Into the Woods (DeBeers 4)

"Yes, He said he didn't find out you had called until today, and he apologized. He left a number. It's by the phone."

"Great." I said, jumping up. It was too late to call. but I took the slip of paper with his number to my room and kept it beside my bed. One of the first things I did the next morning was call.

"Hey," he said when he came to the phone. "How are you?'

"Okay," I said. Anyone could tell my okay was not okay, but he went right into a description of his baseball camp, the coach he had who had been a major league pitcher, and how much he was learning,

"I struck out twelve batters yesterday," he bragged. "And he says I hit better than most pitchers hit. I have a natural ability."

"That's wonderful. Trent."

"I wish you were coming back to our school," he finally said. "Me, too."

"I'll try to keep in touch. I'll send you the sports pages from the school paper when the baseball season starts," he promised.

"Okay."

"Gee, I gotta go." he said. "Take care of yourself."

I could actually feel his hand slipping out of mine. Time and distance were too much to overcome. We were going in different directions.

"Goodbye," I said.

The click brought down a lead curtain between us.

Maybe Augustus wasn't all that weird after all_. I thought. Maybe we disappear more often than we think.

.

As she had planned, Mommy began working on the weekend. For the first few weeks Dallas and Warren thought it would be best for her to serve alongside a seasoned waitress. Even so, she came home tired. mostly. I thought, from the emotional strain of worrying about whether she was doing things right. She would flop in our big easy chair and put her feet up on the hassock. I would take off her shoes and rub her feet for her while she moaned with pleasure.

"I've got to get the right shoes for this. There's so much walking involved. You don't sit from the moment you arrive till the moment you get into your car, but at least it isn't boring. They do have some very interesting customers, many, as Dallas said. from Palm Beach. Sometimes, the place is glittering with enough jewelry to light up a football stadium. They do tip well, though," she said with a smile.

I knew she didn't like leaving me at home alone, but Randy called me on that first weekend to invite me to a movie at the nearby theater. He gave me the bus schedule and the station as well, since neither he nor I was old enough to drive or had a car available anyway. I told Mommy, who thought it was wonderful I had a date already.

I saw Augustus that morning and asked him if he ever went to the movies. He looked at me for a long moment and said, "Even, night. In here." He pointed to his own head. I thought about inviting him along but decided to leave that for another time

Randy was waiting for me at the bus stop near the mall. He was very eager to show off his knowledge of the U.S. Navy and talked about the different ships. I knew how much he wanted to impress me. and I was flattered, but after the movie, when he returned to talking about the Navy. I reached across the table in the restaurant where we were having some ice cream and put my hand over his to stop him.

"Thanks for learning all that. Randy," I told him. "But every time we talk about the Navy now, I think about my father, and it's painful for me."

I said it as simply and as softly as I could. "Oh," he said, his eyes filling with some panic. "I... I..."

"It's okay. I love that You learned all that, but let's talk about you. too. And tell me all about the school and our teachers," I suggested.

We had a good time then, and he insisted on riding the bus back to my station and walking me to my door.

But then you'll have to wait so long for another bus, and you won't get home until so late," I said.

He had told me he was the youngest of three boys and that his older brothers were now in college, both very athletic and both good students. His father worked in the city water department and had a managerial position. His mother was a grade-sc

hool teacher.

It wasn't difficult to see that he had always felt inferior to his brothers and always believed his parents loved him less because of his speech problem.

"That's why I... I like to work wi... with corn... corn... Fitters," he said. "No one know... knows how I spe... speak."

I told him I had never had one and that my father was going to get one for me when we had settled into our new home in Norfolk.