Nancy Rish and Danny Edwards are sitting on the couch, watching the rest of Crocodile Dundee. Nancy sneaks a glance at Danny, who can’t sit still. He keeps looking toward the window and his leg keeps fidgeting. His skin seems flush, and she can tell he isn’t paying attention to the movie. His eyes might be looking at the TV screen, but his mind is a million miles away.
“Are you okay?” Nancy asks.
He doesn’t say anything.
“Danny?”
“I’m fine,” he snaps.
After a few minutes, the telephone rings, and Danny jumps out of his seat as if he’s heard a gunshot.
“What is going on with you?” Nancy says, walking toward the phone stand. “Hello?” She holds the receiver to her chest and says to Danny, “It’s Julie.”
She sits down and begins talking to her friend. Julie wants to know what her plans are for Labor Day weekend.
Danny’s legs bounce restlessly. Finally, he bursts out of his seat and storms out of the house.
“Is Danny still acting weird?” Julie says.
“Weirder than ever,” Nancy says.
After a long conversation about everything from Benji’s school clothes to the weather, Nancy finally hangs up. She goes looking for Danny. He isn’t anywhere in the house. She peeks into the garage and sees him pacing around. She opens her mouth to ask what he’s doing when he spots her.
“Hey,” he says, excited. “I’ve got an idea.”
Nancy looks at him skeptically as he explains. Since Benji is at his dad’s tonight, Danny says, they should take Nancy’s bicycle over to his friend Jerry’s house to get the brakes fixed.
“At this hour?”
“He’s a night owl,” Danny says. “He won’t mind.”
Without waiting for a response, Danny opens the garage door and wheels the ten-speed into the driveway.
“Let’s take your car,” he says. “We’ll put the bike in the trunk.”
Nancy steps out onto the driveway in bare feet. The night air is muggy. Danny is trying to wedge her bicycle into the trunk. The brakes haven’t worked in months. Every time she mentioned getting the bike fixed to Danny, he said he had a friend who could do the work. But he never got around to calling him and asking for the favor. It seemed to be the lowest item on his priority list. She can’t imagine why, at eleven o’clock tonight, he unexpectedly wants to get this done.
“Danny,” she says, “what’s really going on?”
Danny can’t get the trunk closed, so he leaves it ajar, with the handlebars sticking out.
“I just want to go for a drive with my girl,” he says. “And I thought we’d get an errand done while we’re at it.”
She purses her lips and folds her arms, trying with her body language to send the message that she doesn’t believe a word he’s saying.
“Nancy,” he says, putting his hands on her shoulders. “I’ve told you a hundred times. I’m not dealing anymore. I’ve learned my lesson. I’ve got a second chance, and I’m not going to blow it.”
Then he wraps his arms around her in a tight hug and adds, “Besides, I would never put you in a situation where you could get in trouble for something I’ve done. Trust me, okay?”
She doesn’t answer. She wraps her arms around him and sinks into his embrace, and that says it all.