Trickster

Chapter Ten

The next day, David comes to the conclusion that tea parties are cruel and unusual punishment. But he’s stuck. And his mom instructed him to take out the trash and start laundry. David moves the yellow plastic picnic table to the front lawn. Ashley doesn’t want real tea, so he pours her lemonade into a teapot. He grabs some paper cups and the entire cookie jar and a roll of paper towels outside.

Ashley comes outside dressed in her Cinderella costume from last Halloween. She has a dishcloth on as a veil. She points out that David isn’t dressed properly. He needs to dress as a clown. He says they’re having a tea party, not a circus. But Ashley just sticks out her lower lip and frowns. Uh-oh. David has to do something fast.

David runs inside to put on the clown costume. As he goes in, Ashley commands that she wants punch, not pretend tea. David heads to the kitchen and grabs a pitcher and a packet of punch powder. He pours the powder in the pitcher and puts it in the sink to fill with water. Then he rushes upstairs to the clown costume. David puts on the wig and nose and big shoes, but can’t find the shirt and pants. Thank goodness. When he goes back outside, Ashley asks him to go get Baby Sally and Tigger and Oscar, her stuffed animals. David says he’s not having a tea party with her stuffed animals. It’s just them. Ashley threatens to tell Mom.

Just then, laughter erupts from across the street. David looks up to see Maggie, Zoe, Brenna, and Sunita standing at the end of the driveway laughing. Zoe compliments David’s hair, and Brenna’s shoulders shake at the sight of the big shoes.

Ashley asks if they’d like tea. Sunita kneels in the grass and accepts a tiny cup of lemonade. Brenna asks David to juggle, since there’s no entertainment. David picks up a few cookies and tosses them high in the air. They stay up nicely, and everyone applauds. To end the show, David catches a cookie in his mouth and lets the others drop to the ground.

A horn beeps as a blue pickup pulls into the driveway. It’s Mr. Quinn, picking up the volunteers. The girls scramble to their feet and pile into the truck. David asks Mr. Quinn how Trickster is doing, and he responds that he’s improving a little.

Mr. Quinn watches Ashley run into the house to watch a video before asking David if he’s seen his dad recently. David shakes his head. Dad travels a lot for his new job. David says sometimes he babysits Ashley for his Mom, and that’s why he’s dressed as a clown. Mr. Quinn ruminates that she must depend on him a lot.

Just then, Ashley runs out the front door and screams that the kitchen is flooding. David left the water on. Mr. Quinn looks like he might say something, but changes his mind, turns on the car, and pulls out of the driveway.

Mr. Quinn thinks David is an idiot.

By the time David has mopped the kitchen dry, Ashley long left David to go to her friends’, so David is sitting outside on the lawn finishing the cookies. When Mom comes home, he tells her that he washed the towels, and will start the rest of the laundry after. Mom thanks him for his help, and offers to drive him to the stables. David almost says yes before he remembers Mr. Quinn’s face yesterday, and changes his mind.

Mom asks him why he doesn’t want to go. Do horses not matter to him anymore? David explains he saw Mr. Quinn earlier. He thinks David is a goofball. David shakes his head and says he doesn’t want to talk about it. He’s going to the clinic.