Intrusion: A Novel Part 14

"You sound like your mom." She sighed and ran her hand over the gorgeous paint job. "I usually don't care anything about cars, but this one rocks."

"Yep," he said. "The driver ain't bad either, once you get over his extreme modesty."

I had to laugh. Brendan was so funny sometimes, when he got over himself.

"Is this really a birthday present from your parents?" I asked.

"Grandparents. My parents are over-the-moon ticked off."

"I'm sure," I said. "Who gives a sixteen-year-old boy the keys to trouble on wheels?"

"Hey, I intend to have this car until the day I die."

"Just don't let that be tomorrow," I said, with a dubious smile.

"Hey, that previous car wreck was not my fault."

"No, of course not. That was some other Brendan drag-racing his mom's car down Main Street and hitting a parked police car."

"That was thirty seconds of poor judgment. I've changed my irresponsible ways, Whitney. I'd like to see you. We could start going out again."

I put a hand on my hip. "I like you, Brendan, but we've already gone down that road. We're great as friends, but not a good fit as boyfriend and girlfriend."

"How can you say that?" he said, his eyes pleading.

I folded my arms across my chest. "Okay, hypothetically, if you could take me on a date anywhere, and money was no object, where would it be?"

"Um, money is no object, remember?"

"Yeah, I forgot." His grandparents were loaded and he was the only grandkid.

"How about an NFL game?" he suggested.

I laughed and unfolded my arms. "Still the same football jock!"

"I'm very deep. I would even take you to the Super Bowl."

"I'm sure you would." We both knew he was joking about asking me out. We flirted back and forth all the time, but truthfully, we were better friends than we were a couple and we were comfortable with that.

A cute tanned girl dressed in a white tube top and Daisy Duke cut-offs came out of the 7-Eleven with two Slurpees and a bag of chips.

"My cousin," he mouthed to me as she walked toward us across the parking lot.

"You're such a hound dog. You have no cousins," I whispered, just loud enough for him to hear, but not her.

He reached over and opened the car door for the girl. She got in, handed him a Slurpee and smiled at him in a not-cousinly way.

"Babe!" he said to her and started up the loud car. All eight cylinders thrummed under the hood, drowning out the loud stereo.

He winked at me and shouted, "Thanks for the birthday wishes, ladies!" and backed the Mustang out of the parking spot.

After he had roared off down the street, Chanda and I looked at each other and said, at the same time: "The Brendan-mobile!" and squealed with laughter. And then together, we screamed, "Babe!" and laughed some more. We walked the rest of the way home. It felt good to be able to laugh about something, even if it was only for a minute or two. I said goodbye to Chanda at my house and she walked next door. I was so happy to see my mom's car in the driveway. That meant my dad was home. Finally!

"Mom, Dad!" I yelled as I went in the door.

My whole family was in the living room. My dad was holding court on the couch, telling the boys all about his accident.

"And the car is totaled," he said right at the end of his story.

"Are we going to get a new car?" Jacob asked.

"Of course we are," Jordan said.

"Let's get a truck," Jacob said.

"I want one with seven air bags," my mom said ruefully, looking at my dad's broken leg and arm.

"Our one air bag saved my head," Dad said.

"Did it hit you in the face?" Jordan asked.

"It was like a punching bag." be replied.

"But it saved you from getting a concussion," my mom said.

Dad looked up and saw me.

"Honey, come give me a hug," he said.

I gave him a hug, being gentle, so as not to hurt him.

"That hospital food was kind of plain. Let's have pizza tonight. We'll have it delivered," my dad said.

"That sounds good," Mom said.

"I want sausage and olives," Jordan said.

"That would be different," I said sarcastically.

"We all love that kind," Jacob said.

"You are right," I said.

My mom left to order the pizza online.

She came back in a minute.

"It will be here in less than a half hour," my mom said.

I was sort of full, just having gulped down a whole Slurpee but that was okay. We never got any different type of pizza, so no matter where we got it, it tasted the same.

After the pizza was delivered by our usual guy, we ate in the living room with my dad because he was so broken that it would have been hard for him to get up and sit at the table. I had one slice. The boys went and settled down to their video games.

I wanted to talk to my dad about getting a gun. I didn't know how to broach the subject so when my mom, my dad, and I were alone, so I just blurted it out.

"Are we going to get a gun?" I asked.

My dad looked surprised.

"I mean, Mom and I talked about it several times. So of course, I was just wondering."

"Yes, I think so. But my arm has to heal so I can take lessons," he said.

"Your leg, too. I can't see you on one leg, on crutches. shooting a gun," I said smiling.

"That would be difficult," he said.

"How did you get in the house anyway?" I asked.

"I hopped. It was not a pleasant experience," my dad said.

"Dad, Mom said we can take Tae Kwon Do lessons, is that true?"

"If Mom said so, then it must be true," he said.

"I went down today and signed up for the family plan. Your father will start when the doctor says he is ready," my mom said, smiling.

I was excited, I always wanted to do some sort of martial arts.

"Go look on your bed. There is a uniform that you have to wear. And you got your first belt. It is white," she said.

I was a white belt. I thought that was funny. What, they didn't have clear ones? I went in my room and on my bed was a pair of white pants and a white robe. I put it on. I tied my white belt around my waist. I went and looked in the mirror. I looked tough. I just wished my belt was black.

"What do I wear on my feet?" I asked my mom, going into the living room to model my uniform for her.

"Oh, honey, you look so cute," my mom said.

"Not the look I wanted," I said.

"She looks like she is not going to take it anymore," my dad said.

I smiled at him.

"You go barefoot at the lessons," she said.

"Wow." I was surprised.

The boys came running out wearing their uniforms, too, now that was cute. They started doing fake karate moves on each other. We all laughed then Jacob got hurt and whimpered a little and my dad said to knock it off. They wanted to sleep in their uniforms, but my mom said no, they were not pajamas.

The next day was Sat.u.r.day and my mom, the boys, and I had a Tae Kwon Do lesson. I was nervous because I didn't know what was going to happen. My dad came along to watch. When we got there, an older Asian man came up to us and introduced himself as Master Ken. He was kind of cute. He said he was going to show us some moves but we had to put on our gear, so we wouldn't get hurt.

My mom had purchased the whole package. We had knee pads, elbow pads, and rubber helmets to protect our heads. When I put on everything, I felt like a rubber man. The first thing we did was exercises, which were difficult to do in the whole get up. Next, we picked a partner and started doing some roundhouse kicks. We were supposed to do it lightly, so we wouldn't to hurt our partner. Luckily, there were four of us, so we each had a partner. We did this for an hour. It was really fun. I sweated a lot. I was glad I had my uniform on because it was made of cotton and it was cool to wear. After the hour was up, we took the gear off and thanked Master Ken.

"You guys were looking good out there," Dad said. It felt so good to have him there with us. I started to feel safe again.

When we got home, Gretchen, who was usually in the fenced back yard, was in the unfenced front yard. She looked confused. Someone had let her out and she was so good that she stayed at our house.

"Good dog!" I said and petted her. "You didn't run away."

I was really sick of this guy who was stalking me. I don't know what I'd do if I lost Gretchen. I loved her with all of my heart. The truth was, now I didn't even know if I could fall asleep without her in the room.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

School ended and summer started. My dad started to itch as he healed. Every Sat.u.r.day, we went to Tae Kwon Do. The boys, of course, did much better than I did and each of them went to a blue belt almost immediately. I stayed on the yellow belt for a while.

Eventually, my father got both casts taken off. He was one hairy man under all those casts. The doctor said the hair would come off. I hoped so, because he looked funny with one hairy arm and leg.

My dad started taking handgun lessons almost immediately after the doctor gave him the okay to do it.

He said the shooting was fun and he was getting good at it. It reminded him of his Navy training. I didn't know how I felt about having a gun in the house. Both the boys and I were forbidden to ever touch the gun. I knew I didn't have to worry about myself, but my brothers were very curious about the gun.

One night, I went to talk to them at bedtime.

"You know never to touch Dad's gun, right?" I asked both of them.

"Yes, Mother," Jordan said to me, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I just don't want either of you hurt," I said.

"We have had this lecture fifty times by Dad and Mom," Jacob said.

"Then hopefully, you will listen," I said.

"Stop being so bossy and go to bed," Jacob said.

"Okay," I said kissing them both goodnight.

I went to my room and I was afraid. Not terrified, but afraid. I made sure my window was locked and I pulled the curtain closed. I had a creepy feeling, like someone was watching me. I wish that feeling would go away.

I called Gretchen and she came and laid on her dog bed. I grabbed my pillow and blanket and laid beside her on the floor. She immediately snuggled closer to me. Then she started to lightly snore.

I felt some peace while listening to her snore. If the dog could fall asleep, that meant no danger was nearby. It was like white noise; she was so steady in her breathing.