Ghosting Page 5
and pull him toward the car.
C’mon, Maxie, I call. We gotta go. Bye Mom, bye Dad.
Time to get this
party started. Time for
some serious fun.
MAXIE
Emma is still Emma,
only more so.
More assured,
more full of life.
Shinier.
And, I have this feeling,
even harder
to say
no to.
FAITH
I love
how Polly
knew Maxie
right away.
Dogs are
amazing.
And I’m glad
Maxie has
moved back.
Maybe she
and Emma
will be
friends again.
But probably
not.
Emma is on
her own
fast track,
the way
she’s been
since
middle school.
No patience for
anyone
a little
different.
Saturday, August 28, 7:00 p.m.
BRENDAN
Took the turn onto Elm a little wide.
A car blares its horn at me.
Emma shoots me a look. So, yeah,
I’ve had a few beers already. Big deal.
No DUI yet and I’ve driven
hammered plenty of times.
It’s those Donnelly reflexes,
the ones my dad takes the credit for.
“Yeah, that’s my boy, the star athlete,
just like his old man.”
Fine, long as it gets me that free ride
to college somewhere far away.
Colorado or California,
that’s where I’d go.
But of course the old man has
his sights set on his alma mater.
“Ivy’s the way to go, boy. You’ll make connections
there that’ll set you up for life.” Fuck that.
Want me to drive? Emma asks.
I’m cool, I say.
Okay, if you’re sure, Emma says.
She picks up my iPod, searching for a song.
I turn the AC a notch higher.
So, Anil, what’s your dad do? I say, catching his eye in the rearview mirror.
He and Chloe are in the third row.
She’s got her hands all over him.
He’s a doctor, Anil says.
Anil’s mom is a doctor, too, Chloe pipes up.
Two doctors in the family,
must be loaded.
My little brothers go to your mom, says Chloe.
They do? Anil says, his voice surprised.
Yeah, didn’t I tell you?
Emma makes one of her impatient
noises, shaking my iPod.
It keeps freezing, she says.
Battery’s low, I say.
Then I catch Anil’s eye again
in the rearview mirror.
And he looks so superior,
I can’t help myself, saying
Hey, bro, speaking of your mom. She is smoking hot.
Both his parents came out to say good-bye
when I picked up Anil and Chloe.
Shut up, Bren, says Emma.
What? I say, with innocent eyes. Just sayin’ I could totally do her.
You’re so gross, Emma says, but not really paying attention.
She’s finally found the song she was
looking for and plugs the iPod back in.
Thought I might get some
kind of rise from Anil. But no.
In the rearview mirror I see he’s just staring
out the window, no expression at all.
Mr. Poker Face might not be so calm if he knew
what my dad accidentally left in the glove compartment.
ANIL
1. Anger,
like nothing I’ve felt before,
courses through me.
Blood heats my skin,
and I want nothing more than
to punch Brendan Donnelly
in the face.
I’ve never hit anyone in my life,
but I know, with a mathematical certainty,
that if I weren’t pinned back
in the third row of this SUV,
I would hit Brendan.
It’s a physical, palpable thing
in my gut.
Chloe leans into me.
Ignore him, she whispers. He’s a jerk.
Her breath in my ear distracts me.
But I can still feel the pulse throbbing in my neck.
My blood pressure must be sky-high.
I liked your mom, says Chloe in a soft voice.
She’s nice.
2. I think back to their meeting.
My mom was shy but warm,
and my dad was easy to read.
Okay, I see now, his eyes said to me.
3. My thoughts go back to Brendan,
what he said.
Why did I react that way?
I’ve heard worse in the weight room.
Jocks mouthing off,
showing off.
I should be able to joke back.
Yeah, bet your mom is hot, too, I should have said.
Is it the Indian in me?
My father in me?
These disrespectful American teenagers.
But then I get a sudden image
of Brendan standing beside my mother,
putting his hands on her,
and my hands curl into fists again.
My breath goes short.
I almost feel like
I could drive my fists through the
car window beside me and
not feel a thing.
FAITH
Mom and
Dad are
watching a
movie in
the family
room.
I’m about
to join
them,
bringing
a plate of
cookies.
But just
before I
enter,
before they
can see me,
I hear
Brendan’s
name.
I stand
very still,
hardly
breathing
so I can
hear them
over the TV.
I don’t get why you don’t like him, Dad is saying. Brendan seems like a good kid to me, very polite.
I don’t know. I guess I think it’s an act, Mom answers. And I’ve heard stuff about his father.
What kind of stuff?
That he makes the Great Santini look like a walk in the park, Mom answers.
I’m dying
for her to
go on,
explain
what she
means,
but Dad
just gives a
chuckle,
like he
knows.
Still, that doesn’t make him a bad kid, even if his father is a sonofabitch, he says.
And then
the ad that
was playing
ends and
the movie
they were
watching
starts up
again.
I’m frozen
for a
moment.
I don’t
think I’ve
ever heard
my dad
use that
word before.
And even
if I don’t
know who
the Great
Santini is,
it’s pretty
clear he’s
bad news.
truth is,
I don’t
want to
feel sorry for
Brendan
Donnelly.
POLICE CHIEF AUBREY DELAFIELD
Things are starting to get busy.
As predicted.
Last night some middle school boys
rounded up a bunch of stone statues
from all over Wilmette—
geese, rabbits, even one of those old-fashioned jockeys—
and stuck them in the sand at Gillson Park beach.
Of course the tide came in,
knocking them down, dragging some of them
out into the lake.
Sorting the damn things out,
wading out to retrieve the ones
caught out on the first sandbar
and figuring out which one belonged to which address,
was a nightmare.
One lady made a great hue and cry because
the little Northwestern sweatshirt
she’d had specially made for her goose
got washed away by the tide.
And one garden gnome never did turn up.
Like I said, it’s going to be a long weekend.
But if looking for a goose’s sweatshirt is the worst of it,
I’ll be a happy man.
MAXIE
Brendan pulls up
in front of
Felix’s house.
So many memories around that house:
epic games of freeze tag
with flashlights.
eating doughnuts in the big oak tree
in the backyard.
his mom making the best grilled cheese sandwiches
and Campbell’s tomato soup,
with crumbled-up saltines.
The house looks
different somehow
and at first I can’t put
my finger on it.
But then I realize there aren’t
any lights on
in the windows.
Plus the lawn needs
mowing and tall weeds
crowd the front bushes.
It almost looks
deserted.
Felix’s house is in
the part of town where
the houses are smaller
and closer together.
Felix’s parents are young,
and his dad is
in the military.
But his mom always
used to keep their house
neat and pretty.
I heard his mom is working a couple of jobs, says
Emma, while his dad is in Afghanistan.
I notice a small orange glow
near the front door
and realize someone is
sitting on the front steps,
smoking.
Brendan lowers Emma’s window
and leans over her.
Put down the blunt, dude, he yells, and get your butt over here.
Nice, says Emma. That lady next door probably heard you.
So what, says Brendan.
The orange glow gets brighter
for a second,
then
goes out.
I hop out of
the car.
Hey, Felix, I call. Long time no see.
But he doesn’t bound
toward me,
not the way he used to.
He moves slowly,
and his big grin is slower, too,
though it’s just as warm.
Max, he says, and gives me a loose but lingering hug.
I can smell the weed on him,
strong.
His hair is the same curly mop,
but he’s gotten
bigger and taller.
And something else about him,
other than the slower speed
and smell of pot,
is different.
I can’t figure out what it is,
not right away.
It’s great to see you, he says.
And he means it,
I can tell.
Come on, calls Brendan from inside the car. We’ve got places to go.
Brendan says we need
to make a quick
fueling stop
before we head
to the party
and I think he means
a gas station,
but he pulls into
the parking lot
by Centennial Park, near the
kid’s playground.
Time for some pre-party refreshments, says Brendan.
The playground is deserted.
Under the nearly
full moon
the swing set and jungle gym
look like skeletons of
long-ago
prehistoric creatures.
What’ve you got? asks Emma.
The cooler’s between you two, says Brendan to me and Felix. Pop it open.
Felix is slow to respond
so I reach down
and unlatch the cooler,
opening the lid.
Nestled in ice
are about a
dozen brightly
colored cans
of what looks
like soda pop.
Emma peers
into the cooler.
Holy shit, where’d you find that stuff?
Craigslist, says Brendan proudly. Only fifteen bucks a can.
What is it? I ask, amazed by how expensive those colorful cans are.
Don’t they have MoonBuzz in Colorado? Brendan says.
I shake my head.
Then you are in for a treat, Brendan says with a big grin.
I heard it was banned in Illinois, comes Chloe’s voice from the back.
Yep. That’s why it was such a rip-off, says Brendan.
But believe me, it’s worth it. Cocaine in a can.
I’ve read about it, comes Anil’s voice from the back. They say drinking one can is the equivalent of five beers and a cup of Starbucks coffee.
Sweet, says Brendan.
He grabs one can
for him and one
for Emma.
Help yourselves, he says to the rest of us.
It sounds
really
bad to me.
But Felix reaches into the cooler,
fishes out a couple
and hands them back to
Chloe and Anil.
Then he picks out two more,
and offers one to me
with a wink.
I start to say no,
but then
catch Emma watching me
in the rearview mirror.