By the time we got through with detention later that day, I knew what I had to do. “Candy,” I said, walking out of school with her. “I’m going to first tell my mother about everything. Then I am going to take that money and turn it in to the police.”
“But what about Johnny?” asked Candy. “You’re not going to really let him be arrested, are you?”
“No. You’re right. I can’t do that. It isn’t even Johnny’s fault. Maybe I can say I just found it somewhere.” My thoughts were interrupted by the honk of a horn.
“Hey, girls, need a ride?”
I looked over to see Dex’s little red convertible. Brett was with him. It was cold out and I didn’t look forward to walking home in the snow.
“Ok, thanks,” I said, not even bothering to ask Candy. I knew if Brett were involved that she wouldn’t protest.
Brett jumped out of the car and held the seat as Candy got in back and he followed. I sat up front with Dex.
“Where’s Janelle?” I asked, not really caring but just wanting to know if she was going to pop up out of the blue.
“We’re taking a break from each other for a while,” said Dex, shocking the heck out of me.
“Really?” I flashed a quick glance at Candy, noticing Brett had his arm over the back of the seat behind her. Then I decided I sounded too excited about the fact that he and Janelle might be breaking up. “Oh, that’s too bad,” I said, turning back around and looking out the front window. “What happened?”
“Nothing, really,” said Dex. “I just decided being tied down to one girl is cramping my style.”
It sounded pretty promising to me. Maybe I’d have a chance with Dex after all.
A squad car drove past and Dex gave a slight wave. That’s when I realized it was his father.
“Dex, has anything interesting happened down at the police station lately?” I asked.
“Interesting? What do you mean?”
“You know. Any . . . robberies. Stolen money? Things like that.”
“Not that I know of, and my dad usually tells me everything.”
“Good,” I said.
“Good?” He looked at me out of the corner of his eyes. “What does that mean?”
“She means it’s good we live in such a good, safe neighborhood,” said Candy, coming to my rescue.
“Yeah, well I wish the neighborhood would get cleaned up. Like that haunted house that needs to be torn down,” said Dex, nodding at Candy’s old house out the window. “No offense intended, Candy.”
“None taken,” she said from the back seat.
“Since your family moved out, I swear that place is nothing but a den for ghosts,” Brett spoke up.
“Yeah,” I said, looking at Candy’s old house as we passed by it. Something was different. I swore I saw a light on inside, but that couldn’t be possible since the place was abandoned.
“Well, here we are,” said Dex, pulling into my driveway. “It looks like you’ve got company, Raven.”
“Huh?” I looked up to see my mother’s car in the driveway and a big, old, rusty pickup truck parked out front. My mother was standing on the stoop without her coat. Her arms were wrapped around her. She was talking to a man. I couldn’t see who he was since his back was toward me.
“Who is that?” asked Candy from the back seat.
“I don’t know,” I said, getting out of the car and waiting as Candy exited and Brett moved to the front.
“Raven, is that you?” asked the man, turning his head.
I gasped in shock.
“What is it?” Candy laid her hand on my arm. “Who is that man, Raven?”
“This isn’t good,” I told her as the boys pulled out of the driveway.
“What do you mean?”
“Candy, that man is my father!”
I was hesitant at first, not knowing if I should run up and hug him or slap him in the face. I hated the man and loved him all at the same time.
“Dad?” I said, cautiously, walking up to him slowly. Candy followed. “What are you doing here?”
He looked a lot older and his hair was graying. He stood bent over a little and I noticed he used a crooked, wooden cane. I hadn’t seen him since he walked out of our lives seven years ago, but this isn’t at all how I remembered him.
“Raven,” he said raising one arm as if he wanted a hug but I didn’t hug him. I had things I needed him to answer first. Like how could he hurt us this way and leave with no explanation and then just show up as if nothing ever happened?
“Sweetheart, your father was just leaving,” said my mother.
“Just leaving?” I asked. “Mom, what’s going on?”
Before she could answer, Blue got out of a car of rowdy high school kids – some of them being girls. As the car peeled rubber down the street, Blue strutted up the driveway blowing on Johnny’s blue horn.
“Johnny?” My dad’s eyes lit up. “By God, you’re a trumpet player after all, just like I knew you’d be. That sounds great!”
Blue walked up, looking over to me as if I were going to help him by telling him who this was. I didn’t.
“You sure are turning into a man. Let me see you, Son,” said my dad, putting his hand on Blue’s arm.
“Dad!” said Blue, figuring it out. “How the hell are you?” He gave my dad a half-hug and playful slap on the back, playing his little game that made everyone like him.
“Johnny, watch your language,” warned my mother under her breath.
“It’s so good to see everyone again,” said my dad, acting like he was coming home from vacation – not seven years of disappearing and not telling us where he was.
“It’s good to see you, too,” said Blue. “Where are you staying?”
“Here, if I can get your mother to agree,” said my dad with a chuckle.
“Here?” I gasped, knowing that was not a good idea.
“Sure, you can share my room with me,” offered Blue. I glared at him and he shot me a snarky look over his shoulder.
“No, you can’t stay here,” said my mother softly. “Bert, I’m really not comfortable with that. We have too many things we need to work out before I could even consider it.”
“Is that your truck?” I asked my dad.
“Yes. Yes, it is,” he answered. “I know it’s old and rusty, but I’m getting a new one soon. I’m no longer selling used cars. I’m in the construction business now,” he explained. “I flip houses.”
“Please excuse me,” said Candy, trying to sneak past and go into the house.
“Who is this?” asked my father.
“Dad, this is my best friend, Candy,” I told him. “She’s living with us for now while her mother goes to counseling. They were victims of domestic abuse by her mother’s boyfriend.” I looked my dad in the eye when I said it, wanting him to know that I considered what he did to us as abusive as well.
“Well I . . . I guess I’d better be going,” said my dad, feeling suddenly uncomfortable.
“Hey, can I see your truck?” asked Blue excitedly. “I was thinking about getting a truck. Is that a stick shift or automatic? I want to learn to drive both.”
“Sure, come on, and I’ll show it to you,” said my dad, glancing back at my mom.
“Five minutes, Johnny,” my mom called out. “You’ve got homework to do and dinner is almost ready.”
I entered the house after my mom, wanting to talk to her. Candy knew that and ran upstairs to give us privacy.
“You’re late coming home from school,” said mother, going to the stove to stir something. “Where were you?”
“I had detention for getting to school late,” I told her, being honest. “I missed the bus and had to walk in the snow.”
“Don’t do it again, Raven. You’ve been getting into so much trouble lately, and I don’t like it.”
I thought that was uncalled for because my brother was the one causing trouble, even if she didn’t know it.
“Mom, I want to talk to you abou
t Johnny.”
“I’m so proud of him,” said my mom, tasting the chili and putting the lid on the pot. “Did you know that the junior high selected a few kids who were doing an outstanding job lately and is letting them sit in on high school classes from now until Christmas?”
“That’s nice,” I said, only half-listening.
“Johnny was one of the kids chosen. So it looks like he more or less starts high school tomorrow.”
“Wait. What?” I asked, hoping I had heard her wrong. “Johnny is going to be coming to school with me?”
“Not only that, but he’s going to be in all of your classes. Isn’t that going to be fun? The school decided it would be better if an older sibling was there with the chosen kids in case of any problems.”
“No!” I shouted, flabbergasted to hear this. The last thing I wanted was my little brother – or even Blue – to be spying on me in class. “It’s not fair, Mom. I don’t want him there. Tell the school no.”
“It’s too late,” she said. “He starts tomorrow. Now, what did you want to tell me about Johnny?” She went over to the sink and started washing dishes. I felt so flustered that I didn’t know how to tell her about Johnny now.
“Why is Dad here?” I asked, instead, since that was another issue I needed to know more about.
Her hands stilled and she shut off the water. She talked without turning around to look at me. “He’s got a job here now. And he wants to get back together with me.”
“He does?” I didn’t understand any of this. “Mom, it’s been seven long years. For the last seven years you’ve been miserable and we’ve lived like paupers because of him. You can’t seriously be considering taking him back?”
“Raven,” said my mom, turning around with tears in her eyes. “I only have the one job now. And with Candy here as well as an extra dog, it is getting hard for me to support us all. I work from morning until night and, honestly, I’m getting tired.” She wiped her face with the back of her hand.
“Then I’ll get a job after school,” I told her. “I’ll help support us. Just please don’t get back together with Dad. He can’t treat us like that and then just think he can walk back into our lives. Did he ever even say why he left or where he’s been all this time? For all we know, he could have been married or he might even have a girlfriend.”
“No, I don’t think so,” she said. “And remember, we’re still married. We never got divorced.”
“Mom, it’s been a long time. Surely he’s had someone else in his life and it’s probably why he left us to begin with.” It hurt me to say that, but my mother needed to stop being in denial. “Isn’t there some kind of law that after that long you’re not really married anymore?”
“You don’t understand, Raven.”
“No, I guess I don’t. Maybe you can help me understand. Did he give you any explanation at all of why he left?”
“Well, not really. He said he just wasn’t himself. Not for a long time now. I understand because I felt the same way about him. I just didn’t want to admit it.”
“He’s not the only one,” I told her. “You’re blind to the fact that Johnny isn’t himself lately either.”
“You’re right,” said my mother, and I thought she was finally starting to see the light. That is, until I heard her next words. “Isn’t it wonderful how easily Johnny accepted your father back into his life?” asked my mom, honestly believing that Johnny – the boy who hated my father more than any of us – would really forgive him so easily.
Just then, my brother came running into the house, looking very upset, heading up to his room.
“Dinner is ready, Johnny,” mom called out, busying herself in the sink again.
I had a feeling it was time to leave. I bolted up the stairs and barged into my brother’s room, ready to strangle Blue for everything he had done lately. But when the door banged open, I realized it wasn’t Blue at all. My brother was lying facedown on his bed and he was crying.
“Johnny?” I asked, running into the room. “Johnny, is it you?”
He looked up with tears in his eyes. “Dad is back,” he said, and I saw the pain in his eyes and on his face. “He’s back and Blue is acting like they’re best friends. I had to get back before it went too far.”
This is exactly what I needed. Johnny must have been so upset that he somehow found the strength to push that despicable Blue aside, and come back into our realm.
“Oh, Johnny,” I said, sitting on the edge of the bed, cradling him in my arms like I used to do when he was a child. “I’m so glad you’re back. Blue is no good and you’ve got to keep him away from here until I can figure out how to get rid of him forever.”
Johnny didn’t even have a chance to answer.
“Kids?” I heard my mom’s voice from the door. I turned my head to see her standing there. My dad was with her, leaning on that crooked cane. “Your father is staying for dinner after all. And I told him afterwards, that Johnny would play his trumpet for him so he can hear some of the songs that Johnny will be playing in the Christmas concert.”
My heart sank. Things were going from bad to worse. Was it wrong of me that right now, just a little part of me wished Blue were back to play the trumpet for my father? A part of me wanted to show him that we were fine – better than fine – without him all these years.
“Johnny, I’ll make up an excuse for you,” I told my little brother as soon as my mom and dad had left the room. Candy closed the door and rushed over to be by us.
“What’s going on?” she asked. “Johnny, is that you? For real?”
“It is,” he said somberly. “And Raven, you don’t need to make excuses for me because it doesn’t matter. I’m not having dinner with Father and neither am I playing my horn for him.”
“I don’t understand what’s going on,” said Candy. “Why is he even here?”
“My father has a job here in Half Horse and wants to get back together with Mother,” I told them.
“No!” shouted Johnny. “I don’t want him back in our lives.”
“I’m not sure I do either,” I admitted, wondering why Mother was giving in so easily after all that she’d been through.
“Tell me what happened in the other realm with Blue’s father,” I said to Johnny.
“He chased me,” said Johnny with a sniffle. “He keeps saying I stole his money and I don’t know what he means.”
“We found a bunch of money in your backpack,” Candy explained.
“I didn’t take it.” Johnny tried to defend himself.
“Of course, you didn’t. We know that,” I told him, trying to calm him down. “It’s Blue. He’s doing some shady things behind our backs. Did you know that Mother just told me he . . . or I mean you . . . are going to be joining our classes in high school from now until Christmas?”
“He is?” asked Candy. The expression on her face told me that she didn’t like the idea any better than I did.
“Kids, come down here before the food gets cold,” called out my mother from the foot of the steps.
I got off the bed and Johnny’s hand clamped over mine. “Don’t leave me, Raven.”
“Leave you? You’re coming with us.”
“We’re just going down to dinner,” said Candy.
“But I’m scared,” said Johnny.
“Don’t be afraid of our father,” I told him. “I promise you, I won’t let him hurt you.”
“No, not him. I’m afraid that Blue is going to take over my body again, Raven.”
“I thought that’s what you wanted,” I told him.
“I did, too. But now I’m not so sure. I don’t like it in the other realm. It’s frightening.”
“Then don’t let Blue control you.”
“I’ll try not to, but it isn’t easy,” he said, wiping away another tear. “Raven, do you think you can tell Mom that I’m sick or something? I really don’t want to go down there.”
“I will,” I said, ruffling Johnny’s hair with my h
and. “It’s good to have you back, Troll,” I said with a wink and a smile.
Dinner was weird. Everyone ate with barely saying a word. Every so often, Mother would mention something about the weather or my father would talk about his job restoring old houses, but that was it. I ate as fast as I could and took my dish to the sink.
“I’ve got homework to do, if you’ll excuse me.”
“Me, too,” said Candy, following suit.
“Raven, you’re being rude,” scolded Mother. “And you’re going to miss Johnny playing his horn for your father.”
“I can’t wait to hear him,” said my dad. “He’s grown up so much I barely even recognize him.”
“You have no idea,” I said under my breath.
I was about to turn around and leave when Johnny came bounding down the stairs. He wore his blue bomber jacket buttoned up to his neck and it looked like he was . . . fatter. He had his trumpet in his hand. I knew instantly it wasn’t really my brother because the dogs hid under the table instead of running to him, when the dogs usually adored Johnny.
“Oh, good, you’re feeling better,” said Mother, getting up to clear the table. “Why don’t you all go into the parlor and we’ll listen to Johnny play.”
“No time,” said Blue. “I’ve got somewhere to go.”
“What?” Mother turned around. Her eyes glanced up at the clock and then back to Blue. “Where are you going this time of night?”
“I’m meeting Ashley, Prudence and some of the guys. At the bowling alley,” he answered.
“On a school night?” Mother sounded perturbed. “And who are Ashley and Prudence? I haven’t heard you mention them before.”
“They’re high school girls,” said Candy.
“They are?” Mother seemed surprised.
“And floozies,” I added under my breath, but Mother heard me.
“Raven, that is uncalled for.”
“It’s true.”
“Enough!” snapped my mother. “Johnny, I’m glad to see you have a lot of new friends, but I want you to stay here and play a piece on your horn for your father.”
“It’s all right, Lillian,” said my dad, giving my mother a look I hadn’t seen since I was little. It was almost as if I saw a tinge of compassion in his eyes. “I’ve got to get going anyway.”
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