me again. He sighed. We waited. I thought I heard the sound of a few cicadas hanging on to summer, humming. My ears were full up with humming and ringing, leftover noise from the dance. I wasn't sure if I was still breathing.
Then, just as quickly as he had cuffed her, the officer uncuffed my mother.
"Consider this a warning," he said.
***
We drove home in silence. Even though the night air was warm, we couldn't stop shaking.
"Mom," I said after a while. "Aren't you going to report this?"
"Report it? Report it to whom? The police?"
That night the house seemed suddenly too big. It had too many windows and dark corners. My mother turned on every light, then turned them all off again. She locked and bolted all the doors and we sat together on the sofa, watching, waitingâfor what, we weren't sure. Then, when we grew sleepy, I didn't hesitate to climb into her big bed and she didn't stop me.
CHAPTER 7
S TONE CALLED ME THE NEXT MORNING. He said he was sorry our big evening had been cut short and he had wanted so badly to drive me home. We both knew what that meant. It meant we could have kissed again. He was wondering if my mother would allow him to take me out that night to look at the stars. I wasn't used to talking with a boy on the phone. I thought of Stone standing in the McLemore kitchen, or sitting in his room. The McLemores even had phones that didn't have a dial, but buttons with numbers you pushed. I put down the receiver and ran to my mother's room to ask.
She hesitated, but after I begged and begged, my mother said that I could go out with Stone, only for a little while. She had lectures to go over and papers to grade. She sat at her desk with open books all around her and a blank sheet of paper already in the typewriter, daring her. She was behind with everything and I could tell she just wanted me to leave her alone.
***
We went through some nearby woods, then hiked up to the top of an old Indian mound that had escaped being subdivided. There was a full moon and the sky was clear and bright. The night was still, and the stars were all over the place. Stone brought a telescope and we took turns looking through it.
He knew so much. He told me that Ptolemy of Alexandria developed the idea of the sun and planets moving around the earth in the second century. He told me someone in the thirteenth century figured out that a tube filled with gunpowder and lit at one end gave a push as the gasses rushed out, and boom, you've got a rocket. Stone knew about guns and bombs and where the Milky Way was. But then we turned our focus on the moon. I felt the way Galileo must have felt looking at the moon for the first time through
his
telescope, seeing the lunar surface clearly marked by craters. It wasn't perfect. The moon wasn't perfect and there wasn't a man
in
it, but Stone and I both knew that soon there might be a man
on
it.
Stone built a little fire and we roasted marshmallows. He was an Eagle Scout, so he knew about camping, being outside, and the maps of the moon marked with sections of seas called Ocean of Storms, Sea of Clouds, Sea of Serenity, and the Sea of Tranquility, where the first astronauts were headed. The fire illuminated his smile. Goose bumps ran over my scalp. We grew quiet.
"I'm sorry that your dad died," he said after a while. "My parents can drive me crazy, but. Well. That must be hard for you and your mom."
"I miss him." I thought about that. "I really do."
"What was he like?"
"He was handsome and fun. He was always game to do stuff, you know? He liked to read but he wasn't at all like my mom. He was good in science." We smiled at each other then, Stone and I. Maybe because we both realized that when I described my dad, I was also describing Stone.
We lay down together on top of fallen pine needles, staring at the sky. His jacket smelled of wood smoke. We stared at the moon until a blue ring appeared. "Try this," he said. "Let yourself relax, and focus on the space between the moon
Then, just as quickly as he had cuffed her, the officer uncuffed my mother.
"Consider this a warning," he said.
***
We drove home in silence. Even though the night air was warm, we couldn't stop shaking.
"Mom," I said after a while. "Aren't you going to report this?"
"Report it? Report it to whom? The police?"
That night the house seemed suddenly too big. It had too many windows and dark corners. My mother turned on every light, then turned them all off again. She locked and bolted all the doors and we sat together on the sofa, watching, waitingâfor what, we weren't sure. Then, when we grew sleepy, I didn't hesitate to climb into her big bed and she didn't stop me.
CHAPTER 7
S TONE CALLED ME THE NEXT MORNING. He said he was sorry our big evening had been cut short and he had wanted so badly to drive me home. We both knew what that meant. It meant we could have kissed again. He was wondering if my mother would allow him to take me out that night to look at the stars. I wasn't used to talking with a boy on the phone. I thought of Stone standing in the McLemore kitchen, or sitting in his room. The McLemores even had phones that didn't have a dial, but buttons with numbers you pushed. I put down the receiver and ran to my mother's room to ask.
She hesitated, but after I begged and begged, my mother said that I could go out with Stone, only for a little while. She had lectures to go over and papers to grade. She sat at her desk with open books all around her and a blank sheet of paper already in the typewriter, daring her. She was behind with everything and I could tell she just wanted me to leave her alone.
***
We went through some nearby woods, then hiked up to the top of an old Indian mound that had escaped being subdivided. There was a full moon and the sky was clear and bright. The night was still, and the stars were all over the place. Stone brought a telescope and we took turns looking through it.
He knew so much. He told me that Ptolemy of Alexandria developed the idea of the sun and planets moving around the earth in the second century. He told me someone in the thirteenth century figured out that a tube filled with gunpowder and lit at one end gave a push as the gasses rushed out, and boom, you've got a rocket. Stone knew about guns and bombs and where the Milky Way was. But then we turned our focus on the moon. I felt the way Galileo must have felt looking at the moon for the first time through
his
telescope, seeing the lunar surface clearly marked by craters. It wasn't perfect. The moon wasn't perfect and there wasn't a man
in
it, but Stone and I both knew that soon there might be a man
on
it.
Stone built a little fire and we roasted marshmallows. He was an Eagle Scout, so he knew about camping, being outside, and the maps of the moon marked with sections of seas called Ocean of Storms, Sea of Clouds, Sea of Serenity, and the Sea of Tranquility, where the first astronauts were headed. The fire illuminated his smile. Goose bumps ran over my scalp. We grew quiet.
"I'm sorry that your dad died," he said after a while. "My parents can drive me crazy, but. Well. That must be hard for you and your mom."
"I miss him." I thought about that. "I really do."
"What was he like?"
"He was handsome and fun. He was always game to do stuff, you know? He liked to read but he wasn't at all like my mom. He was good in science." We smiled at each other then, Stone and I. Maybe because we both realized that when I described my dad, I was also describing Stone.
We lay down together on top of fallen pine needles, staring at the sky. His jacket smelled of wood smoke. We stared at the moon until a blue ring appeared. "Try this," he said. "Let yourself relax, and focus on the space between the moon
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