do. I know, though, that Carol has sure been enjoying having June come over to help out. These kids
are a whole lot for her to handle." Dennis Wilson sort of chuckled at his own statement, as if he thought he might amuse
Darry, as well.
Darry nodded, but didn't smile, or look amused.
"I'll see to it that this sort of thing doesn't happen again," Mr. Wilson said, and pulled out his wallet. "What do I owe you, June?"
I calculated quickly in my head. It was nearly 4:30 by now, so I'd been here around nine and a half hours.
I figured that the extra half hour to make it ten was only fair, so I said, "Ten dollars."
Mr. Wilson looked surprised. "Ten? Is that all?"
"Mrs. Wilson and I agreed on a dollar an hour," I said, in honesty.
"Well, I tell you what," he said, sounding expansive. "For having to stay longer than you'd planned, and for taking such
good care of the kids and all-let's say fifteen. How about that?"
"Thank you," I said, feeling as though I didn't mind the long day I'd put in so much now. Fifteen dollars!
I was more than half-way to being able to buy that flash for my camera!
I took the bills he offered to me, and tucked them into the pocket of my shorts.
"We'll see you soon, then, June," he said, smiling at me.
"The thing is, Dennis, I'm not sure this is the right thing for Junie," Darry said.
If I could have, (without fear of retribution), I would have pinched Darry or jabbed him with my elbow in his ribs. What was he doing?! Ruining
my chance for a job!
"I understand that today was unfortunate, with the way things turned out and all," Mr. Wilson said. "I'd sure appreciate it, Darry,
if you'd still allow June to come over to help out, though."
"We'll see," Darry told him. I wanted to protest so badly. So badly!
Mr. Wilson kept apologizing, even as we were walking back into the house.
I braved a very low, "Darry-" in protest.
He responded with an equally low, but terse, "Junie," to effectively shut me up.
We walked out to Darry's truck, and I went to get in on the passenger side. I had to scoot Darry's tool belt over into the middle of the truck seat
so that I'd have a place to sit.
Once he'd pulled out onto the street, I waited, but he didn't say anything.
"I've got more than half of what I need now," I said, into the silence. "To buy the camera flash, I mean."
"Uh huh," Darry said.
I wanted to say right out that just a few more days of a couple hours a day at the Wilson's, and then I'd have enough to buy
what I wanted. But, I found that I just didn't have it in me. Darry's profile was set. Stern, almost. So, instead,
just as we were turning onto our own street, I said, really quietly, and pleadingly, "Can't I go back? Mr. Wilson says it
won't happen again. And he paid me extra and everything!"
"I don't think it's a good idea. It seems as though there's stuff goin' on there that you don't need to be a part of," Darry said.
"Maybe she really did go to visit her mother," I offered, though I knew she'd done no such a thing. Why, if she'd been doing that, would
she not have said so? Why would she have said that she'd be home by noon? And, she left me a number to a bar. I wondered if
Soda had shared that part of this afternoon with Darry, but I was nearly certain that he had.
"She didn't go visit her mother," Darry said, decisively.
"Maybe she did," I said. It sounds as though I was being argumentative, and stubborn, but I really wasn't. I said it
quietly, feeling let down.
"No," Darry said, flatly. He turned to give me a look. "She went out-probably drinkin', and at a bar-and then she
didn't have the decency to be home when she said she would be. Or even call to let anybody know where she was at."
I was trying to formulate a response, a valid argument to that, when Darry said, "What if somethin' had happened with
one of the kids? They got hurt or somethin' like that?"
"I would have called Soda-" I began, feeling a bit stung.
"I know that. I don't mean what you would have done, Junie. I'm talkin' about their mother. It's not responsible, what she
did. I think she's takin' advantage of you."
"But, I don't mind!" I protested. "Even if she is, I'm getting paid! And even some extra, today!"
"Well, I do mind," Darry countered. "And besides, there's all the stuff at home that needs doin' now, since you and Pony
were both gone all day."
Even though dishes and housework was the last thing that I wanted to do after my long day at the Wilson's, I thought I would
do it all, if it kept Darry from laying down the law.
"I'll do all of that-as soon as I get inside!" I said, as we pulled into our driveway, and Darry put the truck into park.
Darry turned the motor off, and turned to face me, sighing a little. "That's not what I meant. You shouldn't have to do
it all. You put in a hard day today with those kids, I'm sure. I'll help ya. That's not-" He paused.
"Darry, please, please, let me go back tomorrow! I'll only stay for the two hours, I promise! Even if she asks me to stay
longer, I'll say no, and come home! Please?"
Darry sighed again. "Let me think about it," he said. "Alright?"
It wasn't alright. Not really. But, at least he wasn't saying no, out-right. I still had a chance.
Outsiders