"Don't listen to anything he says. He's brilliant but crazy," I told
Randy.
"No... he... he's not." Randy said. "He's right about my... my par... parents. Good night" He turned to leave, his head lowered.
"Randy!" I called, and he stopped. I walked up to him. "Thanks for a nice evening." I said, and kissed him on the cheek.
He smiled and brought his hand to the spot as if my lips were still there. He walked off, his head high again.
Behind me. Augustus walked toward home. too.
Who was more unhappy. I wondered, Augustus. Randy, or me?
Maybe the secret was simply to keep moving, keep busy, don't think about it It was only when we stopped and realized where we were that we felt any loneliness.
8
Counteroffensive
.
I saw Randy twice more before the summer
ended and school began, once for a picnic at the park and once to go to a movie. I did a great deal of reading. catching up on any and all books Randy told me he had been assigned in his previous classes. As it was with most of the school changes. I had read most of the works my new teachers required or used in class, but there were also many differences.
Mommy began to enjoy the work at the restaurant and, because of her looks and warm personality. I think, was soon one of the highesttipped waitresses or waiters there. Ironically Phoebe had made a good prediction. Eventually I did go to work at the restaurant. I assisted Dallas with the hostess responsibilities on weekends. and I was impressed with how quickly Mommy picked up on everything. When I remarked about it, she revealed far the first time that she had been a waitress often before and that was how she first met my father.
"It was always a good way to improve my income," she told me.
I could see that many of the men who came in flirted with her, even when they were with their wives or girlfriends. One night I overheard Dallas say. "Too bad you have a teenage daughter. You could pass for late twenties. and there are plenty of wealthy young bachelors to hunt in Palm Beach."
I hadn't considered that. Was I now a burden for my mother? Mommy never did anything to make me feel I was any sort of burden to her. and I couldn't imagine her hunting for a wealthy bachelor anyway. Sometimes I wished I had been in the helicopter with Daddy. I'd rather be wherever he was. At least working at the restaurant kept my mind occupied.
Phoebe, on the other hand, was unwilling to do anything that even appeared to be work at the inn. despite the fact that her father owned it. If anyone had the attitude that everything was coming to her it was Phoebe. I saw her occasionally when she stopped by to get her father to give her some money. She got him to buy her a car before the summer ended. too. She was just as happy avoiding me as I was avoiding her, and when Mommy asked about it I reminded her that Phoebe didn't want to spend time with someone younger. It was mostly true anyway.
I was more nervous about the start of this particular school year than any other I could remember. no matter how young I had been or how abruptly we had been withdrawn from one community and deposited in another. This time I was, after all, attending school as what Mommy described as a civilian. I didn't have that cadre of built-in children of military personnel there to make a transition easier.
Maybe it was my imagination. but when I attended schools where other children of military personnel attended I could easily see who they were, and we were quickly drawn to each other. I liked to think we were better behaved. We dressed a little more formally and peppered our conversations with "please" and "thank you" and always referred to our teachers with a higher deuce of respect, even if we all agreed that a teacher wasn't very good or nice. It wasn't that none of us ever got into trouble. It was simply not as frequent and usually nowhere nearly as serious as with most of the other students we
There was no other student like me in my Florida school in that respect. and I did have this strange sense of loneliness, despite Randy's great effort to help me feel at home. Every time another student or a teacher centered his or her attention on me. I wondered if he or she saw something very different in me as Randy proved to be a great help, however. He came over to visit the day before school began and tried to ease my anxiety by describing everything from the quirks of some of the teachers to the worst table in the school cafeteria, worst because the sun was always beating down on it through the unshaded portion of window. He was that detailed. Mommy was terribly amused by Randy and called him a "little darlin'." She said it only once in his presence. and I saw him wince. He didn't mind being called "darlin'," but the "little" part underscored his slight build. Some of the crueler students teased him and called him Bird Bones.
He was there at the front entrance of the school waiting for me that first day, and he did introduce me to some of his friends who were like him, mild mannered, a little insecure. One of Mommy's favorite expressions, inherited from her own mother, was "Birds of a feather flock together." I thought of that often during the day, observing different personalities and the way they were drawn together to form the cliques in the school population. I didn't want to consider myself insecure. I really didn't think I was, despite my nervousness. Before the day ended I was talking with other students, more confident and upbeat than most of Randy's friends.
I saw Phoebe often in the hallways and cafeteria, but each time she acted as if she had never seen me before, barely looking at me for more than a second. I decided to consider that good luck.
Unfortunately, near the end of the week I discovered Phoebe hadn't been ignoring my existence as much as I had hoped she had. She had done a very good job of spreading "Sailor Girl" around the high school. Some of her male friends were saluting me in the halls. My first reaction was anger and indignation, but then I decided to go with the flow. Another one of Mommy's favorite expressions was "A branch that doesn't bend breaks." To fight them, to show them they were getting to me, would be defeating myself. I thought, Instead I started to salute back. At first they thought that was funny, but soon they became bored with it and then became annoyed if I did it to them first,
Roger was the first to break ranks and came to me in the cafeteria the last day of the first week to tell me I was the most frustrating person Phoebe had ever encountered.
"She as much as confessed it to me." he revealed. "You're confusing her. She doesn't know how to spoil things for you."
"Tell her to become my friend. That will ruin my day." I said, and he burst into laughter so loudly he drew the attention of most of the students around us.
"You're terrific," he said with what I thought was sincere admiration in his eyes.
Phoebe had just come in and was obviously annoyed that he was speaking to me. and I suddenly realized my own power and opportunity to launch a counteroffensive, as Daddy would put it.
"Thanks," I said. "Can I ask you a favor?" I smiled as coyly as I could.