Ellen got up from the table with her cane and headed for the stove. “That’s Lana. She’s David’s friend. Come in, dear.”

Lani pushed past Sarah, who didn’t move out of the way.

“Excuse me?” Sarah said. “How rude! And why wouldn’t you knock on the front door, young lady? The other one always went to the front door.”

Ellen turned around. “She’s fine coming to the back door.” Then she turned and smiled at Lani.

“David will be down in a few minutes. Have a seat, dear.”

Lani sat down and experienced five of the longest minutes she ever knew. Sarah sat across from her.

“Friend?” Sarah asked.

Lani smiled. “Girlfriend. And it’s nice to meet you, Sarah.” Then she pulled a cigarette out of her purse.

“You would smoke in here?” Sarah asked.

“Sarah! You smoke in here all the time. Go ahead Lana, there’s an ashtray on the counter.”

Sarah leaned back in her chair. “Girlfriend? Can you cook?”

Lani laughed. “No. I can make Cheerios though!”

“And a smart ass!” Sarah said.

Ellen turned around again. “Sarah, language!”

“Good grades in school, I should think.”

“Better than last year. I only have to repeat two classes.”

Ellen laughed again.

Sarah looked at her mother. “There is hardly anything funny about…”

“Now Sarah!” Then Ellen looked at Lani. “Sarah here had to repeat more than…”

“That’s a family matter, Mother. And you should be more concerned about David’s girlfriends.”

Ellen looked at Lani. “Pay her no mind. When she was young…”

“Mother!” Sarah yelled. Then she looked at Lani again.

“Taking Home Ec?”

“Yeah, that’s one of the classes I’m repeating.”

“I assume you’re not a drinker.”

“Oh yes, with the best of ’em.”

“And impudent with the best of them too apparently.”

Ellen turned around. “Sarah! Get the flour from the pantry.”

“In a minute, Mother.”

Then she turned back to Lani. “Church-going?”

“I avoid church religiously.”

“David needs a wife who cooks and is church-going,” Sarah asserted.

Lani smiled. “Well, I guess he’ll to do with second best, Sarah.”

“Second best?” Sarah repeated angrily.

By now Lani’s patience was wearing out fast. She looked over at Ellen.

“Will he be down soon?”

“He’ll be down when….” Ellen cut Sarah off.

“Sarah! Don’t be rude to our guest. It won’t do.”

“Me rude?” she asked with a look of dismay on her face. Then she turned and glared at Lani.

“I assume you want children.”

“Right now?” Lani asked.

“Well! I assume you’d rather…”

“No, matron, I’d rather get high!” Lani exclaimed.

Sarah sat speechless across from Lani at the kitchen table. Ellen was stirring a large pot of stew with her right hand, and leaning on her cane with the other. Ellen laughed when she heard Lani. Sarah stared directly into Lani’s eyes.

“Listen you little…”

Ellen cut her off. “Now Sarah, she’s only kidding with you.”

“You’ll never…”

“Sarah…Leave the poor child alone. Here!” She held out a list of ingredients. “To the store please.”

Sarah glared at Lani one last time. “Yes, Mother dear.”

“You’re going to look beautiful,” Ellen said, making a last minute change. She was telling Lani to turn this way and then that way as she put pins into the dress.

“You really think so?” Lani asked excitedly.

“I do. But do hold still, dear! I don’t want to stick you.”

Then Lani paused. “We’re going to get married,” she declared.

Ellen kept working, without saying anything.

“But Ellen? You must know! David said…”

Ellen looked at her and smiled. “Yes, dear, I know.”

Lani suddenly became worried. “You don’t approve?”

“I do approve. Mind you, you two are a bit young. I didn’t marry David’s father until I was a little older. And Carl was much older than David.”

“We should wait?”

“Don’t listen to me, I’m just old-fashioned. My grandmother was your age when she married granddad.” Then she smiled at Lani. “And he was 42!”

Lani thought for a minute and then laughed. “He was 24 years older than her?”

“Yes. Mind you, that was back in the day. And boy was he old-fashioned! Oma said he was an old codger! But you should do what you two think best.”

Lani paused for a moment. “I want you to approve,” she said softly.

Ellen smiled. “I do approve!”

Ellen was done, and began making the alterations. Lani sat down on the couch. “He’s getting me an engagement ring!”

Ellen walked over and sat down next to her. “I know.”

“You’ve seen it?”

“Maybe.”

Lani Kincaid

Lani, born Lana Katherine Kincaid, is the daughter of Roger Kincaid, a former star athlete, and his wife Roberta. She has a sister named Tanya and a brother named Nick. Lani, a nick-name given to her by David, has a dysfunctional relationship with her mother. But she also doesn't get along with her father. The situation intensifies after Roger's extra-marital affairs with a much younger woman named Marian lead to Lani's parents' divorce. After Roger marries Marian, a relationship of mutual hatred quickly develops between Lani and Marian, whom David never meets. Marian wants Lani out, and their constant clashes cause Lani to see all other women as her enemies, and, especially after becoming involved with David, rivals to be driven away. Lani's misogyny causes her to constantly denigrate the other girls around David and to clash violently with them. Lani's deepest hatred is for Mickey Mason, David's ex-girlfriend. The only exceptions are Jean's cousin, Kayla Swann, and Ellen Larimore, who becomes a non-threatening maternal figure for Lani.

Lani meets David through her cousin Mark Wentzler and they instantly hit if off. David's nick-name for Lana becomes widely used by all except Barbara Michaels, a friend of David's who takes great enjoyment in clashing with Lani. As graduation from high school drew near, David and Lani decide to marry, although this is kept from David's parents until just before graduation. Lani and David share an interest in the same music and both identify with the growing Counter Culture. Lani is unique among the people David knows in that she is the only one who enjoys talking to him about the key concepts that will form the basis of David's view of life. Often their conversations take the form of dialectic; verbal conversations taking the form of question and answer...with an important conclusion reached at the end.

Lani and David's sister Sarah instantly launch into a combative relationship after Lani calls Sarah "matron." For her part, Sarah constantly tells David that Lani will only bring him pain. Lani's hostility toward the other girls David knows intensifies as graduation approaches, as does her conflict with Marian. Following a final showdown between Mickey and Lani at a pre-graduation party, during which he saves Lani from making a mistake that would have had terrible consequences for the rest of her life, David finally understands Lani's hatred of the other girls they know.

After marrying, David makes important decisions without consulting Lani, including the purchase of Paul Vogel's house whose garden begins on the other side of the Gap in the Fence and his decision to enlist in the army and go to Vietnam. After being discharged due to a serious injury, David becomes more and more hostile to Lani, who, after trying to make their relationship work, finally leaves him.

******************************************

Barbara knew about her, and added that someone told her that Ginny had a kid.

“Where’s the kid?” he asked.

Barbara made a strange face and pointed. He turned around and found Lani standing behind him.

“Who gives a fuck? I hate her and so do you! Who cares about some tramp’s kid?” she railed.

Then she looked at Barbara. She pointed menacingly at her. “How’s it your business?”

Barbara was about to say something when Lani cut her off.

“Shut up! You’re a tramp too! I should kick your ass!”

Barbara got up to leave, and blew David a kiss. Then she pointed at Lani. “Oh David, isn’t she just beautiful!”

Barbara headed toward the gap in the fence as Lani followed her, screaming insults the whole way. She continued hollering toward the fence for some time after Barbara was gone. David walked over, took her by the arm and led her back to the step. Then he listened for thirty minutes as she told him about how terrible Barbara was, and all the weird things she supposedly did with every guy at school. Finally, Lani ran out of nasty things to say. Then she looked at him.

“And you better not ask about that old tramp again!” Then she laughed.

“What’s so funny?” David asked.

“I hate Barbara and Ginny; and Jean, Stephanie, Lorraine and Mickey; especially Mickey!”

Then she looked at him again. “And so do you!”

******************************************

Lani looked at him and opened a beer. “What weird feeling?”

“Like, I don’t belong.”

“Belong to what?”

“More like, belong where.”

“Ok. Where don’t you belong? And yes, that’s weird.”

“It’s hard to say. It’s kind of like a feeling of having been left behind. I’m not sure by what.”

“How would you know you were left behind?”

“I don’t know. It’s like you were on a train, and then got off too soon. You’re somewhere, but not a somewhere you’re supposed to be.”

Lani looked at David and handed him a beer. “I don’t get it.”

“Well, you look around and things make sense. They even look familiar. So there’s nothing wrong with where you are; it’s just not where you’re supposed to be.”

“Maybe it’s good enough that things make sense where you are.”

“Sure, that’s possible; I can’t argue with that. Maybe most people are happy enough that things make sense; that they look familiar,” David conceded.

“I am,” Lani declared. “Besides, you belong with me. So where I am, you are too. Then you didn’t get off the train too early; you got off where you were supposed to.”

David set his beer down and looked at Lani. Then he smiled. “That’s really very good Lani!”

“Yeah, well, I have my moments,” she said laughing.

Then he looked at her. “But maybe you got off too soon too.”

“I don’t think so. And besides! I was doing so well and now you ruin it!”

David laughed. “Sorry.”

Lani smiled. “Maybe you can get back on. Then you’ll catch up, and you’ll be where you’re supposed to be.”

David hadn’t thought of this. “Maybe you can,” he muttered to himself, staring off into the distance.