When I walked in the door, my mom said my dad got bogged down at the office and would be a little late and for me to go wash up for dinner.
“They charge seven cents now for a paper,” I told her. “Can you believe that? Seven cents.”
“Your father will be furious. Whew! That…that’s a forty percent increase. Umph! Go wash up.”
The phone rang, and the race was on to see who was calling. “Davey, it’s for you. It’s Sunny,” hollered my sister Jane. “Don’t be on long. I’m expecting an important…” her voice trailed off in the distance.
“Hey, Sunny.”
“Hi ya,” came her sweet reply. “Everything okay?
“Yeah, sure. Why?”
“I don’t know you just seemed different and Timmy… well, he was just plain weird as usual.”
“No, I’m okay.” I decided not to tell her about the gun. She would just be upset. I knew Timmy would show it to her sooner or later just to impress her. I would warn her in my own way.
“I hope you can make it to the pool on Saturday. They’re unveiling the new flag at the Legion. Imagine that, Alaska will make it forty-nine stars and Hawaii will be fifty states. Soon, they’re going to run out of room on the flag. They’re going to have a big celebration at the Legion. Should be a lot of fun. Please come, Davey. I haven’t seen you in ages, and we have a lot to catch up on together. And I have a belated birthday gift for you. Try to make it okay?”
“Okay, sure. I’ll be there.”
“Oh and Davey, I almost forgot. My grandmother still wants to have you come to our house for that dinner we promised you last summer. She keeps asking me about it.”
“Sure. Just let me know when you want to do it. And I’ll ask my mom if it’s okay.”
“Okay. See’ya Saturday.”
After I hung up the phone, I could not get Sun Lei out of my mind. My thoughts drifted back to the previous summer when I first met her and her grandmother.