It's a Green Thing (5 page)

“Remember, to celebrate getting the wall done?”

“Oh yeah.” I glanced back at Dominic and Marissa. “You guys still want to do that?”

“Maybe we should plan it for tomorrow,” suggested Dominic, “in case we have to work late to finish this.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” I relayed this idea back to Brooke.

She and Amanda agreed to this. And then our labor forces, now down to four, continued to work. Before the day ended, we were visited by the local newspaper, which I suspected was my uncle's doing since he's the editor and knew what I'd been up to this week. Anyway, the four of us posed for some photos, and not long afterward Mrs. Albert and some of her colleagues came down to check on our progress.

“Well, I'm very impressed,” she said as they looked on with approval. “This is much nicer than I expected.”

It was close to eight by the time we finished. But as we stepped back to look at the completed mural, I was stunned at how amazing it looked. Oh, maybe it was due to the light, since the sun was low in the sky, but it really looked incredible. The color shapes seemed to glow, and the rainbow sprang to life.

“Wow,” Marissa said. “It's a lot better than I expected too.”

“It's like…magical,” Eddie said.

“And kind of spiritual too,” Dominic added.

“And it makes me feel hopeful.” I sighed. Maybe this really was a sign of things to come.

“So…” Marissa rubbed her hands together like she was about to tell us some grand idea. “Who wants to party?”

“Party?” I glanced at her. “What do you mean?”

“I mean there's supposed to be a great party down at the lake tonight.”

“Do you mean that keg party?” asked Dominic.

“Yeah, you guys want to come? The more the merrier.”

“Sure,” Eddie said eagerly.

I glanced at Dominic, worried that he was going to say yes too. But he just shook his head. “No thanks.”

“Count me out,” I told Marissa, hoping she might take a hint and think twice about this stupid idea herself. I mean, had she forgotten her dad was a cop? Or was she just determined to push the envelope so far that she'd be kicked out of her house for good?

She frowned at me. “Come on, party pooper. All work and no play makes Maya a really dull girl.”

“Thanks, but no thanks. Do you mind dropping me at home before you go partying?”

Now Eddie looked disappointed. “So you guys really aren't going to this thing?”

“If you're smart, you won't go either,” Dominic told him.

I frowned at Marissa. “And you shouldn't either.”

She just shrugged. “I don't see why not.”

“Because…” I glanced at the guys, unsure how much to say. “What about your dad?”

“Hey, it's no secret,” she told them. “My dad's a cop, and I got busted with booze in my car.”

“And you're still driving?” Eddie looked partly surprised and partly impressed.

“I didn't get a DUI. I don't do
that
.”

“How can you say that?” I asked. “If you're driving to a keg party, how do you expect to get home?”

“I don't drink that much, Maya. I'll have a beer or two and just hang and have fun. I'm not stupid. I know my limit.”

“Well, those lake parties get busted about half the time,” Dominic pointed out. “Even if you're not overdoing, you'll get caught for an MIP.”

“Won't be the first time.” Marissa just shrugged.

“Oh, Marissa.” I shook my head. “I thought you were smarter than that.”

“And I thought you were cooler than this. I thought the preaching ended when Brooke and Amanda left.” Then, as if to drive this home, she let out a colorful swearword. I was unimpressed. My own mother can do way better than that.

“Here's a solution,” Eddie said eagerly. “I'll go with Marissa, and Dominic can give Maya a ride home. That way we'll all be happy.”

Okay, I have to admit that I didn't mind the idea of Dominic driving me home, but I was still concerned about Marissa. “Why do you have to go? Why put yourself in that situation? There are other ways to have fun.”

“Don't be such a buzzkill. I've worked hard this week. I've been a good girl. It's my chance to have a little fun, okay?”

“It's
not
okay,” I said. “But it's not like I can stop you either. Just be careful,
okay
?” Then, to my surprise, I actually hugged her. “It'd be nice if you stayed out of trouble this summer. Maybe we could do something besides community service together.”

“This was community service?” Eddie asked with a confused expression.

I laughed. “Yeah, for
some
people!”

“Look at it this way,” Dominic said. “If you guys get busted tonight, maybe you can convince the court that you did your community service in advance, Eddie.”

Eddie frowned. But that didn't stop him. He just waved us off like we were the crazy ones. Whatever. “See you around,” he called as he followed Marissa. Naturally, this left Dominic and
me to clean up the painting stuff and put the ladders away. Not that I minded that much. It was kind of cool to be alone with him. Although the youth center was starting to crawl with kids as we piled empty cans into the Dumpster.

“What's going on tonight?” I asked Dominic as we carried the last ladder down the back set of stairs.

“They have dances for middle-school kids. Every other Friday night. A way to keep kids off the streets and out of trouble.”

“That's cool.” We set the ladder with the others. “Too bad they don't do something like that for high-school kids—keep them from going to the lake to get wasted.”

“You really think high-school kids would come to something like this?”

I considered this. “Yeah, maybe not.” The truth is, I probably would. I mean, it's like I've missed out on all that kind of stuff. And although it seems nerdy, I think it might be kind of fun. Not that I'd admit that to anyone.

“I used to come to these gigs back in middle school,” he admitted. “It was kind of cool at first. But after a while, it seemed like the girls only wanted to hook up with a boyfriend. I wasn't into that.”

“Meaning you're not into girls?” I asked with surprise.

He laughed. “No. Meaning I didn't want a girlfriend in middle school. It seemed dumb. I'd see my buddies with their little girlfriends acting like they were so mature, but they just seemed like little kids playing grownups—and not doing it all that well.
Everyone always seemed to be getting upset and hurt and breaking up and getting back together. I just wasn't into all that drama.”

“Sounds like you were a pretty smart kid.”

“The girls didn't necessarily think so.”

Now I laughed. “No. Probably not.”

“So what were you like in middle school?” he asked as we walked toward the dusky parking lot. I paused for one last look at the mural, but the rainbow looked darker now. Not enough light to bring it to life.

“I was pretty average.” Okay, I had no idea why I said that, but I wasn't about to tell him what my life had really been like. How I'd been stuck in a school with a bunch of spoiled rich kids, how I'd tried to fit in while my addict mom did all she could to ruin my life, or how I eventually quit public school to do homeschool simply to avoid the humiliation of having a dysfunctional parent who had no intention of parenting.

“I can't imagine you being average at anything, Maya.”

I glanced at him, unsure what he meant by that. “I guess I'll take that as a compliment?”

“Yeah. That's what it was.”

“Thanks.”

“So how's your walk with the Lord going?” he asked as he led the way through the parking lot.

“Is this your car?” I asked when he stopped by a blue Toyota Prius.

“Pretty much. I mean, it's not all paid for yet. But I have the keys.”

“Wow.”

“Is that an impressed
wow?”
He looked somewhat skeptical.

“Absolutely.”

He smiled as he opened the door for me. “The last girl who took a ride in it called it a clown car.”

“A clown car? That's pretty rude. Didn't she know what a hybrid is?”

“Apparently not.”

“How's the mileage? I mean, for real.”

“It averages in the midforties.”

“Cool.”

“So you're really into this kind of thing?”

“You have no idea.” I patted the dashboard like I was patting a good dog.

He chuckled as he started the engine. “So…you want to grab a bite to eat before I take you home? I'm starving.”

“Sure. But I should warn you that I'm a vegan.”

He let out a low whistle. “Vegan?”

“Yeah, is that a problem?”

“Not for me. But it could be for you.”

“Why's that?”

“Well, if you've been a vegan for long, you obviously know that eating at a restaurant can be tricky. I mean, I used to be a pretty strict vegetarian, and even that could be—”

“Used
to be?”

“Yeah, I had some health problems related to lack of animal protein. So I eventually went back to eating eggs and dairy, and now I eat fish and poultry too.”

“Oh…”

“Does that offend you?”

“No, of course not. Does it offend you that I'm vegan?”

“Not at all. It's just that I think you need to be careful…”

I was trying not to feel defensive, but I've been down this road before. “I assume you mean careful, nutritionally speaking?”

“Yes. It's not that I want to preach at you, Maya. But I think God would rather have you obey Him than be ruled by your convictions.”

“My convictions?”

There was a long, slightly uncomfortable pause now. “Okay, why did you become a vegan, Maya?”

I considered this, then nodded. “I think I get you. I suppose it was because of my convictions against cruelty to animals. But it's also because of my convictions that I've continued being a vegan. What's wrong with that?”

“Here's the deal,” he began slowly. “I believe that God created the earth for us to enjoy and to care for but that we need to keep it in balance. For instance, I realized that being a strict vegetarian wasn't working for me. I also realized it wasn't something God had put upon me. It was something I'd put on myself. And it turned out that it wasn't healthy for me.” He kind of laughed.
“And my poor mom practically lost her mind trying to come up with meals that everyone in our house could and would eat. In other words, my special dietary needs were a pain for others.”

“Well, that hasn't really been a problem for me. I mostly take care of my own food.”

“And that's cool, Maya. But you need to consider your health too.”

“I do.”

He was driving in traffic now. “Sorry. I probably came on too strong.”

“It's okay. In fact, you could be partially right. I've actually considered giving up the vegan part.”

“Really?”

“It's pretty challenging to maintain it, especially now that I don't live within walking distance of a good health-food store.”

“So how about dinner? I do know a good vegetarian restaurant. It's a ways away, but they have several pretty good vegan choices on the menu too.”

“Sounds awesome.”

But once we got there, I decided to step out of my comfort zone by ordering a regular vegetarian dish—an eggplant burrito with real cheese. Dominic tried not to act surprised, but I could tell he was. And when he said a blessing, he specifically asked God to keep me from getting sick after eating something I wasn't used to.

“Thanks,” I said after he finished. “But I'm not that worried about getting sick. I've actually eaten cheese a couple of times
already. Sometimes Kim cooks dinner, and even though she tries to make it vegetarian, she forgets the nondairy thing. But I go ahead and eat it. I don't want to offend her.”

Anyway, I've decided to give this whole dietary thing more thought. Dominic could be right about how I've put this on myself. What if it's not something that God wants for me? I'll admit that it was partly because I care about animals and senseless suffering. But it was also a way for me to take a tiny bit of control over my chaotic life. With my mom and her various addictions, my world was always spinning out of control. Being a vegan was the one thing that Shannon couldn't mess up. It belonged to me—and my crazy mom couldn't take it away from me.

But now I plan to ask God to show me what's best. More than anything I want to live a life where He calls the shots, not me. If that means I need to change some things, then so be it. Although I have to admit that my pride will probably suffer some. Telling people I'm vegan is always kind of fun. In some ways I think it gives me a warped sense of superiority. Probably not that different from how Brooke and Amanda act about religion. And just writing that now makes me want to change!