All-American Boys by Mosca Frank

Author:Mosca, Frank [Mosca, Frank]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780932870445
Publisher: Alyson Publications
Published: 1983-06-14T14:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

I didn’t see much of Paul for the next few days. He called once to let me know he was okay but that Nancy had suggested it might be better if we didn’t get together for a while. She thought maybe their dad would cool off.

I’d already tried to call once but his dad answered. He swore at me and hung up. I figured maybe Nancy was right.

Friday afternoon, Paul stopped by.

“I can’t take it anymore,” was the first thing he said after he kissed me. “My dad’s driving me off the deep end. If you’re free, would you like to go someplace, anyplace? I don’t care. I just have to get away for a while.”

“I know a neat little canyon off the road heading up to Mt. Baldy.”

“Great. Let’s go.”

I threw together some tuna sandwiches, grabbed my backpack, and we piled into the car.

We didn’t speak all the way up, just sat holding hands. Paul watched as the city fell away behind us.

I pulled into a dirt turnout and we hiked down into the canyon. I gave him the ten-cent tour, pointing out the change from coastal sage scrub to riparian woodlands. As we wandered back toward a small waterfall I knew.

Paul was thrilled, especially when I showed him a mass of hibernating ladybugs in a hollow tree. He’d never been in the mountains before.

We watched a dipper bobbing in and out of the little pond at the base of the falls. From where we were, we could see her splash into the water, then walk along the bottom as she used her wings to steady herself. When we got tired, we stretched out on a carpet of needles under a sugar pine and had the sandwiches.

“I feel like a ghost at the house,” Paul said after we’d eaten. “If I don’t move, Dad barges right into me. I try to eat out whenever I can ‘cause if I’m at the table with him, it’s absolute hell. A leper would get more recognition than I do. Thank god for Nancy and Jeff. They’re the only ones keeping me sane.”

“Once when I called for you, he told me he’d never hear of a Paul Carrington.” I snuggled up beside him. “Then he swore at me.”

Paul shook his head.

“I was talking to my mom last night about getting a job and moving out. I figured that might be the best thing to do. She threw a fit. She said if I didn’t finish school, she’d never talk to me. I can’t win.” He looked glum. “How’s it going at your place?”

“Better than you have it but I still feel like I’m walking on eggshells. I’ve been afraid to say too much. I’ve even stopped asking any of the guys to stop by. Dad and Phil don’t say anything, but there’s a look in their eyes, like is this a new one?” I chomped on a piece of grass, and laid back beside him to watch the cloud patterns through the tree branches.

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