Page 62 of Until Now
Dominique
We look like a family from the backroads of Kentucky out for a drive. Pa is drivin’, Ma is holdin’ an injured, muddy dog, and two raggedy children are lookin’ out the windows.
“You’re overreacting, Mom! I’m fine!”
“You’re fine now! You could have died, Bing. And all because you wanted to give a flower to a girl. I’m pissed!”
Hunter and Maxen are keeping their thoughts to themselves so as not to get in the middle of my anger.
“I think you need a hug, Mom.”
Not now, son. Read the room.
“Don’t you try to pull that, Bing! This is no joke. I am going to have to really think about how I’m going to handle your punishment. I don’t want to talk right now. I can’t!”
This is the first time that endearment didn’t work for Bing. I see his disappointment. My voice softens as I wrap an arm around my child.
“You scared the hell out of me. I don’t know what I’d do if …” I shake off the thought.
“You two scared us both,” Maxen says.
“Thanks for coming to look for us,” Bing calls to Maxen.
“Yeah. Of course. We were worried.”
“At least we got rescued in time! We have to be onstage in an hour!” He says it happily, shaking the day's drama off.
I jump at my son’s words. “Are you kidding me? You’re not going to the dance!”
This bit of information hits Bing harder than the fact he almost ran out of oxygen an hour ago.
“Mom! We have to go! Please! I’m fine. Look,” he says, breathing in and out in and out.
“Stop that!” I order.
“You need to rest. Really, Bing. There will be other dances. The boys will have to go on without you.”
Hunter is looking at his uncle like he should do something. His eyes catch mine in the rearview mirror, and a silent message passes between us.
“What do you think, Maxen? Am I being too harsh?”
“No. I don’t think you are.”
He sees my smile and Bing’s disappointment in the mirror.
“But maybe there’s another choice,” he adds.
“We could let them go tonight because we’ll be there too. They’d be watched closer than if they were home in their rooms. What do you think, Dominique? Am I off base?”
He did that beautifully. Like a boss parent. He allowed me to give in without giving up my authority. He and I make a good team. I give myself a few moments to consider the fantasy.
Both boys are holding their breath because the silence I make them endure is deafening.
* * *
“Ladies and gentlemen, The Other Side!”
The Principal’s announcement is drowned out by the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades' applause and whistles. There are even a few screams from the girls. The boys are celebrities for the night. They’re the twenty-twenties version of my youth’s boy bands.
