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When he finally gets home, Dustin sees the empty spot where Mews used to sleep. Mews is dead, and it's his fault. The lights off, he curls up under the covers and cries into his pillow.
***
The demo-dog turns to sludge in the Byers's fridge. Mrs. Byers asks Steve and Dustin to clean it up. Which they do, but not before Dustin gets a jelly jar of the stuff. For the future.
***
Two days later the Party goes to see Will at Byers, to bring get-well cards and see the burn mark on his hip. Lucas and Max stand near to each other. Like they were in the bus, they're close, always close.
“You're not in love with this girl, are you? You're too young to get your heart broke.”
Too late.
***
Just to make matters worse, Reagan beats Mondale in a landslide. Mom is crushed. Dustin can't do anything about that. He can't do anything for his own mother—except get her cat killed.
***
What drives Dustin nuts is they know nothing. About the Upside Down, about El's powers, all they've been through. They're still pig-ignorant about the whole thing.
Somebody has to investigate. He begins taking notes. Assembling dossiers. He hides his files in the tunnel Dart burrowed.
This will be the ultimate curiosity journey.
***
Steve's giving Dustin a ride home when Dustin casually calls Nancy Wheeler a bitch.
“What?”
“Hey, if the shoe fits--”
“Don't you ever call her that again! Ever!”
“She cheated on you! She ditched you for Jonathan--”
The car slams to a halt on the shoulder.
“Get out.
“Huh?”
“Get out. Enjoy your walk home, asshole.”
Steve leaves him with most of a mile left.
The next day Steve calls. They make some mumbled not-quite-apologies.
“Seriously, dude, don't ever say anything like that again.”
“But--”
“No buts.”
“Aren't you mad?”
Steve lets out a mammoth sigh. “It's complicated, Henderson. You'll understand when you're older.”
***
Mom is talking to her lawyer, giving him a message to give to Dad's lawyer to give to Dad.
95% of his parents' communication takes place through lawyers. This is for the best for everyone.
***
He can't tell Mr. Clarke about the Upside Down. Or El's powers. Or any of what they've experienced in the past two years.
It's not fair. Out of everyone he knows, Mr. Clarke alone might be able to say something intelligent about these things, might be able to see what they mean. Once Dustin almost blurts it out anyway. It's not fair.
***
For Thanksgiving, he goes to Evansville to stay with Dad. And Mary.
“Hey, Champ!” his father greets him with a huge hug, as always. “You're too big to pick up! Wow!” In the car, he hands Dustin the latest copy of Scientific American, and they enthusiastically discuss the contents all the way to Dad's apartment.
Mary greets him at the door of the apartment. Mary, whose affair with his father precipitated his parents' divorce.
Dustin says “Hi, Mary.” He does not return her hug.
On Thanksgiving Day, Dustin embraces his Grandma, smiles to his aunt and uncles, races around the place with his cousins, and says exactly nine words to Mary.
The next day, he's sitting in the guest room (his room, for the duration), listening to an argument from down the hall.
“He doesn't respect me.”
“He's thirteen! He doesn't respect anybody!”
“He doesn't talk to you that way.”
“He's just a kid. It's hard growing up today...”
Dustin has a sneaking little pleasure that Mary picked up his meaning loud and clear, and that he is the cause of this tiff.
Dad asks him to be a little nicer to Mary. Dustin fails to do so.
***
As Dad is driving him home, a song comes on the radio.
How can you just leave me standing
Alone in a world that's so cold?
Maybe I'm just too demanding
Maybe I'm just like my father, too bold
Maybe you're just like my mother
She's never satisfied
Why do we scream at each other?
This is what it sounds like
When doves cry
All the kids at school would laugh, but in that moment, it seems like Prince is singing specifically for him.
***
Steve and Dustin don't have a lot of overlapping interests, but one they find is comedy. Dustin has a wide collection of records: Monty Python (the one with two grooves on one side), George Carlin, Richard Pryor, National Lampoon stuff. They meet at Dustin's place and spend the afternoon cackling. Mom likes to hear the laughter.
***
After the Snow Ball, Dustin feels very guilty for having called Nancy Wheeler a bitch.
Maybe Steve was right: it is complicated. Maybe life is complicated.
***
Dustin sings in the church children's choir. It doesn't mean anything to him, but Mom wants him to. At the Christmas service, they sing “The First Noel,” “Away In A Manger,” and “Go Tell It On the Mountain.” Dustin gets a solo. It makes her so happy.
***
For Christmas, Mom gets him a Capsela set. It's top of the line, but the toy is aimed a few years younger than him. Dad gets him a four-in-one science kit (chemistry, biology, geology, and physics) with a frog to dissect, a Bunsen burner, and a scratch plate for identifying rocks.
He likes Dad's present better. He feels terrible about it, but it's true. He doesn't let Mom see that, of course.
***
Dustin takes the jelly jar of Demo-sludge from its hiding place and sets it in front of his new chemistry set. He's not sure where to begin.
In the enclosed booklet of “101 Experiments You Can Do,” he finds a test for carbon.
The test result is negative. A demo-dog is not a carbon-based life form.
What the hell are these things?
***
Max and Lucas break up. Dustin wonders: can he ask her out now? Would that be allowed? Would Lucas be willing to chalk it up to life being complicated? Could life being complicated work in his favor, just once?
But it doesn't matter because they get back together again. But then they break up again.
Dustin resolves to at least let them be broken up for a solid month before he tries anything.
***
Mom never asks why there are so many Kleenex in his trash, or why his door is locked sometimes, or why he's in such hurry to take a shower at night.
There are some things a 13-year-old boy simply can't discuss with his mom, even the best mom in the world.
***
Dustin hits Record and says into the microphone “William Byers interview, tape one.”
He and Will and Jonathan are sitting around the Byers kitchen table. Joyce is at work.
“Can you tell me what happened the night you got lost?”
They go over the history of the Upside Down as Will experienced it. Jonathan tells Dustin to back off at times, but Will says “It's OK. This is important.” His little buddy does his damnedest to get across all the details.
Except for the period he can't remember. Everything after the moment he yelled “Go Away!” is a blank, until the second Nancy Wheeler shoved a glowing-hot poker in his side. Whatever memories he had of that time, the Mind Flayer took when it left.
Dustin is frustrated.
***
Early February sees a blizzard. School is out, but that doesn't stop Steve from picking up him, Mike, Will, Lucas, and Max, and driving them to Macintosh Hill. They spend the whole day sledding, throwing snowballs, laughing.
He feels like a kid again. A wild freedom, a sensation slipping away from him. He makes up his mind to always remember this day.
***
They get Steve to play D&D once. It doesn't go well.
***
Dustin shows his mother the brochure Mr. Clarke gave him.
“It's called Camp Know Where, and it's kids from all over the country studying science.”
Mom scans the brochure with pursed lips. She lingers over the back panel, which gives the cost.
“Dusty, I wish...we can't. I'm sorry, but we just can't afford it.”
Dustin isn't sure which of them is more upset. Mom offers to order a pizza for supper, to take the edge off. It helps a little.
***
The next step in the curiosity journey is the most important.
“I need to talk to El,” he says to Mike. “You need to get me out to the cabin.”
“What? No!”
“It's important.”
“I don't care! I don't get to see El! Why should you?”
“Two years ago we had the first incursion from the Upside Down and we thought that was it. We stopped thinking about it. We thought we were safe. Last November we found out we were wrong. We stopped that incursion and everyone stuck their head back in the sand. It's going to happen again. It's going to happen again because we don't know jack shit about what the Upside Down is or what comes out of it, and nobody cares. We need to do something. We need to know more. If the Mind Flayer comes back, El is going to be its main target. She's in danger, Mike.”
That does it. Despite himself, Mike agrees to contact El on the radio. El agrees to talk. Now it's just a matter of making the connection.
***
The idea was Mike's, so he puts forth the proposal to Steve. Dustin, Lucas and Will back him up.
Steve's response: “What? No!”
Mike persists. “Aw, c'mon! We'll chip in the cash. You buy us a sixer, you get two, each of gets one. That's more than fair.”
“I am not buying you little juvies beer, dammit.”
“Why not?” Dustin interjects.
“You're in fucking junior high!”
“When was your first party?”
“Freshman year.”
Lucas puts in his oar. “We're going to be freshmen in four months.”
Steve considers the situation. “All right. When you're in high school, I'll buy for you. Not before.”
The question is settled. In four months, they can have beer.
***
Mom is talking to Dad. He doesn't have to hear the words to know. He can tell by the tone, the clipped, clinical voice she uses in court.
He leans toward the door of his room, straining to eavesdrop.
“...yes...Camp Know Where...it's a science camp...no, it's impossible. I just had to put six hundred into the car...I know it's your week. I will make that up to you...I know it's not in the settlement. It's important to him. He really wants to go...”
Dustin hardly breathes until she walks down the hall to his room.
“Sweetie, I just talked to your father. We're going to go in halfsies to pay for Camp Know Where. You can go.”
He flings himself off his bed and into her embrace. They hold each other for a long time. He knows what it cost her.
***
He's off the trail, in the thickest woods. The cabin is around here somewhere.
He's alone. Mike insisted on coming at first, but then realized if they were caught, Hopper would ban him from all contact for a century.
Finally he spots the place. Begins to approach. There's no sign of the cruiser, that's good. Now's the time to be careful. Mike warned him there were booby traps all through here.
He spots the tripwire right before he steps into it.
El opens the door and frantically waves him inside, then slams it shut.
“Is anybody here?” Dustin asks.
“No. Dad won't be back until tonight.”
Hopper is 'Dad' now, Dustin notes, as they sit across from each other at the little table. He slots a tape into the recorder. “Eleven, AKA Jane Hopper, tape one.”
“A-K-A?”
“It means 'also known as.' It indicates another name you use. Also, it sounds cool.”
He readies a legal pad and a good, sharp pencil.
“Now...when was the first time you saw the dimension we call the Upside Down?”
She tells him about the Lab, and the tank, and what it was what like to live with Papa. The hair on the back of his neck rises occasionally.
“Did you tell Hopper that Papa is still alive?”
“...not yet.”
She continues to talk about the Upside Down, about the eternal falling ash, when she mentions having to be careful not to “slip out.”
“Slip out to where?” Dustin is intrigued.
“To one of the other places.”
“Other places? You mean other dimensions?”
“I guess.”
“So there isn't just one alternate dimension—one other place?”
“No. I've seen The Big Staircase. The Place With All the Caterpillars. The Pet Store.”
“How many are there?”
“...what's the biggest number?”
“There is no biggest number. Numbers just keep going on and on forever.”
El nods. “There are forever number dimensions.”
Forever. Infinity. Dustin feels like he's going to throw up. Sitting in the cozy cabin, he feels like the roof opens up and the sky opens up and he can see dimensions forever, far too many to comprehend, and all the dimensions are bearing down upon them, and all the dimensions are filled with monsters.
“Dustin, are you all right?”
“Huh? Yeah, I'm OK.” He rubs his eyes. “I should go. It's getting late. I don't want Hopper to find me here.”
***
For Mother's Day, he gives Mom a fireworks display. Sparklers coiled in the shape of a heart and the word MOM, flanked by Roman candles. He lights them simultaneously with the help of fuses. She loves it.
He wishes he could do more. He wishes he could give her the world.
***
The last day of school. The last day of 8th grade. The last day of Science Class. Dustin stays behind after everyone else leaves.
“I guess this is good-bye,” Mr. Clarke says. He seems to be struggling a little.
“Yes, my lord,” Dustin manages to get out.
“Dustin, it's been a pleasure teaching you these past two years. You are one of the most curious and active students I've ever had. Good luck in high school. I know you'll knock 'em dead.”
Mr. Clarke puts forth a hand. To shake. Like an equal.
Dustin flees. He simply can't do it. If he took that hand, if he said one more word, he'd burst into tears. He can feel himself leaking already. He almost runs down the hall.
Junior High is complete. Before him lies the unknown.
***
Joyce Byers throws a last-day-of-school dinner party. All of Dustin's friends are there. Then—wonder of wonders!-Hopper shows up, with Eleven. There's a huge shout. Everyone is laughing, and happy.
Dustin eats a lot, tells many loud jokes, then helps Will, Max and Lucas do the dishes.
***
In a week he leaves for Camp Know Where. He will have a fantastic time learning there and making new friends, then come home and spend the rest of vacation hanging out with everybody and continuing his curiosity journey.
This is going to be the best summer ever.
Dustin can't wait.