gone.
I paid for the snacks and attempted to balance them in the paper-thin cardboard carrier-two sodas, a giant bucket of popcorn, a box of Whoppers, and some Twizzlers-as I scanned the crowded lobby.
No sign of her.
Please tell me I didn’ t lose her.
I still had the tickets, so she couldn’ t have gone into the theater. I tried to recall what she’ d been wearing. Baggy jeans, I think. A gray hoodie. I shouted into the women’ s bathroom for her. No answer.
Worry knotted my stomach, but I told myself it was ridiculous. This wasn’ t a toddler who had wandered into traffic. She was fourteen. The place was silly with teenagers-loud, bright mobs of kids talking loudly and pushing at one another and drawing attention to themselves while pretending that was the last thing they wanted-yet none of them was my teenager. This was bad. The Big Sister program surely frowned on losing your charge.
I debated having Deedee paged, even though I knew she would kill me, when I spotted her sitting inside a phone-booth-shaped driving video game in the corner of the lobby. I could see the edge of her arm and pants and part of her ponytail.
‘ Deedee?’ I said, leaning in, trying not to spill the drinks.
‘ Oh, hey,’ she said. ‘ Just checking out this game.’ She hadn’ t put in any coins. ‘ Game over’ remained on the screen from the last player.
‘ You scared me-I thought I lost you.’
‘ Sorry.’
‘ The movie’ s about to start.’
‘ Okay.’ She didn’ t move, but she craned her neck to look past me, obviously searching for something& or someone?
‘ Is there a problem?’
‘ Nope. No problem.’
After another minute or so, she finally got up, snatching a soda from the tray in my hands, which upset the delicate balance I’ d worked so diligently to establish. I fumbled, trying to hold everything together, to no avail. Deedee made a grab for the popcorn, and I managed to save the Twizzlers. The rest crashed in a wet mess to the ground, splashing my pants and earning applause from the people nearby.
As I bent down to clear everything, I heard, ‘ Nice job, Deedee. Real graceful.’
I gazed up to see a girl standing there who was probably cute, but all I could see was her smug grin.
‘ Oh, hey, Theresa,’ Deedee said nonchalantly. ‘ I didn’ t know you were here.’
Suddenly Deedee’ s dash to hide in the video game made sense. She appeared to be as glad to see this girl as I was to see Lizbeth every morning.
‘ Me and Claudia met up with Tony and all them.’ Then she asked, ‘ Who you here with?’
Deedee, clearly not seeing any way around it, introduced me with a tip of the head. ‘ Her.’
I’ d been reduced to a pronoun.
Theresa appeared to expect further explanation. Deedee seemed mute, and I couldn’ t come up with anything that wouldn’ t shame her further. I understood how embarrassing it must be to get caught at a Saturday afternoon movie with an adult when your peers are there with friends. Was I a family friend? A relative? Would my admitting to being her Big Sister be akin to committing social murder? For lack of anything better, I said, ‘ I’ m her parole officer.’
To my surprise, Deedee burst out laughing, the purest show of emotion I’ d seen from her in the month we’ d been getting together. Theresa tittered uncomfortably, not quite getting the joke but obviously wondering if it might be on her.
‘ Yeah& got busted drug running,’ Deedee said. ‘ Anyway, we better go. Movie’ s starting.’
As we took our seats in the front row-our punishment for seeing a movie on opening weekend-the previews thundered just a few feet from us. I leaned toward Deedee and said, ‘ Was it my imagination, or was your friend Theresa a complete bitch?’
Deedee grunted agreement as she took a handful of popcorn. ‘ She acts like she’ s everybody’ s best friend, but the second your back’ s turned, watch out.’
‘ Big gossip?’
‘ Yeah,
I paid for the snacks and attempted to balance them in the paper-thin cardboard carrier-two sodas, a giant bucket of popcorn, a box of Whoppers, and some Twizzlers-as I scanned the crowded lobby.
No sign of her.
Please tell me I didn’ t lose her.
I still had the tickets, so she couldn’ t have gone into the theater. I tried to recall what she’ d been wearing. Baggy jeans, I think. A gray hoodie. I shouted into the women’ s bathroom for her. No answer.
Worry knotted my stomach, but I told myself it was ridiculous. This wasn’ t a toddler who had wandered into traffic. She was fourteen. The place was silly with teenagers-loud, bright mobs of kids talking loudly and pushing at one another and drawing attention to themselves while pretending that was the last thing they wanted-yet none of them was my teenager. This was bad. The Big Sister program surely frowned on losing your charge.
I debated having Deedee paged, even though I knew she would kill me, when I spotted her sitting inside a phone-booth-shaped driving video game in the corner of the lobby. I could see the edge of her arm and pants and part of her ponytail.
‘ Deedee?’ I said, leaning in, trying not to spill the drinks.
‘ Oh, hey,’ she said. ‘ Just checking out this game.’ She hadn’ t put in any coins. ‘ Game over’ remained on the screen from the last player.
‘ You scared me-I thought I lost you.’
‘ Sorry.’
‘ The movie’ s about to start.’
‘ Okay.’ She didn’ t move, but she craned her neck to look past me, obviously searching for something& or someone?
‘ Is there a problem?’
‘ Nope. No problem.’
After another minute or so, she finally got up, snatching a soda from the tray in my hands, which upset the delicate balance I’ d worked so diligently to establish. I fumbled, trying to hold everything together, to no avail. Deedee made a grab for the popcorn, and I managed to save the Twizzlers. The rest crashed in a wet mess to the ground, splashing my pants and earning applause from the people nearby.
As I bent down to clear everything, I heard, ‘ Nice job, Deedee. Real graceful.’
I gazed up to see a girl standing there who was probably cute, but all I could see was her smug grin.
‘ Oh, hey, Theresa,’ Deedee said nonchalantly. ‘ I didn’ t know you were here.’
Suddenly Deedee’ s dash to hide in the video game made sense. She appeared to be as glad to see this girl as I was to see Lizbeth every morning.
‘ Me and Claudia met up with Tony and all them.’ Then she asked, ‘ Who you here with?’
Deedee, clearly not seeing any way around it, introduced me with a tip of the head. ‘ Her.’
I’ d been reduced to a pronoun.
Theresa appeared to expect further explanation. Deedee seemed mute, and I couldn’ t come up with anything that wouldn’ t shame her further. I understood how embarrassing it must be to get caught at a Saturday afternoon movie with an adult when your peers are there with friends. Was I a family friend? A relative? Would my admitting to being her Big Sister be akin to committing social murder? For lack of anything better, I said, ‘ I’ m her parole officer.’
To my surprise, Deedee burst out laughing, the purest show of emotion I’ d seen from her in the month we’ d been getting together. Theresa tittered uncomfortably, not quite getting the joke but obviously wondering if it might be on her.
‘ Yeah& got busted drug running,’ Deedee said. ‘ Anyway, we better go. Movie’ s starting.’
As we took our seats in the front row-our punishment for seeing a movie on opening weekend-the previews thundered just a few feet from us. I leaned toward Deedee and said, ‘ Was it my imagination, or was your friend Theresa a complete bitch?’
Deedee grunted agreement as she took a handful of popcorn. ‘ She acts like she’ s everybody’ s best friend, but the second your back’ s turned, watch out.’
‘ Big gossip?’
‘ Yeah,
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