Since the news from Social Services had turned out to not be all that bad, I decided there was really no point in putting off the inevitable and showing Darry my report card. So when Pony and I finished up with the dishes, I went down to my room and grabbed it off my desk.
Darry was sitting at the kitchen table trying to fix the lock from what was now his bedroom door – the one he had broken that night when I'd locked myself in there and had a nightmare. He had the whole doorknob in pieces and was trying to put it back together. I sat down across from him.
"Think you can fix it?" It seemed that he and Soda could usually fix most of the stuff we broke around the house.
"Probably," he said. It just needs some new screws." He looked up at me. "You studying doorknob repair, all of a sudden?"
"No. Do you have a minute?"
"I guess so, why?"
"Our report cards came," I said. That got his attention.
"And…?"
"I did okay in almost everything… just, you already know I had some problems with the math…" I handed it to him.
He looked it over and didn't look too mad, but I wasn't sure.
"Are you mad?" I was pretty sure that he wouldn't like the comment my math teacher had added – Scout has been distracted this term and performed well below her ability on several quizzes and tests. She can do better..
"No, I'm not mad," he said, putting it down and looking back across the table at me. "He's right, though… you can do better. I know you will, next year… junior high grades don't really count toward college or anything, anyway."
"I promise it will be better next time," I said. Darry started fiddling with the doorknob again.
"It wasn't your fault, Scout. I know that. You had a lot to deal with this past year, and, honestly, I'm real proud of how well both you and Pony handled it. I certainly wasn't myself for a while there, either. How'd he do?"
"I'll let him tell you," I said, going into the living room where Pony and Two-Bit were arguing about what to watch on TV.
"Pony, Darry wants to see your report card," I said. "I already showed him mine," I added.
Soda took his attention off of Sandy for a second.
"And…?" he asked.
"He wasn't mad."
"Told you," Soda said and went back to whispering sweet nothings in Sandy's ear. Pony got up and left, swatting Two-Bit on his way by.
"Well, that ain't nice, attacking an injured man," Two-Bit called after him.
"How is your injury, anyway, Two-Bit?" I asked.
"I dunno. Gotta get it checked on Friday."
"Hey, I have to go on Friday, too," Soda looked up. "Where they sendin' you?"
"Tulsa General, some fancy bone doctor."
"Me too. Hey, maybe I can drive us, that way Darry won't have to take time off or anything." Soda had been dying to get Two-Bit to loan him his car while he couldn't drive anyway, and this seemed his perfect opportunity.
"Doc says you can drive with your arm in a cast?"
"He never said I couldn't," Soda replied. He could still move his fingers, and grab stuff, and he'd driven the truck a few times, so I was pretty sure he could drive okay. Otherwise Darry would never have let him.
"That works for me. Come to think of it, I think you should be my personal chauffeur, what with all the time you've got on your hands, not working and all. In return, maybe I'll let you borrow my car a few nights, to take the lady out for a soda… no pun intended."
Soda smiled. That was exactly what he'd wanted Two-Bit to suggest. Two-Bit knew it, too, I'm sure.
"I think we can work something out."
Two-Bit went to shift positions in the chair and accidentally kicked his empty beer bottle under the chair. I moved to get it.
"Leave it, Scoot," he said. "I'll get it, eventually."
"Right, eventually… like in six months. The state is coming on Thursday, Wise Guy, we can't exactly have beer bottles lying around." I dug it out.
"What do they want?" Two-Bit sounded concerned. Funny how any mention of Social Services got him just as nervous as it had the rest of us.
"They just want to make sure everything is okay around here, that me and Pony aren't wasting away because Darry's spending all the state money on drugs and prostitutes."
"Scout!" Soda was laughing and shocked at the same time.
"Well, that's how Pony explained it to me." He had, at the church in Windrixville.
"You said that to her?" I heard Darry asking Pony in the kitchen.
"No. Jesus, Scout, I never said that. I said they were making sure he wasn't spending the money on beer and girls, not drugs and prostitutes."
"Same thing," I called back.
"Not exactly." Soda was still laughing.
"Well, in any case, you stay away on Thursday night and I'm sure things will go fine," I told Two-Bit. Darry and Pony came to the doorway, and Darry immediately took Two-Bit's beer bottle out of my hand.
"She's right… both of you," he motioned to Sandy and Two-Bit. "This house is off-limits for you two on Thursday night. We don't need the state lady thinking we got some kind of boarding house-slash-barroom going on here. Got it?"
"Clear as day," Two-Bit answered.
"Got it," Sandy added.
"I'll call you, baby, soon as she leaves, and we can get together then." Soda was spending just about every moment with Sandy and I could tell it was worrying Darry, that old mistakes would be repeated.
"It wouldn't kill you two to go one day without seeing each other, you know," he said, trying not to sound annoyed, but not doing a very good job.
"Darry, you know you can tell me to leave whenever you want. I mean, if I'm getting' in the way, just say something." Sandy sounded sincere.
"No, it's not that. I just don't want… ah, never mind... Just stay away on Thursday, all right?"
"You got it," she said. "I should probably get goin', anyway – my dad said I could only take the car for a little while. You gettin' a ride with me, Two-Bit?"
"I don't seem to be gettin' any better offers," he said, getting up.
"See ya, Darry. Thanks so much for your genuine southern hospitality, I'm much obliged." Two-Bit tipped an imaginary hat at him, and Darry cracked up at his seriousness.
"Shut up, Two-Bit," he said, messing up his hair as he walked toward the door. Darry knew how much we all needed Two-Bit around. He helped him out to the car and came back in, sitting on the couch next to Soda, where Sandy had been.
"So, guess what we're gonna be doing for the next three days?" he asked, and we all knew the answer. Cleaning.
"The bedrooms are in pretty good shape, since we all just switched," I said. "So, really, there's only the rest of the house."
"I call kitchen," Pony said. Of course he did, that was always the easiest room, since we pretty much cleaned it every night.
"Whoever does kitchen does dining room, too," Darry said. "Kitchen is too easy."
"Fine," Pony grumbled.
"I can't really do bathroom," Soda said, holding up his cast. "Too wet"
"I'll do the bathroom," Darry said. "You do living room."
"Well that ain't fair," Pony said. "What's Scout gonna do?"
"Well… I actually was thinking about cleaning up the yard a little. I mean, just because we're not rich doesn't mean our yard has to look like a junkyard." I wanted a nice manicured yard like my coach had, though I knew that was probably just a dream.
"You can't move that stuff, Scout, it's too heavy." Darry was talking about the cinderblocks and stuff Soda had used to work on his car.
"Well, I can cut the grass and stuff, and pick up all the junk lying around. Maybe I could even plant flowers or something." I was thinking about my coach's neighbor, and how it looked calming, for her to be out taking care of her plants. Our Mom used to plant a few flowers every spring, and then yell at us all summer to stay out of them.
"You've never cut the grass. You don't even know how to start the mower!" Soda was laughing at me.
"I'll figure it out. Ben will help me, he mows the grass at his house. Stop it, Soda; I'm serious. We look even poorer than we actually are, when people drive up, because our yard is full of crap."
"She does have a point." Pony wasn't laughing at me, which I very much appreciated.
"I'm not sure I love the idea of you running the mower," Darry said. "People cut their toes off doing that."
Man, he was always thinking worst-case scenario when it came to me. I wasn't stupid. Heck, he didn't know yet, but thanks to Two-Bit, I could even drive a car.
"I promise I won't cut my toes off," I said. "Somebody just has to get it out of the shed and get all the spiders off it."
There were two places I hated to go: the shed in the backyard and the basement. Both had spiders, and scared me to death. When I was little, the boys used to trick me into going down into the cellar stairs, and then hold the door shut against me as I screamed and cried to get out. The one time Mom caught them, she'd made them all three stay in their rooms for hours, not even allowed to come to the table for dinner. That was the one and only time I'd ever eaten dinner alone with my parents.
Also, any time we had severe storms or tornado warnings and needed to retreat to the basement – which happened at least once a summer in Tulsa – I would cry the whole time, not so much scared of the weather, but of the creatures that lurked in the dark down there. Dad would hold me the whole time, whispering in my ear to calm me down and stroking my head. I was not looking forward to the first time we'd have to head to the storm shelter this summer.
"Alright, then, Scout. You do the yard." I think they all saw my point, so Darry gave in.
"Okay. I'll help you with the other stuff, too... If she likes what she sees, will she stay away longer?" I wanted the State to make themselves scarce. Very much so.
"I don't really know," Darry admitted.
"It'll be fine, baby. We're doing good," Soda said, and I almost believed him.
………………………
I was tired and, knowing I was getting up early – You're a working girl, now, Darry reminded me, I got ready for bed early and crawled between the sheets, listening to the boys talking in the living room, and, eventually, hearing them go off into their own rooms. I feel into a sound sleep, knowing I was surrounded by people I loved. I didn't dream at all.
I woke up earlier than anyone, and decided to jump in the shower before Darry for a change. Morning bathroom time had always been a challenge, even after our parents had died. Four kids and one bathroom equaled very limited bathroom time, and there was rarely only one of us in there, unless we were actually going to the bathroom.
It was pretty typical of one of us to be in the shower while another brushed their teeth or shaved. I tried to keep my shower short, wondering if any of my brothers knew when girls were supposed to start shaving their legs. I thought about asking Anna, until I remembered how angry I still was with her. I was surprised, but sort of glad, that she hadn't called back.
I wrapped myself in a towel and opened the door to find Darry waiting on the couch. He smiled when he saw me.
"What's with you getting up so early?"
"I guess I'm just sleeping better," I said, going into my room.
"Good," Darry said, closing the bathroom door behind him, as I closed my own.
I got dressed and headed back down toward the kitchen, looking for a hair elastic. I must have had a hundred of them, but I could never find one when I needed one. I knocked on the bathroom door, not hearing the shower anymore.
"Yeah?"
"Is there a hair elastic on the sink in there?"
Darry opened the door, clad in a towel, steam filling the hallway. He had shaving cream all over his face and was just picking up the razor.
I looked and saw one on the shelf above the toilet, grabbing that and a brush and sitting down on a towel on the edge of the tub, French braiding my hair.
I felt him staring and looked up.
"What?"
"How do you do that? How can you braid that behind your head without seeing it?"
"I don't know, I just know what I'm doing."
"Mom teach you that?" Darry sounded hesitant to ask, but I didn't mind.
"Yeah," I answered. "What about you? Did Daddy teach you how to shave?"
"Yeah." He turned back to the mirror and went back to work.
"Kinda sad, huh… that he can't teach Pony?" I wondered who would teach him. It seemed like it should be Darry, but I was pretty sure it would end up being Soda.
"I guess. He's not ready yet, anyway."
"Hmm. Hey, Dar?"
"Yeah?" I had finished with my braid and was just sitting on the tub, looking at him.
"When does a boy become a man, really? I mean, when do you think? It is when they get to a certain age, like eighteen… or when they start shaving, or does it have to do with… you know… sex, or what?"
He turned and stared at me, shocked.
"Scout, you'd better not even be thinking about sex. You're a kid."
"I'm not. Really. But…"
"Where is all this coming from?"
"I don't know, just something I've been thinking about."
"I swear, you and your brother, the two of you are gonna think yourselves right into the nuthouse, someday."
That made me laugh.
"I'm not nuts, Darry, just… I always thought of you as a boy, before Mom and Dad died, because you're my brother. But then, as soon as they were gone, all of a sudden I realized that actually you were an adult, I mean… a man. I just wonder when that happens, when a person changes from a kid to an adult. Two-Bit... he's nineteen, and he still acts like a kid. But sometimes it seems like kids act more like adults."
"I don't know, Scout, I guess it depends on the person. You're certainly more grown up at twelve than any of us boys were."
"I guess." I was quiet, as well as a bit flattered, and he went back to his shaving. I just watched him for a while, imagining the many times I'd watched my Dad shave.
"Can I ask you something else, without you getting mad?" Darry put down the razor, done.
"This sounds interesting, coming from you at seven in the morning…"
"I'm serious, Darry… I've been wondering about this, and... I just need somebody to tell me the truth."
"Okay," he rinsed off his face and turned and sat with me on the edge of the tub. It occurred to me how many of his female college football fans would have loved to trade places with me, sitting next to Darry, half-naked, wearing only a towel around his waist. But, to me, he was just Darry, and I had been worrying about what I wanted to ask him ever since I found out why Sandy had really disappeared.
"Why did Sandy's family make her go away?"
"Scout, she was pregnant."
"I know that, Darry, but… it wasn't her fault. She didn't do anything wrong."
"Her family was embarrassed, I assume. They were worried about what people would say."
"But… she needed them. I mean, why doesn't anybody get embarrassed on the boy's side? Why isn't it bad for the boy, too? It takes two, right? Why does just the girl have to feel bad?"
"Scout, what are you really asking me, here? You know how everything went down with Sandy."
I was struggling to find the words for what I wanted to ask.
Darry put his hand on my shoulder.
"C'mon. What?"
"Just… What if… what if something happened to me, like… with Steve, and I got pregnant? Would you send me away?"
"Scout… that is not going to happen. Nobody is going to hurt you again."
"That's not what I asked. Would you? Send me away, just because I was having a baby? Even if it wasn't my fault?"
"No." He shook his head. "No. I wouldn't send you away. Why are you worrying about this? You're not thinking about doing anything that could get you pregnant, are you?"
"Darry, I'm twelve. No way."
"I know how old you are. Ben's not giving you a hard time about anything, is he?"
"No. Not at all. I just wondered. Because of Sandy… how they made her leave. I don't get that, when you love somebody, why you would send them away, just for a mistake, or... not even that."
"Well, stop worrying," he said. "You're not Sandy. And I'm not her dad, I'm your brother. And as long as we pass muster with the state on Thursday, nobody's leaving. Now, I gotta go get dressed."
"I'll start breakfast," I said, hearing Pony and Soda stirring in their room. "Bacon and eggs okay?" I wasn't much good at anything else.
"Perfect," Darry answered, running his hand down the back of my braid. "I still have no idea how you do that."
"Magic," I said. "Mom's magic."
And I headed off to start breakfast, smiling.
……………………….
A/N: I know summer's here and we're all busy, but I love reviews. Summer will get busier… just working on the family dynamic a bit.