Something Old, Something New (15 page)

Silence.

“Put my son on the phone.”

The next voice belonged to Davis, and he sounded quite contrite. “Hey, Mom. Sorry about that.”

“Who was that—” She stopped herself before saying “heifer” and replaced it with “woman.”

“Her name's Jessica. She's kinda tripping.”

“Kinda?”

“Um, look. Glad you called. I may not be able to make the wedding.”

She was sure she'd misheard him. “Excuse me?”

He sighed. “Jessica wants me to meet her parents Thanksgiving weekend.”

“Did you tell her you have a prior commitment?”

“Yeah, but—”

“She doesn't care?”

Silence.

“Put her on the phone.”

He chuckled. “Oh, no. Not doing that.”

“I understand, but let me ask you this. How long has she been walking around with your balls in her purse? She can't be that fine.”

“Mom!” He sounded appalled.

“Just asking. I'll talk to you later, Davis. Oh, and tell Jessica I can't wait to meet her.” Lily ended the call.

Hoping the steam pouring out of her ears would dissipate soon, she bounced her head on the table in frustration. First Devon and now this. If Jessica made Davis miss the wedding, she'd be trading in her wedding suit for prison stripes, because she was going to hurt somebody.

Chapter 14

D
evon was enjoying watching the Braves play baseball. He liked that Mr. Mal had provided hot dogs, popcorn, and soda, and that for the first time Devon knew more about a subject than Amari. Amari didn't know a thing about baseball, but Mr. Trent, Mr. Mal, and Mr. Cliff kept praising Devon for his knowledge while Amari steamed.

But watching the game made him think about how much fun it had been sitting in front of the little television back home with his grandma. Devon wanted to go back to Mississippi. There he could be himself instead of whomever the folks in Henry Adams were trying to make him become. He was pretty sure if he could get there, his grandma's best friend, Ms. Myrtle, would take him in. Better yet, she might even know how to get in touch with his parents. He'd enjoyed being in Henry Adams with Ms. Lily, but he was ready to go home now.

However, there were two major obstacles. He didn't have a way to get there, nor did he have any money. Both problems would have to be overcome if he were to be successful, so he decided to wait for a sign and go from there.

Mr. Mal lived in a small apartment connected to the Dog. In order to get to the bathroom, it was necessary to walk through his bedroom. During the seventh-inning stretch, Devon excused himself so he could make a quick trip to the bathroom. On his way back, he spotted Mr. Mal's wallet sitting on top of his dresser. Devon looked around to make sure no one else was coming. He knew stealing was wrong, it said so in the Ten Commandments, but the wallet was lying there calling him, so he went over and opened it. There was a ten-dollar bill inside. Shaking nervously, he stuffed the money in his pocket, put the wallet back where he'd found it, and left the room. He settled himself back in his chair and glued his eyes on the game.

The Braves won.

Mal asked, “Did you enjoy yourself, Devon?”

“Sure did, Mr. Mal.”

Devon could see Amari mimicking him, but he ignored it because real soon Amari and his teasing would be just a memory, if his plans worked out successfully.

“How about we ask Lily if you can come over tomorrow after we finish up out at the Clark place, and watch the start of the American League series?”

“I'd like that.”

“Good.” The men all smiled. Devon felt the pang of guilt about the theft rise inside, but he ignored it the way he had Amari, or at least tried to. “Thank you for inviting me.”

Mal ruffled his hair. “Anytime, buckaroo. And Amari, you need to bone up on the game.”

“I'll pass. Baseball puts me to sleep. Give me real sports like football or the NBA.”

Minutes later everyone said their good-byes, and Mr. Trent drove Devon and Amari home.

Later that day, emboldened by his successful theft from Mr. Mal, Devon targeted Lily. While she was downstairs watching TV with Mr. Trent, he tiptoed into her bedroom and found her purse. Her wallet held two twenties. He pocketed them and slipped back into his room. Fifty dollars was a lot of money. He was pretty sure it would be enough to catch the bus and go home, but he needed to hide it until it was time to leave. His grandma always hid things beneath her mattress, so Devon did the same. Nobody would look there. In the meantime, he had to find out about the bus. He and his grandma always took the bus with the dog on the side when they went out of town. Although he'd yet to see a bus in Henry Adams, he knew there had to be one somewhere.

Downstairs in the living room Lily was seated on the sofa with Trent, and she was fussing about Davis. “How can you not come to your mama's wedding?”

“You didn't curse at the girl, did you?”

Lily touched her chest and asked innocently, “
Moi
? Curse?”

“
Oui, vous
, Miss I Got a Temper.”

“No. Davis wouldn't put her on the phone.”

“Smart man.”

“Not smart enough to keep that crazy girl from screening his calls. I asked him how long she'd been carrying his balls in her purse.”

“You didn't.”

“Yes, I did. I'm his mother. I'm allowed.”

He chuckled. “You're a mess, you know that, right?”

She folded her arms and sat back against the couch in a huff. “I just want my son at our wedding. Is that too much to ask?”

He put his arm around her and eased her close. He kissed her angry brow. “No, darlin', it's not, so let's give him some time and space to work things out. He'll show up, don't worry.”

“But he's always been so sensible about his girlfriends. What's he doing with a jealous controlling hoochie like this Jessica?”

“Every man takes a walk on the wild side at least once in his life.”

“Did you?”

“Yes. Subject closed.”

Lily asked innocently again, “Who was she?”

“Not telling you, so let it go.”

“You didn't catch anything, did you?”

He looked at her and laughed uproariously. “Come here, you.”

Next thing she knew she was being kissed, slowly, thoroughly, and completely. This version was even more world-rocking than the one last week at the Dog. And when he pulled back slowly and asked as he traced her lips with a slow finger, “Any more questions, Fontaine?” all she could do was whisper, “No.”

Grinning, he gave her another potent kiss, pulled her close, and they resumed watching the Stevie Wonder concert on PBS.

O
n Sunday Henry Adams awakened to rain. The wind blew, the temperature plummeted, and folks knew to start paying closer attention to the forecasts on the Weather Channel again because winter was coming. The scheduled work on the Clark home was canceled due to the inclement day, so after calling everyone to notify them of that fact, Trent called Lily to invite her and Devon over for breakfast.

Amari met them at the door and let them in.

Lily said, “Morning, Amari. Smells good in here.”

Amari nodded a greeting at Devon, who didn't return the gesture.

“Dad's in the kitchen.”

Lily said, “Okay. I'll go and see if he needs help. Devon, hang out with Amari for a minute.”

Amari looked like he'd prefer another option, but said to Devon, “Come on. I'm watching SportsCenter.”

Devon took a seat on the sofa. While Amari reclaimed his chair, Devon looked at what was on the TV and asked, “Why are you watching with the sound down?”

“I've got the closed captioning on. It helps me with my reading.”

“Oh, that's right. I forgot you can't read.”

Amari shot him a look. “I can read. I just need to get better.”

“I want the sound turned up.”

“Then go home. This is my house.”

“You're stupid.”

“And you're a dork. Chill out before I have Zoey kick your butt again.”

Devon crossed his arms and pouted. “Stupid.”

“You say that again, and I'm telling.”

“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”

In the kitchen Lily was setting the table while Trent finished up the eggs and bacon in the skillets on the stove. “Thanks for talking me down last night about Davis.”

“No problem.”

She walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist before placing her cheek gently against his strong back. “Can you teach me to be calm like you?”

He turned around. “I can teach you anything you like.”

She grinned. “You are so good for me.”

“I know.”

“Modest, too.”

“Another one of the July family traits.”

She snorted, and then, looking up into his eyes, said, “I love you very much.”

“After all we've been through, you'd better.”

She punched him, and he bent down and gave her a kiss.

Amari's voice interrupted. “Hey. Hey. Hey. Cut that out. Kid in the room.”

They broke the kiss and grinned his way.

Trent asked. “You need something?”

“Yes. Somebody to check Devon.”

“What's he doing?” Lily asked.

“Dogging me about not being able to read well. If he calls me stupid one more time, I'll be on fence duty because I'm going to knock him out.”

Lily threw up her hands and sighed.

Trent gave her the spatula. “I'll talk to him.”

And he did, very sternly, and made him apologize.

After Trent left the room, a satisfied Amari went back to the TV.

But even though it was Sunday morning, the devil was riding Devon. He looked around for a piece of paper and something to write with. He found a pad of sticky notes by the cordless phone near the door. Using the pen next to it, he wrote the longest word he could think of,
blasphemy,
and walked back into the room. “Can you read this?”

Smoldering, Amari turned to Devon, looked at the word, and slowly got to his feet.

Devon sneered, “You can't, can you?”

Amari snatched the paper out of his hand, balled it up, and threw it in Devon's face as hard as he could. The fear that leapt into Devon's eyes gave Amari a little bit of satisfaction, but not enough, so he stormed up the steps to his bedroom and slammed the door.

Needless to say, it was not a very good morning for anyone, except maybe Devon. Now that he knew for sure that he wouldn't be spanked, he planned to make everybody around him miserable until either they sent him home or he found the bus that would take him there.

However, he forgot about another long word,
consequences.
When he and Ms. Lily returned home, she refreshed his memory by informing him that not only would he be writing a three-page letter of apology to Amari, which had to be a real letter this time, he was also on punishment for the rest of his life. As she left his bedroom, she said, “You'll be twenty-five before you see television in this house again.”

The punishment also negated his afternoon of baseball watching with Mr. Mal. That really stung, and made parts of Devon rethink his whole devil persona thing. But the pain-filled, hurting parts of himself thought about the hidden fifty dollars that would be taking him home and decided Ms. Lily and everyone else could kiss his butt.

T
rent rapped quietly on Amari's door.

“Come in.”

He was stretched out on his bed with his arms folded behind his head, staring up at the ceiling.

“How are you, champ?”

Amari swung his head in his direction. “I'm still mad, but I'm okay.”

“I came to commend you on your restraint.”

“I wanted to pop him so bad.”

“I know, but you didn't. That took maturity.”

“Maturity's overrated.”

Trent smiled with affection. “Sometimes it is, but you did good, son.”

“What was that stupid word anyway?”

“Blasphemy.”

“What's it mean?”

“Being disrespectful to God.”

“From the Bible, right?”

“Mostly.”

Amari sighed and looked up again. “I should've known.” A few moments of silence passed before he asked, “Do we have to add him to the family?”

“He and Lily are a package deal.”

“How about we keep her and trade him to the Clippers for a draft pick and a player to be named later, like in the NBA?”

Trent chuckled.

Amari's voice grew thick as he whispered, “He really hurt my feelings, Dad.”

Trent walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed. The pain in Amari's eyes tore at his heart. He placed a hand on his son's shoulder. “I know.”

“Being here is making me lose my edge.”

“You think so?”

“I know so. I never felt like this on the street. People dis you, you cuss them out, you punch them out, you move on. I'm not down with having feelings.”

“They help mold us.”

“If you say so.”

“Knowing that Lily probably put her foot up his little behind makes me feel better.”

“I suppose. I just want to clock him, just once. Now I see why Zoey went off. How's she doing, by the way? Do you know?”

“They're supposed to be back in a few days. Reg told me on the phone yesterday that she has to baby her voice for now and not use it too much.”

“Good. Can't wait for them to get back and hear what she sounds like.”

Trent was pleased to see his mood lighten. “How about we go to the garage, work on the T-Bird, and turn on the game? New England's playing.”

“Can we get burgers and fries from the Dog?”

“You bet.”

“Then sign me up.”

Trent ruffled his hair and headed to the door.

“Dad?”

Trent turned back. “Yeah?”

“Thanks for coming up to check on me. You made me feel better.”

“It's all part of the job, son. See you downstairs in a few.” Trent closed the door behind him and walked back to the staircase with a smile.

A
t her wit's end, Lily put in a call to Paula. After a few minutes of relaying her concerns about Devon and his behavior, Paula agreed to talk with him. “But I can't do it today. I'm having dinner this evening in Franklin with Pastor Donovan and his wife. How about Monday, right after school?”

Lily was disappointed that she couldn't come immediately, but there was nothing she could do about it, so she said, “Okay. That's fine.”

After ending the call, she went up to his room.

He was stretched out on his bed.

He looked over at her and then away.

Lily ignored that and asked with all the confusion she felt inside, “Why are you being so mean all of a sudden, Devon? This isn't like you.”

“I want to go back to Mississippi. I don't like Kansas anymore.”

“There's nobody to take care of you there, honey.”

“Ms. Myrtle will.”

“Who's Ms. Myrtle?”

“My grandma's best friend.”

“I see.”

“I know she'll let me live with her. I just have to ask her. I bet she knows where my parents are, too. They've probably been looking for me.”