"'Keep it and drown in it,' Steve told her. "'What did you say to Debbie?' his father cried. "Steve urged me on and we left the house
quickly, Steve's father raging behind us, screaming,
'What did you say, boy? What did you say to Debbie?' "We could hear her laughing. I was glad to shut
the door on it all. We hurried down the sidewalk and
into the street.
"'I'll walk you to the bus stop and wait with
you,' Steve said. 'Sorry about all that, but now you
know what I live with.'
"I felt terrible for him, but I was also happy to
be out of there and on my way home to Granny. "At the bus stop, he sat with his head down,
apologizing and swearing he was going to do
something about it all.
"'Don't get yourself into any trouble with him,' I
advised. 'Soon enough you'll be on your own and
you'll have your trust money and you can leave.' "'Not soon enough,' he said.
"Because the wait was long for the bus, we had
time to calm down. I told him my granny had wanted
him to come to our house for dinner.
"'She really wants to meet you,' I said.
`Rodney's still talking about you all the time' "He laughed and promised he would come as
soon as I asked Granny what night. I expected it
would be on the weekend.
"'Maybe the two of us can take Rodney
someplace like the zoo or something and then come
back for dinner,' I suggested.
"He said fine. The bus came. We kissed
goodnight and I got on. He stood there on the
sidewalk looking up at me until the bus started away,
and then he turned and reluctantly walked back
toward his house and what awaited him