A Girl by Any Other Name Read online

  I thought she didn’t hear us because she didn’t look up. It didn’t stop Mandy, though. She bounded down the steps and ran straight up to Sylvie.

  “Hi, I’m Mandy and this here’s my brother, Caleb, but you can call him Cal. You’re in the same grade. We live next door. I like Barbies. My favorite color is pink just like your shoes. Maybe when we get to know you better, you can babysit me when you get older. My daddy’s the sheriff.” Mandy’s face reddened, matching her hair color, as it always did when she talked without taking a breath.

  Sylvie smiled and bent down so they were at eye level. It was then she took off the ear buds, and the lyrics floated in the air between us for a few moments until she turned off her Walkman. It was a familiar tune, but the name escaped me. The few lyrics I heard would stick with me until dinner that night when I slapped my hand to my forehead and yelled out, “Crazy Love, by Van Morrison.” I only knew it because my father sang it to my mother occasionally. It was definitely not the type of song one typically heard on a Sunday in Prairie Marsh.

  Sylvie didn’t say anything to Mandy. She just stroked her hair and sat on the ground. Mandy didn’t stop, though. She went on and on talking about the merits of Prairie Marsh like it was an urban metropolis of sophistication. She extolled our many attractions such as the Summer Saturday tractor pulls, the Fourth of July fireworks and the fact that we were due to get a Walmart next year. For her part, Sylvie listened and nodded, crossing her legs, tenting her hands and resting her chin on them, like she was actually interested.

  Mandy ran off toward the field after a few minutes. “Mandy, don’t go into the woods,” I yelled.

  “I’m picking Sylvie some roses,” she declared, giving me a warning glance. Mandy didn’t like it when I told her what to do. Little did she know I never asked for that job.

  “Fine, but stay where I can see you. By the way, those are not roses, dummy,” I replied, gesturing to the wild daisies that grew at the edge of the property. Mandy was under the impression all flowers were called roses.

  Sylvie turned to me then, glaring at me with the darkest brown eyes I’d ever seen. “A rose by any other name still smells as sweet,” she said, waving her finger at me. “That’s Shakespeare for your information.” Her voice froze me. I’d heard the unmistakable cadence of an East Coast accent on television and in the movies, but it was still strange hearing it in real life. It was sharp and clipped, and for some reason it made me smile.

  “I know that,” I spat out. No, I didn’t. I had no clue who Shakespeare was, but I wasn’t about to let this girl think she was smarter than me.

  Mandy was humming to herself picking those stupid daisies when Sylvie came and sat next to me on the steps. I tried not to grimace.

  “Why are you so mean to her?”

  “I’m not, and it’s none of your business.”

  Mandy came up just then. “Look,” she exclaimed, dropping a dozen or so daisies in Sylvie’s lap.

  “They’re so pretty. Do you want me to put some in your hair?” Sylvie asked, taking one and sniffing it, although I was pretty sure it held no scent.

  Mandy squealed in that loud little-girl voice that usually gave me a headache. She sat on Sylvie’s lap and I watched as Sylvie threaded the daisy heads through Mandy’s hair. I should have been bored, but I wasn’t and I had no idea why. I was a little surprised at how my sister responded to this stranger. Mandy was an outgoing kid, but her instant liking for this odd girl seemed out of character.

  “Can I do you?” Mandy asked, pulling Sylvie’s long hair toward her.

  That was when I noticed the red circle at the nape of Sylvie’s neck, which had been covered by her long hair. Sylvie quickly pulled Mandy’s chubby little hand away and readjusted her locks back in place, hiding the mark. Mandy’s eyes went wide. Not over the mark, because I doubt my sister had seen it and if she had she probably wouldn’t even know what it was. No, Mandy was upset because she thought Sylvie was mad at her. Sylvie must have sensed it too because she patted Mandy’s hand.

  “I’m sorry, I’m picky about my hair. It’s not as beautiful as yours.”

  “I think it’s very pretty, like Barbie’s hair but brown and curly.”

  So nothing like Barbie’s hair.

  “Can you get some more of these?” Sylvie asked, pointing to the few daisy heads that remained in her lap. “The bigger ones? I’ll make you a crown out of them.”

  Mandy bobbed her head so hard I thought it might fall off. Promise the princess a crown and she forgot about everything else. Mandy ran back toward the field, looking determined in her new mission. “Is that ringworm or a bite mark?” I asked Sylvie when Mandy was out of earshot.

  “None of your business, Cal.”

  “If it’s ringworm, it’s everyone’s business. I need to know so I can stay away from you. I don’t wanna catch that.”

  She considered my statement for a while as if she wasn’t sure what it was. “It’s not ringworm,” she said quietly.

  “Who bit you?”

  “A vampire. I’ll probably turn into one myself.” She stared at me, narrowing her eyes. “I promise not to turn you into one if you won’t tell.” I almost laughed at her lame attempt to intimidate me, but I was too lost in what she’d said. The fact that she’d told me not to tell made me want to tell even more. Then she added in a hushed, sad whisper, “It won’t happen again.”

  I shook my head. “Is that what y’all do for fun up north? Bite each other?”

  She laughed, but it wasn’t a real laugh. It was the first time I recognized what people referred to as a ‘cynical laugh’. Kids our age laughed because something was humorous, but Sylvie wasn’t like other kids. That much was obvious. “Yeah, so I guess you should stay away from me before you turn into a vampire.”

  “Shoot, that don’t scare me. I got a twelve-gauge that’ll take care of anything with fangs.”

  “I don’t think bullets stop vampires.”

  “I beg to differ,” I replied, using one of my father’s patented phrases. Sylvie sounded very adult in some ways and I wanted to match her.

  “Do you really have a gun?”

  I shrugged, considering the ramifications of another lie, but decided against it. “Yeah, but I’m not allowed to use it yet. My daddy says I have to be older.”

  “Can you keep this a secret?”

  I stared at her dubiously. My daddy had talked to me about this kind of stuff, and told me if any of my friends said things that didn’t seem right that it was my job to tell him. But Sylvie Cranston was not my friend. Besides, she’d said it wouldn’t happen again.

  She shook her head, appearing disappointed by my silence. “I knew you were a tattletale.”

  “I ain’t a snitch.”

  “No matter what happens, you can’t tell. You have to swear on it.”

  “Who did it? Was it your daddy?” There was no way I would swear to it if it was her daddy.

  “No. Now swear.”

  I expected a further explanation, but she didn’t provide one. She just stared at me expectantly with her arms crossed.

  “I swear I won’t tell about this bite mark.” I figured if there was another I could always go back on my word, since I was so specific in the promise.

  She exhaled a long breath. “Thank you.”

  I nodded, not sure if I’d done the right thing, but I didn’t think too much on it because Mandy returned, flinging a dozen more daisies in Sylvie’s lap. Sylvie smiled appreciatively and picked several of them up. She removed the leaves and began weaving them together in tiny knots, forming a perfect chain. It must have really impressed my sister because she watched in awed silence, which was very rare for her. I wondered if Sylvie knew how to tie other knots like the ones I needed to know for my Boy Scout merit badge.

  “Will you teach me how to fish?” Sylvie asked suddenly. The request surprised me. Most girls wanted nothing to do with grubby worms or bloody fish.

  “How do you know I fish?” I asked, trying
to sound like the detective my dad was.

  “Cal, you dummy, I just told her that. Weren’t you paying attention?” Mandy chimed in. She probably had said that. I tended to tune out my little sister after the first two sentences.

  “You wouldn’t like it. You’re a girl,” I said, as if Sylvie didn’t know that.

  She pressed her lips together and stared me down. It was hard not to laugh at her. She was tiny trying to act tough. “Don’t tell me what I’d like. I want to learn how to fish, but if you’re not good enough to teach me then I’ll find someone who will.”

  “Not someone as good as me. Trust me, I’m the best.”

  “I don’t trust anyone. If you’re so good, prove it.”

  “I don’t fish with girls.”

  “Then pretend I’m a boy.”

  I’d never met a girl who didn’t want to be treated like a girl. What planet had Sylvie Cranston come from? Would her species come back for her?

  “But you’re not. I ain’t going fishing with you or any other girl…ever.”

  “I thought you’d talk different. You don’t sound Southern, except for some words. By the way, it’s ‘I’m not’, not ‘ain’t’. ‘Ain’t’ is not a word.”

  “Are you making fun of my accent? You know, you can get your butt kicked around here for that.”

  She laughed. “Oh yeah, and who will do the kicking?”

  “Cal, I’m gonna tell Momma you said ‘butt’,” Mandy chimed in. I’d forgotten she was there.

  “Tell her he said ‘ass’, then he’ll really get in trouble,” Sylvie retorted, placing the crown of daisies on Mandy’s hair.

  “Good idea,” Mandy chirped.

  “Don’t swear in front of my sister and do not tell her to fib.”

  “‘Fib’? You mean ‘lie’. Do you have a colloquialism for everything, Cal?”

  I didn’t know what that word meant, but even at ten, I knew she was insulting me.

  I narrowed my eyes and gave her my most threatening look—the one I typically reserved for when the older boys tried to take over our baseball diamond. I stared her straight down, squaring my shoulders and trying to be intimidating. She just smirked at me, fluttering those long lashes over her earth-colored eyes. It pissed me off even more. “You think I’m a dumb hick? You’re no better than us. Y’all are livin’ here too, so you best lower that nose of yours a few inches. It’s going to be hard enough for you to fit in and make friends.”

  “I wasn’t planning on making any,” she replied, turning her attention back to Mandy’s hair.

  I had no idea what to say. Who the hell didn’t want to make friends? Certainly not anyone our age.

  “Good, because you won’t, especially not with me.”

  “Why would I want to be friends with a wuss like you?”

  “What did you call me?” My blood boiled as it coursed through my veins.

  “Relax, it’s not a swear word. I don’t want to offend y’all’s virtuous ears,” she replied sarcastically, putting on a fake country accent of her own.

  “You think I can’t swear? Bitch, fuck, shit, ass, piss—”

  “Caleb James Tanner, what on God’s green earth are you saying?” My mother’s piercing wail halted my flow of expletives as if she’d electrocuted me. My behind involuntarily twitched from the sting of the beating it would receive as a result of my swearing spectacle. “I’m so sorry, Harry, I have no idea what’s gotten into him.”

  “Don’t worry about it. He’s a boy,” Mr Cranston answered as if that was an explanation.

  “I can’t believe you swore like that in front of your sister.” My mother clasped her hand on her mouth as she stared at Sylvie. “Oh, Sylvie, dear, please forgive my son. I promise we’ve raised him with manners.”

  Sylvie turned around and smiled sweetly at my mother. “It’s quite all right. I have to admit, I’m a bit shocked at the language, but I won’t hold it against him.”

  “Apologize this instant, Cal,” my mother demanded.

  I swallowed, but I knew better than to resist. “I’m sorry.”

  “’Kay.” ’Kay? Sounded like Sylvie had a problem pronouncing too, but I knew better than to say anything with Momma throwing invisible daggers in my direction. “I know you didn’t mean to do it,” Sylvie replied, smiling at the grown-ups while patting me on the shoulder.

  “When his daddy gets home, he’ll know what sorry really means.”

  I took a deep breath, knowing what was in store. This was the South. In other places, like where Sylvie was from, the solution to a mouthy kid was probably a talk about feelings and emotions. Here we had more direct methods. My punishment would involve Tabasco sauce on the tongue, a switch on the ass then a stern sermon where my ‘feelings’ never came into the conversation. It sucked, but it always worked.

  * * * *

  That night I slept on my stomach because my butt throbbed too much from the welt marks in the shape of my father’s leather belt. One thing I knew for sure. Sylvie Cranston was trouble and I planned to stay as far away from her as possible. It would prove difficult, though, since part of my punishment was to mow the Cranstons’ yard for the rest of the summer along with ours.

  I tried to swallow back the last of the Tabasco flavoring on my tongue. I lifted my head when I heard the sound of rustling leaves under my window and the whispering sing-song East Coast accent as it floated around the mild Texas air. “Should’ve taken me fishing, asshole.”

  “When hell freezes over,” I whispered, throwing my head back into the pillow. I knew better than to say it any louder. Despite my resentment at her for getting me into trouble, I started laughing.

  It was a cynical laugh.

  Chapter Two

  Present day

  Teaching at a community college was like working in purgatory in that it acted as a waiting room of sorts. You had three kinds of students. There were the older ones who wanted to reclaim what had been lost in their youth by bettering themselves—they were my favorite students. They had a purpose. Then you had the in-betweens of all ages who still weren’t sure what they wanted to be when they grew up—they thought a stint in college might guide them. With classes at half the price, it was a Saks education at a Walmart price, so why not? Finally, there were the losers—the kids who couldn’t make it to real school because they were too busy partying in high school, and thus were doomed to the community college circuit until they brought their grades up.

  We weren’t a final destination, but a pit stop on the journey to betterment. Still, I loved the job and was grateful for it. Living in Portland, Oregon was expensive and I had student loans to pay. I enjoyed being a teacher too. It allowed me to open the door to good literature for a new class of hopefuls. Unfortunately, most of them wanted to slam it back in my face.

  At least it gave me the opportunity to write. It was just too bad that I was suffering from a severe block the size of a polar ice cap. Unlike those structures, it showed no signs of melting any time soon.

  I walked into the lecture hall prepared for the normal nonchalance and indifference, but looking forward to the few enthusiastic hopefuls I had in every class. I usually had more luck than most instructors did, but then again I was teaching a subject I loved.

  “Good morning, class. I’m your instructor, Caleb Tanner. You may call me Cal. Thank you for attending what I hope will be the origins of a love story for you.” I smiled at the sea of faces in the crowded lecture hall as I continued, “The love of literature. We’re going to read some great books. Then we’re going to perform our own autopsies and find out how the authors influenced our personal thoughts and feelings, whether intentional or not. We’re going to deconstruct, debrief, discuss and possibly denounce and even debate these books. Hate it or love it, it’s a journey, and I’m honored to be your tour guide.”

  I heard a few groans at my cheesy introduction, but I also received a few wide-eyed expressions of excitement, particularly from the girls in the front row. This wasn’t unusual. I
was teaching a class on literature. Girls flocked to this course and guys… Well, guys either had to take it as a prerequisite, or the ones who chose it as an elective knew the girls would be here.

  “Let’s get to know each other. You might be wondering how we can possibly do that with a class of a seventy people, but rest assured it can be done. Like a good book, we will start with the cover.”

  “I thought you never judged a book by its cover,” a curly-haired, jock-looking guy said from the third row.

  Ah, my resident smartass making an appearance already. “It’s an interesting saying. It’s true, of course, but then again, sometimes the only thing you have to judge is the cover. We’re going to explore that for a moment. Everyone is going to introduce themselves and then tell me their favorite book, title and author. You have to be fast, but I’m going to track it, or at least Jessica is,” I said, nodding toward my TA. “And then I’ll assign your first paper. So let’s get started. State your name and your favorite book.”

  The first few rows were the typical. Jane Austen, Margaret Mitchell and Louisa May Alcott made my lists every year. One girl, whom I assumed desperately wanted to be teacher’s pet, said my novel. Some eyebrows rose, but I signaled for them to keep going. I loved this exercise, but I hated when this happened. This was in no way a means to promote my book. In fact, it was out of print so any mention of it was like rubbing salt in a festering wound.

  You could find out a lot about people from the books they read. I instantly knew the students who mentioned Wally Lamb, Frank McCourt and Dan Brown were true fans of the written word. Not that I doubted the ones who chose classic novels, but I knew the modern authors weren’t assignments from a previous class. These students liked to read. There were a few intermittent jokesters, who claimed their favorites were comic books or children’s books that really didn’t meet the definition of novel, but I didn’t correct them. The assignment was not to judge, but to be judged. Some talked about the ever-famous vampire love stories, while others named authors I wasn’t familiar with.