24
VARIABLE
—a quantity that can change or vary, taking on different values
Poppy went straight to the workshop to make his “dang boatload” of boxes to save Misha. Yes! There was still time for us to get some orders before the July 15 deadline! Moo and I stared after him. It was weird to see him with a mission. Heck, it was weird just seeing him move.
Moo was dancing, she was so happy. She hugged and kissed me about a dozen times. “Thank you, Mike! You brought Poppy back! I just can’t thank you enough!”
“Moo, it’s okay, really.” I was still feeling guilty for being the one who sent Poppy to the lake in the first place. At least it had all worked out in the end.
“You are just a miracle! You’re a URL!”
“What?”
“The Unwanteds Rescue League! You rescued Poppy! You’re rescuing Misha! You’re a wonderful friend to Gladys and to Past—especially to Past.”
I sat down, put my head on the kitchen table, and groaned.
“What’s wrong, dear?”
“You don’t know what I said to Past.”
“What did you say?”
I groaned again, and told her everything. “I wish I’d known he wasn’t homeless.”
“I did tell you, dear, but you didn’t believe me.” She sighed. “I’m afraid he took to the street after Natalie died.”
“Natalie?”
“His wife.”
“She died?”
“Yes.”
I groaned again. “I thought they were just divorced.”
“Oh, no, dear. She died at only thirty-three. It was such a shock. Past took it very hard. Natalie owned the health food store and jogged every day. No one could’ve been healthier.”
I raised my head slowly. Natalie. All those flyers in his cart. Natalie’s Natural Products. “That’s why he’s such a health nut!”
Moo nodded.
“But,” I realized, “she died anyway, so why does he still try to be healthy?”
“She died of a heart condition that no one even knew about. If she hadn’t led such a healthy lifestyle, she probably would’ve died much earlier.”
Images of Past ran through my head—typing at his office, talking with Whitney, doing the “Three Bears” video, standing with his cart in front of Natalie’s Natural Products . . . “All that stuff in his cart—is that from her health store?”
Moo nodded again. “He lost her. He lost the store. He lost his life, really. He was in training to be a lay minister. Natalie encouraged him. People were already calling him Pastor . . . until Natalie died and he told everyone to shorten it to Past because his life was in the past.”
I thought about how I’d yelled at Past because I’d just assumed his wife walked out on him and he couldn’t handle it. I cringed. Natalie had died. Why didn’t I think of that? Me, of all people. I knew about death. And the aftermath. “What about Joey?”
“He’s staying with Natalie’s parents until Past is ready to handle him again.”
I hung my head and sighed. “I feel really sorry for the poor little guy.”
“Oh, he’s not so little. And he smells.”
“Moo!”
“And drools, and he sheds something awful.”
“Wait a minute. Is Joey . . . a dog?”
“Of course, Mike, what did you think he was?”
“A son.”
“Oh, dear, no! Well, I can see why you’d be so upset with Past, then.”
I put my head in my hands.
Moo tried smoothing out the hair on top of my head. Why was she so nice to me? To everyone? I looked at her. “Moo, why were you paying his mortgage when you guys can barely get by as it is?”
“I was always friendly with Past and Natalie, but after Doug died”—she stopped and took a deep breath—“and then Natalie died, well, I really felt for Past. Besides, I have my URL to keep up, remember?”
“Oh, yeah.” I thought about Moo taking care of all the unwanteds. “Is that how you ended up with me for the summer?”
“Oh, my dear, I begged your father to send you to visit for years, but he’d never do it. He didn’t want to part with you.”
“Uh, Moo, Dad sent me here because he didn’t want to be stuck with me in Romania.”
“That’s not true, Mike.”
“Yeah, actually, it is.”
“No, he said he’d already lost his wife and he couldn’t do without his only child for a whole summer.”
“What? He said that?” Was she sure? It sounded like some other father.
“Yes. That’s when I asked him, ‘Can’t you go teach abroad somewhere? Isn’t that what professors do?’”
“You asked him?”
“Yes. Of course, I knew the answer already. Professors do go teach abroad. I learned that on Oprah.”
“But . . . why did you want me here?” She’d never even met me.
“Because your father is . . . different. And life with him must be a little . . . unusual.” A smile spread across her face until her full set of dentures showed and her eyes sparkled behind her vinegar-clean glasses. “I wanted you to see what life was like in a normal family.” She paused, still grinning. “Do you like being in a normal family?”
I looked through the pass-through at the working Felix, ticking twenty minutes after eleven. Now that I’d brought Tyrone the car back home and gotten Poppy the vegetable out of his chair and into his workshop, I needed to go find a homeless guy who wasn’t really homeless and see if I could get him to move back into his house, which was being paid for by a little old lady who could barely afford scrapple. Normal? I shook my head and stood up to go find Past.
Moo’s grin faded and she tugged her hoodie strings. “Oh, dear. We’re not too boring, are we? That’s it, isn’t it? We’re too dull!”
“No! Not at all. Dull and boring are about the last words I’d use.”
Moo beamed. “I’m so glad, dear!” She squeezed my hand and peered into my eyes. “One more thing. I want you to have Tyrone.”
“What?” I sat down again with a thump and stared at her. I couldn’t imagine Moo without Tyrone. “I couldn’t do that. You love Tyrone.”
“And you do, too. I know, because you risked getting arrested just to bring him home.”
“I—I’m not really supposed to be driving yet.”
“I know, so he’ll live here until you’re old enough. But”—she grinned so much, her shoulders went up to her ears—“I know you’ll come and visit him. In fact, you can bring your dad with you at Christmas, maybe Thanksgiving, too, and definitely over the summer.”
Dad? If Dad came here, he’d find out about the artesian screw. Or lack thereof.
“Won’t that be fun? You’ll get to meet Misha, too! And see Past.”
Past. “I need to go talk to him.” I just hoped this rescue would be as successful as Poppy’s.