When Sylvia and I got off the bus at my house, we
noticed my
father’s car parked in the driveway. “Dad’s home from work
early,” I
said.
“Maybe he’s just sleeping off the trip,” Sylvia said.
“That’s probably it.”
We went inside and climbed the stairs to the living
room. There
was laughter coming from the dining room. “Sounds like you have
company,” Sylvia whispered.
“Crystal! Good lord!” It was Warren
Shelby, the astronaut. I was
surprised to see him after having returned from space only the day
before. “You’ve grown a foot since the last time I saw you!”
“No, I still only have two.”
“You look like your mother’s twin sister. You
must be breaking hearts in that high school of yours.”
“All the time,” Sylvia smirked. I introduced
her.
“This is Sylvia, Uncle Warren.”
Mom piped up. “Guess who else is here!
Do you remember Maureen?”
She gestured to a girl sitting at the table with a folder of technical
papers in front of her. She looked up and smiled slightly.
“Hi.”
Maureen was Curt’s age and looked like a cross
between Brooke
Shields and Ally Sheedy, with long brown hair and blue eyes.
“Maureen
is in her first year at MIT. She’s got an internship at NASA for
the
summer.” Warren was all smiles as he put his arm around her and
hugged
her proudly.
Dad gestured to the papers on the table.
“We’ve got a problem with
the new satellite. One of the cameras appears to be on the
blink.
Warren and Maureen are here to help us figure it out.”
“Where’s Curt?” Warren asked.
“Practice,” I said.
“Let me show you the trophy case I built in the
den,” Dad said.
“Curt’s been racking up quite a collection. He gets it from his
old
man.”
“Right. The only trophy you ever won was for
Bookworm of the Year!”
Dad and Warren went downstairs to see the trophy
case while Sylvia and I sat down with Maureen.
“So do they still call you ‘Sprout?’”
“Sprite,” I corrected her.
“Sprite. Excuse me.”
“Once in a while they let it slip.”
“What grade are you in?”
“Ninth.”
“How old are you?”
“Fifteen.”
Maureen smiled slightly and returned her attention
to the charts
and photographs in front of her. Sylvia and I traded
glances.
“There’s a dance at our school tonight. Would you want to come
with
us?”
Maureen looked at Sylvia the way a scientist would
look at a lab rat. “A dance? You’re invited me to a dance?”
“Why not? It will be fun.”
“I appreciate the offer, but I’m going to be real
busy with this satellite malfunction. Thanks anyway.”
“Can’t it wait? They don’t expect you to work
on it all night, do they?”
I tried to give Sylvia the hint that she shouldn’t
push it. Maureen did not strike me as the type to do that kind of
thing.
“I really can’t. I have a lot of work to do.”
Sylvia seemed offended by the way Maureen just went
right back to studying the papers in front of her.
“Come on, Sylvia. Let’s go to my room.”
“Okay.”
When we got there, Sylvia nudged me. “That chick’s a
drag. Where did you say she’s from?”
“They live in Houston. She used to live around
here when she was a kid. She used to have a big crush on Curt.”
“I thought she was your cousin.”
“No, we just call her father ‘Uncle Warren’ because
he and my father are so close.”
“Oh.”
“So is Casey going to take us to the dance?”
“He said he would. I’ll give him a call.”
* *
* * *
Sylvia spent the next two hours and a half hours
trying to reach
Casey on the phone. His mother said he took off on his motorcycle
right after school and didn’t say where he was going. She called
his
friends, but they hadn’t seen him, either.
Warren and my father talked about the good old days
all through
dinner. When we were done eating, Dad suggested that they go
visit a
few of their other old friends in town. Mom told me I had to stay
home
from the dance to keep Maureen company. Even though she said
she’d be
find by herself, Mom insisted I stay home anyway.
Curt came home not long after Mom, Dad, and Warren
left. He seemed
surprised to see Maureen. She said maybe ten words to him the
entire
time he ate his dinner. When he was done, he noticed Sylvia
sitting by
herself near the phone in the living room.
“Any plans for tonight?” he asked her.
“I was supposed to go to the dance,” she said.
“With Casey?”
“Yeah. He’s a no-show.”
“I can give you a ride.”
She thought for a moment. “Well, okay.”
“Great. Let me get ready. Ten minutes.”
I noticed the strange look on Maureen’s face.
If I didn’t know
better, I would have said she still had a crush on him. Then
again,
who said I knew better?
Curt and Sylvia got into his blue Mustang and drove
away a while
later, leaving me alone with the Maureen. As much as I dreaded
the
thought of wasting a perfectly good Friday sitting at home, I was kind
of glad Cur and Sylvia went to the dance together. Things were
happening even faster than if I had planned them myself.
“Are they dating?” Maureen asked me, in an
uncharacteristic effort to seem interested in those around her.
“No,” I said.
But I’m working on
it.
