Crash Test Dummy

Chapter 28

When I got to the lounge, Aunt Glory threw a magazine on the table and got up. "Thank goodness." She pointed at the TV in the corner. "That news channel keeps talking about that buffoon Trump, and the magazines are all things like Good House Keeping. I've got a maid, for goodness sake." I laughed at her rant. "I take it everything went well. I didn't get any frantic messages, and you stayed too long for just a polite, meaningless visit."

"BJ and I are good. He actually wants to be my friend again. I told him he'd get tired of seeing my ugly mug." I shook my head. "But his mother is another story. She let me talk to BJ alone because he didn't give her much choice, but she gave me the cold shoulder. I'm just the brat that almost got her son killed, as far as she's concerned."

"Give her time," Aunt Glory said. "She'll come around."

"BJ's words, exactly."

"Great minds and all that."

I kept my phone with me 24/7, but no call came from the prison. Mom and Seth returned home acting like newly weds, sharing secret smiles and touching when they passed, all that craziness. Aunt Glory and I would just look at each other and roll our eyes.

On Monday, Mom returned to work. Aunt Glory and I decided to take in an afternoon matinee. Captain America Civil War was playing in the new 4D theater that had just opened. I conned her into taking me, even though she wasn't a superhero fan. When we walked out of the theater at 5 pm, Aunt Glory looked at her phone and went, "Uh-oh."

"What?"

"We may be in the dog house. I have five missed calls from your Mom. How about you?"

I put my hand in my pocket and then said, "Oops. I think I left my phone at home. Mom said today was a holiday so I wasn't expecting a call from the prison..." I sort of trailed off. Aunt Glory had already dialed and had the phone up to her ear.

I could hear Mom from where I was standing. "Where have you been?!"

"We decided to take in a movie. What's up?"

"The prison called. Put me on speaker."

"Let us get in the car first. I'm unlocking it now. No sense in letting the whole theater crowd listen in."

We climbed in the car and Aunt Glory hit speaker. "Okay, you're live."

"They're going to let you go, CW."

I pumped my fist in the air. "Yes."

"There is a condition."

"Anything," I said.

"You can't tell anyone there that you have been convicted of a misdemeanor. Neither you nor your Dad are to mention it except during the hour when you sit by yourselves and talk. Then you can talk to Paul about it, but no one else."

"It was in the paper, Mom. They get the Times Picayune at the prison."

"I know that, and so do they. They just don't want it to look like they're setting a precedent. They don't want kids going home and telling their Moms that there was a boy there who was caught joyriding. That type of thing."

"No problem," I said. "It's not like I'm proud of it or anything."

"I should hope not. They were very impressed with the interview. They said the lessons you were able to articulate without forewarning that you would be asked showed a level of maturity they weren't expecting from a rebel. They were convinced that you wouldn't cause any trouble and certain that a day with Paul would help cement your resolve. So congrats."

We heard an alarm go off in the background. "Gotta run." The phone went dead.

Aunt Glory grabbed my chin and turned my face towards her. "I told you they couldn't turn that face down."