With Cass and Ben on the roof and Cody building his monument, that left me and Big. I challenged him to a game of Monopoly.
He didn’t have to do a thing but roll the dice and move his token.
I stood on the rickety chair and dug the Monopoly box out of the pile on the shelf.
I wiped off the dust and set up the board. I even let him choose his token first—he chose the boot. This was a really old-time Monopoly game.
“Your turn,” I said now, putting the dice in his hand for, like, the fifth time. All he had to do was drop them. I waited, listening to the thunk of Cass swinging her heels against the side of the building. That girl had it easy.
She didn’t have Leroy bugging her to “think about it.”
She wasn’t playing a stupid board game with Big, wondering why, for one second, she’d almost liked him. “Could you just take your turn before we both die of old age?”
He sighed, and the dice plopped out of his hand. One rolled under the edge of a dresser. I slid it out and added the two together. “Nine.”
The boot limped along until it landed on the question mark of Chance.
“Here.” I handed him the top card.
He read it and shook his head. “Figures.”
“What figures?”
He handed it back to me.
“‘Go to jail, go directly to jail. Do not pass go. Do not collect two hundred dollars.’” I put the card back at the bottom of the pile. “Good. At least now I won’t have to remind you to roll the dice for a couple turns.”
“Take three turns!” He doubled his slump. “Take four! Build yourself a motel.”
“That’s hotel.” I rolled a seven and picked up my race car. “And don’t just park there on Chance. Put your sorry self in Jail!”
He shoved the boot, which lay on its side, onto Jail.
I made my move all right. I bought Ventnor Avenue, then rolled again and bought myself a second railroad.
“I saw you this morning,” he said, his bangs falling over his eyes. “With Leroy.”
“You did? Why didn’t you say hi?”
“You were moving pretty fast and you looked…busy.”
“So…we were just getting some exercise.”
“So…do you like him?”
“Leroy?” I rolled the dice and raced my car to Free Parking, then shrugged. “I like him to shoot hoops with.”
He shook his bangs out of his eyes. “Not that kind of like.”
I let the dice drop onto the board. “It sure is hot in here.”
His eyes widened like he didn’t know where that came from, but he went along, probably glad I changed the subject. “It’s always hot in here.”
“Seems hotter today,” I said.
“Yeah. Today it’s like a preview of hell.”
“You shouldn’t joke about stuff like that.”
He shrugged. “It’s my job to joke.”
I pushed to my feet. “I’m going home. I need a glass of sweet tea.” He could come along and play an in-tune piano if he wanted to, but he had to ask. I was tired of telling him to make a move.
I ambled to the door, waiting for him to say something about how he could use a glass of sweet tea too, but the door banged shut behind me without even a goodbye.
“See ya!” I yelled up to Cass on the roof.
“Jemmie?” she called after me. “I need your help finishing the dress!”
“It’s coming along fine!” I yelled back. I was out of there.
“Hey! Where’re you going?” Cody had a rusty horseshoe in one hand. His monument looked like it was about to topple.
“Somewhere else.”
I jogged a little ways, then slowed to a walk. It was too hot to run, and I didn’t want to run anyway.
I heard the out-of-tune piano plinking in the garage. Big was playing something minor and sad, but whose fault was that? All he had to say was, “A glass of sweet tea sounds good. Got one for me too?”
Leroy sure didn’t have any trouble asking for things. He asked all the time.
Suddenly, I was glad this was our “last summer.”
I thought about all the kids I hadn’t met yet, and I liked them already.