RELLY CALLED HIS MOM by her first name, which was Tannis. I found out later that she changed it from something normal back in the olden days. But her name wasn't the strangest thing about her.
"Why don't you sit down here for a second?" she said as I headed through the kitchen for the stairs.
"The guys are all—"
"Sit down." It wasn't exactly a command. But she wasn't asking politely, either. "We need to talk."
So I leaned my case against the wall and joined her at the kitchen table.
"Jonathan called. He'll be late." That was Butt's real name. Jonathan Vincent Butterfield.
Tannis had a trippy kind of feel about her. I don't mean she'd fried her brains with acid in the olden days. And she wasn't one of those have-a-nice-day gra-nola types. Mood rings, wheat grass, tarot cards, yoga.
That kind of stuff wasn't big with her.
The only thing that fit with the old hippie ways was how deep she was into zodiac stuff. There was a picture of Aquarius in every room. The best one hung in the kitchen. It showed a girl pouring water from a clay jar. And even though it looked like something from the ancient days, it was a photo, not a painting. The girl had beautiful hair and was wearing a loose kind of dress belted with a piece of silver rope. She looked out at me from the picture with the same trancey gaze that Tannis wore right there and then.
Tannis offered me tea, which was kind of strange. Jolt and Mountain Dew: yeah. And Panther Blood, the stuff Relly found at the old Italian market. I got used to that. But tea was something I hardly ever drank. And it turned out to be this nasty, poxy-smelling stuff brewed out of roots and berries.
"Relly says you're good."
"I guess."
"There's never been a girl in any of his bands before. You know that, don't you?"
"Sure. But I don't think that—"
She cut me off. "What you think about Relly is not important. I'm more concerned with what you feel."
I sat there, not talking, figuring she'd get to the point soon enough.
And she did. "You know it's just me and Relly here. That's the way it's always been. And his band has always practiced here. That was my idea. Did he tell you that? I helped him clear out the space in the attic."
She was staring at me with those big, accusing eyes. "Relly is not like other boys. Do you understand that? He is different. And he needs a place where he is safe. Where nobody will lead him astray."
"Look, I'm just the bass player, OK? That's all. I'm not leading anybody anywhere."
"Yes," Tannis said. Then we were quiet for a little while. I stared down at the gray-green leaves floating in my teacup. I could feel her eyes on me, accusing me of something, but I didn't know what.
"Zee?"
"Yeah?" I didn't meet her stare.
"I want you to promise me something."
This was getting way too weird. I just wanted to play. That's all.
"Will you promise me that no matter what happens, no matter what you see or hear or find out, you'll keep it to yourself? Relly is all I have. It's always been just the two of us. Do you promise me that everything you learn stays here? He likes you, Zee. And he doesn't like many people. He says you're good. He says he can trust you. Do you promise you'll keep it that way?"
Just then Butt came blundering into the kitchen. "Hey, I just heard a good one. What's brown and sounds like a bell?"
It didn't occur to him that neither Tannis nor I was in the mood for his stupid jokes.
"Dung!" he said, making his voice ring like a Chinese gong. "Get it? Get it? Dung!"
He headed upstairs.
When his clomping had dwindled to nothing, Tannis said, "Promise."
"OK, sure. I promise." I got up. "We done?"
She said, "I'm going to hold you to that promise. Do you understand?"
No, I didn't. But I wanted to be out of there real bad. So I nodded.
"All right. I've said my piece. Go on now. They're waiting for you."