Dan thought of Trevor and his island. “You could always cash it all in and go live in the country where it’s green and smells at least halfway clean.”
Donny snorted. “And where would I cruise on a Saturday night?”
In the past twenty minutes the room had eased from late afternoon to an early twilight. A silvery light slipped through the partially opened kitchen door. Dan struggled for something to say. “Look, do you want me to come over?”
“No. Thank you.” There was a long pause. Then, “Would you miss me if I died?” Donny said, his tone casual, as if he’d asked Dan to pick up a pack of cigarettes from the corner store.
“What a question!” Dan said.
“I’m serious. Can you answer it?”
“Of course I can. And, yes, I would miss you a great deal. Probably until the day I die. Don’t do this to me!”
“I’m all right, really. I was just wondering.”
Dan heard more cooking noises. “Of course I’d miss you. For one thing, I’d have no one to laugh with over those sentimental old movies we watch after your fabulous dinners.”
“Well, that’s good to hear,” Donny said. “I was never sure if you realized we were supposed to be laughing at them. Anyway, I’m okay. I didn’t mean to alarm you. If it’s all right with you, I’m going to get on with my Nasi Goreng. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
The answer machine yielded its final message. Dan listened twice to be sure he got the gist of it while anger twisted its tendrils around him like a strangling vine. Kendra’s voice cut through the stillness of the house as Dan imagined Ked’s future lying shattered on the tile floor like the glittering pieces of some rare Etruscan vase. This was what came from not choosing your friends wisely.
He was about to call Kendra back when he heard the hollow thud of footsteps on the outside stairs followed by a key in the lock. Ked stepped in looking gloomy, but with a rebellious glint in his eyes. He put his backpack down and glanced warily at his father.
Dan said, “I got a call from your mother.…”
“Yeah, and she didn’t believe me either,” Ked began.
Outside, a streetcar sizzled along the rails. Dan paused to take stock of the situation. “Let’s not start there,” he said. “I never said I don’t believe you. I haven’t even heard your side of things.”
Ked slumped against the wall.
“Talk to me, Ked.”
“Okay — I was listening to an iPod in the schoolyard….”
“Whose iPod?”
“Ephraim’s.”
“The kid I see you with sometimes after practice?”
Ked nodded without meeting his father’s gaze. “Anyway, when the police came….”
“How did the police get involved?”
“I don’t know, they just … someone called them, all right? I don’t know!”
His son was working himself up. Whatever he’d been through at school had taken its toll. “Take a breath,” Dan said. “And just tell me what happened.”
“They said they were going to charge me with possession of stolen property.”
“The police said this?”
Ked nodded.
“And where was Ephraim?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know? You had his iPod.” Dan heard his voice getting louder. If Ked persisted in giving these two-second answers, he might explode. It could only disintegrate from here. He felt broken glass underfoot.
Ked’s eyes narrowed in anger. “I don’t know where Ephraim was. He loaned me his iPod and then he left.”
“And you had it when the police got there?”
Ked nodded. “Look, why would I have stolen property when you buy me anything I want? I already have an iPod and a Game Boy and a million other things, so why would you even think I would steal? Have some faith, Dad.”
Dan looked at his son slouching against the wall. He was torn between comforting him and wanting him to suffer a little — long enough that the humiliation would leave its mark. Deep enough that he would never do anything like this again — whatever it was he’d done. But more than anything, Dan thought, he wanted to protect Ked from the million ways a life could be ruined by the actions of a single unguarded moment. “It’s not me you need to convince,” he said.
Ked looked up. “Then who is it?”
“The police, your school principal — you need to convince the people who don’t believe you. The people who don’t know you as well as I do. I simply want you to tell me what happened. What were you doing with a second iPod, for instance?”
“Eph let me borrow it. He wanted me to hear something on his that isn’t on mine. Is that such a strange concept?”
“No,” Dan said. “Not at all. Except that you happened to borrow an iPod that was stolen. Let me ask you this — does this Ephraim sell stolen goods?”
Ked shot his father an angry look. The rebelliousness returned to his face. “No! He just bought it from some guy!”
“Would you calm down, please?”
“Why should I calm down? You’re accusing my friends, Dad. I know Eph, and Eph would never purposely handle stolen goods.”
“Then why did he have it?” The argument was turning circular.
“Who would turn down an iPod for thirty five dollars?” Ked screamed.
“Didn’t it occur to him that a thirty-five-dollar iPod might be stolen property?” Dan’s voice sounded angrier than he’d intended.
“Apparently not,” Ked said, his eyes misting over. “You don’t believe me either. You don’t trust me!” The hurt in his face was apparent. “I always tell you the truth and you don’t trust me!”
He took the stairs three at a time. Dan heard his bedroom door slam.
Kendra was inclined to reserve judgment on the question of whether Ked had known the iPod was stolen property.
“I mean, think about it, Dan. He’s always told us the truth, hasn’t he?”
“Of course.”
“Well, sometimes at that age you don’t think about the consequences of things.”
“That age, nothing! He can’t afford not to think,” Dan snapped. “I’m sorry,” he said. “This is really rattling me.”
“It’s all right. I’m sure there are things here for both of us to learn.”
That was Kendra — all about learning things when the world was falling apart. Still, Dan admitted, it was better than falling apart with it. “It’s just that kids sometimes do stupid things. I’m not saying he was stealing, but maybe he simply turned a blind eye to what his friends do.”
“Then this will be a lesson he won’t soon forget,” Kendra said softly. “Come on, it’s not the end of the world.”
“This could be on his record for a very long time — guilty or not, it doesn’t matter.”
“I know.” Kendra sighed. “But we’ve gone this far without these troublesome parent-teenager issues, so I think we’ve done a pretty good job, all round.” She paused. “No — you’ve done a good job. I’ve mostly been sitting on the sidelines