'74 & Sunny by A. J. Benza

Author:A. J. Benza
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery Books

9

RIGHT PLACE, WRONG TIME

Don’t think for a second I didn’t swim my laps and flip around the deep end of my pool so that Debbie Rossitto couldn’t see. I made it a point to make noise, hoping that she’d either appear at her bedroom window, or even better, come to the fence in her one-piece mesh bathing suit.

She had a wonderful mother but a really strict father, who wasn’t home a lot, but when he was, that house of five girls and one boy became as quiet as a church. But when Daddy was gone, Debbie did her best to rouse me. After a fifteen-minute swim, I looked up from beneath the diving board to see her standing by the chain-link fence that separated our houses.

“What’s up, Rosey Toes?”

“The Coogan brothers are in front of your house, you know that, right?” she said. “All three of them. Are you supposed to be doing something with them?”

Debbie was like the neighborhood’s mayor.

“The Coogans?” I said. “Nah. I didn’t call for them today. Danny’s cool. His brothers are numb nuts though.”

“Well, they’re just standing there on the sidewalk, doing nothing,” she said. “But I never trust that family.”

I waved her over. She was wearing that mesh swimsuit I liked. “Forget about those guys.”

“Whatcha doing?” she said.

“Just hanging out for a while,” I said, making sure my hair was just right.

“I’m coming over. You wanna hang out in the raft for a while?”

“Yeah,” I said. “The raft, it’s right here. Come on in. The water is eighty degrees.”

When she stepped down into the pool, I knew her prophecy would come true. But we were still a year away, which made the tension as tight as a snare drum.

Debbie was developed enough that the drop in the pool temperature was enough to give her chicken skin and, more important, to awake both nipples to stand out and completely knock out my peripheral vision.

She climbed in and snuggled next to me in the raft, both of us giggling about the probability of falling over.

When the water stopped churning and we regained our balance, all I cared about was that she smelled of Bazooka bubble gum and Coppertone. And that made me forget about every problem I might have to face. Except for one.

“Hey,” I whispered. “I gotta ask you a question, and I don’t want you to lie to me, okay?”

“Of course,” Debbie cooed. “Talk to me. What’s on your mind?”

“Listen . . . some of the guys—like Richie, Pete, and Perry and them—think that Gino might be a . . . you know . . . a fairy. What do you think about that? You’ve met the kid. How do you see it, Deb?”

“Why?” she said. “Because he wasn’t very good at kickball ?”

“You watched through the window while we played?”

“I watch you every time you play,” she said.

“Oh man,” I said. “Now, I’m gonna be embarrassed every time I play ball across the street.”

She twisted her beautiful body so that she was looking right at me, while the raft was floating uneasily.

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