Chapter 71

Everyone looked stunned as Chris put the guitar back in the case. I know I never had music affect me the way his song did and it was pretty obvious the others felt something similar.

I broke the spell by standing up and clapping. Soon everyone was on their feet, applauding. Chris looked embarrassed as Sara took his hand, holding it to her cheek with both of hers.

After the applause died down, Mom said, "Well, I'm going to go home. Chris, you might as well ride with us. Charlie? Are you going to need a ride?"

He glanced at my sister. "That would be great."

"How about you, Wanda?"

"Yes, please."

I looked at the group. "All right. It's just before 4:00. How about if I pick Charlie up about 5:45, then get Chris and then the girls?"

"I'll just meet you over at your house, Jack."

"OK, Chris. Be there before 6:00. Maybe we can talk Mom into letting us use the Lexus."

"You just got a car, Jackie. If it's not good enough for you..."

"It's fine, Mom."

Jill said, "OK. You all need to get going. We have a lot to do before we leave."

The six of them said goodbye and went out to Mom's car.

I went out to my car and loaded up with clothes. I followed Jill upstairs and she led me into a guest bedroom, down the hall from hers. I hung up my clothes in the closet, a little disappointed she didn't bring me to her own room.

She left me to get the rest of my stuff and put a bag of popcorn in the microwave. When I was done, I went down to the kitchen. A second bag was popping as she started filling gallon freezer bags with the popcorn she'd already made.

"There's a big cooler in the garage."

I went out and found a red and white cooler that would probably hold a few cases of soda. There was a hose on the side of the garage so I rinsed it off. Bozo and Dino came over to investigate but took off when I splashed them. There was still plenty of ice and drinks in the trash can out on the patio so I put enough for the six of us in the cooler, took it out to the car and put it in the trunk.

The phone rang and Jill went to pick it up.

"We need to take Dino with us. Your sister forgot him."

"There seems to be a lot of that going on."

"She has a good excuse. I think Charlie kind of caught her by surprise."

We took our booty out to the car. We had the cooler, six of the bags of popcorn, big bags of miniature Reese's cups and M&Ms. Jill also came up with three blankets.

I got changed, then played with the dogs while Jill showered and changed. She had some brown corduroy jeans that must have taken a shoehorn to slip on and a cream colored shirt with three buttons at the top, all of which were undone. I could see about an inch of cleavage. Just enough to hint at what was there and keep me on my toes, hoping for more. The ever-present letterman's jacket was over her shoulder, held in the fingertips of her left hand.

I put my arm around her and gave her a kiss.

"Maybe we should skip the drive-in and just stay here."

"Down, Boy."

Jill yelled "By, Daddy," down the hall and John stuck his head out of his study.

"What time will you be back?"

"The movie gets out at 10:30 and we have to take everybody home. Probably some time between 11:15 and 11:30."

"OK. I'll see you when you get home."

We gathered Dino, said goodbye to a sad Bozo and headed for Charlie's.

"What's up with Wanda?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know, this new guy she's found?"

"You were there Jack, she wouldn't tell me anything."

"I just thought you might have some ideas."

"Nope. The last time she talked to me about guys, she was going to back off for most of high school. She wasn't even planning on going to go to her prom."

"She must have found somebody special."

"Well, from that look on her face, she did."

Charlie's father came out to the car with him when we drove up. He assisted getting Charlie got in the back. It was obvious he was wearing his brace because of the way he kept his back straight. After his son was belted up, Charlie's father asked Jill where we were going, how late it would be before he got home and then asked me to take it easy on him since he just got out of the hospital. I almost told him he should talk to my sister about taking it easy on his son, but it really wasn't the time or place for that. I was surprised when he shook my hand before he walked back to the house. He seemed a lot calmer than he had at the hospital. Actually, not so much calm as not quite as vibrant, as if he'd lost a piece of himself.

We pulled up in front of my house ten minutes later. Mom came out to see if we needed anything. She hesitated, then pulled Mary to her in a hug, telling her to be careful. She leaned in the window and told me to be good. Jill handed over Dino.

Chris opened the back door and held it open. He had his new guitar in his hand.

"Mary, sit up front next to Jill. There isn't room in the back seat for all four of you."

She was all set to tear into me when she noticed the smile on my face. She stuck out her tongue, got in and slid over to the far side next to Charlie. She had to push him against the door to make room for Chris and Sara but it didn't seem to bother him. The window handle was digging into the brace instead of Charlie.

"You better hold onto him so he doesn't fall out, Mary."

I could see her grab tighter in the rear view mirror. Chris had his guitar on his lap. There really wasn't room for four people and a guitar in the back seat.

"Chris, why don't you give us the guitar while we're driving?"

He handed it up to Jill and she put it on the floor, laying the neck of the case against the vacant front seat.

"I'm glad Daddy gave it to you. He's really terrible at it."

"Well, you have to work at it."

"I'm sure you do, but you've got more talent than my father ever will."

"I love it, that's for sure."

I checked out the mirror again. The way the girls were scrunched up against the guys back there, I could have fit in another couple. Of course, we had plenty of room up front, as well.

We got to the drive-in and waited in line for a few cars. We got up front and a girl I recognized as a senior from school was taking money. She looked bored as she took my twenty bucks and gave me a receipt. As if somebody was going to come up and check it. It did tell what frequency to tune the radio to, though.

Jill wanted to park near the back so that's what we did. Charlie was the first to notice the area near the screen.

"Look. They've got swings and a slide."

We all had to trudge up there and push our girlfriends on the swings. They wanted to go on the merry go round. Jill was the first one on and it tilted and touched the ground underneath her. She jumped off and looked at me menacingly. "Don't even think of saying it."

We were the first who had the guts or were crazy enough to use the swings, but we broke the ice. A bunch of others came up shortly after we got there. A woman came up with three or four kids and they used the merry go round and the slide. I wondered about the parents who would bring children to see two slasher movies. Over the next few minutes, about five couples came up, our age and older. We gave up the swings so they could have their turn.