A Brighter Tomorrow: My Journey with Julie

Julie apologizes to the man. He introduces himself as Douglas Watson. Julie shakes his hand and introduces me and T.J. She promises that we’ll make this right. Mr. Watson says he can’t expect kids to pay for the damage. But he will have to call our parents. My heart sinks. What can I possibly tell him when he asks for my parents’ phone number?

Julie speaks up and says she’s wondering if there’s anything we can do to help out. We can do chores. The man looks at his three dogs and smiles. He says it’s a shame this didn’t happen an hour earlier. He just got done giving them a bath. It’s not an easy task for one person.

Julie thinks for a second and says she can imagine it’d be hard to walk three dogs at once. How many walks would it take to pay for the cost of the broken window? Mr. Watson scratches his chin as he considers Julie’s offer. He says a month of walks would do it. Daily, or whenever we are available. Just to call before we come over.

T.J. says it’s a deal. And we can start right away. The dogs trail behind Mr. Watson as he goes inside to fetch their leashes. When he returns, we help him clip the leads on dogs’ collars while he introduces them. I hold Queenie, a peppy Jack Russell terrier. T.J. takes Trix, the floppy-eared dachshund. And the last one is Mr. Tuxedo. He’s a Boston terrier. Mr. Watson says to watch out for that one. He’s small, but he’s feisty.

Mr. Watson calls out good luck to us as we head out the door. Once Julie gains control over Mr. Tuxedo, she tells us how relieved she is that Mr. Watson was understanding. T.J. says he feels bad that Stinger isn’t here to do his part. Julie says maybe we can convince him to help us on the next walk. But we should give Mr. Tuxedo to Stinger next time. The three of us laugh.

After several blocks, we loop back and start back up the stairs. Mr. Watson greets us at the landing in front of his house. He says there’s someone else who has something to say.

To our surprise, Stinger steps out from behind Mr. Watson. His eyes are glued to the ground. He says he shouldn’t have bailed on us. It wasn’t fair to leave us all here when it was really his fault to begin with. He apologizes for taking so long to come back. He actually went home to break open his piggy bank. He pulls out some crumpled dollar bills and hands the money to Mr. Watson and says that it will help pay for the window.

Julie smiles and thanks him. Stinger reddens and says he knows that it’s not enough but Mr. Watson interrupts him and says that it’s plenty. He gathers the leashes from us and smiles at his dogs, who have calmed down considerably. He thanks us for taking responsibility for the window.

We all thank Mr. Watson and give the dogs a goodbye pat before turning to go. Mr. Watson clears his throat. We turn to see him holding up Julie’s ball. He says to keep better track of it next time.

When we reach the top of the steps, Stinger looks at Julie sheepishly. He says it took serious guts to own up to the guy after breaking his window. Maybe she’s not so bad after all. For a girl.

Julie nudges him with her elbow and the boys turn to leave. As Julie and I walk back to Gladrags, we are nearly giddy about such a remarkable day. I think about how proud I feel that we were all able to come together to fix the problem. And that’s what I realize how often I run away from the problems in my own life. Just this morning, I refused to talk to Zack about the things that are troubling us. And then I avoided the subject of joining the basketball team when I spoke with Chloe. I want to be more like Julie, who faces everything head-on. She started a petition by herself, proved her own skills on the court, and admitted when she was wrong. When I get home, I want to sit down and have a good talk with Zack. And on Monday I’m going to sign up for the basketball team.

Before I know it, Julie and I are standing in front of Gladrags. Julie squeezes me into a tight hug and thanks me for being there today. Maybe we can play another game of HORSE soon. And I can teach her that Hula Hoop move.

As she walks into Gladrags, I call out good luck to her. She grins, and the door closes behind her. I step to the front of Julie’s apartment building and look around to make sure no one’s looking. I twist the mood ring off my finger and suddenly, I’m back on my window seat in my room. I look at the clock on the computer. 12:35. The perfect time to sit down and talk to Zack. The perfect time to start facing my life head-on.