Promise

by Judy Young

  “You can’t, Gram. Doris brings you to Emmett’s but you can’t go to school on it.” Kaden shot Emmett a look of panic. Not only was he horrified about what kids would say if Gram was on the bus, but he was also worried about whatever business she had in mind.

  “He’s right,” Emmett agreed. “I’ll drive you and we can talk about whatever’s upsetting you.”

  But Gram was not to be swayed. “Emmett, there’s no need to waste your gas when my tax dollars fill that bus tank.” Having stated her opinion, Gram walked out the door and onto the bus.

  Doris drove down to town without saying a word. Gram was also silent and Kaden knew better than to say anything. As students piled into the bus, they took one look at Gram sitting in the first seat and they became silent, too. The only one who spoke was Luke and he only whispered.

  “What’s your old woman on here for?” Luke said, leaning over the seat from behind Kaden. “Afraid to ride the bus by yourself?”

  Kaden looked at Gram to see if she heard. She didn’t appear to but that usually didn’t mean anything. He also realized Yo-Yo had been right. With Luke sitting behind him, Luke could quietly lean forward and whisper in his ear and nobody would hear a word. I think another move is needed, Kaden thought.

  When they got to school, Gram told Doris to pull into the cars-only drive so she could go in through the front doors like a civilized person. Watching from his seat, Kaden saw Gram hurrying into the school, intent upon her mission.

  Kaden could hardly concentrate on history, knowing Gram was somewhere in the building. Just before the bell rang ending first period, the door opened. There stood Mr. Price. Gram stood erect slightly behind the principal. Mr. Price informed Ms. Ales there would be a school-wide faculty meeting after lunch, during study hall. Kaden looked at Gram. Her mouth tightened at the words “study hall,” but otherwise he could not read her face.

  After lunch, the cooks wiped the tables as all fifty-seven sixth, seventh, and eighth graders reported to study hall. Teachers usually took turns being on duty for study hall but today no teachers were around. Instead, the secretary, the janitor, and the school nurse stood clustered by the door.

  Under the unusual circumstances, the students were quiet at first, but gradually the cafeteria filled with the usual din of voices that grew increasingly louder. Kaden looked around. There were only three students who actually had books open. Worrying Gram might show up at any minute, Kaden quickly opened a book and advised Yo-Yo he should as well. But Gram never appeared. The bell rang and the sixth graders went to Mr. Clary’s class. Mr. Clary said nothing about the meeting. Nor did any other teacher the rest of the day.

  Gram was not on the bus when Kaden got on that afternoon.

  “Do you want me to go find Gram?” Kaden asked Doris. “Or are you picking her up at the front doors?”

  “I already took her home,” Doris answered. “About two o’clock, I’d guess. Isn’t that when the mail comes?”

  “The mail?” Kaden asked.

  “Yeah, I saw Mr. Schmerz leave your driveway just as I came around the bend,” Doris said.

  “Our driveway?”

  “Yeah, I thought it was kind of odd but kept my mouth shut. Didn’t figure it was a good time to say anything, the way your grandmother was today.”

  “You sure it was Mr. Schmerz?”

  “Who else has a white pickup?” Doris said. “I was just glad it turned the other way so your grandmother didn’t see him. She’s on enough of a warpath already.”

  Before Kaden could say more, the bus was swarmed with students. Kaden rushed to a seat, this time in the very back of the bus so he could keep an eye on Luke.

  All afternoon, the students speculated about what had occurred between Mr. Price, the teachers, and Kaden’s grandmother. Kaden was continually asked what it was about, and although he knew no more than the rest of them, rumors had been building. Now Luke added to them by loudly reporting he saw the sheriff’s car in the parking lot and Sheriff O’Connor was looking closely at the broken sign.

  “It’s obvious Kaden had something to do with the vandalism,” Luke said above the din. “So they called in his grandma and the sheriff. Wonder if they’ll send you to juvie? Or maybe they’ll let you share a prison cell with your father.”

  Although the back of the bus grew even louder with more speculation, Doris said nothing until Kaden was stepping off the bus.

  “Don’t worry about them. Everyone knows you had nothing to do with the sign. Luke’s just up to his usual troublemaking.”

  Between Gram’s visit to the school and now Luke’s accusation, Kaden was about to explode. He charged into his room ready to slam his backpack on his bed but stopped cold. Lying on his bed was a new baseball and glove.

  Kaden stared at them. He knew Doris hadn’t seen Mr. Schmerz’s truck. Doris had seen Dad’s. There was no doubt the ball and glove were for Kaden, and their presence put to rest the nagging thought that had been pestering him. The backpack had definitely been left for him, too.

  Thursday, September 8

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  HOME ALONE

  Gram didn’t say a word to Kaden about her visit to the school but went around all evening with a satisfied look on her face. The next morning as Kaden ate his breakfast, she signed the trumpet rental forms. Everything seemed back to normal until after school when Doris dropped Kaden off at the cabins. Gram was waiting on the porch. She was wearing her dress again.

  “Could you drop me off at Emmett’s on your way back to town?” Gram asked.

  “Sure,” Doris said. “What’s up?”

  “Emmett has to get the new sign set up and I’m going with him. The school board is meeting tonight and I need to be there,” Gram said. “Kaden, no going to the tower while I’m gone. I’ll be home late, so make yourself dinner.”

  After Gram left, Kaden took out his trumpet. In band that day, Mrs. Strokowski showed him how to hold the instrument.

  “Now, keep the corners of your lips tight, the front of your mouth flat, and don’t puff out your cheeks,” she said.

  Kaden put the horn to his lips and blew. It sounded like an elephant blast but Mrs. Strokowski seemed pleased.

  “I want you to aim for consistency. Do you play baseball?”

  Kaden nodded, wondering what that had to do with the trumpet.

  “Well, practicing for a pure tone is like trying to pitch consistently over home plate. You have to practice the same throw over and over to get it there every time.”

  Now sitting on the porch, Kaden put the trumpet to his lips. Blast. Blast. Blast. He put the trumpet down and rubbed his mouth. Then he tried again. Practicing until his mouth grew tired, he went inside, made a sandwich, and headed for his cabin.

  Kaden picked up his new ball and glove and went out behind his cabin. Several summers ago, Emmett had stretched a net between two trees at the edge of the woods. He’d painted a red square in the middle of it. Forty-six feet from the net, the exact distance on a Little League field, he’d made a pitcher’s mound.

  Kaden stood on the mound and pitched the ball toward the square. It hit dead center and bounced back at him, landing in the new glove. He pitched again and again, sometimes aiming at the center, sometimes at a specific corner.

  It was almost dark when Kaden heard a vehicle pull in the circle drive and stop. The motor turned off and a door slammed. Pitching another ball, Kaden realized something wasn’t right. If Emmett turned off the motor, he should have heard two doors shut. Gram’s and Emmett’s. If Emmett were just dropping Gram off, only one door would shut, but Emmett wouldn’t have turned off the motor.

  Kaden turned to look at the back of Gram’s cabin. No lights lit up the curtains hanging in her bedroom window. He stood silently and listened. He heard no voices. Putting the ball in the glove, Kaden crept quietly between his cabin and the junk cabin and peeked around the corner. In the driveway was his father’s white pickup truck.

  Kaden instinctively pulled his head ba
ck out of sight and leaned against the side of his cabin, his heart beating wildly. He listened for footsteps in the gravel but all he heard were crickets. Cautiously, he peeked around the corner again and saw something quite clearly. His cabin was dark. Gram’s cabin was dark. Cabin Four was dark. But light poured out the open door of Cabin Five.

  Kaden pulled his head back again. The sun had still been out when he fixed a sandwich in Gram’s cabin, so he hadn’t turned on any lights. He hadn’t turned on the light in his cabin either. Dad doesn’t think anyone is home, Kaden realized. Kaden looked down at the ball and glove. They had been left on his bed when Gram had gone to the school and no one was home. And the backpack had been left at the tower before Kaden got home from school. Another thing was beginning to be quite clear. Dad was keeping watch on the place. He knew when they were there and when they weren’t. Except this time, Dad was wrong.

  Gathering up his courage, Kaden ran down the side and across the back of his cabin, across the back of Gram’s cabin, past the back of Cabin Four, and then across the last gap to the back of Cabin Five. He listened but couldn’t hear anything except his own breathing. Slowly, quietly, Kaden inched his way along the side of Cabin Five until he reached the front corner.

  There, he stopped and listened again. He heard a drawer open and someone rummaging through its contents. Holding his breath, Kaden tiptoed around the corner and peeked into the crack between the curtains. A man was going through the desk drawer, his back to the window. The man shoved the desk drawer closed and turned toward the door. Kaden quickly ducked, getting only a glimpse of the man’s face before he bolted around the corner and back behind Cabin Five.

  “Is somebody out there?” Kaden heard the man call out. He heard footsteps crunching in the gravel of the circle drive. They went about ten steps, just about halfway between Cabin Five and Cabin Four, then stopped.

  Kaden froze, saying nothing. The man stood still and said nothing. It was only for a few seconds but it seemed like forever. Finally Kaden heard the man say to himself, “Must have been a deer.” Then the man walked back into the cabin.

  Kaden didn’t dare go look through the curtains again. He leaned back against the cabin wall, shut his eyes, and let out his breath. His hands were shaking with the realization that he had seen his father’s face for the first time in years. Kaden thought his face looked familiar in a vague sort of way. Probably because of the photos on Emmett’s wall, Kaden thought. Dad would look older now, but he was still the same person, he would still look kind of the same, kind of familiar.

  Kaden wondered what his father was doing inside and why he was sneaking around, waiting for no one to be home. He was lost in his thoughts when he heard the door to Cabin Five close. He laid flat on his stomach and peeked around the corner. It was too dark to see much, just the silhouette of his father in the moonlight walking down the driveway. Soon he walked out of sight. Kaden got up and quietly scooted across the gap between the cabins. He looked around the far corner of Cabin Four and watched his father again, until he walked out of sight in front of Gram’s cabin.

  Kaden waited. He didn’t hear anything. His father’s truck was in front of Gram’s cabin but he didn’t hear the motor start.

  Maybe he’s sitting on the porch, Kaden thought. He listened intently but didn’t hear the glider creak. He waited a little longer, wondering if he should sneak up to see what was happening, wondering if he wasn’t just being a coward for not letting his father know he was there all along. He had almost talked himself into confronting his father when he heard the truck door close and the motor start. Headlights flooded the circle drive and Kaden watched the truck drive past the gap between Cabin Four and Gram’s cabin. Then he ran to the front corner of Cabin Four just in time to see the truck turn left and head toward town.

  Kaden walked down the drive to Cabin Five. The cabin was dark now and Kaden couldn’t see anything through the crack in the curtains. He turned the knob on the door. It was locked. With a sigh, he went back up the drive to Gram’s cabin. As he opened her door, something dawned on him. Dad had a key to Cabin Five, he thought. Kaden turned on the light and sat down, wondering how his dad got a key. Gram must have given him one the day Emmett took me to Pillie’s. The day he wasn’t ready to meet me.

  Normally, being alone at the cabins didn’t bother him. But now, knowing Dad had been there, the silence made him nervous. Kaden got up, turned on all the lights, and randomly pulled out an album from under the kitchen sink. The album cover had a photo of a guy sitting at a table, playing a guitar.

  Kaden put the record on. The first song on the album didn’t do much for him but the next song was about a friend that sticks with you even when things are going bad. The guy called them rainy-day friends. The song made him stop thinking about his father and start thinking about Yo-Yo. He didn’t know him very well but Yo-Yo seemed like the type of guy who would be both a rainy-day and sunny-day friend.

  As the album played, Kaden searched through the cupboards for anything at all that could be considered dessert. He pulled out a box of raisins and the peanut butter. He scooped a big glob of peanut butter into a bowl and put a handful of raisins on top.

  Kaden hadn’t been paying attention to the lyrics of the third song but suddenly a line registered in his head. Leaving the bowl on the counter, he went back over to the record player, carefully picked up the arm, and gently set the needle in the wider groove just before the third song.

  Kaden played the song over and over. It talked about needing time and about trust and faith. About being confused and trying to figure things out. The song hit home. Kaden felt confused and was trying to figure it all out. He needed time, and trust, and faith. Maybe Dad is just like me. Maybe Dad needs those things, too. Kaden decided he’d give Dad time. He’d wait until Dad was ready.

  Kaden started the song over one last time and sat down with his peanut butter and raisins. He had taken only a bite when he heard a vehicle pull in and drive up to Gram’s cabin. His heart started racing but he decided if it was Dad again, this time he wasn’t going to hide. Kaden took a deep breath and went to the door. A blue truck sat idling in front of the cabin. Emmett’s blue truck. Kaden stood at the door while Gram got out, said good night, and came inside.

  “It took a while, but I got that school all straightened out,” she stated matter-of-factly, smiling at Kaden. Gram seemed to be in a good mood and Kaden didn’t want to say anything to rile her up again. He decided he wouldn’t tell Gram that his father had been there that night.

  Kaden said good night and went to his cabin. The music was coming through the intercom. Without turning on the light, Kaden walked across the room in the dark, turned on the bathroom light, and brushed his teeth. Then turning off the bathroom light, he crossed the room to his bed. When he pulled back the quilt, he heard something drop onto the floor. He walked back to his desk and turned on the light. On the floor was a small photo album. On the cover it said, “Photos for Father.”

  Kaden opened the album and looked at the first picture. He had seen it before. Emmett had a copy of that photo on the wall. A baby picture of him in a crib. He turned the page. The next picture he had seen before, too. He was sitting in a high chair, a cake with one candle in front of him. Opposite that picture was one of him astride a plastic horse on wheels. That baby toy was now in a back corner of the junk cabin.

  Kaden flipped the page. There was only one more picture and it instantly made him catch his breath. He was about two years old and he was sitting on a man’s lap. His dad’s lap. Kaden was laughing in the photo.

  Kaden sank down to the floor. A song played softly through the intercom as tears rolled down his cheeks. In the photo, his father was looking at him with the proud and loving look Kaden had longed to see from his dad for as long as he could remember.

  Friday, September 9

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  THE SIGN

  Kaden didn’t know how long he stared at that photo, but the next thing he knew, birds we
re chirping and sunlight was streaming in through the curtains. He opened his eyes. He was lying on the floor, the desk lamp still on and the photo album opened to the fourth picture. Kaden took one more look at the photo, closed the album, and raising up his mattress a little, slid it under.

  When he went into Gram’s for breakfast, Gram was in her dress again. But it didn’t surprise Kaden this time. The dress had nothing to do with study hall. It was because of the sign.

  Gram got on the bus with Kaden.

  “I wouldn’t normally be going,” Gram told Doris. “I’m sure I’d see that sign sooner or later but Mr. Price personally asked me to join him this morning at the unveiling.”

  Red flags went up in Kaden’s mind. He suspected Mr. Price’s invitation had nothing to do with the sign and everything to do with Gram’s recent uncharacteristic visits to the school.

  When they got to Emmett’s, he was waiting by his truck.

  “Sorry, folks,” Emmett said as Doris opened the bus door, “but Greta and I have to get going. We need to be at the school before everyone else. It’s a beautiful morning, so I left muffins, coffee, and juice for you two on the picnic table out back.” Kaden was relieved Gram wasn’t insisting on riding the bus to school again.

  At school, instead of pulling around to the back, Doris pulled into the cars-only drive. All the students, middle school and elementary, piled off the bus and crossed to the grass strip. The teachers and a good many townsfolk had gathered there, too.

  The new sign stood covered with a large tarp where the old sign had been. Beside the covered sign stood Emmett. He was grinning. Beside Emmett was Mr. Price. He was smiling. And next to the principal was Gram. Gram’s lips were perfectly straight.

  Kaden searched the crowd and found Yo-Yo. He was dressed in an old faded band uniform, holding a bugle.