Chapter 14

Terri came in the front door just as I was about to go up to my room. She wrapped herself around me in a tight hug.

“Dork, you were awesome this afternoon,” she said. “Thanks for not ratting me out.”

Too late she noticed the finger I’d put in front of my lips.

“You two. In here. Now!” said Mum from the dining room door. She pointed to a couple of chairs and Terri and I meekly complied. “Now what was there to be ratted out about,” she asked Terri.

Terri squirmed uncomfortably.

I jumped in, “A psychiatrist treating Daisy at the City Mental Hospital turned up at school this afternoon asking to see the video.”

Terri looked at me gratefully. Mum didn’t intercede to make Terri tell the story so that had to be good, didn’t it?

I continued, “Terri felt out of her depth in front of Vice Principal Hinterberry and the psychiatrist so she passed the responsibility to me.”

“And Kevin was awesome,” gushed Terri, finally finding her voice. “He refused to let them see the video without Maria’s permission, and refused to let them have a copy, not even the FBI agent.”

“What FBI agent?” asked Mum.

“A friend of the psychiatrist who works in their War Crimes Department,” I said. “He reckoned that the way Daisy said ‘dirty Jew’ could indicate a connection back to Nazi Germany.”

“I see,” said Mum. “I’d thought of the possibility myself but I didn’t know what to do about it. But I still don’t see where the ‘ratted out’ comes in.”

Terri, looked down at the carpet, perhaps hoping the floor would swallow her up. “I didn’t know what to do so I told Vice Principal Hinterberry I’d deleted the video,” she muttered.

“And had you?” Mum pressed.

Terri shook her head.

Mum sighed. “Okay. Kevin, I’m proud of you yet again. You handled it very well. And as for you, young lady, I can’t condone you lying to your superiors. There will be consequences, but I need to think about this. Okay, the two of you are excused. Kevin, you can go and get ready for your date.”

“You’re going on a date?” Terri asked me, wide-eyed.

“No. Melinda and I are trying to reconnect. It’s just a burger and a movie as friends. It’s not a date,” I explained.

“Get out!” urged Mum, “I’m trying to work here.”

Since there was no longer time for me to do my homework, I did as my mum had suggested and got ready for my non-date. I could really have done with someone’s advice. If it were a date, I’d have put on my best clothes barring a suit, and spruced myself up so that I was clean and pleasant-smelling. But when we were kids, Melinda and I had gone out wearing our ordinary mucking-about clothes, jeans and t-shirts.

In the end I decided nothing would be lost by showering and shaving, but tried for a happy medium with the clothes, opting for smart-casual.

When I got to Melinda’s house, her mother let me in.

“You’re going on a date with Melinda?” she asked, with a strange note of incredulity in her voice.

I guessed she’d been afflicted by whatever was making people think I was gay.

“No, it’s not a date,” I replied. “Melinda misses the closeness we had as kids and wants to reconnect.”

“I see,” said Mrs Sturge, her tone indicating the opposite.

Just then Melinda appeared, thankfully also dressed in a smart-casual style. I was glad neither of us would be showing the other up.

“Mom, I told you,” protested Melinda. “We’re just two old friends going out to spend some time together.”

“Well don’t be late,” Mrs Sturge grumped.

“Mom, it’s not a school night. I’m allowed out until eleven.”

Mrs Sturge snorted her disapproval but didn’t verbally object. I couldn’t understand why she was being so disapproving, considering how Melinda and I were pretty much allowed to do our own thing when we were kids.

Melinda grabbed a jacket and we left.

“Sorry about that,” she said. “Mom’s concerned about me, that’s all.”

I nodded. “What do you want to do first? Watch a movie or eat?” I asked.

“Let’s see what’s showing, then decide.”

That settled, we headed to the town’s only cinema. Being a small town, it only had two screens, each showing a separate feature, their start times offset to minimise the conflict of resources needed to manage their audiences. Of the two choices, one was a period costume drama and the other was a romcom. Melinda and I both chose the romcom but a showing was currently in progress and we had ninety minutes before the next one.