| Time for a Story |
This story first appeared in our writing group’s third anthology, A Little Off the Page
Bennett and Kingsleigh
..sometimes the younger you are, the more you know about love.
Installment 4
“Hi, kids. How was school?” Michelle called out, waiting for backpacks to be stashed and seatbelts fastened.
“Pretty good, Mrs. Barnes.” Bennett pushed back into the booster seat with a frown. Michelle smiled, very aware that Bennett considered himself too old for a booster, stature notwithstanding.
Kingsleigh was not so forthcoming. Her face was serious as she shoved her school assignment book back into her backpack.
“Mom, will we be home in time? I have to watch that after-school movie for Mrs. Sumner.” Kingsleigh coughed and her voice sounded strained.
“What are you worried for? So you miss an assignment. You already write stories that the teacher thinks are great. You always get good grades; it’ll be easy for you. Not like it would be for me.” Bennett crossed his arms. “Good thing Dad wants me at practice, so I don’t have to watch it.”
Michelle clamped her jaw shut. No need to lecture Bennett; he wasn’t the problem. Doug was the source of his son’s attitude.
“Bennett Kussler! You know you like the battle stories and all the fighting, and Mrs. Sumner gave you a good grade on your collage about Paul Revere last week! Besides, this is supposed to be from both of us. How are you going to get your part done?”
“Can’t you tell me what it’s about? Then I can write what I think about it.”
“Then it wouldn’t be what you thought. It would be what you thought about what I thought about it.”
“Please, Kingsleigh? We’d both be working on it. I just wouldn’t be there the whole time.”
“That isn’t fair. Besides, you like this stuff. You couldn’t get enough when that museum guy came to class and told us about General Washington crossing the Hudson River in the winter.”
“The Delaware River; It was the Delaware River,” Bennett corrected.
“That’s what I mean. You know about this stuff. If we both watch it and we both work on the report—put our ideas together—then we’ll get a better grade on our homework.”
Michelle smiled at her daughter’s earnest logic, but she felt she needed to rein her in. “Look, Kingsleigh, Bennett has a commitment to the football team too. Homework is very important, but I’m sure Mr. Kussler has taken that into account. Maybe he’s recording the movie so Bennett can watch it later.”
The boy’s face brightened immediately. “I bet he did! He thinks homework is very important too.”
Kingsleigh’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not what I heard.” She slapped her hand to her mouth, eyes flying wide open.
Michelle glanced in the rearview mirror. Her eyebrows were raised. “What did you hear? And when?”
Kingsleigh groaned. “The last time I was at Bennett’s house. I went into the kitchen to get a glass of water. Mr. Kussler was complaining to Mrs. Kussler that Bennett spent too much time on homework. He said he wanted to talk to his teacher and maybe even the principal about it. He said that kids needed time for other things, like sports, and didn’t need to learn all that history and new math and stuff.” She paused. “He said something I didn’t understand, something about how they keep changing the history books, just like they changed all the math, and he didn’t like it.”
Bennett looked uncomfortable. “Mom told me once that Dad never liked school. He wanted to drop out, but his parents wouldn’t let him. He’s smart, Dad is, really smart, and he can do lots of things. He just thinks there’s more to life than sitting in class learning stuff we’ll never use.”
“But we use math all the time! And the Revolutionary War tells all about our country! Doesn’t your dad want to know about how America was born?”
“Hold on, Kingsleigh.” Michelle interrupted before Kingsleigh could continue. “There’s different kinds of smart and different kinds of education. I’ve seen Doug work on houses that involved lots of math and decision-making. DeeDee told me one time that he thought about becoming a home inspector, but it takes more education, the kind people used to call book learning. I bet he knows more about how things are built than a lot of inspectors, but he has to study and take tests to become one. Some people—no matter how smart they are—don’t do well on tests.” She couldn’t believe she was defending Doug to her daughter. But she didn’t believe in embarrassing kids about their families; and Bennett was clearly embarrassed; she could tell from his expression even before he said the words.
“See, not everybody is a smarty bookworm like you, Kingsleigh!” He flopped back into his seat and muttered to the window. “Or like me.”
The car was silent for the next few blocks. Michelle wanted to drive on home, but she couldn’t leave the kids hanging in this situation. They had to learn how to work things out. One more life lesson.
“We’re almost to practice. Kingsleigh, what do you think about the report? What do you want to do?”
Kingsleigh sighed. “He should do it himself, Mom.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“Well, maybe we could record it for him? I mean, we don’t know for sure Mr. Kussler set up theirs. Then maybe he could come over after practice and we could write the report together. I’ll do all my other homework before.”
“That will work—if Bennett doesn’t have too much other homework.”
“You sound like my mom.” Bennett complained. “I did most of my stuff before we left school. I think Mom would be okay with it, but I don’t get out of practice until late. Dad gets us dinner on the way home.”
There was silence again, and Bennett’s head was tilted low. From the front Michelle could see Kingsleigh reach out her arm and place her hand on Bennett’s shoulder.
Michelle cleared her throat. “We’re here, Bennett. I’ll just pull up to the lane and you can—”
“Mrs. Barnes?” Bennett interrupted. His eyes were on the practice field.
Doug was busy with three players, all of them bigger than Bennett; all with their heads down. Doug jabbed the air with his hands and they could hear his yelling in the car.
Bennett licked his lips. “Can we go to your house? I think Kingsleigh’s right. I need to watch the show at the same time as her. Then we can do a better report. I think that’s why Mrs. Sumner put us in pairs.”
“Can we?” Kingsleigh asked.
Michelle had already slowed the car; a glance showed her the same scene Bennett saw. Without even thinking, her foot pressed on the gas and she swerved away from the entrance.
“You’re sure?” she called back, looking at him in the rearview mirror.
Bennett turned his head towards the field then back, lips in a thin line. He nodded.
As she made the turn onto the street leading home, she glanced at the mirror again. Their faces were so serious, almost scared. She couldn’t blame them. Doug was going to be furious over where Bennett was. She’d need to text DeeDee. “Hey, you two, do you want chocolate milk with your apples today? I’ve got oatmeal cookies too.”
“Yes!” They chorused, Bennett punching skyward.
Michelle smiled. They made a good decision, she thought. If only Doug and DeeDee would think so too.