Twenty minutes later, she rang Ms. Agnes’s bell. When Marie came to the door she took one look at the hard set of her high school friend’s face and the suitcase in her hand and shouted, “Hallelujah! It’s about time. Come on in here, girl.”
CHAPTER
20
The houses they’d moved into were close enough together that they were able to walk between each other’s homes. Trent and the Paynes were on one side of the street while Lily, Bernadine, and the Garlands were directly across on the other side.
Amari and Preston couldn’t have asked for a better situation because they were in and out of each other’s houses all day long.
Sheila was in the kitchen cooking dinner when they burst in through the patio door heading for the refrigerator and yet another video game match. From behind the opened pages of his latest edition of the Marine Corps magazine Leatherneck, Barrett said, “Wash your hands before you touch anything.”
“You got it, Colonel,” Amari called back. He and Preston headed to the first-floor powder room.
Barrett slid the magazine down just far enough to see his wife’s face and the happiness softening her features. He was sure it was his imagination but she looked younger. “You’re liking this, aren’t you?”
“I am. I like the kids, the adults at least so far, the townspeople, everything. This is utopia for me.”
He put the magazine back up. “Pretty strong word to be using, Utopia.”
“It’s better than hell.”
The boys came in, grabbed some juice boxes, shook some popcorn onto two papers plates from a flour-sack-sized bag Tamar had brought them from Sam’s Club, and trooped upstairs to Preston’s room to grab their controllers.
“Why don’t you act like you’re scared of Captain America?” Preston asked as his character stole a car and began to tear down the street, running through red lights and knocking pedestrians in the air.
“Because I’m not scared of him,” Amari said, smiling as his car went up over the curb, hit a couple of prostitutes, then bounced back on the street while cops screamed behind him.
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t live here, Pres. He’s not my dad.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
Amari watched Preston’s character walk down a dimly lit street. “Now, be careful, this is where that ho came out and took your money.”
“Stabbed and killed me, too, remember?”
“Yeah. Just didn’t think you wanted to be reminded.”
“I didn’t.”
Preston focused his entire being on the game and the controller in his hand.
“Ten hut!”
They froze. Neither had the stomach to turn around. It was the colonel. They didn’t have to turn around because he came to them. “I’ll take those.”
They handed over the controllers, and to their amazement, he knew what to do to turn the game off. “Stand up.”
Their legs shaking, they complied.
He was wearing the pressed short sleeve brown shirt and the knife-creased brown pants he always wore. Standing with his arms behind his back, he waited for their eyes to rise and meet his.
“Where’d you get a copy of Grand Theft Auto?”
They swallowed.
Preston said, “At the mall in Hays, sir.”
“How’d you buy it?”
Preston knew that this was the tricky part. “Um.”
“The truth, Son.”
Amari jumped in. “Trickery, sir.”
“Trickery.”
“Yes, sir. We bamboozled Ms. Agnes the last time she and Tamar took us shopping. Told her they were educational.”
“Did Tamar know about this?”
“No, sir.”
“Shall I tell her?”
“No!” they shouted in unison. Amari might not have been scared of Captain American, but he knew not to get on the bad side of Madea.
“Give me the game and any other ones you know you aren’t supposed to have.”
Preston popped the game out of the console and fished the other contraband games out of the backpack under his bed and handed them over.
“Is that it?”
“Yes, sir,” said Preston.
“Amari, let’s head over to your house.”
His eyes widened.
Barrett barked. “Move it, gentlemen! Now!”
The boys jumped and hustled past him to the door and down the stairs. Barrett followed.
Sheila was at the bottom of the stairs when he came down. “What’s going on?”
He tossed her the case that held GTA. He looked into her wide eyes and said, “Be right back.”
Bernadine was on her porch reading the newspaper and Crystal was leafing through a decorating magazine when they saw Amari and Preston come marching out of the front door with the colonel walking briskly behind them.
“Somebody’s in trouble,” Crystal said in a pleased singsong voice.
Bernadine thought so too, but she didn’t interfere. Whatever it was, Amari and his partner in crime, Preston, were probably guilty, and it looked like Colonel Payne had everything under control. She went back to her paper.
Trent was making himself a sandwich when the boys marched in with Payne. He took one look at the marine’s sternly set face, then at the guilty faces of Amari and Preston, and sighed. “What did they do?”
Payne handed him a bunch of video games. Trent’s eyes popped as he read some of the titles.
“Preston had those stashed in his room. Amari’s here to get his.”
“I see,” Trent said. “So what are you waiting on, Amari? And make sure you bring down all of them. You don’t want me to have to toss your room. I grew up with Tamar, so I learned from the best.”
Amari sighed and headed off. He returned a few minutes later with six games, all rated Mature. He handed them to the colonel.
“Thank you. I think Trent and I will agree that there will be no more video game playing.”
“For a while. Maybe until Christmas.”
Both boys looked stunned.
Barrett then made them explain how they’d gotten the games.
At the end of the tale, Trent eyed them both sternly. “You tricked an elder of your community?”
Amari asked, “Are you going to tell Tamar?”
Trent ignored the misery in his voice. “That depends on how well you handle the punishment you’re going to be on.”
Trent turned to Barrett. “Since the two of them are guilty, I say they get two punishments. One from me. One from you.”
Barrett smiled for the first time. “I agree, and I’m going back home to get mine.”
While he was gone, Preston asked, “Are you going to send us back?”
“Nope. Family doesn’t get sent away, but you might wish you were somewhere else when I get through with you.”
“You can’t hit us, you know. We’re wards of the state.”
“Quiet!”
They both shrank.
Barrett returned carrying a small brown leather case. “You ever heard of backgammon?”
The boys stared.
“Yes? No?”
He got a yes from Preston and a no from Amari. “It’s an ancient game and I play very well. You are going to learn to play very well too, because there will be no more video gaming until you can beat me.”
Their eyes popped wide.
“But we don’t know how to play,” Preston protested.
Barrett reached into his back pocket and pulled out a rolled-up paperback. He thrust it at Preston. “Learn. This will teach you. Your turn, Trent.”
Trent’s punishment involved them all piling into his truck and taking a ride to the Jefferson home, where Agnes and Marie lived. As they got out, Marie came outside to meet them.
“Hey, there.” The sullenly set faces of Amari and Preston told the former teacher all she needed to know. “What did they do?”
Trent said, “Let’s just say they’v
e volunteered to whitewash your fence.”
“That bad, huh? Okay.”
Trent turned his attention to the boys. “Do you see that fence?”
They looked out at the fence that ran the length of the property on both sides. It was gray and weathered and stretched nearly a quarter of a mile down the road.
“All that?” Amari cried.
Trent nodded.
Barrett smiled.
Preston said, “But I’m not supposed to be around paint. I have asthma. I could die.”
“I’m sure Doc Garland can keep you alive,” Trent said, and directed his attention back to Marie. “I’ll provide the paint. They’ll be here first thing in the morning.”
Agnes came outside along with Genevieve Curry and asked, “Something wrong, Trent?”
“No, ma’am. The boys have volunteered to paint your fence.”
“Really? You boys are so nice. Thank you.”
They got back into Trent’s truck and he drove them home.
After dinner, Preston went up to his room to continue his sulking and Barrett sat on the patio with Sheila and told her about the twin punishments he and Trent meted out.
“I like the creativity.”
“I wasn’t sure Trent was going to back me up, but he did. His punishment surprised me as much as it did the boys, and the way Marie acted when he told her they were going to paint, made me think it wasn’t the first time the fence had been used for that purpose.”
“Maybe it’s some kind of Henry Adams tradition.”
“If it isn’t, it ought to be.”
“So admit it. You had fun being a father today, didn’t you?”
He looked over at his smiling wife seated on the other side of the table and nodded. “I did.”
She raised her glass of tea. “Told you.”
Barrett went up to Preston’s room to check on him and found him seated on the floor with the backgammon board open. He was reading the book Barrett had given him and was attempting to set up the pieces by looking at the diagrams. Barrett walked over, looked down at the setup, and pointed out what he needed to change. “Move that one there, and the white one over to this spot.”
Preston did as he was told and said, “Thanks.”
“Glad to see you’re getting started on this.”
“What choice do I have?”
“None really.”
Preston looked up.
“You think I’m pretty harsh, don’t you.”
“Truthfully, yeah.”
“I grew up with an alcoholic father. He didn’t care what I did, where I went, or who I was with. When he got angry, he hit me with his fists. Did the same thing to my mother, but because he was a good soldier the army did nothing to protect us.”
Preston searched his face.
“That’s harsh, Son. If you need help with the backgammon, let me know.”
“Yes, sir.”
Barrett turned and walked out of the room.
When it was time for Amari to be in the bed, Trent walked upstairs and knocked on his bedroom door.
“Come in.”
He wasn’t in bed though. He was seated in his video game chair watching TV.
“Did I forget to mention no TV either until further notice?”
“Yeah,” he replied accusingly.
“My bad. Turn it off.”
Amari snapped the remote and set it down on the floor beside the chair. “I take it you’re still mad.”
Trent shrugged as he walked over. “Not really. I did dumb stuff when I was your age too, but you took advantage of an old lady, Amari, and that’s a concern.”
He acted as if he were too ashamed to look Trent in the face.
“I know we’ve just met and there’s lots we’re going to learn about each other, but I need to know here and now who I’m dealing with. Are you somebody who preys on the weak? Are you a predator, Amari?”
An echoing silence filled the room while Trent waited for a reply.
Finally, Amari looked up and said softly, “No, sir, I’m not. And I’m real sorry about what we did to Ms. Agnes. I never thought about it being predatory. GTA’s just a hot game and we wanted it.”
“Try this. Think about you being Ms. Agnes, an old lady wanting to do something nice for two boys she’s pledged to help raise. Then the boys run game on you and play you for a sucker. If you found out, would you ever trust them again?”
“No.”
“Tamar used to call the dumb stuff I did, Stupid Boy Tricks, but this runs deeper than that if it’s about taking advantage of someone.”
Amari seemed to think that over for a few moments, then conceded. “You’re right, and you know, you’re pretty good at this.”
“Think so?”
“Yeah.”
“Just repeating the same speeches Tamar gave me whenever I screwed up. How do you think I came up with the idea of the fence?”
“You had to paint that fence too?”
“One summer, twice. The second time, she made me sand it down, prime it, and then paint. Took me almost until school started to finish. And at least you’ll have company. I was by myself.”
“That’s rough.”
“That’s Tamar.”
“You aren’t going to tell her, are you?”
“Only if you think you’re going to do something like this again.”
He shook his head quickly. “No.”
“I’ll take you at your word then. Now head to bed. You’ve got a long day ahead of you tomorrow.”
He got up. “I know.”
Trent still liked Amari a lot. “Set your alarm for six.”
He stared.
“Good night.”
Trent came downstairs just in time to hear a light knock on the front door.
Lily.
“Hey,” he said, glad to see her. This was the first time they’d been alone together since the day she threw Winston’s luggage into the street.
“I know it’s late, but Bernadine wants everybody to make a list of anything that’s not working correctly; dishwashers, sticky doors or windows. Things the crews may need to redo.”
“Does that woman sleep?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Come on in.” He opened the door so she could step inside. He tried to ignore how her being near made him feel seventeen all over again. “I haven’t found any problems yet.” Unless he counted being fascinated by the curve of her lips.
“Okay. This is all pretty exciting, isn’t it? The new homes, the kids.”
He gestured for her to take a seat in the living room. She took a seat on his couch, he sat in a chair across from it. “Yeah, it is.”
“The rec center’s ready for the grand opening this weekend. Who’d have ever thought this sleepy little town would be this alive again?”
“Not me, for sure.”
“I never thought I’d be signing up to raise another child, though. Devon is as sweet as he can be, but the idea of having to go through those teenage years again when boys get allergic to soap, and their rooms smell like funky sports jerseys, and they’re eating you out of house and home. I’m probably going to have nightmares. I may be too old for this the second time around.”
“You’ll be fine.”
“I know, and so will you. Amari already in bed?”
“Yeah. Will you have dinner with me?”
She looked caught off guard for a moment.
“If you don’t, it’s okay.”
“No. I will.” She replied studying him slowly, as if searching for something. When?”
“Tomorrow, maybe. Day after?”
“Okay. Let me find out who can keep Devon, and I’ll let you know tomorrow which day works best.”
“Sounds good.”
She stood. “I need to get back; I left Devon sleeping.”
He walked her to the door and out to the porch. “’Night, Lil.”
“’Night, Trenton.”
He nodded and watched her cross the str
eet and go inside. Inviting her to dinner hadn’t been something he’d planned. The words just sort of rushed out before he could snatch them back. It was done now though, and he was looking forward to spending some private time with her.
He was in the kitchen getting himself a bowl of ice cream when another knock sounded. The seventeen-year-old within hoped it was Lily coming back for something but it was Malachi instead, and with him were Clay Dobbs and Bing Shepard.
“What are you doing here. Thought you were still in Vegas.”
“Got bored. I hear Bernadine put big-screen plasma TVs in the houses, so we came over to break it in right. KC’s playing the Dodgers tonight.”
Before he could invite them in they were already in.
“And we come bearing gifts just like the Magi,” Clay told him, indicating the large grocery bag in his arms.
“I’m allergic to frankincense”
“So am I,” Bing said, “So we brought beer.”
Malachi looked around and pushed a six-pack of Pepsi into his son’s hands. “Put those in the fridge for me. Where’s the plasma?”
Tickled and wondering how boring life would be without the three old lunatics in his life, Trent led the way.
Roni Moore Garland was dreaming that she was onstage again, playing the piano. Standing at the backup mikes were Zoey and Reggie, but Roni wasn’t playing any of her standards. The distinctive sweet notes of a Brahms lullaby lifted from her fingers on the keys and floated like gossamer over the empty concert hall, then she woke up. Still half asleep she was disoriented for a moment by the dark and the new bed, but the warmth of her husband’s body beside her and the sound of his gentle snoring immediately set things to right. With the music still floating in her head, she settled in to go back to sleep, then sat up again. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she realized the beautiful music wasn’t in her head. As it filled her ears and the quality of the playing pierced the darkness, she gently shook Reggie and whispered, “Baby. Wake up.”
“What?” he asked thickly.
“Wake up. Sit up. Listen.”
Scrubbing his hands over his face, he struggled to do as she asked, and once he was sitting up, she said again, “Listen.”