Chapter Twenty-Eight

-- May, 1975

Fleetwood Mac – “Come a little bit closer”

The Birch House was a swinging pad designed for adults, as if the owners had no children to speak of at all. There were heart-shaped ottomans, angora rugs, and assorted bean bag chairs. But J.B. and Maggie’s parents were hardly ever there, so it fell to the kids to properly enjoy the place. Even if it required inviting dozens of their friends over.

Janet entered the kitchen to the raucous tones of “Good Times, Bad Times.” She set about surveying the afternoon party when her view was suddenly blocked. Maggie threw her arms around Janet, already drunk. “I know we haven’t seen each other in a while, but... oh Jan, I’m so sorry!”

Still not over the betrayal of seeing her best friend with her father, Janet gave Maggie nothing in return. “Sorry about what?” Janet ventured.

“You don’t know?!” Maggie said, pulling back.

Janet shook her head.

“You mean, no one’s told you?” When Janet shook her head again, Maggie began to backpedal, furiously. “No, it’s not going to be me! I’m not gonna be the one to tell you!”

Maggie turned heel, balancing her drink in hand, and hurried away. She tried to get lost in the crowd, but Janet followed, unwilling to let her off the hook so easily.

When Janet finally caught up with her, she spun Maggie around to face her. “Maggie, what happened?!”

“You really don’t know?! About Matt?”

Janet’s eyes bugged out. “You fucked Matt too?!”

“What?! No!”

“What about Matt?!”

Maggie tried to think of something, anything, but eventually just threw up her hands. “Fuckin’ Vietnam...”

“What did you say?”

“I’m so sorry!”

Janet reeled on the spot. “The fucking war’s over! They said it on T.V!”

Maggie tried to talk some sense into her, but Janet wasn’t there anymore. She slipped out of Maggie’s grip and walked blankly outside. Wincing at the late afternoon sun, she headed towards her Volkswagon, the one she drove back from California, and sank into the driver’s seat. She sat there for a while before she even started the engine. By the time she pulled out, the sun had begun to set.

No idea where she was heading, she drove around Summit until the roads led her unconsciously back to her old house. When she got to her driveway, she shut the car off and remained there long after the darkness had fallen. At some point, she got out and headed inside. Only, the front door was locked...

That’s when she remembered, she didn’t live there anymore. After a few moments of trying the handle, she gave up and went around the side of the house to the backyard. It was lit only by the light coming from their next door neighbor’s house. The lawn furniture was the one remaining thing her parents hadn’t put into storage. The various pieces sat in the backyard, collecting dust and mildew.

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Janet was about to lie down on a lawn chair when she realized there was already someone on it. Cody was sitting there in front of her, staring at the grass. He had one of Nick’s sketchpads in his hands and had tears running down his face.

“Cody, what are you doing here?”

He didn’t seem startled to hear Janet speak. “Nick left this at my house. I came to give it back to him, but I just remembered he doesn’t live here anymore.”

“Yeah, there’s a lot of that going around.” She sat down next to Cody, wondering if he knew about Matt. She hated she had to share this. “Matt’s dead.”

Cody barely blinked. “I know.”

“I’m starting to think I was the only person who didn’t.” Janet stared at her shoes for a long while. “Don’t you think it’s a little sad that you’re hanging around my little brother?”

“Not really. All my other friends left town.”

“Well, I think it’s weird.”

“Why are you always so mean to me?”

“What are you talking about? I’m not mean to you...”

“Yes, you are. You think I’m stupid or something. Just because I like you, just because--”

When Janet kissed him, it took Cody by surprise. He looked bewildered, even tried to respond. But finally, he just went with it.

To Cody’s increasing joy, they made out for several minutes. They were the highlight of his entire life. When Janet reached for his belt, she was met with little resistance. They started shedding their clothes and were almost naked when the sound of a screen door cut through everything. “Janet?” a voice asked. “I came to drop the key off...”

Janet turned and gasped. “Oh my god.”

Her father stood by the back patio, squinting into the night. Cody struggled to zip his pants as Janet climbed to her feet. “Dad, it’s not what it looks like--” She began, only to find her father’s open hand slapping her hard across the face.

Janet stared at him dumbly, unsure of what had just happened. Then she hit him back.

“Get in the house,” he roared. “And you--” he said, pointing at Cody.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Benson, I--”

But William didn’t let him finish. “Go home. Now.”

Cody nodded but William had already turned back to the house. Janet watched her friend hurry off then slowly joined her father inside. “Why are you here?” she asked.

“The realtor needed my key to show the place over the weekend.”

Lynn had driven over with William but appeared to have missed the fireworks. “What happened,” she asked, noting the tension in the air as she joined them in the empty living room.

William turned back to his oldest daughter. “Yes Janet, what happened?!”

“I was depressed. We were comforting each other--”

“Oh? And what do you have to be depressed about?!”

“Matt Learner died.”

“What?!” Lynn demanded from behind her father.

Before Janet could repeat herself, William silenced her. “You’re upsetting your sister, we’ll talk about this later.”

But Lynn wouldn’t let it go. “What happened to him?!”

“Nothing Lynn, he’s fine.” Janet said, dismissively.

“Of course, you don’t care – you didn’t even like him!”

“Shut up, Lynn.”

“Never thought you’d do it again. You were probably too busy to notice, going around with your motorcycle boy--” Janet crossed the room before she knew what she was doing. She back-handed her baby sister.

Lynn cupped her face, in shock, screaming, “You know what, Janet?! I don’t care what people think of you -- you’re a bad sister!”

Lynn fled from the kitchen, running upstairs. Her feet took her to her old room. But when she reached it none of her belongings were there anymore. She slammed the door behind her and threw herself down onto the carpet.

She remembered the time years ago when Janet forced her to skip school to go down to the shore. She was such a straight-laced kid worrying the whole time, so she shouldn’t have been surprised when Janet lost her at a Howard Johnson’s. They had stopped to get ice cream and Lynn had gone out the wrong exit. Like a good sister, she didn’t want to put down the cones, even when she realized she was alone. She stood under the vaulted, orange roof until Matt finally found her, sobbing. She had vanilla ice cream running down her arms and appeared inconsolable. But Matt refused to let her wallow. He told her corny jokes for nearly half an hour until she finally calmed down. Still, it took the better part of the day to convince her that Janet wasn’t trying to ditch her.