Rooster (12 page)

“There's only one,” said Rooster.

“And why do you want him to do that again?”

“To get her off my back.”

“Elma's on your back?”

“She sure is.”

“Why?”

“Her mom put her there.”

“Her mom put her on your back?”

“Yes.”

“Why did she do that?”

“She thinks I need the support.”

Jayson nodded as he tried to comprehend what he was hearing. “Mrs. Helmsley thinks you need Elma's support to get you through that stuff we were talking about at Puffs' house?”

“You got it.”

“And you agreed to this?”

“Not on your life.”

“But Elma agreed to it?”

“Apparently.”

“Why? Does she like you or something?”

“Are you kidding? She hates my guts. I have no idea why she said yes to this.”

“Do you like her?”

“Have we met? What do you mean, do I like her?”

“Well, Jayson doesn't get it. He doesn't understand.”

“Jayson doesn't have to understand. All Jayson has to do is hang out at the bowling alley for a couple of hours and act like he doesn't
mind
her company. That's all I'm asking him to do.
You
to do. Listen to me. I can't even talk anymore.”

Jayson shook his head. He leaned over his food to dig in again, but decided against it. Clearly he was in turmoil.

“And if Jayson does this, what happens? What is it good for?”

“I can get down to the business of doing what I have to do to get my life back in order,” said Rooster. “It's a bit chaotic at the moment, in case you hadn't noticed.”

Jayson nodded. He calmed himself down. Then he looked hard at Jolene. He knew it was not his place to talk about the demise of Rooster and Jolene as a couple, but he couldn't help himself. “What do you have to say about all this?”

Jolene shrugged. “I said my piece. He knows how I feel about it.”

“What about all this with Elma?”

“I think Elma's good for Rooster. He can learn a lot from her if he just gives her a chance.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Yeah. I think this is really good.”

“So you think he needs her support.”

“It can't hurt.”

“Uh-huh.” He decided to drop it before he got himself in trouble.

“By the way, I really didn't appreciate that dirty look you gave me the other day in the library.”

“Yeah? Well, Jayson's a bit mixed up at the moment. He's confused about a lot of things.”

“So?”

“So … .” He shook his head again. He could feel his emotions beginning to bubble over. “So he's sorry. He shouldn't have done that.”

“No, he shouldn't have.”

“He apologizes.”

“I accept.”

“He won't do it again.”

“Good. I enjoy the friendship we have, Jayson. I hope I haven't done anything to spoil it.”

“Not at all.”

“I hope not. How's your spaghetti?”

“It's delicious.”

“That's the biggest tray of food I've seen since the last time we ate together,” said Rooster.

Jayson nodded and leaned over his plate. It was time to bury his head and eat. He'd taken his best shot at sorting things out, but it had gotten him nowhere. In fact, he was more confused now than ever.

“So will you do that for me?” said Rooster.

Jayson considered the request one more time. “Whatever,” he said. “Sure. What the hell. This is the weirdest damn thing Jayson's ever been a part of. Why not see where it goes from here?”

Rooster nearly fainted with relief. “Thanks, man. I owe you big-time.”

“Don't mention it.”

“Don't forget that. Anytime. Anywhere.”

Jayson stuffed a heap of caesar salad into his mouth.

“That's a buddy for you,” said Rooster, looking at Puffs.

“It sure is,” said Puffs, feeling entirely responsible for Jayson's confused state but unsure what to do about it.

“Would you ever do something like that for me?”

“Not a chance.”

“And I would never do anything like that for you,” said Rooster.

“That's why we're such good friends,” said Puffs. “We have these things in common.”

“What about me?” said Jolene.

“You already like Elma,” said Puffs.

“I mean if you had to do something else.”

“Maybe,” said Puffs.

“Depends,” said Rooster.

Jayson finished chewing his food and piped up again. “The Man here has one more thing to ask about.”

Rooster slapped Jayson on the shoulder. “What does the Man want to know?” he said. “Fire away.”

“The Man wants to know why all this is taking place at the bowling alley? Since when did that become such a big part of your life?”

Rooster frowned. “Since I met the Strikers.”

“The who?”

“The Strikers. The bowling team I'm working with. From Common House. With Elma. Haven't you been listening?”

Jayson looked more bewildered than ever. He considered asking more questions, then decided against it. “Whatever,” he said and picked up a sandwich.

10

R
ooster's next trip to the bowling alley came on Thursday, at which time he attempted to impose the same level of discipline on the Strikers as Elma had during her one-minute tirade Monday night.

He quickly discovered, however, that imposing discipline was not as easy as Elma had made it look.

“You know the rules, right?” he said to Roseann as she put on her bowling shoes.

“Yes,” said Roseann, without looking at him.

“You remember them? The ones Elma talked about?”

“Yes.” Roseann sat up and started sucking on her fingers. “I remember.”

Rooster looked skeptical. “What are they?”

“I already told you.”

“No you didn't.”

“Didn't you hear me? You asked me if I knew them and I said yes. I know them. So there. I told you two times now.”

“That's not telling me what they are.”

“Elma can tell you if you forgot. She knows them.”

Rooster decided it was time to get tough. “Roseann, one of the rules was if you suck on your fingers, you don't bowl.”

“It was?”

“Yes, it was. And right now you're sucking on your fingers.”

“I don't remember that one.”

“I can see that.”

“Goddamit. I don't remember that one.”

“Don't swear either.”

“You started it.”

“No I didn't.”

“Yes. You started it. You said goddamn hill before I did. You did so.”

“That was a long time ago. I'm talking about tonight.”

“You said it before I did. Everybody heard you. We talked about it after.”

“I'm not talk — you did?”

“Yes.”

“What did you say?”

“Mrs. Yuler said it wasn't nice to talk like that. She said she should have washed your mouth out with soap.”

“She did not.”

“Yes. She did. She said if you were her son, she'd wash your mouth out with soap.”

Rooster took a moment to think about that. “Well, she's right. I shouldn't have talked like that. But still. That was then, Roseann. This is now. No more swearing.”

Roseann continued to suck on her fingers. Then she took off her glasses, wiped them on her T-shirt, peered through them to see if they were clean and put them back on. “Can you say that again?” she said, sticking a finger back in her mouth.

“Say what again?”

“What you just said.”

“Which part?”

“The part about this was then and that was this. I liked that.”

“I said ‘That was then. This is now.' I was referring to the swearing.”

“I like that.”

“Do you know what it means?”

“No.”

“Would you like to know?”

“You're gonna tell me anyways.”

“That's true. It means — ”

“You're gonna tell me anyways. I don't want to hear it, but you're gonna tell me anyways.”

“I'm going to tell you because I think you should know.”

“I knew that. You're going to tell me anyways. I knew that from the beginning.” She began to rock back and forth on the bench. Rooster watched her for a moment, then glanced over and saw Tim and Dorothy-Jane-Anne take their seats at the scorer's table. He decided that perhaps he'd have more luck establishing the ground rules with them.

“I'm going to talk to Tim and Dorothy-Jane-Anne for a second. Okay, Roseann?”

“You're going to tell them first and then tell me anyways. I knew that. I knew that from the beginning.”

His head began to hurt. “Yes, you're right. I'm going to tell them first and then I'll tell you anyways.”

“See? I told you.”

“Just remember, don't swear and don't suck on your fingers or you won't bowl. All right?” He stood up to leave. “That's all you have to know.”

“I told you,” said Roseann.

“Yes, you did. You told me. You've got me all figured out.”

“Goddamit,” said Roseann, smiling to herself. “I told him a long time ago it was going to happen.”

Rooster shook his head and walked over to Tim and Dorothy-Jane-Anne.

“I'm keeping score tonight,” he said.

“You don't know how to,” said Dorothy-Jane-Anne. She'd been showing Tim how to use her calculator.

“I'll figure it out,” said Rooster.

Part of his newly arranged plan was to be more involved with the group in order to eliminate the opportunity for controversy. Scorekeeping had been a key issue Monday night. He figured that even Roseann would be less inclined to cheat if he was at the helm instead of Tim.

“How are you going to figure it out?” said Dorothy-Jane-Anne.

“I don't know. I'll ask somebody. How hard can it be?”

“Have you ever kept score before?”

He studied the score card in an attempt to figure it out.

“No, I haven't.”

“Was your dad keeping score the time you dropped the bowling ball on your toe?”

He took a deep breath to suppress the stress that was rising up his throat. He had rarely felt that level of anxiety before.

“I can't remember.” He crouched beside Tim. “So what's the deal here? Each pin is worth a certain number of points, right?”

Tim, as he was wont to do, sprang to life like a jack-in-the-box as soon as Rooster addressed him. “Uh-huh. Yup. You got it. You got it. Each pin is worth a certain number of points. When you knock those pins down, you have to figure out what the points were and what they add up to. That's all you have to do. Then you write the amount down here in really really small letters. Really small. They don't give you much room on these boxes.”

“Numbers,” said Rooster.

“Huh?”

“Numbers. You write really really small numbers. You said letters.”

“I did?”

“Yes.”

Tim looked concerned for a moment. “I don't think so. I don't think I'd make that mistake because I'm pretty good at numbers and letters. I'm pretty good at that.”

“You said letters, but don't worry about it.”

“I'd like to review that. I don't think I'd make that mistake.”

“You'd like to review it?”

“I'd like to go back over that, I mean. I'd like to go back and take another look at that, like they do in hockey.”

“We can't do that here,” said Rooster.

“I know. I know. I'm just saying I'd like to. I'd like to review that.”

Rooster stared at Tim and began to slowly nod his head as if to agree with him. “I see your point,” he said.

“You do?”

“Oh yeah.”

“That's good. I was hoping you would. I was hoping you would because it would be good to be able to do that.”

“Yes, it would.”

“You think so too?”

“Absolutely.” Rooster looked beside him to see what Dorothy-Jane-Anne was doing.

“That's good,” said Tim. “I'm glad you said that. That's good.”

“Some bowling alleys have electrical scoring,” said Dorothy-Jane-Anne when she saw Rooster looking at her.

“They do?” said Rooster.

“You just bowl and the score is calculated for you. You don't have to do anything. You just sit here and watch.”

“Why don't we go there?”

“It's too far. It's in the city. It's in Edmonton.”

“Too bad,” said Rooster. “That would have saved us a lot of trouble.”

“Do you go into the city very often?” asked Dorothy-Jane-Anne.

Recognizing her tone, Rooster braced himself for questioning. “Not really.”

“Does your girlfriend live there?”

“No, she lives right here in Winston. How did you know I had a girlfriend?”