“I’ve been driving for a month now,” she said, “and my aunt is finally trusting me to use the car when she’s not with me. I haven’t had any passengers yet”-she winked at me and smiled one of those delicious I’ve-got-a-surprise smiles-”but that’s gonna change on Friday.”
“What’s Friday?”
She lightly smacked my hand. “Friday, dummy, is when you get released. Doctor said you’ll be well enough to go home, and I am going to pick you up.”
“But Mom and Dad-”
“I already asked your mom and she said it was fine.”
I blinked. It had never occurred to me that Mom wouldn’t want to pick me up, but just as unsettling was the idea that she had given Beth-who was little more than a stranger to her-permission to take me. “Did you ask her when she was here?”
“Nuh-uh. I called your house.”
We were unlisted. “How’d you get our phone number?”
Another patented Beth wink. “Vee haf vays of gazzering zee information.”
“Huh?”
“Someday you’ll understand. Care enough about someone, and you’ll find a way to help them, no matter what.”
I didn’t really understand what she meant by that, but it seemed like this was something she really wanted to do because she liked me. I had to keep reminding myself that this great girl with the long hair and love beads and hip-huggers and gold flecks in her light brown eyes liked me. A lot, it seemed.
“Hey, here’s an idea-how about after I pick you up, we go out for some ice cream cones?”
“Sure!”
“Then maybe you can come over and eat dinner with the family.”
“Oh-did your mom come home?”
A brief, wistful shadow crossed over her face and then was gone, replaced by her bright smile that seemed a little false. “No, it’s just me and my aunt and the Its.”
“‘Its’?”
“You’ll see.”
Mom called the morning of my release and said it was fine if I wanted to go over to Beth’s for dinner; Dad wasn’t feeling well (which meant he was either drunk or hung-over) and it might be best if I didn’t come home right away. Too much activity might upset him and we couldn’t have that. It made me glad she wasn’t picking me up; all she’d do was complain about Dad, then tell me not to say anything.
A little before ten a doctor I hadn’t seen before came in and gave me the once-over, told me that I’d need to exercise my shoulder, and gave me a pamphlet explaining how to do it. Half an hour later a nurse I’d never seen before came in with a wheelchair, handed me some slips of paper, and told me that my ride was here. Beth came in right behind her, all Day-Glo smiles and flourescent sunshine.
“Ready to hit the road, little brother?” She winked at me but the nurse didn’t see it. “Got all your stuff? Okay, good-what about his prescriptions?”
“He’s got them,” replied the nurse, who must have been new to this floor because she didn’t seem to recognize Beth at all.
“Cool. Mom gave me money to get them filled on the way home.” She was play-acting, just like her mother on the London Stage. It was kind of fun to watch.
I was rolled downstairs and to Beth’s car-a monstrous green U-boat of a station wagon with wood paneling on the doors. Inside it smelled of cigarettes, sweat, and something pungent that made my nose itch.
Once on our way, Beth reached over and squeezed my hand. “How you feeling, hon? Any pain?”
“Yeah, a little. My shoulder and stuff.”
“Let’s stop and get your medicine. My treat.”
“But Mom said my medicine was going to be expensive.”
“Codeine, some stuff for swelling and stiffness, and antibiotics. Twenty-two dollars-I already checked.”
I know it’s hard to remember, but in 1970, twentytwo dollars was a lot of money, even if you weren’t a kid.
“That’s an awful lot,” I said.
“Hey, nothing’s too good for my guy. Besides, I’ve been saving my allowance for years. And I worked waiting tables part-time during the summer. It won’t leave me broke.”
She was my friend, she’d visited me, she was giving me a ride for ice cream, and now she was going to spend twenty-two dollars of her own money on medicine for me? What had I done to deserve this? People never did anything for me without wanting something back for it, and for a moment I thought maybe Beth was going to say something like, “Hey, since I did this for you, would you do a favor for me?” But she never did, not once in all the years I knew her.
Prescriptions in hand, we drove over to the Tasty Freeze on West Church Street and pigged out on the Holy Grail of large cones: the two-scoop doubledipped chocolate with sprinkles. Impossible not to eat and wear at the same time. About midway through it my shoulder and arm began to hurt terribly, so Beth bought a small Coke and gave me a pain pill. By the time I finished the cone, I was feeling full and shiny. For all I knew my shoulder and arm were still in agony but, thanks to the pill, I didn’t care anymore.
“Oh, great,” said Beth, lifting my head by the chin and looking in my eyes. “The first time I’m in charge of someone younger than me and I get him stoned. Let’s get out of here before someone calls the fuzz on us.”
Back in the car, I noticed how the shine from the sun in her rearview mirror painted a glowing slash across her face. It looked as if she was wearing a golden mask. Whenever she turned to speak to me, the mask would slip around her face and over her ears, turning her hair the color of dreams. “Still with me?”
“Uh-huh,” I said, though I felt really sleepy.
“Hey, wake up, Boy Wonder, c’mon.” She sounded genuinely concerned. “C’mon, okay? Stay awake. I checked the instructions and it turns out I’m a spaz, I was only supposed to give you half a pill, not a whole one. Don’t make me have to take you back to the hospital to get your stomach pumped or something, okay?”
“… ’kay.”
“Promise?”
I shook myself awake. Everything was still shiny, but I was more alert now. “Can we get another pop?”
“Ah, caffeine, yes. Smart idea.”
We pulled into a gas station where Beth ran into some boy she knew. He came up behind her while she was pulling the bottles out of the freezer-like cooler and put his hand on her back. She whirled around like she might slap whoever it was, but then she recognized him and smiled, pushed her hair back behind her ears, glanced quickly in the direction of the car, and leaned in to kiss him. Even from thirty feet away, I could see their tongues going into each other’s mouths. The boy slid his hand down and grabbed her hip, then her ass. She broke the kiss and saw me staring at them, then quickly yanked his hand away and whispered something. They looked over at me and the boy laughed. For a moment it looked like Beth might laugh, too. I didn’t know who this boy was, but I hated him.
They talked for a few more moments and then Beth gave him a quick kiss and came back to the car. She smiled at me when she climbed in but didn’t look in my eyes like she usually did. She seemed embarrassed-or maybe annoyed that I’d been watching. I took the bottle of pop and swallowed two big gulps. It made my chest and stomach feel all frosty as it went down, and then an ice-bird spread its wings through my center and I wasn’t as hot, thirsty, or tired anymore.
We were almost to Beth’s house when she said, “I go out with him sometimes, that guy back at the gas station.”
“Is that why we stopped there? So you could see him?”
She blushed. “Yeah. My aunt doesn’t like him. She doesn’t much like any of my friends.” She finally looked at me. “You’re the first friend I’ve had over in a long time.”
“I won’t say anything to your aunt about him, I promise.”
Squeezing my hand as she pulled into the driveway, Beth cleared her throat and whispered, “I’ll never ask you to lie for me, I promise.”