In the kitchen, Mrs. Dai was putting cups and saucers on the table. The devil doll still lay there, watching the preparations with its cross-stitched eyes.
Tommy stepped into the kitchen and said, “Mom, I think we’d better go now.”
Looking up from the cake that she was slicing, Mother Phan said, “Have tea and nibble first, then go.”
“No, I want to go now.”
“Don’t be rude, Tuong. While we have tea and nibble, I call your father. By time we done, he stop by, take us home before he go work at bakery.”
“Del and I are leaving now,” he insisted.
“No car,” she reminded him. “This crazy woman’s car just trash in garage.”
“The Peterbilt’s parked out there at the curb. The engine’s still idling.”
Mother Phan frowned. “Truck stolen.”
“We’ll return it,” Tommy said.
“What about trash car in garage?” Mrs. Dai asked.
“Mummingford will send someone for it,” said Del.
“Who?”
“Tomorrow.”
Tommy and Del and Scootie went into the living room, where the glass from the broken window crunched and clinked under their shoes.
Mrs. Dai and Mother Phan followed them.
As Tommy unlocked and opened the front door, his mother said, “When I see you again?”
“Soon,” he promised, following Del and Scootie onto the porch.
“Come to dinner tonight. We have com tay cam, your favourite.”
“That sounds good. Mmmmm, I can’t wait.”
Mrs. Dai and Mother Phan stepped onto the porch as well, and the hairdresser said, “Miss Payne, what day your birthday?”
“Christmas Eve.”
“Is true?”
Descending the porch steps, Del said, “October thirty-first.”
“Which true?” Mrs. Dai asked a little too eagerly.
“July fourth,” said Del. And to Tommy, sotto voce, she said, “They always need a birthday to cast the spell.”
Moving onto the front steps as Del reached the walkway, Mrs. Dai said, “You have beautiful hair, Miss Payne. I enjoy doing such beautiful hair.”
“So you can get a lock of it?” Del wondered as she continued to walk toward the Peterbilt.
“Mrs. Dai is wonderful genius hairdresser,” said Mother Phan. “She give you best look ever have.”
“I’ll call for an appointment,” Del promised as she went around the truck to the driver’s door.
Tommy opened the passenger door to the truck cab so the dog could spring inside.
His mother and Mrs. Dai stood side by side on the steps of the front porch, his mother in black slacks and a white blouse, Mrs. Dai in her pink jogging suit. They waved.
Tommy waved back at them, climbed into the truck cab beside the dog, and pulled the door shut.
Del was already behind the wheel. She put the truck in gear.
When Tommy glanced at the house again, Mrs. Dai and his mother waved at him.
Again he returned the wave.
As Del drove away from the house, Tommy said miserably, “What am I going to do now? I love my mother, I really do, but I’m never going to be a baker or a doctor or any of the things she wants me to be, and I can’t spend the rest of my life afraid to drink tea or answer a doorbell.”
“It’ll be all right, tofu boy.”
“It’ll never be all right,” he disagreed.
“Don’t be negative. Negative thinking disturbs the fabric of the cosmos. A little bit of self-indulgent negativity might seem like an innocent pleasure, but it can cause a tornado in Kansas or a blizzard in Pennsylvania.”
Scootie licked Tommy’s face, and he didn’t resist. He knew he was genuinely desperate when he found himself taking comfort from the dog’s attentions.
“I know exactly what we need to do,” she said.
“Oh, yeah? What?”
“You’ve known since we kissed on the carousel.”
“What a kiss.”
“So for starters, we need to fly to Vegas and get married—if you care to propose to me.”
Scootie looked at him expectantly.
Tommy was surprised to hear her offer, but he was not surprised to hear himself say, “Deliverance Payne, daughter of Ned and Julia Rosalyn Winona Lilith, will you marry me?”
“It’s going to take a lot more than a doll snake rat-quick little monster thing to stop me.”
“You have a beautiful smile,” he said.