"You can't have a loving relationship without honesty," I preached.
He swung his eyes.
"Oh. brother. You've been living alone too long. Noble. When you do break out of here, you're going to be like a kid in a candy store, and that's when you do get into lots of trouble," he said, trying to be the wise one now. I had to smile. "What's so funny?"
"That's the best excuse for doing bad things I've heard or read."
"Yeah, well, its true. Look at these college kids who are on their own for the first time in their lives."
"What do you mean?"
"They go wild. They drink too much, stay out too late. Get pregnant, do drugs. everything. If their parents didn't keep them so chained up all the time, they wouldn't turn out that way," he said. nodding.
"Did your parents keep you and your sister chained up?"
"No, not really."
"So?"
"So what?"
"You just finished telling me about all the trouble your sister's been in with older guys and how you've messed up so much yourself. right?"
"Oh. you're such a puss--"
"Look, go find a dictionary and learn another word, will you?" I said and moved faster.
He stopped.
"Maybe your mother will let me go to your home school and get smart like you," he called after me.
I didn't turn around.
"I tell you what," he shouted. "come around and I'll teach you about conjugation and you can improve my vocabulary. Just in case you're ever with something called a girl!" he screamed.
Cleo paused to look back at him.
"Come on. Cleo," I said, "Leave him be."
I hurried home to clean up before Mommy saw me and wondered why I was so muddied and disheveled. Afterward. I tried to do some reading and move forward on the lessons Mommy had outlined in science and math. but I kept finding myself distracted, pausing for long moments and thinking about the things Elliot had told me. Being with him and listening to him did leave me feeling as if I was stranded on an island. Was this the evil that Mommy was afraid would infect me? Were these images of sex and the stories he told like germs or something? I fought hard to keep them out of my mind. It frightened me that I was having so hard a time doing it. In the end I decided to go out and up to the old cemetery. It was where Mommy went for spiritual guidance. I thought. Why shouldn't I?
As was often the case during these late summer days, the sky changed rapidly. Warm, increasingly humid air warned of an impending shower. Despite our altitude being up in the mountains, we could get a downpour thatIm sure seemed more like a tropical storm. The clouds above circled the patches of blue, closing them off with what looked like real
determination. Where was Mommy? I wondered. Why was it taking her so long? She said she was going nowhere else.
I stood before the old tombstones and tried hard to feel some spiritual presence.
"Please come back to me, Daddy." I prayed. "I need you. Please. I don't want to be bad. I don't want to do anything to hurt myself or Mommy."
I touched the Infant Jordan tomb the way Mommy always did. and I closed my eyes andtried to feel those embossed hands move, but all I felt was the cool stone. Nothing happened, even after I sang some of the old hymn Mommy sang. Cleo watched me from outside the gate and then sprawled out and waited, lowering his head to his paws and closing his eyes.
Suddenly he lifted his head and looked toward the driveway. I turned and saw two cars approaching. One was Mommy's, but one I did not recognize. As they drew closer. I saw that someone else was driving Mommy's car, a man in a blue shirt. Mommy looked very upset. The second car was driven by a man wearing a similar shirt. I hurried out of the cemetery and down to the front of the house as they pulled up.
The man driving Mommy got out quickly and went around to open her door. I saw he was wearing some sort of uniform with matching blue pants. The second car stopped, and that man. dressed similarly, stepped out and walked slowly toward them. Mommy's driver helped her out. She looked wobbly.
"Mommy?" I cried.
"She's all right," the man helping her said.