Mad About You

My Dad closed his eyes for what seemed like forever and slowly opened them.
“I’m still here,” Anna replied, “but the crowd calls.”
My dad stood next to Anna as Hank and Mrs. Stephenson stood in front of them.
“Gregory, do you know this girl?”
“I know her parents.”
“Do they allow their children to bully others?”
I wanted to stomp my foot, stick my pointer finger out and march up and tell her how it really was but Hank’s menacing glare made me stay where I was.
“I can assure you, Sheila, Mr. Joel--”
“Mr. Joel,” she scoffed. “You make him sound like he’s such a great man.”
“He is,” Anna replied.
“The two of you have been causing so much trouble. Do you know what she did?” Mrs. Stephenson stammered as she pointed with a shaking at Wendy.
“No,” dad replied as he looked back at me.
“Just look at my daughter’s face!”
Hank took the opportunity to grab onto Anna. Dad took several steps away, as if he knew something was going to happen, because I assumed he would have tried to stop Hank. Anna twisted her way out of his grasp and pushed him away. Hank landed once again on the ground in front of Wendy. Hank then kicked at Wendy’s feet, leaving a mark, but Wendy didn’t flinch as Anna rushed up to Hank and lifted him off the ground and back onto his feet, only to throw him down again.
The gathering neighbors weren’t exactly sure what to do. They were expecting some brutish and imposing threat with Wendy and Anna but instead saw a teenager defending her little sister.
Hank got to his feet again and turned to Anna, but my dad stepped in between the two of them.
“Out of my way, Mr. Robison!”
“Hank, you need to stop.”
“No! I’m gonna kill her!” Hank roared as he tried to step my dad.
Dad then surprised me by shoving Hank in the chest, and once again he took yet another pratfall.
“Hank!” Mr. Prat’s voice echoed.
“Enough!” Dad shouted as Mr. Prat darted towards his son. He looked at all of us but couldn’t do anything, as everyone saw Hank’s tirade. Mr. Prat grabbed Hank by the arm and helped him to his feet.
And as if the situation couldn’t get any uglier…
“I’m not through with you!” Mrs. Stephenson railed at Anna as Megan stood nearby.
“Megan’s a bully,” Wendy said.
“How dare you!”
“Well, she is,” My dad replied with a shrug.
“Why are you defending them, Greg?”
“Because I know them. Everyone needs to go home and calm down.”
“Did you just tell me to calm down? Mrs. Stephenson huffed.
“Yes, Shiela, I did, and you should,” dad replied as he looked at Anna.
“This is just like that basketball game,” Anna said with a smile.

I looked back and forth between my Anna and my dad.
“We better go,” Wendy whispered as the crowd dispersed with Hank glaring back at us.
I nodded and walked away with Wendy and Colleen. The thought of wanting to stay with my dad and Anna drifted out of my mind in seconds and I only felt relief that SWAT did not have to come with a water cannon to break up the masses.

We sat on the corner of the street in front of my house.
“You dad’s pretty good at standing up to Megan’s mom.”
“Yeah,” I hesitated to bring up the times I had cried from the emotional damage four girls could pile onto one kid and admitting my dad saw his son, who was supposed to be brave, collapse into a fetal position.
“I’m sorry, Jeff…I don’t have a good excuse, I guess.”
“There’s never a good excuse to be mean,” Wendy commented. “But we should forgive the ones who matter to us.” We looked at Wendy as she stood in the middle of the road. “I gotta go, Jeff. See you tomorrow.”
Wendy didn’t wait for my reply as she ran into the woods.
“Is she okay?” Colleen asked.
“I think so, maybe she had to go home and let her parents know what happened.”
“Are they going to be coming after everyone?”
“No, at least I don’t think so,” I said as we stood up. I stole a few glances from her.
“So, could we hang out sometime?” Colleen asked.
“Sure, but if you don’t want to during school, I understand.”
“We are in a few classes together,” she replied as she shuffled her feet, “and we wouldn’t want to get lost on the first day, would we?”
I shook my head.
“I better get home and talk to my parents. Let’s hope I don’t have to talk to Megan on the way back.”
“Do you want me to walk with you?”
Colleen shook her head. “I’ll be okay. Maybe I can flip her over my head.”
I grinned at that and watched as Colleen ran back up the hill.

I sat back on the curb and closed my eyes. It then hit my pre-adolescent turmoil: I really liked Colleen. It was more than just waving to her or wishing we could play on the swings. It was something more. It was something I never wanted to talk to my parents about…which made me wonder where my dad was.
I looked back up the road and saw him walking with Anna. They were quiet with a bit of space between the two of them. Dad stopped walking when he reached me, and Anna continued walking to the woods.
“It doesn’t have to be this way, Anna. It doesn’t have to go like this.”
She looked back to us. “One day, Greg, we can be released.”
“It can be tonight, Anna.”
“I wish it could be,” Anna as she vanished into the woods.
Dad continued to look at the woods and then turned to me. “We’re not going to talk to your mother about this.”
I nodded.