Growing Up Neighbors

by Frances Hoelsema

  Nicholas put the phone back to his ear. “She said it’s okay!” he told Alex. “Wednesday sounds good. Okay. See you then. Bye.” Nicholas went to sit back down and finish his meal.

  “I’m going to go play with him on Wednesday,” he mentioned to his mom specifically.

  “Okay. Hey, guys, I’ve got apple pie for dessert,” their mom said with a smile.

  Nicholas was excited. Not only about the apple pie, but to have made a new friend and that his new friend lived across the street from him.

  Maybe moving here wasn’t the worst thing in the world after all! he thought.

  3

  That Wednesday, and many times since the Michaels had moved in, Nicholas and Alex hung out together. The two boys had become the best of friends and had come to share many of the same interests. They even figured out that their birthdays were close, and so for the next few years, the families often celebrated the two of them together with a large party.

  On most occasions, Nicholas was the one who would go over to Alex’s house because there was a lot more to do there and that way they wouldn’t be in Robert’s way. Plus, he liked going to Alex’s house because he liked hanging out with Deborah too. Nicholas and Deborah had countless times raced and challenged each other on the swings and found it easy to talk with one another about anything and everything. They too shared many of the same interests such as in movies, TV shows and music, and always wanting to do the same things when they hung out. Alex was not fond of Deborah being around most of the time, but in Nicholas’ opinion, Deborah was just like one of the guys, and Deborah felt the same way.

  Some days, however, like today, Alex, Deborah and Robyn were at the Michaels’ house instead. It was a Friday evening in January and Mr. and Mrs. Harrington were fighting yet again. It appeared to the kids that this time it was over a snowmobile purchase their dad had made even though their mom felt they couldn’t afford it with their dad’s job not going well. He hadn’t been selling many houses lately and being winter made it worse. Mrs. Harrington also complained that they probably wouldn’t get much use out of it while Mr. Harrington assured her that they would.

  Needless to say, the Harrington kids did not want to be home around that so they came to the Michaels’ house to see if they could all hang out. It wasn’t often that Deborah came along with Alex to hang out with Nicholas at his house. It was not because she didn’t want to, but because Alex complained about her hanging around the two boys so much that their mom made sure she stayed home when he occasionally went over there. It was even rarer for Robyn to come along. Nicholas could count on one hand the amount of times Robyn had been there in the last three plus years they’ve all known each other. But when the doorbell rang and Nicholas saw who it was, he was excited as always, no matter who was all included.

  They found themselves playing hide and seek. Not something the older kids would have chosen to do, but nine-year-old Robyn insisted they play, and to keep her happy and her mind off of what was going on back home, they all agreed to it.

  At least Robert is gone for the evening with some friends so we won’t be in his way, Nicholas thought.

  Robert was going to be eighteen in about a week so he was never home that much anymore.

  It was Nicholas’ turn to seek everyone so he sat at the kitchen table and started counting to fifty. Both Alex and Robyn ran downstairs while Deborah ran upstairs. She went to go hide in Nicholas’ room because she always liked to look at some of his collections.

  As she entered his room she thought about the first time she saw it. She remembered asking about the model cars that Nicholas collected and how fascinated she was by his comic book collection. She was even amazed at how clean he kept his room. The way Alex kept his room, she thought all boys were messy.

  Deborah took a quick glance around the room to see where she would hide.

  Maybe he won’t think to look in here, she thought as she opened the closet door and took a seat in the corner.

  Her thoughts bounced all over the place while she waited for Nicholas to get to fifty and then come find her. The last three plus years had been so much fun for her and she had really come to appreciate the fact that the Michaels had moved in. They were all great, but she really took a liking to Nicholas as she saw him the most.

  He’s so fun to hang out with and easy to talk to, she mused with a smile on her face.

  Deborah pondered about all the times they celebrated birthdays and holidays. Christmas was the best because the day after they all would get together to show each other and brag about the gifts they got. Seeing Nicholas had become a constant, regular occurrence since he had moved in, as constant and regular as a beating heart it seemed.

  Her thoughts shifted to one summer, almost two years ago, when her dad had just bought a boat. Even though that purchase had also caused her parents to fight, it ended up being a good thing because they went out on the lake all the time. Many times the Michaels were invited too, although most of the time Ms. Michaels had declined.

  Deborah’s cheeks started to blush yet again when she thought about the first time Nicholas had seen her in a bathing suit the first time he rode along with the Harringtons.

  “I like the color of your bathing suit,” then twelve-year-old Nicholas had mentioned with a smile. “Blue’s my favorite color.”

  That bathing suit was the first bathing suit her mom allowed her to pick out by herself. Since blue was her favorite color too, she chose a suit that had multiple shades of blue in it with a pattern that looked like rain drops splashing in water. The bathing suit also had a skirt to it, the style she liked the best.

  Deborah remembered being nervous in her bathing suit in front of Nicholas. She of course had no problem wearing a bathing suit in front of her older brother or other kids she didn’t even know, but Nicholas was the first boy she was a close friend with and being in such a close proximity to one another made this situation different. Plus, that summer she was just starting to blossom so she was becoming more self-conscious about her body.

  Deborah didn’t start to relax that day until after Nicholas had made that remark. She knew she shouldn't have cared what he thought, but for one reason or another, she did.

  I’m glad he likes it, she had thought to herself.

  They all ended up having so much fun that hot, summer day and many other summer days like it out on the boat. Her dad even let the kids “drive” the boat once in a while, something Nicholas loved to do. Deborah smiled, feeling glad that Nicholas fit in with the family so well.

  “Ready or not, here I come!” Nicholas shouted from downstairs.

  Deborah listened closely to see if she could figure out what direction he was headed. To her surprise, he sounded like he was heading downstairs first. Hearing nothing but silence, Deborah knew she was safe for another few minutes and her thoughts turned to last spring.

  The Michaels and the Harringtons went on a camping trip together. Mr. and Mrs. Harrington and Ms. Michaels had reserved adjacent camping sites at a campground just over two hours north of where they lived so that they’d all be together for a solid four days and five nights.

  During the day they enjoyed shopping trips, fishing or lounging around, and at night they enjoyed campfires, and most importantly, Deborah’s favorite: making s’mores. She thought she knew how to make the best roasted marshmallows until Nicholas proved her wrong. The first night they were at camp and they had their first fire going, Nicholas roasted the perfect marshmallow that made Deborah jealous.

  “Can you show me how to do that?” she asked Nicholas eagerly.

  “Sure,” he smiled and winked. Deborah never saw him wink like that with anyone else. It was like a special sign between them or something. She came to like it a lot when he winked at her.

  Nicholas told her the secret was to put the marshmallow into the fire until it caught on fire and then take it out and blow the fire off. When Deborah tried it, she was amazed at how easy it was and how great it tasted, especially betwe
en a Hershey’s chocolate bar and two graham crackers.

  The talks and singing around the fire at night were also a great memory to Deborah. She smiled just thinking about how awful they sounded when they all sang various songs.

  One thing that was especially fun for Deborah was the fact that for one night the kids were all allowed to sleep in the same tent and they all stayed up for hours on end just talking about random things. Robyn fell asleep first since she couldn’t handle staying awake, and Robert was shortly after since he was not really participating in any of the conversations they were having. Deborah could remember when Alex finally fell asleep, which left just her and Nicholas to carry on a conversation.

  Nicholas can sure be a chatterbox if you can get him going, Deborah realized, a fact about him she found nice because she liked to talk a lot too.

  Nicholas was just so different from Alex or any of his friends he would bring home from school. Communicating came easy between Deborah and Nicholas, and conversations would flow freely.

  Even though the two friends didn't talk much longer that night, Deborah was still thankful for the opportunity to have just her and Nicholas time for a few minutes before they drifted off to their own dream worlds.

  Deborah came back to the present when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. She tried to sit still and not breathe so that no one knew where she was.

  Just then the closet door flew open and Nicholas peered right at Deborah. “Found you,” he grinned. “I knew you’d be in here.”

  “What? Why? How?”

  Deborah was curious as to how he could possibly know that.

  “Because I know you like my room. Every time you’ve been here you’ve wanted to see my things and hang out up here.”

  “Oh, sorry.” She felt kind of stupid for making it always seem that way. “Well, can you blame me? You have a cool room!”

  "Thanks."

  Nicholas helped Deborah off the floor and the two of them headed downstairs to join Alex and Robyn, who he had already found in the basement.

  “If you knew I was in your room, why didn’t you come find me first?” she asked as the two of them reached the bottom step.

  “Because I wanted a challenge and Alex and Robyn gave me one,” he said with a small smile and that special wink.

  “Ha-ha,” she sarcastically replied as she gave him a little smack on his right arm.

  “You hit like such a girl,” he teased back with a little crack in his changing voice.

  “Don’t make me hit you for real,” she warned.

  Nicholas and Deborah found Alex and Robyn just sitting around the kitchen table looking a little bored.

  “So what do you guys want to do now?” Alex asked. “Because I’m tired of playing hide and seek.”

  None of them could come up with anything exciting to do, anything they could all agree on anyway.

  Robyn started begging to go home so Alex and Deborah decided together that they should just leave. They started getting up and putting their boots and coats on when they heard the phone ring. Ms. Michaels answered it and the kids could hear her assure whoever it was on the other end of the line that their kids would be home in just a moment.

  “Must be mom or dad,” Deborah mentioned.

  “Yeah,” Alex agreed. “They must be done fighting by now, I guess.”

  “Good,” Robyn said.

  “Do they fight a lot?” Nicholas asked.

  “Seems like it,” Deborah answered sadly.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  Just before they opened the door to head home, Nicholas added, “Hey, are we still on for Monday night, Alex?”

  “Yep! Looking forward to it!”

  “Me too!” agreed Nicholas.

  The Harrington kids left the Michaels’ house and went home. Nicholas, on the other hand, went upstairs to his bedroom to look through some of his comic books. As he lay on his bed flipping through the pages of his favorite series, X-Men, a huge smile started forming on his lips as he thought about silly Deborah hiding right there in his closet.

  ---------------

  Ever since Alex and Nicholas turned thirteen almost a whole year ago, it was a tradition for them to hang out on Monday night every week to watch wrestling. Nicholas, and sometimes Robert, who was the one that got them into wrestling in the first place, would go over to the Harrington’s home sometime after dinner and get ready for the wrestling matches by getting comfortable on the couch that sat in the upstairs family room. The boys rarely watched wrestling at the Michaels’ home because the Harringtons had a much bigger and better TV.

  Monday night was one thing that Alex and Nicholas had looked forward to each week ever since their parents allowed them to start watching wrestling. Very rarely did one of the boys skip out on this tradition. If they did, it would have been because they thought they were dying.

  On occasion, Deborah tried to watch a little bit of wrestling too. She actually enjoyed watching the matches, even though her brother said that she was too young and that since she was a girl she shouldn’t watch things like that. Alex usually didn’t say much about Deborah coming in the room now and then to sit down on the floor and hang out with the boys, but this Monday night was a different story.

  Alex came down to the kitchen with some trash that was up in the family room and saw Deborah making a snack and getting a few drinks out. He had a feeling that she was planning on joining the boys tonight.

  “What are you doing?” he asked with his head tilted to the side and eyebrows raised.

  “Making a snack.”

  Deborah put a few more things in the bowl and started mixing the ingredients. She even tasted a part of it to see if it was ready.

  “I can see that. But why?”

  Alex was getting annoyed waiting for her to confess what she was planning to do.

  “Why do you think I am? It gives us all something to eat while wrestling is on.”

  “Uh unh. No. You’re not watching that with us tonight,” Alex ordered as he shook his head.

  “You can’t tell me what to do, Alex. You’re not my boss.”

  Deborah had no problem standing up to Alex. He telling her what to do was getting old and he really had no right.

  “Why do you want to watch it anyway? And you know that if mom or dad found out you’d be in trouble.”

  Alex had a good point there. She was hoping he wouldn’t tattle on her. So far he hadn’t, but if she pressed his buttons far enough he might do it. Deborah decided to play the “you-should-feel-sorry-for-me” card.

  “Look. I just like hanging out with you. That’s all,” she said with a sad-puppy-dog-eyes look on her face. She was hoping that he’d give up his fight by doing so.

  “I don’t care. I personally think you hang out with us way too much. I don’t want you butting in anymore. If you do, I’ll tell.”

  Deborah sighed. She had no clue what had crawled up Alex's butt and died this time. With him not letting up on his argument though, Deborah decided that instead of trying to make him feel sorry for her that she was just going to call his bluff.

  “Go ahead. I really don’t think mom or dad are going to have that big of a problem with it anyway. I just turned twelve and they always let me do things younger than you since I’m more mature.”

  That statement made Alex even more upset. “Fine. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you though,” he scowled as he walked away with both hands up as if showcasing defeat. He was too angry to waste his time fighting with his sister and he had to get that room cleaned up before Nicholas got here.

  Ha, Deborah sneered triumphantly within.

  She started to smile as she counted this one as a victory. It just seemed like the older they were getting, the more her and Alex were butting heads.

  Maybe he’s just jealous that I get along with Nicholas so well, she contemplated.

  Deborah finished making the snack that she wanted everyone to try and brought the bowl upstairs to place by the TV in th
e family room. As she came back downstairs to get the drinks, her mom stopped her in the kitchen.

  “Have you been watching wrestling, Deborah?” her mom inquired, in no mood for any messing around.

  Deborah decided she shouldn’t lie.

  “Not a lot. Just now and then, and never the whole night.”

  She was trying to downplay the situation in hopes to justify why it should be okay for her to participate in these Monday night occurrences.

  “I don’t care. You know you’re not allowed to. Alex had to wait until he was thirteen and so do you. And besides, this is something he likes to do with Nicholas so leave them both alone. You don’t always have to be with them.”

  “I’m not,” Deborah whined back, trying to defend herself. She hated being accused of something that she didn’t think was exactly accurate.

  “I’m letting you off on a warning this time, young lady, but I better not find out later that you’re going behind our backs or there will be worse consequences,” Mrs. Harrington warned.

  “Ugh, fine,” Deborah sighed, sitting down in a chair at the kitchen table.

  This is so not fair, she thought.

  “Why don’t you go play with Robyn?” her mom suggested. “And while you’re at it, you can bring these drinks up for the boys. I think Nicholas will be here any minute.”

  Mrs. Harrington left the kitchen to watch for Nicholas to arrive. She tended to do that when it was dark outside because she wanted to make sure everything was okay.

  After sitting down for a little bit, feeling sorry for herself, she decided to do as her mom suggested and find Robyn, who she was pretty sure was upstairs in their room playing with their Barbie dolls or something.

  Alex can get his own drinks, she concluded as she walked past them and on over to the stairs.

  In her own small way, it was a way to get back at him for telling on her in the first place.

  Just as she walked through the living room and over to the stairs, she saw Nicholas coming in through the screened-in porch. He was his chipper self and gave her a smile and wave.