I recognize as Lyric drives away that Janna’s mood is more subdued. Kookie seems a little flat too, but I had noticed that feeling creeping in as Melody had refused to join in our frivolity over flatulence. And as I stand staring at my two oldest kids, I feel like I have been blind for a season. How have I never before heard one word about the musically named family that is storming my children’s hearts? Am I this disconnected from my kids?
I remember a time when they told me everything. Well, at least a lot of things. A scene from years ago floats into my mind. All of us sitting at the dinner table, the tiny twins in their high chairs, two toddlers wearing more of their dinner than they were eating. My older twins both quietly shoveling food into their mouths.
“All right, you two. What’s up?” I finally ask.
Kookie peers up at me. Then he slides a sideways glance at his sister before responding, “Nana has a crush on a boy at school. He wasn’t very nice to her today.”
“Kookie…” she hisses at him.
“What? You gotta tell Mom. She needs to know.”
Janna sighs. “All right.” She sends a furtive glance towards her father who is talking to Everett. Then quietly she speaks to me, “His name is Bennett. I really liked him, Mom, but he,” her voice wavers a little, “he wasn’t very nice to me today.” She sounds on the verge of tears. And I know this year has already been a tough one with all the changes that puberty and middle school bring.
“What did he do?” I ask.
Janna is suddenly fascinated by the peas on her plate. She studiously slides her fork through some mashed potatoes before dipping it in the peas. Several of the green globes catch a ride on the mashed potatoes as they fly towards her lips. She crams the entire bite into her mouth to avoid talking to me.
Kookie has no such reservations. “He made fun of her today. The teacher called on her to read a passage out of the book, and Nana mispronounced one word. Bennett started mocking her.”
“This does not sound like a nice boy,” I comment as my heart flips over in compassion for my daughter.
“Don’t worry about it, Mom. I dealt with him.”
I raise my eyebrows at Kookie. “What does that mean?” I ask, not sure I want to know the answer.
Now Kookie is the one who can’t get enough of his peas. I watch as he shovels a mountain onto his spoon before cramming them into his mouth. He concentrates on chewing. For a very long time. While he strategically avoids eye contact with me.
Janna’s voice finds me. “He waited until recess to confront Bennett. Let’s just say that he made it very clear he wouldn’t tolerate Bennett treating me unkindly again.”
“Kookie.” My voice brooks no argument this time. And no evasion either. “What did you do?”
Kookie clears his throat. “I just told him that if he ever picks on Janna again, I will make sure everyone knows that he’s afraid of the dark.”
“What? How do you know that?”
“He was in Boy Scouts with me last year. When we did that camp out – you know, the one Dad did with me overnight at the state park? – I heard Bennett crying late that night and overheard a conversation between him and the Scout leader. He admitted that he was scared of the dark. Normally, I would never tell anyone something like that. But he was vicious to Nana.” Kookie returns to his mountain of peas, eating them now with a zeal that I am unfamiliar with.
Now in the present, I sigh. Back then I could coax the truth out of them. Does it still work?
“So, Janna, I don’t remember you ever mentioning Lyric to me,” I broach the subject cautiously.
She glances over at me. “I’ve only known him a few weeks. Their family moved here right before school started. There wasn’t much to tell. He hasn’t talked to me very many times.”
“But you’re friends with his sister?”
“Melody’s in our math class. I see her every day. Although, Lyric did start eating lunch with us a few days ago. He, Harmony, and Melody sit with us now.”
Suddenly, I wonder how well that will work tomorrow with Emmie in tow. My heart is crying for that sweet, young girl again. Ah, first love! Sometimes it’s so painful!
“So…just you, Kookie, Emmie, and them?”
“Yeah…”
“Are Lyric and Kookie good friends?”
She shrugs. “Maybe. They have spent a lot of time talking about video games.” She’s rolling her eyes now as if to say, “Boys!”
A moment later, she and Kookie head off to do their homework while my younger sons each grab a book to spend some time reading before bed.
None of us can foresee the drama that will unfold tomorrow.
—
According to the eyewitness accounts of both Janna and Kookie, school moves forward without incident the next day until lunchtime.
“Everything was ok, Mom, until Melody reached for a strawberry milk in the cafeteria. That’s when a boy named Crispin stepped up next to her and grabbed the carton from her hand. Apparently, it was the last strawberry milk. And he wanted it.”
Great! Is this school full of cretins?
Now Janna begins to gush, “But Lyric appeared from out of nowhere!” Her eyes are shining like stars as she recounts the young man’s heroism.
Lyric’s crisp voice slaps Crispin upside the head. “I believe you are holding my sister’s milk carton. Kindly give it back to her.” The cold tone of his voice allows for no argument.
The young Neanderthal with curling red hair turns shocked, blue eyes towards Lyric. “Who’s going to make me?”
“The lunch lady” is Lyric’s succinct reply. He turns towards said cafeteria worker as he informs her. “This young man took my sister’s milk carton from her hand. Would you please add it to our order?”
The lunch lady adores Lyric and his grown-up ways. She turns steely eyes on the redhead. “Crispin Montgomery Jones! You hand that carton back to Melody right now!”
“Wait a minute,” I interrupt Janna as I laugh at the just turn in this story. “The lunch lady is Crispin’s mother?”
“Grandmother,” Janna corrects me, a twinkle in her eye.
By this time, I’m falling off the couch laughing.
