She looked at me and then turned to him. “Is your name Mickey, sweetie?”
He didn’t speak, but I could see that he was surprised to hear the name.
“See? He knows that name. It is. I bet it is,” I said.
“We’ll see,” Mrs. Camden said. “Let’s let him calm down a little so that he’ll eat well, okay?”
“Right,” I said. “Let him calm down. He’s the one who has to calm down.”
I turned and marched out of the room, but I felt I had learned more than anyone else, and I was confident that it would mean something, perhaps enough to get him out of Willie’s room and bed and name.
When I started to do my homework, I found it difficult to concentrate. Fortunately, Lila remembered I had promised to help her with math. She called, and we got into it enough for me to finish my own work. We talked a little more about Audrey’s party, and then I hung up, but before I could turn to my English assignment, the phone rang again. This time, it was Aaron.
“Hey, how’s the Prescott General Hospital doing?” he asked.
“Very funny. What did your father say when you told him what my grandfather was doing?”
“Oh, I didn’t say anything about it yet.”
“What? Why not?”
“I didn’t want to start anything and get your grandfather mad at me just when I was working on seducing his granddaughter.”
“Seducing? You’re a comedian. You can tell anyone you like about what my grandfather is doing. I’m sure it’s getting known anyway, so my grandfather can’t complain that you spread the story.”
“You sound like you want me to.”
“Whatever,” I said. He was silent a moment. “I didn’t thank you for bringing me home.”
“It’s the other way around.”
“What do you mean?”
“Thank you for letting me, which is why I’m really calling. Can I pick you up in the morning? It’s an easy s
wing by.”
Things were moving between us quickly. Was I being swept off my feet by the school’s Casanova? Was I up to the challenge?
“Am I going to find out that this is just another excuse to let you drive your new car more?”
He laughed. “I won’t deny that’s a part of the reason, but it’s a minor part.”
“I’m going to have to ask my grandfather,” I said.
“Tell him I got an A-plus in driver’s education.”
“Don’t be surprised if he has us followed to be sure. I’ll call you in a little while. Oh, what’s your phone number?”
“Make sure you write it on your hand and never wash,” he said, and gave it to me. “That’s why there are so many girls with dirty hands in our school,” he added, laughing.
“I have a good memory,” I said. “I won’t forget it unless I want to.”
“Tough girl, huh?”
Was I? “We’ll see,” I told him, and hung up.
I thought for a moment and then started for Grandpa’s office. Mrs. Camden and Myra were in Willie’s room, talking to the boy as he ate his dinner. It was Myra’s voice that caught my attention. She had that sweet, loving tone that she had whenever she spoke to Willie, and she was calling him “love” and “sweetie,” which was what she always called Willie. The pathetic little imp was winning everyone over, and as they moved closer to him, they moved further away from my brother.