Kele Moon - Crossing the line

“I’d have beaten him up for ya.”

“He’s in fifth grade now,” Tabitha reminded him. “Him and Vaughn would kick your butt for even thinking of trying it.”

“I ain’t scared of Vaughn,” Clay said with a dark, malicious glare. “Or Brett.”

“Yeah, you’re dumb like that.”

Clay laughed at the insult. “So what’d ya bring?”

Tabitha abandoned her work on her knees and turned to her book bag. She pulled out the box of Hamburger Helper and looked at the back again. “I think I can cook it. Just need water.”

“Ain’t ya supposed to use meat with it?”

“I was thinking we could mix ketchup with the sauce powder stuff and put that on top. Sort of like pretend meat.”

“That ain’t nothing like meat.”

Tabitha looked up hesitantly. “I got cheese, but it’s sort of rotten-looking.”

Clay considered her quietly for one long moment and then took the box out of her hands. “You still got the cookies?”

Tabitha grinned. “Yeah, he didn’t find ’em. I had ’em in a side pocket.”

“Then let’s make ketchup pasta,” Clay agreed, “and have cookies for dessert.”

“I need lots of cookies.” Wyatt jumped on the counter, then kicked his feet back against the cabinet as he watched his grandpa pack his and Jules’s lunches for the next day. “Like twice as much as yesterday.”

Grandpa Charlie sent him a sideways look as he worked on putting peanut butter on bread. “Boy, what aren’t ya telling me?”

“Nothing.” Wyatt shrugged. “I like cookies.”

“Someone stealing your cookies? I know it ain’t always easy being a Conner. I’m an old sheriff, but I remember. You getting picked on?”

Wyatt gave him a look. “I got a purple belt, Grandpa.”

“He gave his cookies to Tabitha McMillen,” Jules announced as she sat at the table in her nightgown, reading something, probably for extra credit even though school just started because she was annoying like that. “Sara told Marcy at recess that she saw him hand over the whole stack.”

Wyatt really wished he were one of those guys like Clay Powers who had no problem cussing and flipping people off, because he’d surely like to say something colorful to his sister.

“Ah.” Grandpa Charlie sent him another sly look. This time a smile tugged at his lips. “You sweet on that little McMillen girl?”

“No,” Wyatt said quickly. “She just looked really happy to get the dang cookies.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Grandpa hummed in disbelief.

“I ain’t lying.” Wyatt threw his hand down defensively. “You’d think a couple of crumbly cookies were the greatest thing in the world with the way she was holding on to ’em. It was like Jules with a new doll.”

“I don’t play with dolls anymore.”

“She’s the liar.” Wyatt pointed at his sister accusingly, because they both knew she still played with them. “She told dad she was trying to get gunk off her teeth when he caught her sticking her tongue out at me, and he believed it .”

Grandpa Charlie laughed, which annoyed Wyatt. Jules got away with everything, but if he slouched, it was a smack on the head and a reminder that Conners don’t do things like that. It was like the world expected him to be perfect.

He hopped off the counter and was two steps from storming out of the room, when Grandpa Charlie’s big hand wrapped around Wyatt’s wrist, stopping him in his tracks.

“I didn’t call ya a liar.”

“Yeah, you did. You don’t believe me about the cookies. You’re always saying I’m supposed to look out for people smaller than me, and when I do, you—”

“I’ll pack the cookies. Two sets, one for you and one for your girlfriend.”

Wyatt growled, and Grandpa Charlie laughed again.

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

In a lightning-fast move, Wyatt twisted his arm, forcing his wrist against his grandpa’s thumb, using a common self-defense technique to break his hold. He dashed out of the kitchen. He was almost to the stairs when he got caught a second time. This time his grandpa wrapped both arms around his waist and hauled Wyatt off his feet while he fought tooth and nail.

But his grandpa was still laughing, which made Wyatt laugh. He let his guard down enough that he ended up tossed over his grandpa’s shoulder while he wheezed from laughing so hard.

“Boy, you keep taking life so serious, you’re gonna end up as grouchy as your daddy.”

Not to be left out of the game, Jules came barreling in from kitchen. “Don’t pick on my daddy!”

Even upside down Wyatt could see Jules’s hair flying behind her as she launched herself at their grandfather. She wrapped both her arms around his legs and threw her shoulder into an impressive tackle.

Grandpa Charlie went down like a ton of bricks, but Wyatt knew he was faking it, because neither Wyatt nor Jules ended up hurt. He pushed Wyatt off him and grabbed for Jules, who let out a squeal and tried to escape.

“You don’t like me picking on your daddy, huh?” He wrapped an arm around her middle, hauling Jules to her feet. “What’re you gonna do ’bout it?”

Jules curled herself into a ball, making herself at least twice as heavy, but she was nothing under Grandpa Charlie’s strength. He tossed her over his shoulder the same as he’d done with Wyatt, while she kicked and made those same high-pitched screeches of hilarity that could only come from a girl.

“Did you really tell your daddy you were trying to get gunk off your teeth?”

“Yes,” Jules confessed in a peal of giggles. “But it was the truth .”

“Girl, you might as well be a lawyer instead of a cop, ’cause I ain’t heard someone spin a tale like you can. What bullshit. You got your daddy totally hosed.”

“Dad, come on. Don’t be teaching ’em to swear.”

“Ah, hell, Freddy, a little swearing don’t hurt no one. You got to lighten up.”

“He’s a grouch,” Wyatt added bravely, looking boldly at his father when he stepped off the bottom step freshly showered and dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt. “Everyone knows it.”

His father narrowed his eyes. “Who you calling a grouch, boy?”

Wyatt tried to mimic his icy stare, but he cracked and started laughing. “I’m calling you one.”

He saw his father move, and he turned to run, but he wasn’t fast enough. His father actually dived for Wyatt, like the former linebacker he was. When his father caught his ankle, Wyatt hit the floor with a thump, but he was laughing so hard he didn’t feel it.

Then Wyatt found himself completely upside down, being held by his ankles while all the blood rushed to his head and his flannel nightshirt completely covered his eyes.

“What was that you were saying?” his father asked, now laughing as hard as the rest of them.

“Freddy, that boy just ate. He’s gonna end up puking on your shoes.”

Wyatt’s shoulders shook with mirth, but he managed to choke out, “T-that ain’t a l-lie.”

“Do it!” Jules said encouragingly from somewhere.

“Pass, ’cause y’all know I’m the one who is gonna be cleaning it. Grandpa doesn’t do puke.”

His father put him back on the ground, and Wyatt lay on his back, laughing for a long time. Then he rolled back and sprang to his feet in a move he thought was extremely impressive if he did say so himself.

“Boy, you are the biggest show-off I ever did see,” his father confirmed. “I surely don’t know where you got all that ego from, ’cause it ain’t from me, and your mama was humble as can be.”

“That’d be me,” Grandpa Charlie said proudly. “I was all cock and balls when I was a kid and a lot longer after that if we’re being honest.”