“Ash, what was that all about?” I asked her, and she smiled. “Nicky, after Monica Delucci yesterday, and now driving around with a really handsome stranger with his arm around me, you’ve just made me the talking point of Sanderson High, and not for the usual reason!”
I grinned at her. “So what will they say when I drop you at school tomorrow, and kiss you goodbye?”
Ashley laughed out loud. “That would just curl them up!”
When we got in, Mom had found the clothes Ashley had picked up for her, and asked where they’d come from.
“Nicky took me shopping Mom, I tried to stop him, but, well…!”
Mom laughed. “Yeah, I bet! Nicky, you should have saved your money, baby, you may need it!”
That reminded me. I went to my room and got the remainder of the money Barbara had given me, somewhere around $10, 000, less $500 I needed for the muffler and some other replacement spares, and brought it back out to Mom.
“Mom, I want you to have this, you need it, there’s bills to pay, food to buy, and I don’t need it; I’m home now, and I’ll find a job soon, so you better just take it.”
Mom stared at me. “Nicky, how much is there?”
Ashley counted it. “$10, 250, wow!”
Mom sat down heavily. “Nicky, that’s all you have in the world, I can’t…!” I cut across her objections.
“Mom, I know you need it, all I’ll do with it, pardon my French, is piss it up against the wall, so you take it, use it for Ashley’s college or bills, or whatever you need to pay. I don’t need it now, you do; I’m not taking it back, I don’t want it, end of discussion!”
Mom looked at me with tears in her eyes. “This is a loan, OK, Nick? You’ll get it back, I promise you!”
I pulled her close to me, hugged her. “I don’t want it back, Mom; it’s the family’s money now!”
“Excuse me, hello, does this mean I can have a laptop?” enquired Ashley with that impish grin on her face, and Mom laughed. “Yes Honey, you can have a laptop!”
____________________________
I was waiting to drive Ashley to school. Mother had checked with her insurance company and the DMV to see if I could drive her car using my UK License, and told me that I could drive her car with her permission, so I would be covered with her insurance, but she would get me added to her insurance as soon as possible, and that she would take me to the DMV later to get my New York driver’s License sorted out. She was also taking me to get my Social Security number issued, and the Department of Labor to check my qualifications.
First though I was taking my gorgeous sister to school…
Ashley bounced out of the house, her bag and books under her arm and slid into the front next to me, waved cheerily at Mom, and grinned at me. “Let’s go, Nicky, education awaits!”
As soon as we were out of sight, she slid as close to me as she could and I put my arm around her, Ashley giggling at the stir she was going to cause when I dropped her off. This whole idea of popular/outcast, where you’re one of the in-kids, or you’re nobody was a little hard for me to understand; the schools in England don’t work that way, at least I never saw any evidence of it; we were all united in common cause against the teachers, who saw it as their mission to interrupt our bouts of intense lounging around with lessons, and I had happily ambled from one group to another without ever once wondering if they were the ‘right’ group to be a part of.
Perhaps it was because there was no premium placed on sporting achievement in the UK school system, none of that urge to win at all costs. I thought about it, but that didn’t seem adequate or plausible; teenagers were the same the world over, surely, the same drives, ambitions, likes and dislikes, so what had made them turn so comprehensively on her, made her feel so unwanted? But, at least she was happy right now, so I was happy.
We pulled up outside the school, and Ashley waited for me to open her door for her and hand her out of the car. She curled her hand around the back of my head and pulled me in for a long, sizzling kiss that was definitely inappropriate at that time of the morning, but far too hot to pull away from! I kissed her back with enthusiasm and all the finesse I could muster, at one point her eyes rolling to indicate the group of other kids watching us with intense interest; then I got it; I was on display. OK, if it made her happy.
I eventually let her go and handed her all her stuff, pulling her back into me and planting little butterfly kisses all over her face, special deliveries from me to her, making her grin happily. She walked off inside smiling, without a sideways glance at anyone, obviously enjoying every second of the mystery she was creating. I grinned to myself the girl had style, I had to give her that.
Still grinning, I turned around and headed back home, Mother had a busy day planned for me, time to get started.
+++
True to her word, Mother took me to the DMV, Department of Labor, Social Security Administration, helping me fill in endless forms and declarations, but at last, all my paperwork that properly identified me as an American Citizen with the right to work, pay taxes and drive was in the pipeline, so all I had to do now was wait until they came through. I spent the rest of the day chatting with Mother, helping her plan dinner, installing the automatic porch light, and cutting in the barrel-bolts in the front and rear doors. Now the house was secure, and they could relax at night. I hadn’t installed a light on the rear door, as the neighbors had installed one on their rear porch after what happened to Ashley, and anyone approaching the rear of either house set that off, flooding the rear of both houses with light.
At almost 3pm Mother reminded me to go and pick up Ashley from school. She’d called her insurance agent and added me on to her insurance so I could now drive legally. I decided to wear one of the shirts Ashley’d insisted I buy, and drove down to the school to wait for her, being all ‘Joe Cool’ with aviator shades, leaning on the car, arms folded, my freshly washed hair flopping down over one eye, just posing like hell and laughing gleefully on the inside at myself for being such a poseur, something I’d always mocked and despised!
I got a few interested looks as people started filing out, and I wondered again at the differences between the school’s here and back home; there, as soon as the bell rang we hit the blocks and sprinted for the exits, desperate to not spend a second more than necessary in that place, but here, it seemed as much social as educational; perhaps we could learn a thing or two, I mused.
Ashley eventually came tripping out, her books under her arm and her bag over her shoulder, grinning hugely at me, and planting a big kiss on me as she hand-combed my hair back off my face while a gaggle of girls looked on interestedly.
“Oh look, it’s the Englishman!” brayed a harsh voice I recognised.
I turned slowly and slid my sunglasses down to look at chubby, stubby Monica, then slowly look her down, then up, then down again, Monica slowly flushing , the flush deepening when I said “Oh dear, Ashley darling, look, she’s out again, and dressed like that, this time, will she never learn?!” The kids around her laughed and giggled, and I heard a muttered buzz “it’s that guy… this morning… Ashley… English… DaVinci’s… that accent… tall…!”
I looked her up and down one last time, trying desperately to keep a straight face and said “have you had enough yet, dear? Because I can do this all night, if you want! Take my advice and find a hobby, over-eating solves nothing! I do hope I see you again, we can play some more!”
After opening the door for Ashley and helping her get in, I walked around the car and climbed in, put my arm around her and kissed her properly, and drove away, seeing poor, piggy little Monica standing there, looking baffled, repartee obviously not one of her strong points, her limited intellect trying to work out if she’d been insulted or not. I was enjoying myself tremendously; the cod ‘James Bond/Hugh Grant/Euro trash’ accent was completely foreign to my normal mode of speech, but such huge fun to drop on an ignorant bully like Monica; perhaps she’d take the hint and leave Ashley alone from now on; if not, there was so much more where that came from…
Ashley was delighted. “Nick, everyone’s curious about you, the school’s buzzing about the mysterious English boy who’s been seen around with me! People who haven’t spoken to me in three years have been asking me who you are, are you really English, was it true about what you did to Monica in DaVinci’s! I’m enjoying my moment, believe me, knowing I’m sleeping with Albany’s latest Mystery-Man!”
I grinned at her obvious enjoyment of the whole situation. “So, did you tell anyone who I really am?” I teased her.
“Are you kidding, tell that bunch the truth about my brown-eyed handsome man? They’d be camping on our doorstep just to get a crack at you! All I told them was that you were English, that you’d come especially to see me, that you had perfect manners and olde-worlde courtesy, were charming, sophisticated, well-bred and completely infatuated with me! By the time I’d finished their mouths were watering and their knees were trembling; damn, it was fun!”
I was a little embarrassed at this litany, but Ashley just grinned, and quickly pecked me on the cheek.
“Turn here Nick, I want to show you something!” she ordered, so I obediently turned, following her directions a little way out of town until we came to a small secluded woodland glade. I put the car in ‘Park’ and turned to her. “OK Ashley, what is it you wanted to show me?” I asked.
“It’s this place, Nick; this is my quiet place. It’s where I used to come when things got too bad at school, when the taunting and the name-calling were too much to take. I could come here and be quiet, get some peace, think about daddy and remember the stories he used to tell me when I was small, and tell them to myself again so I could hear his voice inside my head again and feel close to him once more. Don’t step there!”
I looked at my feet, there was nothing but sun-dappled grass and leaf litter, and I looked at her quizzically.
“That’s Pooh and Piglet’s heffalump trap, be careful, there’s a few around. Over there, that’s where Rabbit lives. Over there, that big old maple? That’s where Owl and Piglet live, and here, this patch of cane, that’s where the Woozle wasn’t, so be quiet, it could be anywhere!”
At the edge of the glade was a small stream or brook, the water chuckling as it trickled through its stony bed, and she showed me where Ratty and Mole lived, and where they kept their little boat, and where Ratty dived for the picnic basket, and off in the blue distance Toad Hall, just visible if you looked just right, past the little islet where Ratty and Mole worshipped the Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and over across the stream, on the far bank, the Wild Wood and the home of Mr. Badger.