Part One
Hot Afternoon
*
Dustin's cell phone rang early one blazingly hot August morning, waking him up with a jolt.
"Hello?" came Dustin's raspy and groggy voice.
"Hey Dustin! It's Tyler. I was just thinking. Ain't nothing happening and was wondering what's up with you?"
Tyler was one of his best buds and lived a couple of streets over. "Just beating this damn heat. I was going to spend the afternoon out at the pool...Listen, if you got nothing going on, maybe you wanna come over."
"Yeah, that'd be great. You sure your mom won't mind?"
"I doubt it. Let me ask her and call you right back. OK?"
"Pronto, Tonto," Tyler responded and hung up.
Dustin looked at the clock. It was 9:38. He was a bit surprised his mother hadn't already been upstairs to wake him. She had a thing about "burning daylight." Maybe she was cutting him some slack since summer was almost over. He had just turned 16 and was going to be starting his sophomore year at Madison High School. His mom taught upper class English and he knew she was getting ready for the new school year. In fact, she'd mentioned a couple of days earlier that faculty meetings started next week.
He pulled on shorts and a tee shirt after brushing his teeth. It was probably too late for any chance of breakfast unless he could scrounge up a couple of Pop-Tarts. He headed down stairs to check out the fridge. He though his mom would be in the kitchen, but it was deserted. So was the den. Then he saw his mom outside. She was on her knees, working with a hand spade on one of her small flower beds. She hadn't killed all the plants, but there were a couple months left to the growing season, Dustin thought. His father had once said -- outside of her hearing, of course - that Deana Rodgers could kill a vase of silk flowers.
Dustin went out the patio door.
"Hiya, mom."
"Good morning, sweetheart," his mother said, looking up at him with a smile. She sat back on her ankles and rubbed her dirty hands in the grass. She was wearing a dark blue tee and black walking shorts. Her pale brown hair was tied back with a red ribbon. Although she was getting old, Dustin thought she looked a lot better than some women he could think of. She kept herself up with swimming and tennis and took a lot of pride in dressing well. Except for yard work, of course. "Sleep well?"
"Uh, huh. Thanks for letting me sleep in."
"I thought you wouldn't mind. There's not much summer left."
"You want some help with that?"
"No, thanks. I'm just futzing around, getting my hands and knees dirty...Had breakfast?"
"Not yet."
"There's some toaster pastries in the cupboard. And frozen waffles."
"Great. Uh, Tyler called." He scratched his scrawny leg absentmindedly. "I was wondering if he could come over and do some swimming."
"Sure. I'm not feeding him, though."
"Gotcha. Thanks, mom." He went running inside to call his friend.
Deana watched him go. She decided her son was getting ready to blossom into manhood, a couple years late from what she saw around the school. Still, boys matured at different rates and she had taught juniors who looked like they still belonged in junior high school. As far as her son went, all she could say was better late than never. His voice was finally starting to take on a deeper timbre and he was shaving a couple of times a week. Last year he had made the freshman swim team and might make the JV team if he worked hard. That would put some meat on his bones and build up his muscles. Take away his clumsiness and his shy demeanor, too, build up his confidence around girls.
Dustin got the toaster out of the cupboard and the box of parties out of the pantry. While he waited for the Pop-Tarts to heat up, he gave Tyler a ring. "It's cool with mom."
"Great! See you about noon? Oh, and I got a text from JayBo. He was supposed to go out to the lake, but the boat trailer had a flat."
JayBo was Jason Beauregard Riley, Tyler's cousin, a semi-rich kid but OK for all that. He was 18, a senior, and a pussy magnet.
"That'll be OK, I guess, but nobody else, OK?" At least, Dustin thought it would be all right. Actually, it might be a good idea to get to know JayBo a little better. He was on the senior swim team and the student coach of the junior varsity swim team and a hell of a swimmer. Dustin wanted to score the JV team this year and it couldn't hurt to get in good with JayBo, could it? "Mom doesn't want a crowd over here."
"I read you, dude. See you in a few."
Dustin ate breakfast and cleaned up the kitchen afterwards. Then he headed outside.
"Did you talk to Tyler?" she asked him. She was digging around some plant with droopy leaves that were starting to yellow.
"Yes, ma'am." It never hurts, he knew, to be a little extra polite when your mom's going along with your plans. "He said it'd be around 12. Oh, and he said he may bring over one other guy. His cousin. You'll like him. He's on the high school swim team. He helps out with the jayvees."
"OK."
"What's wrong with that thing? It looks like crap."
Deana flipped a clod of dirt at her son. "Thanks for the glowing testimony for my gardening skills... I think it's got thrips."
"What are thrips?"
"The buggers that are killing all my plants this summer..."
"Maybe you need some thripticide."
"For somebody who never heard of a thrip till ten seconds ago, you sure know all the answers!" his mom growled in false irritation. She'd killed so many plants over the last few years, she didn't let another death faze her. The clerks down at the garden center loved to see her coming. The salesclerks were on a first name basis with Deana Rodgers.
"Maybe it's getting too much water?"
Deana jumped up, grabbed the hose that was coiled nearby, and sprayed her son.
"Darn it, mom!"
He ran, but she chased him, keeping the hose aimed at him as he sprinted away.
"I'll water you too much and see if you turn yellow!" she yelled, laughing.
He escaped only by darting inside.