AMY
Mom came back to the kitchen with a crying little boy in her arms. She sat down and cried, too, rocking him back and forth on her lap. It scared me until I saw Wavy standing in the doorway with bruises on her face and a fresh scab under her lower lip. Then it all made sense.
“Oh my God,” Mom said. “What am I going to do?”
By the time Dad came home from work, things were calm. Donal was napping. Mom was cooking. Leslie, Wavy, and I were upstairs playing Barbies. Or Leslie and I were playing Barbies. Wavy was playing with Ken. We never used him unless Barbie got married, but Wavy undressed him and made him trade clothes with a Barbie.
“He can’t wear that,” Leslie said. Everything had to be just right with her. She and I had matching rooms, right out of the JCPenney catalog. Hers pink, mine yellow. Wavy in her black leather boots didn’t fit in the catalog. She tore open the catalog and made surprising things happen. Like Ken in a dress.
Dad came upstairs and stood in the doorway with a drink in his hand. He looked tired. It was the first time he’d been home before our bedtime all week. Mom stood behind him clutching her hands together.
“Hi, girls,” Dad said.
“Hi, Daddy,” Leslie and I said.
“Hi, Vonnie.”
“Not Vonnie,” Wavy said.
“Excuse me?”
“Not Vonnie. Kellen calls me Wavy.”
“Who’s Kellen?” Mom said.
“Jesse Joe Kellen.”
We all came under the authority of the unknown Jesse Joe Kellen, because Wavy wouldn’t answer to any other name. After dinner, even though it was a school night, Leslie and I got to stay up late. Wavy taught us to play poker with the money out of our piggy banks. We had to loan her money since she didn’t have any. She didn’t even have pajamas or a clean pair of undies.
From the bottom of the stairs, Dad yelled, “Vonnie! Come down here.”
Wavy didn’t move and after a minute, Mom called, “Wavy! Come down here.”
When we got downstairs, Dad was saying, “For God’s sake, Brenda, I thought we were done with this.”
“What was I supposed to do? A complete stranger dropped off my niece and my nephew. Was I supposed to say, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, my husband and I decided we were done with this’?”
Dad turned and looked at the three of us.
“Vonnie—Wavy, have you been going to school this year?”
Wavy nodded.
“What grade are you in?”
She held up three fingers.
“You see how easy that was, Brenda? Val’s been sending her to school, so maybe you could cut the hysterics, okay?”
“Girls, go back upstairs,” Mom said.
“Is Wavy going to stay?” I said.
Mom looked at Dad, who looked at the ceiling.
“For a while,” she said. “Now, go to bed. You have school tomorrow.”
Wavy and Donal stayed. Dad made Wavy promise she wouldn’t sneak out at night, but it was still two magical weeks of Wavy’s games and Leslie’s cries of protest every time we played a prank.
On the last day of school, Wavy went with me, so everyone got to see my strange cousin who didn’t eat or talk, but who wasn’t afraid to pump a swing as high as it would go and jump off.
That Saturday, Aunt Val came to get them.
“She looks like a cheap hooker,” Dad muttered as she came up the sidewalk.
I thought she looked beautiful, in a tight black dress that laced up the front and left her legs bare, all the way down to her tall black shoes and her red-painted toenails. She had flower tattoos on her arms and shoulders, and when she hugged me, she smelled of perfume and cigarettes.
“Val, why didn’t you tell me you needed to leave the kids with us?” Mom said.
“I’m so sorry, Bren. It was a last-minute thing.”
To make up, Aunt Val brought presents. Earrings for Mom, a money clip for Dad, necklaces for Leslie and me, a bracelet for Wavy, and a toy car for Donal. When he got up from his nap, she swung him around until he squealed.
After that, we had to look around and acknowledge that Wavy wasn’t there.
“Where’s Vonnie?” When nobody answered, Aunt Val said, “Oh, where’s Wavy? Kellen started that. So where is she?”
“Amy, will you go upstairs and get your cousin?” Dad said.
I found her in my closet, reading one of my library books. I hoped she wouldn’t steal it.
“Your mom wants you to come down,” I said.
With a deep sigh, Wavy got up and glided past me, leaving the book on the closet floor. Downstairs, she slipped between the sofa and the lamp, so nobody could touch her.
“Hey, pretty girl. How have you been?” Aunt Val said. Wavy didn’t look at her. “I brought you a present.”
Aunt Val held out a jewelry box, but I was the one who delivered it to Wavy. She didn’t even open the box to look at it.
“Are you staying for supper, Val?” Dad looked at his watch.
“Oh, no, Bill. Thanks, but we better get on the road before it’s dark.”
“Well, let’s get the kids packed,” Mom said.