Promise (20 page)

Kaden hesitated but knew he couldn't hide the fact a white pickup sat in front of Cabin Five.

“It's my dad's,” Kaden said.

“He's home?” Doris seemed genuinely surprised.

“Yeah, we didn't think about the bus. This afternoon, I'll tell him to keep it parked out of the way.”

“When did he get here?” Doris asked. “I can't believe I haven't heard a word about this, not one word.”

Doris heard all the gossip in Promise and spread most of
it. They had kept quiet about Dad getting out of prison but Kaden knew that the whole town would learn about it as soon as Doris dropped off the elementary students. Doris wouldn't be able to get over to Pillie's fast enough. Pillie always had a crowd for morning coffee and Doris would have a good-size audience.

“Saturday,” Kaden told her.

“So he's back in Cabin Five, huh? Is he staying long? Does he have a job? How did he look? I haven't seen him since your grandpa died. And what was in that big box in the back of his truck?”

Doris kept up a steady stream of questions and comments. Kaden answered them, knowing there was no point in trying to hold things back, but was glad Emmett didn't live far away.

“Do you know Dennis is at the cabins?” Doris asked Emmett as he held open the kitchen door.

“Yeah, I saw him Saturday. Go on in. I need Kaden to help me carry some things in from the garden.”

Kaden followed Emmett around to back of the shop. Two bushel baskets of corn, beans, cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes were waiting but Kaden knew Emmett was using the garden to talk to him in private.

“So how was yesterday?” Emmett asked. “I figured it would be best if I stayed away.”

“Long,” Kaden said. “Started out kind of rough but not like Saturday night. Just uncomfortable. But it got better as the day went on.” Kaden didn't tell Emmett what Dad said about him. Or about the way Dad threw the fastballs at him.

“Good,” said Emmett. “It will take some time to get adjusted. You know, people can change if they want to. We'll see how it all works out. And your Gram? How's she holding up?”

“She's okay. I was surprised she didn't get too upset at the TV.”

“TV?” Emmett asked.

“Yeah. Dad and I went to Chapston City and bought one. Gram even watched the news on it.”

“See, didn't I just tell you? People can change.” Emmett laughed. They each picked up a basket of vegetables and walked back to the house.

“Are you going to make pickles?” Doris asked. “I love your spicy hot ones.”

“Not enough time. I have all that wood to split back there.” Emmett sold firewood to half of Promise and gave it away to the other half.

“This early?” Kaden asked. “It's only September. We haven't even had a frost yet.”

“I know, but I told Clarence I'd have three cords for him
by the middle of the month and I don't work as fast as I used to. These old bones get pretty stiff leaning over and picking up logs.”

“You shouldn't use that splitter by yourself,” Doris said. “It's dangerous. You could chop your arm off with that thing.”

Kaden had seen the splitting machine in Emmett's shop and Emmett had shown him how it used hydraulic pressure to cram a log into a wedge to split it. He knew one slip and the wedge could split an arm in two.

“Doris is right,” Kaden now told Emmett. “You've always said it was safest to have two people running it.”

“Well, if you're going to side with Doris, maybe you and Yo-Yo could help me with it this weekend?”

“Sure, if the pay's right,” Kaden said, grinning. “How about another Jumbo Lightning Moo-Cream?”

At school, Yo-Yo was waiting impatiently in Ms. Ales's room.

“So, what was he like? I've been dying to know. You guys really have to get a phone. Did he have prison tats? Big muscles and stuff? You know, they do a lot of weight lifting in prison.”

Once Yo-Yo started, he couldn't stop. He asked as many
questions as Doris but his were entirely different.

“And what about scars? Any scars? You know, from knife fights? Every prison show I've ever seen has a knife fight. They sharpen a spoon and hide it in the laundry and then someone buys it with cigarettes and hides it under their mattress, just waiting for the right opportunity. Does your dad smoke cigarettes?”

“Enough already. If you'd shut up for a minute, I'd have a chance to answer.” Yo-Yo slapped his hand over his mouth and Kaden continued.

“Yes, he's very muscular and he has a tattoo—”

“What's it look like?” Yo-Yo interrupted.

“A band of barbed wire around his left bicep. But I didn't see any scars. He didn't smoke any cigarettes and I didn't see any in his truck either.”

“You were in his truck? What did you do, sneak out in the middle of the night and search through it? What's in the cargo carrier? I should have told you to take the flashlight home instead of leaving it at the tower.”

“No, I didn't search his truck. We went to Chapston City in it. And the only thing in the cargo carrier is an old sleeping bag.”

“You went to Chapston City?”

“Yeah, he bought us a TV.”

“Awesome! How big is it? Is it a wide-screen? High-def? Does it have surround sound? What about 3-D?”

“It's not very big,” Kaden said, laughing. “A big one wouldn't fit in Gram's cabin. There's no cable or satellite out there, so we only get three stations.”

First bell rang and voices could be heard coming down the hall.

“No more right now. We'll talk later when we can be alone,” Kaden said. “Oh, and before I forget, Emmett wants you and me to help him split wood Saturday. Think your mom will let you?”

“Split wood?” Yo-Yo asked. “Sweet! I've never used an ax before. You think I'll be able to lift it? I don't exactly have a Paul Bunyan body, you know.”

“You don't use an ax; you use a log splitter. It runs on gas,” Kaden explained. “We'll help lift logs onto it and stack the split wood on Emmett's trailer. After we deliver it to Clarence, Emmett will take us to Pillie's.”

“I thought I told you to stay away from Pillie's.” Luke had come up behind them. He had evidently made up with Elana, because she was right beside him.

“Luke, you can't say who can come in my parents' restaurant,” Elana said. “I've talked my mom into letting you back in but I'm warning you, if she hears you're threatening
people, she'll kick you out again.”

“You don't need to warn me; you need to warn your mom. Kaden's dad is out. She better keep a gun handy if she doesn't want to be robbed.”

Kaden knew the news would travel fast but he couldn't believe it would get to the school that quickly.

Elana rolled her eyes at Luke. “Why are you telling me that? I'm the one who told you.” Then she turned to Kaden to explain. “The restaurant was swamped this morning so I was still there helping when Doris came charging in with the news about your dad.”

“Well, with a con on the loose, you can't be too careful. Fresh out of prison, no job, and he's already shown up with a TV.” Luke turned to Kaden. “How big was it, Kaden? Small enough to easily lift?”

Second bell rang. Ms. Ales walked in. Luke put his mouth up close to Kaden's ear. “I'm warning you, stay away from Pillie's,” he whispered.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

SCHOOL BEAUTIFICATION

It was sixth-grade week for School Beautification Duty. After lunch, the cooks handed the girls wet rags to wipe ketchup and spilled milk off the tables. Then some of the boys moved the tables into the storage room. Other students swept up the mess of crumbs, bits of food, and straw wrappers left on the floor. Everyone was busy working except Luke. Luke leaned against the wall by the door. Coach Dosser leaned against the wall next to him. Almost all evidence of a school lunch had been removed and the cafeteria had almost transformed back into a gym when Mr. Price came in. He glanced at Luke.

“My dad said I don't have to be a janitor around here,” Luke instantly spoke up.

Mr. Price ignored Luke but took Coach Dosser aside. Then he walked over to Kaden and Yo-Yo.

“Come with me,” he said.

Mr. Price led the way. A white truck was backed up to the back doors of the school, its bed filled with long boxes covered in clear plastic wrap. Kaden's first thought was it was his father, but then he saw Mr. Schmerz pulling one of the boxes toward him across the open tailgate. Already a bunch of new trowels, hoses, and other garden equipment was piled up inside the doors.

“Your grandmother said you two would know what to do with these,” Mr. Price said, pointing to the boxes Mr. Schmerz was stacking inside. Stamped in big block letters across each box was Z
OYSIA
G
RASS
P
LUGS
/ K
EEP
S
HADED
U
NTIL
P
LANTED
. One of the boxes had an envelope attached to the top.

“Yes, sir,” Kaden said, giving Yo-Yo a glance. “We know all about zoysia grass, don't we, Yo-Yo?”

“Oh, yeah, tons,” Yo-Yo said. “And I think we're going to find out even more, up close and personal.”

“Good,” Mr. Price said. “Then you're in charge. They're for the courtyard. You and the other sixth graders can get started planting them today during C.A.R.E. I'm sure that won't be nearly enough time but I can't have all the sixth graders out
there all afternoon. So you two are dismissed from afternoon classes to work on it. If you can't get done today, we should be able to keep what's not planted alive until Wednesday.”

The janitor came around the corner with a dolly. Mr. Price left. Kaden and Yo-Yo helped the janitor stack the boxes on the dolly. Only half of them fit. Taking the garden equipment, the boys followed the janitor back down the hall, through the library, and out into the courtyard. Coach Dosser was waiting there with the rest of the sixth graders.

“Gram was right,” Yo-Yo said, looking around at the remnants of weedy gardens and sparse patches of grass scattered in the hardened dirt. “This place could do with a makeover.”

Kaden removed the envelope from the top box and opened it. Yo-Yo looked over his shoulder at the papers inside. They were instructions on the planting and care of zoysia grass plugs. When the janitor came back with a second load of boxes, he reached in his pocket and handed Kaden a pocketknife.

“Price said you're in charge,” the janitor told him. “You're going to need this to cut through that plastic.”

Kaden must have looked surprised.

“I know all about school rules,” the janitor said. “They're ridiculous. This is a tool, not a weapon, and I've got other
stuff to do. You can give it back to me at the end of the day.” The janitor left, leaving Kaden holding the pocketknife.

Kaden opened the knife, slit through the plastic wrap, and opened one of the boxes. Inside were rows and rows of little grass stubs, each in a tablespoon-size ball of damp dirt. Yo-Yo counted. Four rows, twenty-five in each. Kaden counted the boxes. Thirty.

“Do you realize how many zoysia grass plugs we're going to have to plant?” Kaden said, closing the knife and slipping it in his pocket.

“Yeah, but I've got a plan,” Yo-Yo said, grabbing the directions. He put a trowel and a grass plug on the picnic table near the library door and jumped up on the tabletop.

“Hey, listen up!” Yo-Yo yelled. Nobody paid any attention to him. Like a teacher, Yo-Yo clapped his hands first slowly two times, then quickly three times. The students immediately quieted and clapped back, two times slowly, three times quickly. Even Luke spontaneously responded. Kaden was glad Gram didn't see that. She would have said something about students being trained like circus monkeys. But it worked. Yo-Yo had their attention.

“My fellow sixth graders,” Yo-Yo started, “we've been given our mission. We are to beautify this courtyard by planting a specimen of grass called zoysia.” Yo-Yo held up the
grass plug. “Coach, you should be especially pleased to know this kind of grass is frequently used on golf courses. Once it takes hold, you should be able to set up a putting green in the middle of the courtyard.”