The second half flew by with several more goals scored, including another one from Sam, and the team won their first game. Mina helped the Millers pack up their stuff before Sam made it over to them, amongst more pats on the back and congratulations on a good game.
“Nice job, Sam.” His dad gave him a light slap on the back.
“Yeah, nice job, punk,” Ori said, but Mina could tell he was proud. “We’re taking off now. See you at home,” he told his parents, before turning away.
“Bye, Ori.” Emma.
He grinned at her. “See you later, Alligator.”
“In a while, Crocodile.” Em grinned back, running over to hug him around the middle.
Weird, Mina thought. The rest of the world got curt nods from Ori, but not Emma Marie Mason.
“So, what’d you think?” Sam asked after taking another swig off his water bottle.
His cheeks showed the red of constant exertion under his dark skin, and his hair was plastered to the edge of his face with sweat. In fact, his whole uniform shirt was soaked. He looks great. And happy. “I think you’re probably the best thing that ever happened to the Northam High soccer team,” Mina said.
His face got a little redder, but his smile got a little wider. “Thanks.”
“Great game, Sam.” Blair stopped on Sam’s other side.
“Thanks.” He turned toward his parents. “I’m going to take a quick shower. I’ll meet you in the parking lot. See you in a few minutes,” he said to Mina, before jogging off toward the gym. This time Blair’s glare barely penetrated Mina’s happiness as she walked toward the car with his family.
They finished loading the car, and Sam had just joined them when Mina caught sight of her father’s pickup working its way up the driveway. “Excuse me, one second.” Her happiness dissolved to be replaced with dread. What’s he doing here? To her knowledge, he’d never even been to the school before. I hope he’s not drunk.
Moving to the other side of the drive so she would be in clear view, Mina waited. He slowed the ancient truck to a stop in front of her. A quick assessment of his face told Mina he hadn’t been drinking. No spots of color on his cheeks and his eyelids weren’t drooping the way they had a tendency to do when he’d had a beer. That was a relief, at least. His face looked worn, tired, and angry. Why?
“Mina, what’re you doing here? Why didn’t you come home after school?”
“We watched a soccer game.” Mina frowned. “Was I supposed to work with you someplace today?” She didn’t remember being told they had any firewood to deliver.
“Well, no. But you didn’t tell your mother where you were going to be, so she thought something happened.”
“Yes, I did. I told her this morning.” She could see the Miller family standing over by their car, curiosity evident on every face.
“That’s not what she said. Anyway, we’ll straighten this out when we get home. Get your sister so we can be on our way.”
Nodding, Mina headed back across the parking lot, a smile plastered on her face. “Grab your backpack, Em. Dad was able to come get us after all.” Her voice sounded too cheery, even to her own ears.
Emma didn’t move. “Is he okay?”
Mina knew what she really meant. “Yes, he’s fine. C’mon, spaghetti’s waiting,” she said for encouragement.
“Okay,” Emma said, sounding like it was anything but okay. “Thanks,” she addressed the family at large. “See ya later,” she said to Sarah, heading across the parking lot.
“Watch for cars,” Mina reminded her, before turning to scoop up her own backpack. “Thanks, it was fun.” She backed away.
“Mina?” It was Lilith. “We haven’t seen you and Emma over to the house in a while. Please don’t be a stranger, okay?”
Mina nodded. “Okay.” She loved this woman so much. “See you guys Monday,” she said, in Sam’s and Winona’s general direction. For some reason, she couldn’t look at them, feeling like she might cry. She hurried to the truck, climbing in next to Emma. Mina had to slam the door twice to get it to close, but she still couldn’t look toward the Millers. Instead, she looked in her father’s direction. She he saw him give a nod out the windshield as they pulled away.
Coming in the back door, Mina and Emma were greeted by an empty kitchen, though the table was set. Ma sat in her usual chair in the living room. The girls took their backpacks to the bedroom and came back out to the kitchen, their mother hot on their heels. By this time, their father was in the house, washing up at the kitchen sink.
“Mina says she told you this morning she was going to a soccer game,” he stated.
“She most certainly did not.”
“Yes, I did.”
“Why are you lying?”
Lying? “Ma, I’m not lying. Remember you said my hair didn’t look good, and I told you I’d fix it on the bus, and then I said I was staying for a soccer game.”
“I remember no such thing. And why would you drag your sister into this? I think more has changed than your sloppy dress…is there a boy involved in this? Have you been with a boy?”
“Now, Gertrude, there’s no call for that,” Mina’s father interjected.
“Yes, there is. The last thing we need is for her to get herself in trouble.”
What’s she talking about?
“Now, Gertrude—”
“Don’t you now, Gertrude me! Lord knows I’ve tried, but look at her. She dresses indecently. Who knows what else she’s doing? I won’t allow her to shame us.”
Oh, my God. Mina didn’t want to hear this, and she didn’t think Emma should either.
“What about those Miller kids? Didn’t you tell me they had some boys?” Gertrude directed the question to her husband, but turned her attention to her oldest daughter. “Is it one of those Miller boys?” She shouted the question into Mina’s face, anger causing a fine spray of spittle to show in a beam of the late setting sun streaming through the dirty kitchen window.
Mina felt like throwing up. It was hard to believe an hour or so ago she’d enjoyed the same sunshine. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Liar.”
“No, she’s not. No, she’s not,” Emma shouted and started crying. “Remember, you said don’t be late, ‘cause you were making my favorite for supper. Spaghetti. You said if we were late, you weren’t going to wait.”
George dropped the old dish towel he had been wiping his hands with onto the counter and lifted the lid to a pot on the stove. “Spaghetti.” His tone was sad and accusatory, all at once. “Gert?”
Ma’s mouth opened and closed several times, as if she wanted to say something, but couldn’t get it out. Sinking into a kitchen chair, she sat there.
“Help me finish setting the table,” George instructed Mina. She did, and they all sat down and ate in silence. Mina waited through the whole meal for her mother to apologize, but it never happened. Right after dinner, Ma got up and went out in her garden.
“Put the food away and clear the table, please.” Their father headed out the back door too.
The girls washed the dishes.
“What’s wrong with Ma?”
Mina shook her head. “I don’t know.” She noticed the minute shaking of the dish towel Emma used to wipe a bowl. She was such a nervous kid, and this kind of stuff always upset her. “Em, this isn’t your fault. It’s not my fault either.” When Emma didn’t say anything, Mina gave her bony shoulders a squeeze. “Forget about it. She’ll be okay in a day or two,” Mina tried to reassure her sister.
Neither said anything for a few minutes as they put dishes away.
“Mina, have you and Sam been skipping school or something?”
“Of course not. Why?”
“‘Cause you’ve been with Sam lots of times. I was wondering what kind of trouble you were going to get into?”
“None.” Mina knew what her mother implied, but she wasn’t about to enlighten her little sister. “Forget it. Don’t ask, okay?”
“Oka
y.” Emma continued to wipe dishes. “How come Mrs. Miller doesn’t yell at her husband or kids like that?”
“Maybe she does, when no one’s around.” Mina knew even as she said it, it wasn’t true. She’s beginning to notice the difference between our family and others. She’s catching on a lot quicker than I did.
At lunch on Monday, the Miller kids didn’t mention what happened on Friday, and Mina didn’t bring it up either.
“Hey, Nona, what have you got left in your lunch?” Sam looked toward Winona’s lunch bag. “I’m still hungry.”
“Not much. If you’d get out of bed earlier, you’d have time to pack a lunch.”
“I get up plenty early enough, and I do pack a lunch. It just doesn’t fill me up. Coach has us running and doing so many wind sprints, I burn it off.”
“Gee, what a hardship…a high metabolism.” Mina took a bite of her apple. “How come most guys never seem to have a weight problem?”
“What’re you talking about? You don’t have a weight problem, unless you’re hiding it under that sweatshirt.” Sam eyed her. “Why are you wearing that thing, anyway? It’s got to be eighty degrees out.”
Mina shrugged.
“Yeah, it’s black too. That makes it even hotter.” Tom Evans piped in.
“What’s up with that? Everyone else is still wearing t-shirts and you’ve been wearing a sweatshirt for weeks. Are you sick?” Sam asked.
Mina’s face turned red as everyone at the table turned to look at her. She stuffed her lunch back in the paper bag, got up, and left without a word.
The bell rang.
Everyone else gathered their lunch stuff and left the table, except for Winona and Sam.
“What’s wrong with her? Are you going to eat that banana?”
Winona tossed it across the table. “You’re such an idiot sometimes.”
“About what? Mina’s sweatshirts?” Winona didn’t respond. “Nona? Why is Mina wearing that sweatshirt?”
“Never mind. It’s not your business. I can’t tell.”
What’s Mina trying to hide? Are her parents doing something to her? “Is someone beating her?”
“What? No, not that I know of. That’s not it.” Winona shook her head.
“You might as well tell me. I’m not going to let up until you do.”
The look on Sam’s face must have convinced Winona he was serious.
“Okay. But you’re not going to like it. If I tell you, you gotta promise you’re not going to do something stupid.”
What the hell is going on, and how come I don’t know about it? “Okay.”
“Promise.”
“Okay, I promise.”
By the time Winona finished telling him what happened to Mina in the hall, he was ready to get Ori and Joe. “We’ll take care of this.”
“You promised you wouldn’t do anything stupid.”
“I won’t.” I’m goin’ to pound those bastards into the dirt.
“Yes, you will. I can see it on your face. Sam, whatever you’re thinking, don’t do it. Not only will you get in trouble, you’ll get Ori and Joe in trouble too. If you do that, Mom and Dad aren’t going to be too happy.”
Sam shrugged. “Don’t worry, we’ll handle it.”
“You’ll handle it? Okay, how are you going to handle this part? If there’s a fight, one way or another, what happened will get out. How do you think Mina’s going to feel about that? She’s too embarrassed to tell anyone what they did, and I think somehow she thinks it’s her fault. That’s why she’s been trying to cover up.”
“What? She shouldn’t cover up because of those jackasses.”
“I know. I told her that. But imagine how Mina will feel if the whole school knows what happened? Don’t do that to her, Sam. She doesn’t deserve it.”
“You’re right, she doesn’t, but those guys do.” And somehow, I’m going to make sure they get what they deserve without involving Mina.
“Sam, what are you thinking? I told you, no fighting.”
“I promise. No fighting.”
“Mina, the soccer team has an away game tomorrow. Do you and Em want to go with us?” Winona asked at lunch time on Tuesday.
“Thanks for asking, but I can’t.” Her fight with her mother was still fresh, and Mina wasn’t about to bring up the Miller family name right now. Since the fight, her mother had been acting peculiar. She still hadn’t spoken to Mina, but that wasn’t it. It was as if she was in a daze.
The morning after the game as Sam gave Mina a summary of the action, Robbie Fields walked into home room with a piece of tape across the bridge of his nose and two black eyes. He gave Sam a curt nod and continued on.
“What happened to him?” Mina asked in a low voice.
“Broken nose.”
“Ouch.” She cringed. “How’d that happen?”
“My elbow.”
“What? You’re kidding?”
Sam shook his head. “It was an accident. We were in a bunch, some of their guys, some of ours, jockeying for position.” He shrugged. “Pretty close quarters. Stuff like that happens sometimes.”
Mina had to babysit and missed the next home game a week later. After lunch the following day, she and Sam were headed to class when she spotted the two boys who’d groped her ahead of them. Mina moved to the other side of the hall, looking straight ahead until she was well past them. She turned to Sam. He was gone. She glanced over her shoulder to find him walking down the hall backwards, facing the two boys, his arms out away from his sides. “I’m sorry.” His voice sounded very apologetic, until he turned back toward her, and she caught a fleeting smile on his face.
“Sorry about what?”
“Nothing really. You know it rained yesterday?” At her nod, he continued. “Sometimes the grass gets slick, even with our cleats. We had a collision.”
Mina glanced over her shoulder. The boys weren’t moving that fast down the hall, but their faces looked intact. “No broken noses, at least.”
“No. Hand.”
Mina looked again. One of the gropers had a cast on his hand. “How’d that happen?”
“I stepped on it,” Sam admitted. “By mistake, after someone from the other side knocked him down. You know how fast I get going sometimes; I couldn’t completely put the brakes on. It could’ve been worse. The cast is supposed to come off in a few weeks.”
“Okay, what about the other guy?”
“Oh, him?” Sam put his hands up. “I think I’m innocent there. A guy on the other team knocked him down. I came in to help and scuffled with the other guy over the ball, and somehow he got kicked while he was still on the ground. Unfortunately, I think he’ll still be able to have kids someday though. Did you get your math homework done?” Sam went into the classroom.
That’s weird. What’s up with all these accidents lately? The two boys limped by her and Mina tensed. They didn’t as much as look at her, just continued down the hall. She stopped. These two and Robbie Fields? Does Sam know? No, it’s just a coincidence. I wouldn’t bring it up anyway. Besides, I’ve got plenty of other stuff to worry about.
Ma was forgetting more and more things. Last month she’d run the well dry for several days when she forgot to shut off the hose, but insisted she hadn’t left it on. Then one day last week, when she and Em got home from school, they had no power. Her mother had no idea why, but she hadn’t called the company. Mina called, only to find the bill hadn’t been paid. Ma swore she sent the payment. The lady at the electric company said as soon as they got a check, they’d turn the power back on. It took Mina an hour to convince her mother to write a check. Ma was worried if the first check came in, she would’ve paid twice. Finally, Gertrude wrote the check, and her father slipped it under the door at the power company office early the next morning. The electricity was back on by the time they got home the next afternoon.
No, I’m definitely not going to worry about Sam’s bouts of clumsiness…
Sam stuck his head out of the classroom doorway.
“Mr. Broadhurst wants to know if you’re coming in. I told him you must’ve decided to skip class today. Are you?” He grinned.
Mina headed into class.
June 1993
“We need to get a move on. Joe’s sick, so I had to mow the lawn again this week, and my dad expects me back to help work on the roof. I just need to cool down.” Sam peeled off his shirt. Loosening his hair from the customary long braid, he let it spread over shoulders already a dark brown from the early summer sun. His long strides had Mina hurrying to keep up, her eyes glued to those broad shoulders.
“I don’t know why we can’t do this up by the bridge. Who cares if someone sees you?”
“I care,” she said, slightly breathless. The class trip this year was to Northam Lake, and she wanted to swim like the other kids. In the meantime, Mina didn’t want anyone to see Sam giving her swimming lessons, so they were going to Regent’s Pool, further down the river. Sam marched across the field that led to it and Mina couldn’t help but admire the sheen of his black hair in the sunlight. Pulling the hair tie from her ponytail, she ran her hands through her hair, fluffing it up to relieve some of the stress on her scalp from the weight of it. She envied him his beautiful, straight hair. Hers curled in every direction, much to her dismay.
Sam kicked off his sneakers and hit the boulder at the edge of the river in two strides, diving cleanly into the slow moving water. Popping up half way across the river, he let out a loud whoop. “Come on, come on. Let’s go,” he chided, splashing the surface of the water with the flat of his palm.
Mina kicked off her sandals, but left her t-shirt on and climbed down the boulder before slipping into the water. “It’s freezing.” She sucked in her breath as she felt the bottom with her foot, not wanting to slip.
“Hey, you’re the one that wanted to come here,” he reminded her. “Come on, let’s go.”
My Mother Grows Wallflowers Page 10
