What They Left Behind

Bryan seemed to be behaving himself the week after their father died. For the most part, he came home right away after work and cleaned up after himself. Two days before the funeral they went to a thrift store in Palmer because neither Bryan nor Ben owned a suit and there was not a single dress in Gennie’s closet.

  The only thing good about the day of the funeral was the weather was perfect. It was sunny and about forty-five degrees out. Other than that, it was one of the most horrible days in Gennie’s life. It was only a day after her fifteenth birthday, which was not celebrated at all. She cried on and off during the wake. She refused to look at her father lying in the casket. Ben sat next to her, only leaving to look at his father one last time. Bryan, on the other hand, was ignoring what was going on up front, preferring to chat with his friends and snuggle up to his girlfriend in back. Normally, Gennie would have introduced herself in order to check out Bryan’s new girlfriend, but she was too upset to care about that.

  During the church service, she put her head in her hands while the pastor talked. She couldn’t stand the thought of her father being put into the ground. Ben had his arm around her the whole time. Bryan, who was sitting next to them, did and said nothing. He was probably disgusted with her outpouring of grief. Maybe in his own way he was mourning their father, but he hated people who were crybabies. He told her once that was the reason girls couldn’t get anywhere in life.

  Gennie thought after the funeral she would feel better, but she didn’t. When they arrived home, she went upstairs and cried even more. Ben came up later, after all the guests, mostly his dad’s co-workers, had left. He tried to distract her by playing some of their favorite songs on the turntable they shared. Elvis Presley’s, then Bobby Vinton’s voices cut through the oppressive air. He then read her some of the stories they enjoyed as younger kids, like Bunny Hopewell’s First Spring.

  “Hey,” he finally said, “there’s a lot of left overs. And I have a surprise for you.”

  Since Gennie hadn’t eaten all day, she dragged herself downstairs where she filled up a plate with canapés, pigs-in-a-blanket, club crackers and cheese.

  “You didn’t ask about your surprise,” Ben said.

  “What is it?” Gennie asked joylessly. She took another bite out of a piece of cheese.

  Ben went into the pantry and brought out a milk glass cake tray with a matching white dome. It was one of those things their mother left behind when she died, and it hadn’t been used since then. He took off the cover. There was a round cake with white frosting and five candles on top of it.

  “It’s lemon,” Ben said. “I’ve got some ice cream to go with it too. Want some?”

  “Thanks,” Gennie replied. “That was really sweet of you. Yeah, I guess I’ll have a piece with some ice cream since you went to all that trouble, but I feel bad because Dad isn’t around to enjoy it too.”

  “Well,” Ben replied, “think of it this way. Dad probably would like you to enjoy the food, even without him. He wouldn’t want you to starve to death because of grief.”

  “Don’t worry. I doubt that’s going to happen.”

  Later that night, while Gennie was preparing for bed, Ben came into the upstairs bathroom.

  “I’ve got something to tell you,” Ben said. He was rubbing his hands together, which he always did when he was anxious.

  “What?” Gennie said while brushing her teeth. Ben waited until she rinsed her mouth out with a cup of water before continuing.

  “I’m leaving tomorrow at five o’clock.”

  “Huh? Where are you going?”

  “Well, uh…I was talking to Eva Dougherty. That’s Dick Dougherty’s wife. I guess she originally comes from Seward, and her mom is still there.”

  Gennie had no idea what he was talking about. “What does that have to do with us?”

  “Uh, Eva’s mom is old, you know. She doesn’t have anyone around, sort of like us. The problem is, she needs help and they can’t move back to Seward, because of Dick’s job and putting all their kids in new schools. I told her I was moving out soon and asked if Eva’s mom would be okay with me going down there to help her. Well, she thought that was a great idea and called her mom while she was here. Her mom wanted me to come as soon as possible. I said I would be able to go tomorrow. So Dick got a train ticket for me. They’re picking me up here and driving me to the train station.”

  Gennie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She just stared at him blankly.

  Ben balled his hands into two tight fists. He was extremely nervous now.

  “So, anyway…I have a question for you. I was wondering…you would like to come with me too?”

  Gennie was surprised to hear that. She knew Ben was itching to leave but she thought it was still at least a year away.

  Gennie put her toothbrush back into the medicine cabinet.

  “I’ll have to think about it.”

  Ben raised his eyebrows in shock. “You want us to be apart? You want to stay with him?”

  “It’s not that. I just don’t want to leave school right now.”

  “Who cares!” Ben yelled. “This is our chance to get away from Bryan!”

  “I’d have to repeat this year at a new school. I really don’t want to do that.”

  Ben’s face reddened with anger. “I can’t believe you! ‘I’ll think about it.’ That always means no. Now what am I supposed to do?”

  “I don’t know. You said you were going to leave, right?”

  “I’m not leaving without you!”

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t trust Bryan at all. What if he beats you up while I’m gone?”

  “He won’t if I beat him up first.”

  “You can’t beat Bryan up.”

  “Well, I know all the right places to squeeze. He won’t be doing anything except laying in a fetal position and moaning after I get through with him.”

  “I don’t want you staying here with him,” Ben said. “If we have the chance to leave, I think we should go.”

  “It’s too fast for me, Ben,” Gennie said. “Like I said, I need to think about it. If you really want to go to Seward and go through eighth grade a third time, then you’re welcome to.”

  “I can’t!”

  “Why not?”

  “I just told you I’m not going to leave you here. Remember that promise we made?”

  “Never to be apart? Oh Ben, we were five years old then!”

  “So what? A promise is a promise.”

  Gennie sighed. “All Bryan is going to do to me is yell and call me names when he’s home, which probably won’t be much. If Bryan’s girlfriend comes to live here, which will probably happen soon, he won’t be as bad, since he wouldn’t want to give her a bad impression right away. So, if you want to go, then go.”

  Ben huffed. “I guess I’ll have to stay in this hellhole with Bryan.”

  Gennie pushed past him and opened their bedroom door. “You can be totally unreasonable sometimes.”

  Chapter 3: June 21