Chapter 10: Under Surveillance

Tommy stopped walking at the base of the hill that went up to Shelly’s house. ‘Up’ was the operative word here, for the house stood on top of a slope. It wasn’t one of those mansions on a hilltop-type slope although, to Tommy, it felt like that right now. No, Shelly lived in just another suburban home, like his, and in the same subdivision, but it just so happened to lie where the street gradually dropped lower and lower whereas the subdivision homes all stayed at the same level.

He was nervous. This was the first time he would visit her house after the news had gotten out. What made it worse was that he had only been here a couple of times before, and those times were only to pick Shelly up and then quickly whisk her away for one of their dates. Not this time. This time he was planning to visit her home and stay there for a few hours.

He took a deep breath and moved his feet onto the soft, cushiony bluegrass that composed everyone’s lawn and slowly climbed up the short slope. He crossed the driveway over to the front door, took another deep breath and reached up and pressed the doorbell. He heard the familiar chime and, to his immediate relief, heard Shelly’s voice cry out from the other side. “I got it!” It was followed by some quick footsteps running toward the door.

The door opened. “Hi, Tommy!” Shelly greeted him with a smile. “Come on in.” She stepped back, to allow him to enter her house.

That’s when another voice called out. “Who’s that?”

The voice came from Shelly’s Mom and it had come from the direction of the kitchen.

“It’s Tommy, Mom.” Shelly looked back over her shoulder and down the hallway where the sound originated. “He came by for a visit.”

Shelly then turned back and gave him another smile.

Almost immediately, they heard some quick footsteps coming from the kitchen.

Mrs. Fields appeared in the hallway and stared coldly at the boy. The same boy who is steering her daughter to the wrong side of the tracks.

After an uncomfortable pause, Shelly’s mom finally acknowledged him with a frosty, “Tommy.” She continued to stare him down with that same cold expression.

“Ehh, hello Mrs. Fields.”

“And why are you here?” The mother questioned.

Shelly let out a huff and squawked back. “Mom! I already told you. He came by to visit me.”

“Mmmf!” Came back the mother’s curt response. She still hadn’t relinquished her scowl that was being directed at the new visitor.

“Come on Tommy.” Shelly nodded her head toward the stairs. “Let’s go to my room.”

“Oh no you don’t!” The mother quickly decreed. “If you are going to have him over, you’re both going to stay down here.”

“Mom!”

“You heard me. You’re to stay down here, where I could keep an eye on you two.”

“Mom, we weren’t going to be doing anything!”

“In that case, you could do it right down here.”

Shelly gave her mom the ‘You gotta be kidding me!’ look, but it just met with the mother’s look of, ‘I’m not going to give in, so you might as well accept it.’

For a minute it was a standoff between mother and daughter, but it was the daughter who finally caved. With a huff, Shelly said, “Fine! --- We’ll have it your way.”

Shelly nodded her head at her boyfriend. “Come on Tommy, let’s go to the family room.”

She led him off to the right and down two steps into what was the family den. “Let’s go see what’s on TV.”

Tommy followed his girlfriend but, unfortunately, he had to walk past Mrs. Fields, to do so. He had to resist the urge to look back over his shoulder as he passed her, as he imagined Mrs. Fields pulling out a truncheon and using it to knock Tommy over his head. But he did, in fact, make it through, past her reach, and safely into the family room with his head all intact.

He continued to follow Shelly until she led him to the sofa that faced the TV. He sat down beside her, but he was careful to leave a safe distance between them. It was only after he heard those ominous footsteps move away that he leaned over toward Shelly and whispered, “Maybe I shouldn’t have come.”

“No!” “ Shelly cried back to him in alarm and then she whimpered, “Please Tommy.” She begged him with almost tears in her eyes.

“Look! I’m sorry for my mom being such a...” She glanced back over her shoulder, making sure no one was there and added through clenched teeth, ‘ ... pain in the butt, but if we give in to her now, she’ll just get what she wants.”

What’s that? He felt like asking her, but instead, he just replied with an “Okay.” and then nodded his head toward the TV. “Let’s see what’s on TV?”

Shelly turned on the TV and she started to flip through the channels. She asked him if he wanted to watch this or that. Tommy replied with either an “I don’t care.”, or “That’s fine.” They finally settled on an old rerun of Three’s Company. The problem was neither one was in a laughing mood so they ended up sitting there like two lumps on a log.

For Tommy, this visit wasn’t turning out so well.

For Shelly, it was even worse. She had been so excited when they had agreed that he’d come over to visit her at her house this time. She tried to be chipper and put on a brave face, but deep down she was in a panic and feared that if the date continued like this, he’d never want to see her again.

Tommy, in turn, could tell Shelly was trying to put on a brave front by giving him forced smiles, but he was having none of it. He could tell she was upset and realized that this actually bothered him more than his own discomfort. So he felt it was important for him to do something, anything to alleviate her discomfort.

Tommy reached out and softly touched her arm.

The unexpected touch caused Shelly to flinch. She jerked her head from the TV and over toward Tommy and again gave him another one of those fake smiles.

“Do you want to play some cards or something?” Tommy asked softly.

Shelly looked at his hand on her wrist and smiled, this time it was a genuine one, and she replied. “Yeah, let’s do that.” She then added, “I have some cards in my room. Stay down here, and I’ll go get them.”

“Sure.” he replied and smiled back at her.

Shelly quickly sprang up off the couch and left Tommy there, who turned his head back toward the lame program.

After a very brief time, he felt another presence in the room. He turned his head slightly to the right and discovered Mrs. Fields standing there. The mother just stood there, glaring at him. To Tommy, it seemed like her eyes were boring right through him and he thought. If her eyes were lasers, I’d be fried right now.

So, to break the uncomfortable silence, Tommy managed to nervously say “Ehh ... hi Mrs. Fields.”

The mother made no reply, but she continued to give him that glare.

Tommy could swear he knew what she was thinking. ‘So you’re the one who raped my daughter. How dare you come into my house!’

Part of him, albeit a small cowardly part, wanted to cry out, “I’m sorry Mrs. Fields, but it wasn’t my idea. It was Shelly’s. --- She was the one that wanted to do it!” But he couldn’t and wouldn’t ever do that. Not to Shelly he wouldn’t.

And he wasn’t sorry for it either. What they had experienced that one night was one of the greatest experiences he had ever had in his life. And what’s more, he was sure Shelly felt the same way too, so he just nodded his head at her and said in his most polite form, “I’d like to thank you for letting me come over and see Shelly.”

“Don’t you dare think this was my idea! Or that I approve of what you have done!” Was the mother’s bitter reply.

“MOM!” A shout came from the foot of the stairs. It was Shelly’s. She had now turned the corner and was now standing at the family room’s entrance with a pack of cards in her hand. She stared at her mother incredulously, “Do you have to be so rude? And can we have some privacy? --- Please!”

The mother looked over at her daughter and then back to Tommy, and then back to Shelly. She nodded her head at her daughter and replied with a curt, “I’ll be in the kitchen.”

“Sorry.” Shelly said softly, as she looked warily back to the kitchen. “It took me a while to find the cards.” She walked back toward her boyfriend on the couch and worriedly asked. “She didn’t give you a hard time, did she?”

“No, she was fine.”

She grinned back at him, and whispered back, “Liar.”

Tommy shrugged his shoulders and just smiled back. He then reached out for the cards. “So, what game do you want to play?”

From that point on they played cards. Kings-in-the-Corner, Gin Rummy, Crazy Eights, and even Go Fish. It gave them a chance to just look at the other while the other one checked out their cards. They even turned off the TV, because it turned out to be just an unwanted distraction. As a bonus, by being involved in their card games, it was at least possible to ignore the person who kept peering at them from around the corner, sneaking in looks from the kitchen. This of course did put a damper on things, and it also stopped them from doing what their adolescent libidos actually wanted them to do, but they persevered.

After laying out her final card in their latest game of ‘Go Fish’ Shelly said, “You want something to drink?”

Tommy, who was getting thirsty by this time, replied with an “Okay.” but then he quickly added, “But only if you’re getting something.”

“Yeah, I want something. What do you want?”

“Do you have coke?”

“Sure.” She got up off the floor, feeling pleased that she was able to do something for her man. She walked around the corner into the kitchen and noticed her Mom just sitting at the kitchenette table.

The mother looked up at her and said, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m getting Tommy a coke.” Shelly stared back at her mom and then challenged her in an overly sarcastic tone. “Is that ok!?”

Her mom replied by shrugging her shoulders. “Go right ahead.”

Shelly poured them two cokes and lifted them up to take them back, but that’s when she noticed her mother watching her intently. So, as an act of rebellion, albeit a small one, Shelly placed both cokes back down on the counter and went to the pantry. There, she grabbed a bag of potato chips that she knew were there. She then got a large bowl out. She poured some of the chips into the bowl, and once again looked over to her Mom, saying defiantly “We’re hungry too!” to which her mom just shrugged her shoulders.