Troll Brother
Page 46
Chapter 18
Fireworks and Magic
Finally, the day Robert had been waiting for had arrived. Waking and breakfast were slow. The afternoon was filled with bike rides, water fights and various contests among the children in the neighborhood. Rocky Mountain culture was unique, there was no question, and it depended on which side of the mountains you lived as well. But The Fourth of July was celebrated in much the same way as it had been for the decade Robert could remember in Iowa. Adults, even ones that might not normally speak too much to one another, raised their hands and said hello to Mr. and Mrs. Johansson Bar-B-Queing in their side yard. A small parade made up of what felt like only three or four cars and the volunteers squirting the firehose on the one firetruck, seemed to go on for as long as the full-sized parades down in the larger cities in the valley.
It turned out the parade was lengthy for a good reason in Kile’s mind. Generally, it consisted of many, many children and some adults representing local in-home and small businesses passing out candies and chocolate, even on a day quickly rising to 90 degrees. Kile was hopped up on chocolate as the small, hand-painted signs for a Beautician, a mobile Auto Repair, and a daycare/preschool passed by him. There were even several young women dressed in fine array, riding in the Mayor’s 1920’s Ford, one of whom had a tiara and a sash which proudly gleamed its satiny sheen and proclaimed her: Miss Maple Springs.
Of course, Kile hadn’t planned on meeting royalty during the Fourth of July celebrations but he bowed none-the-less. The float queen noticed the little display herself and blew what she thought was a cute, young toe-headed boy a kiss in return. A neighboring pair of grandparents smiled and laughed. Robert, meanwhile, growled under his breath that the little troll should stand up and stop acting goofy. Mr. and Mrs. Johansson also laughed and smiled a knowing smile at one another. Ricky Jr., in his field uniform, was even contemplating what life would be like for the little faerie once he returned. He’d grown sensitive to being an outcast while he watched small Afghani children on his last tour of duty being ostracized because they’d helped the soldiers or tried to do a good turn for someone outside their own community. Is Kile going to be welcomed home? he wondered.
Towards the end of the parade a small collection of girls for a community service group came along passing out various ill-tasting candies that definitely weren’t chocolate. Kile saw them coming but didn’t actually realize Marissa was among the group until he’d first noticed Robert hedging a bit and getting that odd nervous attitude he’d had at the school bus line when he got his first taste of human male-female interaction.
While Rob was distracted for a moment, Kile approached Sara and asked a clandestine question. Then he sat down next to her, apparently scribbling a note on a scrap of paper she had pulled out of her shoulder bag.
Robert tried to act cool and disinterested. He sat down near the rest of his family, including the disguised troll, and just watched the last groups pace slowly down the road towards them and onwards to the city hall and park. Next to him Kile passed a piece of paper to Rob’s mother. He caught the action out of the corner of his eye, yet was still too distracted watching Marissa out of the other corner to notice clearly what was going on. Mom nodded and passed the paper back to Kile smiling, and the visage of Little Ricky grinned back in confirmation. Had Rob been paying better attention, he would have noticed his father smirking side-ways and shaking his head slightly. Something was percolating beside him but he was totally oblivious.
Until, that is, Marissa was close by. She’d seen Rob, smiled and nodded her head and stooped a bit to toss some candy towards Little Ricky, somewhat casually and accidentally making sure a few extra pieces went towards Robert too. That’s when Kile jumped up and ran into the street. He quickly pressed the note into Marissa’s hand and mumbled something. Then he returned just as quickly to his seat.
While Robert tried to take in what just happened, starting with a “Wha…?” as Kile sat down, Marissa caught his eye with a wink followed by a wave.
Kile was beside himself, in his position beside Robert, giggling with satisfaction.
“What did you just do?” Rob said, somewhat heatedly.
“Nuffin!” Kile giggled.
Rob looked back at Marissa who was well on her way passing by and had stooped to the next batch of children to whom she tossed a few candy pieces. Kile opened one of the ones she’d tossed the boys and gulped it, then nearly spat it back out. It wasn’t nearly as satisfactory as chocolate.
Looking back to the little troll, Robert grabbed his shoulder and growled a little more aggressively. “Kile! What did you do?”
“Relax,” said his mother. “He just gave Marissa your note, that’s all.”
“What?!” Rob stood up again. He fussed, making as though he were going to either dash away or perhaps run up to Marissa and snatch the note back.
“Oh, relax Robbie,” his father added. “I think you’re going to have a guest join us to watch the fireworks at the park tonight. You should be grateful Little Rick…ehm…Kile thought of it.”
After another moment of huffing, and then realizing he was clearly out-numbered three to one, he plopped down and began wondering why he hadn’t thought of passing an invitation to her himself. Because I didn’t want her to think I was a doofus! his mind retorted almost, but not quite, out-loud.
It was only a few seconds more of pondering his dilemma that Robert realized this had been the perfect setup. If Marissa rejected the idea, it was Little Ricky’s to begin with and he could just say his little brother was trying to embarrass him. If she showed up…well, then, perhaps it was all his idea from the beginning.