reached for a tissue.
“I just don’t see what the big deal is!” I told her. “You told us ! How were we supposed to know you never wanted us to mention it to a living soul? And besides, what’s wrong with your folks being nudists? They don’t think it’s wrong, so why should you?”
“Because I don’t want anyone talking about my parents!” Pamela said, and suddenly I was astonished to see her break into tears. “Oh, Alice,” she sobbed, leaning against me. “They’re separating.”
This was just too much. I put my arm around her. “Why? When?” I tried to remember when I’d seen her parents last. Hadn’t they gone to a movie together sometime last summer? Didn’t that mean anything?
Pamela just went on crying but finally straightened up. “I don’t know why. Mom just told me tonight. I think someone else is involved, but I’m not sure.”
“Your dad’s moving out, then?”
“No. My mom.”
Her mother ? Mothers sometimes left their families? Mothers got involved with somebody else?
“What are you going to do, Pamela?” I asked softly.
“I’m staying with Dad. I’m not the one who wants to leave. Mom wants me to go with her, of course, but I’m not. Now they’re fighting over that.”
“Oh, Pamela!” My tissue box was empty, and I had gone to the hall closet for more when I heard the doorbell and went downstairs.
It was Elizabeth.
“I will never forgive Pamela Jones for what she did today,” she said.
I pulled her inside. “Oh yes, you will. Her folks are separating.”
Elizabeth’s mouth fell open, and her eyes grew huge. “ Why? Because of what I said ?”
With Elizabeth, original sin begins with her.
“No. Her mom’s taking off. She might be seeing someone else, Pamela thinks. Pamela’s up in my room right now, crying.”
Elizabeth ran upstairs ahead of me, and as soon as she got into the room, she had her arms around Pamela, and Pamela was saying, “I’m sorry,” and Elizabeth was saying,“I’m sorry,” and I was just standing there on my rug trying to think how I could keep from growing any older than I was right then. If life got any more complicated, I’d need an encyclopedia of instructions.
Lester passed my door, paused long enough to hear all the “sorrys” going on, and disappeared in a flash. I heard his door close, then lock, at the end of the hall.
I pulled out the pillows from under my spread, propped them against the headboard, and we lay in a row, our feet stuck out in front of us.
“I wish I could go back to last summer, before I knew about my folks, and just stay that way forever,” Pamela said softly, her nose clogged.
“I wish I could go back to Mrs. Plotkin’s class,” I told them. “When I was in her room, it was as though she could handle anything that happened to us.”
“I wish I could go back to before Nathan was born,” said Elizabeth. “Life was so simple with just Mom and Dad and me.”
But we couldn’t go back and we knew it. Life was going forward whether we wanted it to or not.
I didn’t know how I felt about Patrick, Pamela didn’t know how she felt about her mom, and Elizabeth didn’t know how she felt about Justin Collier. Every time she’dseen him in the hall that afternoon, he had called her “hot mama” and she hated it.
There was a soft knock on my door.
“I’m making popcorn downstairs, if anyone’s interested,” called Dad.
And for a little while, the world seemed good again as we traipsed down to the kitchen and filled our bowls from the electric popper.
7
OUTRAGEOUS
“DID YOUR LIFE CHANGE AFTER I WAS born?” I asked Dad the following evening. We were both working at the dining room table. I was doing homework on one side and he was writing checks on the other, and I wondered if he and Lester ever wished they could go back to a time when life was simpler.
“ My life did!” Lester said from the living room. “The mess! The smell! The crying! The burps!”
I ignored him and
“I just don’t see what the big deal is!” I told her. “You told us ! How were we supposed to know you never wanted us to mention it to a living soul? And besides, what’s wrong with your folks being nudists? They don’t think it’s wrong, so why should you?”
“Because I don’t want anyone talking about my parents!” Pamela said, and suddenly I was astonished to see her break into tears. “Oh, Alice,” she sobbed, leaning against me. “They’re separating.”
This was just too much. I put my arm around her. “Why? When?” I tried to remember when I’d seen her parents last. Hadn’t they gone to a movie together sometime last summer? Didn’t that mean anything?
Pamela just went on crying but finally straightened up. “I don’t know why. Mom just told me tonight. I think someone else is involved, but I’m not sure.”
“Your dad’s moving out, then?”
“No. My mom.”
Her mother ? Mothers sometimes left their families? Mothers got involved with somebody else?
“What are you going to do, Pamela?” I asked softly.
“I’m staying with Dad. I’m not the one who wants to leave. Mom wants me to go with her, of course, but I’m not. Now they’re fighting over that.”
“Oh, Pamela!” My tissue box was empty, and I had gone to the hall closet for more when I heard the doorbell and went downstairs.
It was Elizabeth.
“I will never forgive Pamela Jones for what she did today,” she said.
I pulled her inside. “Oh yes, you will. Her folks are separating.”
Elizabeth’s mouth fell open, and her eyes grew huge. “ Why? Because of what I said ?”
With Elizabeth, original sin begins with her.
“No. Her mom’s taking off. She might be seeing someone else, Pamela thinks. Pamela’s up in my room right now, crying.”
Elizabeth ran upstairs ahead of me, and as soon as she got into the room, she had her arms around Pamela, and Pamela was saying, “I’m sorry,” and Elizabeth was saying,“I’m sorry,” and I was just standing there on my rug trying to think how I could keep from growing any older than I was right then. If life got any more complicated, I’d need an encyclopedia of instructions.
Lester passed my door, paused long enough to hear all the “sorrys” going on, and disappeared in a flash. I heard his door close, then lock, at the end of the hall.
I pulled out the pillows from under my spread, propped them against the headboard, and we lay in a row, our feet stuck out in front of us.
“I wish I could go back to last summer, before I knew about my folks, and just stay that way forever,” Pamela said softly, her nose clogged.
“I wish I could go back to Mrs. Plotkin’s class,” I told them. “When I was in her room, it was as though she could handle anything that happened to us.”
“I wish I could go back to before Nathan was born,” said Elizabeth. “Life was so simple with just Mom and Dad and me.”
But we couldn’t go back and we knew it. Life was going forward whether we wanted it to or not.
I didn’t know how I felt about Patrick, Pamela didn’t know how she felt about her mom, and Elizabeth didn’t know how she felt about Justin Collier. Every time she’dseen him in the hall that afternoon, he had called her “hot mama” and she hated it.
There was a soft knock on my door.
“I’m making popcorn downstairs, if anyone’s interested,” called Dad.
And for a little while, the world seemed good again as we traipsed down to the kitchen and filled our bowls from the electric popper.
7
OUTRAGEOUS
“DID YOUR LIFE CHANGE AFTER I WAS born?” I asked Dad the following evening. We were both working at the dining room table. I was doing homework on one side and he was writing checks on the other, and I wondered if he and Lester ever wished they could go back to a time when life was simpler.
“ My life did!” Lester said from the living room. “The mess! The smell! The crying! The burps!”
I ignored him and
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