Chapter 6

I was sitting on my bed, trying to decide if I should make the call to Brenda or not. It was almost certainly going to be the kind of call where we would end up fighting. I didn't want to fight with her. If she told me she hadn't had sex with Darryl, I was going to get mad. If she told me she had, I was going to get mad. Whenever I ended up getting mad, Brenda got mad too. I decided to hold off on calling her until I had time to figure out a way to talk to her about the Darryl situation, without getting mad. Mama was going to ask me if I'd gotten everything straightened out with Brenda. It was probably better for me to get mad than for Mama to. I picked up the phone and dialed Brenda's number. Of course, Richard answered the phone.

"Hello, this is Kenny Parsons, may I speak to Brenda?"

"I'll get her, hold on." In the background I could hear Richard saying "It's him." A few seconds later, Mrs. Connor picked up the phone.

"Hello, Kenny. This is Georgia Connor. Brenda is resting now, she's in the middle of a migraine headache. She asked me to come get her if you called, Kenny, but I don't want her getting herself excited again. It would be too much if she got upset again, like she was earlier. Can I rely on you to not make her too emotional?"

"No."

"I see. As her mother, I'm afraid I really must insist that you not provoke her anymore today."

"My mother told me to call her. She said Brenda needed to tell me something."

"She does, Kenny, but, there is such a thing as too much. Today, Brenda's already been through too much. Unless you promise me you'll control yourself, and try not to upset her further, I will not allow the two of you to speak together. For Brenda's sake."

"It might be better if we don't talk. I'll tell my mother I tried to call, but Brenda wasn't able to come to the phone." Mrs. Connor agreed that it would be better, and, having that decided, we each said goodbye. I was relieved not to have spoken with Brenda.

Fifteen minutes after I got off the phone, Gerta rang my room, telling me that Emily was calling. I had a pretty good idea what the call would be about, but I wanted to talk to Emily, so I took the call.

"Kenny, Brenda called me a few minutes ago. She's very upset, crying, and talking about you hating her. Her mother wouldn't let her speak to you when you called, so she wants me to tell you what happened over at Claudia's house that time."

"You mean the time you and Brenda wrote me the letter just to make me jealous?"

"She asked me to tell you that. It was because she loved you, and was afraid you wouldn't want to see her anymore, after Darryl."

"I can understand how she would feel that way. What I don't understand was why you went along with it?"

"Why wouldn't I? She's my friend. Haven't you ever lied to help a friend out?"

"No, I don't think so. I haven't had that many friends. I've lied to help me out, though."

"She didn't like anything she did with him."

"I want you to talk more about why you lied to me. It doesn't matter anymore what Brenda did with Darryl. She did it, and there's nothing that can change it. She always thinks she can do anything she wants to, and someone is going to make sure it's all right afterwards. This is the same as you thinking you can lie to me, and I'll just let it go by."

"I don't know how this affects me, it's between you and Brenda. You might be mad because I lied to you, but what can you do about it? Me lying to you isn't a crime, I can do it if I want to. The only reason I'm talking to you now, is because Brenda asked me to call you up and explain about Darryl. She's sorry, and she wishes now she hadn't done anything with him. She told me to tell you it was only one time, and she hated it with him. Do you want to give me any message for her?"

"Sure. Tell her you told me, and that I said it didn't matter, not if I get what I want too. Tell her I said I'm still not screwing her until after I screw you. That's what I want now, to pay me back for her doing it with Darryl, and from you, for lying to me when she asked you to."

"I'm never going to do that with you." Emily tried to act all indignant, but I heard the note of fear in her voice, even while she was trying to sound real assured and positive. She could tell me she wasn't going to do something as many times as she wanted to, but I was starting to suspect there was a lot more going on with Brenda and Emily's friendship than I had previously known or suspected.

I remembered how nonchalant Brenda had been earlier, when Grace commented on Jane's obvious attraction to her. She'd even said she was used to it. I also remembered what she'd said about that time when she was thirteen years old, what happened with Claudia and the hairbrush handles. Brenda had also insisted that I go along with doing that contest thing with Bea, Carol, and her at the club pool. My mind was looking at all of this accumulated information in a whole new light. Brenda seemed to have a much stronger influence with Emily than regular friendship would command. It was enough for me to make some assumptions about Emily and Brenda.

"That's what I was expecting you to say, but I still want you to tell her I said it. You would never let Brenda talk you into doing it with me anyway, would you? I'm sure she's going to be putting a lot more pressure on you now. I wouldn't be surprised if she decided not to let you do it with her anymore, at least not until after you do me." There was the loud click I'd been half expecting. Emily had listened to me for a lot longer than I thought she would. This phone call was almost sure to get me into trouble with Mama, but I was mad at Brenda and Emily both, for what they had been trying to do. Brenda's mother was as bad as they were too. It almost seemed like all of them were trying to deceive me, and when I caught them doing it, none of them wanted to confess and be honest. I was sorry for what this was going to do with Mama, but not sorry enough to just play along, acting like I was stupid, with all of them.

When I came back downstairs, Mama was in the kitchen with Gerta and the girls. They were all sitting at the table, discussing something that had Grace and Jane all excited,

"Kenny, I've had a wonderful idea. I know how much you like Bunny's room, and I was just asking the girls whether they'd be more comfortable sleeping in your room, if we were to move you over to Bunny's room? I thought you might like getting a chance to see how it would be having a suite instead of just a single room?"

"What about Uncle Bunny? How is he going to feel about this?"

"He spends three or four nights a year in that room. His home is a five minute drive from here. We'd set up another office for him in the vacant guest room, the small one that's next to our suite. Gerta tells me she can get Irma and Gwen to come in tomorrow. It shouldn't take more than three or four hours for them to take care of moving everything around. Hans is experiencing some back pain, but the two girls should be able to handle everything. If not, Gerta will call Elizabeth in too. By the time we get back from golfing, everything should be moved."

"I'd like that, but I'd want you to call Uncle Bunny, to make sure he doesn't mind. I wouldn't want him thinking he was being kicked out because of me. I called Brenda, but Mrs. Connor wouldn't let me talk to her." I hoped Mama would be too excited about moving the girls upstairs, to worry about me not speaking to Brenda. Sometimes, she could be distracted from things.

"Gerta mentioned that Emily called, Kenny. Did her call have anything to do with Brenda?" Mama was looking at me with a hard glint in her eyes. I guess she didn't like me trying to outsmart her, anymore than I liked Brenda, Mrs. Connor, and Emily trying that with me.

"Brenda asked her to call me, to explain about Darryl."

"And, did she?"

"Yes, but I told her it didn't really matter, because you can't undo something that's already done."

"Is the matter closed then? Is the issue fully resolved now?"

"I guess it isn't. I wanted Brenda to tell me herself, not use her mother and Emily so she could avoid explaining it to me personally."

"Very well. I happen to agree with you. It's something she should explain herself. I'll speak with Georgia, and we'll set up another meeting. A meeting where you and Brenda will have the privacy your discussion requires. Once this explanation from Brenda takes place, will that resolve things to your satisfaction?"

You had to admire Mama. When it came to things like this, she handled them just like Mother Superior would. She had me pinned down, and I didn't see how I was going to wiggle out from having to tell her about the condition I'd set for forgiving what Brenda did with Darryl.

Uncle Bunny and Dad came through the kitchen door to save me. Dad had taken off early to come home to discuss the outcome from his meeting with Mr. Lucas. He'd phoned Uncle Bunny before he left the office, and they'd both gotten to the house at the same time. Dad started speaking excitedly, but Mama held up a hand, signaling him to stop.

"Just hold up for a bit, Thomas. Kenny, please answer my question. Will this explanation resolve these differences?"

"No, there's something else first, then it will be resolved."

"Something you'd care to share with me?"

"No. Brenda knows what it is, and it's between us. If she wants to get this resolved, it will be. There are other things that we have to get straightened out too, but we're started on that now. I want you to let us work it out from here. If something changes, and we can't do it ourselves, I'll ask for more help from you."