The day proved busy since Jenny got into a fight with the Fart Brothers over Seymour and ran off. Apparently, they decided Seymour and Teddy Ruxpin should host a tea party but hadn’t told Jenny. She frantically tore up the house looking. When she found it in Andy and Randy’s room, she proceeded to beat them up. At first, they thought she was kidding but she split Andy’s lip and gave Randy a black eye. Uncle Mort screamed at her and then at Barry and Mom for raising such an unruly child. She took off down the block like a feral cat and Steph and I were tasked to find her.
Anything to get out of the house. We walked the suburban streets and used it as a good excuse to go over the pros and cons of what our next step might be. The first choice was obviously remaining with Barry and Mom wherever they might decide to go.
“If they’ve given up thieving, it may just be the easiest thing to do,” Steph said, chewing grape Hubba Bubba gum and blowing a huge bubble.
“But do you really think Barry will never try to rob again?” I countered.
“…No, but maybe he’s done with big heists at least.”
“We’ll always be on edge thinking we might get caught. Do you want that for Little Troy?”
She caressed her stomach. “That name has a nice ring.”
“How are you doing?”
“Okay. I mean, I have my moments. I cried today already. Usually, once a day, I just sob. And then, like, I think, what’s the point of crying anymore?”
“True.” I kicked a stone. “Leaving with them also means we’re stuck wherever they decide. It could be Paris, but what if it’s somewhere grody?”
“We can wait until they pick a place?”
“That might be too late.”
She blew another bubble and popped it. “Okay, so we don’t go with them. What are our options?”
“Hmm. Stay with Uncle Mort and Connie.”
Steph gave me a look like she saw the Terminator coming after her.
“Right, right, I’m not into that either,” I said.
“I’d rather be with Grandma Bernice,” she said, and we both let that hang in the air.
“I mean, if we took enough of their money, at least all our cuts, and honestly Troy’s because it’s not like—well, you know what I mean?”
“We would have a lot to last us,” Steph said, getting kind of excited. “Like L.A. might be fun. I could get a car. Could we rent an apartment at our age?”
“In L.A., I’m sure we could. Like, if we have money, that’s all that matters.”
“We could try that, and if it doesn’t work out, have Grandma Bernice be a last resort?”
“God, the thought of living with all those cats.”
“Jenny would hate it.”
“Right, we still have to find Jenny.”
We started calling out her name, the area devoid of people like in some weird science fiction movie that zapped up everyone in the suburban enclave.
“Okay, another option that we probably won’t do, but we could tell Uncle Mort and Aunt Connie what’s been happening—”
“They would for sure call child protective services,” Steph said. “Hold on, lemme fix my sneaker.” She took off her Keds and popped a pebble out from the heel. “So that’s a no-go. We could put out an anonymous tip to the cops? No, then they’d be after us, too.”
“If we split up from Barry and Mom, we don’t rat on them. I don’t want to do that.”
“I don’t either.”
“We would go in the middle of the night. Leave them a note.”
“Hey, Aaron?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you think they’d…actually be pleased? I mean, not to have to worry about us, not to have us as a burden?”
“I don’t know. I really can’t answer that.”
“I’m not saying they wouldn’t miss us, but that secretly, they’d be relieved.”
I sucked in a hit of cool air. “Yeah, I think they would.”
“Then we have our answer.”
The two of us walked without speaking for a while, letting the truth hang between us in all its reeking glory. We would leave our parents, never look back. And it would be better for everyone.
“We could do it tomorrow,” I said. “Tomorrow night. Give us a chance to sleep on it.”
“Yeah, I need a night,” Steph quickly said. She re-ponytailed her hair, tightening it with a scrunchie.
“Okay, tomorrow we make a definite decision.”
“I see Jenny,” she said and started running.
Jenny was sitting on the curb with Seymour in her lap, smushing ants with her thumb.
“Everyone is worried sick,” Steph said as Jenny looked up with a scowl.
“No, they’re not.”
“Fine, everyone is pissed, and we’ve been sent to find you,” I said.
“I hate it there,” she said, wiping a dead ant on her Rainbow Brite shirt.
“Everyone does. But we have a plan. Are you a big enough girl to listen?” Steph asked.
“Don’t talk to me like I’m a fucking goo goo gaga baby!”
“Okay, okay, Jenny, calm down,” I said, sitting next to her. “Listen, tomorrow night, we can take our share of the money and go away somewhere, away from them.”
“Mom and Dad?”
“Yeah, like we talked about, but we can really do it. We’d have enough money. We can go to L.A. and get an apartment.”
She put Seymour up to her ear and listened for almost a minute of crazy.
“Seymour’s in,” she said, giving a smile with a missing front tooth.
“Jenny, when did you lose your tooth?”
“I dunno. I yanked it out yesterday or something.”
“And no one noticed?” Steph asked.
Jenny shrugged.
“This child is growing up, and no one is paying attention,” Steph said. “All the more reason we need to do what we need to do.”
“Jenny, you can’t say anything and let on,” I said.
“Who am I gonna fucking tell?”
“Barry! Or Mom. Just keep your mouth shut.”
“Why are you calling Dad ‘Barry’?” she asked.
“Why?” I thought about it for a sec. “I-I don’t even know. I just started doing it. Honestly, both of them don’t deserve to be called Mom or Dad. But, like, you saw what he did, Jenny. To that guard?”
“I know, Aaron. Jeez, beat a dead horse some more.”
She got to her feet and marched away.
“Where does she even learn these expressions?” I asked.
“Beats me,” Steph said. “Probably TV.”
When we got back, Jenny stayed in the RV, and Uncle Mort and Aunt Connie thought that was a good idea, since Andy and Randy were still frightened of her. Barry groaned at that. This erupted into another fight between the brothers that no one wanted to hear. Steph was feeling queasy, so she went upstairs to rest, and Connie was tending to Andy and Randy’s wounds, so that left me with Mom. In a short amount of time, the two of us had nothing to say to one another anymore. I found a tin of Cheez Balls and parked myself on the couch to watch TV. She joined me, and we watched an episode of Mr. Belvedere before A Current Affair came on. Sure enough, we were the top story. A reporter talked about our newly dubbed name, the Wild Woodstock Gang, like we were outlaws or something. Mom grabbed the remote and shut it off. She ran her hands through her hair, that looked like a ball of mess.
“Do you really think I haven’t been a good mom lately?” she asked, still facing the television.
Here she went, tugging at my heartstrings just as we were deciding to leave. As if she knew our separate futures. As if she was doing anything to keep us close.
“Yes,” I flat-out said, no pussyfooting around.
She covered her mouth, not expecting me to be so harsh.
“I remember when I learned that my mother was human, too. It’s hard to wrap your mind around. That your parents aren’t perfect.”
I gave a huff of a laugh under my breath.
“Maybe we got carried away?”
I turned to her. “Is that a question?”
“My babies are safe right now. That’s all that matters.” She nodded to convince herself. “That’s all I asked for.”
“No, that’s not enough.” She still wouldn’t face me, so I physically turned her face. Although, she still wouldn’t look at me. I guessed it hurt too much. “You put us in danger.”
“I followed your father.”
“That’s no excuse.”
We were talking under our breaths so as not to raise our voices, call attention.
“This was his idea,” she said. “His show.”
“You’re no better for going along with it.”
Her eyes turned to ice. “Neither are you.”
I crossed my arms. “You are the parent. I’m the child. You’re supposed to teach us right from wrong.”
“Aaron, you started all of this. You got the bug in Bear-Bear’s head.”
I stood up and stamped my foot.
“I stole three hundred bucks from a convenience store!”
“He’s been more alive in these past few weeks than I’ve seen him in years. That job consumed him. The money for your Nintendo, your basketball hoop. He broke his back.”
“Fine, and he could’ve found another job.”
“It’s not that simple. We’re in a recession. There was no telling when—”
“We would have survived. In a smaller house. In a shittier neighborhood. And if us kids would’ve complained—”
“Oh, you would have.”
“Fine, we would have because you raised us to be spoiled. But we would’ve dealt with it, and maybe you would’ve had to get a job, or Steph and I would work at the Tenafly Mall and help out. There would’ve been food to eat and a roof…”
She scrunched her face, a migraine forming. I knew when she got like this, she’d be out of commission for a while.
“You want me to say you’re right and I’m wrong. Is that it, Aaron?”
“Yes! I want you to apologize for—”
“Well, I’m not going to. There’s a million dollars in that RV, and we can go anywhere. And we will. And we’ll start over. And you kids are safe, so there was no harm.”
“That guard? Troy?”
She stuck her fingers in her ears like a petulant child, then composed herself. “I’m not saying there was no harm overall. There was no harm to you. But…” She took a deep breath through her nose. “If you need that sorry, I’m giving it to you, baby. I’m sorry. I’m very sorry. Okay? We’ll never do anything like this again. But it gives us a start. It gives us something.”
I longed to say that her start would wind up being five hundred thousand less, but I couldn’t tip her off in any way.
“Okay?” she asked, spreading out her arms, motioning for a hug. “Okay, baby?”
It was easier to agree and fall into her hug, let her cry out her guilt. When she was finished, she rubbed away the last tears and went into the kitchen for an ice pack before covering her face and heading upstairs. In a way, I knew right then it would be the last conversation we’d truly have.
And I was okay with that.
I turned A Current Affair back on to remind myself why.