Not knowing the Mulvaneys’ Saturday schedule, like if they went to work, or shopping, or slept in, I thought I should wait awhile. Maybe till about noon, and hoped I wouldn’t be interrupting lunch.
Grandma gave me her keys and warned me to drive carefully. As if I wouldn’t. She was more concerned about Archie than about me.
Slowly I backed out of the driveway, still with no clear idea of what I would do there. Probably ring the doorbell and ask for my dad. Would it be enough that I just wanted to see him before he left the country?
What if he didn’t want to see me? What did I ever do to make him not want me, besides get born? That was his fault more than mine.
By the time I reached the highway, I had worked myself into a snit. He was my father and he’d barely said two words to me. I’d counted them—five words, aside from a couple of sentences at the airport and one in the car when he said “We’ll talk later.” I was still waiting for that to happen.
That’s what I would do. I would go up to the door and ask for Jules Penny. If he refused to see me, then I’d know for sure where I stood.
This time an old gray Mazda sat in their driveway. I found a parking space a little way up the street, not too close, and walked back to the house. When I rang the doorbell, nothing happened.
I rang again. A female voice said, “Coming.” Or maybe it was “Come in,” I couldn’t be sure. It didn’t sound like Mei.
The woman who opened the door was tall, with short dark hair turning gray. She wore jeans and a lavender plaid shirt. Without opening the screen, she said, “Yes?”
“Is Mr. Penny here?” I asked.
“Who?”
I did have the right house, didn’t I?
“Jules Penny. He came yesterday from Borneo. I saw him go in here. I’m his daughter.”
Her mouth opened slightly and she took a sharp breath. “You’re who?”
“His daughter. Lucretia Penny. I live in Southbridge. We picked him up at the airport yesterday and brought him here.”
Still she didn’t open the door. She looked at me hard and said, “Lucretia?” as if it was some weird language.
“Lucretia Penny,” I said again. “Jules Penny is my father. Is he here?”
She collected herself enough to say, “No, he went out,” and stepped back, ready for me to leave.
I wasn’t about to give up. “Is Mei here? His friend, who came with him.”
The woman hesitated then called over her shoulder, “Mei? Somebody to see you.”
I heard a soft padding. The stiletto heels had given way to slip-on sneakers. They made her a couple of inches shorter. She had on a white blouse, cuffed blue slacks, and the shoes were also blue. On seeing me, she broke into a smile. “Aah! C-lee!” The r gave her trouble. That was okay. I knew I wouldn’t do very well in Chinese.
The older woman kept the screen door shut. Did my dad give orders not to let me in? I told Mei, “I was hoping to see my father but they said he went out.”
“Yes,” Mei confirmed. “He is go out. With Leem.”
“With—oh, Liam.”
Mei seemed embarrassed that she couldn’t do it right.
“My son,” said the woman.
I had pictured Liam as an older man. “Oh. I see. My dad didn’t say anything about—anything. Would you tell him—”
I had another idea. I asked Mei, “Would you like to go out with me for a little while? Just a short car ride.”
She looked out at the street for the orange car we came in yesterday. “You d-ive?”
“That’s how I got here,” I said. “It’s my grandmother’s car. It’s just down the street. We could have coffee or something. Or lunch, if you haven’t had lunch.” I tried to open the screen for her. It was locked.
Mrs. Mulvaney, if that’s who she was, unlocked it, mumbling something about, “We’ve been having a little trouble.” Even then, she didn’t actually open it. “Are you sure this is a good idea, Mei?”
What was she trying to pull? I said, “I’ll bring her back soon. Could you tell my dad I came looking for him? It’s Cree Penny.”
“I thought you gave a different name,” said the woman.
“I gave my formal one, Lucretia. Everyone calls me Cree. Including my dad. He’ll know.”
That seemed to satisfy her. Mei and I escaped and hiked down the sidewalk to Grandma’s car. I asked, “Did you have lunch?”
“Yes. Lunch. I have sandwich.”
“How about some ice cream? Do you like ice cream?”
She had a pretty smile. “Ice keem. Yes. I like.”
She seemed nervous as I started the car and set off for Southbridge, a few miles away.
Especially when we got to the highway. She clutched the edge of her seat and asked “Where we going?”
She must have thought I was kidnapping her. “We’re going to an ice cream shop. It’s near my home, in Southbridge. It’s a nice place. My boyfriend works there.”
“You have boyfen?”
“His name is Ben. That’s short for Bennett. Canfield. He’s just finishing high school. Next year he’ll be going to MIT. Or rather, this year.”
Only two months. By the end of August, he would be gone.
“MIT? What is?”
“It’s the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.”
“He is engineer?”
Hey, this girl was no dummy, even with the language hurdle. I would never have known “technology” in Chinese. Or anything in Chinese. I explained that Ben was very smart and could study anything but he was especially interested in science. By the time we got to the strip mall, Mei had relaxed.
Frosty Dan was extra busy and Ben had a girl helping him. She must have been new. Why would they hire her instead of me? She looked to be in her late teens, with brown hair and bangs, and brown eyes that were soft and cow-like. She had on brown Bermuda shorts and a brown apron. Ben’s apron was white.
I took Mei up to the counter and showed her pictures of all the different concoctions. As usual, I chose a banana split and so did she. I could never feel guilty about banana splits. How can you go wrong with all those vitamins and minerals in the fruit?
We took a table near the window. It looked out on parked cars and the foot traffic going past. We ate for a couple of minutes before I began my questions. I started small, with the ones that weren’t quite so important.
“Did you always live in Borneo?” I asked.
“Yes. Always. My father has business.”
I wondered if her father approved of my dad, a man much older than Mei and not a big earner. Unless he earned more than he let on to Mom and me.
“I wish I could see Borneo,” I said. “The pictures look so beautiful.”
“Is not so busy as here.”
“We saw the busiest part yesterday, I think. But there’s a lot of countryside, too. Did you know my father a long time?” I saw Ben watching us and tried to wave him over. He didn’t move.
“Three years I know your father,” said Mei.
“Is Mrs. Mulvaney a friend of his?”
“Yes. Very long time.”
“Funny, I never knew she existed. Is there a Mr. Mulvaney?”
“No, she is—it is her name when she is born.”
“Maiden name. She’s not married?”
“Yes, she was married. Now she is Mulvaney again. Is how she wants it.”
It must have been a contentious divorce, I thought. “What’s her first name?”
“First—name?”
“The name you call a person, um—informally. Like, I’m Cree. My dad is Jules.” I didn’t say anything about Mei herself. I supposed it was her first name, but I knew that in China they put the last name first.
“I don’t—oh, yes. She tell me call her Sue.”
“Sue,” I repeated. “I thought her first name started with U.”
“With me?”
“No, the letter U.” I traced it on the fake marble tabletop.
“Oh. Oh, I see. Letta U.” She, too, wrote it with her finger. “Maybe—is—Oo-sala.”
That stumped me as much as it did her. I recovered faster. “Ursula?”
“Yes. Oo-sala.” She smiled, now that that was settled.
“Oh, I get it. Ur-sue-la. And Liam is her son?”
The smile disappeared. “Yes, her son. Leem.”
“I wonder if that’s who Hey Buddy is. Liam Mulvaney.”
“No, no. He is—Leem Penny.”