Secret Brother - Page 67
“I know. I guess if I have to, I’ll trade.”
“Trade? Trade what?”
“Being friendly.”
“Friendly?” I could practically hear him thinking. “To the poisoned boy?”
“If there’s no other way.”
He was quiet a moment. “You’d do that for me?”
“For us,” I said. “I’m involved in this, too.”
“I’m sorry I got you in trouble,” he said. “My father and your grandfather are right, you know. I should have made sure you checked in and got permission first. In two weeks, I could go to prison if I took you over the state line or somewhere else we almost went last night, since you’re officially a minor.”
“Your eighteenth birthday is in two weeks?”
“Yes. So maybe my father will ease up in less than a week. I’ll play on my mother’s sympathy. Have to get you out from house arrest before then so you can help me celebrate. I’ve been planning it since I was five.”
“I will, no matter what,” I vowed.
“No matter what?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. Can I count on an extra-special birthday present?”
“We’ll see.”
He laughed.
Actually, I thought, in the back of my mind, I was always planning that I wouldn’t lose my virginity until I was eighteen. Somehow, no matter how immature we were, we would be considered adults at eighteen.
“Sorry I got you in trouble. I mean, you have enough going on.”
“You didn’t kidnap me. It was just as much my fault. Stop thinking that way.” I thought for a moment and then asked, “What are you going to do tomorrow?”
“Dream of you all day, what else?”
“You know that children’s playground not too far from my grandfather’s estate?”
“Yes. So?”
“I’ll ride my bike there at two. Can you get there?”
“Swings or seesaw?”
“Sliding pond,” I said, smiling, “and then merry-go-round.”
He laughed. “I’ll be there even if I have to walk. You’ve given me reason to undo the hangman’s knot.”
“Don’t even joke about it.” There was a big story about a teenage boy who had hung himself in his room after his girlfriend of three years broke up with him.
“Okay. Till then.”
“Till then,” I said.
I did feel a little better after I hung up. I looked at the plate of food again and began to nibble on it. After I finished what I wanted, I picked it up and started to bring it down to the kitchen. I looked into Willie’s room on the way and saw that no one was in there. As I passed Grandpa’s office, I heard voices and paused to look in. He was showing some of his plaques and pictures to the boy and Mrs. Camden. The boy was in his wheelchair. The boy was sitting up in his chair and listening attentively, but he didn’t say anything. Grandpa’s voice was colored with the pride he had from knowing and meeting the powerful politicians who had posed for pictures with him. I wondered what he would say when he reached the picture of Willie and me, but when he noticed me standing there watching, I quickly walked away.
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