Boise Salvation
Chapter Seven – Friday
The next morning I get up glad it’s finally Friday. I slept pretty well and am ready to start the day with a nice breakfast and a little talk with my dad. After shaving and taking a shower I go out to the kitchen but the lights are off. Usually my dad is the first one up and is sitting at the table drinking his coffee by the time I get up. I turn on the lights and check my iPhone and see I missed a call and have a text message. I left my iPhone in my locker and forgot to check it after I got off work. I see the missed call is from my dad, and so is the text message. I read the text message aloud: "Carol and I went to Jackpot and will be home Saturday." Jackpot? I have no idea where that is. I’ll have to ask Karl about it later. I finish eating a piece of toast and have a glass of orange juice and head to school. Today I hope to have some extra time to read the next few chapters in To Kill a Mockingbird. When I get to the library I find Karl there reading at a table in a corner.
“Hi Karl,” I say,
“Hi Bill,” he says. "I got home last night and my mom wasn't home. She wasn't home this morning either. I'm a little worried about her."
"I checked my phone this morning and my dad left a text message telling me he and Carol are in Jackpot. They will be home Saturday."
“Can you believe it, your dad and my mom went to Jackpot together?” he says, “I knew they liked each other but not that much.”
“I don’t know where Jackpot even is,” I reply, sitting down at the seat across from him.
“It’s on the border of Nevada. People go there either to get married or to do some gambling, or sometimes both,” he explains. “I’ve never been there myself, but I’ve seen advertisements on TV about some of the shows they have and the special deals they offer.”
“Wow, I don’t think my dad would get married after just knowing your mom for less than a day,” I say. “They must have gone to do some gambling.”
“I don’t think so,” Karl says, “my mom doesn’t gamble.”
“Well, we'll know tomorrow when they get back. Anyway, it’s nice for them to have some fun together. I was starting to worry about my dad not going out with anyone since he got divorced. He would always flirt with women and get their phone number but I think he had cold feet when it came down to going out.”
“I can’t blame him,” Karl says. “I think it must be hard for old people to fall in love after they get divorced.”
“Actually, my dad was telling me my mom was the first and only woman he has ever had sex with,” I tell Karl, “but I don’t think he really dated much before he got married.”
“Yeah, that’s the same thing with my mom,” Karl says, “she got pregnant right after high school, and got married to my dad before I was born.”
“I hope I never do anything stupid like getting a girl pregnant before I get married,” I say. “I sure would hate to have to marry a girl just because she got pregnant.”
“You never know how you will respond in a situation like that, but I sure hope if I got a girl pregnant she would want to marry me and not have the baby on her own or get an abortion,” Karl says.
“Hey, you know I got my schedule last night and I work Saturday morning until noon, so I can go to Kelly’s church dance if I want,” I tell Karl trying to change the subject.
“Do you really think you want to go to her church?” Karl asks, "aren't you afraid of getting converted?"
“I don’t know how it would hurt meeting some different people, it’s not like I’m going to get converted drinking their punch or dancing with their girls,” I answer.
Karl laughs at this and says, “Yeah you're probably right, but just be careful.”
“I really haven’t decided yet, but I'll wait and see if something else comes up and I can do something else Saturday night, I say, “maybe I can ask Tina or Jody out to a movie or something.”
“That would be nice,” Karl says, “I’m working Saturday until 9, and then I’ll probably just go home and go to bed.”
We sit quietly for a while reading until the first bell rings and then hurry off to class. On the way I see Tina and say hi, but she just smiles and walks on. I’m not sure what that means, but maybe she's just in a hurry to get to class. When we get to English class Mrs. Baker is standing at the front of the class telling us to hand in yesterday’s assignment and she hands us a piece of paper in return. I glance down at the piece of paper and see it's a quiz over To Kill a Mockingbird. Mrs. Baker tells us to sit right down and start with the quiz since she has a lot to cover today and wants to finish going over the book so we will be able to write our book reports over the weekend. She tells us, “We will be starting the next book Monday, so if anyone wants to read ahead you can start by reading The Great Gatsby. You can download the book from the Internet or you can get the paper version today before class is over. You guys probably know how to use the Internet so I don’t have to tell you where to find it or how to put it on your little iPhones,” she says sarcastically. I really hate when teachers think we don’t have anything better to do over the weekend than to write book reports and read old novels. What a way to ruin a kid’s Friday, I think.
Kelly didn’t show up for class today for some reason. I hope she's okay. Maybe I’ll give her a call later if I don’t run into Tina again. After the quiz Mrs. Baker talks about the book the rest of the hour and tells us we should be able to easily write up a book report based on the synopsis we have been doing all week. She tells us she expects nothing less than 10 pages, double-spaced following the guidelines in the syllabus from Monday. The bell rings and she reminds us to take our copy of The Great Gatsby if we don’t want to download it from the Internet.
As we leave class and head toward our next one I say to Karl, “It can only get better,” to which he replies, “We can only hope.”
As I hurry to my American Government class I run into Tina in the hall again.
“Hey, Tina, can I call you later tonight?” I ask.
“I don’t have a phone,” she replies.
“Okay, I guess I’ll see you at church Sunday then,” I tell her.
“Okay, see you Sunday,” she says.
That's weird, I think. I don’t know any high school kids who don’t have a phone. Then I remember Karl doesn’t have his own phone, but he uses his mom’s wired phone. I guess some kids aren’t as well off as I am, even though I don’t consider myself to be wealthy, I guess I probably am. When I get to American Government class I see Danny Boyle talking to Mr. Bixby, and think he probably doesn’t have his own phone either. After he finishes talking to Mr. Bixby he sits down at the desk next to mine, and says, “Hey Bill, I really need to thank you. Talking to Mr. Barton was probably the best thing I ever did. He got me set up at a group home and told me I only need this class to graduate. He even is helping me find a job.”
“I’m glad I was able to help,” I tell him. “If you need help with getting caught up in this class, let me know.”
“I just talked with Mr. Bixby and he gave me the syllabus and the book so I’ll get caught up this weekend,” he says.
“Great,” I tell him as the final bell rings and Mr. Bixby starts to take attendance. He talks about the constitution briefly and then gives us a quiz over the previous night’s reading assignment. I think I get all the answers correct, except I have a little trouble remembering the order of the amendments. After the quiz he talks about the constitution some more and all about the bill of rights. The bell rings and I hurry off to driver’s training. I am excited since I get to drive today.
I see Karl before I go out to drive and ask him, “Do you want to come over to my house and get started on the homework before work?”
“Sure, but I’m kind of worried about my mom,” he says. “Do you think we can call your dad later and see what’s going on?”
“I was thinking the same thing,” I tell him, “I would have called him earlier but didn’t want to wake
him up.”
I go out and get in the car and one of the girls drives first. The instructor takes us out on a busy highway and we get to change lanes and pass at highway speeds. We switch drivers so everyone has the chance to drive on the highway before we head back to school. I do pretty well driving on the highway, but the instructor tells me I have to be careful judging the distance of the car behind me before I pull into the other lane. It never seems like there's enough time in driver’s training when we are out driving. Once we get back to the school I find Karl waiting for me and we walk to my place. Before we get too far I stop and take my iPhone from my pocket and dial my dad’s phone. It rings several times before the voice mail picks up and I leave him a message.
“You know you really are lucky to have that thing,” Karl says.
“I know it sure has come in handy this last week, I say. “Don’t you ever think of getting one for yourself? I ask.
“All the time,” he says, “but then I figure I could use the money for other things like paying for rent or food.”
“You know Kelly wasn’t at school today, I hope she's okay,” I say.
“Are you still thinking of going to the dance with her?” he asks.
“Yeah, at least I’ll call her later and tell her about the English paper we have due Monday,” I say. “I really don’t know if I’ll have time to go to the dance Saturday since I'll probably need to work on the paper.”
“I should be able to get it whipped out Saturday morning before work.” Karl says, “now that I have a PC it shouldn’t be too much trouble, thanks to you.”
“You’ll be surprised how much easier doing homework with a PC is,” I say, “I don’t know how people lived in the old days before computers.”
“I guess they used typewriters and pens,” Karl says.
“I know that,” I say, “but having to look through a book to find the spelling of a word or to do research.”
While walking home my iPhone rings and I answer it on speaker mode, “Hello.”
“Hi Bill, this is your father,” the voice on the iPhone says.
“Hi dad,” I say, “Karl and I were a little worried about you and Carol.”
“Nothing to worry about,” he says, “We are now married, and having the time of our life. We will be home Saturday.”
“Did you say you are married?” I ask not believing what I heard.
“That’s right, and we have you to thank,” he says.
“Sunday we will move Carol and Karl into the apartment,” he says.
“Hello Mr. McDougal,” Karl says.
“I’ll have none of that Mister talk Karl, you can call me John,” he says.
“Is my mom there? Can I talk to her?” Karl asks.
“Hi Karl, I hope you aren’t shocked or anything,” Carol says.
“Not really, I’m just happy for you,” he says. “And I guess a little shocked.”
“To tell you the truth, I still can’t believe I’m married,” she says.
“Well, you deserve the best,” he says.
“I’ll see you guys Saturday when we get home,” Carol says. “You guys just stay out of trouble and work on your homework.”
“Okay mom, I’ll see you Saturday,” Karl says.
“See you Saturday,” I say and the call is disconnected.
“Wow,” I say to Karl, “Can you really believe they got married after knowing each other for less than a day.”
“My mom isn’t really like that to get married or do anything else on the spur of the moment,” he says.
“My dad isn’t like that either, I wonder what happened to cause them to get married all of a sudden?” I ask.
“I guess we’ll find out Saturday when they get back,” Karl says. “For now I guess we should just get our homework done so we can have a nice weekend and not have to worry about it.”
“Yeah, you're probably right,” I say, “But I think it will take me a lot longer than just a few hours to write that paper for English.”
“It shouldn’t be that tough, we can work on it together,” Karl offers.
After we get to the apartment I set up my laptop on the kitchen table and we start working on the paper together. “I guess since you will be moving in Sunday you can probably stay here tonight if you want,” I offer.
“To tell you the truth, I’m not so sure about all this stuff,” he says.
“What about?” I ask.
“About everything the past week. It seems like some kind of dream to me, and I’ll wake up and my life will return to normal,” he explains.
“Sometimes I feel the same way,” I say.
“Life sometimes just goes on like a straight highway with nothing happening and everything seeming to never change,” he says, “Then out of the blue everything seems to change over night.”
“Yeah, that’s happened to me just about every time we moved,” I say, “Especially when we moved to Boston from Topeka when I was in middle school.”
“That must have been tough for you,” Karl says.
“It wasn’t so bad once I got used to it, but it seemed like nothing about my family was ever the same again,” I say. “My mom started working and my dad wasn’t home every night, and my sister and I kind of were left on our own.”
“That sounds like what happened when my mom lost her job and we had to move out of our house into the trailer,” Karl says.
“Sometimes changes in life aren’t always easy, but you know in the long run everything seems to work out okay,” I say.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Karl agrees. “Lets get to work on that paper.”
We work on the paper for a good two hours before it’s time we have to get ready for work. Karl and I put on our uniform at home and walk to work. It's still warm and sunny out since it's just late August. By the time we get to work we both have worked up a bit of a sweat. Before we start our shifts we order a chicken sandwich and sit down for a late lunch. A new girl, her nametag says Fran, is working behind the counter. We give Fran our order and she brings it out to the table when it's ready.
“You know it really is hard to imagine my dad being married to your mom,” I tell Karl, “I wonder what they saw in each other.”
“I can hardly wait to ask them that question,” Karl says, “Especially after knowing each other for such a short time. I bet it was purely a physical attraction.”
“That maybe part of it, but knowing my dad I think he would see through a person’s outer beauty and see the beauty of the inner person,” I say.
“You think so?” Karl asks.
“Part of being a good recruiter is having the ability to size up a person in just a few minutes, and knowing whether the person will be a good fit for the military,” I explain. “My dad has an uncanny ability to judge a person’s character accurately.”
“I wish I could do that,” Karl says, “I’m not a really good judge of people.”
“I think over time people just naturally get better at that.” I say.
“You know I thought Kelly was really a nice, sweet girl, but the more I talk to her the less I like her,” I say.
“Yeah, I know what you mean, she is kind of shallow,” Karl says. “Do you think you'll go to the dance Saturday?”
“The more I think about it the more I’m thinking I won’t be able to go,” I say. “Besides, I’m not sure I’ll even have time Saturday, with work and homework. Then Sunday we have church and then we will be moving your stuff to our place.”
“The weekend will be pretty busy, but we'll make it okay,” Karl says. “My mom and I don’t have that much stuff and we don’t have to move everything Sunday.”
“I think my dad and your mom will probably be pretty tired out when they get back Saturday, maybe they'll just take it easy Sunday,” I suggest.
“I hope so,” Karl says.
I look across the restaurant and out the window and see Danny Boyle walking across the parking lot
toward the door. He comes into the restaurant and approaches Fran who is still working behind the counter. I over hear him say, “Hi, I’d like to apply for a job.”
Fran says, “If you take a seat over there by the window, I’ll have a manager come talk with you.”
Karl is sitting with his back to the counter and doesn’t see Danny, so I tell him, “Danny Boyle is applying for a job here.”
“No way,” Karl says.
I tell him, “Turn around and see for yourself.” Karl then turns and looks and then looks back at me, and says, “I really don’t like that guy.”
“I think he may be a changed person from how he was a few days ago,” I say.
“How can you be so sure?” Karl asks.
“I think Jesus may be working on him,” I explain. “He was in my American Government class today and is living in a group home now and is going to try to graduate with our class.”
“I’ll have to see it for myself,” Karl says, “I’ve known him for a few years and he has never been decent to anyone.”
“Give him a chance,” I say. “Like you said, Jesus is amazing.”
“You know I say that, but I only half believe it myself most of the time,” Karl explains, “I really need to have a little more faith.”
We finish eating and I get up and go over and talk with Danny.
“Hi Danny, how are you doing,” I say.
“Oh hi. Do you work here?” he asks.
“Yeah, this is my second day,” I tell him.
“Cool, I’m going to talk to a manger about getting a job here too,” he says.
“Good luck. I think you’ll like working here,” I say. “I better get started. I’ll talk to you later.”
Keith the manager comes out and sits down and talks to Danny. He gives Danny a piece of paper to fill out and then after a little bit they stand up and shake hands and I hear Keith say, “I’ll see you first thing tomorrow morning at 6 AM.”
I get to work out on the restaurant floor wiping tables off, sweeping the floor and empting the trash. It isn’t as glamorous as taking orders, but it's just as fun. After a while one of the other workers shows me how to ask customers if they would like their drinks refreshed and how to ask them to hold the lid while I go up and refill their drink. I have to remember to call a drink a beverage though. It takes a bit getting used to saying words I seldom use.
The shift goes by fairly fast and before I realize it's time to head home. I haven’t seen Karl the entire shift, and wonder where he was working. He comes out from the back and has flour covering his pants. I ask him, “What were you doing?” and he answers, “Making chicken sandwiches.”
We walk back to our place and Karl and I are both pretty tired so we both head for bed. I let Karl sleep in my room, and I sleep in my dad’s room. It's going to be different once Karl and Carol move in and Karl and I will be sharing a room. I’ve never had a brother so in a way I’m looking forward to it, but I’m thinking I might miss my privacy and spending time alone.