Monkey Business -19- by Melanie Brown

“Whoa! Whoa there, Randi!” Mom caught my shoulders and brought me to a halt. “My goodness! Slow down.”

I came to a stop in the middle of the living room with Mom holding my shoulders. Mom grinned at me. “I guess your date went okay?”

Giving Mom a goofy grin in return, I exclaimed, “Oh yes, Mom! I had a wonderful time.”

Mom chuckled as she let go of my shoulders. “I guess Colin behaved himself?”

I just stood there and smiled. I was still in a daze. “Oh yeah.”

Mom gently took hold of my chin and turned my face from side to side, taking a close look at my make-up. She frowned slightly. “I can see just how well Colin behaved himself.”

Dad suddenly barged into the living room and shouted, “What the hell is going on here? George from next door was asking if we have a son or a daughter.”

Mom shrugged. “We may have a daughter. Randi has definitely been smitten by Colin.”

“Isn’t he dreamy?”

“Colin?” Dad frowned. “That idiot?”

I shook my head. “He’s not an idiot, Daddy.”

Dad looked over at me. “Daddy? What’s up with you? Our next-door neighbor thought you were a girl when you came home.”

I wrinkled my brow at Dad. “Well, have you not noticed the changes in me lately? I’m a successful model for women’s clothes, and I’m more into dating boys. I’ll be honest with you, Daddy. I really don’t like being a boy.”

Mom shook her head. “Honey, none of those things makes you a girl.”

Dad scowled at me as he took a step closer to me. “It just means you’re a twink!”

I pulled on my own hair and shouted, “Why don’t you get it? Why don’t you understand?” I ran to my room, crying.

“Randy!” shouted Mom as she reached out to grab my arm.

Dad said, “Let him go cry.”

                    *

“You’re here early.”

Nick was hosing down his bike in the grass of his front yard.

Decked out in my pink leathers, I plopped down in one of Nick’s plastic lawn chairs. I stared at my feet. “Yeah. I just had to get away from my house.”

Nick chuckled. “You mean your dad? You know this will be the first place he’ll look for you.”

I shrugged. “I told him where I was going.”

Nick turned off the water and tossed the end of the garden hose onto his lawn. He sat down next to me.

He looked at me for a long time. “Are you wearing make-up?”

I kept staring at my feet. “Yeah.”

“Be it far from me, but you need to fix things between you and your dad while you have time.”

Nick took on a faraway look. “I wish I could take back my last words to my dad. I was only twelve.”

I looked over at Nick. “You never talk about your dad.”

Nick shrugged. “He was a road racer. We had a big fight a few hours before his last race.”

I knitted my brows. “ What happened?”

Nick took a deep breath and his eyes defocused. “He was clocked at almost 200 mph when he left the track at Laguna Seca.” He grunted and said, “He wanted to be the next Mike Hailwood.”

“Sorry, man. I never knew.” Nick waved his hand dismissively.

I looked at the digital clock in Nick’s garage. “Hey, shouldn’t we be heading for the track? It’s getting late.”

Nick shook his head and grunted. “I’ll take your bike to the track, but I’m out for today.”

I looked at Nick curiously. “Why so?”

He laughed. “I don’t know what you two kids were doing last night, but Colin pulled a muscle in his leg and can’t hardly walk.”

“I didn’t know. He didn’t say anything to me!” I hope it’s temporary.

Shaking his head, Nick said, “He didn’t know until he tried to get out of bed half an hour ago.”

I stood up. “Hey, man. I’m right here. I’m a better monkey than Colin anyway.”

“What about your dad? He told me in no uncertain terms not to let you monkey.”

Scowling, I said, “Dad’s not here. Shit, man, one minute I’m too dainty to race and then too boy to be a girl the next. Let’s go, Nick. I want to race.”

Nick stood up, shaking his head. “I’m going to regret this.”

                    *

End Part 19 Monkey Business