Dream Me(45)
“Trust me, they’re not worth it. And I say that as someone who could use the money.” I was trying to bring a little humor into the conversation but it backfired.
“I haven’t been a great provider. Sorry, baby girl.” Now I’d made my dad feel inadequate. Way to go, Babe.
“No, it’s not that. It’s other stuff I just don’t feel like talking about right now.”
“Perry?” At least he didn’t know anything about Clyde yet.
“And more.”
“You know I’m always a willing ear.” My father seemed sad. He wanted to be relevant in my life and I wished I could help him out. But I couldn’t tell him about Zat. Or Clyde Buell.
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But I could tell Mai everything, and I did. Sometimes she’d try to talk her version of sense into me, but she never judged. In such a short time, she’d become the best friend I ever had.
The next day she gave me a second gift—an ink drawing this time. Me in an ultrashort tennis dress with a big B emblazoned on my chest (super hero style), hands on my hips, way over-developed thigh and bicep muscles. Lying facedown on the court in front of me was a man (presumably Clyde), my foot on his back; two tennis rackets at perpendicular angles to each other above his head like a grave marker. I couldn’t (and didn’t) leave this picture lying around. But every time I sneaked a peek, it brought a smile to my face.
My third day off from work, Mai and LeGrand showed up at my house with flowers. Of course, Mai knew the real reason I was home but she played along when LeGrand suggested they pay a visit and cheer me out of my sick bed. By then I’d already “recovered” from my “illness” and was planning to go back to work the next day. Bing sent me an email that afternoon giving me the all clear. Clyde Buell hadn’t displayed any signs of complete ego failure. In fact, he even expressed concern for my well-being when Bing told him I was sick. Gag.
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Somehow, at some point, LeGrand, Mai, and I became the three Musketeers, hanging out a lot together. This could easily have caused trouble for me with the other kids, but Mattie Lynn was the queen bee and the other girls took their cues from her. So far Mattie Lynn was playing it cool, even though she dropped any pretense of a personal interest in me. LeGrand’s status gave me some protection, although once he was gone only Mai would have my back at Sugar Dunes High. But who was ever going to mess with me and Mai? We were the dynamic duo.
Still, at times I found myself feeling for Mattie Lynn. LeGrand was a project she’d been working on her whole life and then all of a sudden, he was the project she was forced to abandon. But I didn’t see LeGrand that way, I just thought he was fun and interesting. A nice guy to hang out with. But me, the real me? I was with Zat.
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Kay came back from her extended leave. She was nice once we got used to each other. She was tough and you could tell things hadn’t come easy to her. She was probably only in her thirties, but the hardness in her eyes, her tense, thin lips, and her old-fashioned, tight, permed hair made her look about twenty years older. I knew I had to let her reclaim her former second-in-command spot under Bing, so I stepped back. I asked her a lot of questions when I already knew the answers and let her stake out her territory. She was the kind of person you’d rather have as an ally than an enemy.
With her return, Bing and I could take actual lunch breaks and eat real food at a real table in the back room if we wanted. Or I could leave my air conditioned workplace and get outside to breathe real air for a few minutes. I knew her arrival meant I wasn’t needed anymore, but they’d keep me on for the sake of my dad. Once school started, Bing said I could pick up hours after school and on the weekends as needed.
Bing started hitting with me almost on a daily basis, as we had time to do that now. I obviously wanted to play for the tennis team of my school, so being able to hit with the tennis pro was a huge plus. Clyde Buell kept his distance and minded his own business. He almost always came in with his wife after that awful day.
Friends Across the Bay was winding down, so Mai decided we needed to make our move with Alonso before it was over. We’d be going to the same school come fall, so she thought we (meaning LeGrand and me) owed Alonso some quality time. Her logic was that we’d spent half the summer with him and knew nothing more about him after all that time than we did the first day he walked through the door. The way I saw it, Alonso was probably counting the days until camp was over and he could get away from all of us. Like a prison sentence.
“Come on you guys, it will be FABulous,” Mai needled us.
“What makes you think he’s going to want to see us outside of tennis?” LeGrand wisely asked. “Isn’t it bad enough he has to suffer with us those few hours a day?”
“It’s not us, LeGrand, he just doesn’t like tennis. At least I think it’s not us. Come to think of it, he still hasn’t looked me in the eye, but I know he likes you.”
I had serious doubts about Mai’s plan. She’d never met Alonso, but she liked stirring things up. Stirring people up and watching to see what would happen. She had a strong desire to push boundaries, maybe the result of spending her entire life in one small town. I had a much more laid back approach to life, which is why we made such a good pair.
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Alonso’s house wasn’t far from Mai’s in distance, only a few miles. But it was a world apart in other ways. Like most places I’d lived, there were all sorts of microcosms within the larger world of Sugar Dunes.