Chapter 41

I must have dozed off right after we got back on the toll road. We were winding through the streets of Tijuana when I came to.

Mary and Charlie had managed to pull themselves apart, so I moved around onto my knees, facing the back seat.

I caught Charlie's attention. "You missed a good barbecue."

"Yeah. Sorry about that."

"So how's Mexico?"

"Under the right circumstances, it could be great. Right now I'm just glad to get away."

"What do you mean, right circumstances?"

"This would be a great place to vacation. With just Mary or all of us. Lots of beaches, good places to eat, the weather's nice. A lot of kids come down here for spring break. But look at how we ended up here. My mother tried to kill herself and this was the last chance for her. Then we got down here and after a week or so, this woman who's been sitting in the corner twiddling her thumbs for the past six months suddenly starts blaming everyone in sight for what happened to her. Some days it was my fault for getting attacked or not running away and leaving Mary to that gang so I wouldn't get hurt. I couldn't go anywhere because of the stories my father has heard of Americans driving in Mexico, getting pulled over and being sent to jail forever.

"We got in the car and drove to Mexico that night. We were on the road within a couple of hours. I'm lucky we took the time to get a change of clothes. I didn't think to bring any books with me. There are no computers I can use. There's a 15" black and white TV in the lobby that just gets two Mexican stations with more static than picture. There aren't any bookstores around or any stores I can get to, for that matter. My father's the only sane person I've been able to talk to and most of the time he's been with my mother or had his attention on her. I've been bored out of my mind."

"Gee, maybe we could trade weeks."

"Why? What happened?"

"Well, let's see. I got kicked off the volleyball team for being subversive to the coach, then Jack and I put together a web page for the team to work my way back. Now Jack's got over 20 beautiful women who are dying to have him take their pictures and I've had some people show interest in me putting together web pages for them. We took a night off for dinner and dancing last night. It seems like weeks ago but it was just last night. My sensei wants me to get more serious about karate, which means more time. Mary's nerves have been wound tighter than last year's bathing suit, waiting to hear what your father was going to say. Oh, yeah. The woman who used to be married to my father and gave birth to me decided to drop by at the end of our volleyball game earlier today."

"Your mother showed up?"

"I'd rather not call her that. She may be many things, but she was never a mother."

"All right. Your biological female parent. What does she want?"

"I don't know. I didn't stick around to find out."

Jack said, "Yeah, she'd rather worry about it."

"Jack, that's a terrible thing to say. What am I supposed to do?"

"Find out what the hell she wants. At least then you can worry about the right thing."

"I don't want to talk to that woman."

"I understand that. There may be a point where you'll need to, but right now you can ask your father. If you don't want to do that, Wanda may know something. You made yourself crazy earlier today coming up with all kinds of things she could be back for. Just like I did when you had to go out of town when your aunt died and you didn't call me. Guess what? A dead aunt didn't come up, no matter how much sleep I lost over it."

"What if she answers the phone?"

"You really think she will? All right, tell you what. I'll sit there right next to you on the bed and hold your hand when you call. And if she does answer, you just give me the phone and I'll ask to speak to your father. OK?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Jill, we've all got wild imaginations. Look at you and Mary and your father calling all the hospitals and morgues in the area for a couple of days when Charlie missed the barbecue. Find out if there's anything to worry about first. Then, if there is, spend your energy coming up with a plan to fix what needs fixing instead of wasting your time and energy trying to figure out something you can find out by making a simple phone call."

"I know you're right. It's just that I don't want to have anything to do with her."

"That's one of the reasons you need to know what she's up to."

"All right. I'll call Daddy tomorrow."

I looked behind me and Mary and Charlie were locked together again. "How long before we get home?"

"A couple of hours I guess."

"OK. I'm going to catch up on my sleep. Maybe I can get some work done when we get home."

"What work do you need to do?"

"My counselor wants to see a battle plan of how I want to finish this year. It's due Monday. I just did a little bit when I was sitting on the bench during practice before Coach made me put it away."

"All right. Get some sleep. Maybe I can help when we get home."

I took Jack's arm in mine and scrunched up against him. I closed my eyes and felt the vibrations of the drive through his body and then I was out.

I woke up a couple of hours later as Jack turned at the end of the freeway offramp. Five minutes later we were pulling into the driveway. I scooted over towards the door and Charlie passed my laptop over the seat to me.

"Thanks. Do you need to go over to your house for anything?"

"Nah. I'll be fine tonight. I would like someone to take me over there tomorrow so I can get what I need for school and pick up my car. I guess I can take you to school this week."

"That'll be cool. We'll figure it all out tomorrow."

I dumped the trash into our big grocery bag and put the laptop strap over my shoulder. I was still half asleep and kind of stumbled my way up the stairs. Jack was very considerate and held both hands on my butt to keep me from falling down the stairs. I was standing there as he unlocked the door when Mom stuck her head out the kitchen door.

"You two stop by here before you get busy with anything else."

"I was going to let Bozo out and grab something to eat."

"Take care of the dog and come over. I've already got something to eat. There's something we need to talk about."

"OK. We'll be down in a minute."

Jack opened the door and Bozo shot down the stairs. We went into the house and I emptied the trash while he used the bathroom. There was one apple left in the bag and I put it in with the rest of them in the bowl on the kitchen table. Jack came out of the bathroom and I went in, took a pee and washed my face. I brushed my hair real quick and put it in a pony tail, then looked in the mirror. I know I wasn't as gorgeous as I was when we went out to dinner but it was good enough for Saturday night with family. I yawned, turned off the light and went looking for Jack.

We went downstairs and saw Bozo and Dino chasing each other around the back yard. Anyone who didn't know any better would think they were trying to kill each other with all the snarls and growls coming from back there. We went in the kitchen but just pushed the door to so they could open it when they got tired of acting like crazy fools.

Charlie was sitting at the kitchen table by himself. There was a big platter of still steaming chocolate chip cookies in the middle of the table next to a gallon of milk. Charlie had a plate with a few cookies on it with a half empty glass of milk next to it. There was another glass of milk and a plate with cookies, one of which was missing a bite, next to him,. He was in the middle of chomping down on a cookie. I noticed some milk above his upper lip when he pulled his hand away and was reminded of snack time after school over the years.