Scenes from a Kid's Life

Group 5: Songs; Stories

Ordinary events in the life of an unordinary child.

Ally heard the piano; he threw his pencil up in the air and ran out of the room.

 ©2006 by Jan S
Edited by Amelia R.

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Songs:

Ally heard the piano; he threw his pencil up in the air and ran out of the room; he thought that Jim was home, and he badly needed to talk to Jim, and he badly needed an excuse to quit doing homework.

Whenever he divided a half a cake by one fourth, he kept winding up with more cake than he started with. How dumb was that? Why couldn't math be logical? And finding out why Jim had been mad at him last night was way more important anyway.

When he got to the living room, the piano player stopped playing and waved to him. Ally said, "Oh, it's only you."

Larry answered, "'Only me?' I like that!" But since Ally's expression hadn't matched his words, neither did Larry's.

"I thought it was Jim. I got to talk to him. Can I listen?" Sometimes when his daddy played the piano it meant he wanted to be alone.

"Sure, come and sit with me, puddin'. Jim is the usual piano player in this house, isn't he? Want to talk to me about it instead?"

Ally sat on his heels on the bench and leaned against his father. He said, "Nah, it's got to be him."

"OK. I'm sure glad to see a much happier kid in this house than the one who was here yesterday. Did you have a good day today?" Larry said.

"Yeah, mostly."

"Learned something in every class?"

"Yeah, mostly."

"And you've got your homework done?"

"Yeah, mostly."

"Is you brain stuck?"

"Yeah, mostly."

Larry thought real hard, then said, "Hummm, who did you play with at recess?"

"Yeah, mostly."

Ally's ribs were tickled until he said, "Jody, mostly; and Alex and Leah."

"Who's Jody?"

"Joseph Edwards; 'cept he's Jody Ducoux now. Can I spend the night over at his house Saturday?"

The fact that Ally looked straight down at the keys when he asked that question was enough of a warning for Larry to avoid the pitfall. He asked, "Didn't your mother pick you up at school today? And did you already ask her that question?"

Ally nodded, so Larry shook his head and said, "You know that's not fair, Al."

"But I need to be nice to him."

"OK, but you can't play us against each other. And I think we need to get to know them better before a sleepover. Is that what your mom said?"

Ally nodded and said, "But...."

Larry reached across Ally to reach the high end of the piano. He played the melody of a Rolling Stones song and said, "You know this song. Sing the next line."

Ally sang in a very high treble at the same time that Larry sang much lower, trying to imitate a Brit trying to sound Country-and-Western. They sounded terrible, but luckily, Larry stopped playing after only two lines:

"You can't always get what you want; you can't always get what you want...."

Ally looked down at the keys some more. "You always play just that," he said; then continued singing at the top of his range: "...you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need. Yeahhhhh. I'll talk to mom some more."

Larry chuckled and said, "I think that's OK, but remember three things: there is a fine line between 'try, try again' and begging, whining and pestering; 'because I want to' is not a good reason to keep the discussion going; and third, 'because I really, really want to' is the same argument as the other one."

Ally thought about that until Larry asked if he had any trouble at all at school.

Ally said, "Yeah, some."

"Uh-oh; what happened, Pud?"

"Division by fractions; how come when you divide a half a cake by a fourth of a cake you wind up with two cakes? Least I do."

Larry almost laughed. That was not the kind of trouble he had been asking about, and that answer was the best news he could have heard. "We'll look over it after dinner. Your arithmetic is OK, but how do you divide by a fourth of a cake, maybe with a fourth of a sword, but with a fourth of a cake it would just make a big mess."

"I don't get it," Ally said, his head leaning far to the left.

"A number is abstract, Ally. It doesn't have to be a fourth of a cake."

Ally looked totally flummoxed and his head tilted a little more, but he said, "I know that, but still, even if you divide a half cake to one fourth of a person and they get two cakes, that means the whole person would have eight cakes. Where did all the extra cakes come from?”

Larry put his head in his hands; he was now chuckling aloud. Ally said, "Don't laugh at me!" and head-butted Larry's arm.

"I'm sorry, Sweetheart; your logic is impeccable, but your understanding is absent. I need to think about how to explain it. After we eat, we will look at it together. At least you know how to do it, even if you don't know why. You'll get there and go 'AHA, of course!'"

After he played a simple etude, Larry said, "You know Jim and T.K. have play rehearsal. They won't be back until you're in bed. Did you need to talk to Jim about something very important?"

"Oh, I wanted to ask why he was mad at me last night."

"Al, Al, he wasn't mad at you at all. I don't think you could make him mad these days; he is so much on your side, but he thinks he — never mind."

"We're allies."

"Oh, I see; that's good. He wasn't even mad at your mom and me, Pud. He was worried and frustrated, and he was mad because the world is unfair, and the shortest distance isn't always a straight line, and because he is eighteen, and because...." Larry sighed and then shrugged and then grinned at Ally.

"Were you mad at Jim?"

"Nah — Yeah, a little bit. Having smart children is my punishment for loving a brilliant woman, Al. You be careful about things like that. — I take it you've got all your things put back away now."

"Yeah, mostly," Ally said with a smile, then he got serious again and said, "Mom was real mad at him though."

"Your mother mad at her child? Never! Irked, cross, peeved, perturbed, irritated, maybe. But not mad. Annoyed; she does get annoyed. Never get your mom annoyed, Ally. She already has two closets full of noids that your brothers got her."

"That's mom's joke."

"She lent it to me because I like it. You want new material all the time like I'm a TV show or something?"

"I like 'Be alert; the world needs more lerts,' better," Ally said and leaned against Larry again.

Larry played another short piece, and then Ally asked quietly, "Were you mad I was going to throw things out?"

Larry shook his head several times. Then he said, "I thought you were being very extreme, Ally, but you have to explore different ways of doing things, I think. It's like math; you have to keep looking until you have that Aha-experience. I wish I could keep you safe and happy forever, and I try my hardest, but if I just gave you the answers, even if I knew them, that wouldn't give you understanding or make you happy. It can be hard at times, deciding what to allow, what to require, and what to forbid; that's why they don't let just anyone become a daddy."

Ally hugged Larry and put his head on Larry's shoulder. He said, "I was being mean to myself."

Larry shrugged and said, "Maybe. Pud', maybe. It is hard to know sometimes which is being meanest to yourself. That is why they don't let just anyone become a human, — or especially an Ally." He wrapped his right arm around Ally and kissed his forehead.

Ally thought this conversation was too serious and wanted to say something happy, but he had a hard time coming up with something. Finally, he said, "David Grimell found almost all of Rocky's beads."

"Yea!" Larry said.

"He wouldn't go to the doctor's 'til he had looked."

"Did he have to go to the doctor's because of your fight?"

"He had to get four stitches in his back."

Larry stared at the keyboard and then shook his head. "And you wondered why you got a detention. Ally, even though they know you didn't start it, the school has to do something when someone gets that hurt, and you and Joseph did get very mad and kept hitting after you could have stopped."

Ally didn't need to be reminded to feel bad about that, and especially about David getting hurt worst of all, but he still said, "David wasn't mad at Jody or me; he said it was Ryan's fault, and he wasn't going to hang out with him anymore. But I know I should have left, I guess."

"Yes, I guess you should have." Larry thought about Ryan; as horrible as Ryan's behavior had been to his child, he could not help but feel sorry for a child whose behavior was costing him friends. He wondered what he would feel for an eighteen-year-old Ryan, and decided he might still feel sorry for him but in a different way. He wondered where the dividing line was.

After Larry played another short exercise, Ally said, "I got a question."

"Almost three hundred thousand kilometers per second."

"Huh?"

"That's the answer to your question."

"Na-uh."

"Sure it is. Your question is: 'What is the speed of light?' and that is the answer."

"No, I was gonna ask if I can go to the bead store tomorrow and get the stuff to fix Rocky's beads."

"That's the wrong question. I gave you the answer to the right question. Actually, it's two hundred ninety-nine thousand, seven hundred ninety-two, point — ugh — four five eight kilometers per second. That is a very good question and a very important answer."

"Daddy!"

""What? First you complain about my old jokes, and then you get annoyed when I use a new one. Oh well, you will think it's funny next time — or the twentieth time. Where do you keep your noids, Al?

"Come on, can I go?"

"But this is important. It is one thing that always stays the same, any time and any place in the whole universe. You can rely on it, Al. Well, almost anywhere you can; in some weird places things get real weird."

"OK, like where?" Ally said, kind of wanting to know and kind of wanting to play along just to get done with it quicker.

"OK, like black holes and way out between the galaxies. Even things like time and distance and mass might all get mixed up in those places."

"Oh yeah, things are wacko those places, but is it OK if I go to the bead store tomorrow, or not?"

"I guess so, if you can figure out how to get there. Your after school schedule is beyond me, Pud."

"Tomorrow I'm in after-school-care while Jenny has her dance class, and then Jim brings us home. On Mondays, we're in ASC 'til T.K. finishes wrestling, and then we ride the second bus. On Tuesdays, Gail comes on the first bus with us, and then Jim brings T.K. home, and he and Gail go...."

"Stop — stop; don't ruin the mystery; all I know is Jim, Gail and T.K. had it all worked out, and track season and the play are going to mess it all up, and parents are going to have to get involved again. I bet Jenny won't mind if Jim takes you to the store tomorrow. Are you going to wear them every day again?"

"Yeah."

Larry nodded.

"Real boys wear 'em too. Some of T.K.'s and Jim's friends have earrings too. Can I get my ears pierced?"

"Someday you can, but let's wait awhile," Larry said.

Ally accepted that with a sigh. He said, "T.K. is mad at Greg, because his mom gave him some heart earrings for Valentine's, and he wore them to school."

Larry sighed now and said, "I thought that was coming."

"But he's been wearing earrings for a long time. Why is T.K. mad now?"

"Probably the kind of earrings, Al. Greg is ready to make an announcement and T.K. isn't, and he is afraid that people might think the announcement applies to Greg's friends too. T.K. doesn't even know whether the announcement is true about himself or not. But Jim thinks he knows the answer already."

"What announcement?"

"That he likes to wear pretty earrings," Larry said.

"T.K. doesn't; hoops and plain studs, maybe."

Larry leaned his head over to bump Ally's. He said, "Greg wants people to know the real Greg, because it is easier to find your real friends when you don't have secrets. But before you can do that you have to be sure who the real you is. And it's a problem because some people might decide they don't like you right away too"

"Is T.K. going to stop being his friend if he finds out the wrong thing?

"I sure hope not. T.K. is kind of afraid that if he is different from Greg, Greg won't want to be regular friends anymore anyway. That makes him feel — well, it makes him feel a lot of things."

Larry looked down at his hands and was a little surprised to realize he was playing an old Ricky Nelson song. He kept playing until he reached the refrain and then sang it twice: "It's all right now, I've learned my lesson well; you can't please everybody, so ya' got to please yourself." Then he bumped Ally again.

Grace came down the stairs and into the living room. "I was wondering why my serenade was so eclectic. Are you two busy?"

"We're having some deep discussions," Larry said, "but you can eavesdrop."

Grace sat on the bench on Larry's other side, facing backwards. She said, "It's microwave appreciation night tonight. There are lots of leftovers in the refrigerator. Did you know you're an only child tonight, Dally?"

Ally nodded, and Larry said, "That's going to happen a lot between now and the performances. I hope we don't get bored after Ally is in bed."

Grace said, "Maybe I can find a way to entertain you," and fluttered her eyelashes.

Larry fluttered his eyebrows back at her and made a growling sound.

Ally said, "Eww, yuck — Geesh."

Grace and Larry smiled at Ally, and Larry said, "Ally had trouble at school today, but only with dividing fractions."

"Oh," Grace said, "T.K. got in trouble with Mrs. Garcia during that unit too. She almost kicked him out of class."

"He did? I thought he was always great at math," Ally said.

"He is. But at that part he kept telling everyone how easy and cool it was, and he kept trying to take over the class until Mrs. Garcia got fed up."

Ally moaned; some people had all the luck.

"You have to remember that mathematicians aren't like most people, and see things their way, Dally. If I said to you, 'I don't got no bananas,' you would know I'm speaking incorrectly, and that I mean I don't have any bananas. A mathematician would ask where the bananas I don't not have are.

"When dividing fractions, remember that it already has been divided; one-third is one divided by three; so dividing by it is double-dividing, which is like undividing."

Larry said, "Double-dividing? Undividing??"

Ally said, "So a fourth into a half is like a fourth a person has half a cake already, so the whole person woulda had two cakes! Easy-Peazy." He put his fists on his hips, glared at Larry and said, "Why didn't you just say that?"

Larry looked back and forth from Ally to Grace and then let his head fall on the piano keys with a clang. "I don't know. I don't know," he said. "Some things in math can only be explained to some people by English majors, I guess."

Grace said. "It's OK, Dear, I'm sure there are some things you understand just fine."

Larry sighed and said, "Let's go see how hot we can make the microwave."

"Wait, Mom, I gotta ask you something."

Larry said, "Two hundred ninety-nine thousand, seven hundred ninety-two, point four five eight kilometers per second. I all ready told you."

Ally smiled and bumped Larry, then he said, "It's about Jody's; seriously."

Grace said, "Dalleeeey."

"Just two things; promise."

Grace looked at Larry, who was softly playing some exercises again and actively not looking at Grace. She said, "Only two things."

"'K, I promised to be Jody's friend, so I will be, and it doesn't matter how well we get to know them, anyway."

"You are a very nice and an honorable person, Ally-Dally. But I knew that, didn't I? You can be his friend without an overnight this weekend though."

Ally sighed, one card played and no improvement. He said, "OK. You reminded me of the fox in 'The Little Prince', remember? So, I waited patiently and was available, like I was s'posed to. Now Jody has come over and been tamed; I can't push him away even a little bit now, the first time, or he won't ever be as tamed as he would have been."

When arguing with people that live half their lives in books, using literary analogies really gives an unfair advantage. Neither of her older children had ever realized how well such arguments worked on Grace, and she hoped Ally wasn't going to get too good at it. It is even worse using that book against someone who admires it and thinks of you as her Little Prince and her Rose.

Grace hit Larry on the arm. He stopped playing and said, "I just told him trying again didn't mean pestering forever and to have good reasons to discuss."

Grace grinned at Ally. She wasn't the kind of person who thought changing one's mind indicated weakness or lack of intelligence; she knew the opposite to be true, but she didn't like showing how fast she did it. She said, "I'll think about it and tell you in the morning."

Ally knew his mom well enough that he didn't have to wait until the morning to get happy. He thought, "Allll riight!" but didn't say it.

Larry said, "Let's eat. I don't feel like not having some of the lamb chops from Tuesday."

"There's not none left," Grace said.

Ally asked, "Can I play you a song first? Josh taught me it."

"Josh, huh?" Larry said, "And you can play it on the piano?"

"Yeah, kinda."

"OK, one quick time," Grace said.

"'K." Ally flicked his hair back with the backs of his fingers; he stretched his fingers out way in front of him like he was warming up for a concerto; he used his right index finger to pound out a march rhythm on a note somewhere near middle-C. After eight notes he began singing: "This is the song that never ends; it goes on and on my friends; some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll be singing it forever just because: this is the song that never ends; it goes on and...."

Larry picked Ally up and carried him under one arm toward the kitchen. Ally's voice got louder to make up for the lost accompaniment, but he never missed a beat.

"...on my friends; some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll be singing it forever...."

* ** *** ** *

Stories:

"I Am Too!" Jody yelled as he opened his front door.

"You Are Not! I Am!" Ally screamed from right behind him.

"No Way! — We're Here!" Jody shouted.

Jody's mom walked to the entry hall while saying, "I and the neighbors heard. What are you two arguing about already? — Oh my gosh!"

"Ally says he's dirtier than I am," Jody said with a grin threatening to break his face.

"I am! By lots," yelled Ally.

"That is a contest with absolutely no winners. Get those shoes off right away!"

Grace followed Jody and Ally, carrying Ally's backpack and sleeping bag. She was still uncomfortable about this overnight, and she knew Ally was a little nervous too, in spite of his commitment to be Jody's friend. Her anxiety had increased when she picked the two children up from their Saturday detention and found that Ally had obtained a ponytail during the day. Jody, however, didn't seem affected by it at all, and the two of them were getting along very well and having a great time. That had eased her mind some; now she was watching closely for the reaction of the woman who had once married the former Coach Edwards.

As she walked in, Grace gave Ruth a small shrug and half a smile. She said, "I'm afraid I'm delivering damaged goods."

Ruth returned Grace's smile but still addressed the kids. "What in the world have you two been up to?"

"We got to clean out all the flower beds all along the front of our building, and then had to spread out some new dirt on top," Jody said.

"Yeah. If it had been rainy or something, we woulda had to just clean blackboards and stuff. And Mr. Jeffers let us ride on his cart and said we were the best workers ever and if we have another riot next month we can come back and help plant the flowers." Ally added.

"This was supposed to be a punishment!" Ruth said, "And I think that if Jody gets in any more fights, Ms Yunger might have other plans for him."

"No," Jody said, "Ms Chen was there and said she would tell us when the right time to get in trouble was, but to be good 'til then or we couldn't." Once his shoes were off, Jody said, "Come on, Ally. Have you played that video game where you roll stuff up into giant balls?"

"Yeah, T.K. rolled up the Eiffel Tower and Taj Mahal. Let's go."

"Hold it, right there!" Ruth said in a sham panic, "You're not going anywhere but the showers."

Grace said, "Ruth, I should take Ally home and bring him back in a better state."

"No," Ruth said and then went over to Grace and whispered, "I don't want to end this party; I haven't seen him this happy in a very, very long time." Then she said in a louder voice, "You two get upstairs. Jody, show Ally your bathroom, and you use mine."

Ally asked, "Can't we just do it together?"

"No, I think not; not this time," Ruth said, "It will be quicker, and you'll do a better job separated."

Jody said, "Go real, real fast, Ally."

Both kids had gone up about four stairs when Ruth said, "Jody."

Jody ran backwards down the stairs, like a reverse button had been pushed, then turned and looked up at his mother; Ally imitated him.

She said, "Don't sit on anything or touch anything until you're clean, not even the walls."

Both kids nodded and charged back up the same four stairs before Grace said, "Ally-dally! Don't I even get a goodbye?"

They ran backwards down the stairs again, and Ally spread his arms to give Grace a hug, but she said, "Stop! Don't you dare hug me right now." She kissed her fingers and put them on Ally's dirty forehead, and then turned him around to remove the ponytail holder.

Ruth said, "Grace, do you want to wait until Ally is fit for a proper goodbye; coffee is made, and I think we should get to know each other."

T.K. was waiting for taxi service to the mall, but the invitation definitely took priority and, all by itself, had eased some of Grace's anxiety about the overnight. She handed Ally his backpack, and said, "That sounds wonderful, thank you. Al, wash your hair too; there's shampoo in the front pocket. Remember, your church clothes are in the big part, so wait until you are clean and dry before you open it and put them somewhere to keep them nice. OK?"

Ally agreed, and he and Jody were back up the four steps once more when Ruth again said, "Wait, Jody." So again, he did the reverse running thing. His mother said, "When you're done with the shower, get the nail file and bring it downstairs."

Jody nodded again and ran back up the stairs, but apparently he had become stuck; as soon as he reached the fifth step he went in reverse all the way back to his mother, turned around and looked at her, then went back up the stairs to the same point. He did this twice more before Ruth gave him a push and said, "Get upstairs, Jobo. If you're stuck in a loop, I might have to reboot you," and she swung her foot in his direction. That got him unstuck, and he reached the next floor.

When the kids were gone at last, Ruth said, "Grace, come on into the kitchen. Let's talk."

Grace asked, "About little boys with pony tails?"

Ruth answered, "About happy little boys with ponytails. That is a real eye opener for me and, after the last three years, it makes some very painful mistakes hurt even more."

A little while later, not nearly as long as you thought it would take, Ally came out of the bathroom. He was carrying his backpack and wrapped in a towel with wet hair and the skin on his face and hands now visible. He looked at all the doors in the hall and had no idea where to go. Just as he was about to call out, Jody came through one door, identically dressed and improved, and yanked him towards another door. Ally closed the door after they went in, but Jody immediately opened it halfway.

The room they were in was like no kid's room Ally had ever seen. There was a dresser with nothing but a clock on top of it, a desk that was perfectly arranged and one floor-to-ceiling bookcase with almost half the shelves empty. The only things on the walls were four posters of football and basketball stars, and the bed had a cover stretched tightly over it that had the local football team's logo on it. The only things close to toys in the entire room were the sports equipment, and that was neatly placed on a special rack.

Jody jumped on to the bed, and Ally said, "I got stuff in here to show ya'." He opened his backpack and pulled out Bucephalus.

Jody said, "You still got stuffed animals?"

Ally took a deep breath before he said, "Uh huh, this is Bucephalus. He's special."

"Like Alexander the Great's horse? How come you got him?" Jody was looking at Bucephalus like he wanted to give the horse a hug, or maybe just pet him, but didn't dare.

"'Cuz my name is Alexander. Duh." Ally said, but he was happy that Jody already knew who Bucef was.

Jody said, "Oh, 'course. I thought it was just Ally," and he didn't say anything else about keeping stuffed animals.

"I got stuff for you," Ally said as he pulled out two books and a paper sack. He showed Jody the copy of "The Little Prince", and asked if he had ever read it. Since he hadn't, Ally said. "You got to. 'Specially the part about how to tame foxes; you can keep that my mom said, 'cuz we got about four copies still. This one you can only borrow, it's real sad but good; my mom made me read it, and it's about a boy named Jody, so you will stop telling me that's a girl's name." Then he handed Jody a copy of "The Yearling".

"My–X-step-father said it was, but my mom's started using it again since he left." Jody said. "You sure read a lot. And you should have a red backpack, since you're like Santa Claus."

Ally giggled. (I don't know if he noticed the effort it took for Jody to mention Mr. Edwards.) Then he handed Jody the bag and said, "Here, this is the only real present. 'Cuz you're my friend now."

Jody grinned very wide and said, "But I got nothing for you."

Ally rolled his eyes. "Just open it already and put it on! 'Sides you gave me a box of candy for Valentine's, and all I gave you was a card."

Jody grimaced, which was an admission about the candy, and he said, "It was a really nice card. I saved it." Inside the bag was a string of beads exactly like the one Rocky had made for Ally, except the wood beads were a darker color and the end pieces were yellow stones instead of green glass.

Jody smiled, but then he looked worried. He said, "Ally, you know that wearing beads and playing with girls and talking about girl stuff is why Ryan and those guys fight you?"

Ally bit on one of his beads for a second; he hadn't gotten the bead with the teeth marks in the right place and was having to train a new one for that job. "'Course I do," he said, "but I don't know why that makes them. These aren't girl beads, for real, Jody; lots of boys wear them too. You don't got to wear 'em all the time, or at all, but just keep 'em."

"No, I like 'em. Really. It's just — You hook it on me. I'll wear 'em, at least sometimes. It's like yours were — hey, yours are fixed. Just noticed."

"Yeah, David found all but three of 'em, and I got a new string. He wouldn't go to the doctor's 'til he'd found them." The thought of all of that still made them both feel bad, and Ally added, "I think David might turn out to be all right."

Jody shrugged. In his world, a person turning out to be all right was not something to be anticipated. He said, "Don't know. Don't you worry 'bout getting teased at all, Ally?"

"I just don't care 'bout those rules anymore." Ally had thought about this discussion and had some suggestions planned. "If you don't want to be my friend 'cuz of that it's 'K. You don't got to get teased 'cuz of me. I'll still be nice."

"NO! Na-uh, I didn't mean that! I think it's neat the way you just do things."

Ally grinned at Jody, and Jody grinned back.

Ruth called up, "Hey, did you two get lost? Ally's mom needs to leave soon."

"OK, we're coming," Jody answered.

"I just brought church clothes. Should I put on my pajamas?"

"I guess. I'll wear mine too."

Jody pulled out a typical pair of solid blue slip-on boy pajamas with ribbed cuffs and ankles. Ally noticed that even the insides of his drawers were very neat. Jody looked around the room; then he went over and sat on the floor in a nook between the end of the bed and the closet door before he removed his towel and started dressing.

Ally dropped his towel by the bed and then took out his pajamas. The bottom part had multi-colored stripes and flared legs. The top was mostly white but the short-sleeves, the patch pocket and the reinforcing around the v-neck were all made out of the same material as the pants. Many people would not have recognized them as girl pajamas; Jody apparently didn't.

They started down the stairs, and after four steps, Jody went in reverse again, pulling Ally back up too.

"Gee, are you a yo-yo or something?" Ally asked

Jody said, "We got to have something on our feet; you got slippers or want to borrow some socks?

"Oh, I brought my witch socks from Halloween, but forgot. My daddy says bare feet hibernate in winter."

Jody found that a lot funnier than Ally thought he ever had, but he had heard it even before he understood it. Once they were shod — or socked — they went to the kitchen.

It took Grace a second before she could greet Ally. He always had one pair of regular pajamas that he kept for sleepovers, but what he was wearing was not his current pair. She had never seen these before.

Jody showed Ruth his beads and asked if it was OK to wear them. She said, "Of course it is. They look wonderful." Then she leaned over and whispered to him, "He's not coming back, Heart. He's not coming back."

Ally hadn't heard that and said, "Where are the video games, or do you want to do something else?"

Ruth said, "I doubt we're done with you yet. I'm glad the mud monsters have been vanquished, but let me see your hands."

The hands were good, except that small gardens threatened to sprout from under each fingernail. Ruth took the nail file that Jody had remembered and started digging. Grace had already taken a similar implement from her purse and called Ally over.

"I can do this myself," Jody said.

"So can I," said Ally.

Grace answered, "Maybe, but we can do it better, faster and deeper. Plus we will keep the dirt on the napkins. We still like doing things for you sometimes, too. Is that so terrible?"

Jody and Ally sighed and held their hands still. At least the embarrassment wasn't too bad when they were both in the same predicament.

Ally took a look around the room while he was immobilized; it looked pretty much like most of the other kitchens he had seen, but there was a den that opened up off one side. In the den, there was a couch with a back facing the kitchen. Above the back of the couch, there was something that startled him: four dark brown eyes were staring at him; those usually came in twos.

He lifted his free hand and wiggled his fingers towards the eyes, and two identical smiles, each with the same missing tooth, appeared below the eyes. Both grins and all the eyes were framed by brown hair almost as light as Ally's. While the eye and hair colors had come from the far opposite side of the gene pool from Jody's colors, every other feature of the faces proved it was a single pool.

Jody saw where Ally was looking and said, "Oh, those are our house-gremlins, Bam and Wam."

"Those aren't our names!" was the stereo response.

Ruth said, "Ally, those are Jody's sisters, Tamar and Camille. We usually call them Tammy and Cammy or Tam and Cam, and sometimes things that rhyme like Jam and Lamb, but we Do Not call them Bam or Wam."

"Hi, Tam; hi, Cam," Ally said and smiled.

The two six year old girls came over the top of the couch and into the kitchen. They both said, "Hi," in unison, and then one said, "Can we get manic'urs too?" at the same time the other asked, "Is she spending the night?"

Ruth said, "Girls this is Ally, and yes, he is spending the night. Ally this one is Tam (She put a hand on one head.), and this one (She changed heads.) is Cam. As soon as I'm finished with Jody, Tammy, it will be time to make dinner. I'll do your nails another time, Swee'pea."

"Is Ally your girl friend, Jody?" Tammy asked.

"Ally isn't a girl; he's my best friend." That last part had popped out; Jody didn't use that term a lot, but it made him smile now.

It gave Ally a huge grin too. "How do you tell them apart?" he asked Jody.

"Don't know. Just do. But it doesn't matter; if you call one they both come. Watch. — Ram!"

The girls both reached over and hit Jody on the arm; both were giggling.

Grace had finished Ally's fingernails. He started using the brush he had brought downstairs and asked her for his ponytail holder. Grace told him it was too dirty to put in clean hair and to leave it down tonight.

Ally gave a big sigh, and Ruth came to his rescue. She opened the sugar bowl and revealed it held a slew of hair gizmos; Ally looked through the barrettes and elastic bands, but most were too small to hold a ponytail. The reason for that was reveled by Cammy, who said, "Do pigtails; they're cuter."

"My hair is too short for that," Ally said.

"I think I could do it if you wanted, Ally," Ruth said, "I'm a pigtail pro."

Ally smiled and went over to Ruth. She sat him on her knee and brushed his hair hard. She managed to make two passable pigtails, and Ally handed her two mismatched holders; one with two yellow daisies on it, and one with one yellow and one blue teddy bear on it.

Ally went over to try to see his reflection in the oven door, and Cammy said, "You look sweet. Why don't you do yours, Jody?"

Jody closed his eyes for a second, but then surprised everyone by saying, "OK," and getting onto his mother's knee. His hair was longer than it had been last fall, but still barely touched the top of his ears. Ruth managed to make a spike on one side, but then gave up.

"Let's do this instead," she said, and put two barrettes, one with a row of white flowers and one with a row of yellow flowers, on each side of his head.

In a breathless voice Jody said, "Aren't I beautiful?" and he flicked his wrist.

Tammy said, "That's cute."

Cammy said, "You look nice, Jody."

Grace said, "I have to run, or T.K. might go crazy from mall separation. Ally, run upstairs and bring me your dirty clothes."

When he came back down with his clothes in a paper sack, Grace was alone in the entry and sat on the steps to talk to him. "Ally, where did you get those pajamas," she asked.

"I borrowed them from Jenny."

"Why, Sweetie?"

"I don' know. — but — I guess, I promised to be his friend forever, so I'll be nice to him, but — I guess, but I really want Jody to really be my real friend, and he can't be really if he doesn't know who I really am. If he doesn't like me, I'll still be nice to him, 'cuz I promised, but I want it to be the real me he doesn't like or that he does."

Grace looked into the eyes of her so wise child and asked, "And the real you wears pajamas like these to bed?"

Ally looked down at his red and yellow socks and shook his head. "No, the real me wears Johanna Appleby's nightie to bed. This was a comp-a-mise. I was too scared — still."

Grace wrapped Ally in her arms. She had to admit that Ally's insight or intuition or luck, whichever it was, appeared to have worked out fine with Jody and Ruth Ducoux, but she wanted to cry out, "Be careful, very careful, My Baby." That discussion would have to wait for another time, however. Instead, she said, "Talk to me about it next time, please, Ally. And really have a really good time tonight, really. OK?"

"'K, will," he guaranteed her with a smile, then said, "Don't get too bored without me tonight." and kissed her cheek.

"I'll try not too, Dally. Maybe your Dad will come up with some entertainment." She grabbed both of his pigtails and pulled his head close to kiss his nose.

Jody and Ally each got to roll up one giant ball of school supplies in the video game before it was time for dinner. Before they even sat down, Cammy and Tammy asked what was for dessert; apparently, they needed that information to decide how many green beans to eat. Ruth said, "I'm going to make some cookies after I finish the kitchen, so you'll have time to get an appetite back after eating all your vegetables."

"I bake cookies all the time. Want us to help?" Ally asked.

"Well, thank you, but I'm just making the kind that you break apart and put in the oven," Ruth said.

"That's OK, that's the only kind I know how to make," Ally said. Actually, that was the only kind Ally had thought you could make at home.

Tammy said, "Jody's not s'pose to do kitchen work. That's not for boys."

Ally said, "That's just silly. My uncle is a real good cook. He says all the best cooks are men."

Tam said, "Well, that's what our daddy said."

"He wasn't our daddy!" Jody said; he was almost growling.

Ruth put a hand on Jody's arm and said, "It's all right. We've discussed this, Jody. Tam, we can repeal those kinds of rules now."

Ally tried to change the subject by asking about the two Appleby Dolls he had seen in the Den. Rose, it turned out, belonged to Tam, and Johanna belonged to Cam. They had got them for Christmas, and they were prized possessions. The one great disappointment was that they had just found out that Rose never, ever wore anything pink in spite of her name.

"Yeah," Ally said, "That makes lots of people mad. In one of the books it tells how Rose got fed up, 'cuz her mother would never let her wear anything but pink and, eventually, she got her to not make her anymore."

"Have you read the book?" Tammy asked.

"Yeah," Ally said. "My friend, Leah, has some of the other cousins' things that are pink, and sometimes she pretends that it is before that story and puts Rose in them. Can't do that all the time though, because Rose might get mad."

"They're not 'posed to get the others' things," Cammy said.

"Na-uh. We decided it was 'K, 'cuz they trade things in the books all the time. My Angie sleeps in Rose's bed every night, and she likes it."

Simultaneously Jody asked, "You have a doll?" and Cammy asked, "Can you bring Angie over to play next time?" and Tammy asked, "Can I get some of those things, Mama? Ally, will you come help me pick?"

"Sure," Ally said, which was his answer to all three of them.

At the very same time Jody said, "No! He can't; he's going to play with ME."

Again, Ruth put her hand on Jody's arm to calm him down.

Jody said, "They're trying to steal my friend again."

"No, they're not, Jody. They are just being friendly, and so is Ally," Ruth said. She was a middle child; maybe that gave her insight into the current dynamic. "I'll tell you what; after dinner you stay here and help me — I'll teach you to bake cookies — while Ally gets to be the big kid for a while. Later, you can have Ally all to yourself." This would also give her the chance to talk to Jody alone.

Jody was far from happy about that plan, and he let that be known, but Ruth insisted, and he went along.

You know, Jody and Ally have a lot to do before Jody is ready to deliver his last line. Any parent knows the trouble with sleepovers is they last all night and part of the morning. We don't want to spend that long, however, so I'm going to fast forward through some parts of it. A dramatist would call it a dumb show; but that sound rather derogatory, don't you think? You might want to watch closely, just in case something important happens in the pantomime.

–{Fast forward}
Ally and the little girls marked almost every pink item in the Appleby Catalog. — Ally was given a pinafore and a kerchief from a costume box so he could visit the play grocery. — Tam put on a tiara and a long renaissance gown from the box; Cam donned the bottom of an Arabian princess costume, the top of a mermaid outfit and a crown. — Ally was handed a tiara to wear on top of his kerchief. — They fixed the hair of three miniature pop-singer dolls. —Jody stood in the door waiting to be invited in. — They played a board game. — Tam put a tall, pointed, pink hat with a tulle train on Jody's head. — The game rules suddenly allowed jumping off the slides and ladders by throwing your piece in the air. — Jody added the top from the Arabian princess costume to his outfit. — Everyone was rolling on the floor laughing. — Jody found a green and yellow dragon under a bed and played catch with it. — Ruth came in and curtsied to the four princesses. — When everyone was sitting perfectly still, she sat down a tray of milk and cookies on the floor and left.

–{Play}
Umm — some of you might be wondering why I don't just use the names of games and toys and stuff rather than describing them all the time or using the made up Applebys. It's not that I'm worried about trademark litigation; it's because I'm waiting for someone to offer me some money for a product placement. You know, I could write a scene where everyone enjoys a certain cereal or goes to a particular burger chain or something, and it would cost a lot less then it would to get your box sticking out of a trash can in some Hollywood production. If you know anyone in marketing, spread the word, but until I see the bucks, these kids will just keep playing with fashion dolls and plastic blocks and eating generic foods. I know most people fast forward through the commercial rather than the story, but this time the advertiser held the remote. Sorry about the interruption. Now back to our story.

While they were eating the cookies, Ally asked if he could fix Rose's and Johanna's hair after Tam and Cam had gone to bed (He had been looking for a gentle way to tell them the dolls' hair was a mess.). They agreed as long as Ally would bring them back and put them in their beds before he went to sleep. Then they asked Ally about other Appleby stories from the books and which were the best. Ally told them very short versions of how Maggie and Angie had saved the library by getting the deed to the Senator in time; and about the time Rose and Johanna found out who was trying to make the Widow Mathews think her house was haunted. When they asked for a third story, he said it was someone else's turn, and they turned to Jody.

Jody's first attempt was the story of "Jordan Rella and His Wicked Twin Sisters", but Tammy and Cammy would have none of that; they wouldn't even let him get to the part about the platinum loafers and turning the cucumber into a jet.

So Jody tried again; he looked at the dragon he had played with earlier and said, "OK — OK — This is a short one, 'K? Once upon a time, this guy (meaning the dragon) tried to settle down in an old abandoned farm, because he just wanted to raise cabbages. He liked cabbages; they were pretty and round and the same color as he is. And he didn't have to actually eat them, just grow 'em. But the Blue Knight came along and said, 'You are a dragon. You can't raise cabbages.' Then the knight tried to trap the dragon in the old farmhouse forever, and his big horse trampled around and messed up all the pretty cabbages. So the dragon flew away, so they wouldn't hurt more cabbages. He ran to his friend who lived up in the hills."

Jody went over and got another dragon off a shelf, this one was green and orange, then continued. "He was a shepherd, and he lived in a cave. They lived there for a while, but then the Blue Knight found them, and he said, 'Dragons aren't supposed to raise sheep; get in your cave and stay there forever.' The dragons tried to fight back, but if they had breathed fire on the knight they would have hurt the sheep, so they didn't. The knight said, 'Wa, Wa; what wimpy dragons you are; you can't even fight like dragons.' So the two dragons went up into the mountains and hid, but they were sad because they didn't have any sheep or cabbages. The end."

Tammy said, "That's a bad story; it's got a sad ending, and 'sides dragons are s'pose to be the scary ones and knights good."

"Na-ah," Ally said, "Can't always tell. I liked that story, 'cept the ending. I think they should find a friend to help them beat the Blue Knight. You should do a part two: 'The Return of Bam and Wam'."

Ruth had come back upstairs to get the girls ready for bed and had been standing, unnoticed, in the door listening to the end of the story. She said, "And I know a good person to be that friend, but right now it is time for the girls to get in the tub."

Tam and Cam ignored Ruth and said, "We don't like those names," and "Who are they."

Ruth said, "I'll explain it to them, Ally. You and Jody go on downstairs."

Alright — we don't really need to watch every detail of each round of the video game either. Let's move quickly to bed time.

–{Fast forward}
Jody took the plate and tray to the kitchen; Ally carried the two Appleby dolls and their brush. — They jumped onto the couch. — Jody began rolling up flowers in the video game, and Ally started brushing Rose's hair. — Jody put his feet on the dolls during Ally's turn at the video game. — Ally braided the doll's hair during Jody's turn. — Jody brushed Johanna's hair during Ally's turn. — The little girls ran into the room wearing pajamas and with feet that had morphed into rabbits; each presented Jody a dragon. — They both hugged Jody and kissed his cheek; they hugged Ally and Cammy kissed his cheek. — They ran back upstairs. — Ally showed Jody how to do a French braid, and together they finished the dolls' hair. — They each sat with their feet in the lap of the one playing the game for one turn. — They each sat with their head in the lap of the one playing the game for the rest or the turns. — Ruth came in; she left. — Ally finished his turn, and he moped up the stairs carrying a doll and a dragon; Jody moped behind him carrying a doll and a dragon. — They crept into the girls' room and put the dolls in their beds. — Ally and Jody rolled out two sleeping bags next to each other on the floor of Jody's room. — They decided to open the sleeping bags and put one on top of the other — Ruth came in with a pillow, and she took the cover off the bed and put it on top of the sleeping bags. — She hugged Jody and kissed his forehead; she hugged Ally too. — Ally and Jody got between the sleeping bags — Ruth turned out the light but left the door open halfway.

–{Play}
Ally said in almost a whisper, "Your room is really clean and neat." He thought Jody might have cleaned up just for him and thought he should say something.

"Uh-huh. I like it that way. I kinda get worried when stuff is messy, 'guess."

"Better not come into my room then."

"Doesn't bother me other places."

"That why you keep your stuff downstairs?"

"Na-uh; my–Xstepfather– made me; 'cuz I had ta come up here when I'uz bad."

"Oh." Ally tried to find a way to say something about a grownup being real stupid. He couldn't believe that Jody had ever been all that bad. He bit on his bead.

Jody took another deep breath and said, "MyXstepfather — also said I didn't play with stuff right and had to be watched. I treated robots and transforming things like dolls, he said. So all I got is blocks and guns and knives and junk. Also I don't like playing in here anyway, because it's lonely."

Ally tried to change the subject and said, "Oh — I didn't know you liked football and basketball so much to have posters though."

It didn't work. "I don't. —My Xstepf...."

"Just say 'he'."

"HE said that was what boys should put in their room. I couldn't put my own drawings up even, 'cuz he didn't like them. I don't even like soccer like you do, Ally. He made me do lots of sports stuff, but he always got mad. I use' to like gymnastics, but He said that was a girl sport."

Ally thought Jody was probably crying, though he couldn't see the tears. "Are you un-adopted now, Jody?" That would mean Edwards was gone for good.

"He — never really 'dopted us; it cost too much. He just made us change our names and said that made us his and was cheaper. And he said our real-daddy's name wasn't American and neither was Ducoux. And names had to be in his family."

"What was your daddy's name?"

"Lundke. My mama doesn't want us to use that name until we're grown up; 'cuz they tried to stop us from getting any of our daddy's money. It's my middle name now."

Ally thought a minute and said, "Well, he's right; that's not American. I've never heard of anyone named American though. His name wasn't American either."

Jody stared at Ally, and Ally continued, "You know Jenny English, in fifth grade. She lives next door to me. Her name is English, but she's American; don't think she's even ever been to England."

Jody finally started giggling.

"Oh — know what? The teacher next door to my kindergarten was French. I mean her name was Mrs. French, but it wasn't; 'cuz that's English not French."

"Huh?"

"Well the French would say Frans-say, not French; so it was French but it wasn't. Joseph American; that's OK; 'guess."

"Be quiet! I was being serious," Jody said and stuffed a dragon in Ally's face.

"'I know," Ally said.

"Ally, know what? —He was real nice at first, and then he moved in and started getting meaner and meaner. Don't tell anyone, but I was on time-out for hours all the time, and then last summer he started whipping me and sometimes made my bottom bleed, and I couldn't go to the doctor or tell Mama 'cuz he'd do it more. I thought it was 'cuz he got to know me better. That's a secret, please."

Ally put an arm over Jody and said, "'K, but it was just him."

"Mama says she thinks it was because he found out he couldn't have our money. He tried to steal some anyway and might go to jail. I hope he does."

"He can't come back though now, right?"

"Mama got him out twice, and he kept coming back. She says there is an Ar-res-training order or something now, so if he tries again he goes right to jail."

Ally hugged Jody tighter, and Jody moved closer to Ally. The dragons and Bucephalus were smushed between them. After a bit Ally said, "Now you got two dragons to help you fight monsters and blue knights though."

Jody chuckled and said, "You're so silly. And you messed up my best way to tease the twins too."

"Hee hee hee."

"Why are you so brave, because it's not really 'cuz of Bucephalus?"

"Huh? I'm not brave."

"Well, you do things and don't worry about getting teased. You even wore a ponytail today. It's like you aren't scared of getting hit at all."

"I don't wear it around most people, you know? Jody, I tried to act like a real boy, you know? That hurt a lot too, and it lasted longer than getting hit and stuff too. And it didn't make it less scary either. I don't want to anymore."

"Yeah, being scared hurts a lot too though."

"Uh-huh. I thought 'bout this; we could be secret friends, at home friends and not hang out together at school."

"No. I don't want that; I want to be real, real friends."

"Ignore those guys, hang with the good people and have fun. They hate that."

"Yeah," Jody said giggling.

They heard Ruth on the stairs and got very, very quiet, but it was too late. She said, "You two hush and go to sleep. Don't make me get fussy and ruin the whole night."

Jody said, "OK, Mama."

Ally said, "Sorry."

Ally hugged Bucephalus. Jody stretched then cuddled his two dragons. The tip of his thumb went inside his lips just the way Rocky's did, and Ally grinned at him.

Jody said, "You going to tease me 'cuz I do that; I just do it at night."

"Course not," Ally said, "I know someone else that does it just like that."

"It made — MyX — him real mad, and I had to paint this yucky stuff on it. But Mama and I tricked him. We left the very end alone, and he never knew."

Ally smiled at Jody. He had lots of kinds of friends. Josh and Leah and those guys were his friends because he had fun with them, and they didn't argue very much. Rocky was special because, even though they argued sometimes, they always wanted the other to be happy and almost always knew what the other was thinking about. Jody was special in a different way; it wasn't just they got along and liked each other. Ally thought that in Jody he had found someone who really needed to be taken care of by him, not just someone to be nice to and play with. That was very important, and that thought was almost too much for Ally. He almost stretched his neck out to kiss Jody right between the eyes, but he didn't know if Jody would like that, so he just stroked the back of Jody's head instead.

Jody grew a grin on either side of his thumb. He had other friends, a few at school and some from his old school too. Friends were people that you liked seeing and liked doing stuff with, and usually friendships took a lot of work so people wouldn't argue and fight and get tired of you. Ally was different from that, he thought. With Ally, it wasn't going to be hard to take care of the friendship; he felt sure they would always get along and like each other. Jody thought that in Ally he had found someone who really needed to be taken care of by him, not just someone to be nice to and play with. That was very important, and that thought was too much for Jody. He stretched his neck out and kissed Ally right between the eyes.

Ally giggled and said, "Boys aren't suppose' to do that."

Jody said, "Shut up! I don't care what boys are suppose to do."

Ally knew what he should say next, but he was giggling way too hard to say anything at all. He kept trying but couldn't, and he was sure Mrs. Ducoux was going to hear and get mad, so he stuffed Bucephalus's ear in his mouth.

Jody was totally confused. Ally wasn't going to tease him for saying that, was he? But why was he laughing so hard? Jody sat up and stared at Ally.

Finally, Ally got it together enough to sit up, and he kissed Jody on the cheek and pulled him back down. Jody stared at Ally and started giggling over how silly Ally was.

Soon Jody's eyes drifted closed.

Even though he was still giggling, and he was biting on Bucephalus's ear again, Ally's eyes closed at the same time.

Ally slept.

Ally dreamed.

---

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