It was just too much. Faye had gotten out of there fast! She hadn't even told him she was sorry, so sorry about... everything! She couldn't even look him in the eye! (God, he had looked terrible! Like he'd been caught in a stampede and was brought back to live by black magic!) She hadn't even said sorry to the mad mother. (Or had she?) She tried playing back the scene in her head: the mother scolding her, "You think I'm stupid?" No, Faye hadn't said sorry, she hadn't said anything. And then (poof!) there was Johnny. The mother had just looked at him, she hadn't seemed happy, or relieved, not even surprised! What a horrid woman!
How had Johnny looked at Faye? Had there been blame in his eyes? Disgust at this stupid girl? She didn't know, she hadn't stayed to find out, she just ran past him, out! Had Pearly called after her? Faye didn't think so. (Her brother was back, what did she care about anything else?) Faye was definitely never ever returning to that damned shack!
She rode her bike back into town, the sun was still up. She should go home, and have her dinner there. But her parents would ask, hey, what about dinner at Pearly's, what happened, what's wrong? And she would have to tell them (they always knew when she tried to lie): Johnny's back! She had to tell them, didn't she? And they would be glad, wouldn't they? Glad for Pearly? Glad, because they too had been sorry about how things had turned out..?
But was Johnny even supposed to be back? If the police deported you over state lines, basically banished you, were you just allowed to come back? Faye didn't think so. But her parents wouldn't tell the police, would they? Not again, after how things had turned out last time, right? But you never did know with adults, did you? They had this habit of sticking together, not admitting another adult was wrong about something. Faye should listen to her teachers, they had told her, even if they were being complete stinkers. Rules were rules and laws were laws. That's the kind of thing adults would tell you when a situation gets tricky.
She rode her bike towards Patty's home, then realized on her way: Patty was having dinner with her whole family around this time. Faye didn't want that whole family to know about the mess she had made of things.
But she had to tell someone or her head would explode.
Of course! She had only one friend who knew her way around sticky situations: Claudette!
Claudette's tall and handsome father always worked late, even though he was a dentist and who'd ever heard of people visiting a dentist at night? By this time Claudette's mother would be drunk on sherry, and say the most inappropriate things (if she wasn't already passed out). She was often really funny in that state, but it was also, of course, as Faye's parents had explained, pretty sad. Whatever troubles Claudette, an only child, had at home, it never seemed to get her down. She was a tough cookie.
Claudette's father opened the door (it was Sunday, of course!) and smiled a twinkling smile at her (he couldn't help himself). Behind him the television blared. Faye said, looking up at him, "Hello, Mr. Panagopoulos," (he clearly had no idea who she was) "can Claudette come out, uhm, to play?" The father hollered for Claudette, and then turned his attention back to Faye, "So you're of one Ettie's little friends, are you?" he said in a teasing tone. Then Claudette pushed him roughly aside.
"Hey, Faye, what's up?"
"Let's go for a walk, okay?"
"Sure. Get back inside, pop."
"Bye, Mr. Panagopoulos!"
"So, what's up?"
"He's back!" Faye hissed, as they walked up the road, Faye rolling her bicycle along by the hand "Johnny, the lemurian kid, Pearly's brother, he's back!"
Then Faye told her everything that had happened that evening: the dinner she and Pearly had planned, the mad mother, Pearly jumping into Johnny's arms, and she told what she felt and what she thought as it all happened. The complete honesty of her account felt liberating. A weight had lifted from her heart, while Claudette hadn't even said anything yet, but was only listening. Faye believed she had only ever been this honest before about things that mattered with Patty.
"... so even though I know I should be happy that he's back, happy for Pearly, happy for Johnny himself, he must be glad to be back with his family, happy that he's still alive even. I mean, if you'd seen how bad he looked, golly, whatever he's been through must have nearly killed him! And I am happy, part of me is happy things turned out alright in the end, but another part of me is terrified, terrified of Johnny, what'll he'll say to me, what he thinks of me, or even what he'll do to me! Who knows, right, he might, I don't know, I kind of ruined his life for a while there... I mean, I still don't know why the heck he followed me in the first place!"
"Come on!" said Claudette. This was the first thing she had said, except for some hmmms and yesses, to let her know she was still listening. And she had laughed once, when Faye told her how she had run from the house, but Faye had laughed with her so that was all right.
"What?" Faye wanted to know.
"You mean to say you don't know why he followed you? Why do boys follow girls, Faye?"
Part of Faye was shocked at the suggestion, but another part of her knew she had already drawn that conclusion, she just hadn't put it into words yet—but the notion had lurked in her head, right beneath the surface of her conscious thoughts.
"But he's a lemurian!" she said, amazed at her own tone of voice. She didn't sound even slightly outraged, she sounded almost... desperate?
"You told me he's only half lemurian," said Claudette calmly, "which makes him half human. I suppose him falling for a full-blooded lemurian would be acceptable, but not him falling for a human? Or should he only fall in love with other half-bloods? Maybe he should, but I'm afraid that's not how love works. Love doesn't care if it's convenient."
"Love?!" blurted Faye. She feared that came out a bit deranged. Claudette looked at her, and the look in her eyes then very subtly shifted. Faye felt the blood rushing to her cheeks.
"Holy Mackerel!" hooted Claudette, "I can't believe I didn't see it! You're in love with the boy!"
No! She wasn't! That was crazy. How could she be? They had stopped walking. Claudette looked at her... was she about to burst out laughing? Faye didn't know what to say. "That's crazy," she said, "I hardly even know him!"
Now Claudette did laugh, but not nastily at Faye, it was more of an I-can't-believe-what-I'm-hearing kind of laugh. I hardly even know him? Was that the best she could come up with, Faye wondered. Like he was some boy who'd recently moved into the neighborhood. She should have said, how could I? He's a different species! I don't fall in love with cats or dogs, do I? Something like that.
"I'm not, really I'm not!" she said fiercely. Did that put an end to her complete honesty with Claudette? She really wasn't sure. "Don't be crazy!"
"Well, I sure hope you're not, Faye, because that would be crazy! Just look at the guy! Not what you'd call a catch, is he? You see yourself marrying a guy like that, have little furry babies?"
"C'mon, stop it."
Claudette did stop it, giving Faye one hard serious look, before they continued walking.
"But, in all seriousness, you know," Faye said, trying hard to sound composed, "what do you think I should do?"
"About what, exactly?"
"About Pearly's brother, now that he's back."
"Well, next time you see him, you tell him sorry about having him deported, and that's that. He follows you again, for whatever creepy reason, you tell him to stop that, or you'll tell the cops again. He doesn't stop, you tell the cops. They'll probably kick his butt to the North Pole next time. Pretty simple, really. Unless you're in love with him, that is. Then there's nothing simple about it."
"Don't you worry about that," Faye said, worrying quite a bit herself. Claudette glanced at her sideways.
"Let's head back," Claudette said, "Untouchables is on in a moment."
