It was after the show that Aaron first met Pepper. We had just seen the yearly Shwarzenegger flick and were walking down Main when we ran into Pepper and Janice who were coming out of Benny's Fast Food. Janice had just gotten into the car and Pepper was going around back when I yelled over.
"Hey, man, what's up?"
"Hey, Chris my man. Not much.
"Pepper. do you know my brother, Aaron? Aaron, this is Pepper Conklin. He goes to Corcoran, too."
"Hi." said Aaron.
"Good to meet you, man. Your brother speaks all right about you." Pepper's blonde hair was blowing into his face and he pulled it back.
"Yeah. I think he's pretty good, too. Say, nice wheels." Aaron was looking over his 94 Laser.
"Hey. Come on. What's the holdup?" Janice was yelling out the side window.
"Shut the fuck up. I'm talking. We'll go when I'm ready." Pepper gave her a real dirty look and she leaned back in.
"Maybe you'd like to go for a spin tomorrow, man. Chris knows where you can find me at lunch."
"Great!" Aaron replied.
"Anyway, look, I gotta go or this bitch'll catch hell when I get her home late. Tomorrow, right."
"Right," said Aaron.
"Later."
"Later," I replied.
Aaron pulled out a cigarette and lit up. "Want a drink? I'll buy."
"Sure." I said, and we walked into Benny's.
After we ordered two cokes Aaron said: "That was sure a sharp car. Is it really his?"
"I don't know."
"Boy, it sure would be nice to drive around in that - and that Janice isn't too bad, either. He really put her into her place, didn't he?
"Yeah."
You know, some guys got everything - the looks, the cars, the girls. What happened to us?"
I laughed.
"Things are gonna change," he said, crushing out his cigarette. "Things are gonna change," he said again, pulling out another one, his fifteenth.
***
The next day I got held up at lunch by my English teacher who seemed to be a little disappointed in my last assignment. To tell you the truth, my mind hadn't been on English the last few days even if it was my only good subject at school.
When I got to the Smoking Yard Aaron had already gone off with Pepper. I was a little disappointed because I would have liked to have gone along for the ride, just to see how they hit it off. I'm not really into cars that much.
But then again, I thought, I could always question him tonight if I put him under. I could pretty well find out anything I wanted now.
When we got home last night we thought everyone had been in bed but once our lights were out, Mom came upstairs and went into Aaron's room. I slipped into the closet and crawled along the wall but I was trying to be so quiet I missed most of what was said. When I came in I heard Mom say something about "disappointment" and "unhealthy". Aaron didn't seem to be saying much of anything, but at the end I heard him say, "I don't want to talk about this now. Nothing's changed except Dad found out I smoke. Big deal. I'm almost eighteen. Go on back to bed."
I expected Mom to be more upset or louder. Maybe I was just thinking about how she was with Dad. I certainly had never heard her have an argument with Aaron, so I didn't have anything else to compare it to.
The next night Mom was home and had prepared a good supper and Dad seemed like he was in a pretty good mood. Talk was about things in general and a little about school but we all got along better than usual. After dinner Aaron excused himself and went out on the porch for a smoke. I watched Mom and Dad look at each other and I could tell they didn't like it but they didn't say anything at all. I wondered if I should go out and light up but I figured it was more fun to make a secret of it, anyway.
After, Aaron went upstairs to do his homework. I waited a while but it was too long to wait till everyone was asleep and I was burning to know what happened so I went into Aaron's room.
"I'm studyin'," he said.
"I won't bother you. I'm just gonna read, okay?"
He saw the magazine I had. "I thought I told you not to bring those things into the house," he said.
"Come on. They got good stories."
"Right." He shook his head and went back to studying. That was a good change. Last week he's have ripped it away and pretended to be upset by it.
I sat on the bed and pretended to read till I couldn't stand it anymore: "The Lord be with you," I said.
Almost immediately Aaron's head went crashing down on to the desk. That kind of shook me up, so then I said, "Aaron, this is God. I want you to sit up straight and listen very carefully to me. Do you understand?"
"Yes," he said. And he did.
"Did you have a good time with Pepper Conklin this afternoon?"
"Yes."
"And what did you think of Pepper?"
"Good friend."
"What do you like about him?"
"Everything... his hair... his car... he's funny."
"What did you talk about?"
"His car mostly. His business. He says he has a business on the side. He likes rock, mostly metal."
"Are you going to see him again?"
"Yes. Tomorrow at lunch."
I grabbed one of his cigarettes off the desk and lit it. Such power. I just sat there and looked at Aaron.
"How much have you smoked today, Aaron?"
"About half a pack."
"Then you still have half a pack to go."
"I don't have any more money."
"Well, you wouldn't want to steal from your brother again, would you?" I almost started laughing at this point as I stuck his cigarette into my mouth.
"No."
"No, of course not. Well, it looks as though I'm going to have to punish you, Aaron. Of course, it really hurts me to do this, but I'm God and I have to do what I said I was going to do."
Aaron frowned. "Yes."