by Rosa Jordan
“Hi, Dad,” Justin called.
The tall man, whose windblown blond curls looked a lot like Chip’s, seemed relieved. “Hey, Justin. You are Justin, right? I thought that little kid over there in the goat pen was you. But he didn’t come when I called him, so I figured maybe he wasn’t one of mine after all.”
“That’s Chip. Reckon he doesn’t remember you.”
“Oh yeah! He was just a baby when I …” The man stared at Justin for a moment, then gestured for Chip to come over.
Now that his brother was on the front porch, Chip ventured out of the goat pen for a closer look at their visitor.
“Hey, Chipper. You remember me?”
Chip shook his head.
Their dad flashed Justin a big grin. “But you recognized me right off, didn’t you, son?”
“I guess so,” Justin said.
“Sure you did. Not many people forget old Charlie,” he said, ruffling Chip’s hair.
Chip hated it when people did that, and he jerked his head away. He backed up a few steps and asked, “Are you really my dad?”
“You bet. But you can call me Charlie if you like. If that’s easier than Dad.” He looked at Justin. “Where’s your mom?”
“At work,” Justin told him. “She gets home a little after six.”
“Oh.”
For a minute it seemed like Dad—or Charlie—couldn’t think of anything else to say. Then he noticed Justin admiring the car. It wasn’t new, but it was clean and polished to a glossy sheen, like a car that is really, really loved.
“How’d you like to go for a ride?”
“I don’t know,” Justin said. “It’s almost suppertime.”
“Aw, come on,” his dad urged. “I’ll have you back in ten minutes.”
“Okay, then, sure.” Justin climbed into the passenger’s seat. “Tell Mom I’ll be right back,” he called out to Chip.
When Charlie asked where he’d like to go, Justin said it didn’t matter, anywhere was okay. It was weird sitting in the car next to a dad he barely knew. He needed some time to sort out his feelings, and the rush of air through his hair as they sped along with the top down seemed to help.
“You know where my school is?” he asked when they neared town.
“Well, sure. That’s where I met your mom.”
Justin’s surprise must have shown on his face. He knew his parents had grown up in this town. It had only the one school, so naturally they had gone there. But somehow he’d never really pictured his mom and dad as teenagers, walking the same halls and sitting in the same classrooms as himself and Kate.
“Didn’t she ever tell you that?” Charlie asked.
“Maybe. I guess I forgot.”
Justin told his dad he was playing on the varsity baseball team and suggested they drive by the field. Charlie headed straight for the school, but he didn’t say much about Justin’s being on the team. Instead, he kept up a constant patter about his job as a race-car mechanic. Once he stopped long enough to ask Justin what kind of movies he liked and mentioned that there was one playing in town that they might go see together sometime, but then he went right back to talking about what it was like to work on race cars. Charlie was describing the crew he worked with when they got back to the house. As he pulled into the drive, he asked, “You like living here?”
“Here? On the farm? It’s okay. I mean, where else would we live?”
“It was my idea to buy a farm, you know. Your mom and I were both town kids, but I had this back-to-the-land fantasy. I worked my behind off to get the down payment.” Charlie shook his head, half-laughing at something. “Your mom took to it like a duck to water. But me, I was ready to pack it in that first year.”
The light was on in the kitchen and Justin could see Kate at the kitchen sink. The ride had taken longer than he had expected. It was past suppertime, so he figured they’d finished eating. Mom’s face appeared at the window, then jerked back. He knew she’d been waiting, and maybe—the thought occurred to him for the first time—she’d been worrying.
“You want to come in?” Justin asked tentatively. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to invite him in or not. On the other hand, Charlie was his dad. He couldn’t very well not invite him in, could he?
Charlie didn’t say if he wanted to come in or not. He just got out of the car and followed Justin to the house. It was Mom who decided. She stepped out onto the porch, closing the door behind her.
“Any supper left?” Justin asked.
“In the oven, son. Hello, Charlie.”
“How you doing, Betty?”
Justin stopped just inside the door, listening. Given the way grown-ups try to keep secrets from kids, he figured that was the only way to find out what was going on.
“I hope you don’t mind that I took Justin for a ride,” Charlie said politely.
“Why should I?” Mom said in a cool voice. “He’s your son, too.”
“Yeah, well, I’m working in the area. Thought it might be a chance to, uh, see the kids.”
“In the area?”
“Well, not exactly in the area. I’m at the Homestead-Miami speedway right now, getting a car ready for the Indy 300. I’ll be around for awhile.”
“I see.”
There was a silence. Justin waited, trying to understand not so much what his parents had said, but what they were thinking and not saying.
After a minute Charlie said, “I’m pretty busy, but I figured I could spin off the next few weekends, and … well … if I had a place to stay, we could spend some time together.”
So that was it! His dad wanted to stay with them! But what did this mean? Did he just need a place to stay? Was that why he was being so nice? What did he think, that this was a motel where he could check in and out as he pleased? Justin felt a wave of anger at his dad. He pressed his ear to the door. Surely his mom was even angrier than he was at the way Dad had walked out on them, and now came bouncing in out of the blue like nothing had happened. He wouldn’t have been surprised if Mom had screamed at him. Instead, she spoke in a calm voice that didn’t show any feelings at all. “I expect the kids would like that. I’m sure Bobby Hunter would put you up. His wife recently left him, so he’s got the whole house to himself.”
Whether that was the answer his dad was expecting or not, Justin couldn’t tell. All Charlie said was, “Okay. I’ll check it out. And, well, I’ll stop by again tomorrow afternoon, if that’s okay? To see the kids. Maybe catch a movie?”
So, Justin thought, he wasn’t just feeding me a line about going to the movie.
“I’ll tell them,” Mom said. “Goodnight, Charlie.”
Justin sprinted for the kitchen so Mom wouldn’t know he had been eavesdropping. When she came into the kitchen a few minutes later, he was at the table, wolfing down his oven-warmed supper.
“Where did you go?” Mom asked.
“Just for a drive.” Justin chewed for a minute, then swallowed. “I never figured he’d be so young looking. He’s a race-car mechanic. He travels all over. Tomorrow he’s going to take me to the movies. There’s this one about—”
“Take you?” Mom interrupted.
“Yeah.” Suddenly Justin was mad at her, hoping she wasn’t going to mess up his chance to get reacquainted with his dad.
“He’s Kate and Chip’s dad, too, you know.”
“Well, sure. But the car’s a two-seater. He can only take one of us.”
“So you’ll have to take turns.” Mom wiped a few crumbs off the table, waiting for Justin to say something.
But what could he say? He stared at his plate.
“I’m sorry, son. But fair’s fair.” Mom walked out of the kitchen. He heard her running a bath. That’s what she always did when she wanted to be alone.
The next afternoon Justin didn’t go outside when Charlie drove up. He stayed where he was, on his bed in his room. He could see the red convertible through his open window.
Kate had spent the entire afternoon getting ready.
Mom worked all day on Saturdays, so Kate had asked Ruby to come over and do her hair. They’d spent about an hour on it, and another hour deciding on what Kate would wear. Justin didn’t see what all the fuss was about. He could have told her that in that convertible with the top down her fancy hairdo would last about thirty seconds once they got out onto the highway.
Charlie honked. A second later Justin heard Kate pounding across the porch and down the steps. He could see her from where he lay on his bed. His sister was really dressed up, even more dressed up than when she went to town with Ruby to sell candy. She ran toward the car, then stopped, like she was scared.
“Hey, hey, hey!” Charlie called out to her. “Can this be my little girl?”
“Hi, Daddy,” Kate said shyly. The way she was dressed she looked more like sixteen than thirteen. But to Justin, she sounded like a three-year-old.
“You’re so … I mean you are really something!” Charlie stammered. Then he asked her, “Where’s Justin?”
“In his room. Did you want to see him? Before we go to the movies?”
“We? I mean, uh, no. Just wondering, that’s all.”
Justin rolled over and buried a smile in the pillow. Dad’s wondering how he ended up taking Kate to the movies instead of me. The idea of taking turns got sprung on him just like it got sprung on me. It made Justin feel good, knowing that he was the one his dad really wanted to be with.
Justin sat up and took one more look out the window. Charlie was opening the car door for Kate, like she was a grown woman instead of a giggly girl. As Charlie started back around to the driver’s side, he called to Kate, “Bet you have no idea how much you look like your mom when we first started dating back in high school. Downright spooky.” Sunday, of course, had to be Chip’s day with their dad. Chip didn’t bother to change clothes or even wash his face. He just climbed out of the goat pen and into the car. They must’ve gone to McDonald’s, because when they returned, Chip got out of the car loaded down with a milk shake, fries, and other junk food. Justin ran out onto the porch, hoping to talk to his dad, but Mom, just coming home from the nursery, got to him first. She must’ve seen Charlie leave with Chip, because she said in a kind of critical voice, “That was quick.”
“I have to drive to Miami tonight, so we only went for a hamburger. Chip says he’s a vegetarian. Is that true?” The way Dad asked the question, it sounded like he was accusing Mom of something
Mom’s tone turned defensive. “He doesn’t eat meat, if that’s what you mean.”
“Why is that?”
“He’s got his reasons. I can’t see that it does any harm.”
“I’m sure he had some Christmas turkey.”
“Christmas turkey?” Mom sounded puzzled. “Probably. This is something fairly recent.”
“I told him about Booker and Luther and everybody having Christmas dinner with us,” Chip piped up.
Mom didn’t say anything to that, just turned her back on Charlie and started for the house. Justin could see by her face that she was upset. Why was she so angry? Did she not want Charlie to know that the Wilsons had had Christmas dinner with them? Then he thought he got it. Dad had run out on them a long time ago. It really wasn’t his business what they ate or who they invited to dinner.
“Hey, Justin,” Charlie yelled. “Next weekend, okay?”
“Sure,” Justin called back with a surge of relief. “When?”
“Friday. How about I pick you up from school?” He called out a little louder, “Is that okay with you, Betty?”
“Fine,” Mom said in a cold voice, without looking back. “As long as I know.”
“Meet me at the baseball field!” Justin shouted as Charlie drove away.
Justin walked out into the yard and pitched a baseball up in the air, then caught it on the run. He’d been afraid that his mom was going to blow it with his dad before they’d even had a chance to get reacquainted. But everything was okay. His dad would be back next weekend, to see him.
6
A DARK PLACE
It was the middle of the next week when an entirely new problem landed in Justin’s lap. He was just getting on his almost-new blue bike to go home after practice when he saw something on the sidewalk across from the school that should not have been there—a group of kids, gesturing wildly at him.
His sister Kate and his brother Chip, plus Luther and Lily, were motioning for him to stop. They all should have been home long ago.
Justin coasted across the street and stopped next to Kate. “What’s up?”
“Lots,” said Luther.
“Bad,” Chip added, sounding tragic.
“Come see,” Lily said.
Justin looked at Kate. Presumably she knew what this was all about. “Follow us,” she said in a mysterious voice.
Lily, Chip, and Luther had left the sidewalk and were trotting up an alley. This particular alley ran behind a row of ordinary houses, some with attached garages and some with the old-fashioned wooden kind out back. On the other side, behind the garages, a long wooden fence separated the alley from a vacant lot. Halfway up the block, the kids stopped at one of the older garages.
Justin pedaled along just behind Kate and pulled up where Chip, Lily, and Luther were standing. Nobody said a word. That spooked Justin. He had never known them to be quiet for so long—certainly not all at the same time.
Kate motioned Justin over to the back of the garage and pointed at a shuttered opening just over her head. She stood on tiptoe, slid back the bolt that held the shutter closed, and swung it open. “Look.”
Before Justin reached the window, he knew what he was going to see inside that garage, but he just couldn’t believe it. He stood on tiptoe and peered in. For a few seconds he couldn’t see anything in the dark, but the smell was terrible. Then, he spotted something white on what looked like a workbench. He leaned in to get a better look. It was a big rabbit in a very small cage.
“A rabbit?” He pulled his head out and looked at the others.
“That’s not all,” said Chip.
Justin’s heart sank. No doubt about what else was in there. A soft bleat came from inside the garage. Lily took a carrot stick from the pocket of her soccer shorts, probably one she’d saved for Honey, and handed it to Justin. He dangled it down as far as he could reach. Sure enough, out of the gloom Little Billy appeared and snatched the carrot stick from his fingers.
Justin drew back, away from the bad smell, and closed the shutter. “How did you find him?”
“We saw Mr. Grimsted when we were waiting to get on the bus,” Chip explained. “He was driving him down the street. Hitched to a cart that was way too big.”
“We followed them,” Lily said.
“He kicked Little Billy,” Chip said angrily.
“Kicked him?” Justin felt sick.
“Yeah,” said Luther, drawing back his foot to demonstrate. “Just because Little Billy didn’t want to go back in that old dark garage, that man pulled back his big old foot and kicked him right in the behind!”
“Twice,” Lily added.
“When I saw they weren’t on the bus, I went looking for them,” Kate explained. “I caught up with them just as Grimsted turned into the alley.”
“Did he see you?” Justin asked.
“No,” Chip said. “We stayed back until Mr. Grimsted went into the house.”
“Well, we can’t do anything about it now. We’ve got to get home. Kate, can you walk with them? I’ll hurry on ahead and if Mom gets there before you do, I’ll tell her you’re at the Wilsons’. She wouldn’t be too happy to hear that you’ve been peeping into someone’s garage.”
Justin straddled his bike. “Go on,” he said. “You’ll have to walk fast.”
But nobody made a move. Nobody wanted to leave Little Billy locked up inside that dark garage. Thinking aloud, Justin said, “I wonder what he intends to do with the rabbit.”
Kate frowned thoughtfully. “That day we first met Grimsted, when he tried to buy Old Bil
ly, he said that if he could find a goat to pull a cart, he’d train a rabbit to sit in the cart with the reins wrapped around its paws like it was driving. He said animal shows go over big at mall openings, and a rabbit driving a cart would be a big attraction around Easter.”
“That’s stupid,” Chip muttered. “A rabbit can’t drive a cart.”
“It was hard for Little Billy to pull that cart anyway,” Lily pointed out.
“Of course. He’s only two months old,” Kate reminded them.
“That’s a huge rabbit,” Justin said. “I bet he weighs as much as Little Billy all by himself.”
“We’ve got to get Little Billy out of there,” Lily said. “But how?”
The others stared at Justin, waiting for an answer. He stared at the ground. “It’s probably illegal to keep a goat in this neighborhood. Especially in a place like that, with no light. And you can tell from the smell he hasn’t been cleaning up the poop. I’m surprised the neighbors haven’t complained already.”
“We could call the police,” Chip suggested.
“We could. But if we go to the police, and they make Mr. Grimsted move Little Billy, he might move him to a worse place. Then we’d never know what happened to him.” What Justin was thinking was that a guy like Grimsted wasn’t going to change. If he mistreated an animal in one place he would do it in another place—only next time he would take care not to get caught.
“We can’t leave him here in the dark!” Luther protested.
“We’ve got no choice,” Justin said. “At least we know where he is.”
“We can bring him snacks,” Lily added.
Justin glanced toward the house. “Just don’t let Mr. Grimsted see you.”
He didn’t think he had to tell them why. It was obvious that anybody who would treat an animal like that was not only a bad person, but possibly a dangerous one.
7
DRIVING LESSONS
For the next couple of days, Justin didn’t have much time to think about Little Billy’s situation. He hadn’t realized when he got picked for the team how much practice would be involved. He’d figured he was as good as the other players, but he soon discovered that “as good as” was not good enough. Because he was the youngest, he had to be better. Anytime he messed up, the coach frowned and made sarcastic remarks about his “immaturity.” The other players, who were all older, mostly ignored him. He had yet to make a single friend among the more experienced team members. And he was already falling behind on his schoolwork.