Chapter 25

THE GIRLS were a big help in the morning when it came to cleaning out Dennis’s room. His mother wanted her own dresser moved across the hall, so they could simply sort through the drawers for things that weren’t needed and then cart them across the hall to Dennis’s new bedroom. The stack of boxes to go to Goodwill grew and eventually all the remaining things for both Dot and Dennis had been moved to their new bedrooms. The bedding had all been stripped and laundered. They kept their own pillows but the rest was sized for the bed. They sat on the edge of the bed together and looked at their handiwork.

“Should we initiate your new bed?” Natalie asked.

“I don’t know if my cock would even rise to the occasion after last night,” Dennis asked.

“My pussy is sore,” Brenda said.

“And don’t even look at my butt,” Amy said. “It will take a week to recover from that pounding you gave me.”

“Now that you mention it, I might be a little raw, too,” Natalie said. “How about we get groceries, then?”

The teens checked in with Dot, and even though they weren’t cooking or preparing all the meals, they helped plan the menu and Dot went into her bedroom to get cash from the satchel under the bed. Under Dennis’s bed in his bedroom now.

“Dennis?” she called. He ran to the room and saw the satchel. “I’m going to leave this under the bed here. There’s no reason to move it to the other room. You’ll be able to get grocery money and cash for dates out of it.”

“Mom, are you sure you want to leave that where I have access?”

“You’ve always had access. You’ve always known where the satchel was and that you could get to it. But you’ve proven yourself adult enough to respect what’s there and when it should be used. I don’t see a reason to move it. I know where it is if I need to get to it—which I will when I pay the monthly bills.”

“Yes, Mom. I’ll only use it for family expenses. I know it is never a good thing to show a lot of cash or to suddenly start spending a lot. This is something Dad left for us,” Dennis said.

“Yes. Take the usual for groceries and put the bag back under your bed. Don’t forget to mark down how much money you are taking out so we can quickly see how much is left.”

Since the shooting Friday, Dennis had only been out of the house to go with his team to the meet. Hardly anyone there knew there had been a shooting incident at Bartley. The grocery store on Sunday afternoon was a different matter. The ministers at all three churches had mentioned it in their sermons, two having specifically mentioned Dennis’s role in stopping the shooting and asking for prayers for all the people involved.

People were mostly not crass about asking Dennis what happened. The small town gossip chain had already pieced together more of the story than the police had released. Someone knew the Steinmans and affirmed Les had been ‘off his meds’ for some reason. Everyone in town knew about Will Enders and his role in the drug raids. Someone had wondered how such a little guy as Dennis could overcome the much taller Les and the story of Dennis knocking out Derek became public knowledge. So, people mostly just looked at Dennis with his three girlfriends doing the grocery shopping and gave him room, some nodding their acknowledgment to him. Others still doubted the story that this short boy with thick glasses had stopped a school shooting.

By the time they left the grocery store, Dennis was thankful that school was out. But there was still one more event he had to deal with.

“I have to go,” Brenda said. “None of the rest of you need to.”

“I wouldn’t miss my girlfriend’s graduation,” Amy declared. “There probably won’t be anyone else there anyway.”

“That could be true,” Natalie said. “So, I agree we should attend. But Dennis, I’m not sure you should. People were weird at the grocery store. They could be even weirder at commencement.”

“I’d like to be there, lover,” he said, kissing Brenda. “But I might be more of a distraction than an observer. I don’t want to do anything that would draw attention to me instead of it being on you and your classmates.”

“You deserve to be recognized, but only in a good way. We can see the Bartley rumor mill has already been hard at work. Please, stay home and watch a movie with Peg and eat some popcorn for me. Okay?” Brenda said.

“I love you, Bren. I’ll be here when you get done.”

“Mmm. I’ll text you when I can get away.”

The girls left and Dennis sat in his new room alone for a while. He really needed to pull himself together. People’s stares at the grocery store and whispered conversations as he went past had thrown him for a loop. Most of his life before this year, he had been utterly unnoticed. He was ignored and invisible. Now everyone knew who he was and whispered about him. He thought he might have preferred being unnoticed. He dozed off on his pillow, dreaming of the sexual frenzy of the previous night.

The doorbell woke him and he glanced at his phone for the time. It was time for a movie and popcorn. He walked out to the living room to find Randy and Elsa Brown along with all three of their children. Peg was instantly chattering with Nils and Sofia.

“Dennis, will you start popcorn, please?” his mother called. “We’ll need a couple of extra batches tonight for all the people.”

“Sure, Mom.” He walked into the kitchen to get the popcorn popper prepared. Lana followed him.

“How are you doing?” she asked.

“Okay. How’s your ankle?”

“Tender. Dad said to imagine that your life felt like my ankle. It doesn’t feel completely stable and it hurts a little.”

“Your dad is really smart. My dad used to be like that. A little humor with it. He told me once that he inherited his wit and diplomacy from his son,” Dennis laughed. Then he took a deep shuddering breath and focused on getting the popcorn ready.

“If it worked that way, I’d say it was obvious. I didn’t mean to bring up something painful.”

“It’s okay. If I avoided everything painful at the moment, I wouldn’t have anything. Your dad was right. I do feel like my world is unstable. It tilts back and forth under me and acts like it wants to throw me off. I feel a little surreal, I guess.”

Lana put her hand on his shoulder. It was a warm gesture of friendship. Dennis smiled a little. He grabbed a paper bag from the afternoon’s grocery shopping and poured the first batch of popcorn into it. She kept her hand on him as he started the next batch of popcorn.

“Butter or plain?” he asked.

“My family always likes melted butter on popcorn and a little salt.”

“Perfect. We’ll get along well in the great popcorn controversy.” He went about melting butter in the microwave, pouring the first bit over the popcorn in the bag, and then shaking the bag vigorously.

“You can call me or text me anytime you need someone to listen,” she whispered.

The movie of the night was a silly children’s animation but everyone enjoyed it. About halfway through, the doorbell rang and when Dennis answered, all his girlfriends came in.

“What’s going on?” he asked. “Aren’t you all going to commencement? Brenda? Why are you here?”

“Shortest commencement in Bartley history,” Brenda said. “A third of the class didn’t show up. Six or ten men showed up with guns, swearing they’d heard there was going to be a shooting and they were there ‘to protect us.’ Of course, that made the job twice as difficult for the two troopers who were on duty. Mrs. Morris came into the classroom where we were gathering for the processional and asked if anyone really wanted to go out to parade around. We all said no and she brought our diplomas into the classroom, called out our names, and told us to go home. She went out to the maybe hundred people who came to commencement and announced that due to a typographical error, the time announced for the commencement was incorrect and it was already over. Parents were invited to meet their grads at home. So, here we are. Meet me!”

Dennis wrapped his arms around Brenda and hugged her. The girls went into the living room to inform Dot, Randy, and Elsa what was going on.

“What about your parents, Brenda?” Dot asked. “Don’t you need to be at home?”

“Oh, Ms. Dottie, I wish you were my mother. My parents thought it was very inconsiderate of the school district to hold commencement today when they had reservations for the weekend in Chicago,” Brenda said.

“That’s terrible!” Elsa said.

“If I ever get pregnant, I’ll need to give them the due date six months in advance to be sure they save the day. And if I don’t deliver on that day, they’ll have a lecture about how they raised such an inconsiderate daughter,” Brenda said. “Fortunately, I’ve got Ms. Dottie and our family. Hi, sister,” she said to Peg.

“Sister! All sisters. We’re watching a movie about snow. Come and watch with us.”

Dennis went to the kitchen to make more popcorn as his girlfriends settled in the living room to watch the rest of the movie.

“Mr. Brown,” Dennis said after the movie and just before the Browns left, “Mom says she can drop me off to work when she takes Peg to the Opportunity Center. If you still need help on the farm, I mean. I’m afraid the schedule might be a little difficult with my eye surgery coming up. I hope we can work around it.”

“That’s great news, Dennis. I assume you’ll be tied up this week with the track team and then your mother says the first surgery is scheduled a week from tomorrow. Why don’t we find out how soon you can work after the operation and go from there?”

“Thank you, sir. Practice isn’t until afternoon this week and then the State Finals start Thursday. I could be available in the mornings if you want.”

“That would be good. I can bring you back into town when I pick up the mail. We’ll get a routine set up for morning chores,” he said.

Dennis gave Lana a hug before she left.

“Have fun with the rest of the girlfriends,” she whispered. “I don’t think they’re leaving.” She joined her parents and Dennis was alone with his girlfriends—and his mother and sister. Lana was right. None of the girls left.