Taye, having gotten into the routine of picking me up each morning, arrived shortly before the police did. He stood by my side, staring at it as though it was a piece of art on exhibit at the museum. I had already seen enough of it to have an inkling as to whom the skeleton had belonged. I believed someone had somehow managed to procure Mel's skeleton to display it on my front lawn.
When the sheriff made an appearance, bidding us a good morning, he inquired about my father. I told him that he was still inside sleeping, that I had not wanted to bother him. The sheriff nodded in sympathy and entered the trailer.
A couple minutes later my father sleepily followed the sheriff out of the trailer. My father momentarily studied the skeletal scene, including the police who cordoned off the driveway and front lawn, and then he angrily dismissed it as some Halloween trick.
"Goddamn kids, they've no respect anymore," he said loudly as he lit up a cigarette.
"Was it here when you got home from work?" asked the sheriff.
"Damned if I know," he said as he puffed at the cigarette and exhaled smoke as though his mouth was the opening of a smokestack. "I was half asleep at the time. Can I go back to sleep now or do you want to play twenty more questions?"
The sheriff sighed and with a nod of his head he gave consent that my father was released. My father grumbled back to the trailer and I heard his heavy footfalls until a door slammed.
I half smiled in apology for my father's behavior and I said, "I think you'll find me more receptive."
A team of people were studying the scene, taking pictures, and searching the ground in the area for any clues. I was surprised to see the local newspaper journalist already there, being denied access by a formidable police woman.
"I imagine if you had seen it last night, you would have called it in then," said the sheriff. I nodded and he continued, "Did you hear any strange noises last night or early this morning?"
I shook my head, feeling bad that I had no real information with which to provide him. "I came out this morning to wait for Taye's arrival, and then I saw it. To be honest, at first I thought it was a Halloween trick. But the Mona Lisa vibe made me think it was related to last month's Last Supper grave robber."
"The two of you can head on to school," said the sheriff as he turned his head to look at the skeleton. "We'll have this gone by time your father wakes up."
I turned to follow Taye, but then I remembered something. I turned back around and addressed the sheriff.
"This may be presumptuous of me," I whispered as I approached him. "But I think the skeleton belongs to Mel."
His eyes widened in surprise, then he asked, "How do you figure?"
I shook my head and shrugged. "It's just a feeling."
The journalist snapped a picture of us leaving in the car, though for what purpose I could not figure. On the way to school, I hoped for Jennifer's sake that the skeleton sitting in my yard turned out to not belong to Mel. The last thing the woman needed was for a good medical cause to be turned into a sick fiasco.
"Why do you think you were targeted," asked Taye.
"I don't know. If anything, I would have expected my father to be the target rather than me."
"He didn't seem so bad," he said with an attempt at nonchalance. "A genuine prince charming."
I gave him my best RBF, he momentarily glanced over at me, and he laughed when he returned his attention to the road.
"If you think he's so great, we should trade places."
"Gladly, he's one sexy daddy."
I made barfing noises and Taye laughed even more.
When we got to school, we held hands. It was a common enough sight by then that people barely even commented on it anymore. And even though Taye was no longer the most popular guy in school, he was still more popular than any guy Brenda attempted to make popular just by having him on her arm. My popularity remained the same, nonexistent, while holding Taye's hand, and I was fine with that.
As if what I had experienced in my yard that morning had not been enough, Brenda placed herself right before us.