headphones were old, at the point in their life that he had to repeatedly wiggle the connection in order to get both sides of them blaring. Once he found the sweet spot, he held his thumb there.
He wanted to see if Quinn looked different as a thirteen-year-old. He walked past the Dirty Shame, and he wanted to have coffee with Rachel, but Tabby’s car was parked in front.
He cut across the softball field, the grass still wet from the sprinklers. His loafers stained from the water, and it pained Jake that he would have to ask to borrow Bert’s boot spray. He continued up Main Street, listening to Sinead O’Connor, and passed the post office. The movie theater had no poster outside, and the marquee announced that it was closed for repairs. This happened a few times per year, when Ron, the owner, went fishing in Idaho, or when the roof collapsed. The roof was constantly leaking, and more than once, Jake had been caught in a sudden deluge during a movie. Ron offered no refunds for this. Sometimes, little pieces of the ceiling would fall during a screening, coating the audience with tiny clouds of plaster. Jake was amazed that nobody had been injured—even going to see a movie in Quinn was a dangerous proposition.
He finally decided that thirteen didn’t feel any different. His shoes were wet, and he had not worn socks, so he squished his way up the front steps and entered his house.
Rachel was waiting for him, sitting in the kitchen with his mother. On the kitchen table, there were two things: a gift-wrapped box and a pale blue envelope.
“Happy birthday, kid!” Rachel leaped up to hug him. “The box is from Athena.”
Inside were a Rocky Horror Picture Show T-shirt, the sound track on cassette, and the movie itself, the VHS still wrapped in cellophane.
“You’d better hide those from Bert,” warned Krystal, as she began to clean up the baby, who still had some red sauce on her cheeks.
The envelope contained a fifty-dollar gift certificate to JCPenney.
“From the Flood Girls,” explained Rachel. “Ginger has this idea that your underwear and socks come from the thrift store, and they won’t stand for it. I didn’t want to correct them. I know that Krystal buys you those things.”
“I do,” said Krystal as she picked up the baby. Jake could tell that she was trying to prove she was a good mother.
“The nearest JCPenney is in Boyce Falls,” pointed out Jake. “This is great. I can use it to order stuff from the catalog, right?”
“Wrong,” said Rachel. “I’m driving you there. Today. And we’re hitting every thrift store on the way. You can buy whatever you want. My present to you.”
* * *
Jake bought two complete suits in the town of New Poland, one seersucker, the other houndstooth, and a half-used can of leather spray. In Boyce Falls, Jake purchased two pairs of slacks, one pair bright red, and the other gray with tiny pink squares. He also picked out a stack of paperbacks and a winter coat, green wool with a giant black fake-fur collar. Rachel paid for everything.
At JCPenney, he used the gift certificate and spent twenty-nine dollars on new white T-shirts, packages of socks, and a collection of boxer shorts in every color. He spent the remaining twenty-one dollars on a pair of white sneakers, a purchase that Rachel balked at. Jake insisted that she trust him, and he promised that he would never, ever use them for sports.
They drove back to Quinn, Rachel slightly speeding. The trip to Boyce Falls and back had taken the whole day, and it was six o’clock when they arrived in Rachel’s driveway. They carried his bags of purchases into his house, and he was thankful that Bert was still gone, on yet another long drive with Reverend Foote. He would be home within an hour, because somebody had to watch the baby. Jake would not. It was his birthday.
They ate yellow cake with chocolate frosting, and Krystal gave Jake presents: Bert gave Jake a bag of deeply discounted birdseed. Krystal gave Jake a new Walkman and new headphones. As they ate the cake, Krystal began telling tales from her nursing career about teenagers with tinnitus. She was interrupted by a knock on the door.
Krystal came into the kitchen with Laverna, who was holding a black bandana. Knowing Laverna, Jake did not think this was particularly strange.
“We’ve got a date,” announced Laverna. She approached Jake with the bandana and tied