Lucky Cap (3 page)

We bonded, as they say, but in a real guy way, a way he and the Sisterhood could never bond, because they weren't guys, like we were. This might sound totally cheesy, but of all the amazing things we did on the trip, getting so much one-on-one time with my dad was probably the best.

I was right. That did sound cheesy.

“Dad, this is the best time I've ever had with you,” I blurted out once when we were standing in line for a roller coaster. “Then again, it's the best time I've ever
had.”

“I'm having a ball, too, Enz,” he answered. “Let's enjoy it while it lasts. It'll be over before you know it.”

Before I knew it, it was over.

After we checked out of the hotel in Sacramento, Evan and Dad had one more call to make, in Stockton, before we headed home. I stayed in the car. I wasn't pouting. Pouting is a tactic for getting your parents to do what you want them to do, and there was nothing my dad or mom could do this time. Parents may have all the power in a family, but even they are powerless when it comes to school. School tells parents what to do.

I didn't stay in the car to pout. I was mourning the loss of the most amazingest summer vacation in the history of summer vacations. I was grieving the death of total, supreme, nonstop fun.

Evan and Dad didn't pout or mourn. That's because their joyride wasn't over. They would get to keep driving around in a silver convertible, trying out cool new sporting goods and sportswear, meeting famous athletes and entertainers, staying in hotels, ordering room service, and bouncing on beds. Okay, maybe not bouncing on beds. But they would get to keep on joyriding,
and
getting paid for it, while I died of boredom in school.

The first time I glanced out from under my visor, we were on Kearny Boulevard—back in Pasadero already. Then we turned again and, just like that, we were home.

Mom, Desi, Susana, and Lupe rushed from the house when we pulled up. They swarmed Dad, squealing and chattering and hugging and kissing him, and, of course, asking what he'd brought home for them.

Nadine brought up the rear. She was dressed like some girl from the olden days going to a tea party: frilly wide-brimmed hat, poufy dress to the ground, ruffly collar and sleeves, black lace-up boots. The only difference was that she was wearing white makeup on her face and black lipstick. Apparently, this was her new look: Goth–slash–American Girl. She liked to change it now and then. Not sure why she chose heavy clothes and makeup in August. In California.

When she caught up, she said, “Hello, Father,” mostly to the ground. Dad hugged her and knocked her big, floppy hat off.

Mom was the only one to take any notice of me, which was fine until she started smooching me all over and talking baby talk. That's when my face got all hot and my vision got all blurry and I realized I was going to cry. No way was I going to cry in front of Evan.

I wriggled free and snapped, “Stop it! I can't breathe!”

She laughed. “So you're too big now to be hugged and kissed by your mama, Lenchito?”

Lenchito was my mom's Spanish nickname for me. Only she got to call me that. Sometimes one of my sisters would slip and I was forced to headlock her till she swore she'd never say it again, or till Mom or Dad broke it up.

“Yes,” I answered, but she jumped into the backseat anyway and went totally nuts with the stupid hugs and kisses and mushy talk stuff. I fought her off for a while, which was kind of fun, and which stopped the tears from falling, thank goodness. We rolled around in the backseat, wrestling and tickling each other, till suddenly I screeched: “My
cap
! You'll bend the visor!”

Everyone laughed.

I reached up to check my cap, and…

“Where is it?” I shrieked.

More laughter.

“MOM! Where is it? Are you
sitting
on it?”

Oh, the horror I felt in those few seconds. Even reliving it now makes my heart thump in my throat.

“I got it,” Evan said from the driver's seat, and held it up. “Figured I'd better get it out of harm's way. Or, in this case,
Mom's
way.”

I could have kissed him. Not really, but I was really glad he was there and knew what to do. He was a man of good instincts and priorities.

I took the cap from him, put it on, then checked my look in the rearview mirror.

Mom and the Sisterhood (minus Nadine) cracked up.

“What?” I asked.

“Someone got
conceited,
” Lupe taunted, and everyone (except Nadine) cracked up again.

“What are you talking about?”

“And no wonder,” Mom said, looking me up and down. “Just look at you!”

“What?” I asked again, trying to look at myself. (Why do people say that? It can't be done.) “What's wrong with me?”

Everyone was looking at me—except Nadine, who had taken out her black journal and was writing in it.

“There's nothing wrong,” Mom said. “You're just so…”

“Buff?” Evan piped in.

The Sisterhood (minus Nadine) giggled.

“Exactly!” Desi said.

“And tan,” Susana chipped in.

My sisters (minus Nadine) were looking at me.
Really
looking at me. And grinning. This made me extremely uncomfortable.

Mom said, “It's amazing what a summer vacation can do to a kid.”

What was all this? If I'd changed, why hadn't Dad or Evan said anything about it? Maybe because guys don't usually sit around talking about how each other looks. Plus we'd been together practically every second, and it's hard to see people change when you're with them all the time. It's hard to see yourself change, too. It happens slowly, like grass growing. When I looked at myself in the mirror or in pictures, all I saw was my cap and my amazing new clothes.

Mom and the girls hadn't seen me in a month and a half. A month and a half of fun and sun. I bet I had changed. I wondered how.

I jumped out of the car and bolted for the house.

I heard Ink yapping and scratching from the other side of the front door as I approached it. When I pushed it open, he freaked out all over me, jumping and pawing and slobbering and whining. I was glad to see him, but I was on a mission.

“Down, Ink! Sit!
Sit!
” I commanded.

He didn't obey. Big shock.

I tore off through the house with him hot on my heels. Nipping at them, actually. I shut the bathroom door on him, then turned to face the full-length mirror. A very tanned Enzo Harpold, wearing a new black T-shirt with a metallic silver Kap logo on the front, untucked, looked back at me. He was wearing a most excellent pair of Kap athletic shoes, white with a blue logo, unlaced, and new baggy plaid Kap shorts. The guy was sharply dressed, that's for sure. But what about this buff stuff?

My shirt did hang different: tighter in the shoulders, looser around my stomach. My shoulders looked different, too, somehow. Broader, I guess. I bent my arms and clenched my fists.
Hey
. There was definition in those biceps. And in my calf muscles, my forearms, even in my neck. I sucked in my stomach and puffed out my chest and—
whoa!—
I had a chest! One that was actually wider than my stomach, I mean. I turned sideways. My stomach was less pudgy than it used to be. I lifted my T-shirt and did an ab crunch. Not bad! Not exactly washboard, but sort of ripply.

Now, it's not like I was a total loser before the trip. I had been built pretty average and was happy that way. Me and Kai had never cared about that stuff. We never looked in mirrors. We didn't bathe unless we had to. We wore the same clothes for as long as we could get away with it. We were guys. We hung out. We had fun. Who cared what we looked like?

But now I was looking in the mirror. I was staring in it. I had changed. Big time. Mom and the Sisterhood (minus Nadine) were right: I was buff.

The cap,
I thought.
The cap did this.

I reached up and pulled it off. My hair piled out. It had gotten pretty long. Down to my eyebrows and earlobes. I hadn't gotten a haircut on the trip. And it was lighter from the sun.

Uh-oh,
I thought with dread.
Am I cute?

When I stepped out of the bathroom, Ink was still there, practically dying for attention. So I gave him some and noticed right off he had changed, too.

“Who pierced Ink's ears?” I screamed.

I ran back outside and confronted the Sisterhood, who were still gathered by Evan's car. Except Nadine, who was sitting on the lawn, writing in her journal.

“Who did it?” I yelled. “Who pierced my dog's ears?”

Evan laughed.

“Nobody did,” Lupe said.

“Well, he's wearing earrings,” I said, pointing at them.

“Those are studs,” Lupe said.

“Are you crazy? You pierced a
dog's
ears? Isn't that illegal? Cruelty to animals or something?”

“We didn't pierce Inky's ears, Enzo,” Mom said. “They're magnetic.”

“Oh,” I said, and calmed down a little. I was relieved they had the good sense not to stick some big needle through my poor dog's ears.

“Magnetic?” I asked. “Magnetic dog earrings?”

“Studs,” Lupe said. “Rings could be dangerous. Inky could hook a claw in them when he scratched—”

“But wait a minute,” I said, feeling upset again. “I don't want earrings in my dog's ears!”

“Studs,” Lupe said.

She was really asking for it.

“Take them out,” I said to everyone listening.

No one moved.

“Then I'll do it,” I said, and rushed at Ink.

Lupe stepped between us.

“He's not just
your
dog, Enzo,” she said, crossing her arms in front of her like she was the queen of me.

I looked around at the others.

“We all like them,” Desi said.

Susana nodded.

I turned to Dad. I knew I could count on him, at least.

He shrugged. The coward.

I tried Nadine. She was against so many things for so many reasons that I couldn't imagine her standing by and letting people put earrings on a dog, especially without the dog's permission. Nadine's all about rights.

“What about you?” I asked. “You can't like this.”

She didn't look up from her journal. She was staying out of it.

“We thought it was a fun idea, Enzo,” Mom said. “They don't hurt him, you know.”

“I knew you'd do this,” I said to all of them. “I knew you'd try to turn my dog into a girl while I was gone.”

Everybody laughed.

“I mean it,” I said. “Don't you think there are enough girls in this family already?” I was really hopping mad. I was actually hopping.

“Calm down, Enz,” Dad said.

“Calm down? Look what they did to him, Dad! My dog's wearing
diamond studs
!”

“Pirates wore earrings,” Evan said.

I idolized the guy, but I sure wished right then he would butt out.

“You're crazy!” I yelled. “All of you! Take those earrings out of my dog
right now
!”

“You can't make decisions for everybody,” Desi said. “We'd have to put it to a vote.”

Desi loved to vote on things. Who's prettiest in her grade at school, for example. Or most popular.

“Can I tell you what you can do with your vote?” I said.

“Okay, okay, that's enough,” Mom said. “We can talk about this later. Right now, let's say adios to Evan and get our guys settled back in. I'm sure there will be a lot of new things for them to get used to….”

“What new things?” Dad asked.

“Just some little changes, honey,” Mom said, putting her arm around him.

“What changes?” I asked.

“Tranquilo,
” Mom said.

I seethed. This is what she always says when someone starts getting mad at her. It means calm down, and it usually makes people madder.

“What changes?” I demanded.

“I really should be on my way,” Evan said.

“Thank you for taking such good care of my men,” Mom said. “And I hope you'll come to our Labor Day
asado
tomorrow. Bring a date if you like.”

An
asado
is an Argentinean barbecue. My mom was born in Argentina. Her family lives there. I hoped Evan would come, but without a girl. We had plenty of those.

“I'm girlfriendless at the moment, Tina,” Evan said. “A rolling stone gathers no
miss.
”

Mom and Dad laughed, so it must have been a joke. Evan was always saying things that made adults laugh. I looked forward to the day when I could do that. When you can tell jokes over kids' heads, you know you're a man.

I was relieved he'd be coming back the next day, so we wouldn't have to have a big, gooey good-bye scene. I hated big, gooey good-bye scenes.

Evan gave me an air five, then left. Perfect.

“Let's get you two inside,” Mom said. “We want to hear all about the trip. And we can't wait to see what you think of our little changes.”

Nadine coughed.

“Except Nadine, that is,” Lupe said. “She wants you both to know she had no part in what we did.”

Nadine nodded and closed her journal.

I had already been in the house, but I had been in such a mad rush to look at my buffness I hadn't noticed anything around me. This time, though, I braced myself for what Mom and the Sisterhood (minus Nadine) had done to it.

The first thing to hit me was the stink. It smelled like a hundred grandmas having a quilting bee. I couldn't breathe. I was dying. I'm serious.

“Can we open a window?” Dad asked.

“Can we open all the windows?” I gasped.

Dad and I started unlocking and opening windows. A lot of them were pretty stuck. Had they been locked the whole time we were gone? Probably. Females are always cold.

“Was there a fire sale at the candle shop?” Dad asked.

He was right. There were candles everywhere: on tables, windowsills, the mantel, even the floor.

Mom laughed. “Oh, you're funny!” She was flirting with him. That's another way she keeps him from getting mad at her. It's gross.

“And new furniture,” Dad said, “and new paint. These are ‘little changes,' Tina?”

“Uh, Daddy, our old couch was a hundred years old,” Lupe said.

“We did the painting ourselves,” said Susana. “To save money.”

“You should check out your room,” Lupe said to me. Sinisterly.

“
Sí,
Lenchito!” Mom said, clapping her hands together. “I can't wait to see what you think!”

“Me either,” Lupe said.

“What did you do to my room?” I asked, terrified.

Mom laughed again.

Lupe didn't. But she sure smiled.

I ran upstairs. There were more changes along the way, but I didn't stop to take them in. I rushed like a guy whose home was hit by a hurricane while he was on vacation. Which was sort of what I was.

I froze when I came to the door to my room. It was shut. The
NO GIRLS
ALOUD
sign was gone. So was the foil mirror I bought at the mall with the words
IF YOU SEE A GIRL, GET LOST!
printed at the bottom. The door was bare and had been painted turquoise. I couldn't remember what color it had been before, but I was sure it wasn't turquoise.

I stood staring in horror at the door so long that Mom, Dad, and the Sisterhood (minus Nadine) caught up to me.

“Well?” Mom asked. “Aren't you going to open it?”

She reached past me, turned the new glass doorknob, pushed the door open, and there it was: the room formerly known as Enzo's. Everything was gone. Everything. There was nothing on the walls. Nothing on my dresser or my bed or my desk or my floor. Nothing. It was a nightmare come true.

“W-Where's all my stuff?” I finally managed to say.

“In your closet, in boxes,” Mom said. “We took great care in taking it down. We knew you'd want to do the arranging.”

I looked at her. She smiled at me, totally unaware that I was on the verge of strangling her.

“Great care?” I asked, trying to contain my rage.

I couldn't.

“ARE YOU
KIDDING
ME!” I yelled.

“Tranquilo,”
Mom cooed.

Before I could go psycho on her, Dad gripped my shoulders, leaned in close, and whispered in my ear, “All good things must come to an end.”

“But
Dad
!” I squawked. No way could he cave to this!

He gripped my shoulders tighter. “
Their
good thing,” he said into my ear so that only I could hear him. “
Their
good thing is coming to an end. We're
back.”

“Ohhh,”
I breathed, getting his meaning.

It was take-back time.

“You at least like the
color,
don't you?” Susana asked, as if offended. “I hope so. It took us for
ever
to get the right shades.”

I looked at the walls. Two were blue. Two were gray. They alternated. The ceiling was gray. I had to admit I kind of liked it.

“Let's leave Enzo alone,” Mom said, ushering the girls out. “He needs time to get used to the changes.”

She left, too. Only me and Dad remained. I sat down on my bed. It had a new spread: dark brown with a blue border. I kind of liked it, too.

Dad sat next to me.

“‘Little changes,'” he said, and raised his eyebrows.

“Yeah,” I said, nodding.

But they weren't all bad.