“Your summer promise?”
“Before I came here this summer, my parents made me promise I wouldn’t do anything I’d regret later.”
“Sounds wise.” Todd’s voice deepened as he added, “Promises can change your life, you know. Most people don’t realize it, but a promise can last forever.”
It was silent again for a few minutes as Christy reviewed the evening’s events in her thoughts before asking, “Do you like it?”
“Like what?”
“Marijuana. Do you smoke it a lot?” Christy’s boldness surprised even her, but Todd wasn’t the kind of guy who played flirty games.
“No. I used to. Sometimes. But I don’t anymore.”
“Why?”
Todd looked right at Christy. “Because I’m a Christian now.”
Christy was completely startled. She never expected such a statement from a California surfer. “What does that have to do with it?”
“Everything.”
“Well, I’m a Christian too,” Christy said, trying to recover from her surprise. “My whole family is. I was baptized when I was a baby.”
“I was baptized right out there.” Todd pointed to the ocean. “Last summer. July 27th.”
“You’re kidding!” Christy adjusted her position on the jagged rocks and sat up straight. “That’s my birthday!”
Todd looked as though he was about to say something, but they were interrupted by a loud group of people coming toward them. It was the group from the party. Shawn was leading the way, whooping it up, making all kinds of loud noises with an echo of support from the others. The traveling party stopped on the beach a short distance from Todd and Christy. Shawn yelled something about surfing the jetty with his eyes closed.
“What’s he doing?” Christy asked.
“He’s stoned. I’ve seen him like this before. He totally goes into the ozone. Looks like he’s going bodysurfing, which is really stupid. Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
Christy couldn’t hear Todd as he confronted Shawn, but she saw him pulling on Shawn’s arm. Then Shawn jerked away from Todd and bellowed out a series of cuss words, ending with, “I don’t need this from you! Get outta my face.”
Shawn plunged into the water while a few of the guys in the crowd started pushing Todd around. He turned away from them and stalked through the sand back to Christy.
His voice filled with tension, Todd shouted at Christy, “Hanson’s is still open. You want to go?”
“Sure. Where?” Christy couldn’t remember where she had heard that name before.
“Get some ice cream.”
“Okay.” Christy hopped down and fell into step with his brisk march. “What about Shawn?”
“Hey, I tried, okay? He’s responsible for his own actions.”
His words brimmed with anger and frustration, which made Christy pull back. With all her heart she wanted to slip her hand into his and give it a comforting squeeze. But she was too shy. Instead she chattered away, trying to use her words to cheer him up as they walked the nine blocks to the ice cream parlor.
“My uncle played golf today, and the funniest thing happened! His golf cart broke down, and he walked all the way back to the clubhouse before he realized he had left his clubs back in the cart at the fifteenth hole.”
Todd’s response was minimal. Obviously it was much funnier when Uncle Bob told it. Todd remained solemn until they entered Hanson’s Parlor. Suddenly he perked up, and Christy’s heart sank when she realized why. Tracy worked here. And there she was, balancing a banana split in one hand and a malt in the other.
“Tracy! How’s it going?” Todd ambled over to a table with Christy close behind.
“Hi, you guys! I’ll be with you in just a second.” Her hair, pulled up in a ponytail, was tied with a bright pink ribbon that matched the ruffled apron of her uniform. She looked too cute.
Christy sank into the chair and watched Tracy gingerly deliver two huge hot fudge sundaes to the table next to theirs. Then, wiping her hands on her apron, Tracy stepped over and said, “It’s been so busy tonight! If you had come an hour earlier there wouldn’t have been a place to sit.”
“What do you want, Christy?” Todd asked, his steady manner returning.
Christy decided to play it coy in front of Tracy. “I don’t know, Todd. I didn’t bring any money with me.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got enough. As long as you don’t order the Hanson’s Extravaganza.”
“Oh, please!” Tracy moaned. “Making two of those in one night is more than I can handle, and I’ve already reached my quota!”
“Then I’ll have a hot fudge sundae with chocolate chip ice cream and no nuts,” Christy ordered.
“And I’ll have my usual,” Todd said, smiling at Tracy.
Christy tried to subdue her feeling of jealousy over Todd and Tracy’s closeness because at this very moment, she realized, she was on what could actually be considered her first real date. She and Paula had a contest, now into its fourth month, to see who would be the first to go out on a real date. The rules were that the guy had to ask, he had to pay, and he had to be the one to take you home. Christy had two out of three so far. It looked as though Paula would have to be the one to cough up the ten dollars.
Todd’s “usual” turned out to be a mango shake with a pineapple wedge. Tracy placed the ice cream on the table with much more grace than Christy knew she could have managed and asked, “Weren’t you going to Shawn’s party, Christy?”
“I went, but there wasn’t much going on, so, ah, I left.” Why did I make it sound like that? What if Todd tells her the real story of how I ran out of the house crying?
“That’s not exactly the whole story,” Todd told Tracy.
Christy felt so foolish.
“It really ticks me off, Tracy. When we left, Shawn was totally stoned. I tried to stop him from going into the water, but he just blew me off like I was nothing to him.” Todd took a chomp out of his pineapple wedge. “I almost slugged him, Trace. I almost bashed him right in the face. But I know it wouldn’t have stopped him.”
Christy felt excluded from the conversation as Tracy gave her advice to Todd. “I know it’s hard, but you can’t spend the rest of your life feeling responsible for Shawn. He’s the one in the wrong. It’s not your problem. Just turn it over to the Lord.”
Todd’s response held the same brother-sister argumentative spirit Christy had seen between the couple on the beach. “But he’s my best friend! I can’t just let it go like I don’t care! You’ve never understood that about me, Tracy. I stick up for my friends, even when they’re being jerks.”
Tracy excused herself. “I have to go take some more orders.”
“So …” Christy tried to break into the conversation. “You and Shawn are really close friends?”
“Yeah. We’ve known each other a long time, and we used to do everything together. I mean everything. But last summer when I became a Christian, we kind of went our separate ways. I wasn’t into all the stuff he was into anymore. Except surfing.”
Christy didn’t understand why “becoming a Christian,” as Todd said, would change anything between friends.
Todd remained withdrawn when he walked Christy home. She fought the sinking feeling that maybe he didn’t like her the same way she liked him. But at the front door her spirits rose.
“I want to get your phone number,” Todd said in his matter-of-fact way.
“7-9-4—” She stopped, realizing that was her home phone. She didn’t know her aunt and uncle’s number.
“Just a minute,” she said, leaving Todd by the front door while she ran in to copy the number off the kitchen phone.
When she returned an ambulance siren blared a few blocks away. It was so loud that Christy could barely hear what Todd said as he waved good-bye. Did he say, “I’ll see you tomorrow” or “I’ll call you tomorrow”? Either way, Christy’s excitement soared as she met Aunt Marti in the living room.
“Well, Christy my dear!
I’m dying to hear all about your party. Did you and Alissa have a good time? What did you have to eat? Did you play Twister like you thought you would?”
Christy laughed and laughed.
“I don’t understand. Why are you laughing, dear?”
Christy stretched out on the plush carpet and shook her head. “Let me just say that it wasn’t the kind of evening I thought it would be. But I ended up having a good time anyway, and Todd brought me home. He might call me tomorrow, so I better tell Uncle Bob not to give him a hard time.”
“Whatever do you mean?” Aunt Marti asked, blinking her eyes. “Your uncle would never do anything to embarrass you!”
“Oh, right!” Christy laughed all the way up to her room. What a night! What a week! She felt as if she had grown up and changed more in the last few days than she had in the last three years.
When she woke up the next morning, Christy still felt exuberant. Cleansing her face and putting on her makeup, she thought about Todd. Should she go down to the beach or wait around for him to call? She curled her hair with special care and was nearly finished when Uncle Bob knocked on her door.
“Christy—telephone! Somebody named Rod or Claude or Schmod or something.”
“Eeeeeeee!” Christy squealed. “I’ll be right there!”
With one last look in the mirror she took the stairs two at a time and picked up the phone in the den.
“I’ve got it, Uncle Bob,” she hollered and then heard a considerate click.
“Hello?” She tried to sound aloof yet interested and at the same time charming. Even though Todd didn’t seem the type to play these kinds of games, why couldn’t she?
“Christy. It’s Todd. I’m at the hospital. Do you think your aunt or uncle could bring you over? It’s Hoag Memorial.”
Christy was so shocked she nearly dropped the receiver. “Todd! What—how—what happened? Are you all right?”
“It’s not me. It’s Shawn. He crashed into the jetty last night. Broke a lot of bones. Lost a lot of blood. He’s still unconscious.”
“When did you find out?”
“Last night when I left your house. There was an ambulance out on the beach. I had a feeling it must be Shawn, so I followed them to the hospital. I’ve been here all night. His parents are out of town. I thought I’d go back to his house and try to find some phone numbers of relatives or somebody who might know where they are.” The weariness sounded in his voice.
“Well, what can I do?” Christy felt shocked and helpless but willing to do anything for Todd.
“I wondered if you could be with him in case he comes to. He might be able to tell you where his parents are. I wouldn’t have called you except I couldn’t get ahold of anybody else.”
“Sure, Todd,” Christy responded numbly. “I’ll come right over.”
Uncle Bob drove as Aunt Marti chattered nervously. Todd met them in the lobby and told them what room to go to and the phone number to Shawn’s house. He looked pale and distraught. The expression looked out of place on his strong, gentle face. Christy wished she could throw her arms around him, hug him, and cry on his shoulder.
Todd left, and the three of them rode the elevator to Shawn’s floor. Then so many things happened at once that it was hard to figure out what was going on. Shawn had stopped breathing and was taken immediately to the operating room. There was some kind of problem over Shawn’s being under eighteen and his parents not being there to sign release papers for the surgery. Uncle Bob spoke in hushed tones with the doctor while Aunt Marti and Christy stood in the hallway. From out of nowhere a police officer appeared, and a nurse directed him to Christy.
“Excuse me, miss,” he said, peering intently at her. He was a large man, and his mere presence startled Christy. “I’m Officer Martin. May I ask you a few questions?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Were you with Shawn Russell last night at the time of the accident?”
“Yes. I mean no. I mean sort of,” Christy floundered.
“I see.” Officer Martin raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps we should sit down, and you should tell me what you know.”
Aunt Marti was the first to sit down, nervously clicking her nails. “Now tell him everything, Christy darling.” Her voice was higher and squeakier than usual.
“Well, there was a party at Shawn’s house last night, and I got there about eight o’clock,” Christy began.
“Were there drugs at this party?”
Aunt Marti gasped. “Heavens, no!”
The officer looked irritated. “Perhaps you can let the young lady answer for herself.”
Aunt Marti recoiled in her seat.
Christy’s heart pounded. “Yes, sir.”
“There were drugs?”
“Yes, sir.” Out of the corner of her eye she could see Aunt Marti turning pale. “I went upstairs,” Christy told him, her voice shaking, “because one of the guys told me to go upstairs. See, I was trying to find something to drink besides beer, and I asked if they had any Coke, and they told me to go upstairs and ask Shawn. Shawn Russell. It was at his house. The party, I mean.” She was shaking so badly she could hardly think straight.
“Go on,” the officer instructed.
“Well, I went upstairs to the bedroom, and when I went in there were some people, and they were, well, I didn’t know what they were doing at first. But then I figured out it was drugs. They were smoking marijuana.”
“Oh!” Aunt Marti looked as if she might faint.
“Miss Miller,” the officer bent down and looked forcefully at Christy, “did you participate in the use of any illegal drugs last night?”
“No!” The word jumped out of her throat like a scared cat. Then, pulling back, she said, “No, sir, I did not.”
Never before in her life had she felt so good. So glad she had made the right decision.
Aunt Marti heaved a huge sigh of relief.
“Do you know the names of any of the other people at the party?” the officer asked.
“Just Todd. I think his last name is Spencer, but I’m not sure. He’s the guy who is at Shawn’s house trying to locate his parents.”
“And you honestly did not know any of the other people in the bedroom last night?” He didn’t seem convinced.
“No, sir.”
“Okay, go on.”
Christy gave him a few more details. Then he stopped her and questioned, “Now Todd was the one with you when you left the beach after Shawn headed for the water?”
Christy nodded.
“Did Todd try to stop Shawn from going into the water?”
“Yes, sir. But it was no use. He said Shawn was too stoned to know what was going on. Some of the other guys started pushing Todd around. I was afraid there might be a fight.”
Christy noticed Uncle Bob walking back down the hall toward them, his face stone gray. He walked over to Christy and cupped her chin in his hand.
“I’m sorry, honey.” Tears filled his eyes. “There was nothing the doctors could do.”
“Oh, dear me!” gasped Aunt Marti.
“The patient expired?” asked the officer with no emotion in his voice.
Uncle Bob nodded.
“Well, thank you for your time, Miss Miller,” the policeman said, briskly excusing himself.
Uncle Bob sat down and slipped his arm around Christy. She began to shake uncontrollably and cried into his light blue golf shirt, leaving streaks of mascara on the shoulder.
“Todd doesn’t know!” she cried. “We’ve got to call him. Where’s the number?”
Aunt Marti had regained her composure and was back in control of things. “Now, Christy, let your uncle call him. You stay here and calm yourself.”
Christy’s mind raced through its crazy maze while Uncle Bob stood at the phone booth a few yards away. How could Shawn be dead? She just met him a few days ago, and now he was gone. It couldn’t be true. The tears flowed down her cheeks.
Uncle Bob returned and said softly, “I think we’d bette
r go now.”
“What about Todd?” Christy sobbed.
“I got ahold of him. He had tracked down Shawn’s parents. They were staying with friends in Carmel but are taking the next flight back. Todd will pick them up at the airport.” Then he added gently, “They don’t know yet.”
The drive home was uncomfortable. Except for Christy’s sniffling and Aunt Marti’s occasional deep sighs, all was quiet. Just as they pulled into the driveway, Aunt Marti broke the silence.
“Actually, Christina, I had no idea these were the kinds of friends you had been keeping company with! Why, if I thought for one minute that you were going to a drug party last night, I—”
Uncle Bob cut her off with a force Christy had never seen from him. “Martha, let it go! I mean it! Don’t you dare say another word to her. Can’t you see you’re the one who pushed her into all this?”
“Me? How did I push her?”
“Yes, you! And you’re too stubborn to admit it! You wouldn’t let Christy stay innocent. You had to try to give her whole life a makeover, and the truth is she didn’t need it!” With that he slammed the car door and stormed into the house.
“Well!” Aunt Marti was indignant. “I don’t know where that came from.”
Christy wasn’t sure what she should do. She had never seen them fight like this before.
In the same way that a foaming wave recedes, Aunt Marti’s anger disappeared, and her cool composure returned. “Christy dear, don’t mind your uncle. I’m sure he didn’t mean to hurt you. Why don’t you and I go out for a salad over on Balboa Island? There’s a marvelous little place I’ve been wanting to take you.”
It seemed to Christy that the whole world was spinning around her. How could Aunt Marti talk about eating? She stared at her aunt. What a cold, insensitive woman! Did she think that ignoring reality would make it go away?
“Shall we go?” Aunt Marti prodded, fumbling for her keys.
Christy responded with all the graciousness she could find in her troubled spirit. “To be honest, Aunt Martha, I don’t feel much like eating. I’d rather go lie down for a while—if that’s okay with you.” The ending came out as sarcastic as it was meant to.