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“You’ll be careful, right?”
“Aren’t I always?”
The boys returned before Ramona could answer, and we were off.
Dennis had been right. Billy’s eyes lit up at the sight of the Jaguar, and the choice of riding with his aunt or the stranger with the hot sports car was no choice at all.
I lost sight of them twice as Dennis did his James Bond imitation and roared away from the stop lights.
When we arrived, Billy was wide eyed as he described the car to me. “It goes fast, and it roars like a lion, and it can go two hundred miles an hour, and…”
I didn’t catch the rest as he ran up the stairs after Dennis. I was clearly the third wheel here. That feeling was rectified as soon as Dennis’s arm came around my waist upstairs.
While Dennis took Billy out on the patio, I poured orange juice for the two adults and milk for Billy.
I carried the glasses outside.
Dennis put his finger to his lips. “Listen carefully. It’s there,” he said to Billy.
Billy had his eyes closed, getting Dennis’s brand of meditation instructions.
“I don’t want to listen.” He opened his eyes.
Dennis took his glass from the tray I offered. “That’s okay. You’re probably not old enough yet.”
Billy couldn’t resist the challenge. “I am too.”
“Then close your eyes and listen.” Dennis didn’t tell him to breathe to the tempo the way he’d done with me.
After about a minute, Billy’s eyes popped open. “I heard it.”
I held out his milk. “Good for you.”
“I don’t want milk.”
Dennis fixed him with a glare. “A man doesn’t talk to his aunt that way.”
Billy slumped back. “But I don’t want milk.”
“Before we talk about that, a man would apologize.”
Billy’s nose turned up, but he got the message. “I’m sorry.”
“Apology accepted.”
Dennis wasn’t done yet. “Now you can decide about the milk. Do you want to grow up to be big and strong or weak?”
Billy didn’t bite on the question. “Joey says only sissies drink milk.”
Dennis chuckled. “Joey is an idiot then. Do I look like a sissy to you? Do I?”
Billy shook his head.
Dennis held up his arm and flexed his impressive bicep. “I drank milk when I was your age, and all through high school too. It’s important to do what’s right instead of worrying about what other people think.”
Billy reached for the glass and started to drink his milk so fast I thought he’d choke. Ramona’s little guy was under Dennis’s spell.
I took back Billy’s glass. “What do you want for breakfast?”
