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Show Peppermint Fiend: Chapter 11: Peppermint Monday After the funeral, I waited for everything to return to normal, but it never did. Barton spent a day or two with Renae while his family was here, but Uncle William was itching to get back to business. Georgia kissed us all when they left and she cried when she hugged ma. Ma cried too. I was tired of tears but there were always more of them. The knot in my chest didn't get much smaller either. Pa was quieter than I had ever seen him before. I was glad for the last few days of school, for his sake as well as my own. He struggled through his class periods and wasn't as hard on everyone when it came to grading time. Elizabeth wasn't the only "A" and he didn't even flunk Billy. I don't know whether Billy got a "D" or a "D-", but he was sure happy about it. "Thanks, Red," he said one day in the hall. "I knew you'd come through." "Come through with what?" I surely had not intended to help Billy. "With your pa," Billy smiled his terrible smile. It was too bad it was so terrible, because for once I think he was just trying to be friendly. "He didn't flunk me after all." I should have told Billy that I had nothing to do with that. I should have admitted pa was being nicer to everyone because he had lost Russ. I didn't say a thing. I just smiled back at ugly Billy. It wasn't a happy smile because I wasn't happy yet, but it was a tolerant smile. That was the best I could do for Billy. It had been a quiet week for me and Andrea. She was so afraid of saying the wrong thing, that she hardly said anything. I wasn't in the mood for a lot of idle chatter either, so we got along great. It would have been easier |
