When Ratboy Lived Next Door

by Chris Woodworth

  “Daddy!” I grabbed his arm before he could escape.

  “Okay, okay. I’ll tell you what I know.” He laughed. “They stopped in here for gas on their way to the house, which is how I found out. Their last name’s Merrill and they have a girl, oh, about four years old, I’d say. They have a son a couple of years older than you and another son your age.”

  He looked proud as Punch. “Daddy, you’re kidding, right? Tell me you’re teasing.”

  The way his smile faded told me he wasn’t. “Teasing about what?”

  “Oh, Daddy, you mean to tell me the only girl is a little kid and the one my age is a boy?”

  “Well, yeah, that’s what I said.” He looked confused and a little hurt that his big news wasn’t so big after all.

  I wasn’t good at praying on a one-to-one basis. But ever since Rae Anne’s grandma, Mrs. Ogle, had moved, I’d had plenty to pray about. On Sunday mornings, squashed in the pew between Daddy and Nanna, I had prayed hard and steady that a new girl my age would move into the neighborhood. I had been very specific about that.

  I didn’t care so much about the older boy. I’d stay out of his hair and I figured he’d stay outa mine. But to have a new neighbor my age who was a boy—and for the only girl to be a little kid! Well, I wouldn’t be caught dead playing with either one.

  I picked up my arithmetic book and sat back down. I didn’t say it out loud, but I couldn’t help thinking that for someone with a reputation for being almighty, God surely could make a mess of a good prayer.

  Just when I thought things were as bad as they could get, Daddy said, “Hey, I know something that might cheer you. The neighbor boy who’s your age? Well, you’re not going to believe this, but he has a pet raccoon!”

  2

  I ran into the house, stopped, and out of habit poked my rear end out to catch the screen door before it slammed—a purely dumb move considering how tender my backside was. Then I headed straight for my bedroom to change clothes. Tonight was the first Free Show, Saginaw Trail, starring Gene Autry, and I couldn’t wait.

  Rae Anne had been trying to talk her folks into coming since we first heard about the shows. But a free movie didn’t have the draw for them that it did for most folks. Living so far away, it was easier for them to do their shopping in Aylesville. Rae Anne said her mom and dad felt it was a pure waste of gas to drive into Maywood, but she was determined. The last time I saw Rae Anne determined was when she wanted to get her waist-length hair cut into a pixie. Her mama said, “Absolutely not.” Rae Anne was too much of a good girl to take a whack at her own hair, as I might have. She just never combed it from that day on, and when her mama tried to brush it, Rae Anne would cry marble-sized tears. Finally her mother took her to Kathleen’s Klip and Kurl in Aylesville and got her a pixie cut.

  Since Rae Anne was determined again, I had every reason to believe she would be at the Free Show.

  I carefully put the list of movies Mrs. Green had given me into my pants pocket. I hurried back down the stairs, swung wide on the newel post, and jumped. I kept hoping I’d make it past the linen closet door. As usual, I landed a couple of inches short.

  Just then, Mother and Daddy walked up to the front door. With downtown Maywood being only four blocks long, Daddy never drove to work. He always stopped by the newspaper and walked Mother home.

  I made sure my shirt was tucked in, then took the movie list out of my pocket and smoothed it. Mother came in the door first.

  “Hi, Mother! How are you today?”

  “Tired.”

  “Oh, well, maybe you’ll feel better when we get to the Free Show.”

  “Yes, the Free Show. Interviewing people, taking pictures—it sounds very restful,” she said drily.

  This wasn’t going at all the way I’d planned. I tried again. “Um, Miz Green at the library asked me to give you this. It’s the list of movies for the paper.” I held it out to her.

  She gave a big sigh, as if it were too much to think about. “Thank you, Lydia,” she said and, without looking at it or me, laid it on the hall stand.

  That feeling stole over me, the one that made me feel like a magnet turned the wrong way. The more I tried to get close to Mother, the stronger the force was that pushed me away.

  Daddy came in behind her. My feelings must have shown. I could tell he wanted to cheer me up by the way he smiled.

  “What’s this?” He stuck his finger in my ear, pretending to look for something. “There’s something in your ear, Ladybug.”

  I swatted his hand away.

  “No, really, I’m serious,” he said.

  I laughed a little, even though it wasn’t funny anymore. Daddy used to say “There’s something in your ear” when I was little. I’d ask what it was, and he would say, “Oh, it’s my finger!” Daddy needed to catch on that what was funny to me at age four wasn’t so funny at twelve.

  I walked into the kitchen to see Nanna. My stomach growled from the good smells.

  My grandma had up and died the day Mother was born, and Grandpa had called Nanna, his younger sister, to come help with the baby. So Nanna never got married or had kids of her own. This all happened a long time ago, in Michigan, so I never met my grandpa before he died and hardly ever saw anyone else in Mother’s family. Nanna’d just raised Mother, and now she was raising me.

  “Hello, Lydia,” Nanna said. Steam from the stove had caused a few long, white tendrils of hair to come loose from the braid she always coiled and pinned to the top of her head. Her round, flushed face looked happy to see me, but only for a second. Then she asked, “Did you finish your homework?”

  “Yes, Nanna. My homework’s all done.” I gave her a kiss hello.

  Her face smoothed back into a smile. “Well! That’s fine. You’d best set the table. We don’t want to be late for the…” Then she really looked at me. “Lydia Carson, what is that you’re wearing?”

  I looked down at my pants. Nanna hated pants on any girl. I’d have worn them tonight anyway, but I especially wanted to hide my bandaged knees.

  “Nanna, you can’t tell me the other girls will be wearing dresses to an outdoor movie!”

  “I don’t care what the other girls are wearing—” she began, but Mother walked into the kitchen and cut her off.

  “Those dungarees are fine, Lydia. It might cool down and you’ll be glad your legs are covered. Just change into a nicer blouse and you’ll look as good as anyone in a dress.”

  “I don’t know why I bother,” Nanna said, pouring water into an ice-cube tray. “I tell you, one of these days I’m going to visit Louise and just not come back.” Nanna visited her sister in Michigan for one week every summer and she threatened to move back there at least once a week.

  “That’s your choice,” Mother said.

  Nanna turned from setting the tray inside the freezer. She and Mother had a staring contest. Nanna was the first to look away. Sometimes I thought their bickering had more to do with what went on when Nanna was raising Mother than with me. I didn’t care much, as long as whoever was on my side won.

  I grabbed a stack of plates and silverware and headed into the dining room. I heard Mother say, “Glen tells me we have new neighbors. Have you met them?”

  “Not yet,” Nanna said. “They spent the afternoon unloading their belongings from their pickup truck. I thought I’d take a cake over tomorrow.” Then her voice got louder so I’d hear, “Since tomorrow’s Saturday, you can go with me, Lydia.”

  I almost dropped the plate I was holding. I started to argue, but with Nanna I’d learned that it was sometimes better to hold your tongue. She never forgot something if we argued about it.

  The last thing I wanted was to be nose-to-nose with that Merrill boy and his ratty old raccoon. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed that his raccoon did look like an old rat, and seeing as how I didn’t know the boy’s name, “Ratboy” sounded as good as any. Besides, it made me smile and I figured he owed me a smile.

  It took forever to get sup
per over with. It would never occur to Nanna to just make a quick meal of sandwiches. She had set out fried chicken, mashed potatoes, milk gravy, last summer’s canned yellow beans cooked in bacon, bread-and-butter pickles, cornbread, and her homemade grape jelly.

  “And we’ve got applesauce cake for dessert,” she said as Daddy cleared the table.

  Mother and Daddy groaned.

  I couldn’t take it. “Nanna, why can’t we get a piece of pie or some ice cream downtown?”

  “Because I could feed this family for a whole day on what dessert at the Oasis Café would cost.”

  Daddy spoke up. “Well, now, normally I’d agree with you, but Lydia does have a point. We really should spend some money downtown if we expect other folks to. Maybe we could have that delicious cake of yours tomorrow.”

  Nanna sniffed. “Fine. I’ll just take it to the neighbors if no one in this family wants it. Save me work in the morning.”

  Shoot! There was no way Nanna would forget about visiting the neighbors with a whole applesauce cake staring at her.

  * * *

  We set out about half an hour before sunset. Daddy walked in front with a blanket draped over one arm and the other arm out for Nanna to hold. I walked behind with Mother. She had a camera strapped around her neck and was carrying a pad of paper with pencils stuck in her pockets to write an article about the Free Show. Mother acted as if interviewing people tonight would be work, but I knew better. Her mood always perked up when she had a story in the works for her paper. It could be something as small as a water main breaking and you’d find Mother there, happy as could be, taking pictures of the mess.

  “This looks like a good spot. Girls, give me a hand,” Daddy said, and tossed Mother and me each a corner of the blanket. We spread it out and he said, “Well, I’ll leave you ladies now. I promised Sam I’d help him get the projector anchored in the window and such, since this is the first night.”

  I sat on our blanket and watched folks wander in and out of the stores, visiting and buying what-not before dark, when the movie would begin. Moms and dads were herding their youngsters like sheep through town. The kids ran from one store to another, pressing their noses into the windows. But once they caught sight of the library grounds, they made a beeline for it. Soon the grassy lot was speckled with blankets like ours.

  Mother hadn’t sat down since we got there. She was trying to get a few shots with her camera before dark. I don’t know why she bothered. All she could photograph was either folks sitting on blankets or the Laundromat. I knew they were using the Laundromat wall as the movie screen, but I couldn’t see how a blank wall would make an interesting picture. Then Mother went around interviewing people, asking what they thought about the Free Shows.

  Nanna just sat on our blanket and complained. “Well, they’re going to have to put in some sort of seats here if they want me back, I can tell you that! How they expect people to sit on this old, hard ground long enough to watch a movie is beyond me!”

  I looked about, thinking that anything would be better than sitting here listening to Nanna. I saw a group of little kids catching fireflies. I was too big for that. Then I saw a gathering of bigger kids.

  “I’m going to see if Rae Anne is over there,” I said to Nanna and ran off, pretending I couldn’t hear her try to stop me.

  I was disappointed when I didn’t see Rae Anne, but there were a few kids my age.

  “Hey, everybody! Whatcha doin’?” I asked.

  “Soon as someone finds a can, we’re playing kick-the-can.”

  When Junior Plunkett brought up a pork-and-beans can out of the neighbor’s burn barrel, someone shouted to him, “You’re it!” And we were off and running.

  I hid behind the bushes in front of the library. I was almost the last person to be found. That worked in my favor, since Junior was getting tired of running back. We raced to the can and I kicked it a good one.

  Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in the back of my shoulder. When I looked down, I saw a small rock roll to a stop.

  I turned around, and there was chubby Bobby Wayans with a smug look on his face. Even though Bobby and I had pretty much been enemies for three years, I still couldn’t see him doing something as bold as throwing a rock at me.

  Then I saw that Ratboy step out of the shadows. He was tossing a small rock up and down in his hand. It was just like that yellow Bobby to befriend the new kid. But then, making a friend of someone who didn’t know him was about the only chance Bobby had of getting one.

  I knew that if Bobby had thrown the rock, I could have taken him in a fight. Heck, I’d have laid odds Nanna could take Bobby. I wasn’t so sure I could take Ratboy, though, especially with my knees and backside sore from earlier today. Still, it never pays to show your fear.

  “I hope you don’t plan on signing up for Little League with that arm,” I said. “I don’t know what you were trying to hit, but I know you couldn’t have meant to hit me with a rock.”

  “I hit what I aim at.”

  I looked around and made a face to the other kids as if to show how dumb that remark was. Then I put my hand on my chin and tapped it with my finger, pretending I was thinking real hard.

  “Let’s see. First he sends his pet rat over to climb up on me.” I looked at the other kids. “I reckon that was to get acquainted with me, don’t ya suppose? And when that doesn’t work, he flings a pebble my way. Do y’all think this boy has a crush on me or what?”

  Everybody started laughing, and Ratboy probably didn’t cotton to being laughed at. His ears got red and his face followed suit.

  He bellowed, “You’ve got to be the ugliest…” He sputtered, trying to find the right word. “Girl … I’ve ever laid eyes on. The only crush I’ve got on you is the one I’m going to give your skull if you don’t pay up. You caused me to ruin my Popsicle today, and now I want my five cents for it.”

  That got my back up. “Your filthy animal ambushed me, and you pushed me down. Now you expect money from me? I’ll pay you when pigs fly!”

  I pointed to Ratboy and said to the other kids, “If any of you see this pig hovering in the air, let me know. Then I’ll think about giving him a nickel.”

  The other kids made a circle around him. Someone said, “So fly, already! Heck, we’ll pay you a nickel to see that!”

  With the crowd distracting Ratboy, I slowly began backing away. Suddenly hands clamped over my eyes from behind. Little prickles of fear crawled up my arms. Ratboy must have someone with him. I yanked the hands away and spun around.

  “Rae Anne!” I yelled, and pure joy washed over me as I hugged my best friend.

  “Didn’t think I’d make it, did you?”

  “I kept my fingers crossed that you would. You sure are a blessed sight.” I noticed that she wore jeans, too, and hoped Nanna saw her.

  “What’re you playing?” she asked as she looked around me at Ratboy.

  “We were playing kick-the-can, but it wasn’t that much fun,” I said. “Oh, look!”

  Lights flickered on the Laundromat wall. When Buck Rogers came on, almost everyone clapped.

  I held on to Rae Anne’s hand and we watched the ten-minute serial. It ended right at the good part!

  “Well, that sure was a short movie,” she said.

  “That’s not the movie!” I told her. “Daddy said they’re going to show ten minutes of Buck Rogers every week before the movie. That way, folks’ll want to come back to see what happens next.”

  Rae Anne stuck out her bottom lip in a pout. “Well, that leaves me out. You know my mom and dad won’t come every week.”

  “I’ll memorize them and tell you every single thing that happens,” I promised. “What do you want to do before the movie starts?”

  She held out her hand. “Papa gave me money. How about we go get some ice cream?”

  We ran over to the projector. Sam Green was on the inside and Daddy on the outside of the window. Daddy’s face had that wrinkled-forehead look he gets when things don’t go quite
right.

  “Daddy! Can I have some money for ice cream?” I was practically hopping, I was so happy Rae Anne was there.

  He didn’t say anything, just handed me a coin.

  I could tell this wasn’t the best time to bother him, but all he’d given me was a dime. “Add another one and I’ll be able to crunch potato chips on top!”

  Daddy let out a sigh. He reached into his pocket and gave me all his change—another dime, a nickel, and three pennies. “You’re gonna have to ask Nanna or your mom for anything else. I’m busy here, Ladybug.”

  “Okay!” I gave Rae Anne a big smile, but I felt a little funny inside. He must really be having trouble with the movie because he almost always had time for me.

  When Rae Anne put her arm through mine, though, I forgot all about Daddy and the movie. I looked up into the clear sky. The stars looked so bright and close I felt as if I could wave my arm and make them swirl around.

  Smiling, I took a deep breath of the night air. I leaned into Rae Anne and said, “Isn’t this the best night ever?”

  As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I was yanked to a standstill. Someone had sneaked up and grabbed me by my hair. I always kept my hair pretty short, so it didn’t hurt as much as it could have. It was the surprise of it that scared me more than anything.

  Rae Anne let out a cry of shock. It wasn’t until Ratboy whispered into my ear, “Hold still,” that my fear and surprise turned to a blazing anger.

  “Let go, you crazy hillbilly!”

  I pawed at his hands. He let go of my hair and grabbed my arms, twisting them behind my back so tight that I went right to my knees. He was strong enough to hold both of my arms in one of his hands while he reached into my pocket.

  What he wasn’t counting on was Rae Anne. When I went down, he had to lower himself to one knee in order to fish around for my money. Rae Anne put her shoe on his rump and pushed him over.

  She helped me scramble to my feet just in time to see Ratboy hold up a nickel and say, “I only take what’s mine.” Then he threw the rest of the money at me and ran away. Just like that—as if he hadn’t hurt me and nearly scared me to death.