A few hours later found Justin knocking on Ernie’s front door. Ernie’s dad answered the door and Ernie came down into the living room as he was greeting Justin. As the introductions were made Justin couldn’t help noticing that Ernie’s house was different than any he’d ever been in. Instead of paint or wallpaper there was smooth beige cloth on the walls of the living room. And it would seem that Ernie’s mom collected rocks. There were ornate bowls and urns of them on every table, and in one corner there was a little fountain made of stone. The rocks looked very interesting. Justin could have sat down and enjoyed looking through a bowl of them. The furniture was all dark green, and the carpet brown. It all kind of gave the impression of being deep in a forest. After the usual comments on the weather and such, the boys went back to Ernie’s room to wait for dinnertime.
As Justin looked interestedly around, Ernie said, “Thanks for coming to dinner, Justin. My parents are really convinced now that their basketball plan is ‘bringing me out of my shell.’ This visit should keep them off my back for months. They’re finally convinced that I really do have friends.”
“No problem,” Justin replied, “You should have invited me over a couple of months ago, and you might not be in this mess with us. Hey, whatever your mom is cooking smells great.”
“She’s making pizza casserole. She calls it a compromise between taste and good nutrition. And it isn’t bad; you really don’t notice all the vegetables she slips in.”
“Well, the smell is making me really hungry.”
“When it starts to smell this strong we’re about fifteen minutes from tasting it.”
“I think I’ll last that long. Hey, you’ve got the exact same computer system as me.”
“I got it for Christmas last year.”
“Me too,” Justin laughed, “there must have been a good deal on them somewhere. Hey, what’s this old looking book?” Justin removed a medium-sized book with a heavy and ornate cover and binding, but no title printed on the outside, from Ernie’s bookcase. As he turned it over in his hands he noted that the binding was dark brown leather inlaid with different colored gemstones. The design on the front was a yellow and red six-pointed star with small blue, green and white stones that appeared to be bursting from the star. The spine had rows of gems where one would expect to find the author, title and publisher. When he fanned the pages he saw that they were antique looking, more like parchment than printer’s pulp. The words were in a calligrapher’s font, and many of the paragraphs began with large gold-leafed letters.
“Oh, that one?” Ernie asked doubtfully. “Yeah, it’s a, uh…really interesting…well, kind of a far-reaching, um mm, philosophical, sort of time chronicle…sort of.”
“What? A bit of advice, Ernie. Don’t try to write a book report on it. You’ll get an ‘F’. You’ve read it, right?”
Ernie looked a little strange. “Sort of,” he said, but his tone sounded as if he was the one asking the question instead of answering. He hesitated and seemed to be searching Justin’s face for something. “If you want, you can have it.”
“Hey, don’t get carried away. I just wondered what it was. I could borrow it and give it back, if it really is good,” he said running his finger around one of the intricate, swirls cut into the leather that made up the design on the back cover.
Ernie seemed a little distant as he regarded the pure white binding that he saw in Justin’s hand, and said, “Well, whatever, but I can’t use it anymore, I mean I’m finished with it.”
“You’ve read it then?”
“Well, it’s not the sort of book you ‘just read’.”
“Not the sort of book you read? You’re not making much sense, Ernie. Did you like it? Is it good?”
“Well, as far as a story goes, I don’t know, but if you get, um, involved with it, well, ‘like it’ and ‘good’ don’t really work to describe it, but it’s definitely worth the trip,” said Ernie and his voice sounded as if his mind was somewhere else far away.
“You’re freaking me out a little, Ernie. It’s just a book, right?” Ernie kept his eyes on the book instead of meeting Justin’s eyes and didn’t reply. “Well, I guess I’ll give it a try, then,” said Justin starting to get truly uncomfortable.
“Good, I, uh, hope you enjoy it,” Ernie stammered.
Really wanting to change the subject Justin asked, “Hey, what computer games do you have?” They spent a few minutes discussing shortcuts and strategies for their favorite ones until Ernie’s mom called them for dinner.
The casserole, Justin noted, was indeed great. He had seconds after he’d finished his salad, which pleased Ernie’s mom noticeably. There was a really good Jell-O type dessert, of which Justin would have liked seconds. But he decided to ask wouldn’t have been in keeping with good manners. Mentally he made a note to ask his mom to get both recipes sometime. Ernie’s parents were both anxious to talk about basketball camp. Ernie answered them with as much enthusiasm as he could truthfully muster. Justin helped to carry the conversation and take the pressure off his friend by adding lengthy descriptions of the drills and exercises, and the benefits relating to the game that each would give. Since neither of Ernie’s parents had any knowledge of these, and couldn’t participate in the discussion, the boys were soon able to change the subject to safer things without giving any hints about the Brandon and Todd situation.
After dinner Ernie’s dad offered to go out to their driveway and help them practice if they wanted. Both declined saying they really just wanted to take the evening off after the long week, and they talked him into a couple of games of Master Mind instead, which was fun for all three. Ernie and his dad played first, and Justin was to play the winner. The winner both times was Ernie’s dad, but the boys thoroughly enjoyed the challenge in spite of losing. Ernie’s mom appeared from the kitchen at the end of the second game with coffee for herself and Ernie’s dad and hot chocolate for the boys. As they all sat having their drinks Justin and Ernie again had to dance around questions about basketball camp. Justin finished his drink first, and seizing a short lull in the conversation said, “Ernie, if your mom and dad don’t mind excusing us, I really would like to borrow that book we were looking at before I have to leave.”
Ernie’s dad answered, “Not at all. You guys go ahead.”
“Justin, we certainly enjoyed having you visit this evening,” added Ernie’s mom, “You’ll have to come again sometime.”
“Thank you. That would be great,” replied Justin.
“Come on, I’ll get that book for you, Justin,” said Ernie.
When they were back in Ernie’s room he said, “Thanks again for coming over.”
“Hey, thanks for inviting me, I had a good time,” replied Justin.
“And thanks for not mentioning anything about the trouble we’re having with Brandon and Todd, too,” added Ernie.
“Yeah, I’ve got to figure out how to tell my parents tomorrow or it’s going to be a mess when they run into Matt’s mom and dad at church on Sunday,” said Justin glumly. “Well, I really better get going.”
“Ok, oh, here’s the book,” then Ernie’s voice became somewhat pensive, “You know, it could maybe even help with all this.”
“Yeah, right,” Justin said, obviously skeptical, as they walked back down toward the front door. As they passed by the family room Justin thanked Ernie’s parents again for the invitation, and said, “Well, see you on Monday,” to Ernie at the front door.
“Yeah, but let me know if I can help any way before then,” offered Ernie.
“Thanks,” Justin replied solemnly and was off down the street at a jog. Both Matt and Ernie had offered to help him tell his parents about it all. They were the kind of friends to keep, he thought. But the more he thought about it the more he knew that he would do it alone, and that he was tired of worrying about it. He determined to talk to them first thing in the morning, and rehearsed strategies in his head all the way home. None of them seemed the least bit promising of success, and though he made a conscious effort, he was unable to assume anything like a normal good mood before entering his house. Luckily his mom was on the phone and his dad was engrossed in a show, only asking briefly about his visit and visibly losing interest when the commercial break ended, so that Justin was able to retreat to his room to unwind alone before telling them goodnight. He tossed the interesting looking book he’d borrowed onto the window sill beside the head of his bed, and plopped down to try one of the shortcuts Ernie had told him about for one of his favorite computer games. He was soon as engrossed in the game as his dad had been in the TV, and that’s where they both stayed, until his mom ran the bleary eyed pair to bed with a quick goodnight sometime well after midnight.