The summer Dean is ten and Sam is six, they stay at Bobbyâs for a month.Â
John doesnât ask Bobby if they can stayâhe pretty much just dumps Dean and Sam on the porch and drives off. Dean hears the squeal of Bobbyâs front door opening as he watches the Impalaâs tail lights fade into the distance.Â
Bobby didnât plan to take care of them, so they end up going to the grocery store at nine pm. Sam gets excited about everythingâriding in the cart, getting to choose what kind of bread they have, carefully holding the egg carton, telling Bobby how this is the most theyâve had to eat in weeks.
(Dean carefully avoids Bobbyâs gaze when Sam says that.)
The next day is a Sunday, and at breakfast Bobby tells them that heâs signing them up for some free summer program at the Boys and Girls Club downtown.Â
âThereâll be other kids your age,â Bobby says. âItâll be good for you.âÂ
The first day, Monday, Dean lasts until pool time after lunch.Â
âYou canât drown the other kids,â Bobby says sternly in the truck, a dripping-wet Dean in the passengers seat.Â
âThey were pullinâ Sammyâs hair,â Dean complains.
Tuesdayâs not much betterâsome other kid at lunch says theyâre âweirdâ because they donât have a mom, so Dean dumps his milk carton out onto that kidâs head.Â
âYou just said IÂ couldnât drown anyone,â Dean says to Bobbyâs stern face when he picks him up.Â
âI also said to ignore âem.â
Wednesday: Dean shoves someone on the playground for teasing Sam about the soles of his sneakers falling off.Â
Thursday: another boy makes fun of Dean for âeating too fast.â Dean leaves with a split lip.Â
Friday: the secretary at the club tells Bobby regretfully, âWe canât keep Dean anymore.â
âWhat about Sam?â Bobby asks.
âHeâs been an angel.â The secretary beams at Sam. âYou can go inside the gym with the other kids.â
Samâs lip wobbles. âIâm not goinâ without Dean.â He grabs Deanâs hand.
Dean bends down to his brotherâs height. âIâm sorry, Sammy. You gotta go by yourself.â
âSucks.â Dean ruffles Samâs hair. âGo on, go play with your friends.â
The secretary really does look sorry.Â
The whole ride back to Bobbyâs, Deanâs sure heâs gonna get it. If his dad was around, wellâŠ
Deanâs glad his dadâs not around.Â
âGet out of the truck,â Bobby says after skidding into the drive, and then he gestures for Dean to follow him into the house.Â
Bobby pours himself some coffee.Â
âI got a Pontiac in the yard that needs work,â Bobby finally says. âYou wanna help?â
âWhatâhelp?â Dean stares at him. âYouâre not mad at me?â
âOh, Iâm mad, but shoutinâ at you ainât gonna fix anything.â Bobby stoops down to Deanâs level, mirroring Dean and Samâs conversation from half an hour before. âWhen a kid says shit about you or your brother, that ainât a reflection on you. Itâs a reflection on them. But you canât just lash out at âem every time, okay? You wanna be frustrated? Thatâs fine. Then you gotta find another way to get that frustration out.âÂ
Dean keeps staring. The room is getting blurry.
âYou can cry, too,â Bobby says.Â
âScrew your dad. Boys can cry, and if you donât you might explode.â
Then they go fix up that Pontiac.Â
(Years later, Dean smashes the windows of the Impala in that same scrapyard. He cries then, too.)