My Mother Grows Wallflowers

by C. L. Howland

  “I’ll tell you later. Come on. Let’s go,” Mina whispered as their mother called again, irritation evident in her voice.

  Mina stopped at the phone in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. “I have to call Katie Taylor about an English assignment; it’ll only take a second.”

  “Who?” her mother questioned.

  “You know, Katie Taylor, down on Carson Road.” Mina turned away, afraid her lie might show on her face as she punched numbers on the phone. She walked into the living room, dragging the long cord and guilt at her deception along with it. Get over it. It’s not like Ma’s ever going to run into Mrs. Taylor at a PTA meeting. Besides, it’s not the first time you’ve left out a few details.

  One ring.

  Yeah, but this is the first time you’ve told an outright lie.

  “Well, we’re going to start…the food’s not going to get any hotter,” her mother admonished.

  I have to; I need to see Sam.

  Two rings.

  Do lying and liking someone go together? Mina hoped not. “This will take just a second.” Somebody, please pick up.

  Three rings.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Mrs. Miller? It’s Mina.” Relief washed over her.

  “Hi, Mina…who’re you looking for, Winona or Sam?”

  “Sam, please.” She kept her voice low.

  “Hold on a second. He’s lying down on the couch.”

  She heard murmuring near the phone, and a second later, “Mina?”

  “Yeah. Hi. Just listen.” She cupped her hand over the receiver. “I need to talk to you.”

  “I need to talk to you too.”

  “I can try calling you back later, if my parents go to bed early enough,” she whispered.

  “Mina?” her mother called from the kitchen.

  “What if they don’t?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I’ll ask my dad for the car,” Sam said.

  “Tonight?”

  “Yeah. Do you think I can come over?”

  “Here? Ah, no,” she replied in a rush.

  “You know, your house can’t be any worse than some places on the rez.”

  “No.”

  “Okay, okay. Can you get away for a little while?”

  She could hear the hope in Sam’s voice. “I don’t know. I’ll try.”

  “Good. In an hour?”

  “How about an hour and a half? I have to figure out how I’m going to do this.”

  “Can’t you tell them you’re going for a walk?”

  “On a Sunday night, at almost dark? I don’t think so. We’re not big moonlight strollers here.”

  “Wilhelmina!”

  “Uh-oh, she sounds pissed.”

  “I’ve gotta go. I’ll meet you by the bridge.” Hearing footsteps, Mina whirled. “Okay, Katie, pages 157 through 165, got it. Thanks.” She stepped past her mother to hang up the phone.

  A little over an hour later, Mina finished arranging extra pillows and a couple of sweatshirts, for good measure, under the blankets on her bed and turned to Emma “How does it look?”

  “Okay, I guess.” Emma studied it for minute. “You might want to stuff some more clothes where your butt is supposed to be…it doesn’t look quite big enough.”

  “Ha ha, very funny.” Mina moved to the window, trying to figure out how she was going to get through it without knocking out the stick that held it open. “You’ll cover for me?”

  “Okay, I’ll try.” Emma didn’t sound too confident. “Are you sure this can’t wait until tomorrow? Ma’s going to be really mad if she finds out.”

  “No, it can’t, and she’s not going to find out.” Mina pushed out the homemade screen and lowered it to the porch floor. Taking a deep breath, she hoisted the upper half of her body through the window, only to dangle in mid-air with nowhere to go. Her feet weren’t touching the floor on the inside, and her arms weren’t long enough to reach the porch floor. Giving up, she pushed off the sill back into the room. “That’s not going to work.” How pathetic is this? I can’t even get out the window?

  “Here.” Emma dumped books out of one of the old milk crates they used to keep their room organized, another recycling find. Flipping it over, she centered it under the window. “Now try it. Stick one leg out at a time.”

  Although Mina had to stretch to reach the porch floor on tiptoe, she managed. She smiled at Emma. “You’re pretty smart for eleven.”

  Rolling her eyes, Emma stepped closer to the window. “Just hurry up and get back here.”

  “I will,” Mina promised, lifting the screen back in place.

  “Wait.”

  “What?”

  “The crate. Take it out there, or you won’t be able to get back in.”

  “Thanks. I’ll be back soon.” With that, Mina worked her way toward the edge of the porch. It wasn’t easy with boxes piled everywhere. Swinging her legs over the rail, Mina hesitated. The drop to the ground was close to eight feet, but she didn’t really have a choice. The stairs were at the other end of the porch. She’d have to walk right in front of the picture window where her parents were watching television.

  Just do it. Mina took a deep breath and shoved off, hitting the ground hard. She lay there for a minute to assess the damage. Nothing, other than having the wind knocked out of her. Get up. Mina hurried down the driveway and onto the road. The only light from the house was the glow of the television set and a faint light from the small lamp Emma slept with; she was afraid of the dark.

  Sam was already there. “Hey.” He pushed off the front fender of the car.

  “Hi.” A car came through the bridge, and Mina turned her face away. “Maybe we should get off the road.”

  “Where do you want to go?”

  “I don’t know, but I can’t be gone too long.”

  He looked around. “How about I move the car to the lower parking lot, and we walk down to the shoot?” At her nod, he moved the car and was back in a second.

  The last few minutes of twilight cast everything in shadows of deep purple, just shy of black. Birds made their last speeches of the day before settling in, and lightning bugs took a turn at their nightly ritual of random blinks. Mina liked to think of it as the Morse code of the insect world. She sat down next to Sam and felt the warmth of the day radiating from the rocks. “Are you okay?” She didn’t like the circles under his eyes, or the pallor of his usually dark skin.

  He exhaled. “I’m better now than I was this morning.”

  “I’m sorry about hanging up on you earlier. I guess I was in shock.”

  “That’s okay. I deserved it.”

  “That’s just it though. You didn’t,” she reassured him. “If you say you don’t think anything happened, then nothing happened.”

  He turned to study her face for a moment before reaching over to give her a hug. “Thanks. I dreaded talking to you all day, and after you called the first time, I felt even worse.”

  “What do you remember?’

  “Not much. I remember talking to Brian for a while. I remember the room being hot. At some point, I remember opening my eyes, and Blair was there, but she didn’t quite look like herself; her hair was standing up all over the place. I thought I was having some kind of weird dream.” He rubbed his hands over his face and tipped his head back, his braid brushing the rock. “After that, I vaguely remember puking and not much else.” Sam shook his head. “My parents got worried. I guess I was talking out of my head, so they took me to the hospital. I don’t remember that either.”

  “What’d the doctors say?”

  “They said I was dehydrated, so they started an I.V., and then they took some blood.”

  “And?”

  He hesitated. “According to the tests, alcohol and pain killers.”

  “What?”

  He nodded. “My parents are convinced I drank too much at Mike’s party.”

  “Did you?” Maybe that would explain the Blair thing.

&n
bsp; “I’ve told you a hundred times; it’s not my thing. I don’t need it. The only thing I had was some Hawaiian Punch. Other kids were drinking it too. I don’t know if anyone else was sick.” They were silent for a few minutes, listening to the sound of the water rushing through the shoot.

  “Can I ask you something?” Mina kept her eyes on the tree line.

  “Sure.”

  “Why’d you go?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I was bored. You were babysitting. Nothing much was going on at my house, and I was keyed up after our day yesterday. When Mike called to see if I was coming, I said no to begin with. Both of the cars were gone, and I didn’t have a ride. He said no problem and came to pick me up.”

  “I know I’ve been babysitting a lot.” Mina didn’t want to tell him she was trying to earn extra money to buy the rifle scope he wanted for his birthday next month. “I’m sorry. I’m sure things will slow down soon. School’s going to be out in a couple of weeks, and people will be going away on vacation.”

  “I know you like babysitting, but I miss hanging out with you.” When she didn’t say anything, he poked her in the side.

  Mina jumped, but remained silent. When he poked her again, she drove her elbow into his ribs. “You know I’m ticklish. Knock it off,” she warned.

  At the same time, a groan escaped his lips.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “My sides…I’ve thrown up so much every muscle is sore.”

  “I’m sorry.” And she was. A cool breeze pushed up the valley of the river and slid over them before continuing on. She shivered. In the adrenalin rush of sneaking out, Mina forgot her sweatshirt. She crossed her arms to hide her body’s response to the temperature drop.

  “Cold?”

  “A little. I’m going to have to get going soon anyway.” It was now full dark.

  “Here.” Sam wrapped his flannel shirt and arms around her, drawing Mina back against his chest.

  “Thanks.” Mina remained rigid for a few minutes, finally relaxing enough to lean back. “What about you?”

  “I’m good now.”

  Laying her head back against his chest, Mina knew she’d be content to stay like this forever. Too bad that can’t happen. “What’re we going to do about this whole mess?”

  “We? Mina, we didn’t get into trouble. I did, so I’ll handle it. I’m not dragging you into this.”

  “Sam, I’m sorry.”

  “For what? You didn’t do anything.”

  “If we’d been together, this wouldn’t have happened.”

  “Nope. Definitely not.” He gave Mina a squeeze. “Not much I can do about it now. Tomorrow, my parents and I are meeting with the principal, so I’m riding in with them. They want to talk to him about drug and alcohol counseling.”

  “Don’t they believe you?”

  “I asked the same thing. I know they want to. But they used to be freaked out by all the drugs and alcohol on the rez, and I guess I was pretty messed up last night. After the doctors talked to them, what else were they going to think? I know they’re just trying to look out for me.”

  “What about Blair?” It was out before Mina could stop herself.

  Sam tensed at her question. “What about her? I should remember if something happened. I don’t remember any of it…nothing,” he insisted. “Do you believe me?” At Mina’s nod, he let out a sigh. “Thanks. I’ve never looked twice at Blair Whitman. That’s not going to change now.” His tone was cold. “I guess I’ll have to take whatever is handed out. Besides,” he grinned, “I’m going to have my hands full, keeping you on the straight and narrow.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I think you’re getting wild…”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “Did you sneak out of your bedroom tonight?”

  “Well, yes, but—”

  “Have you ever done it before?”

  “Ah, no.”

  “There you go. Who knows what’ll happen next? You might even hook up with an Indian kid.”

  “Do you really think Joe might be interested?” She twisted around to look at him, emphasizing the hopeful tone in her voice with a smile.

  “Take it back.”

  Mina shook her head.

  Holding on, he tickled Mina until she gasped for breath.

  “Okay, okay, I take it back,” she panted, settling back into his arms again.

  “Your hair smells so good.” Leaning forward, Sam kissed the warm skin at the base of her neck. “I have a feeling the next few weeks are going to be rough. How could I screw this up with someone like Blair? It doesn’t make sense.”

  “Simple. You didn’t.”

  “Thanks for believing in me, Mina.”

  I’ll always believe in you, Sam Miller, even if you did have sex with Blair Whitman.

  Mina and Sam sat by the river and watched the moon rise before she admitted she needed to get home. He walked her almost all the way to the house, gave her a lingering kiss and a bear hug, and told her not to worry before jogging off in the direction of the car. She managed to get back through the window to be greeted by a very nervous Emma. Only after Mina reassured her little sister everything was okay and kissed her good night, did Emma close her eyes to sleep.

  Despite all her good intentions over the weekend, Mina still hadn’t finished her English homework. Pulling books out of her backpack, she realized the one book she really needed must still be in the library. If I grab that book in the morning, I should have time to finish the homework before school.

  Mina got off the bus the next morning and headed for the library. She wanted to put off facing anyone as long as possible, or at least until Sam was with her. She didn’t know how many people knew about the party Saturday night. She was sure Blair would be crowing about it before the day was over. Mina headed to the back stacks of the library. She set her backpack down and ran her finger along the spines of the books until she found the one she needed and pulled it out, studying the table of contents.

  “Just a second, I need to fix my nail.”

  “Okay.”

  Oh great, Blair and Missy. The last people Mina wanted to see.

  Mina heard the scrape of chairs as the girls sat at a table and the psst sound of a soda can being opened. Wow, Diet Coke at 7:15. Mina walked a little further down the aisle, hoping Blair wouldn’t spot her.

  “Sam and I got together at Mike’s party.”

  Blair’s words stopped Mina in her tracks.

  “What? You’re kidding? I thought he wasn’t coming,” Missy squealed. “Damn, my mother made me go to my grandparents for dinner. Tell me everything.” Missy wore braces and the last word came out sounding like everysling.

  “I had Mike go get him.”

  “Mike? How’d you manage that?”

  “I’ve got pictures of him smoking pot. I told him I’d make sure his parents and the principal got a copy.”

  “Ouch! But he did it. Cool.” Missy giggled.

  “The whole thing was easier than I expected. Hand me that tube of glue, will you? Anyway, I told Sam I was going to get some punch and asked if he wanted some. He just shrugged, so I took that as a yes.”

  “You? Punch?”

  “No, not really,” Blair lowered her voice, “Duh!”

  Mina could imagine Blair rolling her eyes at her faithful, if dense, friend.

  “I saw Mike’s mother stick a couple of bottles under the kitchen sink earlier, so I opened it up to check it out.”

  The first bell rang.

  “Sure enough, there it was—a hardly tapped bottle of vodka. I got a big glass out of their cupboard, dumped in a very healthy charge, topped it off with fruit punch, lots of ice, and brought it in to Sam.”

  Mina couldn’t believe what she heard. Blair gave him the liquor?

  “Mike’s mother is going to be pissed off when she finds all her vodka gone.”

  “She’ll never know. I put water in, but left enough vodka in the bottle to co
ver it. I do it to my parent’s booze all the time.” Blair’s tone was indifferent. “Anyway, it didn’t take long after he drank it. He said he wasn’t feeling too good and needed to get some air. We all know what a caring person I am, so I kinda guided him outside and into the front seat of Mike’s car. I don’t think he remembers too much after that.”

  “You’re kidding, right? Did you guys, you know, do it?”

  Mina couldn’t help herself; she held her breath, not wanting to hear the answer.

  “Well, no, but I’m not going to tell him that,” Blair admitted. “He thinks we did, especially when I told him how good he was.”

  Missy giggled, and Mina’s stomach lurched.

  “Wait a minute. I don’t get it,” Missy said, suspicion clear in her voice. “I know he doesn’t party, but he’s a big guy. He should be able to handle more than one drink.”

  The second bell rang. If they didn’t leave soon, Mina wasn’t sure she was going to be able to handle much more of this conversation.

  “Well, I did have a secret weapon,” Blair said. “But you have to swear not to tell anyone.”

  “I promise.”

  “I had a little extra help, thanks to Mom.”

  “Your mother helped you try to get in Sam’s pants?” Missy laughed at her own joke.

  “Yeah, in a way. What’d I do with that?” Several items hit the table with a light clunk. “Aha. Here.”

  “It’s empty…what was in it?”

  “Read the label.”

  “Vicodin?”

  “She’s got bottles of this all over the house for her aches and pains. She’s never going to miss this bottle or the three pills I put in his drink.”

  “You drugged him?” Missy sounded as dumbfounded as Mina felt. “Weren’t you worried something might have happened to him?”

  “Not really. Well, that’s not exactly true.”

  “Meaning?”

  “I got us set up, you know, unbuttoned my shirt, messed my hair up a little, like we’d been going at it for a while. I tried to wake him up, but he wasn’t having any of it. So I decided to give him a little more time to sleep it off and drove to his parents’ house.”

  “What happened?”

  “Well, when I finally got him awake and told him what we’d done, he just stared at me. It was kind of weird. Then he opened the car door and hurled everywhere.”