Keep Quiet

by Maud Lavin

Someone was trying to break into the trailers. They tried more than one trailer. But they couldn’t get in. They might be drunk, Arlene whispered to me. We sat at the table at one end of the living room while her older sister was working the phone, sitting in the armchair at the other end. What should we do? We should stay quiet. She went back to talk with her sister. I stayed still. Would he try to break into Arlene’s family’s trailer? Maybe not with the lights on and the three of us here. What would we do? There was only one door.

Arlene was back. Kristi was trying to decide whether or not to call the police. Their dad was the manager of the trailer park, but he wasn’t there. I hoped she would call the police. Why wouldn’t she? Arlene said Kristi was afraid their dad might be mad if she did. Why would he be mad, I wondered, but I didn’t say it.

This was my first time staying over at Arlene’s place. I liked her. She was a cheerleader, with pretty, big eyes. Nervous. And smart. She was very nervous now. So was I, scared.

Another phone call. The drunk man had left. Kristi was on the phone, reassuring the neighbors. Her father would look into it when he got home. See if any doors had been damaged. Kristi seemed to know what she was doing. I was in awe of her. She had long, blonde hair. Like Arlene, very pretty, but more confident. She went to the high school in Hartville that was mainly Amish kids. I wasn’t sure why she did that, but didn’t know how to ask. Maybe their family used to be Amish? Arlene and I were sophomores at the local high school, Kristi was a senior.

No one knew where their father was. Their mother didn’t live there. I didn’t know the why about that either. It was late. Kristi told us we could have some ice cream, but then we had to go to bed. No more excitement tonight. Arlene couldn’t have ice cream, though, because of her cheerleading diet. So, I said no too, even though I wanted some. We slept in Arlene’s room. The window was open and we could hear crickets. Fall outside, early in the school year. The air smelled good.

Later on, the police came, we could see the blue light flashing. A neighbor must have called them. The door to the trailer opened and closed, Kristi going out. Back home, she knocked on the door of Arlene’s room. Stay in here, everything’s ok, but stay quiet. We fell asleep.

In the morning, there was Arlene’s dad sleeping on the livingroom couch, all his clothes on. Sleeping it off, Kristi said. Arlene and Kristi talked outside the trailer. They wanted me to go home so Arlene and I didn’t disturb him.

I called my dad to pick me up. After he arrived, Arlene walked me out to the car, told me, it turned out that it was her dad who tried to break into the trailers. He was drunk. Don’t tell anyone at school.

I didn’t.

Maud Lavin lives in Chicago where she runs the READINGS series at Printers Row Wine. She has published recently in Roi Faineant, Red Ogre Review, Funny Pearls, and Rejection Letters. She is a Guggenheim Fellow and a person with disabilities.