Growing Up Neighbors

by Frances Hoelsema

  The party started on time at five o’clock Friday evening. It was an open house style party so people showed up at all different times, the majority close to six. Nicholas and Alex didn’t have much time to talk with one another as they had their own families and other friends to communicate with. Now and then, though, they’d share a hello or sneak a glance at one another along with a smile or wave.

  Nicholas peeked over at Deborah’s direction by the punch bowl once in a while too. If they’re eyes caught each other he’d smile and wave and do his little wink. At one point he did get a drink himself and chatted with her for a bit, expressing his thanks for her involvement.

  “It’s so nice of you to take care of the punch.”

  “It’s no problem. I enjoyed making it,” she smiled, feeling appreciated.

  While that was true, she didn't want to also admit that helping actually took her mind off of what happened between her parents earlier.

  The party wasn’t over until close to nine o’clock. When all the guests had left, Ms. Michaels and Robert stuck around to help the Harringtons clean up while Nicholas and Alex looked at the cards and gifts they got for graduating.

  Ms. Michaels and Mrs. Harrington were the only ones talking for the most part as they discussed with one another how each thought the night went, who certain people were and just general catch up talk. Deborah could tell that her dad was still angry over what happened earlier, but at least her mom had seemed to cheer up.

  The house was finally empty, save the five people that lived there, by ten. It was way past the children’s bedtime, but seeing that it was a special occasion, it didn’t matter too much. As Deborah and Robyn were in their room getting ready for bed, they could overhear their parents.

  “Sounds like their fighting again, Debbie,” Robyn pointed out.

  “I know. It probably has something to do with the party.”

  “What about it?”

  “Well, I know that dad was mad at mom a few times in the kitchen before it started because she was telling him how to cut the fruit,” Deborah explained.

  “Oh.”

  “I’m going to go downstairs and see if I can figure out what it’s about, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  Deborah started heading downstairs and stopped when she was about half way down. That was the point where the wall became open banisters and she didn’t want her parents catching her spying on their fight when she was supposed to be in bed sleeping. She stood against the wall and listened in for a while.

  “That was a jerk-ish thing to do to leave me to finish preparing the food, you know,” her mom snapped.

  “You deserved it. I know how to cut fruit and you were treating me like a child just because it wasn’t done the way you wanted.”

  “And walking away from the situation wasn’t childish?”

  “See! You think everything I do is childish!"

  Mr. Harrington took a deep breath, rubbed the side of his cheek and, while shaking his head, added, "I can’t take it anymore, Barb. I’m done.”

  Deborah wasn’t completely sure what that meant, but knew it couldn’t be anything good. She heard her dad walk out the door with a slam. Her mom was apparently in the kitchen because Deborah heard her throwing things around in there. She also thought she heard her mom crying.

  Knowing that the fight was over for now, Deborah headed back up the stairs to her bedroom. She found Robyn lying in her bed already, but still awake in anticipation for Deborah to come back and share what she learned.

  “What did you find out?” she asked.

  “It was about the party like I thought.”

  “Are they done now? I heard someone leave.”

  “Yeah, they’re done,” Deborah assured her.

  “Do they seem okay?”

  Wanting to be honest with Robyn, Deborah said, “I don’t know, Robyn. I think I heard mom crying.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, listen, let’s just go to sleep. I’m sure everything will be fine tomorrow,” Deborah suggested.

  Everything always seems to be fine the next day, Deborah reflected.

  Robyn stopped asking questions and eventually fell asleep. Deborah, on the other hand, felt frightened, sad and a myriad other emotions as she thought about her dad saying he was done.

  Trying not to wake Robyn up, Deborah silently cried herself to sleep in her pillow.

  ---------------

  The next morning, as the kids came downstairs for breakfast, they all knew that something wasn’t right. Their dad wasn’t home and they knew that he wasn’t supposed to work today.

  “Where’s dad?” Alex asked as he, Deborah and Robyn all took a seat around the kitchen table.

  “I’m not sure,” was their mom’s honest reply. She did her best to sound normal for now.

  Whatever that means these days, Mrs. Harrington contemplated.

  No one mentioned anything else the whole time that Mrs. Harrington finished making breakfast. She liked keeping busy. It kept her mind off of what she had to tell her kids at some point and that point would have to be soon.

  When the children finished eating and put their dirty dishes into the sink, they one by one started heading upstairs to get ready for the day. Deborah was the last to do everything because she didn’t sleep well and had no appetite.

  As Deborah just stepped out of the kitchen, her mom asked her politely to let Alex and Robyn know that there needed to be a family meeting later that morning.

  “Okay,” she mumbled, then headed up to her room.

  She hated family meetings because they were boring, and with everything that went on last night, she had a gut feeling that this family meeting didn’t mean anything good. She got upstairs, told her brother and sister of the meeting and then slowly got ready for the day.

  This sucks, she thought miserably.

  The time came for everyone to meet and so they gathered in the usual spot they had family meetings: the kitchen table. Mrs. Harrington had no clue on how to tell her children what needed to be said so she just blurted it out instead of beating around the bush.

  “There’s no easy way to say this, but your father and I are getting divorced.”

  No one said a word as the children were all a little stunned and didn’t know what to think or say.

  Finally, Alex, as he was looking down, said in an angry tone, “Figures.”

  Robyn then started to cry and Mrs. Harrington went beside her to comfort her.

  “Does that mean we won’t see daddy anymore?” she sobbed.

  “Of course not. You’ll still get to see your dad.”

  Robyn had asked a few more questions that Deborah had completely tuned out. When she couldn’t handle being there any longer, she got up without being excused and ran towards the front door.

  “Where are you going, Deborah?” her mom shouted after her.

  Without responding, she kept going. The only place she knew she could go was over to Nicholas’ house. She knew that he’s been through a divorce before and he was easy to talk to. The whole way there she cried uncontrollably, feeling insecure and fearing the worst of the situation.

  When she got to the door, she managed to wipe the tears and stop crying, although she was pretty sure anyone could tell that was what she was doing. She rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer.

  Thankfully, it was Nicholas who came to the door and not someone else. He could tell from the moment he opened it that something was wrong.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Not really,” she replied as a fresh batch of tears started strolling down her cheeks.

  “Here. Come in," Nicholas said as he motioned towards the inside of his home. "What happened?”

  The two of them started heading to the kitchen as Deborah explained to him about her parents.

  “Aw, man, I’m sorry to hear that.”

  He got them some water and they sat down for a moment at the table.

  “Did you see it coming?�
�

  “Well, no, not really. I mean they fought a lot, but that’s been going on for years. I never imagined it’d come to this.”

  Deborah was finally able to calm down as her and Nicholas talked about the situation a little longer. She was grateful that he was offering her a listening ear and that she knew someone else who had gone through the same thing.

  The two of them even talked about Nicholas’ experience and he did the best to answer any of the questions that Deborah had.

  “I’m so scared that we will never see our dad again or that we’ll have to move like you guys did,” she said.

  “That would suck if you’d have to move,” he agreed, then added, “I’m sure you’ll see your dad still though. In my situation, our dad wanted nothing to do with us and that’s why when he left he never came back. I can tell that your dad loves you guys and wants to see you still so I wouldn’t worry about that.”

  “I don’t know. I guess you could be right.”

  Just then Ms. Michaels came upstairs from folding laundry in the basement. As she walked into the kitchen she saw Deborah.

  “Oh, hi, Deborah. I thought I heard someone at the door earlier.”

  “Hi,” Deborah tried to say normally, but it came out kind of low and muffled.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “No, not really.”

  She then went on to tell her about her parents getting a divorce.

  “Really? I’m so sorry to hear that. Is there anything we can do?”

  “Unless you can make my parents stay together, I don’t think so.” Deborah gave a half smile as she knew her last comment was something no one could control.

  “Well, we’re here for you if you need us. You know where we live,” Ms. Michaels smiled back, although hers was much more full and happy.

  Ms. Michaels went to put everyone’s laundry away as Nicholas and Deborah continued to sit around the table and talk, Deborah finishing up her water.

  When Robert came downstairs to get a snack, he too found out Mr. and Mrs. Harrington were getting a divorce and offered his apologies. He didn’t stay and chat very long though as he wanted to finish up the movie he was watching in his room.

  “Want to do something?” Nicholas asked, wanting to get Deborah's mind off of what was going on.

  “Sure. I don’t know what though,” Deborah responded sullenly.

  “I think I have an idea. I say we go downstairs and play some air hockey. I feel like getting you back for the other day when you whooped my butt.”

  Deborah giggled for the first time since some point yesterday at the graduation party.

  “Sure. I wouldn’t mind kicking your butt again.”

  “Not going to happen,” Nicholas challenged her.

  “Oh, yeah? We’ll see!”

  The two of them put their empty cups into the sink and headed to the basement. Nicholas turned on the air hockey table and they started to play.

  After the first game was over, Deborah was again the victor.

  “Ha ha, looks like I win again,” she teased.

  “Let’s do a rematch,” Nicholas suggested.

  “You’re on.”

  Nicholas took the second game. After winning he got very cocky, but it was all in good sport. They decided to play a third game and see who could win two out of three. It took a long time to complete, but Deborah got it.

  “I let you win, you know,” Nicholas said.

  “You’re just saying that. I know that I beat you fair and square.”

  As they discussed whether or not to play yet another game, Ms. Michaels called down the stairs for them both to come up.

  “Your mom called and wants you home now,” she told Deborah when she got to the kitchen.

  “Ugh, I don’t want to go,” Deborah sighed.

  “It’ll be okay,” Ms. Michaels assured her.

  “I’ll walk you out,” Nicholas offered.

  Both of them went to the door, Nicholas offering his apologies once again. Before she walked off, he gave her a hug.

  “Thanks, Nick.”

  “Hey, no problem. I figured you could use one.”

  "Well, not just for the hug, but for also listening and helping me get my mind off of things back at home."

  "Anytime. And I will get you next time, Debbie," Nicholas warned playfully.

  They said their goodbyes and Deborah went home.

  When Deborah first left, Mrs. Harrington gave everyone some time to process the information they received. She figured it would be a good idea for everyone to take a little breather. Then when she felt enough time had passed, she called the neighbors to have Deborah come back home. As soon as Mrs. Harrington heard Deborah coming back through the front door, she called all three of her children back to the table so they could finish their earlier discussion.

  Deborah slowly approached her seat, moping the whole way.

  “Why did you take off like that, Deborah?” her mom asked when they all sat down.

  “Because I felt like it.”

  “You can’t just run away every time you’re upset about something, sweetie. I know that your dad and I getting a divorce is not something you wanted to hear, but instead of going next door you should have told me your feelings.”

  As Mrs. Harrington said that, she thought about the fact that now her neighbors probably knew about her upcoming divorce and felt ashamed. She never did like it when others knew her business, especially if it was something that others often frowned upon. At least she and Alicia had become good friends since they’d moved in. And since Alicia had also been through a divorce before, she knew she wouldn’t be too judgmental.

  “I’m sorry,” Deborah said, not completely meaning it.

  “Okay. Well, look, things are going to be different, but you three have nothing to worry about,” Mrs. Harrington assured them.

  “I want to know if we’re going to have to move,” Alex demanded.

  “I don’t think so. I make more than enough for us to stay here.”

  Knowing that brought some relief to Deborah. After a few more things were discussed, their family meeting was over and Deborah walked away still feeling depressed. She was grateful, however, that a lot of her fears and questions had been done away with.

  It’s just a new life I’m going to have to get used to I guess.

  ---------------

  As the summer progressed, the Harringtons’ situation was not as bad as what Deborah had thought it would be. The only major difference was not seeing her dad as much as she normally would have. She missed him a lot, but that made the times they were together even more special to her.

  Mr. and Ms. Harrington, as she would now have to go by, were peaceful about the whole situation because they didn’t want to put their kids through a nasty divorce. They were able to agree on a lot of terms, even though they were never good at agreeing while they were married.

  One thing that was agreed upon was that the children were all allowed to live with their mom in the same house they grew up in. The three kids were happy to hear that because they didn’t want to have to make new neighbor friends. Nicholas was glad to find that out too since Alex was his best friend.

  Every other weekend the kids spent time with their dad at his new place, but he was allowed to see them more often if he wanted to, as long as he made plans with his ex first.

  Alex, Deborah and Robyn came to like their dad’s new place. He bought a manufactured home within a community that had a swimming pool and large playground. The home boasted four bedrooms so each person got their own room when they were there, unlike back at home where Deborah and Robyn had to share a room.

  “This is really cool, dad!” Deborah stated the first time she saw his place.

  Mr. Harrington always planned something fun each weekend he had the kids. He’d take them out to eat or to play miniature golfing or bowling, among other things. Once that summer he took them to the movies, but that was only because there was a movie out that they all agree
d on and that was appropriate for everyone to watch.

  One Sunday night while Mr. Harrington was taking his kids home, he asked, “How do you guys feel about going on a vacation before school starts?”

  Robyn started bouncing in her seat with excitement. “Yeah, let’s do it!”

  A huge smile lit up Deborah's face as she waited for her dad to share what he had in mind.

  “Sounds fun, dad!” she said.

  “Where would we go?” Alex asked curiously.

  “Well, I was thinking about Tanhicky Island,” Mr. Harrington replied.

  Never hearing of the place before, Deborah asked, “Where’s that? What’s there to even do there?”

  “Tanhicky Island is a great place. It’s sort of old fashioned so everything on the island is done like the good old days. They have great gift shops and awesome food up there too. I think you guys would really like it.”

  “Sounds good,” Alex said.

  “I just have to talk to your mom to make sure it’s okay. I’m going to shoot for us to go the week before school starts.”

  “Make sure I’m back in time though so I have a few days to check out my classes. I am starting high school, you know,” Alex stated with a grin.

  “You’ll have plenty of time,” their dad smiled back.

  He was glad that his children didn’t seem to hate him for what happened and that they were still willing to go on vacation with him.

  When they got back to the kids’ place, Mr. Harrington talked with Ms. Harrington about his plans. After discussing the details with everyone, everything was set in stone.

  Mr. Harrington and his children were going to go on vacation in just a couple of weeks to Tanhicky Island.

  ---------------

  Vacation weekend had finally come! The kids all had their bags packed and were sitting in the living room waiting for their dad to show up. Deborah was probably the most excited as she loved vacations and going places she hadn’t been before, which wasn’t hard to do seeing she hadn’t been very many places at twelve years old.

  A few minutes after he was supposed to be there, Mr. Harrington finally pulled into the driveway. He beeped his horn as he didn’t feel like getting out and talking with his ex-wife.