Chapter 24

I waited in the drug store until I could catch Mr. Nichols eye. When he saw me, he smiled and came over to the register.

"Flora, go check in the back and see if I left a stack of the new Life magazines there."

"I already put the new magazines in the rack this morning, Mr. Nichols."

"Flora, please do what I asked you to do."

She looked at me, standing about fifteen feet from her, an economy pack of twelve Trojans clutched in my nervous hand. She frowned at me, but left to go into the back storeroom as ordered. She didn't look too happy as she waddled her big bulky frame the fifty or so feet necessary to disappear from our view.

"Will that do it for you today, young man?"

"Yes, Mr. Nichols, this is all I need for now."

"Please don't let my assistant trouble you, or keep you from purchasing any items in the future that you might want or need. I've spoken with her about this same problem in the past. If she persists in disregarding my instructions, I'm afraid I'll soon need a new assistant." When he added this last part, the woman was just returning to the counter, and she could hear his words as easily as I did. I heard her sharp intake of breath. He bagged up my purchase, handed me the change, thanking me for shopping with him. As I was leaving, I heard Mr. Nichols raising his voice to her.

"This won't do, Flora. I can't operate my business profitably with you running some of my customers off just because you don't approve of what they come in to buy. It isn't your place to decide if their behavior conforms to your lofty standards. We sell prophylactics to any person who comes in here and wants to buy them. We don't try to intimidate or shame them into not purchasing the things they want. I won't warn you again. Leave your personal judgments of our customer's behavior at the door. If you can't do that Flora, find some other place to work. Perhaps a place where repeat business and profits aren't important."

I barely made it home before my mother. If she had seen what I'd just brought into my room, my goose would have been cooked. I put the twelve small packets in my crystal radio box. I took the now empty carton over to Mr. Graham's trash barrel. He lived a block away from our house. I shoveled snow from his walkway and driveway every winter. He was a widower, almost eighty years old. If anyone checked his trash barrel, at his age, his reputation would only be enhanced by them finding the empty package.

I called Denise at five thirty, and we talked on the phone until my father told me to get off the phone and get washed up for dinner. We hadn't talked about much of what we had spoken of in our earlier conversation. I did tell her that I had solved the rubber problem we had talked about. I told her that I'd come over to see her the next morning at nine. She said she was really looking forward to it.

After I got off the phone, Kate asked me who I'd been talking to. I told her it was Denise.

"Really? I hear she and Karen both hate your guts now. Trudie says Denise gets mad whenever she hears your name mentioned. She was asking me about what happened to make her sister so mad at you? Was it Karen? Is she jealous of you and Karen?"

"Don't you have enough to keep you busy, just worrying about yourself?"

"I have nothing to worry about. Compared to you, everything in my life is going great."

"What are you trying to say, Kate? If you have something to tell me, just say it."

"I've heard some things at school. Things about what's been going on with the three of you. People have been coming up to me for over a week now, asking me about you. Half of them want me to introduce you to them, and the other half wants to know why you aren't already in jail. Did you know that four girls have quit taking dance classes from mom this week? Two other girls signed up for new classes though. One of them asked me which classes you attended. She signed up for both of them, after I told her what they were."

"You're making all this up."

"No I'm not, I swear. You're getting a reputation. It won't be long before mom hears about it. I wouldn't want to be in your shoes if more parents start pulling their kids from mom's classes because of you."

"Kate, don't suggest to mom anything about why those girls might have quit. You don't know if that's the reason."

"I know that's why Barbara and Ellen Samuels quit. Their parents made them. They told me that their parents didn't want them associating with anyone from our family."

"Wow, they've been coming to mom's classes forever. They just withdrew?"

"Yep. They came in Tuesday and told mom they weren't going to be coming anymore after this week. Barbara is one of mom's favorites too. She wasn't happy to lose her. Ellen wasn't going to be coming much longer anyway. She didn't like dance class. Her mother made her go."

Mom didn't say anything to me about any of that at the start of dinner, but I could see her and my dad looking at each other, and then looking over at me while I tried to eat.

"Is everything okay in school Laurant?" My mother began the inquisition that I had feared was coming.

"Everything is good. I'm doing good in all my classes." I wasn't going to volunteer anything personal, not when they were talking about school.

"Are you staying away from that girl?" This was my dad. He was helping my mom to zero in on what they were both trying to get to. I studied my mom's face. She showed her feelings better than my dad did. I couldn't get any reading this time. If she was mad, she was concealing it well.