Allie Calls Home

Yesterday afternoon the phone rang.

I answered it.

It was Allie.

"Marty?" she whispered.

"Yeah. How's it going?"

"Shh!" she said. "Are Mom and Dad around?"

"Yeah," I said. "Hold on."

"NO!" she hissed into the receiver. "Don't get them. And keep it down. I don't want them to hear."

"Hear what?"

"I said keep it down!"

"You know," I said, "you don't have to whisper."

"Yes, I do," she answered.

"You need to be quiet so Mom and Dad can't hear you from 100 miles away?"

"Would you shut up and listen?"

I shut up and listened.

"Are they in a good mood?"

"Reasonably good. They just got back from the Bahamas. They sent you a couple of things."

"Okay, but are they in a really good mood? Like a seriously good, nothing could possibly go wrong, they're ready to go with the flow no matter what mood."

"I don't know. Dad's practising his trombone and mom's doing paperwork."

"Hmmm. Paperwork. Maybe not."

"Allie," I asked, more than a little exasperated with her 14-year old drama. "What is this all about. What are you plotting?"

"Nothing. I'll call back later. "

"What's going on, Allie?"

"Nothing. I'll call back later."

"What are you up to?"

"Nothing. I'll call back later."

Sigh. "Any message?"

"No. I never called."

Whatever she's got in the works, it's got to be big. She didn't worry this much before asking to go to boarding school. There's something on the horizon and, knowing Allie, we all have reason to be concerned.