The boys all received
permission and went house to house, gathering the necessities, hands full of
change either from parents or from the pockets of the jeans they'd worn the day
before, or in Felix's case, an actual piggy bank, white with large black eyes
and blue flowers painted on it, which the other boys smiled but didn't outright
laugh at.
Amadeo fended off
questions about Angelo, saying only that he had chores to do before he could go
anywhere. The other boys groaned in sympathy as some of them were sent
last minute to take out the trash or run the push mower over their lawns before
they were given permission to go to the pond. With all of them working
together to get the chores done it wasn't long before they were all walking
toward the pond, tugging several little wagons behind them which were loaded
with supplies and snacks.
They walked leisurely,
enjoying the sunshine and each picking and leading the others in their favorite
songs. They laughed and danced along to Yakkity Yak as they walked along,
once they were out of sight of the houses on the street, with Jim providing the
bass 'Don't talk back.'
The boys spent the day
swinging from the rope on the tree, ducking each other, swimming laps or
racing. Dennis had brought a ball and they spent some time batting it
back and forth over an invisible net which seemed to change it's position
depending on who hit the ball and where it landed.
Amadeo kept thinking
about Angelo, wishing he could be there with them but understanding that he'd
once again gone off without telling anyone where he was headed. He
sighed, wondering how someone as intelligent as Angelo could keep making the
same mistake repeatedly. Sure he could be a little absent minded and forgetful
at times, scatterbrained was how 'Deo's father had affectionately described it,
but taking off without telling anyone where he was going was a bad habit of
his. He wondered how his boy was doing. The third time he got
bopped on the head with the ball for not paying attention to the game he
excused himself from it and went on the blanket they'd spread to lie in the
sun.
"That is so not
fair." Jim complained, coming to sit down beside him.
"What's that?"
Amadeo asked, shading his eyes to look at his friend.
"You're out in the
sun for like thirty seconds and you get tan. You come back to school
every year looking like you've been to Hawaii for the summer and the rest of us
either burn and get a little tan or we come back peeling like bananas."
he griped.
Deo laughed and dug into
his bag. He found the suntan lotion and passed it to Jim. "I
don't know if it's going to keep you from burning but it might help with the
tanning a little. Or, for all I know you'll fry like Mrs. Witt's chicken,
in which case we'll share you round for dinner."
"Oh man, that's
bad." Jim laughed, pouring lotion into his hand and smearing it everywhere
he could reach.
"Want me to get
your back?" Amadeo asked.
"Nah, I got
it," Jim said, contorting his body and arms in what looked like seriously
uncomfortable positions in order to reach the spots on his back. 'Deo
could see where Jim missed but didn't pursue the matter. Odds were that
the other boy would be lying on his back anyway so it hardly mattered.
"So what's the
story with Angelo?"
Amadeo's stomach tensed
a little, "In what way?" he asked casually.
"What's with him
and those other guys? I heard they're a bad bunch and it just seems weird
that Ange would hang with guys like that when he's got us."
Amadeo leaned up on one
elbow to look down at his friend. "What guys?"
"They're from the
next town over, from what I heard, go to school at Wilson High, couple of 'em
dropped out even, if I heard right."
"When did you see
them hanging out?"
"I was out with my
folks coming home from my cousin's house around eleven one night last week and
I saw him with that bunch. It was only for a minute but I know it was
him."
"Did you tell
anyone?" 'Deo asked casually.
"Nah! Like I
was gonna rat on a friend? No way, man."
"Did you see him
any other times?"
"Yeah, about the
time you guys were all worrying about Beth Ann, I was riding bikes with Eddie
and Felix, and we saw him with those guys out by the water service station.
At first I worried that they were Brice and Freddie's friends, and we
started to go after him, but then he saw us and he went around the corner out
of sight. Then all these guys came out from behind the building and stood
there looking at us. We didn't see him anymore, and decided not to go any
further, and we turned around and left right quick."
"You said they go
to Wilson?" Amadeo said, brow furrowed in thought. "What
on earth would they be doing all the way out here?"
"From what I heard,
yeah. They might be actually be real good guys, but you know what they
say about those kids from Wilson, and me, I don't wanna take that chance,
y'know? And why they're here? Dunno. Maybe they're looking
for new territory?"
"Yeah, I
know." Amadeo said thoughtfully. "And if they're looking
to expand 'territory', this might be a bigger problem than we think."
"So... what's going
on, should we call someone?"
"Not yet. Let
me talk to Ange first. I know he made friends with them before he started
hanging out with us, he might have just run into them and been catching
up." he said, not really convincing either of them. "Um, Jimmy?
Why'n't you say something about this sooner? I'm just
curious."
"Well, he came back
and he was fine." Jim said a little defensively. "I mean,
he was the one that went and hid when he saw us. If he'd'a been hurt I'da
called someone right then, and if he didn't show up later just fine I'd've said
something, you know that, don't you?"
"Yeah, I know.
No worries. I just wondered." Amadeo said, trying to brush it
off. He couldn't help but to wonder if he'd met up the guys at other
times, times when Angelo had perhaps told his parents he was going to be with
him or the other guys. He knew that Angelo had promised his father that
he wouldn't hang out with those kids again, Angelo had told him himself.
What was going on?
"Hey!"
shouted Milo, running up onto the grass and shaking water all over the
two other boys. "What's with the serious faces? Something
wrong?"
"No," 'Deo
said quickly, "Jim is just complaining that he's fried chicken and I'm a
sun kissed Adonis." he finished, flexing his muscles and posing.
"That reminds me,”
Milo said, turning toward the wagon with the basket from Amadeo's house,
"Is there any chicken left?"
*******************************************
Yakkity Yak, The Coasters, 1958
Label
Atlantic Records
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