"To collect bottles?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It's for a good cause. A school in Africa," Alex said with a smile that tried to be convincing.
"Africa needs schools, not Jägermeister bottles," I replied.
"Don't be dramatic," Alex said.
"Dramatic is your brother chasing a rat with a broom," I said, pointing at Luke.
Luke was in the corner of the living room with a broom, standing guard.
"What rat?" Luke asked, confused.
"The one you saw yesterday in the garden," Alex said.
"That was a dream," Luke said.
"It wasn't a dream," Alex replied.
"Then it was a very realistic dream," Luke said with conviction.
We went out into the neighborhood. Luke carried the garbage bag, and Alex carried a notebook where she wrote down the houses.
"The Martinez house has a party every weekend. Guaranteed bottles," Alex said with certainty.
We rang the bell. A woman in a bathrobe with dark circles under her eyes opened the door.
"Yes?" the woman asked with a hoarse voice.
"We're from the neighborhood recycling campaign. Do you have any bottles to donate?" Alex asked with a rehearsed smile.
The woman looked at us for a moment and then shrugged.
"Take whatever you want. The garage is full," the woman said before closing the door.
We opened the garage. It was a sea of bottles. All of alcohol. All empty. Some still had sticky residue at the bottom.
"Luke, start filling the bag," Alex said with authority.
"And what is this for?" Luke asked, holding a Jägermeister bottle.
"That's... herbal medicine. Yes. German herbal medicine," Alex said with doubt.
"Does Germany have herbal medicine?" I asked with irony.
"It does now," Alex replied with a smile.
We filled three enormous bags. Luke could barely carry his.
"Let's go home to empty them, and we'll come back," Alex said.
The Dunphy House
We arrived home with the bags full of bottles. Phil was still on the phone, now with his shirt on but still in his bathrobe.
"Mrs. Patterson, the house is a unique opportunity. The backyard has... very good soil. The best soil in the neighborhood," Phil said with desperation.
Alex and Luke took the bags to the kitchen and started emptying them on the floor. The smell of alcohol filled the entire ground floor.
"Luke, be careful with those. They're sticky," Alex said.
"Why are they sticky?" Luke asked.
"Because they had herbal medicine inside," Alex said evasively.
"Is herbal medicine sticky?" Luke asked.
"In Germany, yes," Alex replied.
I helped separate the bottles by size. It was a disaster. There was broken glass, spilled liquids, and a smell that wouldn't go away.
"Where's the rat?" Luke asked suddenly.
"What rat?" Alex asked.
"The one you saw. You said it wasn't a dream," Luke said.
"That was yesterday," Alex said.
"What if it came back?" Luke asked with fear.
"Rats don't come back. Rats run away from people," Alex said with certainty.
At that moment, a small gray lump ran across the kitchen floor.
"Rat!" Luke shouted.
"Get it!" Alex shouted.
The two began chasing the rat among the bottles. Luke slipped on a Jägermeister bottle and fell to the floor.
"Luke, you're spilling everything!" Alex shouted.
"Oh, shit," Luke said from the floor.
The rat hid under the refrigerator. Alex grabbed a broom and started hitting the floor.
"Get out of there, you disgusting bug!" Alex shouted.
The Front Yard
Dylan had been circling for an hour when I finally went out. Phil had asked me to check the mail.
"Hey, Leo," Dylan said, stopping his bicycle with hope in his voice. "Is Haley home?"
"She's home. She's also not coming out," I replied honestly.
"Yeah, I figured," Dylan said, looking at his handlebars decorated with a stuffed animal, sadly. "She's really mad, huh?"
"She's something," I said evasively.
"I don't get it. I took her to see that movie because I thought she'd like it. Anne Hathaway is in everything. It's like... everywhere. You can't escape her," Dylan said with confusion.
"That's not why she's mad," I said.
"Then why?" Dylan asked desperately.
I thought about it. It wasn't easy to explain to a teenager what Haley was feeling.
"She's not mad about the movie," I said calmly. "She's mad because you went with someone else. Another girl. Sharon Nicolini."
"She was just there! She bought her own ticket!" Dylan exclaimed defensively.
"Haley doesn't care about the ticket. She cares that you were sitting next to someone else in a dark room watching a movie about love," I explained patiently.
Dylan stared at me. He opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again.
"You sound like my mom," Dylan said with surprise.
"I'll take that as a compliment," I said with a smile.
"She says things like that too. 'It's not about the action, Dylan. It's about the intention.' I don't understand intentions. I understand actions. I did something, she got mad. That's how it works," Dylan said with frustration.
"That's not how it works," I said, shaking my head.
"Then how does it work?" Dylan asked with genuine confusion.
I didn't have an answer. Or maybe I did, but it wasn't my place to give it. So I just shrugged and went back inside, leaving Dylan to circle the block for another hour.
The Kitchen
"You talked to Dylan," Alex said without looking up, with certainty.
"He was outside. It was hard not to," I replied.
"What did you tell him?" Alex asked with curiosity.
"The truth. That Haley was mad because he went to the movies with another girl," I said.
"And what did he say?" Alex asked.
"That he didn't understand. Intentions versus actions," I replied.
Alex put down the knife. She looked at me. Her eyes did that analyzing thing.
"Do you understand it?" Alex asked with seriousness.
"Understand what?" I asked.
"The difference between intentions and actions," Alex said.
I thought about it. About all the times I'd wanted to tell her something but hadn't.
"I think so," I said honestly.
"And what's the difference?" Alex asked.
"Intentions are what you want to do. Actions are what you actually do. And sometimes, the gap between them is where everything goes wrong," I replied.
Alex fell silent. Then she picked up the knife and went back to making her sandwich.
"That's very philosophical," Alex said with irony.
"That's very Alex," I replied with a smile.
She almost smiled. Almost.
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