On this fine Friday morning, Glenda’s Universal Studio’s t-shirt and her big, unlucky, yellow bus 13 were a welcome sight. Rey took the steps two at a time like a track star, smiling at Glenda, who looked as though she could empathize with the excitement of ninth grade in all its many incarnations. Ryan O’toole was staring at a blank sheet of white paper as he attempted to call upon inspiration. Rey would have sat with him had he not heard the megaphone voice from the back of the bus. “Hey Rey. Come sit with us.” It was Mike Elsetta -- raised eyebrows, and knees in the aisle. Annette Oslow was with him. Rey supposed Mike had gotten Annette to sleep at his house.
Rey walked to the back of the bus, threw his blue Jansport on the mud brown seat, and turned to them.
“Nice one Tuesday, Rey,” Annette said.
“Yeah,” Mike said, nodding. “We hate Huxley too.”
Rey smiled and pulled a bottle of avocado juice out of his backpack. “Why do you guys hate him?”
“He isn’t popular,” Annette said. “He just convinces everyone he’s the king of the ninth grade. No one even likes him. And do you know what I heard? One time, he made Viola Specks shine his shoes in homeroom.”
“That’s horrible,” Rey said.
“Why does he hate her so much?” Mike asked.
“He thinks it’s cool,” Annette said.
“I don’t even know the guy,” Mike said. “I just know that newsletter is the stupidest thing this side of Pemota.” Mike got a fun-loving smile on his face. “You going out with Christy, Rey?”
Rey pulled back a little and said, “no.” He thought better of it and added, “I mean we haven’t been out on a date yet.” Don’t kiss and tell and all.
“Christy’s my girl,” Annette said. “Christy is so cool. Just never tell her not to cry. That makes her so mad.”
Mike still had the smile on his face. “What happened?”
Rey wondered if Mike wanted a summary of every type of physical contact in the past week. Annette hit Mike on the shoulder as if to say, mind your own business.
“Just wondering,” Mike said.
“We sent Nadine’s Puppies home with their tails between their legs,” Rey tilted his avocado juice up and drank.
Mike slapped his knee. “Put a nail in the coffin. Yowza.”
“Mike, you cop a feel with my cousin, I kill you.” They all turned and saw Fordel Garza was watching their conversation from a few seats ahead. Rey had overheard many conversations between Mike and Fordel who openly hated one another. Fordel was on the hockey team also, and wore a shirt and tie even when he didn’t have a game.
“Fordel, you freakin’ Venezuelan, sit down.”
“Mike, they can hear you in Venezuela,” Fordel said.
“Well, why don’t you go deliver them some pizzas.” Mike often joked that Fordel was going to end up being a pizza delivery driver.
Rey erupted with laughter.
Mike looked at Annette. “We should invite them.”
Annette was hesitant. “I don’t think Christy wants to.”
Rey was interested. “Wants to what?”
“Can you keep a secret, Rey?” Mike asked.
Rey nodded. “Sure.”
“You ever had a beer?”
Rey shook his head feeling nervous. “No. I mean it would be cool. But you can end up in the police report.”
“Tomorrow night,” Mike said. “We’re going to the woods behind the reservoir where Annette lives. We make a camp fire and roast marshmallows. Annette’s Dad won a bunch of Budweiser in a poker game.”
“He’s got two fridges full of it. My Dad found out later the guy wanted to pay in Budweiser because he could get it discounted and not tell him,” Annette said.
“So we put it in our backpacks and go out there,” Mike said.
They all paused staring at each other and waiting for Rey’s response.
Rey thought if a cop rode by and asked them what was in their backpacks, homework wouldn’t be a workable excuse. And ... if people passed by and saw them out that late they could get a reputation as troublemakers which could spread all around town. “How far is the reservoir from Annette’s?”
“It’s just a few dirt roads away. No one’s around for miles.” Mike scratched his nose.
“What about your parents,” Rey asked.
“They’re asleep,” Annette said. “Besides, they wouldn’t care. They know we’re teenagers.”
Rey smiled. “I’ll ask Christy today. We’re going to Melanie’s after school.”
Christy said it sounded like fun. But she was depressed about something. Rey and Christy had been dating for almost a week now. They talked on the phone about things like whether Huxley was going to be a garbage man or an alcoholic. Rey helped Christy with Spanish, and she helped him with math. Once Rey had tried to broach the issue of the mystery. Christy said she needed some time to think for herself. But this wasn’t what Christy was depressed about.
“I don’t know why she’s like that,” Christy said as she swallowed a spoonful of mellow yellow. “I never said I didn’t want to drink. She just assumes that I’m a boring person.”
“I didn’t hear her say all that. I’m sure she thinks she’s pretty cool. But I don’t think it means anything much.”
“Everyone likes her. It just makes me mad she doesn’t want to include me in things. I’m like her best friend.”
Rey’s cup of berries and more had melted into a fruit and milk soup. He turned the cup upwards and drank. Then he said, “Huron and James are like that too.”
“How?”
He reminded himself that Christy was the only person he’d wanted to share his innermost thoughts with. “I think they think I’m not cool enough. So they don’t always invite me places. But Annette just thinks you’d steal the spotlight.”
Christy nodded. “Maybe. So how come Blanche wasn’t on the bus?”
“Mike says Blanche thinks she’s too cool for him. She hangs out with the other French exchange students and with Huxley.”
“What an idiot,” Christy said. “So who’s going?”
Rey shot his cup into the wastebasket. “It’s just going to be me, you, Mike, and Annette.”
Christy smiled. “That sounds cool.”
The sky was a magical dark blue. Majestic oak trees canopied over them. Rey looked down at his feet and saw the dirt, or maybe it was sand, seemed to move along with him. Secrecy enveloped them. When they made their way along the path that stretched the width of the reservoir, Christy said, “Brianna’s home this weekend.”
“Yuck,” Annette said. “How are you coping?”
“I say ‘hi’ to her. Barely. At least that much keeps my parents off my back. And then I just try to stay out of the house as much as possible.”
Mike was looking around. “The night is awesome.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. “Why would she want to be here? Why isn’t she getting drunk at school?” Annette asked.
“She’s working at Lots for Little’s again. She needs the money. Probably for drugs.” Christy thought anyone in a three mile radius could hear them through the soundless night.
“My sister’s home twenty-four seven,” Rey said.
“Rey, your sister’s like four,” Christy told him.
“So? She bothers me. She broke our fan because she didn’t want to tie her shoelaces.”
“Put the fan on and tie her to it by her shoelaces. Wheeeeee!” Mike said. They all laughed. “See how she likes it,”
They had reached the back of the reservoir and were following Mike through the trees. Mike said there was a cleared away area where they’d made campfires during weekends previous. When they reached the circle of stones, and burnt embers, Mike screamed at the top of his lungs. “Let’s get wasted!”
Christy shushed him.
“No one can hear us,” Annette said. “They couldn’t hear a megaphone
from here.”
“Don’t say megaphone,” Mike said.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hurt your feelings, your highness.” Annette popped a marshmallow in her mouth.
According to Annette, Mike and her were just friends. Rey took the beers out of his backpack as Mike and Annette started a fire. Mike had starter fluid and Annette had logs from her garage normally used for the wood burning stove. It was chilly and Rey and Christy huddled together. Rey looked at the beer for a list of ingredients.
“Rey’s like, what am I gonna do with this thing?” Annette said.
“I’m just a little worried I’m gonna lose my dinner.” Rey popped it open and took a sip. “It’s weird.”
“Good though, right?” Mike said.
The fire ignited and they all waited to see if it was going to stick. They put their hands near it, trying to warm up.
“You guys want to hear how dumb Blanche is?” Mike asked.
They all nodded.
“All right. A week ago, Blanche said she wanted to get a butterfly tattoo, or a mandala or something. So we went to Tattoo Heaven downtown. The guy that works there is named Keith. You guys know him, right?”
Rey shook his head. Christy spit her beer out onto the fire violently. The first sip had surprised her. Everyone laughed. She took another sip and swished it around in her mouth before swallowing, looking confused. She shrugged.
“All right, well Keith told Blanche he can do a butterfly with the different colors, or a heart, and there were all these different kinds of mandala’s. And then Huxley walked in. And he knows Keith and they are talking because Huxley wanted to get a tattoo gun on the internet. So Blanche and Huxley go into the back room with Keith. So a half hour later Blanche comes out with a tattoo of a heart with Nadine’s Puppies written on it.”
“Oh my God,” Christy said.
“What is she going to tell her kids?” Annette said.
“Do you think Huxley made her get it?” Rey asked.
“I don’t know. All I know is she’s going to regret that ‘til she’s dead.” Mike let out a burp and started pouring beer into his mouth from above his head.
“I’ve got a tattoo.” Annette pulled up her shirt sleeve and a phone number was written in pen on her arm.
“Whose number is it?” Christy asked.
“Fynn Chatoya,” Annette said. “He wants me to call him. He’s a cutie pie.”
“Fynn’s cool,” Rey said. “He’s in wood shop with me. And in our Health Class, of course. But he smokes.”
“So does Annette,” Christy said, trying not to sound accusatory.
“Just a couple times.” Annette tried to change the subject, adding thoughtfully, “I don’t think Fynn has had many girlfriends though.”
“Rey won’t even tell his Mom we’re dating,” Christy told them.
“I’ll tell her,” Rey said. “Sometime.”
“Before the prom,” Annette said.
As the night wore on, they discussed anything that came to mind including what the difference was between a cheetah and a jaguar, and how many days were in a leap year. While they made smores Rey told them about flashlight tag. Then Annette asked Christy how old she thought her and Rey would be when they first had sex. Christy, feeling the alcohol more than a little, tackled her saying, “Annette shut up.” They played truth or dare and Annette dared Rey and Christy to make out. “That looks good,” Annette said.
As the weeks progressed, the weekends called to Rey like angels in heaven. Rey was often distracted in class, and Viola Specks seemed to notice the way he absentmindedly checked her homework in Spanish. One Tuesday, as she handed him some papers back, she said, “Rey, your girlfriend is the sweetest.”
“Why?”
Viola pushed her hair out of her face. She wore a blue Nylon jacket and her large face and boyish eyes looked sad. “She got rid of Huxley for me yesterday.”
“What did she do? The tape?” Rey guessed Christy had given Huxley another ultimatum.
“Yeah. She got him good.”
Viola seemed like she wanted to talk. “Viola, why don’t you play volleyball anymore?” Rey asked.
“My Dad got mad at me when I messed up.”
To Rey, this statement seemed to come out effortlessly. Rey’s Adam’s apple bobbed and Viola saw. They both were well-aware of the rumors. Rey tried, “Do you want to talk about it?”
Viola shook her head and turned back to the front of the class.
Rey didn’t know what to think. One morning, as the trees in South Pemota disappeared around the sides of their Saturn Ion, Rey told Isabel about it. He’d missed the bus and she was driving him to school. “Her names Viola,’ Rey said. “And they say her father beats her.”
“All right,” Isabel said. “I’m calling the police.”
“What could they do?” Rey asked as he turned to look out the window.
Isabel made the turn onto Pleasant St. which stretched almost the entire width of Pemota. “They can get her a new place to live.”
“She seems weird,” Rey said. “I think there’s something else going on. Let me find out first.”
“It’s not a detective case, Rey. I don’t want you getting involved.”
“I won’t. But don’t do anything just yet. Let’s just see what happens.”
Isabel nodded. “All right.”
They drove in silence for awhile, Rey feeling like his lips were made of granite. Finally he managed, “I have a girlfriend now.”
“Good. What’s her name?”
“Her name is Christy Lane. She’s really nice.”
“Huron called last weekend. I realized you weren’t with him. Are you with this girl?”
“I hang out with her and some other people.”
“I’d love to meet her.”
Rey nodded. “Sometime.”
Huron and James were feeling the effects of Rey’s relationship with Christy. For one thing, they had grown more respectful of him. And for another, the three of them hardly hung out at all anymore. James was supposedly DJ-ing on the weekends, however, and it occupied most of his time. One Friday, Huron walked into Rey’s study hall and invited him to the “mother of all flashlight tag parties.” Over ten people had been invited.
Rey went to the reservoir instead. That Wednesday, Isabel asked him what he’d like for his birthday on November 10th. He was going to turn fifteen. When the day arrived, an older, more confident, and wiser Rey opened his birthday presents. Isabel had gotten him the one present he requested: a gift certificate to an Italian restaurant called Lurino’s. The surprise was a cell-phone with a calling plan.
“Now, I don’t need to use the payphone if I miss my bus.”
“No more exploring in the woods,” Isabel said, trying to sound casual.
“Yeah,” Rey said, smiling. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem anymore.”
Isabel nodded confused. She decided to mind her business. “Good. If you’re ever in any kind of trouble I want you to be able to call me.”
At Lurino’s that night, Christy and Rey dined in style. The waiter, Frederick, was amused that the both of them were dressed to the nines. Christy had a big wrapped box she’d brought with her and Frederick asked if it was a puppy. As it turned out, it was a new jacket, made by Columbia.
“Cool,” Rey said. “You don’t like my jacket I guess?”
Christy shook her head.
“How did you save up enough for this?”
“My Mom helped me. She wanted me to tell you she says ‘hi.’ She likes you.”
Rey fol ded the jacket back up and put it back in the box just as Frederick was walking by and scooping up the wrapping paper. “Your Mom doesn’t know me.”
Christy shrugged. “I think it’s from how you admitted it was you on the phone. A lot of guys would have let her think it was a telemarketer.”
After a long kiss goodnigh
t, Christy walked home and Rey called Isabel for a ride.
It was shaping up to be a windy, but rather mellow winter. Rey always wore the Columbia jacket. Huron and James walked into Rey’s study hall and sat down a couple weeks after the birthday.
“Rey,” Huron said, “What’s with the new jacket?”
“Christy got it for me,” Rey said. “She didn’t like the other one.”
“A bit pricey. She had good reasons for buying it?”
Rey sensed where Huron was going with this. He shrugged.
“She racist?” James asked.
“Why? ‘Cause it was Timberland?” Rey said lightly.
Huron and James just stared at him.
“Nah. She’s cool.”
“All right,” Huron said. “You want to play flashlight tag just holler. Cool?”
Rey shrugged. “Cool.”
Huron and James stopped asking Rey if he wanted to play. It was the one thing that had happened so far that Rey felt he couldn’t talk to Christy about. He knew she’d blame herself for the loss of their friendship.
One day, Rey sat with Ryan O’toole on the bus. Mike and Fordel were at an all-day Hockey tournament. Ryan had gotten stranger than usual as of late. He was often jittery and especially alert. As Rey sat next to him he noticed his hands were shaking.
“Ryan. You all right?”
Ryan shook his head.
Rey looked around. The bus was completely deserted except for three other people.
“I’ve talked to so many people that say it’s happening to them also. I think it might be our organs. We need to get rid of them,” Ryan said.
“Ryan, getting rid of your organs doesn’t make sense.” This seemed to Rey like good common-sense advice.
Rey explained the story he’d started to tell in the cafeteria that day. For Ryan’s sake. He told Ryan all about Aba Brule, and the purple writing in his math book.
Ryan brightened up. “What can you do? I had to put all the electronics in my room in the basement. My Mom is threatening to send me to the nut house if I don’t be quiet.”
Rey pulled out a piece of paper from his backpack and wrote his number down. He tore off the bottom half and told Ryan to write down his number. Rey had a feeling he was going to regret this. Ryan might call him every day.
He joined Mike “Megaphone” Elsetta when he returned the next day from his Hockey Tournament. Fordel had scored a goal and Mike was feeling ambivalent towards him. When Rey sat, Mike asked him if he wanted to have Belgian beer that night.
“Sure,” Rey said.
“If we do we have to hang out with Fordel.”
Rey smiled and shrugged. “Fordel. What kind of beer is it?”
“It’s called Orval. I get you twelve beers.”
Fordel had gotten the beer while visiting his Uncle in Spain. Fordel said he could sneak it out of his room in a backpack.
“Annette’s parents aren’t going to be there tonight,” Mike informed Rey. It was their anniversary and they were going to a musical and then a hotel.
Rey and Christy went home with Annette on her bus. Mike wanted Fordel to arrive later so they could spend less time with him. Fordel arrived at nine, his hair heavily gelled and wearing a button down shirt with no tie. “Fordel!” Mike yelled as if they had become best friends. Mike brought Fordel’s backpack into the kitchen.
“Anyone want a sample,” Mike said, as he took the beer out of his backpack.
“Hell yeah,” Rey said.
“I think it’s going to be gross.” Christy blew her bangs off her forehead.
Annette took a beer and popped the top off. She drank. “It’s strong. I don’t know if I could get drunk off it.”
“That’s what good old Budweiser is for,” Mike said.
“Hey guys.” Annette passed the beer around. “I have something interesting to tell you.”
“Is it about you and Fynn?” Christy said, being bored of this subject recently. Annette had kissed Fynn at a miniature golf course and now they were dating seriously.
“No. It’s about Father Muncie. You have to promise you won’t tell anyone.” They all stared at her blankly. “Promise,” she said urgently.
They all did.
“You guys know what the Vatican is?” Annette asked.
Rey and Christy shook their heads.
“It’s where Jesus was buried or something,” Mike said.
“Mike, you stupid Venezuelan. It’s where the Pope lives. It’s a church in Rome,” Fordel said proudly.
“Right,” Annette said. “Well, Father Muncie is getting messages from the Vatican.”
“About what?” Mike asked, sipping the beer.
“Yeah.” Christy was furrowing her eyebrows.
“Something terrible is going to happen in this town. That’s what they say.”
Mike laughed. “That’s vague.”
“Those aren’t the words he used,” Annette said.
“What did he say?” Rey asked.
“Lois told me about it,” Annette said. “Lois goes to the Pub all the time. And Warren, the bartender, listens to Marv Core’s conversations. And Warren said, Marv Core heard from Father Muncie that there will be a sign in the next year that will bring iniquity to Pemota.”
“What’s iniquity?” Christy asked.
“Evil,” Fordel said.
“Lois says Marv Core is telling everyone like the police are going to put a stop to it.”
It started pouring outside. Raindrops bounced off the roof in sharp pings like penny’s being flicked into a can. “Fordel you ready to get smacked,” Mike said.
“Mike, I destroy you before breakfast.”
They were talking about a video game and they went into the living room to take out their aggressions vicariously as Randy Savage and Rey Mysterio. Christy, Rey, and Annette followed them.
“What do you guys think?” Annette said.
“It sounds silly,” Christy said.
“Yeah. It sounds like The Exorcist,” Rey said.
“Fordel,” Mike said. “Did you bring us any pizzas tonight?” When Fordel didn’t respond, Mike said, “Rey what are you going to do when you’re older?”
Rey and Christy sat on the couch; Annette had plopped herself down on the love seat. “I used to want to be an inventor. But I don’t know anymore.”
“That’s cool,” Annette said. “I want to be a graphic artist for a newspaper.”
“Anything’s cool,” Mike said. “Just as long as you don’t end up like Frank Brule.”
A bolt of electricity seemed to strike Rey’s heart. Before he asked the question he knew the answer. “Who’s Frank Brule?”
“Everyone knows Frank Brule,” Mike said, frantically punching buttons. “He’s the homeless guy downtown.”
“The guy with the brown leather jacket?” Rey asked.
“Yeah. What’s the big deal?”
Lightning lit up the window like punctuation on the knowledge that had just hit Rey.
“Good thing we’re not at the reservoir,” Annette said.
Her voice sounded far away and meaningless. This new bit of information had sent Rey’s head spinning. He was already concocting a plan: a Sunday morning stroll around town, and an encounter with Frank. Could he be Aba Brule’s brother? Her husband? Her son? If they were even related. If they were Rey imagined they would have a lot to talk about.
“Be careful, Mike,” Fordel said, referring to the lightning, “Stupid conduct electricity very well.”
“So does hair gel, you Venezuelan faggot.”