by Sergio Gomez
“Who’s he talking about? The kid staying with the new neighbors?” Gina asked.
“Yeah, I invited him to go down to the lake with us.” Twist told her.
“You made friends that quick?”
“His family came over for dinner last night.”
“Oh, cool,” Gina nodded.
“Yeah, it’s weird. His parents are divorced.”
“What?” Victor exclaimed, as if Twist had just told him the kid was carrying something contagious.
“Yeah, he’s only here for the Fall break. Then he’s going back to the city.”
“Weird,” Gina said, but besides that she didn’t care. “So, where is he?”
“Probably in his house,” Victor said, with too much sass for Gina’s taste.
“Shut up Vic,” she threatened, “or I’ll chicken-wing you.”
Victor laughed, but he wasn’t sure if he could stop her if she really tried. Gina was what some might call a Tomboy, though she still looked like any of the other girls at his school. She was bold, though, bolder than most boys. Bolder than him, all right. Though Vic would never admit that aloud.
Twist laughed. “Let me drop my stuff off and get my bike, then I’ll go knock for him.”
“Alright, me and Victor will go back to my house for some Kool-Aid. He looks like he could use a drink.”
Victor rolled his eyes, but she was also right.
Twist started toward his house.
“You want a Kool-Aid, Twist?” Gina called to him.
From the porch Twist said, “Yeah, a red one.”
“Don’t have any red ones.”
“What? Why not? They’re the best.”
“Mom doesn’t allow red in the house—says it’s the devil’s color. Blue or green?”
Twist fought the urge to slap his forehead. “Blue.”
“You got it.” She said, and then they rode off back to her house while Twist went inside his.
Chapter 10
The doorbell rang, and Scott saw a crowd of kids gathered on his porch through the front window. The only one he recognized was Twist, Bob Harper’s kid. The other ones he had no idea who they were.
He opened the door. “Hey there, can I help you?”
“Hi Mr. Roberts,” Twist said. He tried to peek around him as he asked, “Is Jack home?”
“Yeah, he’s upstairs. What’s up?”
“He’s supposed to go down to the lake with us. Is he allowed to?”
“Sure. It’s not that far away, right?” Scott said, scanning the faces on the other kids. “You neighborhood kids, too?”
“Oh, no,” Victor said, shaking his head, “I live across town. I’m just visiting my best bud Oliver. Name’s Victor. Nice to meet you Mr. Roberts.”
“Alright. Nice to meet you too.” Scott said. Odd kid, but there was always one in every group. “What about you?”
Gina shouldered her way through Vic and Twist and stuck her hand out. “Gina Bobkin, pleasure to meet you, Mr. Roberts. I live just at the end of the street.”
Scott shook her hand. “Nice to meet you too. Let me go and get Jack.”
He disappeared from the doorway. Inside, Oliver saw Maria hanging some framed pictures on the wall of the living room.
“Hi, Miss Rodriguez,” Twist said to her in his best “good boy” voice.
She turned from the wall and smiled, surprise showing at all the new faces. “Hey there, kids. How are you?”
“Good,” all three said in unison.
“Just waiting for Jack to come down so we can bike to the lake,” Twist added.
“Cool, have fun,” she said, then turned back to what she was doing.
With the grownups’ attention away from them now, Gina took this opportunity to hiss at Victor. “Vic, do us all a favor and keep your dang mouth shut next time.”
Twist snickered.
“What’d I do?” Victor said, looking to Twist for help.
In a mocking voice, Gina whispered, “Oh, gee-golly, I’m not from around here Mr. Roberts, I live all the way on Mars.”
“What?” Victor demanded. “I wanted him to know where I lived, is all.”
“That’s right, Mr. Roberts, we’re here to beam your son up to our UFO,” Gina went on.
Twist was laughing so hard he nearly fell off balance.
“I don’t sound like that!” Vic blurted out. His eyes darted back and forth from Gina to Twist. “And it’s the truth, I’m not from the neighborhood.”
“Yeah, and no one cares or has to know that,” Gina said. “Especially not Jack’s dad when we’re trying to convince him to let Jack come hang with us, you dodo.”
“Oh. Well, how was I supposed to know?”
“Oh, how was I supposed to know? Geez, Victor. I guess I shouldn’t expect a Martian to know the rules of our planet.”
Twist saw the quiver of Victor’s lips, and knew he was just about his breaking point. He let out one more good laugh, then grabbed Gina’s shoulder. “Alright, alright, Gina. Layoff him.”
“Whatever,” Victor sniffed. “Where is this kid, anyway?”
“Yeah, he’s taking too long,” Gina said, going between them and climbing down the porch steps to grab her Kool-Aid from the cupholder on her bike.
When she was out of earshot of them, Twist leaned in close to Vic with a grin. “Don’t worry, she’ll get hers.”
Victor smiled, unsure if this was one of Twist’s setups or not. “What do you mean?”
“I invited Tommy Marino to come to the lake with us.”
They both started to laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Gina said, climbing up the steps, squeezing Kool-Aid into her mouth.
“Oh, nothing.” Vic said, smiling a sly grin.
“Tell me, you butt-heads.”
“You’ll find out,” Twist said.
Gina leaned against the railing, using one elbow to keep herself propped up. With the other, she sipped on her Kool-Aid.
“Oh, don’t squint at us like that.” Twist said.
In response, Gina took a big swig of her Kool-Aid, almost finishing the bottle in one gulp.
Jack hadn’t meant to take so long, but when his dad had packed his stuff he’d put his biking gear in a box with his video game stuff instead of with his sports stuff. He came down the stairs excitedly but stopped halfway down when he saw Twist with two other kids at his door. He wasn’t expecting two others, and especially not a girl to be with them. It didn’t make it any easier that she looked how she looked.
Pretty and blond, she caught and held his attention for way too long. Thankfully, none of them had noticed him yet.
“H-hey, guys,” Jack said, trying to act cool as he came down the hall.
They all turned to him, and Jack was thankful his Dad was hovering around somewhere behind him because it was the only reason he could keep his composure.
“Hey, Jack,” Twist greeted him with a big grin. He held his hand up high.
Jack slapped it.
The boy that was next to Twist scooched up closer to him.
“This is Victor,” Twist said, “and she’s Gina. They’re coming to the lake with us.”
“Hey ya, man,” Victor said.
Gina didn’t move, she kept leaning against the railing and just waved.
“Don’t mind her,” Vic said with a sidelong glance. “She’s just in a bad mood.”
Before Gina could react to the taunt with an insult of her own, the sound of a motorbike coming down the block stopped them all. They all turned to look as Tommy Marino pulled up next to the curb in front of Jack’s house.
“I was wondering where you guys were,” he said, lifting his sunglasses off his face.
Gina whirled around, her face red with anger. “You invited him?”
Vic started to laugh. “Oh, what? He forgot to tell you?”
“I’ll tell you why later, Gina.” Twist said, trying not to laugh.
“Ugh, you’re gonna pay for this, Oliver.” She wasn’
t leaning against the railing anymore, she’d stamped toward Twist when she realized what he’d done.
As the others walked off the porch, laughing and teasing each other, Scott held Jack back with a gentle hand on his arm. “You’re good with your friends, right?”
“Yeah, Dad, I’m fine.”
“Cool,” Scott said, then to the other kids, “You guys have fun.”
“We will Mr. Roberts,” Victor spoke up for them. “We’ll be safe.”
Scott saw the neighbor girl roll her eyes. He laughed as he turned to head back into the living room.
“You got your bike?” Twist asked Jack.
“Yeah, it’s out in the shed, I’ll go get it.”
“Cool, we’ll wait for you out front.”
Jack raced to get the bicycle.
Tommy Marino hit the horn of his motorbike and threw his arms up in the air. “You guys going, or what?”
“Cool your jets, Marino,” Gina shouted at him.
He smiled his best grin at her—trying to imitate the kind of smile he saw on AquaFresh commercials—and nodded to her. “’Sup, Homeschool?”
“I told you to stop calling me that,” Gina growled, turning her glare from him to Twist.
Jack was back, and Twist could see all the questions in his eyes. “I’ll fill you in when we’re on our way, okay?”
“Okay,” Jack agreed with amusement in his voice.
He was excited to begin his first adventure in this new place with new friends.
Chapter 11
“It’s a bit nippy out there,” Raymond said, coming back into the house from his morning errand.
In the past, talking aloud like that to an empty house would have made him feel looney—but the house wasn’t empty anymore.
Lucas sat in the recliner, the same one Raymond had spent many a lonely nights in while watching television. Now his son sat there, watching the shampoo commercial on the screen.
Raymond picked the remote off the coffee table and switched the TV off, then turned to his son. He shook his head. “That outfit won’t do, Lucas. Shorts and a t-shirt for Fall? What kind of a father would I be if I let you go out like that?”
He didn’t expect an answer, but he saw his son’s eyes watching him expectantly as he sat the paper bag down on the coffee table.
“I’ve got more goodies for you.”
Reaching into the bag from Marley’s clothing store, he pulled out the leather bomber jacket he’d found there just an hour ago. It was sized for a young child, which meant it was the perfect size for Lucas.
Raymond put the jacket on the dummy, and then picked him up with his hand under it and in the hole, and Lucas seemed to brighten up when he did.
“I love it. I love it, Father! Thank you.”
“That’s what parents do for their children, Lucas. I’m glad you like it.” There was a tear in his voice as he carried his son across the living room in the crook of his arm.
“Tell you what. I think it’s about time we went to meet the neighbors, Lucas.”
He headed out the door, with his son hugged close to him.
“Hey Mr. Gibson,” Twist said as they rode by the old man coming down the street.
Tommy Marino was all the way up the street already, but the other kids all waved to the old man. With his free hand, Raymond waved back to the kids.
They all noticed the dummy under his arm (it was hard not to), but none of them said anything until Victor slowed down to let Twist and Jack catch up to him.
He looked over his shoulder, and saw the old man was long gone, but still kept his voice to a whisper, “Did you guys see that freaky thing he was carrying?”
Twist shook his head. “Yeah, we saw it, Vic.”
“What the heck was it?”
“I don’t know, some sort of doll, man.”
Victor wasn’t sure why they weren’t more concerned with it. “It didn’t give you guys the heebie-jeebies?”
Twist looked over at Jack, and Jack shrugged. Twist shrugged back at him, then to Vic said, “No, man. Mr. Gibson always makes strange toys like that.”
“Oh.” Vic said, but he seemed unconvinced.
“Vic, why don’t you go and ride with Gina before Tommy notices she’s by herself and starts flirting with her?”
He laughed, but couldn’t help but feel a tinge of jealousy that Oliver wanted to ride with his new friend rather than him—considering they went way back. “Fine, fine.”
Victor sped up.
They were riding at a brisk pace, with Tommy in the lead telling them a story no one was listening to even though Gina (and now) Vic were close behind him. Twist and Jack were in the far back. None of them were in a rush to get to the lake, it was the beginning of Fall break, and they had all of the time in the world.
“So, what’s up between Tommy and Gina?” Jack asked, almost in a whisper.
“Tommy has a huge crush on her, but Gina can’t stand him.” Twist laughed. “I didn’t tell her he was coming to the lake with us until Tommy was already in front of your house.”
“Jerk move,” Jack said, but it was funny.
Twist shrugged. “I don’t know, something tells me she might secretly like Tommy.”
Jack wasn’t sure why, but that made him feel funny. “What makes you say that?”
“Nothing, actually. I guess I just hope it’s true because it’d be funny if they ended up together.”
Jack thought about it for a few seconds, thought about how suddenly angered she’d been when she saw Tommy, and let out a laugh. “Yeah, that would be pretty funny.”
Twist was glad someone else got it.
“How much longer until we get to this lake?” Jack asked him.
“Not much longer. Just around that bend over there,” he said, pointing to the wide right turn Tommy was making.
His first stop was the Harpers. Raymond rang the doorbell, and with a grin he wasn’t even aware of, waited for the door to be answered.
Inside the house, Bob Harper got out of his chair, the pain in his back shooting all the way down his legs like a strike of lightning. With a loud groan he straightened himself up.
“Bob, maybe you should let me—” Wilma started.
“No,” he said flatly, stretching his back out.
This had been a point of contention ever since he messed his back up a year ago. Each time Wilma heard him groan in pain like that she just had to offer her help, even though she knew it would set him off.
Her husband had an obsession with protecting his family and keeping the roles intact. There was no reasoning with him about it.
Bob Harper opened the door, and to his great surprise saw Raymond Gibson standing there with some sort of wooden toy in his arms.
“Hey there, neighbor,” Raymond said.
“H—hello Mr. Gibson.” His lips quivered with rage, and his hands clenched into fists. He hoped this old man hadn’t disturbed him on his day off, made him get out of his chair, to show off some sort of toy. “Can I help you with something?”
“Nothing really, neighbor. Just finished up my grandest…ah…creation and wanted to show it to the neighborhood.”
“Oh,” Bob couldn’t believe it. This old man must have been off his rocker to disturb him for this nonsense. “It looks great, Mr. Gibson. Well, good to see you.”
It was all he could do to keep himself from punching out the old man.
Instead of leaving, though, Raymond held up Lucas for Bob Harper to get a closer look, with his hand in his back. “Hello there neighbor, I’m Lucas.”
“Mr. Gibson,” Bob could feel the vein in his forehead pulsating, “it’s a lovely toy, but I must go. My wife is waiting for me in the living room.”
Raymond’s excitement deflated—not all of it, mind you—as he took his hand out of Lucas’ back and brought him under his arm. He nodded to Bob Harper. “Yes, yes, I understand.”
“Good. Have a wonderful day, Mr. Gibson,” he said, slamming the door shut.
�
�You as well, Mr. Harper,” Raymond said to the rattling door window. He turned, then headed across the street.
Perhaps the new neighbors would appreciate his son.
Chapter 12
Tommy pulled up to the curb first and shut his motorbike off. Gina stopped behind him.
“How do you like my motorbike, Homeschool?” Tommy asked her.
“It stinks,” she said, climbing off her bike and kicking out the kickstand.
Victor stopped behind her, and then Twist and Jack behind him.
“I think it’s cool, Tommy,” Victor said.
Tommy climbed off his motorbike. He took his sunglasses off his face and hung them from the collar of his shirt. “Thanks, Vic-a-rooni.”
“Does it run off your farts, or something?” Gina said. “Why’s it smell so bad?”
“Aw, Homeschool, still playing the tough-hard-to-get-girl, huh?” Tommy shot back.
“More like, you’ll-never-get-girl.” She said.
Before their fight could continue, Twist stepped into the circle that was beginning to form. “Alright, alright, guys. We gonna go down to the river or are we just going to stand around talking smack?”
“Yeah,” Tommy said, “let’s go going.”
It was too cold to swim, of course, but the fun of going down to Lake Myers in the Fall was the walk through the woods that separated the lake bank from the parking lot.
Plus, there was a heck of a lot more privacy down by the bank than there was anywhere else in town. The adults and old people tended to hang out at the park around this time of year more than the river, so there wouldn’t be any pesky eyes watching over what they were doing.
They’d need privacy to do what Twist wanted to do. He patted his pockets to make sure the cigarettes hadn’t fallen out or turned into crumpled pieces of crap in his pockets. They were as good as they’d been when he got them from Tommy earlier in the day.
They locked their bikes up on a nearby rack while Tommy walked his bike to the nearest parking spot, then started their hike to the lake. Since he was the oldest, Tommy led them through the path in the woods. The others didn’t fall into ranks the way they had when riding bikes, but followed behind him as a single unit, like boy scouts following the troop leader.