Chris shrugged and gave me a bit of a reassuring smile. I shrugged too and we then continued on to school. As we neared school, Chris waved as he jogged away and was lost in the sea of students spilling off the school buses like water over a waterfall.
Sure enough, I found Chris leaning against the same tree after school, but this time we saw each other simultaneously. However, he didn’t run away or try to hide. Instead, he smiled and waited for me to cross over to his side of the street.
“Hey, how was school?” I asked.
Chris shrugged and grimaced.
“Yeah, same here.” I said, not really knowing what Chris’s grimace had meant.
“Boy, I hate how much homework they give us here. It’s all I can do to keep up.” I said, as the two of us walked toward my grandparent’s.
When we reached the point that I had to turn left toward home, Chris gave me a smile and a wave, as he continued walking in the same general direction we had been heading.
As I walked into the house, I was greeted by my mom.
“Mom, you’re home!” I exclaimed.
“I took the afternoon off.” She said, “I thought maybe you and I could spend some time together.”
“Yeah!” I said enthusiastically and then, the realization that I had so much homework to do, settled in on me.
“But, I have tons and tons of homework today.” I sulked.
“Oh, well,” I could tell that she was thinking, “how about if you do it when we get back?” She finally offered.
“Really?” I said, surprised that she would offer something like that.
“Yeah! Where are we going?” I asked.
“Well, go put your things in your room, get changed into something nice and then we’ll go.” Mom said.
“Yeah, but where?” I asked impatiently.
Mom gave me a mysterious expression as she said, “You’ll see.”
I started to run to my room, but I had remembered that the day before, I had another run in with Grandfather while I was running up the stairs. He had lectured me for nearly ten minutes about running in the house, before letting me continue toward the bathroom to relieve my aching bowels.
Walking quick, but not running, I scurried up the steps and made it to the room I was staying in. I quickly kicked off my shoes and had my shirt and pants off nearly before my shoes hit the floor. I think I got redressed and back downstairs in less than three minutes, but Mom wasn’t where I had left her. I waited around for five minutes, then ten and then, when I couldn’t stand it any longer, I went looking for her. I found her in the front room talking with Grandmother, who seemed to be really upset about something.
Now, there was no way I wanted to be seen. I’d already learned that when Grandmother is upset, everyone around her gets pulled into it too. So, I did a hasty retreat, back out the way I came in, without being noticed.
It was nearly ten minute before Mom came back out of the room, looking harassed and hot under the collar.
“Alvin, sweetheart I’m sorry, but we’ll have to plan on going another day. I am sorry.” was all she said, as she crossed the foyer and disappeared around the backside of the steps. From the direction she was headed, I could only guess that she was heading back to the huge multi car garage to return to work.
