Amanda needed her.
It was her turn to try.
The living room curtains rustled behind an evening breeze and created a gentle flapping sound, like a dog scratching. There was no other sound in the room except for Finn’s expectant breathing as he awaited his mother’s decision. He’d taken a big risk including her, and they both knew it. But without her participation and blessing, the mission Wayne had assigned him would require him to lie and cheat. At least this way if he broke the rules she would know why.
When his mother was upset, her face pinched and she resembled a bird. And not a pretty bird, but a bird of prey. Finn saw people this way: as extensions of animals like bulldogs and lizards. His mother was definitely a bird.
“If you’re going to ask these things of me,” she whispered harshly, “at least you can make the request reasonable.”
“But if it’s not reasonable in the first place, how am I supposed to change it?”
“I’m not asking you to change it. I’m asking you to decline the request in the first place so we don’t have to deal with it.”
“So I’m just supposed to tell him no?” Wouldn’t Wayne just turn to Philby if Finn declined an assignment? There was no way Finn was going to let that happen.
“That’s exactly what you should have told him,” she hissed. “Look at the situation he has put us in!”
“But he wouldn’t ask if there wasn’t already a situation. So what makes our situation so much more important than his?”
Stumped, she glowered at him. “Don’t twist my words, young man.”
“Everything all right in there?” Finn’s father called from the television room. Normally a man without a clue, he must have picked up on their silence. Typically, Finn and his mom were anything but quiet around the house, with her barking orders to pick up after himself or set the table or do the dishes or take out the trash. His little sister moved about like a ghost, doing everything right, winning the adoring affection of her parents and ignoring Finn to where half the time he forgot she lived there.
“Fine!” his mother called through the wall.
“Awfully quiet in there.”
To that she said nothing. She waited for the TV’s mute to go off. An end of an ad played, replaced by the late news.
“I can do it with you or without you,” Finn said.
“Don’t do that. It’s beneath you.”
“I’m just saying.”
“Well, don’t. You know how I feel about you trying to manipulate me.”
“The wart does it all the time.”
“Don’t call your sister that.”
“She does manipulate you.”
“She does not. I’m quite aware of when I’m being played, believe me. If I go along with it, there’s a reason: like straight As and completing her piano practice each and every night.”
“So now you’re manipulating me?” he said.
She cracked a smile. “Guilty.” Her eyes shone. He loved her to his core when she looked like that at him. He also knew he’d won. They had something of a magical connection, he and his mom. The arguments were over.
“We’ll have to think up a darn good excuse,” she whispered. “He’s not stupid, you know.”
“What about something to do with Groupon?” Finn’s father was consumed with Groupon deals. He was buying stuff and signing up for stuff he had no use for simply because it was seventy percent off.
“You really did inherit my brains,” his mother said.
“If you do say so.”
“And I do.” Another of those smiles of hers. “Trouble is, he checks them all.”
“Then Living Social?”
“Good one! Sports clothing at Downtown Disney,” she said. “Late night sale.”
His father unconditionally supported any purchase related to sports, wishing Finn was more interested.
“What a team,” he said.
“We are, aren’t we?”
“What’s all the excitement?” his father called out.
In the course of their enthusiasm they’d allowed their voices to rise. Another ad break.
Finn circled his hand, encouraging her to speak up. One had to seize such golden opportunities where his father was concerned.
“We’re going to run out for a while,” she hollered. Then she stood and walked in to speak with him since one of the many house rules was no shouting. Shortly after, the two were in the car, and Finn was telling his mother to shut her eyes so he could change into his bathing suit.
“I can’t shut my eyes! I’m driving.”
He climbed into the back and changed, then returned to the front passenger seat, his shorts worn under his suit.