Rounding Third (26 page)

                  
34

It was the first day his tormentors were due
back in school and Rob was walking with twice his usual wariness. As he entered
the school the first eyes that met his were Danny Taylor’s. Taylor turned and
walked away. Rob negotiated the minefield of the hallway, now resolved to keep
his head up so if he got hit he’d at least see it coming. As he met the eyes of
Poulan, Brickman or the rest, it was they who broke eye contact for a change,
not Rob.

    
He was almost to his homeroom when he heard, “Bobby!”

The
name hit him in the back like a sniper’s bullet. His heart stopped and then
resumed beating. The voice was female. Completely unfamiliar. There were a
dozen other Bobbys in the school; it must have been meant for one of them. He
kept walking until he heard, “Bobby Wardell!”

    
He turned. Coming toward him was Brittany Burnside. Head cheerleader.
Homecoming Queen. Volleyball star. And Corey Brickman’s girlfriend. This was
not good. He took a step back, looked for an escape route. He realized even
though she was bigger than him--most of the girls at H-burg High were--it
seemed unlikely she would hit him. This was probably more about verbal abuse
and public humiliation. But there was no public, just a handful of people at
the far end of the hall, too far away to hear whatever insults she had to hurl
unless she really screamed, and he didn’t picture Brittany as a screamer.

    
“How is Josh?” she asked. “I think what they did to him is terrible. Josh sat
in front of me in English Lit all last year. He is such a nice guy. I’ve been
trying to find you to ask you. Is he going to be okay?” Rob still could not
find his voice.   “I know what you must be thinking. Corey and all. I
always knew he could be a bit of an asshole. But not this big. If it means
anything, I dumped him. He’s pissed. He wanted us to be homecoming king and
queen again this year. He knows I’ll be queen and that leaves him hanging. I’m
tempted to ask Josh or you to be my escort. But we both know that would just
cause more problems. I’m so sorry. Please tell me Josh is going to be okay. Is
he?”

    
“Maybe. Not sure yet how permanent the damage is.”

    
“I can’t believe this. Would you please tell him I said hi. And I’m sorry.”

    
“What did you do?”

    
“Nothing. I was jus...I don’t know. I feel guilty for even knowing those guys.
Josh was always so nice in Lit I kept suggesting to Corey we should double with
Josh and Jenny sometime and Corey always said no. I guess now I know why.” Rob
nodded. “Will you tell him that there are people at school who miss him and
care about him? Tell him I said hi.”

    
“Okay.”

    
“Do you know who I am?”

    
“Of course. Everybody does.”

“I wasn’t sure since we’ve never really
spoken before. I’m sorry for that, too.”

    
“You knew who I was?”

    
“Of course. The cute loner. At the cheerleader table we had nicknames for
everyone. One of the girls nominated you
most likely to go Columbine.
”

    
“How flattering,” Rob said. “What do you mean, used to have nicknames?”

    
“I won’t eat with them anymore. The topic of how unfair it is of Coach Hudson
to cause trouble for their boyfriends kind of makes me want to throw up. I
might not get to be Homecoming Queen after all, not that I care.” She paused
and looked at him. “Would you like to have lunch with me tomorrow?”

    
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea. The lower the profile I keep around
here, the better.”

    
“If your profile gets any lower, you’ll disappear.”

    
“That’s my goal.”

    
Brittany laughed and Rob laughed with her. She said, “It’s good to see you
smile and laugh. I don’t think I ever saw you do that before.” Rob smiled
again. “Would you do me a favor?” she asked. “When we pass each other in the
hall, give me a smile? I don’t know that I’m going to be getting too many
smiles these days.”

    
“You’re like Miss Popularity.”

    
“I’m not supporting the popular position these days, so I’m not sure how much
longer that will last.” Rob nodded. “You know,” she said, “I’ve had a crush on
you since about sixth grade.”

    
“What?” Rob blinked incredulously.

    
“Yep. Then I decided I had to go the popular route and could see you were going
the social outcast route. I’m sorry. I should have gone for quality in my
friends, not quantity.” She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. “I hope
someday we can be friends, if you can ever forgive me.”

    
“Sure.”

    
“I have to get to homeroom.” She took a step away and then stopped. “I can’t
say as I’d blame you if you did bring a gun to school and wasted half the
fuckers here. But I know you’re too nice a guy to do that.”

    
“Don’t bet.”

    
She touched him gently on the arm and then turned to leave. She stopped and
turned back. “And you know what else? You’ve gotten even cuter since sixth
grade. Josh is a lucky guy.”

    
Rob had barely settled into his chair in homeroom when Edward DeLallo appeared
with a summons from Coach Hudson.

    
“How is it going?” Rob asked.

“No problems yet, but the day just started,”
Edward said.

    
“Let’s be optimistic.” Rob smiled and touched Edward on the arm as they parted.

    
It seemed odd to now be talking to more than one person a day at school. Hudson
came out of his homeroom into the hall.

    
“How is Josh?”

    
“Getting a little better.”

    
“When is he coming back to school?”

    
“I don’t know if he is. We’ve talked about it, but he doesn’t want to.”

    
“He can’t just drop out. Can I come see him? How is tonight after school?”

    
“Sure.”

Mat had slipped Meg another note and they had
set up another secret meeting and again Mat brought his brother more clothes and
family mementos. As happy as Josh was to see Mat, the depression into which
Josh sank afterward seemed twice as dark.

    
Although Josh’s eye patch was off and most of the bruises had healed, Hudson
was still a bit rattled by Josh’s appearance. Rob left them alone and when
Hudson reemerged from the sun porch after an hour he informed Rob, “He’s agreed
to let me tutor him so he can keep up his studies.”

    
“You?” Rob asked.

    
“I’m not just a dumb jock. I am a teacher.”

    
“I didn’t mean it that way.”

    
“Yes you did, but that’s okay. I’ll stop by tomorrow with some books if that’s
okay?”

    
“That would be great. Thanks for all your help.”

    
Hudson was leaving as Rob’s father and mother came in. She had been helping at
the office more since she now had no other job. Rob did the introductions as
they walked Hudson to his car.

    
Mr. Wardell stopped his son from returning to the house. “Bobby, we’ve got a
little problem. When does Josh turn eighteen?”

    
“November fourth.”

    
“About six weeks,” his father said, doing the math.

“When
your mother took Josh to the doctor today it occurred to her that if anything
happens, we can’t legally authorize treatment. We aren’t his parents. I called
my old roommate, Dave Jackson, today. He practices law in Akron. He suggested
we adopt Josh or have Josh petition to become an emancipated minor.”

    
“A what?”

    
“Have a court declare him an adult. But either of those things is likely to
take more than six weeks. We’ll just have to hope nothing happens before that.”

    
His mother spoke up. “We’ve been debating whether to tell you, but you might as
well know. We’ve lost some pretty big clients.” Rob looked puzzled. “You know,
Taylor Plumbing, some other business owners who have sons on the football team...”

    
“Wait? They’re blaming you for...”

    
“There’s something else,” his mother said. “We may have to wait until Josh is
eighteen since we can’t authorize treatment, but we’re thinking we should get
Josh some sort of counseling. He’s obviously not well mentally. He’s been
through a lot, and we’re beginning to wonder if he’s going to be able to snap
out of it without help.”

                       
35

    
Rob wheeled the shopping cart around the corner and almost hit a cart coming
the other way. He stopped as did the other cart driver. When he looked up he
was startled to be facing Mrs. Schlagel. She was just as stunned to see him,
but recovered more quickly, backing her cart up to go around his. She glared at
him as she passed him and when she was next to him said quietly but firmly,
“You did this to him. You will burn in hell for this, too!” As more of a threat
than a benediction, she added, “I suggest you read your Bible.” 

    
Rob was too stunned to say anything, but even more stunned to hear his mother’s
voice behind him, much louder than Mrs. Schlagel’s, “I can’t imagine having a
child as wonderful as Josh and not wanting to have him with me.”

    
Mrs. Schlagel hissed, “You might want to read your Bible as well.
If your
eye offends thee, pluck it out. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off
.”
She looked at Rob.

    
Rob could hold his tongue no longer. “Maybe you should read the rest of your
Bible. Like Psalms:
Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will
receive me
.
Or
Matthew:
And a man’s foes shall be they of his own house
. Since
Leviticus also prohibits eating shellfish, are you going to go over to the fish
counter and shoot everyone who’s buying shrimp?”

     His mother did a
double take at her son then turned back to the other woman, “I may not know
much about the Bible or being gay, but I do know how to be a parent, and I know
it’s wrong to throw your children out when they need you the most!”

    
Mrs. Schlagel gave a parting look that condemned them both and sped off.

    
“Way to go, mom!”

“Oh shut up!” she snapped as she grabbed the
cart and wheeled it away.

Rob looked around and realized every shopper
in the produce section was staring at them. He hurried after his mother.

“I got the Pop-tarts,” Meg said as she
trotted up to them. Their mother snatched the box and flung it into the cart.
“What’s wrong?” Meg asked, confused.

“Don’t ask,” Rob said, giving her a look that
reinforced that keeping quiet would be the best policy right now.

As they approached the checkout stands, they
saw Mrs. Schlagel heading toward the line next to theirs, but the checker
quickly flung the
Lane Closed
sign onto her conveyor belt before Mrs.
Schlagel could place her first item. Mrs. Schlagel spun her cart off toward
another lane. The clerk snatched up the sign and looking directly at Marilyn
Wardell said, “I’ll take the next person in line.”

Rob smiled at the clerk and nodded thanks,
but his mother was still too upset to notice what had just occurred. The clerk
winked.

All the way home he was eager to tell Josh
what had happened, but as soon as he entered the sun porch and saw the look on
Josh’s face, all happiness and eagerness drained out of him and he just said hi
and went to help his mother unpack the groceries while Coach Hudson went back
to his lessons.

Rob told his mother he was going out for a
run until dinner. As he ran past the cemetery, he was surprised to see his
father’s SUV parked on the road that looped past the Wardell family plot. He
ran in the gate and saw his dad on one knee on his grandfather’s grave.

“Hi, Dad,” he
said quietly so as not to disturb the slumbering dead. Startled, his father
turned. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

    
“I wasn’t expecting anyone.”

    
“Sorry. What’s up?”

    
“I just needed a place to think.”

There was an uncomfortable silence. Rob used
to be accustomed to these gaps in conversations with his father, but now they
seemed more awkward. Finally Rob spoke. “Mom wants to move doesn’t she?”

    
“No, what makes you...? No, she doesn’t.” Rob looked at his father. “No, she
doesn’t want to move. I was the one who brought it up, and we’ve talked about
it, but no. I guess I came here to try to figure things out.”