Trouble Magnet (12 page)

“Now you talking like a man, Coco-bug,” Tito said.

“Her name is—”

“Stel-la,” Tito said dreamily. “What grade she's in?”

“Tenth.”

“I like older women.”

Julio laughed, but quickly pretended to be coughing when Tito looked his way. Then back at me. “You got a deal, Coco-punk. You introduce me to Stella, I let you live.”

Relief rolled off my back. “She's really friendly, Tito, you'll like her.”

Tito clapped me on the back like we were good friends. Frankie Diamond threw his head back and laughed. Tito waggled his eyebrows at him.

We headed up the slope.

Stella looked friendly … as a shark. Maybe she always looked angry.

“Uh, Stella,” I said, not getting too close. “Um … this is … my friend, Tito. Tito, this is Stella… She's from Texas.”

Tito seemed to have lost his words. He stood smiling that crooked smile at Stella, but the smile was frozen.

“Your friend, huh?” Stella said.

“Yeah … from school.”

“I saw him push you,” Stella said.

I fake-laughed. “Oh, that … we were just fooling around. Right, Tito?”

Tito stared, still frozen.

“What's up with your shirt?” she asked.

I elbowed Tito.

Tito blinked. “Uh … what?”

“Your shirt,” Stella said. “You always wear rags?”

“Oh, this? I always wear my junk ones when I go … uh, hunting.”

Stella looked at Tito, like, Are you an idiot?

“Yeah,” Tito said. “Me and Frankie …” He turned and waved a hand in Frankie's di rection. “We was going my uncle's house today … to go pig hunting, you know, in the mountains.”

Stella looked at Tito a moment longer, then
put her hand on Darci's shoulder and headed back toward the house. When the screen door slapped shut behind them, Tito said, “She likes me.”

“Oh, yeah, Tito,” I said. “You the man, hunting pigs, hoo, girls like guys who do that kind of stuff.”

“Man style, ah?”

“Man style, you got it.”

Tito gazed back at my house. “You think she likes dried shrimp?”

“Sure,” I said. “Who doesn't like dried shrimp?”

L
edward and Mom came home when the sun was low and the sky was pink. I went out and helped Ledward unload all the stuff they got at Costco.

“You want to stay for dinner, Led?” Mom asked.

“Sure do, but I gotta get home, feed my dogs.”

Mom nodded. “Well, thanks for all your help, and thanks for helping Calvin clean out the storeroom.”

“No problem.” Ledward put his huge hand on my shoulder. “How's that room working out?”

“Fine.”

“And the girl? You like her?”

I shrugged.

Ledward chuckled. “Hard to be the only boy with all these girls. You should get a dog.”

Yeah. A dog.

That night, Mom made meat loaf, string beans, and sweet potatoes. I sat at the head of the table, where the man of the house was supposed to sit.

“Cal,” Mom said. “Why don't you let Stella sit there.”

I looked up. What?

“She's our guest.”

I frowned and moved across from Darci, and though I wanted to complain, I didn't.
Stella had sort of saved my life that day. I owed her.

Stella sat in my place at the head of the table. She said nothing.

“So, Cal,” Mom said. “How do you like school? You haven't told me anything.”

“It's good. I like Mr. Purdy.”

“Good, I'm glad. And how about you, Stella?” Mom went on. “Do you like the islands so far?”

“Ain't got no complaints,” she said. “I like the beach.”

“Ain't isn't
a word,” I said. I'd learned that in school.

Stella winked at me. “It is where I come from, honey.”

Mom turned to Darci. “Did you and Calvin have any problems walking home on Friday? I forgot to ask.”

Busted!

“He talked to my teacher,” Darci said. “She's nice.”

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'll
never forget you again in my whole life, Darce, I promise.

“And everything went well?” Mom asked.

“Yep.”

I felt lighter. I even smiled at Stella.

“Thank you, Calvin,” Mom said. “It really helps to know that I can count on you to be responsible.”

I grunted, and stuffed my mouth with meat loaf.

Someone rapped on the screen door.

“Go see who that is, Cal,” Mom said.

I got up and turned the porch light on. On the other side of the screen door, Tito smiled.

My stomach sank. I pushed open the door.

“Heyyy, Coco-my-man,” Tito said like a nice person. “I brought Stella something. Give her it for me, ah? Tell her it's a present … from Tito.”

I blinked as Tito handed me a brand-new bag of dried shrimp. Who did he steal it from at this late hour?

“Don't you want to give it to her yourself?”

“No—no,” Tito said. “I gotta go.” In a flash he was gone.

“Close the door!” Mom called. “You're letting the mosquitoes in.”

I stood holding the dried shrimp and watching Tito hurry off. Ho, I thought. What have I started?

“Who was it?” Mom asked, back at the table.

I held up the bag of dried shrimp. “Tito brought this over for Stella. It's a present.”

“Ho, how nice, Stella,” Mom said. “You're already making new friends.”

Stella snapped the bag from my hand. “What is this?” She looked closely, and when she saw the tiny, shriveled-up, orangy-red shrimps, with their legs curled and no heads, she shrieked and tossed the bag back at me.

“That's disgusting!” she spat. “That dumb kid brought me a bag of bugs?”

“No,” I said. “It's dried shrimp. They're good.”

“For what? Fertilizer?”

“Here, try some.” I tore the bag open.

“Calvin,” Mom said. “Stella needs time to get used to the foods we eat here. Put the shrimp away.”

“Throw
it away, you mean,” Stella said.

“Stella.” Mom put a hand on her arm.

“Can I have it?” I asked.

“You
did this,” Stella said, glaring at me with those light blue eyes. “What did you tell him, anyway? Why did he bring that … that revolting bag of dried-up bugs to me?”

“They're not bugs!” I shouted.

“Put the shrimp away in the kitchen, Calvin,” Mom said. “Then come back and finish your dinner.”

“I'm just saying, they're not bugs.”

Stella squinted. “What does it mean around here when someone brings you a bag of bugs? Is it some kind of insult or something?”

“No,” I said. “He's just being nice.”

“Nice?
He does that again, I'll show him nice. Texas nice. Maybe I'll show you some Texas nice, too, for getting me into this mess.”

I hurried into the kitchen. Whatever Texas nice was, I didn't want to know.

L
ater that night, I was in my room craving vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup oozing down all over it. And crushed Oreos. My mouth watered just thinking about it.

But Mom never bought that stuff. “Have a banana,” she always said when I was hungry. “Put peanut butter on it.”

I settled for Stella's dried shrimp.

They were chewy, salty, and delicious. They also made me thirsty, so I slipped off my bunk and went into the house for a drink of water.

Darci must have been starving, too, because I caught her in the kitchen with her hand deep into a box of Frosted Mini-Wheats. “Want some?” she said, eating them right out of the box.

“Where's Mom?”

Darci took the cereal box and peeked around the corner. “Asleep on the couch.”

Sure enough, Mom was slumped over with her feet up on the coffee table. Her reading glasses were halfway down her nose, and her book was closed over her finger.

“Hey, twerp,” someone said.

I hadn't noticed Stella. She was lounging on the floor, reading a magazine. The TV was on with the sound off. Without looking up, she said, “Isn't it past your bedtime?”

I retreated into the kitchen. “Didn't take long for her to get bossy, did it?”

“It's your bedtime, too, Darci,” Stella called.

“What?” Mom said groggily. “Did you say something, Stella? I must have fallen asleep.”

“I was just telling your children it's their bedtime … school night, you know.”

“Right, school night.” Mom yawned again. “Calvin? Are you and Darci in the kitchen?”

I rolled my eyes at Darci.

Darci giggled.

“Yeah … I was just getting a snack.”

“Have a banana, and then you and Darci brush your teeth and get ready for bed, okay?”

“Sure, Mom.”

Darci grabbed one last handful of cereal and stuffed it into her pocket.

“Look,” I said, pulling the bag of dried shrimp out of my pocket. “Dead bugs.”

Darci laughed.

“What are you laughing at in there?” Stella called.

Man, she has ears like a dog. I poked my head out the door. “Nothing.”

“No, I heard you say something to Darci. Are you laughing at me?”

I looked at Darci. “Did I say something funny, Darci?”

Darci grinned and shook her head. “See?”

Stella squinted. “You'd better watch yourself, buster.”

I grabbed Darci's hand. “Come on, Darce. Let's go find a mirror. I have to watch myself.” “Funny,” Stella said.

“Just go brush your teeth, Calvin,” Mom said.

In the bathroom I opened the first drawer, where Darci and I kept our toothbrushes. But it wasn't our drawer anymore. It was stuffed with Stella's junk. “She sure moved in fast.”