nest, notes, tones, hones, honey, stony, shone, then, hey
I WON TWO out of my three games, both with scores over 300, at the Scrabble Club the following Wednesday. And I was on my best behavior, too. No complaints about lousy letters (even though it killed me not to say something when my seven tiles were OUIIOUK); no victory dances when I won. But it was impossible to keep from grinning when I managed to beat Joan again.
‘You could wipe that smile off your face,’ Joan said.
‘I’m sorry,’ I replied. ‘I’m only smiling because it means a lot to me to beat someone who’s as good as you. And have I ever told you, pink is really your color?’
OK, I laid it on a bit thick, but I think she liked it because she smiled.
In the evenings, I studied the Official Scrabble Tournament and Club Word List, which was an interesting book because it didn’t give definitions. It just listed column after column of words, and I only recognized about half of them on each page. And it really was full of all the swears. I discovered that there are ten different ways you can legitimately use the ‘f’ word.
On Friday, Mom told me she and Jane were going out for a drink again after classes. Needless to say, I didn’t give her any grief this time. When she left, Cosmo gave me another self-defense lesson. I still wasn’t great, but I was better than last time and, as Cosmo kept reminding me, that was what counted.
When we were done, I showered and changed for our evening out. As we drove to pick up Amanda, I asked him how he was going to pay for everything. ‘I’d rather wait and tell you both,’ he replied.
Cliffhanger was a blast. My mom had never let me do anything this physical because she was worried I’d get hurt, so my arms were killing me after only three climbs. But I kept on going. It was exhilarating and terrifying all at once, being so high off the ground, even though I knew I was perfectly safe with an instructor belaying me below. Amanda and Cosmo were having a great time too, and I saw them steal a couple of kisses between climbs.
Near the end of our session, Cosmo managed to get to the top of a climb that was rated ‘eight’ in difficulty. When he was done, he grinned from ear to ear. ‘Now that was a good high,’ he said, to no one in particular.
At the restaurant afterward, a burger joint with an arcade near the front, Cosmo said he had an announcement. ‘I got a job,’ he told us.
‘Hey, that’s great!’ Amanda said.
‘Doing what?’ I asked.
‘Working construction. A friend of my brother-in-law’s is the foreman on this big project downtown. I’ll be picking up shifts here and there to start, but I’m hoping, once I prove myself, it will grow into full-time work.’
‘This calls for a toast,’ said Amanda. We all raised our glasses and clinked them together.
‘You ever wonder why they call buildings buildings?’ I asked. ‘Shouldn’t they be called builts?’
This made them laugh and then our burgers came and they were delicious. After we ate, Cosmo gave me a bunch of loonies to play in the games room attached to the restaurant. Mom never let me play those games, and even though I knew he only did it because he wanted to be alone with Amanda, I didn’t care.
I got kind of addicted to the racing car game. I played it over and over again to see if I could stay on the track longer than a minute without crashing. I’d just managed to get to almost two minutes (my own personal record) when my cell phone rang. I looked at the call display.
It was Mom, calling from her cell phone.
Thinking fast, I left my game halfway through and ducked into the men’s washroom. ‘Hi, Mom,’ I said.
‘Where are you? Why didn’t you pick up at home?’
‘I am home,’ I lied. ‘I couldn’t make it to the phone the first time. I was having a dump.’
‘Ugh, too much information,’ she said. ‘Listen, Jane canceled. She’s not feeling well.’
I looked at my watch. It was 10:15. My stomach did a flip. ‘Where are you?’
‘Just walking to the bus stop. I should be home in twenty minutes.’
My stomach did a double flip.
‘I thought we could be rebels and stay up late, play a game of Scrabble.’
‘Sounds great,’ I said, feeling queasy. ‘See you soon.’ I hung up.
Then I tore back to our table, where Cosmo and Amanda were holding hands. ‘Cosmo, we’ve gotta get out of here,’ I blurted. ‘My mom’s on her way home.’
‘I don’t understand,’ Amanda said, as Cosmo grabbed the waiter and handed him a fifty-dollar bill. ‘His mother doesn’t know he’s out with you?’
‘Not exactly,’ said Cosmo, and I could see little beads of sweat popping out on his forehead.
‘You took a twelve-year-old boy out for the evening without his mom’s knowledge?’
‘It’s not – you’re making it sound like something it isn’t,’ Cosmo said, as we all hurried to the door.
‘Well, what is it then? His mom trusts you. You’re his Big Brother.’
‘Not technically,’ I said, as we rushed through the parking lot to Cosmo’s car.
‘Thanks, Ambrose,’ Cosmo replied, in a way that I was pretty sure was sarcastic.
‘You’re not his Big Brother?’ said Amanda, her voice suddenly kind of strangled. ‘You lied to me?’
‘No. Yes. A little white lie. I just – I wanted to go out with you,’ he confessed, as we all piled into the car.
‘So you lied,’ she said. ‘And used a twelve-year-old boy—’
‘He didn’t use me.’ I wanted to help Cosmo. ‘I used him. I got him to drive me to Scrabble Club. He’s my upstairs neighbor.’
Amanda raised an eyebrow as we pulled out of the parking lot.
‘And he acts like my Big Brother – he does all the stuff a Big Brother should. In fact, it’s too bad Big Brothers does background checks because they’d be lucky to have a guy like Cosmo.’
Cosmo groaned.
‘Background checks?’ Amanda was almost whispering now. ‘What else haven’t you told me?’
‘I was going to tell you everything,’ Cosmo said.
‘When?’
‘Soon. Soonish.’
‘How about now.’ Suddenly her voice was not the sweet Amanda voice we’d come to know and love. It was like steel.
Cosmo took a deep breath. ‘Fine. I’m living with my parents because I just got out of jail. I was in for six months for a string of B and Es, which I did to support a drug habit. And no, I’m not really Ambrose’s Big Brother, but when I saw you that first night, I would have said anything for a chance to spend a little more time with you.’
Amanda didn’t say a word. She was so angry, she was practically vibrating. I could feel the anger coming off her in waves, even from my spot in the backseat. But there was nothing I could do about it because, as we turned onto our block, I saw my mom coming from the other direction, walking home from the bus stop.
I groaned. ‘I am so doomed.’
‘Duck,’ Cosmo said.
I did. And he drove right past my mom, around the corner, and into the back alley behind the house. ‘Now, run,’ he said, and I did. I leapt out of the car and dashed through the back gate and fumbled with my keys. I made it through the door and flipped on the light. I threw myself onto the couch and grabbed the remote and put on the CBC, just as Mom entered.
‘Hi,’ I said. ‘Still want to play Scrabble?’
‘Sure,’ she replied, a bit wearily.
She took off her shoes, then went to the fridge to get a bottle of wine. ‘I think I just saw Cosmo drive by with a young woman in the car.’ She shook her head. ‘I pity that poor girl. I bet, dollars to doughnuts, she has no idea what she’s getting into.’
Saturday morning, I woke up in a foul mood. I was so crabby that, after we’d done our laundry, Mom suggested she go for our beach walk by herself. I responded that I thought that was a really good goddamn idea, which made her tell me to watch my mouth, which made me tell her that that was like the pot calling the kettle black, which made her say, ‘Oh, for Chrissakes!’ which made me say, ‘See?’ all triumphant-like, which made her say, ‘I hope to hell you’re in a better mood when I get back,’ which made me say, ‘You just swore again,’ which made her storm out of the house.
The moment she was gone, I called upstairs. Disguising my voice, I asked for Cosmo.
‘Ambrose, is that you?’ Mrs E said.
‘Ambrose? Who’s Ambrose?’ I said, still disguising my voice.
‘We have call display,’ she replied.
‘Oh, Ambrose,’ I said, pretending I’d just understood her. ‘Sorry, I have a cold. Can I talk to Cosmo?’
She put Cosmo on the line and he agreed to meet me in the backyard in five minutes. He was in sweatpants and a sweatshirt. It looked like he hadn’t slept much. He lit a cigarette, even though he probably hadn’t even had breakfast yet. I decided this wasn’t the time to bug him about it.
‘What happened?’ I asked.
‘I drove her home. I told her it would never happen again, I was sorry, I was in Narcotics Anonymous, blah-blah-blah. She just jumped out of the car.’
‘I’m sorry, Cosmo,’ I said, and I could feel my eyes prickling with tears. ‘It’s all my fault.’
‘What are you talking about? It’s my fault, OK?’ He squeezed my shoulder. ‘I’m the one who lied to her.’
‘Have you sent her flowers?’
‘No.’
‘You should send her flowers. I read this magazine in the doctor’s office once that said women like that.’
‘I don’t know. She was pretty pissed.’
‘You can’t just give up,’ I said.
He inhaled deeply on his cigarette. ‘Fine. I’ll send flowers. And now I’ve got to get some coffee.’ He turned to go into the house.
‘What about Scrabble Club?’
He turned back. ‘I guess it’s on hold for now. Sorry, Ambrose.’
I could feel my eyes welling up with tears again. ‘Can we still do self-defense? I mean, I know you were only hanging out with me because of Amanda, so if you don’t—’
‘Is that what you think?’
I nodded.
‘Then you’re even dumber than you look.’
He cuffed my head. And even though it hurt a bit, it also felt really good.