Chapter
10
The
End of The Day
Trey was sitting on the porch helping
Wednesday to paint her face with glitter and non-toxic substances when we
arrived. He gave Mark a quizzical stare, but Trey had ignored me for most of my
life so, I pretended not to care. The boys said a brisk, ‘see ya,’ to Mouche
and me, then left as quickly as they’d arrived.
Mouche’s brother looked up at both of us
with what could only be described as amusement and derision. I mean, Trey had
something of the authority figure aura about him. On this particular day, I
have to tell you something I’d refrain from telling Mouche; he looked totally
buff. He had his shirt off because
he’d been swimming and his muscles were all big and cut...mmm. Kind of like how
Mark might’ve looked without his shirt, only older.
But Trey was angry. He had a dark, cute
little cloud forming over his face and a wrinkle of exasperation between his
eyes like he was ready to verbally lose it.
‘You guys said you would be back at one.
Here.’ He deposited Wednesday’s paintbox in Mouche’s hands as if he was glad to
be free of it.
‘Take it. I’ve decided child minding is
‘women’s work.’
‘So-rry. Someone’s chauvinistic brother is
in a bad mood,’ Mouche added sarcastically.
‘Yeah, yours. I’m going out.’
‘Oh, it must be that skinny buck-toothed
girl who also takes pre-med. She’s always coming around,’ Mouche said with a
clever little sister smile. Mouche was particularly outspoken with family
members and Trey was usually a safe target.
He grabbed her sun hat and she chased her
brother up the stairs but when he locked the child-proof fence behind him,
Mouche screamed until he threw her hat back at her.
Trey pretended not to notice me after that.
Later, Mouche and I occupied Wednesday by
allowing her to play with our makeup, while we compared shoes and ate gummy
candy.
When he was ready to go out, Trey left a
slightly sweet smell in the hallway. As he walked past us, the air reeked of
aftershave.
‘Wearing the latest ‘perfume for men’ are
we? Oh, he’s so manly,’ Mouche teased.
I swooned. Poor Trey just went all red and
bolted out the door.
Mouche and I both laughed and Wednesday
clapped her hands again. She really was the smartest almost-three year old in
the world.
When Wednesday was born, Mouche and I
applauded Mouche’s mom for her original name choice. Mrs Mouche liked to watch
re-runs when she was a little girl of this classic show on television where the
child was called, you guessed it, Wednesday. So, Mouche’s little sister is not
just named after the day she arrived in the world. In any case, I’ve offered to
babysit tonight, because Mouche has a ‘date.’
We have planned to go for a swim. After
that, I’ve promised to teach Wednesday how to become a star. Some teenagers don’t like little kids but I
love hanging out with Wednesday and if I didn’t want to be an actress, I might
even become a nursery school teacher.
Mouche has her ‘practice date’ organised
for this evening from 6pm to 8pm with Scott Riley who lives across the road
because, according to Mrs Jones’
guide, ‘a first date can often go badly...always have your next date planned, that way
you won’t fret if the first one doesn’t work out...there are plenty more fish
in the sea.’
Mouche gives her date with Jet priority so
she’s practising with Scott. She suggested I also go with them to the
‘Midnight-Zoo’ (the Sunrise baby-animal zoo opens late once a year) but I don’t
want to be the ‘third wheel’ again. Besides, I’ve been reading all about Africa
in geography. One day I intend to go on a safari so I won’t be missing anything
I can’t see in future.
‘I wanna come too,’ Wednesday says as she
watches Mouche run the straightening iron through her hair.’
‘Oh, you get to stay with me, Wednesday.
Lucky you...’ I say.
‘Lucky-me! Lucky-me!’ Wednesday says,
clapping her hands. Children are so cute when they are pre-school age.
‘How do I look?’ Mouche says ten minutes
later.
‘Hot.’ We both clap our hands like we are
Mouche’s fan club. ‘We are so glad we’re not going with you,’ I whisper under
my breath. Scott was not exactly my dream man.
‘Now’, I said to Wednesday after Mouche
vacated, ‘I’m going to put on this DVD of Mouche and I singing songs in first
grade, you’ll just love it... and we can practice all the words after we’ve
watched it.’
Of course, Wednesday sang along for about
ten minutes and I danced around with her but after all the face painting
exertion, she wound up asleep in the corduroy beanbag in front of the
television. I moved her out of the way of the radiation and looked up to see
Trey rifling through a drawer in the kitchen.
‘Hey Phoebe, has Mouche just left you guys
here?’
‘Yeah, it’s okay, I promised your mom I’d
wait until she comes home. My mom is coming home soon...she has a late
showing.’ My mom was busy selling a house three streets away.
‘Okay, if you’re sure it’s alright. You are
really good with her...’
‘Uh...thanks.’ I smile. Trey is looking
super hot. What a shame he is an older man and totally annoying. He thinks he’s
going to be a band manager as well as a doctor.
‘...So?’ I asked Trey.
‘Huh?’
‘Forget something?’ I said with a smile.
‘Oh, I’m just trying to find my car keys...’
‘I think they’re in the fruit bowl...’
‘Oh,’ he says, grinning at me all white
toothed and handsome. Gosh, he’s almost as good-looking as Mark Knightly, and
because he’s older, he might even be hotter.
Mouche and I took Trey’s car for a spin
once when he was studying. He didn’t even notice it was gone until after we
arrived home. Trey is so busy studying and trying to promote his band that the
more important things in life, like having some serious fun, might just bypass
him if he’s not careful.
‘I love your aftershave,’ I say, really
sarcastically.
He looks so embarrassed and Wednesday stirs
and mumbles, ‘after-wave’ and Trey looks uncomfortable and says, ‘see ya’ in a
confused manner and hurries out the door.
‘If a
man is hesitant around you, don’t imagine you’ve reeled him in. He may just be
unsure whether or not he wants to make the first move. And a man should always
make the first move. And really, girls, do you want a man who doesn’t think
enough of you to make the first move?’ Oh, Mrs Robinson can just shut up for the next day or so. I totally
enjoyed making Trey cringe. Honestly, my new found confidence and all those old
dating guides are working wonders.
As Wednesday slept, I wrote up the Boy-Rating guide with the events of the
day and the plan for the following month. Mouche and I are big on planning.
But when it came time to put pen to diary
paper, all I could think to write about my ‘date’ was:
Date with Matt the UCLA
older man – possibility- didn’t occur
Rating
3/10
Items for the
treasure chest: silver pen.
Possible Date
with Mark Knightly – My saviour!!!
Rating 6/10 –
it didn’t really happen, but he still managed to be in the right place at the right
time. Yay! Thus far has revealed an arrogant nature with little regard for the
feelings and schedule of others (i.e. me).
Items for
treasure chest locker: the receipt for my drink (doesn’t really count).
I think I was sleepy by then because when I
woke up it was morning and Mouche was lying on the floor next to Wednesday on
the couch in front of the television. Breakfast News was playing. My mom had
left me a note saying when she came by we were asleep and Mrs Mouche was home
and she was going to come around at 9am to have breakfast with us. I’d looked
so happy dozing and needed my rest.
Trish was busy with her own life so she
probably didn’t notice The Boy Rating
Diary lay open on the floor on page nine (The first eight pages were filled
with notes taken from various guides – mostly Mrs Robinson’s and Mrs Jones’
since they were our favourites). The notes included sub-headings (that might be
of use to younger sisters such as Wednesday when she’s older) with topics such
as:
·
Boyzamples
(examples of familiar boy-types i.e.: academic, sporty, emo etc)
·
How
to behave on dates
·
Likes
/ dislikes of future men
·
Targeted
potential boy candy and
·
Items
needed for your journey; be it New York, Los Angeles or Paris
The first page gave our mission statement:
This is the work of Phoebe Anderson and Mouche Macintosh.
Phoebe wants to be a Broadway singer, dancer, actress.
Mouche: a brilliant lawyer. We want to help others as well as ourselves. This
is our expose of the pre-men and women of Sunrise High (and a few random adults)
starting with the Princesses and moving on down the list of pre-men prototypes
we have or intend to date.
What follows is our advice, gleaned from hundreds of
hours of research. We hope our experiences can shed light on yours...
After
my notes on date one, Mouche added hers when she arrived home:
Date 3: Mouche and Scott
2/10
Identifying factors: his mother drove us everywhere
Job and personality: student, primary focus; science fair
Kisses: one on hand
Items gained: A feather (also disguised as a pen)
Possibility of re-date: none (hopefully)
*Date 2 Mouche...continued (notes):
‘Everything
that could possibly be humiliating and bad about a date happened on this
one...first of all, his mom came with us, which I thought was bizarre at first,
but then it was okay. Scott’s mom was dressed like a hippie but it turns out we
had a lot in common (we all liked pizza) so it wasn’t too bad. In fact it was
preferable to talking to Scott as he didn’t have anything to say. It was also
really sweet when she made her son open my door for me. I thought it was cute
that she was teaching him to be chivalrous even if some people think it’s
old-fashioned. Up until then he hadn’t spoken until we walked past the penguin
enclosure...’
‘I hope you
don’t mind my mom coming. It’s just that...it’s her car and she doesn’t trust
me to drive it.’
Wow is this
supposed to make me feel secure in his arms? Wait a minute, I’m not even in his
arms...
Then he says,
‘after dinner let’s leave her in the gift shop and go make out...’
‘Are you
serious? It would be a bit rude leaving your mom like that...’
He’s starting to
seem less like a nerd and more than a little undutiful...worst date ever except
for the baby animal zoo where I got to feed a lot of different species and
Scott’s mom, who used to be a vet, explained loads of interesting stuff to me.
I think I will introduce her to my mom and Trish. She told me she her husband
just ran off with a woman he met online.
Is there
something in the water of Sunrise? I shouldn’t be too hard on Scott. He must
have immediate family tensions. Give him an extra point. Prompt arrival home at
8pm – Phoebe and Wednesday were asleep on the couch. We picked up Wednesday and
I’m writing this while you were sleeping. Can’t wait for the Fall Fling. This
was just for practice. First planned
dates are always just for practice. Onwards and upwards, Mrs Mouche always
says. ‘Night.
