five minutes. And I’ll just wait in the car—you can send them out so we don’t take up any more of your time. So say hi to Clark for me, you know, since I might not get a chance to talk to you from the car. But thanks so much for watching the kids for me, and I’ll see you later . . . in five.”
There was a pause. Then Angela’s voice piped up, as enthusiastic as ever.
“Okay, see you later in five!”
Oh great, Becky thought as she jogged back to her car. Now Angela would be using that phrase, convinced it was a real idiom. And it would be all Becky’s fault. As if the poor lady didn’t have enough communication problems as it was, what with the excessive exclaiming.
Becky drove the familiar route to Angela’s, past the brick bungalows, down Gentile Street, turning by the field with horses that Hyrum loved. What would Layton look like to Felix? A dull little backwater, she guessed. Just then, it did seem run-down to her, squatty and rough compared with Los Angeles, with its glossy skyscrapers and expensive pollution. Her backbone straightened. How dare he make her sweet town look dumpy? Who did he think he was?
Polly and Hyrum raced for her car as soon as she pulled up, none too sorry to leave their cousins. Apparently there had been a prolonged incident where seven-year-old Jayden had chased Polly with a “snot rag.” Polly was exhausted from her desperate flight, and Hyrum was glum because no one would play Dinosaurs Rule the Earth with him (probably, as Becky suspected, because Hyrum wanted to be the dinosaur and make everyone else Doomed Cavemen). Both kids were silent on the ride home, giving Becky a chance to keep thinking. But the meditative time wasn’t especially productive, churning out such thoughts as, That was weird. Is he gone for good? Weird, definitely weird. But fun too?
When Becky pulled into the garage, Felix still wasn’t there.
“Mom, Mom, Mom,” Polly said, panic quivering her voice, “I think one of my teeth is loose.”
“Okay, honey.”
“It’s loose, Mommy, it really is. It’s loose!”
“It’s okay, honey, it’s okay. If it’s barely loose, it won’t fall out before Monday and we can run to the dentist after school.”
Because Polly, you see, was petrified of loose teeth and so had to have each of her baby teeth professionally removed by a dentist. This was all thanks to her sister’s son Luther, who convinced Polly that if you accidentally swallow a tooth, it will eat through your stomach and come out your belly button. The little rat.
So Becky was pretty well occupied the rest of the afternoon keeping Polly calm and distracted, the Felix question barely twitching there in the back of her skull until she and Mike were alone in their bedroom that night.
“Maybe he’s insane?” she asked.
“That’d be my vote. Did you get that crazy vibe?”
“No,” she said, disappointed, because it would have been such an easy explanation.
Becky had recounted all the details from that afternoon—except how Felix could make her heart skippity-skip. In Becky’s opinion, you don’t ooh over a fine young actor on the screen in front of your husband. That’s not okay, any more than it’s okay to hear him say, “Check out that babe” at the community pool. Maybe Mike did notice other women, maybe he did have secret crushes on Sharon Stone and Teri Hatcher, but exclaiming about their perfections in front of your wife is like saying, “Why can’t you look more like her?” So Becky kept her mouth shut. Besides, she was embarrassed about the whole thing.
Not that it mattered. This time, she was certain, she’d never see Felix again. He’d shown up to see her, sure, but then she’d outed him. He must have been upset, since he hadn’t even stayed to say hello. So that was it, the end of the Felix sightings. Thank goodness, really. Who needs that kind of heart-smacking hassle?
Right?
In which Becky receives an unexpected phone call
“Hello?” Becky clamped
There was a pause. Then Angela’s voice piped up, as enthusiastic as ever.
“Okay, see you later in five!”
Oh great, Becky thought as she jogged back to her car. Now Angela would be using that phrase, convinced it was a real idiom. And it would be all Becky’s fault. As if the poor lady didn’t have enough communication problems as it was, what with the excessive exclaiming.
Becky drove the familiar route to Angela’s, past the brick bungalows, down Gentile Street, turning by the field with horses that Hyrum loved. What would Layton look like to Felix? A dull little backwater, she guessed. Just then, it did seem run-down to her, squatty and rough compared with Los Angeles, with its glossy skyscrapers and expensive pollution. Her backbone straightened. How dare he make her sweet town look dumpy? Who did he think he was?
Polly and Hyrum raced for her car as soon as she pulled up, none too sorry to leave their cousins. Apparently there had been a prolonged incident where seven-year-old Jayden had chased Polly with a “snot rag.” Polly was exhausted from her desperate flight, and Hyrum was glum because no one would play Dinosaurs Rule the Earth with him (probably, as Becky suspected, because Hyrum wanted to be the dinosaur and make everyone else Doomed Cavemen). Both kids were silent on the ride home, giving Becky a chance to keep thinking. But the meditative time wasn’t especially productive, churning out such thoughts as, That was weird. Is he gone for good? Weird, definitely weird. But fun too?
When Becky pulled into the garage, Felix still wasn’t there.
“Mom, Mom, Mom,” Polly said, panic quivering her voice, “I think one of my teeth is loose.”
“Okay, honey.”
“It’s loose, Mommy, it really is. It’s loose!”
“It’s okay, honey, it’s okay. If it’s barely loose, it won’t fall out before Monday and we can run to the dentist after school.”
Because Polly, you see, was petrified of loose teeth and so had to have each of her baby teeth professionally removed by a dentist. This was all thanks to her sister’s son Luther, who convinced Polly that if you accidentally swallow a tooth, it will eat through your stomach and come out your belly button. The little rat.
So Becky was pretty well occupied the rest of the afternoon keeping Polly calm and distracted, the Felix question barely twitching there in the back of her skull until she and Mike were alone in their bedroom that night.
“Maybe he’s insane?” she asked.
“That’d be my vote. Did you get that crazy vibe?”
“No,” she said, disappointed, because it would have been such an easy explanation.
Becky had recounted all the details from that afternoon—except how Felix could make her heart skippity-skip. In Becky’s opinion, you don’t ooh over a fine young actor on the screen in front of your husband. That’s not okay, any more than it’s okay to hear him say, “Check out that babe” at the community pool. Maybe Mike did notice other women, maybe he did have secret crushes on Sharon Stone and Teri Hatcher, but exclaiming about their perfections in front of your wife is like saying, “Why can’t you look more like her?” So Becky kept her mouth shut. Besides, she was embarrassed about the whole thing.
Not that it mattered. This time, she was certain, she’d never see Felix again. He’d shown up to see her, sure, but then she’d outed him. He must have been upset, since he hadn’t even stayed to say hello. So that was it, the end of the Felix sightings. Thank goodness, really. Who needs that kind of heart-smacking hassle?
Right?
In which Becky receives an unexpected phone call
“Hello?” Becky clamped
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