Troll Brother

by P. Edward Auman

  Chapter 14

  Love Actually

  On the Sunday following Robert’s party the family generally had a relaxing day to unwind. While Kile joined Rob on the new video game he received during his birthday party, and performed the thumb and trigger-finger movements well enough to keep up with Rob’s on screen character but not much else, the family was surprised by a knock on the door.

  “Robbie? There’s someone at the door for you,” Mom called with a funny tone in her voice.

  He bounded up the stairs from the basement quickly with Kile right behind him. At the top, Robert turned and noticed Kile was still in Troll form for his view and wisely did a double check.

  “Are you glimmered?”

  “Oh, right!” Kile said, who then instantly became Little Ricky again.

  They both then moved to the door. There stood Marissa. She was wearing a beautiful red satin dress with a matching hair band and her hair seemed to be done up for an event. Her cheeks seemed equally red but more by natural causes for a redhead than by makeup or any other design.

  “Hi Rob!” she smiled and quickly waved her right hand, keeping her left still tucked behind her. “Can I come in for a second?”

  “Oh sure!” he said, and stepped back a couple paces.

  Kile also took a step or two but he was making a moderate effort to remain concealed behind Robert and was cocking his left eyebrow while tugging on his lower lip with his bony fingers. He wondered why the human girl would come to the Johansson’s home after he had apparently ruined any shot of a friendship with her for Robert by his efforts on the blackboard. Could it be she’d come to get revenge?

  “I’m so sorry I couldn’t come yesterday,” she started.

  Rob interrupted a bit to ease the discomfort in an uncomfortable way that boys do. “It’s no biggie. I understand.”

  “No, really,” Marissa said tugging at her hair a bit to tuck the amber curls behind her ears. “I was going to come. I really did want to play some games. But my parents told me just Thursday night that we were going to go spend a couple days with my cousins.”

  “Oh…” Rob stuttered. “Okay. That’s alright. I’m sure you didn’t really miss much anyway.”

  Holy crap! His mind raced. She likes me!? What an awesome birthday he was having after all!

  “Well, I kinda like just relaxing too. You know. With games, or movies or something,” she stuttered herself, looking at the ground and swinging her one loose hand nervously. “It sounded like a good party.”

  Kile was becoming leery. Just what was this human up to? She was nervous about it, whatever it was, that much was clear to him. She acted just like he did whenever the Queen called him in for a meeting the last couple years.

  “Oh. Yeah. That’s cool,” Rob responded.

  “So…anyway. I was talking to Daniel this morning, and uh…he said he got you a gift certificate to help get an RC plane or something.”

  “Yeah. He’s really awesome!”

  “Well, I just thought I’d drop this by to you to help with that a little.”

  Marissa brought her left hand forward and presented a greeting-card sized envelope. Robert’s name was written on it and there were a few little sketches she’d made on it of airplanes and helicopters and such.

  “Oh! Thank you Marissa!” Robert was genuinely awed and amazed.

  “Um…” Marissa hesitated again. “Don’t open it quite yet, maybe. It’s just a little money to help you buy something. But I gotta hurry and go to church with my family.”

  “Oh, okay. Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Rob stammered, also swinging his loose arm nervously.

  “Well. Okay. Happy birthday, Robert!” She said.

  Then she leaned in and gave him a peck of a kiss on his left check. When done her eyes flicked nervously at his and down again. Her face was flushed, but Rob’s was quickly doing the same to match. She raised her right hand again and gave a quick flick of farewell, then turned and hurried out the door.

  Rob slowly closed the door behind her watching her nearly run down the path to the waiting car at the street. Once it was all the way closed he held up the envelope and then looked up. Kile was standing, hands on hips and brow furled like he was about to chew poor Robert out for cavorting with the enemy, a true Montague fatherly chastisement for being seen with a Capulet.

  Mom was standing in the kitchen archway, arms folded, smiling.

  “What?” Rob shrugged.

  “Nice girl,” she responded.

  “Yeah…” He replied. Mom smiled even more at her son’s sheepish grin, flushing face and downturned eyes.

  “You do know that she was hoping you would ask her to a movie, right?”

  “What? What are you talking about?” Rob pleaded with his mother by body language.

  “Her comment…about relaxing with games and movies and ‘stuff’. You realized she was hoping you’d ask her to a movie, right?”

  “Oh crap!” Rob blurted. He threw the door open, running out, waving the envelope in his hand trying to keep Marissa’s father from driving away.

  While he was outside, Kile turned to Mrs. Johansson. His scowl was very much condemning. It would seem Sara was part of the enemy’s plan here as well.

  “What is going on here?” he asked, dropping his glimmered visage and voice as well.

  “Ah, Kile…” She smiled and turned back to the kitchen. “My eldest boy is growing up. That’s what’s happening here.”

  Kile grumbled as he turned back to the front door to await Robert. “He’s not even one-hundred yet…Not grown up at all.”

  When Robert returned he had a perplexed expression. He wasn’t immediately communicative and was beginning to open the envelope, so Mom had to ask on her own from the kitchen.

  “So? What happened? Have you got a date?”

  “Uh…” Robert started. “I guess so. Her mom said she can’t really go on a date-date until she’s sixteen.”

  “Oh,” Mom responded. “Well, that’s probably smart.”

  Robert fussed a little. “Yeah, but they said if you and Ricky were with me and she wanted to go see one it would be okay.”

  “Well there you go!” Mrs. Johansson’s smile returned. “That would be fun, and you can get to know her better too.”

  She winked at Robert and then went back to the items she was organizing in the kitchen.

  “Moooom…” Rob whined. But then he’d gotten the envelope opened without distractions from his mother.

  Inside was a twenty dollar bill. Rob whistled and stuck it in his pocket. There remained a corner sticking out so Kile eyed it carefully and poked it a bit while Robert was reading the card. The card itself had been hand-made by Marissa. She was an excellent artist and had taken the time to draw several RC hobby items like a helicopter and plane which Daniel must have told her he was interested in. There were also a couple speed boats and cars. But the most curious thing were the small red hearts drawn around the inside message she had crafted. The note itself read:

  “Happy Birthday,

  Robert!

  I was really glad you invited me.

  Sorry I missed your party.

  Maybe we can just hang out sometime?”

  Below which was another red heart drawn, placed just such that along with the text a preteen male would struggle for years to decide whether she meant it as a cutesy, twelve-year-old girly thing, like the hearts some girls use to dot their “I”s, or if there was more behind the hearts than that. It was a pleasurable torment and the card remained above Robert’s head on a night stand for many, many years after.