It didn’t go well with Mom, to say the least. Dad was trying to act like a go-between, be the reasonable one, but she shut him down fast.
“I guess you want to know,” she said in a heated voice, each word emphasized by the heavy steps she was taking toward me, “what it would be like to be grounded when you are away from home, young man!” She was trying to keep her hair out of her face, but it was blowing around in the wind like a hurricane on her head.
“Laura, perhaps that’s a little—”
“Oh, shut up, John!”
Wow, I’d never heard either of them say anything like that to each other. This did not bode well for me. I turned toward the car, but Mom was just getting started. She stepped in front of me, blocking my escape.
“What in God’s name have you been doing? You look like you were out sailing on the bay in the storm or something!”
“Right, Mom. Don’t be ridiculous.”
Oh, that wasn’t a good thing to say, not good at all.
“Excuse me?”
“He said,” began Dad, “not to be ridic—”
“I heard what he said!”
“I’m sorry, Mom, I just went for a long walk.”
She examined my face. “Was someone with you, just now?”
“No.” I had no idea why I lied.
“I thought there was,” said Dad, “why would anyone want to be out here in this?”
It was starting to rain now, pelting down.
“A good question,” said Mom, “for once.”
Man, she was being totally irrational, but it was hard to blame her. The Bill and Bonnie Show was probably out somewhere looking for me. This had to be more than a little embarrassing for her. I also had the feeling that bringing me out to New Brunswick had been mostly her idea and now it seemed like it wasn’t going well. One thing I knew about my Mom, and my Dad, was that they loved me. I know that doesn’t sound like a cool thing to say, but it is true. It was tearing her apart that I hadn’t been myself for a long while. I needed to be good to her.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” I said again. “I think I’m working some things out. This trip has been good for me.”
“Really?” said Dad.
Mom gave him a look and then turned back to me. It was raining harder now and we were getting soaked. A little smile crept over her lips. That was a relief.
“Really?” she asked quietly.
“Yeah.” I am not a very good liar and I wasn’t sure that she bought it, but it helped to take the edge off things for the time being.
When we got back to the house, Bill and Bonnie were there and looking relieved to see that I was alive, though I detected Bill wasn’t too pleased with me. I was likely wrecking his hosting reputation…and cutting into his time to spread his theories and make himself look good.
I got changed and was on my best behavior throughout the meal they had all, again, waited to eat with me. I made sure I was polite and tried to look really interested in everything Bill said. It seemed to work. Even during a little rant about how self-concerned young people are (“with apologies to you, of course, Dylan,” he said), I made sure I nodded. He knew a lot about being self-concerned.
The next day, all four of them watched me like hawks. All eight of them, to be exact, since the dogs seemed to spend most of their time camped in the hallway near my escape door, as if to say, “Going out sometime?”
When breakfast was over, the non-canine adults announced plans to make a trip to the beach “together,” which meant I was going too. I wondered if they had planned that long before they told me. Maybe they talked about how I seemed to be fascinated by the beach and decided they could make me feel included by simply accompanying me, perhaps causing me to not want to get away from them too. That sounded like the sort of thing Bill would come up with—a calculated move disguised as kindness.
I, of course, was thinking about Antonine. I really hoped she would be there again, like she had said she would. Though I wondered if now that the ghost ship had made its appearance and she had told me her story, she would ever show up again. I also wondered, somewhere in the back of my head, if she was real at all.
Still, I had to find a way to get away on my own at least one more time, and see if she would be there. So, I decided to make a move. I made up my mind to do something really strange…I was going to tell the truth.
As everyone adjourned to their rooms to get ready for the beach, I knocked on Mom and Dad’s door.
“Can I talk to you?” I asked. Low voice, sound a little upset, but not enough to raise alarm. That should work just fine.
“Sure, champ,” said Dad.
I sat down on their bed and they sat on either side of me. It was like a pivotal scene in a heartwarming movie.
“I really do think that I am doing better,” I said.
“That’s great, Dylan,” said Mom, holding my hand.
“I know I have to try to be more social, and accept what happened to Bomb, and make an effort to have some more friends in school, and I’m thinking that maybe I should even go back to playing hockey.”
Mom smiled.
“But I have a confession.”
Her smile came to a halt.
“I lied to you.”
Her halted smile turned into a frown.
“There was someone with me last night.”
I was getting to the key moment. I had to navigate very carefully here. If I did it right, unveiled things in the correct way, this could work out very well. If not, I would be in a deeper pile of crap than I already was.
“What?” she said.
“When you found me on the beach.”
“I thought so,” said Dad. “Who was it?” he demanded.
“A girl.”
“A girl?” asked Mom. It was hard to tell if she was relieved or upset.
“I met a girl, Mom, a really nice one. Her name is Antonine. She is from around here, part Acadian. I really like her.”
Wow, this was a lot of confessing, but I hoped it would win me the twin-prizes of their sympathy and permission to spend more time with Antonine, even seek her out if she wasn’t at Youghall today.
“I’ve seen her several times since we’ve been here. That’s why I’ve been late getting back each time.”
“That’s great, Dylan!” said Dad. “Very exciting.”
Mom gave him a bit of a look. “What do you mean by that?” she asked him.
“Uh, nothing,” he said.
Good choice, Dad.
“She’s a very nice person,” I continued. “I think she is good for me…and I’d like to spend more time with her.”
There was silence for a moment.
“Well,” said Mom finally, “firstly, I appreciate that you told us the truth. It couldn’t have been easy to admit to your deception.”
Bingo.
“And secondly, We’d love to meet her.” That meant Mom wanted to check her out. “And once we’ve said hello, I don’t see why, all things going well, you can’t see her again. Even if you have to miss an outing or two with us and Bonnie and Bill to do so.”
Bingo again.
“Hey, man,” said Dad, “an Acadian girlfriend. High five!”
He held up his hand, but by the look on Mom’s face, I had a feeling I shouldn’t return his offer.
“Or…” he continued, “yes…let’s meet her and go from there.”
“Well,” I replied, “she said she would be at the beach this morning.”
It was a much happier Maples family that walked down to the beach with the Bill and Bonnie Show later that morning.
The happiness didn’t last, though. Antonine was nowhere to be seen.