Page 44 of The Happy Month

“White,” Sharon said.

“Yellow,” Kelly said at the same time.

“It was definitely white.”

I tucked that away. “What else? It sounds like Sammy was popular?”

“No. She wasn’t,” Kelly said quickly. “She was never popular. She just had things kids wanted. It was kind of mean, actually.”

“So, I’m confused,” Sharon said. “I mean, Larry Wilkes was gay. So, obviously, he had some kind of obsession with Pete Michaels and killed him. What does that have to do with Sammy Blanchard?”

“I can’t really talk about that,” I said. Then I asked, “What do you remember about Pete Michaels?”

“That I had a huge crush on him. A lot of girls did. He was so sweet and funny and such a good athlete. Yeah, most girls go for the football players, but… tennis players in those little white shorts. Oh my God.”

“What about Andy Showalter? Do remember him?”

Sharon shivered. “Creepy. Now that would make sense.If you told me he’s the one who killed Pete, I’d think, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’”

“He killed himself.”

“I guess he did the world a favor.”

Cold, even under the circumstances.

“What about you, Kelly? Do you remember Pete?”

“Yeah, my sister wouldn’t shut up about him.”

That was all I had. Even though I was only part way through my coffee, I stood up, ready to leave. “Well, thank you. I appreciate you talking to me.”

Ignoring that I was trying to say good-bye, Sharon said, “You know, the gays are so free. I’m jealous.”

“Yeah, nothing says freedom like being illegal in twenty-six states.”

She smirked and said, “That’s not true.”

I just walked away. Sometimes people were too stupid to bother with. My car was on 2nd Street, a couple blocks east of Junipero, close enough to my house that I just walked by it. Another block and I could see my front yard. There were people standing on it. One of them was Mai, Ronnie’s mother. She was a little younger than me and had probably been a beauty in her youth. It had been a while since I’d seen her. She wore impeccably pressed slacks and a bright silk blouse. Her makeup was flat in a way that made her look like a mannequin. Ronnie stood on our porch glowering at her. Next to her was a guy close to Ronnie’s age. I didn’t recognize him. This couldn’t be good.

As I crossed Molino, Ronnie saw me. He smiled which drew Mai’s attention to me. She did not smile.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s not your business. You’re not our family,” Mai told me.

I was about to say anything that happened in my frontyard was my business, but Ronnie said, “I’m not your family, so what are you doing here?” To clear up any confusion, he said to me. “She’s here to tell me I’m disowned, and this is her new son.”

“You’re shitting me.”

“Arthur is good boy. He will honor his elders. We will find him a good wife and he will be a rich man when I die.”

Arthur looked mortified but held his ground. Ronnie’s anger was covering the hurt I knew was there.

“Do you know the word cruel, Mai?” I said.

“My English is perfect.”

“Good. You’re being cruel. If you don’t want Ronnie in your life, we can live with that. But don’t come around here. Stay the fuck away.”