The two-hour flight from California to Colorado Springs wasn’t too bad. Gregg and I both had our Walkmans and didn’t talk to each other much. We hadn’t really spoken since he, Nancy, and I had cleaned out Mom and Dad’s room. Actually, he hadn’t had a real conversation with anyone in days. He had yelled at Donna several times the last two days, but that was about it. He didn’t really even say good-bye to Nancy. I was kind of pissed at him for that. She had done everything she could for us, and he was a total jerk to her.
When I hugged her good-bye, she had slipped something into my coat pocket. “It’s my address, home number, and work number,” she had said. “I want to make sure you take it with you.”
“I’ll stay in touch,” I promised. “You’re all the family I have left, other than Gregg.”
“You have your uncle.”
“But I don’t even know him.”
“Give him a chance,” she said. “And take care of Gregg.” She looked at him, standing away by himself. “I know you’re the little brother, but I think he may need your help.” And then she kissed me on the cheek and was gone.
When I got on the plane, I discovered that she hadn’t just left me her address and number. The note read:
Scott—
You’ve been incredibly strong the last week, and I can’t tell you how proud I am of you. I know your parents are watching and proud of you too, wherever they are. Gregg is going to need you to be there for him, no matter how much he tells you no. It will be hard, but try to stay with him, even when he pushes you away.
Give your uncle a chance. I know you’re nervous about meeting him, but I’m sure he’s nervous too. Don’t worry about not having as much money as you used to. I know that you will succeed in whatever you choose to do. Keep up the fantastic job you’ve always done in school. Those awesome grades will come in handy when it comes time to find a college and scholarships.
Stay in touch whenever you have the time to remember me.
Nancy
She had included not only her number and address, but two hundred dollars cash as well.
When we got to Colorado Springs, my stomach was in knots. I couldn’t believe I was going to meet my uncle for the first time.
We got off the plane and looked around expectantly. I searched the faces of all the people who were there waiting for friends or relatives, trying to find one that looked like my father. I thought I saw my uncle once, but then some lady flung her arms around him and they walked away.
“How are we supposed to recognize him?” Gregg muttered after we had been standing there for a few minutes, both of us feeling out of place.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe we should just call out ‘Uncle Dave’ really loud.”
I had been joking when I said it, but that’s exactly what Gregg did. And he did it even louder than I thought he would. Everyone turned to stare at us, but no one stepped forward. No wonder, I thought. Who would want to admit to being related to us now?
“Maybe he’s waiting for us at the baggage claim area,” I said, hoping to get away from all those staring eyes. I started down the terminal wing toward the main concourse, only to discover that it was the only concourse. I was shocked.
“How small is this town?” I asked.
Gregg shrugged. “I have no idea how big Colorado Springs is,” he said, “but I’m pretty sure it’s bigger than Buena Vista.”
“Oh God,” I groaned.
We got down to the baggage carousels (there were only a few), and found our luggage pretty quickly. We didn’t have much to pick up because most of it was being shipped to us. We each had a couple of suitcases, a backpack, and a box of extra stuff we had packed. A lot of people were still staring at us, so the next time Gregg started yelling “Uncle Dave?” I joined in. I figured I didn’t have much to lose.
After getting no response, we went to make a phone call. It took Gregg about ten minutes to dig out the number before we could make the call.
That’s when we found out it was a long distance call to Buena Vista.
“How far away are we?” I asked Gregg.
“How am I supposed to know?” he snapped. This time he dialed collect.
“Yes, a collect call from Gregg and Scott,” he told the operator. Then he waited a few seconds. His eyes got huge. He slammed the phone back down in the handset and cursed nonstop for two or three minutes. We got several more stares, and these were not the friendly type. I kept trying to get him to keep his voice down, but he wouldn’t even listen to me.
Finally, he grabbed up his box and bags and said, “Come on.” Instead of heading out of the terminal, he headed back down the concourse.
“Do we have to catch another flight?” I asked, hurrying to catch up.
He ignored me, and just fifty feet down the concourse he turned into a restaurant. He piled his stuff next to a table, went directly to the counter, and ordered himself two hamburgers, a large order of fries, and a chocolate milkshake. I stood by the table, feeling frustrated enough to hit him, except for the fact that he outweighed me by close to thirty pounds and was at least six inches taller. I had learned from experience how to defend myself, but I knew better than to attack.
When he came back with his food, he jerked his head toward the counter. “You better go get yourself some food,” he said. “We’re going to be here a while.”
“Would you please tell me what the hell is going on?” I yelled. Again, heads turned to stare, but I really didn’t care at this point.
“Someone will come get us in a while.”
“Excuse me?”
“Someone will come get us in a while.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what I said.”
“Well, what else did he say?”
“Nothing.”
“What do you mean, nothing?” I felt like I was going in circles.
“The operator told Uncle Dave he had a collect call. Uncle Dave said ‘someone will be there to pick you up soon,’ and then he denied the charges.”
“He denied the charges?”
“Would you please quit repeating everything I say?”
“Yeah, if you’ll start telling me everything I need to know instead of just giving me bits and pieces!”
Gregg shrugged. “That’s it. That’s everything.” And he bit into his burger. He just sat there, chewing, while I glared at him. Finally I went and got myself some food. I came back and we ate in silence. Gregg wouldn’t even look at me. I couldn’t stand it any longer.
“Gregg, tell me what’s going on!”
“I did, Scott. That’s the whole conversation.”
“I don’t get it.”
He shook his head. “There’s nothing to get. He’s too cheap to pay for a collect call to tell us what’s going on, and too lazy to come get us himself.
That’s all there is to it.”
I stared at my half-empty plate and felt like throwing up or crying. I couldn’t believe this was happening to us. We were going to live with this man? This man my father hadn’t spoken to in years? This man who only talked to us for five minutes after learning of my father’s death, and then wouldn’t take a collect call when we finally arrived?
“This sucks,” I muttered.
“Hey,” Gregg said, “that’s my line.”
I looked up at him, and he smiled at me. It was the first real smile I had seen from him since my parents died. “We’ll be okay, Scott.”
I felt the tears even though I tried to hold them back. “How can you say that?”
“Because it can’t get any worse.”
I groaned.
“Hey,” he said brightly, “how about a huge sundae? They’ve got hot fudge, caramel, and peanut butter.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Okay which one?”
“All three,” I said.
He stared at me. “You didn’t even finish your burger.”
“I’ll have it done by the time you get back with my sundae.”
He grinned. “Okay. One peanut butter-caramel-hot fudge sundae coming up.”
We were about halfway through our sundaes when the PA system announced: “Gregg and Scott Baxter, Gregg and Scott Baxter, please meet your party in the baggage claim area.”
I dropped my spoon into my dish, and it splattered melted ice cream all over my shirt. Gregg looked at me, his eyes wide. I could see that his too-cool attitude was slipping just a little.
“Guess Buena Vista isn’t quite as far away as we thought it was,” I said slowly.
“Guess not.” He scooped up another spoonful of ice cream and continued to eat. It hadn’t taken long for his attitude to readjust.
“Come on, Gregg, let’s go.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s here.”
“So? He wasn’t in any big hurry to get here. I paid for this ice cream. I’m going to eat all of it.”
I sat there and waited for him to finish. It seemed like he took forever. I couldn’t eat any more of my ice cream. It felt like everything I had just eaten was thinking about coming back up. My feet couldn’t stop twitching on the floor.
“Come on, Gregg, hurry up!”
“I’m not done yet!” He was literally scraping every last drop of ice cream out of the bowl.
He took his time gathering his bags too. And when we walked down the concourse, I swear he was dragging his feet. Then he stopped and looked in the gift shop window.
“Come on, Gregg!” I pleaded.
“Gregg and Scott Baxter, Gregg and Scott Baxter, please meet your party in the baggage claim area,” the anonymous PA voice droned again.
He stopped again, this time to check the monitor with the incoming flights. “Gregg, that’s it! I’m going on.” And I started walking faster, leaving him behind.
In three steps he caught up to me and grabbed the strap on my duffel bag. “What’s the rush? You’ve never seen him before; what’s a few more minutes going to do?”
“Gregg, I know you’re pissed, but this is stupid. Let’s get this over with.
Let’s go meet Uncle Dave and then go see what Buena Vista’s all about.”
He didn’t increase his pace as much as I wanted, but at least he wasn’t dragging his feet anymore.
We stepped on the escalator going down to baggage claim.
“What do you think he looks like?”
Gregg rolled his eyes. “I don’t know and I really don’t care,” he said.
I turned back around to scan the baggage area as much as I could. We got off the escalator and turned toward the carousels. There was a lady holding a sign that said Gregg and Scott.
I glanced at Gregg. He looked bored. I went up to the lady.
“Um, excuse me,” I began.
“Oh, hi!” she said brightly, looking at both of us. “You must be Scott.”
She took my hand and shook it. “And you must be Gregg.” She reached out for Gregg’s hand, but he ignored her.
“Do you have all your luggage?”
“Yeah, it’s right here.”
“Okay. Well, the van’s waiting outside.”
She turned to go.
“Um, who are you?” I blurted out.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, turning back around. “My name’s Laura. I work with your uncle.”
“Is he in the van?”
“Oh, no,” she said with a laugh. “He had seven trips to send out today.
He’ll meet us at the office.”
We followed her out to the van. It was painted a bright blue with Rugged Rapids written in purple across the side. There were already four other people in the van.
Laura quickly started loading our stuff into the luggage box on top of the van.
“Um, what’s this for?”
She looked at me. “What do you mean?”
“This van, what’s it for?”
“We provide a shuttle service for people who come in from out of state to take multiday trips with us.”
“Trips?”
“Raft trips.” She stopped. “Don’t you know anything about your uncle’s company?”
Gregg snorted. “No,” I said quickly, “we’ve never even met him before.”
“Oh,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “Well, Rocky owns Rugged Rapids.
And since I was coming down to pick up some clients, he asked me to get you as well.”
“How convenient,” Gregg muttered.
“Rocky?” I asked.
She looked at me funny. “Yes. Your uncle.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “There must be some mistake. Our uncle’s name is Dave. I’m sorry. You must be looking for someone else.”
“You’re Gregg and Scott Baxter, right?”
“Right.”
“And you’re moving out here from California to live with your uncle because your parents were killed in an accident?”
I winced. No one had said it that baldly before. “Yes.”
“Then I’m pretty sure you’re the ones I’m supposed to pick up. I’m really sorry,” she said awkwardly. “Um…excuse me?” I still didn’t move. “I guess you’re going to have to get in the van so I can close the door and we can get out of here.”
Gregg was already sitting in the van. All of the seats were taken except for the seat up next to the driver. I crawled in for a long ride.
The scenery to Buena Vista was breathtaking. The mountains amazed me, from the time we were outside of the airport when they looked like they were towering over the city, to the time we were surrounded by them as we drove through canyons and valleys. Once the highway turned sharply after we had finished climbing a hill. I hadn’t realized how much of an incline it was until we reached the crest where the road spilled down into a huge sprawling valley.
Coming from California, I was also surprised to be driving these long stretches of highway, rarely seeing another car. The sky was a deep, velvety blue. The trees were dark green, but the grass was already beginning to lose its spring green and turn a little yellow. Along the way, I saw a hawk, some antelope, and even a few buffalo. I guess the buffalo really didn’t count, since they were in a fenced-in field, but it was the first time I had ever seen them live and not on TV.
Gregg was still really angry. He put on his headphones before we got out of the airport parking lot and stared out his window the whole time. Even if I had wanted to sulk, I wouldn’t have been able to do it that long, at least not without getting a crick in my neck.
The other four people in the van turned out to be a family in from Arizona for a week. They were taking a three-day trip with Rugged Rapids.
The son, who looked to be about ten, was hooked into his Game Boy. The daughter looked about twelve, and she was trying to appear to be ignoring me while she stared at me. The mom and dad had a lot of questions for Laura.
Laura turned out to be pretty nice and she knew a lot about the area. She told us about the different wildlife we would see, what kind of weather we should have during the next week, and how the river was running. Even though I knew it was part of the package, it was still neat to listen to her. I liked the way she wore her dirty-blond hair, hanging perfectly straight down to the middle of her back. She didn’t seem to be wearing any makeup either. Some of the girls I knew started wearing makeup when they were in elementary school.
She told us that she had just graduated from UCLA, but that she had grown up in Colorado. I looked quickly at Gregg when she said that, but he was into his music and hadn’t heard her. She also glanced at Gregg in the rearview mirror when she said it, so I knew she knew some things about us.
She had been a river guide for the last three summers and had been with Rugged Rapids for the last two.
“I’m Rocky’s assistant manager this year, so I don’t make quite as many river trips as I used to.”
“How many river rafting companies are there in Buena Vista?” I asked.
“It varies a little from year to year, depending on who went out of business and who’s starting, but right now there’s around eight.”
“How long has my uncle been doing this?”
“Rafting? You’d have to ask him that. But I know he’s only had the company for three years.”
“If you ask me, Rugged Rapids is a great outfit,” the father jumped in.
“I’ve been rafting a lot, and I really enjoyed my experience with Rocky’s company last summer. I was very impressed with the friendliness of his guides. That’s why I decided to bring my whole family for this trip.”
His wife rolled her eyes. “We were perfectly happy to let you have this as your personal escape every year,” she said.
“I know,” he said, “but I really think you’ll enjoy this, and the kids will too, if you’ll just give it a chance.”
“That’s why we’re here with you, dear,” she said, patting his hand.
“You’ve never been rafting?” Laura asked.
“No,” she said, “just Jon. He’s the only one who’s been rafting.”
“And now you’re going on a three-day trip?” I asked.
“It might be a good idea,” Laura advised, “if you were to take a one-day or even a half-day trip, just to be sure you’re really going to be comfortable.
Especially with young children.”
The mother raised her eyebrows at her husband, just like my mother used to do, and I could almost hear her saying, “See? I told you.”
Before she could say anything, though, Laura laughed. “Just don’t tell my boss I suggested it. He’ll kill me if you decide not to take the three-day trip after the shorter one.”
The drive took about two hours. We dropped the family off at a motel, and after we unloaded their bags, Laura gave Jon a card with the Rugged Rapids number on it. “You might want to call and see if you can get on a short trip first,” she said.
“Thanks,” he said, “I’m starting to think that’s a good idea.”
The three of us continued. Gregg was still staring out the window. The sun had gone down behind the mountains, but there was still plenty of light. I guess we must have gone through the side streets, because there didn’t seem to be very much to the town. Within minutes we were outside of the town and back on the two-lane highway.
“Um, I thought Uncle Dave lived in Buena Vista.”
Laura shook her head slightly. “He lives south of Buena Vista, almost halfway to Salida.”
“Oh.”
She laughed. “You don’t know much about Colorado, do you?”
“Never been here till now.”
“I’m sorry about your parents,” she said after a minute.
I shrugged, blinking back the tears. They kept trying to creep out at the most awkward moments.
We were quiet as we pulled into the gravel driveway. I surveyed the house and decided that Uncle Dave hadn’t exaggerated at all. The house was tiny, and it looked really old too. It was one story, with two front windows looking out over a porch that ran across the front of the house. It had faded to a boring gray, and the trim may have once been white, but now it too was a dingy shade of gray. Huge trees surrounded and hung protectively over the house, and I could see where a couple of branches had been cut back when they had gotten too friendly with the roof.
The house sat all by itself almost a half mile off the road. Our neighbors’ houses in California had only been twenty feet away. Dave’s house looked lonely.
Laura got out of the van and began unloading our bags. I hopped out and started to help her. Gregg climbed out, stretched, and turned a slow 360, looking at everything. He still hadn’t said anything.
Laura reached for a box. “Here, I’ll take that,” I said, taking it from her. It was mine, and I felt funny letting her carry my stuff. She grabbed a different one, and started for the front door. Gregg just watched, not moving to help with the pile of bags and boxes.
“Oof,” she said, setting it down by the door while she fished in her pocket for a key. “It’s heavy.”
“It’s Gregg’s,” I said, by way of apology.
She smiled at me. “I’m sure they’re all heavy. When you move, you have to bring a lot of stuff with you.”
She pushed the door open and stepped aside, waiting for me to go in.
While I was shaking my head, gesturing for her to go ahead, Gregg swept by, carrying only his small backpack and his Walkman.
I followed Laura through the small living room to a tiny bedroom, where she set down the box. As she turned to go back for another load, I asked her which room was mine.
“Ahh.” She fidgeted. “There are only two bedrooms in the house.”
All I could do was look at her.
“This house has two bedrooms, one bath, a living room, and a kitchen.”
“Oh.” I dropped my two bags and box on the floor with a hollow thump and then followed her back through the living room. Gregg had sprawled on the sofa with his feet kicked up on the table in front of it. In addition to the sofa and table, there was a recliner and a stand with a small TV on it in the room. The kitchen had a table and two chairs jammed in the back. That appeared to be it for furniture.
When we got outside, I cleared my throat to get her attention, and then said in a low voice, “I’m sorry about Gregg—”
“Why should you apologize for your brother?” she asked before I could explain what he was doing. “You haven’t done anything wrong. Neither has he, really.”
“He’s not being much help.”
She shrugged. “When that becomes a crime, the courts aren’t going to have time to deal with anything else.”
We gathered the rest of the luggage, passed Gregg, who was still on the couch, and returned to the bedroom. This time I took a better look. Two twin beds stood along the longer two walls, with barely enough space to walk between them. At the foot of each bed was a small, banged-up dresser.
I wasn’t sure the drawers would open because the dressers were so close to the beds. But there wasn’t much room for rearranging. None of the furniture or bed coverings matched. Laura put down the bags and left the room.
Since Gregg was being so obnoxious, I decided I would claim the bed that was under the window. I piled all my stuff on top of it and then went back out to the living room.
Laura was on the phone. I walked by Gregg and hit him on the head, knocking the headphones off.
“Hey! Watch it!”
“You watch it!” I hissed back.
“What?” He was still speaking too loud.
“Quit being such a jerk,” I said, softly so Laura wouldn’t hear.
“I’m not being a jerk. I’m sure Uncle Dave paid her plenty to help us move here.” He put his headphones back on.
The front door swung open. A tall, muscular man entered and took off his sunglasses. He was very tan, and his long blond hair was slipping out from under a baseball cap. His hard blue eyes swept the room, taking in every detail quickly without resting on anyone very long. He looked to be about thirty. He’s too young and too big to be my uncle, I thought. I glanced quickly at Laura, hoping for an introduction.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gregg turn his Walkman off, even though he left the headphones on.
Laura turned around at the sound of the door, and said, “Never mind, he’s here,” before she hung up the phone. She smiled at him and said, “I wasn’t sure you were back from the last run yet.”
He nodded. “Yep. It was a pretty quick run. The new guides are fast learners. We should have everything down by next week.”
He then turned his attention fully on me. I knew that I was being measured, and I was pretty sure I wasn’t meeting all expectations. But I was doing my own measuring. This man couldn’t possibly be my uncle. He was at least fifteen years younger than my father. And there was no family resemblance. My father had been a thin, dark-haired and dark-eyed man.
He always claimed to be five-foot-ten, but I was pretty sure he was really closer to five-foot-nine. I had inherited my father’s build, short height, and coloring. Gregg had my mother’s blue eyes and her lighter brown hair. He got his height from her side of the family, but he was skinny like my father.
This man was easily six-foot-three, and was extremely broad through the shoulders and chest. He seemed to fill the entire living room.
It almost looked like he was going to grin, but he didn’t. “Glad to finally meet you, Scott. Sorry about your parents,” he said awkwardly.
“Hi, Uncle Dave,” I mumbled.
He held up both hands as if warding something off. “No, no, please do not call me that! Just call me Rocky.”
“Uncle Rocky?” I asked.
“No, Rocky. Just like everyone else does.”
“Where’d you get that nickname?” Gregg asked, with more than a hint of scorn in his voice. “Were you a boxer? Yo, Rocky.” He dropped his voice into an imitation of Sylvester Stallone and faked a few jabs at the air in front of him.
“Hello, Gregg,” Rocky said smoothly. “I’d really appreciate it if you wouldn’t use the coffee table as a footrest.”
Gregg didn’t move. “Not a boxer, huh? So are you called Rocky ’cause you’re just so soft and lovable?”
Rocky bent down and yanked the table out from under Gregg’s feet.
“Thank you.” He then looked Gregg over, and again I could tell that expectations were not being met. Gregg met his appraisal with an unblinking stare.
“Well, Rocky, we’re here. Thanks ever so much for taking us in.”
“You’re welcome,” Rocky said, ignoring Gregg’s sarcasm.
“Um,” Laura cleared her throat nervously. “I think I’ll head on home now.” She began walking toward the front door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Rocky stood up and walked to the door with her. “Thanks for your help today.”
“Sure,” she said, smiling up at him as he opened the door for her.
They stepped out onto the porch, and although I could hear a low murmuring, I couldn’t make out any words.
Gregg was shaking his head. “This really sucks.”
I looked at him. “Yeah, well, all you’re doing is making it worse.”
“It can’t get any worse than it already is,” Gregg said. “Rocky. What a stupid name.”
“That’s your opinion,” Rocky said as he came back in, “but I don’t share it.”
Gregg just stared at him, not even willing to be embarrassed for being heard. “So where’d you get such a stupid name?”
“If you think it’s so stupid, then it certainly shouldn’t be any concern of yours where I got it,” Rocky said, sitting down on the couch next to Gregg.
“Whatever.” Gregg turned his Walkman back on. I could hear it from halfway across the room.
“Gregg,” Rocky said. “Gregg,” he repeated loudly, when Gregg continued to bop his head in time to the music. He waited a minute, sighed, and then tapped him on the knee. Gregg still ignored him. He tapped him a little harder, maybe closer to hitting him. Gregg angrily slapped his hand away.
“Gregg,” I said. “Come on.”
Gregg made a great scene about turning the Walkman off. “I’m sorry, Scott. Did you say something?”
“Come on, Gregg.”
“What?”
Rocky broke in. “Look, I really am sorry you guys are having to go through all this. I know this isn’t easy for any of us, but we’ll just have to make the best of a bad situation. First I need to talk to both of you about ground rules in my house,” he said.
As soon as Rocky started talking, Gregg turned the Walkman back on.
Rocky looked at me and I shrugged. He sighed. “I only ask a few things. I ask that you keep the house fairly neat. What you do with your room and how clean you keep it is up to you. But I ask that the living room, bathroom, and kitchen be kept clean. When you finish with the dishes, wash them.
Don’t leave them for someone else. We all have to share the one bathroom, so try not to hog it too often.”
I nodded. That was easy. I realized that I couldn’t hear Gregg’s music anymore, but I couldn’t tell if he had turned it off or just turned it down. I didn’t know if Rocky had noticed.
“Don’t do anything illegal, here in the house or out at someone else’s house. For both of you that includes drugs and drinking. That also includes smoking cigarettes.”
“We don’t smoke,” I said.
“Good. Don’t start. And if you’re not going to be here at night, let me know where I can reach you.”
I waited for a minute, but when he didn’t say anything else, I asked, “Is that it?”
“It’s all I can think of for right now. If something else comes up, we’ll talk about it at that time.”
“Beautiful,” Gregg muttered.
Rocky turned to him and almost smiled. “Glad you caught all that so your brother won’t have to repeat it for you.” Gregg refused to look at him.
Rocky just shook his head. “You’ll both be working for me this summer,” he began again.
Gregg sat up suddenly and looked at him. “What!”
Rocky continued as if he hadn’t heard him. “You’ll both spend days working in the shop, and while you’re doing that you should have time to read rafting books and learn the river guides and terms. Scott, you’re going to have to start as a swamper. We’ll try to work you onto the rafts as much as we can, but you’re too young and small to train for a guide. As a swamper, you’ll not only do cashiering and transportation, but you’ll also be assisting the cook, setting up tents, stuff like that on the river. The other guides will tell you it’s all the crap work.”
“You can’t do this!” Gregg said.
“Gregg, we’ll get you trained as a guide as quickly as possible. We’ll start by just letting you ride along on as many trips as you can, so you can learn the river. If we work every day we should have you trained in a couple of weeks. Until you turn eighteen, you’ll have to row the supply boat. After that, you’ll be ready to start taking groups.”
“You can’t tell me where I’m going to work,” Gregg said, shaking his head.
Rocky looked at him and sighed. “My business barely makes ends meet.
To have the extra money to feed and clothe you, I had to let some of my help go. That means I need you to help pick up the slack.”
Gregg stared at him. “You’re not going to pay us, are you?” he asked in disbelief.
“I will pay you as much as I can. It won’t be as much as the other staff members will get, but it will be more than an average allowance.”
“You have no idea what an average allowance is.”
“I’ve asked around, talked to some people about your age. Most of them have told me that at your age, allowances stop and work begins.”
“Yeah, but that means you pick where you work!”
“In most situations,” Rocky agreed. “But this isn’t a typical situation.”
“I hate being here already. I wish I had never seen you.”
“So do I,” Rocky said blandly.
Gregg and I both just stared at him. I’m sure my eyes were as big and shocked as Gregg’s were.
“If you weren’t here, that would mean your father—my brother—was still alive.”
It took a minute for that to sink in.
“Laura said you’ve had the business for three years,” I said, looking for a new topic.
Gregg rolled his eyes at me.
Rocky nodded. “Yeah. The first year, I lost over two thousand dollars, just because I didn’t know how to manage a business. Last year, I think I actually made two hundred dollars. This year, I may be able to make enough to get me through till ski season…I mean get us through.”
“What do you do then?” I asked.
“I’m a ski instructor,” he said. “And if I can make enough money, then I might be able to take a little time off to fix some things up around here and get some new equipment—maybe even get by without having to work another part-time job between seasons.”
“Oh,” I said. And then without thinking, I added, “Am I going to have to get another job in the winter too?”
Rocky lowered his head. “I hope not, Scott. I’d like you to be able to focus on school. But right now I just don’t know.”
“Well, at least I won’t have to worry about it,” Gregg said. When Rocky looked at him, he added, “Don’t even think about touching my college money.”
“I won’t,” Rocky said simply. He hesitated, then added, “But my understanding is that you’ve barely got enough to cover next year. I believe you will find yourself needing a job to continue. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get you enough to start a savings account this year. And if things work well, you can come back again next year.”
“I can take care of myself. I don’t need a guardian.”
“No, I’m sure you don’t,” Rocky agreed. “But the judge says you do, at least until you’re eighteen. I know your birthday is coming up real soon, so I’m not shoving a lot of rules on you right now.”
“No, instead you’re just forcing us to work for you. Gee, thanks, Uncle Rocky,” Gregg said. His sarcasm was cutting.
I kept my mouth shut. Arguing with Gregg in front of Rocky wasn’t going to help any of us get along.
“Do either of you have any other questions for me right now?” Rocky asked.
“Yeah,” Gregg said, “I do. Why did you deny the charges?”
“Huh?” Rocky looked startled.
“The collect call this afternoon.”
“Oh, that. It was an unnecessary expense.”
“Excuse me?”
“Laura was already on her way. I knew she’d be there real soon. Collect calls are expensive. Since I knew I could get the information that you needed to you for free, I did.”
Gregg shook his head in disgust. “Great, he’s not only a jerk but he’s a cheap jerk as well.”
Rocky stood up, ignoring him. “I usually do the grocery shopping on Tuesdays, but it may take me a while to figure out how much food we’ll need for the three of us. Just let me know if there’s anything you want and I’ll try to remember to pick it up.”
“What’s for dinner?” Gregg asked. At the mention of food, my stomach rumbled. I was hungry.
“Whatever you want. You can help yourself to anything you like in the kitchen.” He went to the closet and pulled out a jeans jacket.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“I’ve got some things to do,” he said.
For a minute, we just watched him put the jacket on.
“What do you mean, you’ve got some things to do?” Gregg demanded.
“I mean I’ve got plans,” Rocky said.
“You’re just going to leave us here?”
He blinked and looked surprised. “You need to unpack. You’ll eat dinner.
And you’re probably pretty tired, so you’ll be going to sleep soon. You don’t need me for any of those things.” When Gregg didn’t say anything, he added, “You don’t need a guardian, remember?”
“Rocky?” I asked as he opened the door. “When are you going to be home?”
“There’s an alarm clock in your room. We need to head to the office at 7:45 tomorrow morning.” He looked at me, dropped me a wink, and pulled the door shut behind him.
Gregg waited until we heard an engine start, then he jumped up, threw his Walkman against the front door, and yelled “Damn him!”
I sat down on the edge of the recliner. Gregg stormed around the house, cussing and flinging his arms everywhere, and occasionally kicking the walls. I waited till he started to calm down and then I headed for the kitchen.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
“I’m hungry. I’m going to see what there is to eat.”
“I can’t believe you’re just going along with this!”
“With what?”
“With him and his attitude. Him and his you’ll-work-for-me-and-I-might-pay-you attitude.”
I shook my head.
“Doesn’t it bother you, Scott?”
“Yeah, Gregg, it does. But there’s not much I can do about it right now.”
“So you’re just going to accept it?”
“No, I’m going to wait till there’s a time when I can talk to Rocky and figure something out.”
“You can’t talk to that guy.”
“How do you know?” I countered.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you never gave him a chance. He came in here and you wouldn’t even listen to him.”
“I heard what he said!” Gregg shouted.
“Why are you yelling at me?”
“Because you’re being stupid! You’re just going along with him.”
“I told you—” I began.
“Yeah, right, like you’re going to talk to him later. You’ve always been such a goody-goody. You’ve always done whatever anybody tells you to do, Mr. Straight-A’s. Mr. Computer Whiz and Bookworm. You’re such a geek.”
This was not the first time he had ever called me a geek, but it was the first time it ever sounded like he meant it. “I am not a geek!”
“You are too! All you do is study and read and obey all the rules. That makes you a geek!”
“Yeah, well, at least I’m not an egotistical, arrogant jackass who’s so absorbed in himself that he can’t even make an attempt to understand or cooperate with the rest of the world!” I shouted. “And if you give me two minutes, I’ll find a dictionary so you can look up all the words you didn’t understand!”
“I’m outta here.” He turned and headed for the front door.
“Where are you going?” I demanded.
“I don’t know,” he said, “and I’m sure you don’t care!” He slammed the door.
I went to the bedroom instead of to the kitchen. I had lost my appetite. I started to unpack, but I didn’t know where to put anything, and I really didn’t have the energy for it. After I opened the window, I stretched out on the bed and listened to the crickets. And then I began to cry.