(20)
“Denny!”
The sound of his mother’s voice snapped Denny out of a sound sleep. He had been dreaming of ice-skating on the lake with Julie. They were holding hands and skating toward a bonfire on the shore. There were others there, drinking hot chocolate and waiting for the New Year’s Eve fireworks. His dad and Jimmy were off to the side passing a hockey puck back and forth on the blue-glass surface of the ice. But now he was back in his room, alone, and the dream was already starting to fade. He rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock: it was only eight o’clock! Why would his mother be waking him up so early on a Sunday? Had she thought about returning to church?
“Billy’s here, are you up?”
“Be right down!” he called. He quickly threw on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, slapping his Red Sox cap on his head as he left his room. When he got downstairs his mother was on her way out to hang a load of laundry on the line. Billy was sitting at the kitchen table looking like he was about to burst.
“Hey Billy…”
“You are not gonna believe this…” he looked out the window to make sure Denny’s mom was out of earshot. “Guess who was at my house last night?”
Denny knew his friend was itching to tell him some big news. So of course he pretended he wasn’t interested. He walked to the cabinet and got out a box of Frosted Flakes. “I don’t know. The Beach Boys?”
“Very funny. It was… wait a minute; maybe you wouldn’t be interested after all.”
Damn, Denny thought as he poured the cereal into a bowl then got the milk out of the fridge, he always has the upper hand. “Alright, alright, I’m not even awake yet. Who was it?”
“Paul Greymore.”
Denny stopped with the carton of milk poised over his bowl and turned to Billy. “The Butcher was at your house?”
Billy frowned. “Don’t call him that, okay? He came to visit my dad. You aren’t going to believe this…”
Denny’s mom came back in from the yard with the empty basket. She paused, as if about to say something. The moment dragged on and Billy gave Denny a questioning look. Denny just shrugged hopelessly and sat at the kitchen table to eat his breakfast. Finally she moved past and they heard her footsteps going up the stairs.
“He’s moving back into his house!”
Denny almost spit out a mouthful of cereal, as a knife of cold, deep fear pierced his heart. “He’s moving back?”
Billy was grinning. “Relax, scaredy-cat, he’s not a killer. He’s actually a really nice guy. And his face isn’t that bad, you kind of get used to it and it makes him… interesting.”
Denny was nodding slowly. “You’re sure? Your dad is sure?” Denny was mentally counting the number of steps between his house and Greymore’s. It wasn’t a very big number.
“Yeah, he told us last night. He’s moving back as soon as his house is fixed up.”
Denny shook his head. “No, numbnuts, are you and your dad sure he didn’t kill those kids?”
“My dad was already sure, even before Paul’s visit, I already told you that.” He went on to tell Denny about Crawford blocking the letters his dad and Greymore tried to send to each other and how Crawford even stopped his dad from visiting Greymore.
“So all this time your dad thought Greymore wasn’t writing back and Greymore thought your dad wasn’t returning his letters?”
“Yeah, and man were they pissed when they figured it out.”
Denny crunched the last bite of his cereal thoughtfully, then raised the bowl to his mouth to down the sugary milk. A brief image of the Cat-woman flashed through his mind fleetingly. In the distance a dog barked. Denny turned his head toward the door but knew it wasn’t Bear’s bark. “I guess we know where Dale gets his assholeness from.”
Billy giggled. “Is that even a real swear?”
Denny put his bowl in the sink and slapped Billy on the back. “It will be. Get Webster on the phone and I’ll have it added to the dictionary.” He let loose with a jaw-cracking yawn.
Billy punched his shoulder. “What are you so tired about? I tried signaling you last night to tell you about Paul and you didn’t answer.”
Denny shrugged. “That’s weird; I tried to signal you around eleven. Then I fell asleep and had some crappy nightmare. I was just falling back to sleep when you came and woke me up again.” He could never tell Billy about the dream he had with Julie in it.
Billy was never the one to let an opportunity to rank on someone pass him by. “Was it the one where you piss your pants at school and they send you to the nurse and you have to wear a diaper for the rest of the day?”
“Good one, but I already wear a diaper so that doesn’t happen… again.” Both boys cracked up. “I thought you had stuff to do today?”
“Not until later. You?”
“Yeah, my mom wants me to help her put the winter clothes up into the attic later.” He looked down, hesitating, unsure of how to ask Billy for a favor, then he just blurted it out. “Will you come with me to talk to Father McCarthy?”
“Thinking about becoming a priest since you’ll never get laid anyway?” Denny felt his face begin to burn as he blushed. He looked at Billy and saw the flash of memory in his friend’s eyes. “Oh, hey… yeah sure. I’m sorry, man, I forgot…”
Denny’s heart lifted, knowing as much as they ranked each other out, each would take a bullet for the other if it came down to it. His eyes drifted to the bandage on Billy’s knee and thoughts of the caves came back along with a shudder.
“Thanks. Let’s go before I chicken out.” Denny yelled up to his mom and the boys headed out the door into the heat.
They rode their bikes into town, having most of the streets to themselves in the early-morning quiet of a Sunday. Downtown Haven was essentially closed on Sundays. Other than the spa and the Oakhurst convenience store, every window was dark and had a Closed sign on the door.
Just off of Main Street, on the cleverly named Church Street, stood Holy Trinity Church. The majestic white building was the pride of Haven. It was fronted with gleaming pillars and crowned with a spectacular bell tower, surrounded by an emerald green lawn and exquisitely manicured trees and shrubs. It was a postcard-worthy scene in every season, equally beautiful encircled by spring flowers or cloaked in a fresh coat of snow.
When they approached the church they immediately realized the flaw in their plan when they saw the streets and the parking lot full of cars. They had arrived just after the start of nine o’clock mass.
Billy wiped sweat from his forehead and looked up at the hazy sky. The unrelenting heat and humidity might actually break, he thought. Ominous clouds were building on the horizon. “Got any money? We can go grab a doughnut at the spa and come back after?”
Denny checked his pockets and came out with enough change to get them each a doughnut. “Jackpot.”
They rode back to Main Street and parked their bikes out front. Denny hesitated for a second before moving toward the door. Billy looked back. “Wake up, dummy, this is the part where we go in and actually buy the doughnuts, then we eat them.”
Denny swallowed hard, struggling to control his emotions. “This… this is the last place Jimmy and my dad were before…”
Billy stood in front of him and awkwardly put a hand on Denny’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Denny, I didn’t know. Let’s just go wait in front of the church, the priest always comes out after mass to yuck it up and bless babies and stuff, right?”