Diesel scraped his chair back and stood. “I‘m on it.”
Moments later, Diesel returned with Carl and the empty potato bowl.
“Who would have thought a monkey could eat all those potatoes,” Grandma said.
Carl stuck his tongue out and gave Grandma the raspberries. “Brrrrp!” And then he gave her the finger.
My grandmother gave Carl the finger back. My mother took another belt of what ever amber-?colored liquid was in her water glass. My father had his head bent over his food, but I think he was smiling.
“Carl needs a time out,” I told Diesel. “Put him in the bathroom upstairs.”
Grandma watched Diesel leave the room. “He‘s a big one,” she said. “He‘s a real looker, too. And he has a way with monkeys.”
It was almost eight when I finished helping my mom with the dishes. Diesel was in the living room with my dad, slouched in a chair, watching a ball game. Carl was still in the bathroom.
“Time to go,” I said to Diesel. “If we stay any longer, I‘ll eat more pineapple upside-?down cake.”
“Will that be a bad thing?”
“It will be tomorrow when I can‘t zip my jeans.”
Diesel smiled and looked down at my jeans, and it was clear he wouldn‘t mind if I couldn‘t zip them.
“One of us has to get Carl,” I said.
Diesel hauled himself out of the chair. “I guess that would be me.”
He ambled off, and moments later, he called from upstairs. “Got a problem here.”
I found Diesel standing in the doorway to an empty bathroom.
“Where‘s Carl?” I asked.
“Don‘t know,” Diesel said, “but the window is open. It was closed and locked when I put Carl in here.”
I went to the window and looked out. No Carl.
“I used to escape through this window all the time when I was in high school,” I said. “What are we going to do?”
“We‘re going to check out Scanlon‘s apartment.”
“What about Carl?”
“Easy come, easy go,” Diesel said.
“Maybe you can sniff him out. Look for his ectoplasm or something. Follow his sensory imprint.”
“Sorry. I don‘t do monkeys.”
“Well, that‘s just peachy. That‘s fine.” I threw my hands into the air and stomped off to the stairs. “Don‘t help. Who needs you anyway? I‘ll look for him myself.”
Diesel followed after me. “I didn‘t say I wouldn‘t help. I just said I didn‘t think I could tune in to monkey ectoplasm.”
I stopped at the front door and yelled that I was leaving. “Thanks for dinner,” I said.
My mother came to the door with a bag of leftovers. “Here‘s for lunch.”
My grandmother was with her. “Where‘s Carl?”