“Yeah, come on,” someone else adds.
“Fine, but I’m not being blindfolded.” I step under the spaceship and close my eyes. Katy stands behind me and turns me around three times. Totally dizzy, I swing the bat and hit nothing but air. Everyone laughs. I try again and my bat grazes the ship. I open my eyes and put my hand against the banister to steady myself.
“Okay, game over,” I say. “We’re leaving now.”
“I want to try,” Megan says, taking the bat from me. I sigh and sit down on the stairs next to Rob. I’m glad my birthday can help him take his mind off Anne. Katy has established herself as the official twirler. Megan does only slightly better than I did. She hands the bat to Zoey, who actually makes a thin crack in the side. Grandma steps up for a turn. Katy only spins her around once, which was very thoughtful. Grandma swings once and hits the same spot Zoey had. Everyone claps as a roll of Smarties and two Star-bursts fall to the floor. Grandma hands the bat to Dennis, who looks unsure.
“Go on, young man,” she says. “Show us what you’ve got.” Katy spins Dennis around three times and he doesn’t swing right away like everyone else. He adjusts his feet slightly like he’s tuning in to the spaceship’s location. Then he lifts his bat and whales on the thing. It cracks wide open and the candy falls out all over him and splashes onto the floor. A cheer rises up as we all scramble for the candy like we’re five years old.
“Remember,” Grandma whispers to me as I hoard my candy into the plastic bag my mother handed out. “You don’t stop playing when you get old, you get old when you stop playing.”
Why haven’t I ever noticed how wise my grandmother is? Finally, we’re ready to leave. I’m very pleased to see that Megan didn’t ask to use the bathroom after she ate all the desserts. Hopefully I was wrong about that whole thing. As I’m about to close the front door behind us, Rob yanks me back in.
“If you don’t want Dennis to take you home,” he says, “call me and I’ll pick you up.”
I watch as Dennis opens the passenger door for his sister to get in. “I think it’ll be okay, but thanks for the option. Last chance to tell me what’s going to happen at the lake.”
Rob shakes his head. “Just be glad there’s no full moon tonight.”
“Wait,” I call out as he closes the door and locks it. “What does that mean?”
7:00
P.M.
– 9:00
P.M.
Rob clicks through the channels aimlessly while his grandfather pours himself a glass of whiskey from the cabinet. Usually by this time he’d be starving and waiting outside for the pizza man, but he doesn’t have an appetite tonight.
“Anything good on?” his grandfather asks.
“Nah.”
“It’s a woman, isn’t it?”
Rob’s finger stops mid-click. “What’s a woman?”
“A woman that’s got you so blue.” He lowers himself slowly onto the couch.
“How’d you know?”
“A kid your age, it’s either about girls or sports, and I know football season is over. So, what happened?”
“My girlfriend dumped me.”
“She’ll be back,” he says. “You call her and talk sense into her.” “Maybe later,” Rob says.
“I know what will cheer you up. A practical joke. I got an oldie but a goodie in mind.”
“That’s okay, Grandpa. I’m not really in the mood.”
“Trust me.”
Five minutes later Rob hands his grandmother the end of a long piece of yarn and asks her to hold it for a minute. Grandpa had told him to tell her something as technical as possible so she won’t ask too many questions. He thinks for a minute and tells her he has to measure the square footage of that part of the house to see how far the stereo speakers will project sound. Rob backs away from her, unspooling the rest of the yarn, and pulls it tautly around the corner, down the hallway, and into the den where his grandfather directs him to tie it around the leg of the coffee table. They go to hide behind the couch, Rob supporting his grand- father so his knees won’t ache. Every once in a while Rob can’t contain a chuckle and it slips out.
“You’re right,” he whispers. “I do feel better.”
“I’m sorry, I think I misunderstood you,” Josie’s mom whispers to her husband as they set the dining room table for Josie’s birthday dinner. “It sounded like you said you got a job at Disney World as a part-time guest relations host for eight dollars an hour, and that Josie helped you this afternoon.”
“I did,” Jonathan whispers back. They are whispering so Josie’s grandmother, who for some reason is standing in the hall holding a piece of yarn, won’t hear. Josie’s dad carefully places a fork on the center of a napkin and avoids his wife’s eyes. “It was a childhood dream of mine.” He figures saying that will make it harder for her to argue with him; after all, who doesn’t want their loved ones’ childhood dreams to come true?
Josie’s mom watches her husband, whom she thought she knew everything about by now. “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”
“It all happened so fast,” he explains.
“You’re still looking for a real job, though, right?” she asks, holding her breath.
“Yes, of course,” he readily assures her. “In fact I have an interview next Thursday.”
She isn’t sure whether to believe him, so she manages a smile and hurries off to check the stove. Everything around her feels a little unfamiliar.
Andy Moraniz shifts his weight onto one leg and balances the three pizza boxes on his opposite hip. With his free hand he rings the bell at the Taylor residence. He couldn’t believe it when they told him at the store that his next delivery included having to give a speech. As the door opens he finds himself wondering if he’ll still get a tip, since the pizzas are free. Andy thinks it’s a pretty good deal that all you have to do is be born on a certain day and
BAM,
free pizza for life. When he and his fiancée get married, they’ve already decided to plan it so their baby will be born on Leap Day.
Josie’s mom watches her family at dinner and wishes they could see themselves as she sees them. Her husband keeps brushing his hand against the shirt pocket, where his new plastic name tag is hidden; Rob is chewing slowly and his eyes are downcast; and Josie dips her french fries in ice cream like it’s the most normal thing in the world. Even with so many people around, Josie is inside her own head, as usual, watching everything but only seeing half of it.
Watching his sister open her gifts gets Rob’s mind off of Anne. Josie takes such a childlike joy in the process. First she examines each item while it’s still in the wrapping paper. He can practically see the gears turning inside her head as she tries to figure out what the present is. Then she rips off the paper and tosses it in the air in her hurry to get at the present. Mom scoops the wrapping paper up and tries to salvage what’s left in case she needs to use it some day. In fact, the gift certificates from Mom and Dad are wrapped in the recycled green-and-red paper from last Christmas. When the pile has been exhausted, everyone leaves the room except Rob and his grandfather.
“Call her,” his grandfather demands.
“Now?”
“Now.”
He pushes himself up from the floor. “I don’t think it will do any good.”
“Call who?” his grandmother asks, coming back into the room with a small bag. She must have forgotten to give Josie one of her presents.
“The pope,” his grandfather answers.
His grandmother turns to Rob and says, “It should be crystal clear that I didn’t marry your grandfather for his sense of humor.”
Josie’s grandmother leaves the two alone in the den and slowly ascends the stairs. From Josie’s doorway, she watches Josie typing away on the computer. She and Josie are so much alike, and so different. Sometimes when she looks at her she sees the ghost of herself at that age. So much ahead of her. So many joys and disappointments. Of course, in her day at sixteen you already knew your future. In the next few years you’d get married, have babies, and maybe be a teacher or a nurse if you had to work outside of the house. But Josie has the whole world at her feet. The odd thing is, she doesn’t envy her granddaughter’s options. Life today is a lot more complicated.
She watches Josie’s face light up when she sees the ring. Giving it away after forty-six years is both a strange and satisfying feeling. Her jeweler did such a wonderful cleaning job that no one would guess it wasn’t brand new. Before he put it back in the box she had tried to put it on. It wouldn’t fit, although she tried every finger. They were too swollen with age.
Rob wants to be as far away from the rest of the family as possible when he makes the call. He could take his cell phone out to the Shark, but since that was the place she dumped him, it probably wouldn’t bring very good karma. He decides to use the phone up in his parents’ room. He sits on his mom’s side of the bed and stares at the phone. Now or never. He picks it up, dials the number, and immediately hangs up. This wouldn’t be a problem if Anne didn’t have caller ID. But since of course she does, he now has to call back or look like an idiot.
He paces the room, and as he passes his father’s dresser he sees a folder on top marked “Guest Relations.” He opens the folder and flips absently through the pages. Anything to avoid making the phone call. It takes him a few seconds to realize what he’s looking at. “Magic Kingdom New Hire Training Schedule” with “Jonathan Taylor” written on the top. He always knew his dad was a little strange, but what the heck is all this? He hears Josie turn on the shower and knows he has to hurry and make the call while she’s still in there. He shuts the folder and makes sure it’s in the same position on the dresser. He calls Anne’s number again, this time letting it ring. After four rings, her machine picks up. Not having prepared for that outcome, he babbles something along the lines of, “Rob, it’s Anne, I mean, obviously I mean Anne, it’s Rob. I really want to talk about today, or see you, whichever, or talk, that’s fine. Okay? Call me.” He places the phone back in the cradle and shakes his head. It was nice while it lasted. How many people wind up spending their life with their first girlfriend anyway?
Anne sits on her bed and listens to Rob’s voice as he leaves his message. Her hand reaches toward the phone but she jerks it back. Just hearing his voice, deep and pleading and sad, makes her doubt her decision. The blinking red light on the answering machine stares up at her like an accusing eye. Before she can change her mind, Anne leans over and presses the delete button. She then walks purposefully down the hall, past her bathroom, past her parents’ bedroom, and into the kitchen. She opens the refrigerator, roots through the bottom shelf, and grabs an onion. The outer layer peels off easily. She turns it around in her hands until the smell stings her eyes and she has to blink a few times to clear them. Then she bites into it hard, like it was an apple.
After dinner, when Josie asks all of them to make a wish, Rob wishes he’ll get over Anne soon so he won’t be the only football player sitting home on prom night. Josie’s grandmother wishes she could stop the aging process, since she still feels sixteen. Josie’s grandfather wishes for regular bowel movements. Josie’s father wishes that he’ll win Disney Employee of the Month. Josie’s mom wishes mothering teenagers came with a handbook. Katy wishes Josie will still be her friend after they talk about the note. Zoey wishes that she’ll get some action at the lake tonight. Megan wishes she gets to be Belle, and that Josie gets to be Juliet. She also wishes that the guy Zoey is setting her up with at the lake tonight will like her. Dennis wishes that he hadn’t sold that bag of oregano to those college guys claiming it was weed. He also wishes that they won’t figure it out until they are far away from Orlando.
Rob sits on the steps and watches as Katy takes control of the piñata game. He thinks she is a good influence on his sister. Katy seems to have it all together and is usually the one to take charge in the group. She laughs as she twirls Megan around, and Rob wonders why he never noticed that she has a very throaty, sexy laugh.
As everyone else is scrambling to get the candy into their bags, Rob pulls Dennis aside and tells him to keep an eye on things at the lake. Since no one ever entrusts Dennis with such things, he readily agrees. As much as he hates to admit it, Dennis is jealous of Rob and Josie’s relationship. Of their whole family, actually. They truly seem to like each other. Rob and Josie would never set a Port-a-Potty on fire. They wouldn’t need to. He decides he’s glad that Zoey blackmailed him into driving her friends tonight by threatening to tell their parents he changed every grade on his last report card. He knows she swiped his cigarettes from under the bed. When her friends aren’t around, he plans to warn her not to start smoking. It turns out he won’t need to.
9:00
P.M.
– 11:15
P.M.
Before I squish into the back of Dennis’s old Pontiac next to Katy and Megan, I look up at the sky. Only a half moon tonight. I wish I knew why that is a good thing. I close the door behind me and quickly roll down the window because the car smells like old cigarettes and fast food hamburgers. The
Playboy
air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror isn’t helping. I notice Zoey has a backpack on her lap in the front seat. Even though it doesn’t make any sense why she would have brought it, I lean forward and ask, “Is that the scavenger hunt stuff?”
Zoey shakes her head. “Just some supplies for tonight.”
I turn to Katy. I am trying to sound casual, but my heart is thumping. “Supplies? For what?”
Katy gets all wide-eyed and innocent. “Don’t ask me.”
Maybe someone else in this car will tell me something. In my sweetest voice, I ask, “Dennis, can you tell me what’s going to happen at the lake?”
“Not even if I wanted to,” he says, turning left onto Orange Avenue toward Lake Eola. “No one brought me for my sixteenth birthday.”
“Oh.” And then, so that he won’t feel bad — okay, so
I
won’t feel as bad — I say, “You’re lucky.”
He doesn’t respond. We’re now passing through the area of town with all the funky clothes shops and music stores and lots of bars and clubs. It’s pretty quiet out right now, but on the weekends there are lots of people in the streets, and my mother used to never let me hang out here. Now that I have my license, I can come down here whenever I want. I still can’t believe it.