The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek(3)

“All right, folks,” C.B. Donner, of C.B.’s Auto Parts, said into a staticky microphone. “It looks like Chef Whitewood will be platin’ up some of his heavenly pork in a matter of minutes, so get your bellies ready. And once we chow down, it’ll be auction time!” Ever since C.B. and his wife, Diane, had divorced earlier that year, he’d made a point of emceeing as many town events as possible. “I’d also like to take a moment to remind all you ladies out there that my store’s got a sale on air fresheners, and we just got a new scent in. It’s called Pink Swan. Come by and smell of it all you want.” He pointed down to his neck, where he was wearing one of the air fresheners as a necklace. True to the name, it was a pink swan. Rex wondered if it would solve his own scent problem.

“Hey, you ready?” a voice asked from behind him.

He turned to find Leif Nelson, at last, standing there in a white T-shirt and a clip-on tie, with his dog, Tucker, leashed next to him.

“Hey,” Rex said. “Where’ve you been?”

“Sorry I’m late. I was getting Tucker ready for his scene.”

“What does that mean?”

“Like, I was prepping him. Getting his mind in the right place.”

“I still don’t understand.”

“That’s because you don’t have a dog.”

“Oh, hey, Leif,” Rex’s mom said, smiling, for the first time all day, like she meant it.

“Nice to see you, Mrs. McClendon. Mr. McClendon.”

“Good to see you, too,” Rex’s dad said, rubbing Tucker’s furry head. “Those specs are lookin’ sharp!” Leif had been wearing glasses for several months now, but Rex’s parents had made a habit of complimenting him like they thought he was insecure about them.

“And I like that tie,” Rex’s mom said, pointing to the clip-on.

“Oh, thanks, it’s for our—” Leif was about to say movie until he saw Rex staring him down. “Fundraiser. Well, not our fundraiser. But this fundraiser. That we’re all attending now.”

“Well, okay.” Rex’s mom had gotten used to her son and his best friend saying inscrutable things. “Is your mom comin’ by?”

“No, ma’am, she’s at work,” Leif said. His mom had three jobs, which meant Leif was usually on his own. Rex loved this, as it meant Leif was always around to hang, as had been the case that whole summer.

“Looks like folks are startin’ to sit down,” Rex’s dad said, wiping sweat from his bald head with his black and white McClendon-McClemmon Funeral Home handkerchief, and pointing to the two people who’d taken a seat. “Shouldn’t be long now till we eat.”

“Hey,” Rex said to Leif under his breath as they walked toward the tables. “You got any deodorant on you?”

“Any what?”

“Deodorant.” Rex looked around to see who was listening, realizing that maybe he wasn’t so different from his mom after all.

“Why?” Leif asked.

“Like, to use.”

“You want to use my deodorant?”

“Yes. Yes, I do.”

“Oh.” Leif stared at Rex as if seeing him for the first time, like he’d just discovered some long-buried truth about the best friend he’d known since he was six. Or maybe he’d just inhaled. “No. You think I just carry deodorant around with me?”

Rex said nothing as he began to absorb his fate for the rest of the day.

“And even if I did,” Leif continued, “I probably wouldn’t let you use it. Unhygienic. No offense.”

“Excellent, thanks,” Rex said, shaking his head. His parents sat down at one of the tables, but Rex and Leif stood a short distance away, where they could plot their film shoot out of earshot.

“Alicia’s still not here?” Leif asked.

“Nah,” Rex said. “Or if she is, I haven’t seen her.”

“Even when I’m late, she’s even later,” Leif complained.

Alicia Boykins had completed their friend trio when she’d moved to Bleak Creek in third grade. During recess on her second day at school, she’d asked Rex and Leif if she could get in on the drawing contest they were having. They’d given her a skeptical “Um, okay” and told her she’d have to “draw fast ’cause they were almost done.” “That’s not a problem,” Alicia had said, taking a multi-pointed rainbow pen from her pocket and, within minutes, busting out a picture of a smiling girl clutching three human heads in each hand. Rex and Leif had looked down at their own creations—a dragon wearing a beret and a half turtle, half bear, respectively—and realized they’d found a friend even weirder than they were.

“She’ll be here, don’t worry,” Rex said.

“The whole point is that the scene takes place at an outdoor event,” Leif said. “So we need to shoot before it’s over.”

“We’ll be fine,” Rex said, unzipping his backpack and taking out the camcorder. “We still gotta figure ou—”

“What’s up, fellas?” Rex and Leif turned to see Mark Hornhat next to them, in his usual polo shirt and khaki shorts and smelling like he had just showered in Eternity by Calvin Klein.