Those Crazy Katz' of Windsong Lane: Chapter 3

Chapter 3: 4H and Other Animals

The next day was cold and rainy. The Katz’s piled into their beat-up minivan to go to a 4H meeting. It always took a few minutes to get everyone buckled up and in their car seats. While Karen was getting Emma in her seat she looked out the back window. Someone had scrawled in the dirt on the window, “Go away weirdos!” Infused with anger, she said in a low growl, “Which one of you did that?” They all turned around and looked. Jack said, “What the…?!” and with wide eyes, Ellie said, “Mom! The word “weirdo” was on our mailbox the other day! I swear I didn’t do that! Somebody is being really mean!” Sarah said, “It gives me the creeps that somebody might be lurking around here spying on us. Why would they do such a thing?” Karen said, “I believe you. Let’s talk about this later.” It was a very somber group that drove over to the community center. Karen was very disturbed, but she tried not to show it.

At 4H the kids were broken up by age into different groups to do their various activities. The toddlers were having fun just playing with some toys in a corner. Ellie and Jack were in a group learning about keeping goats and Sarah was in a leadership group with the other teens. Karen had stayed for the meeting to try to be friendly with the other moms, but although they were all very polite to her, nobody included her in their conversations. To be fair, much of it was about Church functions and frustrations with teachers and busses, and Karen couldn’t really sympathize or add anything to the discussion. Sarah was also having a hard time because she had been paired up with the girl who had turned a cold shoulder to her last week. They were to prepare a presentation for the following meeting about the things they loved to do. It was to be an exercise in public speaking. The problem was that the other girl was being very uncooperative. When Sarah had asked if there was a good time they could get together to work on it, the girl had maintained a determined silence. The girl then asked the leader if she could do her own project. Sarah didn’t know what to do.  She had never had anyone be so mean to her. It really hurt. As the girl left the meeting, Sarah saw her walk out the door with a very stern looking woman, who looked back at her as she left with an expression of loathing. Sarah wanted to cry. Karen saw the exchange and the expression on Sarah’s face and came over to give her a hug. Quietly, in Sarah’s ear she said, “Now that I know who her mom is, I think I might understand. That was the minister’s wife, and I understand they are very strict. They probably don’t trust anyone who is not part of the church. I’m sorry sweetie. I never expected you to have to deal with this. If you want to quit 4H, you can. I only wanted to give it a try.”

Sarah wiped away a tear, and said, “I don’t know mom. Let me think about it.” Just then a re-headed girl Sarah’s age with heavy black-rimmed glasses came up to them. She said, “I saw how Joetta was acting. It makes me so mad! I just want to tell you that not everyone here is so snotty. I’m Beth-Ann. Do you want to work on the project with me? I got here late, so I didn’t get a partner.” Sarah beamed through her wet eyes and said, “Sure!” They arranged a time to meet at the library that weekend.

That night Sarah was bubbling, full of hopefulness, and Ellie and Jack were grumbling about the soccer game they had to go to the next day. They were not looking forward to it. Although both were passable players, and Ellie was even pretty good, it seemed like the other kids were always being especially rough on the field and the coaches and referees didn’t ever call them on it. It could be a bang-up day tomorrow. They were anticipating many bumps and bruises. Sarah had gotten out of doing soccer, pleading that her other schoolwork took precedence. Truth was, she wasn’t much into sports and wasn’t really good at it. She tended to be somewhat afraid of the ball, so it was probably for the best.

Joe came into the girls’ room after dinner. He had on his superman costume and a pair of blue-rimmed sunglasses. He also had a new library book in his hands. “Sarah read me!” he said and climbed up on her bed. Sarah had been watching a video on her laptop. “Ok Joey, come here.” She put down the computer and hoisted him up to sit next to her on the bed. “Ducky” he said solemnly. The book was “Make Way for Ducklings” by Robert McKlosky. It was a favorite and Sarah didn’t mind reading it to him. Reading to Joey was a good excuse for her to re-read all of her favorite kids books, but she would never admit that out loud.

Suddenly there was a huge commotion outside. Someone was shouting. It sounded like it was coming from the goat pen, and Snitch was barking excitedly like he was finally about to catch one of those pesky squirrels.  Everyone ran outside. There in the pen was Justin. He was on the ground with his pant leg caught in the wire fencing. The goats were making a good effort of trying to eat his hair and jacket, and Snitch was outside the pen barking excitedly. He was a blur of black and white exuberance. He finally had something really important to bark at!

Karen said, “Aren’t you the little boy that lives down the road? Are you ok?” Justin just kept yelling, “Help me! They’re attacking me! Ouch! Help!” Jack opened the gate and went in to grab the goats and Karen handed Emma to Sarah and made an attempt to get Justin’s leg unwound from the wire fence. This took quite a few minutes and actually ended in them having to cut the wires loose. By this time Justin was breathing loudly but being quiet. He had a very curious expression on his face. It was a mixture of fear and defiance.

When they had gotten him untangled he had wanted to run off, but Karen grabbed him by the arm and insisted he come inside. She sat him down and had a good look at his leg. The jeans were torn and he had a nasty scratch on his leg. “Let me see if I can clean this up for you” she said. “Have you had a tetanus shot?” Justin nodded and sat still while she cleaned him up and put a band-aid on the wound. Meanwhile, all of the kids stood around in a circle watching. Sarah said hotly, “What were you doing in our yard?” She was angry. He had no business being there and she was pretty sure this was the same creep who had been leaving nasty messages. Justin said, “Your dog scared me and I was trying to get away from him. I thought maybe I would be safe with the goats, but I tripped and they attacked me! Maybe I should ask you why you let you dog roam free?” “Hmmm.” Said Karen. “Snitch never attacks anyone, and so far, out here in the country we didn’t think anyone would mind him. He never roams away from the yard.” She didn’t add that if Snitch had chased him she knew he must have been in their yard. “I need you to give me your parent’s number. I need to call them and let them know what’s happened.” After he had reluctantly given her the number, she dialed it, but nobody picked up the phone. She left a message, “Hello, this is Mrs. Katz down the Lane. We have your son, Justin, here and he’s had a little bit of a fall. We’ve patched him up, but I wanted to tell you he should probably be up to date on his tetanus shots. He is ok now. We’ll be sending him home shortly. Bye.” And she hung up.

Justin said sullenly. “Nobody cares where I am. Dad’s out somewhere and mom’s at work.” “Hmmm.” said Karen. “Well, then, you’ll have just enough time for some cookies and milk before you go home.” Justin was flabbergasted. He didn’t know what to think. He really had been creeping around their yard. He had half thought he might do something like open the gate and let the goats out, but really he had just been curious to see what everyone in this house was doing. He wouldn’t admit it to himself, but he was really lonely. Every day after school, if he survived the jerks on the school bus, he had to come home to an empty house. The farm wasn’t doing too well and his mom had had to take a job in town to try to make ends meet. Some days he didn’t see anyone until eight or nine at night. Sure, mom would call to check on him, and she did leave some dinner in the fridge just in case, but he hated being there by himself.

At the moment, three of the Katz’s were looking at him with glares. Mrs. Katz was being super nice, something he hadn’t expected, and the two littlest ones were staring at him with curiosity. Suddenly the toddler pointed at him and said, “Boy go fall down!” and started laughing hysterically, falling over on the ground in laughter. It was such a funny belly laugh, there was no way not to join in. Everyone cracked up. Jack said, “Look, if you want to come hang out some, just come by and knock on the door, OK? “ Justin just nodded. Why were they being so nice? They had a pleasant half hour of cookies and milk with everyone talking and trying to decide what game they could all play together that night. Justin just sat there quietly, listening, and then he went home. Stepping out of that house felt like stepping into the desert. He limped home silently by himself, deep in thought.

Ellie watched him go from the window, and suddenly all of her anger faded and she felt sorry for him. He just looked so lonely. Maybe he had done those mean things and maybe he hadn’t, but she’d give him a chance if he decided to show up again.