by Jeff Moberg
***
One hour later, after hot chocolate in our warm, cozy house, by the warm, cozy fire, I was under the covers in my warm, cozy bed. I could see the soft, comforting glow of the lights outside my window now. I smiled and sent Luke a text:
Me: I just wanted to say thank you again for the best present in the history of the whole world.
LukeK: (Smiling) You’re welcome.
Me: I love you Luke.
LukeK: (Blushing) Wow. Now it’s my turn.
Me: For what?
LukeK: To thank you. Thank you, Norma L--for the two best presents in the history of the whole world.
Me: Two?
LukeK: Yeah, you know. The L word… and the kiss.
Me: (Smiling and blushing) You’re welcome… twice.
41
The Bad 7—The Good 7
The next morning, at 7AM (Sheesh!), I got another text message from Luke:
LukeK: Hey pretty girl. I have 2 questions for you.
Me: Hey handsome guy. OK. Go ahead.
LukeK: Question number 1. Do you still have that gift card we won for the Halloween costume contest?
I wasn’t fully awake yet, and I had to think for a second.
Me: You mean the one for Starlight?
LukeK: Yep. That’s the one.
I quickly started digging under a pile of school papers on the top of my desk. It was under a math assignment I had forgotten to turn in two months ago (Dang!). At the top of the card it said, “St*light!” Underneath the name, there was a picture of a happy, smiling couple at an old drive-in movie theater. They were sitting at a table that looked like an old, convertible car, and they were eating hamburgers and watching a movie on an old outdoor movie screen. It said, “Dine under the stars… at St*rlight!”
Me: Yep. I got it right here. What’s question number 2?
LukeK: Would you like to go there for dinner? Tonight? With me?
Me: Actually, that was 3 more questions. But my answers are… yes… yes… and yes.
I had never been to a real drive-in movie theater. Mom told me that they used to be all over the place back in the 70’s. They were practically extinct now. To me, the 1970’s were like the Mesozoic Era. I mean, come on. Disco dancing? Bell bottom pants? Leisure suits? Mustaches? All of those things were like dinosaurs now. Extinct. But seeing a movie outside, while sitting in your car, did sound like fun. And I had heard that Starlight was an amazing place.
LukeK: Great! I’ll make reservations. How about 7:30?
Me: That sounds perfect!
LukeK: OK. I’ll pick you up at about 7.
Me: OK. I’ll be ready! Hey… by the way… what’s with you and 7?
LukeK: 7??? I don’t get it.
Me: Do you happen to have a watch? Or a working clock of some kind?
LukeK: Of course. I still don’t get it.
Me: What time does your watch or working clock say right now?
LukeK: 7:07… so?
Me: And what day is today???
LukeK: Saturday. Ohhh. I get it now. Sorry. We get up early around here. There’s always lots to do.
Me: But Luke, it’s Saturday. Don’t you guys ever get a day off?
LukeK: Of course. Once in awhile. Sometimes. At least I think so.
He didn’t sound so sure. I thought of how hard they all worked out there and I thought of the tiny red, white, and blue trailer Luke and his mom were living in. And I thought of the snow and the cold and the Colorado winters. I hoped he was warm, and I wanted to ask him if he was—but I didn’t want to draw attention to his situation or insult him.
Last night, when we were all sitting by the fire, drinking hot chocolate, I realized how lucky Mom and I were to have a nice, warm house to live in. We didn’t really need the four-story mansion with the indoor swimming pool. Just warmth and love. Before I had gone to sleep, I had looked out the window at the best present in the history of the whole world, and I thought of everything that Luke and his mom always did for other people. And I wished with all my heart that they could have what mom and I had.
LukeK: Hello? Are you still there?
Oops. The beep of my phone brought me out of my daydream.
Me: Sorry. I was just thinking.
LukeK: What about?
Me: Oh you know… just things. Actually, I was thinking about how much fun we’ll have tonight at Starlight! I can’t wait!
LukeK: Me too! See you at 7!
Me: 7??? Ugg!
LukeK: Sorry. Not the bad 7—the good 7!
42
St*rlight
Luke’s mom dropped us off at the Haywood Mega Mall at about 7:15. We walked toward the east end of the mall on the lower level until we saw the Starlight sign. There was a line of people waiting to get in. A long line. And the line was only for people hoping that someone didn’t show up on time for their reservation. I was glad that Luke knew you needed reservations for Starlight, because if you didn’t have a reservation, chances were, you weren’t getting in. We happily walked past the unhappy hopefuls to the front entrance.
Above the entrance was a huge, brightly lit sign that looked like a movie marquee. It had blinking arrows that seemed to travel in a circle around the outside of the sign, and in the middle it said, ‘St*rlight… dine under the stars… at St*rlight’. There was a bright blue star where the ‘a’ should have been. A girl in a pastel green and pink skirt and sweater was standing at the entrance. There was a velvet rope behind her. “Good evening,” she said in a friendly voice. “Welcome to Starlight. My name is Lois. Do you two lovely people have a reservation?” She smiled at us like she thought it was cute that a young couple like us was out on a date. Luke smiled back. “Krattenmucker,” he said proudly. “Two for seven-thirty.”
“Krattenmucker… Krattenmucker… Krattenmucker…” She repeated over and over as she looked down her long list of names. I was starting to get a little nervous. I was all dressed up and I didn’t want to join the line of unhappy hopefuls who didn’t have reservations. Or even worse, end up at Superdog. Not that I had anything against Superdog—I loved Superdog—it’s just that I had my heart set on “dining under the stars… at Starlight. Lois finally found us. “Ah yes, Mr. Krattenmucker. Here you are. Two for seven-thirty.” We both let out a sigh of relief.
As amazing as the outside entrance was, the inside of Starlight was beyond amazing—it was like another world. Literally. Walking through the entrance was like walking back in time. Luke and I both looked at each other and whispered, “Wow…” at the same time. Above us was a warm summer evening sky at dusk. The stars were just coming out, twinkling brightly, and the mountains were silhouetted against the fading light of the horizon. It wasn’t like a restaurant painted to look like a night sky—it was like a real night sky.
Another girl in the same pastel green and pink skirt and sweater took us to our table. Our table was an old, red, convertible car—and it was in the front row. Directly in front of our table/car was an outdoor movie screen. There was a trailer for an old horror movie playing. A gorilla wearing a space helmet was chasing a girl in a bikini. Then across the screen it said, ‘Robot Monster! Run for Your Lives!’ We sat in the front seat of our car, and the girl handed us each a menu. “Welcome to Starlight! My name is Mary Ann. Have you been here before?” We were both speechless, so we both just shook our heads no. She smiled and explained the special for the night. Then she gave us a basket of popcorn and told us she would be back in a few minutes to take our order.
When she was gone, I smiled at Luke and said, “Thank you. This is the most awesome place I’ve ever been!”
Luke smiled back. “No, thank you. If you hadn’t agreed to go to the Halloween party as Wonder Woman, we never would have won the gift card!”
I couldn’t help but laugh, as I thought of that horrible day. First I got sick, then I g
ot mad and punched Janet J at the dance (well, actually Wonder Woman punched Janet J), and then I got suspended. But we did win the costume contest, and we did get the gift card to Starlight--so I guess it was all worth it.
For the next two hours, we laughed, and talked, and ate the best bacon cheeseburgers ever; and we snacked on onion rings and fries with lots of ketchup. While we stuffed ourselves silly, we watched trailer after trailer of old 50’s black and white horror and sci-fi movies. We saw The Brain that Wouldn’t Die, and The Screaming Skull, and The Giant Leeches, and The Thing, and The Thing that Wouldn’t Die, and Robot Monster, and my personal favorite, Attack of the 50-Foot Woman! It was the most fun I had ever had. Luke agreed.
That is, until we went to the food court after dinner for dessert.
Dinner, including the tip for Mary Ann, came exactly to the amount of our gift card—fifty dollars. We both felt very fortunate, because we knew that neither one of us would have ever have fifty dollars to spend on a dinner out. As we were leaving (there were still people waiting in line to get in—and now I knew why), Luke said that he had an extra five dollars for Blizzards at Dairy Queen. I thought that sounded great, so we walked up to the top level to the food court. Before we ordered, we both decided to go to the bathroom.
I waved to Luke as we went our separate ways—and then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed two familiar faces following right behind him. Two big, ugly, creepy, scary-looking faces. It took me a second or two to realize who it was—and then the names came to me--Sperry and McGurk.
43
The Final Showdown
All I could think was, OMG, they’re going to kill him!
I started to run into the bathroom to warn him, but quickly decided that was a bad idea. Then I turned around and practically sprinted back to the food court. I was out of breath when I got to the counter at Superdog. Hank, the Top Dog, remembered me. “Hey, I know you. You’re Kletch’s cousin’s daughter. Norma, right? Norma L?”
I was too scared and too out of breath to chat. I just nodded quickly and said, “Kletch… where’s Kletch?”
Hank looked over his shoulder and said, “Hmm… I think he just went on break. Is everything OK?”
“Yeah, yeah.” I lied. I was getting desperate. “Where does he take his break?” Obviously, everything was not OK, but I didn’t want to get Hank involved. He must have been at least eighty years old.
“He usually goes to the Pet Stop to look at the guinea pigs. He loves guinea pigs.”
Oh no, I thought. The Pet Stop was on level two and pretty far away. We would never make it back in time to save Luke. I quickly said, “Thanks,” and started to run, looking back and forth for a security guard. There had to be one close by--the Haywood Mega Mall had tons of them.
But before I got more than ten feet away, Hank called after me, “He usually goes to the bathroom first.”
I stopped suddenly and breathed a huge sigh of relief. I didn’t need to find a security guard now to save Luke. It was Sperry and McGurk who would need saving.
When I turned the corner to the bathroom hallway, I found exactly what I expected to find. And it was quite a sight. Kletch, my mom’s cousin, the ex-Marine, war hero, Medal of Honor recipient, had a hold of Sperry in his good hand, and McGurk in his mechanical hand. Their heads were both wet. Soaked, actually. Luke was walking right behind them. Dry as a bone.
A Mega Mall security guard met Kletch, and after a brief, one-sided discussion (Kletch did all the talking and Sperry and McGurk didn’t say a word), the security guard took the two very unhappy and wet campers off Kletch’s hands. We all watched as they made their way across the food court and were met again shortly by two Haywood police officers. And after another brief one-sided discussion, Sperry and McGurk were handcuffed and taken away.
Luke and Kletch told me the whole story as we had Oreo Cookie Blizzards at a food court table next to the Dairy Queen.
“OMG Luke,” I said, still trying to catch my breath. “I saw those two idiots follow you into the bathroom, and I thought they were going to kill you! I ran back to Superdog to get Kletch and Hank said he was on break. I was so worried. Then Hank told me that Kletch had gone to the bathroom. What happened?”
Luke looked like he had just seen a ghost. “Well, I was walking into the bathroom, when I heard someone say really loudly, ‘Well, well, well… look what we have here. I do believe it’s our old friend the Geekster!’ I turned around and saw Sperry. Then McGurk said, ‘Yeah… I do believe you’re right… it’s our old buddy and pal… the Dorkster!’ Then Sperry said, ‘Hey… wasn’t he the guy who punched you and broke your nose?’ And McGurk said, ‘Yeah… your right. He did break my nose!’ Then Sperry said, ‘I think it’s time we taught him a lesson… swirly style.’ So then, they both grabbed me and pushed me through a stall door. They were about to put my head into the toilet when I heard the toilet in the next stall flush. They stopped for a second, and before I knew what had happened, Kletch burst into our stall, grabbed them both by the back of their shirts, and dunked both of their heads in the toilet!”
Kletch joined in the story, “I told them two knuckleheads that they weren’t supposed to be at the mall since they got arrested here before. The police told us to call them if we ever saw those two knuckleheads at the mall again.” Kletch paused for a second, trying to get his thoughts in order. “Oh yeah,” he finally continued. “Then I told them two knuckleheads if they ever bothered my friend Luke--ever again--that them two knuckleheads would have to deal with me instead of that toilet.” Kletch smiled. “So I don’t think you’ll have anymore trouble with them two knuckleheads.”
I was scared and relieved and laughing all at the same time. What an amazing stroke of luck that Kletch just happened to be in that same bathroom right when Sperry and McGurk were about to kill Luke. Or maybe, I thought, maybe someone was looking out for Luke. Just then, my phone beeped. It was a text from Mom saying that she was waiting for us outside the west entrance. I looked at the time on my phone. I couldn’t believe it was already ten. “Time to go,” I said to Luke. He nodded OK and I gave Kletch a tight, grandma hug. “Thank you, Kletch. You were a life saver tonight.”
Kletch hugged me back and said, “Anything for you and Luke, Normy. You two are special.”
Luke shook Kletch’s mechanical hand and said, “Thank you for your help tonight, Mr. Kletcher. You are the special one, sir.”
44
Wanted Presence--Unwanted Present
Christmas was wonderful. Well, sort of. I saw all of my family--except for my dad, who was still in Maui with freakin Andrea! I could not believe that he would miss seeing my play and miss seeing me at Christmas, just so he could sit on the beach with some bimbo named Andrea. My mom just said, “I’m so sorry, honey.” Then, two days after Christmas, I got a card in the mail. There was a picture of Bing Crosby on the front. He was wearing a red Santa hat. It said, ‘Melikalikimaka!’ On the inside, there was a picture of my dad and Andrea (she looked a lot younger than him). They were standing by the ocean, waving. He had written, ‘Merry Xmas Punkin! Buy yourself something nice! Luv, Dad and Andrea’.
There was also a check for one thousand dollars. I rolled my eyes. He always tried to make up for messing up by buying me something or giving me money. Well, I was still mad about the play and Christmas, so there was no way in ‘you know what’ that I was going to spend that money. It was blood money to me. I’d much rather have a dad who cared about me and wanted to spend time with me than a bunch of money.
Then I had a great idea. A wonderful, awesome, amazing idea! I’d give it to Luke to replace all the trees that he had given away and lost! I knew that it wouldn’t cover the cost of replacing all of them, but it would be a good start. Mom had invited Luke and his mom over for Christmas dinner, so when we had a chance to get away from all of the family for a few minutes, I gave him a red envelope.
“What’s this for?” he asked as I handed it to him.
“It’s your Christmas present. You got me a present, the best present in the history of the world, so I decided to get one for you.” I had made a card that said, ‘Merry Christmas to one of the good guys! LNL’
He smiled and slowly opened it. He read the card and smiled again. “Thanks, Norma. That’s sweet.” Then he noticed that there were several one hundred dollar bills inside (I had cashed the check from my dad and put the cash inside the card). He gave me an odd look. “What’s this for?”
“It’s some money… to replace your trees.”
He slowly counted the bills. “Norma, this is a thousand dollars. Where did you get this much money?”
I told him about my dad missing the play and being in Hawaii with freakin Andrea, and how he tried to make up for it by giving me the money. “I could never spend that money, Luke. I want you to have it so you can plant some new trees out back.”
He still had an odd look on his face. “Norma… that is so sweet for you to think of me. But I could never take this kind of money from you. If you don’t want it, maybe you could give it to your mom.”
I laughed out loud, and then quickly covered my mouth with my hand. “OMG Luke. My mom would rather die a horrible, painful, awful death, than take a penny from my dad. Please Luke, take the money so you can buy some new trees… that would make me so happy. I want you to have your own trees again out back at the tree farm.”
For the next several minutes, we had our first non-Janet J related fight. Well, it wasn’t really a fight--it was more like an argument. Actually, it was really just a discussion--a friendly, polite discussion. Finally, we came to the unalterable conclusion that we had absolutely no idea what to do with the money.
He handed the money back to me and said, “You keep the money for now… until we decide what to do with it. We’ll think of something. But I’ll keep the card. I’m glad you think I’m one of the good guys… thanks!”
I hugged him and smiled, thinking, Well, Luke, you just proved it again.
45
Still Relentlessly Positive!
Before I knew what had happened, it was Monday, January the 2nd, and I was sitting in Mr. Spinoza’s class at 7:30AM. Glorious, wonderful, restful Christmas break was over. When my alarm went off that morning at 6:00 AM, I felt like crying. And when my mom came into my room at 6:01AM and said, “Come on, honey! Time to rise and shine! Time to get ready for school!”, I felt like sobbing. School? How could it possibly be time to go back to school?
Luke came in and sat next to me. “Hey Norma!” He sounded happy and cheerful. How could someone actually be happy and cheerful when you were at school at 7:30 AM? It defied all reason and logic.
Then Mr. Spinoza came in. “Good morning everyone! I hope you all had a restful and wonderful break! Welcome back!” Oh no, I thought, now there are two happy and cheerful people in the room! Mr. Spinoza had told us at the beginning of the year, that he loved teaching, and because of that, he would be in a good mood every single day of the school year. Well, we were halfway through and he had been true to his word.
At the end of class, Mr. Spinoza announced that there would be one more important ‘positive’ project for the year. He wanted us to think about a worthy ‘cause’ that we could somehow figure out a way to draw attention to, so that the community could rally around and support it. “Any ideas? Anything just off the top of your head?” he asked. I could see Norma P and Amanda whispering and plotting already. Mitch Mitchell, one of the crazy football players, raised his hand.
“Yes, Mitch. What do you think?” Mr. Spinoza was hoping for something good to end the class on.
Mitch cleared his throat. “Well, what about the retired NFL players who have brain injuries from too many concussions and poor equipment?” Mitch had a grandfather who had played in the NFL and he had Alzheimer’s now.
Mr. Spinoza was nodding in agreement. “That’s a great idea, Mitch. Back then, a lot of those players didn’t make very much money—and with their health problems now and medical costs soaring, they could sure use some help. Thanks Mitch. Anyone else before we go? We have one more minute.”
Norma P had her hand up, but I did didn’t hear what she said because Luke was elbowing me in the side. I glanced in his direction and gave him my, ‘It’s way too early to be elbowing me in the side’ look. He wrote three initials on a piece of paper and pushed it onto my desk. They were, ‘DAV’.
“Who’s Dave?” I whispered out the side of my mouth.
He rolled his eyes, took the paper back and then wrote out three words, a name, another word and a number. He passed the note back. It said:
Disabled American Veterans
James Anthony Kletcher
Statue
$1000
I read the note, smiled at Luke, and mouthed the words, ‘You’re a pretty smart guy.’
He nodded and mouthed the words back, ‘Thanks. I know.’
Then I rolled my eyes and the bell rang.
46
Shooting Star!
The only thing possibly worse than being back in class at 7:30AM the first morning after Christmas break, was finding yourself in PE, with the teacher saying way too loudly, OK girls, today we start our basketball unit. Norma A high fived Mabel Mulligan. With the two of them on our school varsity team, we wouldn’t lose a game this season. I wasn’t high fiving anyone—and nobody was high fiving me. The truth is, I might have been the absolute worst basketball player of all time. I couldn’t dribble, I couldn’t make a lay up, I couldn’t pass the ball with any accuracy whatsoever, and I couldn’t shoot a free throw to save my life.
After we changed into our gym clothes, Ms. Marshall, who was also the varsity basketball coach, put us into three groups to test our skills. First, my group had to dribble and shoot ten lay ups. I was 0 out of 10. The girls in my group tried not to laugh. Janet J was smiling. Then we moved to free throws. Again, I was 0 out of 10. And again, the girls tried hard not to laugh. Mabel was in my group. “It’s OK, Norma,” she reassured me as she put a large, hairy arm around my shoulder. “We can’t all be good at everything. You were great in the play!”
I just nodded and whispered, “Thank you.”
Then we moved on to the much feared and dreaded 3-pointer test. Good grief, I thought as I got into line, I can’t make a flippin lay up. How in the world am I going to make a shot from this far away? Most of the girls only made 3 or 4 out of the 10. At least that was a whole lot better than the zero I was going to make. Then Janet J, who was right in front of me in line, made 7 out of 10. She was considered the varsity team’s best long-range shooter. After her last shot, she threw that ball hard at me and said under her breath, “Let’s see what you can do, loser. Oh and… don’t worry… no pressure… only everyone is watching.” I couldn’t believe her. She was still mad about Luke and I being together, and she was obviously still mad about me getting the part of Anne over her. I guess basketball was now her way of getting back at me.
Suddenly, Ms. Marshall was yelling, “Come on, girlfriend! Let’s go! We haven’t got all day!”
Janet J was smiling from ear to ear when I took my first 3-point shot.
She wasn’t smiling after it went in.
Mabel jumped up in the air and came down with a loud thud! “Alright Norma! Great shot! Nothing but net! Way to go!”
Janet J scoffed. “One in a million… lucky shot… it’ll never happen again.”
Mabel turned to Janet J. “Oh yeah? Back it up! Put your lunch where your mouth is! I’ll bet you lunch that she can make 5 out of 10!”
Inside, I was thinking, Wow, Mabel is standing up for me! That’s great! Then I thought, Oh, no! Mabel will be furious with me if she loses her lunch. And then I thought, Wait, Mabel doesn’t get mad. She may be big and hairy and scary-looking
, but she was sweet.
Janet J scoffed again. “Whatever. You’re on! She won’t make another shot.”
But somehow, amazingly, astonishingly I did make another. And another. And another. And another. In fact, when I was done, I had made 10 out of 10! Suddenly, Mabel and Norma A and the rest of the girls were mobbing me and high fiving me and congratulating me and pounding me on the back. I felt like the guy who made the half-court shot at a Nuggets game to win a new car.
New friends were better than a new car any day!
After class, Ms. Marshall came over to me and said, “Girlfriend, you will be trying out for the varsity basketball team after school today. Three o’clock. Sharp. In the gym. See you then.”
The bell rang and I realized that I had just been on the receiving end of the most one-sided conversation of my entire lifetime. OK, I thought, I guess I’ll be trying out for the girl’s varsity basketball team this afternoon. I wondered if it had just been pure luck that I had made all those shots in class today. Then I thought, Maybe someone is looking out for me also.
47
Who Knew?
Janet J was sluggish at basketball tryouts, since she didn’t have any lunch. And Mabel Mulligan was also moving a little slow, since she had had lunch twice! Ms. Marshall wasn’t happy with either one of them, and she yelled at them constantly, “Come on girlfriend! Pick it up! Get your slow behind moving!” She yelled at the rest of us, too, for our various shortcomings related to the game of basketball.
The only one of us she didn’t yell at, was Norma A. Norma A was ridiculously good at everything. She could dribble well, handle the ball well, pass well, and shoot well. She was a basketball machine, and she would be the starting point guard. During tryouts, Ms. Marshall would have Norma A drive the lane, and then either make a lay up or pass it out to me behind the 3-point line. If she passed it to me, I was instructed to shoot it. So shoot it I did. And every time I shot it, the ball went in. It was the weirdest, strangest, oddest thing that had ever happened to me. After tryouts, Ms. Marshall came up to me again and said, “Girlfriend, you are going to be my shooting star!”
