to melt.”
“Good point.” Julian picked up the spoon and slurped some root beer float, which tasted absolutely delicious. “This is perfect, Mom. Thanks.”
“I love that you still drink it with the spoon. You used to do that when you were little.”
“This spoon seemed bigger then.”
“I’m sure.” His mother grinned broadly, so excited on these weeknights, when it was her night as opposed to his father’s night, since Julian went to his dad’s house on alternating Tuesdays and Thursdays, depending on if he had been there the weekend. His mother always tried to plan something special for them, which they had never done when his father lived at home. He secretly wondered if she felt she had to, in order to win him over in the battle of who he liked better, mommy versus daddy. Of course she won hands-down, but he could never convince her of that and he understood why. His father offered motorboats, blondes, and no adult supervision. Because his father wasn’t an adult.
“Which movie do you want to watch first?” His mother held up the two VHS tapes, her pick, You’ve Got Mail, and his pick, The Big Lebowski.
“We can watch yours first, Mom.”
“No, we can do yours.”
“Please, you love chick flicks.” Julian glanced out the window, but the Barrow house was still dark and quiet. One of their neighbors was walking his malamute, but nobody else was on the street.
“No, we watched mine first last time, remember? I love a double feature!”
“What’s a double feature?”
“Oh my, I’m dating myself. Oh well, somebody has to these days!” His mother laughed as she crossed the room, slid the tape into the VHS player, and picked up the remote, hitting a few buttons to get the tape running. She eyed The Big Lebowski box. “What’s this about again?”
“It’s great, I love it.”
“Wait, you saw it already?”
“Yeah, I told you at the store.”
“I didn’t hear you. Don’t tell me my hearing’s going now, too.”
“I saw it with Dad.” Julian didn’t add that his father hadn’t seen the movie with him, just dropped him off. “It doesn’t matter. I want to see it again.”
“I didn’t want you to have to sit through something you saw already.”
“But I love it. I want to.”
“Okay.” His mother returned her attention to the movie, which was starting. “So is that man the big Lebowski? He wears a bathrobe to the grocery store?”
“Yeah, he’s a stoner.”
His mother frowned. “You mean he smokes dope?”
“Weed.”
“We called it dope, in my day.”
“People call it weed now.” Julian didn’t explain that his father called it weed, even though he was from the same day. Nor did he tell her that his father smoked weed on the boat.
“But you would never smoke dope, er, weed.” His mother shot him a look.
“No, I wouldn’t.” Julian didn’t say that he’d tried weed for the first time when his father gave him some on a trip to Cape May. Julian had liked smoking with his dad and the blonde du jour. His father let him have beer, too, but Julian took it easy because beer made him fart, which would not be cool.
“Don’t even experiment with it, okay?” His mother sat down on the couch. “They tell you that in school, right?”
“Yeah, in D.A.R.E., since middle school.” Julian didn’t add that the weed-and-beer combination made him throw up over the side of the boat. His father had laughed, and the blonde hadn’t known what to do, though his mom would have brought him a ginger ale.
His mother frowned at the TV screen. “Does this glorify drug use?”
“It’s a comedy; he’s funny.” Julian was so preoccupied he couldn’t think straight. Sasha still wasn’t home. She dated seniors like Jake Myers, Malcolm Hobb-Jacobs, and Zachary Pearlstein, major competition. Julian knew their cars, so when one of them dropped her off, he would know who.
“Jeff Bridges used to be so handsome! He really let himself go for this role!”
“He drinks White Russians. That’s his thing. He drinks them all the time. He calls them his ‘beverage.’ ” Julian didn’t remind his mother that she had drunk plenty in her entertaining days, and she fell silent, watching the movie with growing disapproval.
“There are a lot of f-words in this movie, honey.” His mother shook her head, clucking. “Why would your father take you to a movie that’s so inappropriate?”
“I asked.”
“It’s not on you, it’s on him. What’s it rated?”
“Don’t worry about it, Mom.” Julian rolled his eyes, restless. This was going to end up with his mother calling