Page 7 of Keepsake
“Sure, Han.” I had several nicknames these days. And here was an irony—Griff nicknamed me after a hairy alien fromStar Wars, but it was meant to be flattering. And his cousin Kyle called me “choir boy,” but meant it as a dig.
Strange family, this. But I loved them anyway.
Wordlessly I followed him and his cousins off the porch and across the darkening lawn. Whatever Griff had to say, he didn’t want to say it on the porch.
As we crossed the grass, halfway to the orchard, the sound of crickets rose up around us. Their nighttime humming was a familiar chorus. An owl hooted nearby and was answered by another.
Walking around the Shipley property at night always made me think of Psalm 96.Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. In August, the fields of Vermont were at their most jubilant.
Funny how I never really appreciated the bible until I got free of the people who’d taught it to me.
While Isaac and Leah were kind to me because they knew where I’d come from, the Shipleys were kind to me simply because they were kind people. I’d known them almost four years now, since I’d first arrived shoeless and hungry at the Abrahams’ down the road. But I still felt like the new guy.
I wasn’t ostracized like a freak here, but there was still some good-natured teasing. It hadn’t taken Griffin Shipley long to figure out just how odd a life I’d lived as a child. “Oh my God!” he’d hollered during the first month I met him. “Zach hasn’t seenStar Wars!”
The next week he’d corralled me into a movie marathon of the original three films. “The canon,” as he referred to them. We’d both been stumbling-tired at the farmers’ market the next day. But according to Griffin it was worth it, because I finally knew that Darth Vader was Luke’s father.
And that was just the beginning. “I must educate you about Monty Python,” came next. And a million other movies. And the rules of football. I was still a little shaky on those. There were too many positions.
The things I didn’t know were an endless source of amusement to the Shipley clan. The time they fed me Pop Rocks was pretty funny. I didn’t know about Halloween or Valentine’s Day (both “heathen holidays” according to my former overlords). Or mistletoe. Or eggnog.
I didn’t knowanysexual innuendo. Those still got me into trouble because it seemed there were a million terms for sex, and they didn’t all make sense. I’ll never forget the sight of Griffin doubled over after explaining what a blowjob was.
“But nobody’s blowing on anything,” I’d protested while he tried to remember how to breathe.
At least they teased each other as much as me. Maybe more. This season Griffin had begun referring to Kyle as Crash-n-Burn, because Kyle seemed to spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to figure out what to say to women.
Not like I’d worked that out, either.
Griffin halted in the middle of the lawn. I wasn’t expecting that, and I actually walked right into him.
“Yo,” he said, spinning to catch my shoulders in his hands. “My football days are over.”
“Sorry.”
“Why are we standing in the middle of the yard?” Kyle asked.
“Just wait for Jude and Dylan.”
The other men jogged toward us. And when the five of us were assembled, he explained. “Two things. The first is about Lark.”
My eyes dropped to my boots, but I hung on every word.
“She was May’s roommate at BU. But this past year she’s been on some job in Guatemala.”
“Nice!” Kyle said.
“No,notnice,” Griffin contradicted his cousin. “Listen to what I’m telling you. She wasn’t kicking back on vacation, okay? Some bad shit went down there, and it shook her up. May isn’t sure exactly what she endured.” Griffin cleared his throat. “Coulda been any kind of ugliness at all.”
My whole body went ice cold and I actually shivered even though it was still seventy flipping degrees outside. I took a deep, slow breath and exhaled.
“Is she okay?” Dylan asked. “She looks tired.”
“Well…” Griff rubbed the back of her neck. “She’s here to work, but she’s also here to get away from the city and try to relax. So take it easy on her. We’ll just have to see how she does. I’ve known her a long time, and she’s a strong person. And—guys, I shouldn’t need to say this—the girl isoff limits.” Griffin swung his head pointedly left and right, making sure to include both his cousins in this decree. “Got it?”
“Yes, Master,” Kyle said. “I won’t turn on the lady charm.”
“Like she’d notice.” His brother Kieran snickered.
