John Saul: Brain Child

“I can’t remember which way it goes,” he said, holding up the garment.

“Pleats down,” Ellen Lonsdale replied. “Otherwise it’ll wind up full of crumbs. Turn around.” Taking the cummerbund from Alex’s hands, she fastened it neatly around his waist, then held his coat while he slid his arms into its sleeves. When he turned to face her once more, she reached up to put her arms around his neck and give him a hug. “You look terrific,” she said. She squeezed him once more, then stepped back. “Now, you have a wonderful time, and drive carefully.” She shot a warning look toward Marsh, then relaxed as she saw that he was apparently as willing as she to drop their argument.

“Gotta go,” Alex was saying. “If I’m late, Lisa will kill me.”

“If you’re late, you’ll kill yourself,” Ellen observed, her smile returning. “But don’t rush off and forget these.” She opened the refrigerator and took out Lisa’s corsage, along with the white carnation for Alex’s lapel.

“You should’ve gotten red,” Alex groused as he let his mother pin the flower onto his dinner jacket.

“If you wanted a red carnation, you should have gotten a white jacket,” Ellen retorted. She stepped back and gazed proudly at Alex. Somehow, he had managed to inherit both their looks, and the combination was startling. His dark eyes and black wavy hair were hers; his fair complexion and even features, his father’s. The combination lent his face a sensitive handsomeness that had earned him admiring remarks since he was a baby, and, in the last few months, an unending string of phone calls from girls who hoped he might be tiring of Lisa Cochran. “Don’t be surprised if you and Lisa don’t wind up the king and queen of the prom,” she added, stretching upward to kiss him.

“Aw, Mom—”

“They still have the king and queen of the prom, don’t they?” Ellen asked.

Blushing, Alex nodded his head, checked his pockets for his keys and wallet, and started for the door.

“And remember,” Ellen called after him. “Don’t stay out past one, and don’t get into any trouble.”

“You mean, don’t drink,” Alex corrected her. “I won’t. I promise. Okay?”

“Okay,” Marsh Lonsdale replied. He handed Alex a twenty-dollar bill. “Take some of the kids out and buy them a Coke after the dance.”

“Thanks, Dad.” Alex disappeared out the back door. A moment later Ellen and Marsh heard his car start. Marsh arched his brows. “I don’t believe he’s actually going to drive all the way next door,” he said, unable to suppress a smile, despite the fact that it was Alex’s car that he and Ellen had been arguing about all evening.

“Well, of course he is,” Ellen replied. “Do you really think he’s going to pick up Lisa, then walk her down our driveway? Not our Alex.”

“He could have walked her all the way to the prom,” Marsh suggested.

“No, he couldn’t,” Ellen said, her voice suddenly tired. “He needs a car, Marsh. After we move, I just can’t spend all my time ferrying him up and down the ravine. And besides, he’s a responsible boy—”

“I’m not saying he isn’t,” Marsh agreed. “All I’m saying is that I think he should have earned the car. And I’m not saying he should have earned the money, either. But couldn’t we have used the car as an incentive for him to pick up his grades?”

Ellen shrugged, and began clearing the dinner dishes off the table. “He’s doing just fine.”

“He’s not doing as well as he could be, and you know it as well as I do.”

“I know,” Ellen sighed. “But I just think it’s two separate issues, that’s all.” Suddenly she smiled. “I’ll tell you what. Why don’t we compromise? Let’s wait until his grades come out, and see what happens. If they get worse, I’ll agree that getting him the car was a mistake, and you can take it away from him. I’ll cope with the transportation problem some way. If they stay the same, or improve, he keeps the car. But either way, we stop fighting about it, all right?”

Marsh hesitated only a second, then grinned. “Deal,” he said. “Now, what say I help you with the dishes, and we try to put together something with the Cochrans?” He offered his wife a mischievous wink. “I’ll even drive over next door and pick them up.”

The last of the tension that had been vibrating between them all afternoon suddenly dissipated, and together Ellen and Marsh began clearing away the dinner dishes.

Alex carefully backed his shiny red Mustang down the driveway, then parked it by the curb in front of the Cochran’s house next door. He picked up Lisa’s corsage, crossed the lawn, and walked into the house without knocking. “Anybody here?” he called. Lisa’s six-year-old sister, Kim, hurtled down the stairs and threw herself onto Alex.

“Is that for me?” she demanded, grabbing for the corsage box.

“If Lisa isn’t ready, maybe I’ll take you to the dance,” Alex replied, peeling Kim loose as her father’s bulky frame appeared from the living room. “Hi, Mr. Cochran.”

Jim Cochran raised one eyebrow and surveyed Alex. “Ah, Prince Charming descends from the castle on the mountain to take Cinderella to the ball.”

Alex tried to cover his feelings of embarrassment with a grin. “Aw, come on. We’re not moving for two more weeks. And it’s not a castle anyway.”

“True, true,” Cochran agreed. “On the other hand, I haven’t noticed you asking if you can rent Kim’s room. We’ll happily throw her out.”

“You will not,” Kim yelled, aiming a punch at her father’s belly.

“Will too,” her father told her. “Want a Coke, Alex? Lisa’s still upstairs trying to make herself look human.” He dropped his booming voice only slightly, still leaving it loud enough to fill the house. “Actually, she’s been ready for an hour, but she doesn’t want you to think she’s too eager.”

“That’s a big lie!” Lisa said from the top of the stairs. “He always lies, Alex. Don’t believe a word he says.” Lisa, unlike Alex, had inherited all her looks from her mother. She was small, with short blond hair swept back from her face so that her green eyes became her dominant feature. And, being not only Lisa, but her father’s daughter as well, she had chosen a dress in brilliant emerald rather than the more subdued pastels the other girls would be wearing. Alex’s grin widened as she came down the stairs. “Hey, you look gorgeous.”

Lisa smiled appreciatively and gave him a mock-seductive wink. “You don’t look so bad yourself.” She stood waiting for a moment; then: “Aren’t you going to pin the corsage on?” Alex stared at the box in his hands, his face reddening as he handed it to Carol Cochran, who had appeared from the direction of the kitchen.

“M-maybe you’d better do it, Mrs. Cochran. I … I might slip or something.”

“You won’t slip, Alex,” Lisa told him. “Now, come on. Just pin it on, and let’s go. Otherwise we’ll be here all night while Mom takes pictures.”

Alex fumbled clumsily with the corsage for a moment, but finally succeeded in getting it fastened to Lisa’s dress. Then, true to Lisa’s words, Carol Cochran began herding them into the living room, camera in hand.

“Mom, we don’t have time—” Lisa pleaded, but Carol was adamant.

“You only go to your first prom once, and you only wear your first formal once. And I’m going to have pictures of it. Besides, you both look so—”

“Oh, God, Alex,” Lisa moaned. “She’s going to say it. Cover your ears.”

“Well, I don’t care,” Carol laughed as Alex and Lisa clapped their hands over their ears. “You do look cute!”

Twenty-four pictures later, Alex and Lisa were on their way to the prom.