One of a Kind - Stanley Uris

14: The Grim Discovery (and a Point of View from Stanley Uris)

DERRY - July 15th, 1990

The next morning, I woke up in a haze. My mouth was still tingling from where it had met Stan's, and I smiled faintly. I could feel the tangles in my hair and groaned. Not everything had gone smoothly last night. I rolled out of bed and slunk to the kitchen. My mother was sitting at the table, her arms crossed. She didn't look happy.

"Hi, Mom," I said. "Is something wrong?"

She narrowed her eyes and said, "I've seen you with that Jewish boy with the curly hair more than everyone else. Care to explain why?"

My stomach dropped. How could she have known? I tried to hide the shock in my eyes and replied coolly, "We're just closer friends than everyone else."

"Close?" Mom growled. "As in boyfriend-girlfriend close?"

"No, Mom, we just live nearby," I said, struggling to keep anxiety from creeping into my voice.

"Is that so?" she said. "I remember on July ninth, you said you were going to sleep over with Beverly. I called her aunt to make sure you had gotten there safely. She said you hadn't come over. She said, instead, that she saw you in your blue dress with that Jewish boy walking down the street, hand in hand."

That was when my whole world crumbled. But then I got defensive. "And why are you bringing this up now?" I asked her.

"Because I wanted to think that you and that Jew were just a one-time thing. But you were not home when I got home yesterday. I was looking out the window for you when I saw you come home with a silly little grin on your face and that boy behind you. I knew you two had done something again. And now, I've gotten you." She smiled in a weird, twisted way at me.

Okay, if my whole world was crumbled before, now it was nonexistent. I was about to crack under pressure. But then she said something so sinister that I almost cried.

"I called his parents," she said. "They're probably giving him a good punishment right now."

"Mom!" I shrieked, and I slammed my hands on the table. "How could you do that?"

"I'm not okay with you dating someone, and neither are his parents. You have destroyed my trust ever since you lied to me and snuck out with him. I am grounding you for one week. No friends, no boys, nada."

"MOM!" I yelled again. "You can't! You have no idea what his parents will do to him!"

"Serves him right," she said. "As far as I know, nobody deserves you."

"I LOVE HIM, MOM!" I screamed, finally crying. "I love him. And whatever happens, there will be nothing stopping me from getting him back. Not even--," I choked on the words, and then ran into my room and sobbed into my pillow. What I had wanted to say was, "not even an old hag like you," but even someone like me knew that would earn me another week of punishment and a smack across the face. I looked out the window, my face puffy from crying, and prayed to God that Stan would be alright.

~

(STANLEY)

Stan woke up to hear his parents yelling at him. Confused, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and went to the living room where his mother and father were standing there, thin-lipped and livid.

"What is it?" he asked.

"We got a call from Ms. L/n from a few houses over," his mother said. She was not as harsh as his father, but her cheeks were flushed with anger. "Sneaking off with her daughter, now, are you?"

Stanley felt sick. How could Y/n's mom have found out? He figured she had been snooping around Y/n's room and found the carnation or was watching her daughter's activity like a hawk. He felt a flash of anger at her mom, but he contained it. "Yeah," he said quietly, knowing lying wasn't going to help him at all. "I know. So, are you mad at me?"

"Yes!" his father yelled. Stan winced. "Give us one reason why we shouldn't be, Stanley! You dated a girl we don't know without telling anybody. That really hurts my trust in you!"

That hit a nerve. He lowered his head and said in a voice squeaky with emotion, "Yes, sir."

"Her mother told me that she was grounding her daughter for a week. She also said that would give her enough time to decide whether you should keep dating," his father continued. "I agreed. So, you will be grounded from seeing any friends. And you will go to bed without supper." Stan bit his lip, holding back a retort. As he wandered back to his room, he heard his father say, "I'm disappointed in you, son."

Stanley stifled a sob and replied with, "Yes, sir."