Eleanor & Park (15 page)

out of the freezer and headed out

there.

He

could

smell

the

permanent-wave solution as soon

as he opened the door.

Park’s dad had converted their

garage into a salon when Josh

started kindergarten and their

mom went to beauty school. She

even had a little sign hanging by

the side door. ‘Mindy’s Hair &

Nails.’

‘Min-Dae,’ it said on her

driver’s license.

Everyone in the neighborhood

who could afford a hair stylist

came

to

Park’s

mom.

On

homecoming and prom weekends,

she’d spend all day in the garage.

Both Park and Josh were recruited

from time to time to hold hot

curling irons.

Today, his mom had Tina

sitting in her chair. Tina’s hair was

wound tight in rollers, and Park’s

mom was squeezing something

onto them with a plastic bottle.

The smell burned his eyes.

‘Hey, Mom,’ he said. ‘Hey,

Tina.’

‘Hey, honey,’ his mom said.

She pronounced it with two ‘n’s.

Tina smiled broadly at him.

‘Close eyes, Ti-na,’ his mom said.

‘Stay close.’

‘Hey, Mrs Sheridan,’ Tina

said, holding a white washcloth

over her eyes, ‘have you met

Park’s girlfriend yet?’

His mom didn’t look up from

Tina’s head. ‘Nooo,’ she said,

clucking

her

tongue.

‘No

girlfriend. Not Park.’

‘Uh-huh,’ Tina said. ‘Tell her,

Park – her name is Eleanor, and

she’s new this year. We can’t keep

them apart on the bus.’

Park stared at Tina. Shocked

that she’d sell him out like this.

Startled by her rosy take on bus

life. Surprised that she was even

paying attention to him, and to

Eleanor. His mom looked over at

Park, but not for long; Tina’s hair

was at a critical stage.

‘I don’t know about any

girlfriend,’ his mom said.

‘I’ll bet you’ve seen her in the

neighborhood,’

Tina

said,

assuring. ‘She has really pretty,

red hair. Naturally curly.’

‘Is that right?’ his mom said.

‘No,’ Park said, anger and

everything else curdling in his

stomach.

‘You’re such a guy, Park,’

Tina said from behind the

washcloth. ‘I’m sure it’s natural.’

‘No,’ he said, ‘she’s not my

girlfriend.

I

don’t

have

a

girlfriend,’ he said to his mom.

‘Okay, okay,’ she said. ‘Too

much girl talk for you. Too much

girl talk, Ti-na. You go check on

dinner now,’ she said to Park.

He backed out of the garage,

still wanting to argue, feeling more

denial twitching in his throat. He

slammed the door, then went into

the kitchen and slammed as much

as he could in there. The oven.

The cabinets. The trash.

‘What the hell is wrong with

you?’ his dad said, walking into

the kitchen.

Park froze. He could
not
get

into trouble tonight.

‘Nothing,’ he said. ‘Sorry. I’m

sorry.’

‘Jesus, Park, take it out on the

bag …’ There was an old-school

punching bag in the garage,

hanging way out of Park’s reach.

‘Mindy!’ his dad shouted.

‘Out here!’

Eleanor didn’t call during dinner,

which was good. That got on his

dad’s nerves.

But she didn’t call after dinner

either. Park walked around the

house,

picking

things

up

randomly,

then

setting

them

down. Even though it didn’t make

sense, he worried that Eleanor

wasn’t

calling

because

he’d

betrayed her. That she knew

somehow, that she’d sensed a

disturbance in the Force.

The phone rang at 7:15, and

his mom answered it. He could tell

right away that it was his grandma.

Park tapped his fingers on a

bookshelf. Why didn’t his parents

want call waiting? Everyone had

call waiting. His
grandparents
had

call waiting. And why couldn’t his

grandma just come over, if she

wanted to talk? They lived right

next door.

‘No, I don’t think so,’ his

mother said. ‘
Sixty Minutes
always

on Sunday … Maybe you think of

Twenty-Twenty
? No? … John

Stos-sel? No? … Geraldo Rivera?

Di-anne Sawyer?’

Park gently banged his head

against the living room wall.

‘God damn it, Park,’ his dad

snapped, ‘
what
is wrong with

you?’

His dad and Josh were trying

to watch
The A-Team
.

‘Nothing,’ Park said, ‘nothing.

I’m sorry. I’m just waiting for a

phone call.’

‘Is your girlfriend calling?’

Josh asked. ‘Park’s dating Big

Red.’

‘She’s not—’ Park caught

himself shouting and clenched his

fists. ‘If I ever hear you call her

that again, I’ll kill you. I’ll literally

kill you. I’ll go to jail for the rest

of my life, and it’ll break Mom’s

heart, but I will. Kill. You.’

His dad looked at Park like he

always did, like he was trying to

figure out what the fuck was

wrong with him.

‘Park has a girlfriend?’ he

asked Josh. ‘Why do they call her

Big Red?’

‘I think it’s because she has

red hair and giant tits,’ Josh said.

‘No way, dirty mouth,’ their

mother said. She held her hand

over the phone. ‘You’ – she

pointed at Josh – ‘in your room.

Now
.’

‘But, Mom,
The A-Team
is

on.’

‘You heard your mother,’ their

dad said. ‘You don’t get to talk

like that in this house.’

‘You talk like that,’ Josh said,

dragging himself off the couch.

‘I’m thirty-nine years old,’

their dad said, ‘and a decorated

veteran. I’ll say whatever the hell I

want.’

Their mother jabbed a long

fingernail at his dad and covered

the phone again. ‘I’ll send you to

your room, too.’

‘Honey, I wish you would,’

their dad said, throwing a throw

pillow at her.

‘Hugh Downs?’ Park’s mom

said into the phone. The pillow

fell on the floor and she picked it

up. ‘No? … Okay, I’ll keep

thinking. Okay. Love you. Okay,

bye-bye.’

As soon as she hung up, the

phone rang. Park sprung away

from the wall. His dad grinned at

him. His mom answered the

phone.

‘Hello?’ she said. ‘Yes, one

moment please.’ She looked at

Park. ‘Telephone.’

‘Can I take it in my room?’

His mom nodded. His dad

mouthed, ‘Big Red.’

Park ran into his room, then

stopped to catch his breath before

he picked up the phone. He

couldn’t. He picked it up anyway.

‘I got it, Mom, thanks.’

He waited for the click.

‘Hello?’

‘Hi,’ Eleanor said. He felt all of

the tension rush out of him.

Without it, he could hardly stand

up.

‘Hi,’ he breathed.

She giggled.

‘What?’ he said.

‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘Hi.’

‘I didn’t think you were going

to call.’

‘It’s not even 7:30.’

‘Yeah, well … is your brother

asleep?’

‘He’s not my brother,’ she

said. ‘I mean, not yet. I guess my

dad’s engaged to his mom. But,

no, he’s not asleep. He’s watching

Fraggle Rock
.’

Park carefully picked up the

phone and carried it to his bed. He

sat down gently. He didn’t want

her to hear anything. He didn’t

want her to know he had a twin-

sized waterbed and a phone

shaped like a Ferrari.

‘What time is your dad coming

home?’ he asked.

‘Late, I hope. They said they

almost never get a babysitter.’

‘Cool.’

She giggled again.

‘
What?
’ he asked.

‘I don’t know,’ she said, ‘I feel

like you’re whispering in my ear.’

‘I’m always whispering in

your ear,’ he said, lying back on

his pillows.

‘Yeah, but it’s usually about,

like, Magneto or something.’ Her

voice was higher on the phone,

and richer, like he was listening to

it on headphones.

‘I’m not going to say anything

tonight that I could say on the bus

or during English class,’ he said.

‘And I’m not going to say

anything that I can’t say in front of

a three-year-old.’

‘Nice.’

‘I’m just kidding. He’s in the

other room, and he’s totally

ignoring me.’

‘So …’ Park said.

‘So …’ she said, ‘… things we

can’t say on the bus.’

‘Things we can’t say on the

bus – go.’

‘I hate those people,’ she said.

He laughed, then thought of

Tina and was glad that Eleanor

couldn’t see his face. ‘Me, too,

sometimes. I mean, I guess I’m

used to them. I’ve known most of

them my whole life. Steve’s my

next-door neighbor.’

‘How did that happen?’

‘What do you mean?’ he

asked.

‘I mean, you don’t seem like

you’re from there …’

‘Because I’m Korean?’

‘You’re Korean?’

‘Half.’

‘I guess I don’t really know

what that means.’

‘Me neither,’ he said.

‘What do you mean? Are you

adopted?’

‘No. My mom’s from Korea.

She just doesn’t talk about it very

much.’

‘How did she end up in the

Flats?’

‘My dad. He served in Korea,

they fell in love, and he brought

her back.’

‘Wow, really?’

‘Yeah.’

‘That’s pretty romantic.’

Eleanor didn’t know the half

of it; his parents were probably

making out right now. ‘I guess

so,’ he said.

‘That’s not what I meant

though. I meant … that you’re

different from the other people in

the neighborhood, you know?’

Of course he knew. They’d all

been telling him so his whole life.

When Tina liked Park instead of

Steve in grade school, Steve had

said, ‘I think she feels safe with

you because you’re like half girl.’

Park hated football. He cried when

his dad took him pheasant

hunting.

Nobody

in

the

neighborhood could ever tell who

he was dressed as on Halloween.

(‘I’m Doctor Who.’ ‘I’m Harpo

Marx.’ ‘I’m Count Floyd.’) And

he kind of wanted his mom to

give him blond highlights. Park

knew
he was different.

‘No,’ he said. ‘I don’t know.’

‘You …’ she said, ‘you’re so

… cool.’

Eleanor

‘Cool?’ he said.

God. She couldn’t believe

she’d said that. Talk about uncool.

Like the opposite of cool. Like, if

you looked up ‘cool’ in the

dictionary, there’d be a photo of

some cool person there saying,

‘What the eff is wrong with you,

Eleanor?’

‘I’m not cool,’ he said.

‘You’re cool.’

‘Ha,’ she said. ‘I wish I were

drinking milk, and I wish you

were here, so that you could

watch it shoot out my nose in

response to that.’

‘Are you kidding me?’ he said.

‘You’re Dirty Harry.’

‘I’m dirty hairy?’

‘Like Clint Eastwood, you

know?’

‘No.’

‘You don’t care what anyone

thinks about you,’ he said.

‘That’s crazy,’ she said. ‘I care

what
everyone
thinks about me.’

‘I can’t tell,’ he said. ‘You just

seem like yourself, no matter

what’s happening around you. My

grandmother would say you’re

comfortable in your own skin.’

‘Why would she say that?’

‘Because that’s how she talks.’

‘I ’m
stuck
in my own skin,’

Eleanor said. ‘And why are we

even talking about me? We were

talking about you.’

‘I’d rather talk about you,’ he

said. His voice dropped a little. It

was nice to hear just his voice and

nothing else. (Nothing besides

Fraggle Rock
in the next room.)