Page 12 of Severed Heart

“Nope,” Sean says and looks to the boy. “You hear about that?” The boy shakes his head.

“Well, it wasa badstorm,” I tell them. “When my daddy has no choice, he has to kill the bad guys.”

Sean’s eyes get big. “How did he do that in a storm?”

“He won’t tell me sometimes. It’s secret Marine stuff.”

“Huh ... well, I’m Sean.” Hands on his handlebars, he tilts his head toward the dark-headed boy. “This is Dom. He moved here with his brother and his Tatie. That means aunt in French ’cause they’re French. You’re Tyler Jennings. I seen you at school. You’re a grade up from me.”

“Yeah, I seen you too.”

“Well ... want to be in our club?” Sean asks.

“What club?”

“We sneak out at night, get on our bikes, and ride into the woods. We bring flashlights.”

“And do what?” I ask him.

“All kinds of things, right, Dom?”

Dom nods, and I wonder if he can talk at all.

“He doesn’t talk all the time,” Sean tells me. “But he’s nice. You don’t have to look at him like he’s weird. He’s not weird. I made sure.”

“Okay.” I tug my ballcap.

“Well,” Sean says, “if you want to be in our club, you have to bring a snack.” Dom looks at Sean as if he’s telling a lie but stays quiet.

“What kind of snack?” I ask.

“Any snack, and as much as you can bring. I like Fruit Roll-Ups.”

“I have a box of berry,” I tell him.

Sean nods. “That will work. But we stay upreallylate, sometimes past midnight. One time, we stayed up untilone o’clock. Think you can stay up that late?”

“I’ve stayed up later than that,” I tell him.

“Oh, well then, meet us on Dom’s street at the second light post after dark if you can come tonight.”

“Yeah. All right.”

“Don’t forget the Roll-Ups if you want to be in our club.”

“I’ll bring them.”

“K. See ya.” Sean pedals away, and Dom still stares at me. I wonder if Sean feels sorry for him, andhe isweird because he still doesn’t talk.

“It’s rude to stare at people,” I tell Dom. Then I feel bad because I know not having my daddy would be hard. I probably wouldn’t talk a lot. Before I can think of anything else to say, Dom pedals away and looks back at me one more time. He smiles a little at me, and it’s a nice one.

* * *

Hoping I still have enough gas, I push the mower up the driveway, look around the yard and then back to the street. This is going to take a lot longer than I thought it would. Deciding to try, I push it onto the grass to start the first row. Dandelions shoot out, and I know that’s not good because it will only spread the seeds and grow more weeds. I’m almost done with the second row when I look up to see an older, dark-headed boy on the porch, watching me. When he sees me watching him back, he walks down the steps and over to me, and I stop mowing.

“Why are you mowing my yard?” he yells over the mower. “Did my aunt hire you?”

“Uh, no.” I take off my ball cap. “You Dom’s brother?”