In the distance, one of the firemen handed something off to Vince, and after some
discussion between the two of them, Vince walked over toward the blanket.
"Johnny?" Johnny's eyes were fixed on the man's hand. "Just show me." "Look uh...that kid Davis said he took a pop in the nose and...you know how much they can bleed so--" "Show me." Vince held up a dirty blood covered front panel of a shirt. "Is it his?" "Nooooooooo!" Johnny cried turning away. "It's not?" "Vince," Roy warned putting his arm around his friend. "What the hell did he do to them?! Will somebody please tell me that?! What the hell did he do? He's just a little kid!" "Johnny," Roy called as the other man stood up and headed for the wooded creek again. "Coty! Coty!" "Johnny..." "Damn it Roy, where IS he?" "I don't know but we'll find him!" Vince hurried over to them, a flicker of hope dancing across his face. "Railroad tracks Johnny. They found that Eddie kid and he said they chased him down some railroad tracks." "Railroad tracks?! Vince, there aren't railroad track here for...oh man...okay. We go down the creek about five miles and there's an old railroad bridge that crosses the creek." "Five miles? Do you really think they'd have chased him that far?" Roy asked. "HOW SHOULD I KNOW! DO YOU KNOW OF ANY CLOSER?!" "No," Roy answered softly not wanting to antagonize him any further. "Is there a way to get to the bridge by road or any road that could get us any closer?" Vince asked hopefully. "No. The only reason I know about it is because I took a ride with the guy once that owned the ranch it's on, tryin to sell him a horse. From here to there it's all wooded areas and ranchland." "So follow the creek?" "I guess." "All right!" Vince shouted as he started to give out orders. On both sides of the creek the men started to hike down. They found the railroad bridge and began to fan down both sides of the now unused tracks. The sun grew hotter and hotter and still no one had seen a sign of anything. Some of the men started to complain about following a tip given to them by one of the kids that had done the thing in the first place, feeling he would deliberately steer them in the wrong direction. Roy scanned the faces of the steep embankments with a pair of binoculars. Up and down both sides and along the tracks he looked till his eyes stung from the sweat dripping into them. His throat felt dry and hot and he longed for a cool drink. He didn't want to think what nearly three days out there must be feeling like to Coty. He could only hope that where ever the boy was, it was in some shade. Scanning again he thought he saw something on one of the embankments below the bridge. The ground had risen up high along the creek as they had walked, and now from ridge to bottom was about thirty feet, a good three story fall should one slip. He looked over to his partner, shaking the idea from his head. It wouldn't happen again...no way. Trying to find again what he had seen, he thought maybe he was wrong until it moved. 'Squirrel maybe,' he thought trying to focus better on the small brown object. Nope...a small brown loafer. "Coty?" Johnny called out half-heartedly as he looked around, not really expecting an answer. In his binoculars Roy saw the boy attached to the shoe sit up and start to slide in the loose dirt, part ways down the embankment. "Dear God," Roy hissed quietly. "Johnny, don't call him!" "What?" "Come here, but DON'T call him!" "What," Johnny asked more quietly as Roy handed him the glasses and pointed. "I don't see anything." "Start at the ridge." "Okay?" "Down till you see the tree." "Okay?" "Then down and to your left a little." "....I still don't see anyth-- Oh my god! If he moves..." "All right, call to him, but tell him to lay down and stay very still. It's gonna take some time to get some ropes down here. There's no way we can bring a copter in because the wind it would cause would make that embankment just--" "I know I know! Just...get 'em to hurry!" After a radio call back to the engines, some volunteers started in their direction with all the equipment they could carry. As soon as it arrived, Johnny and Roy tied off some ropes and grabbed some belts. "Okay," Cap asked, "which one of you is going down?" "I am," they both said at once. "Johnny, let Roy go." "I can do it Cap." "You're not on duty." "Neither is he! He got replaced at eight o'clock this morning!" "Johnny," Roy appealed. "He won't go to you Roy!" "Just let me try." Johnny's hands shook as he ignored them and tried to loop the rope through the clip on his belt. "Fine," he gave in not wanting to be a fool. "Doctors don't operate on their own right? So go get him, but Roy..." Roy looked back for the rest, but no words were forthcoming. "I will Johnny. You'll have him in just a few minutes." Roy dropped slowly down a good distance to the boys left, then carefully moved until he was beneath him and gradually made his way up. As he grew nearer, Coty sat up to give him a quick look. Through the thick dirt that covered his face, Roy could see red rimmed eyes. Tears streaked the dirt as he held out the kitten in his hand. The tiny body lay limp, it's own eyes lids and lips white with lack of color. Roy took the kitten and placed it in his largest pocket, then looped a rope around the boy's waist; a belt would be far too big even on it's smallest notch. "They threw him over," the boy explained allowing Roy to take his arms and wrap them around his neck. "Hold on tight for me okay?" "It's my fault. I never should have brought him." "It's all right Coty, I'm gonna have you to your dad in just a couple seconds." The boy started to cry into his neck while the other men pulled them up. No one cheered when they reached the top. The crying had turned hard and hysterical, and such a thing would have felt very inappropriate. Roy handed him over to his father, but Coty was crying too hard to notice the change. Rather then set Coty down, Johnny sat himself in some shade with the boy in his lap. Brice looked at the crying child and knelt down to take his vitals as he saw Roy hand the kitten over to Mike. Biting his lip, Brice took the BP and turned to call it in. Tears rolled down the man's face and he hastily wiped them away to read what he had written. The man of ice had melted. He established an IV and motioned for the stokes to be brought over, but Johnny stood with him, unwilling to put him down. "It's five miles Gage," Brice warned him. The silent group marched back to the sound of the boy's heart wrenching wails. Gradually the sound quieted until it stopped all together, for Coty had cried himself to sleep. ~/~/~/~/~ Joanne led the way down the long drive to Johnny's house. Behind her, Terry Sternwell and her son Davis followed along in their own car. The mother was determined to make her son apologize to the other boy in person if it was the last thing he ever did. Not knowing where the handsome Fireman from the picnic lived, she had badgered Joanne until she had agreed to bring her out. Coty had spent three days in the hospital, and had been home now for two. Johnny had yet to return to work and Joanne hadn't seen or heard from him since the quick glimpse she got of them both before Coty was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. The windows and doors to the house all stood wide open to allow maximum ventilation during the warm summer day. While the upstairs heated up like most houses, Johnny's porch and downstairs always seemed to stay unusually cool. Joanne attributed it to the many large shade trees and the one wall that was solid brick with a fireplace. As Joanne slammed her door shut, Johnny appeared on the porch. He wore only a pair of jeans and squinted out into the bright sunlight that fell across his yard. Recognizing the boy, he leaned against a narrow pillar at the top of the steps and folded his arms across his bare chest. Joanne saw the distrustful look that covered his face, making him look ever so much like his son. "Mr. Gage? I'm Mrs. Sternwell," the lady said stepping up on to the bottom step and offering her hand. Johnny didn't reach to shake it. "What do you want?" "Well uh...Davis here uh..." she stammered as she noticed Coty sitting in a window sill on the porch and watching her with two raccoon bruised eyes. From his hair line to his jaw, running up and down the left side of his face, she could make out a long narrow bruise that must have been caused by the side of Travis's sneaker. Her son had omitted telling anyone that the kick had been to the boy's face. As soon as she looked at him, unhindered by any window screens, Coty slid off the window sill into the house and stepped behind a white curtain that the wind was blowing around. "Well he'd like to apologize to...to YOUR son, Coty." "He would, would he?" Johnny scoffed quietly as he looked at the boy kicking at stones in his gravel driveway. "Yes he would. He feels just awful about the whole thing. He's been having nightmare's and--" "I'm sorry for that." "Oh...well thank you. So could you get Coty to--" "No." "Pardon?" "I said no. I don't think he wants to." "Well I know he probably doesn't want to, but I think it would really be a good idea for Davis to do it. You're his father, couldn't you just--" "What, order him to come out here?" "Well maybe not--" "I'm not gonna force him to come out here and talk to this boy. If he wants to apologize so bad, have him write it in a letter." "All right, well will you let me apologize to you then?" "Fine, you did." "Fine...well...I'll get out of your hair now." Joanne and Johnny's eyes locked as the woman drove away. "What's your problem?" Johnny asked. "You could have been a little nicer." The dark-haired man rolled his eyes and started inside. "Okay, I shouldn't have brought her out here but she's been hounding me for days." Joanne started to close the door automatically behind her as she followed him inside when a look from Johnny made her stop. "Sorry," she said pushing it open again, "force of habit." On the floor of the living room sat two camp cots, each covered with a sleeping bag to make it softer, and a clean white sheet. Coty, apparently still damp from a shower, picked his pillow up off the floor and sat down on one of them. "Hi Coty," she smiled. He frowned in return. "We're having tunafish salad sandwiches, you want one?" Johnny asked from the kitchen. "Sure, but let me get Chris out of the car first." "I didn't see Chris, you here to make him apologize too?" "For what?" "You tell me." "I don't think he's done anything since...months ago when Coty first got here." "And the picnic?" "He still says he didn't touch him at the picnic." "Whatever." "Did Coty tell you Chris pushed him at the picnic?" "Nope." "What did he say happened?" "He didn't." "Didn't you ask him?" "Nope." Joanne started to ask why when Johnny cut her off. "..cause he tells me what he wants when he wants. I don't badger him." As they talked, one of the adventurous kittens scrambled out of the coolness underneath the front porch, and wandered into the house through the open door. Upon seeing the boy, it scampered over to him and jumped up on his cot. Coty's face dropped to his chest and his shoulders started to heave. "It's okay Coty," Johnny soothed, dropping the tuna salad and hurrying to his side. "It's my fault." "No it's not Coty, it's not your fault." "I never should have taken him to school." "Coty..." "It's my fault, I shouldn't have taken him to school!" "Why did you then? If those kids were going to do all the things they did...why--" "I DIDN'T KNOW!" the boy wailed helplessly. "That's RIGHT! You didn't know! It wasn't you fault cause you didn't know!" Johnny told him taking him into his lap on the floor. "Excuse me?" a woman with a briefcase said at the door. "I'm sorry to seem like I'm barging in, but the door was open." "Can I help you?" Joanne offered as Johnny had his hands full. "Yes, Robin Millman from Social Services. Did I come at a bad time?" "Could I talk to you for just a minute?" Joanne asked motioning the lady to the other side of the doorway. Joanne explained the situation inside, feeling she should know exactly why Coty was crying. As she did so, Robin looked over her shoulder at the man glaring at her and the child he rocked in his lap. Once Joanne had finished, the woman stepped inside. "Mr. Gage, I just need to take a quick look around if it's all right. I won't be but a couple of minutes. You ah...you camping out in the living room?" she asked to no answer. She helped herself to looking in the cupboards, the closets and into the fridge. A few minutes later, she made her way upstairs. Johnny looked up at Joanne with embarrassment over the woman nosing around his home. "You know it's suprisingly cool down here isn't it," the lady said as she made her way back down the stairs again. "If I lived here, I'd probably camp out in the living room during the summer too. He has a beautiful bed up there by the way." "Thank you," Johnny muttered quietly. "I noticed you have the same kind. Can I ask you where you got them?" "I didn't get 'em, I just made 'em." "You MADE those? Really?!" "Yeah, well it's just ropes and twigs." "Ropes and twigs," Robin smiled, "how much would you charge for one of those, say a queen size?" "I...I don't know. I've never sold one." "Oh," she said obviously disappointed. "I'll tell you what. If you ever decide to, give me a call," she added handing him a card. Johnny took the card and stared at it for a moment. "Well?" he asked. "Well what?" "Now what?" "Oh, that's it. I just need to file the report." "And then?" "Then what?" "What's the report gonna say?" "Well between the statements I've gotten from some very reputable people in our local medical profession, the statements from more fireman than I can count, this beautiful home of yours, and the facts surrounding his last disappearance, the report will simply say there is no case for us here." "And that's it?" "That's it!" Johnny laughed in relief, shaking his son who had fallen asleep in his arms. "He's adorable by the way." "Thank you." "Don't mention it," she said letting herself out through the open door way. "Oh and ah...thanks for coming bye!" "You're welcome Mr. Gage," Robin said laughing her way down the steps. "Well I bet you're glad THAT'S over," Joanne smiled at his grinning face. "Huh? Oh yeah," he answered as he distractedly laid Coty down on his cot and pushed the hair off the boy's forehead. "I better get going?" "What about the sandwiches?" "Maybe another time." "Mom?" Chris asked the moment she stepped out onto the porch. Joanne looked over and saw him sitting on the long bench swing. "Moved into the shade I see." "Hot in the car. What did that lady want?" "Nothing anyone has to worry about anymore." "Coty was uh...he was crying over the kitten...huh." Joanne looked back inside for a moment. "Yes...he was." Chris frowned wishing he could have done something to stop it. "Well let's get home before your sister has your father wearing one of her Barbie dresses." Her son's face broke into a grin, and he giggled at the thought. His mom was right, next to Johnny, his sister could talk their father into just about anything, so long as it wasn't past her bedtime. Joanne smiled at her ability to change her son's mood. "Come on," she said putting her arm around him, "let's go home." "I thought you were leaving," Johnny commented from the doorway. "We were...we are," Joanne smiled at him. "Hh...Hi Uncle Johnny." "Chris." Joanne looked at the tension between the two, the strange awkwardness that had never been there before. She couldn't stand seeing the man she loved like a brother and her own son being so alienated from each other. Silence reigned as neither of them for the first time seemed to have anything more to say to the other. "Hey, I have an idea," Joanne started remembering a very important day just around the corner, "why don't--" "Dad?" Coty called out sleepily from the middle of the living room. Like a flash, Johnny was gone. "Well, we'll talk to him about it later maybe. Let's go." "About what?" "Nothing I guess," she paused taking a final look at the father and son inside before starting down the steps, "I should of thought it through first." "What?" Chris asked again. Joanne smiled at her son and shook her head. "Never mind, just me not thinking." Chris rolled his eyes, "whatever." ~/~/~/~/~ The next day, Joanne began to try to come up with some special plans for Chris birthday. He would be ten; a huge landmark in every child's mind as they would finally have two digits to their age. The day after Chris's ninth birthday, Chris had started in on how special his next one would be. Johnny had proposed they have a party out at his place, giving the kids horseback rides and decorating the barn with balloons and streamers. He told them they could even have hay rides through his neighbors cornfields so long as they remembered to invite his neighbor too. Chris had jumped at the idea and begged both parents until they agreed to let Johnny go with his plan, but that had been almost a year ago. A lot had changed since then. As Joanne tried to come up with some ideas, she hoped inside that Chris had forgotten all about it. Ten ideas jotted down on the paper later and everyone of them seemed far to babyish for a ten year olds party. She had to give it to Johnny, his idea had been perfect. Another memory of that day came back to her as she sat there thinking about Chris' last party. Chris had said he wanted to get a job now that he was nine. She and Roy had done their best not to laugh, but Johnny had taken him seriously. He told Chris in a very straight forward way that he should put off the idea until he was ten. Once ten, he'd be able to get a job as a ranch hand, but nine was still a little too young. Later both of them had laid into him over putting such crazy notions into the boy's head. Johnny told them he was serious because he figured to hire Chris himself. Since he'd bought the ranch, he and his neighbor Dale had been trading labor back and forth. Even with Dale's help in keeping the horses fed while he was working, he still felt overwhelmed at times. By his way of thinking, ten was more than old enough to earn some money by helping out around someone's ranch. Since he didn't have any kids of his own to chip in, he figured maybe Chris would like the job. She wondered if Chris remembered the conversation she knew he had overheard. That night he had asked her if the following year, she'd allow him to go work for Johnny. She'd promised him that if he still wanted to then, she'd let him go be a ranch hand during the summer, and if he continued to want to after that, he'd be allowed to go over there on weekends as long as he remembered school work had to come first. Either way, she told him, that was a whole year away and he needed to go to sleep. If Chris did remember any of it, he had yet to say anything to her about it. She wondered if he no longer wanted to, or if maybe he understood that the situation where Johnny had proposed the idea had changed. He now had his own son to help with chores around the ranch, little though he may be. Still her problem remained. She had no idea now how to make Chris's tenth birthday special. She thought about taking the easy way out and calling Johnny. She knew she could guilt him into still having the party out at the ranch, but Coty's face in her mind kept her from calling him. Johnny had more than enough to deal with, not to mention what that other little boy might feel about it. The situation would probably feel strange to him to say the least. While she'd forbidden Chris to play with Travis and Eddie again, she had not forbidden his friendship with Davis. She'd known the boy's mother for too long, and hadn't Chris at one time been part of all the bullying too? But for that boy to now be invited to a birthday party on Johnny's ranch...the whole thing was far too much to ask. Joanne tapped her pen against the paper trying once again to come up with something clever for his party. Scratching off her twenty-third idea immediately after writing it down, she threw her pencil down in disgust. To her relief, the phone rang, giving her an excuse to give up on having to make plans for a minute. "Hello?" she asked. "Hey hon, how's it going." "Lousy." "Lousy? Why?" "Oh Chris's party...you know. I can't think of anything--" "I thought it was going to be out a Johnny's!" "Now! Are you crazy? How can we have it out there now?" "Well JOHNNY thinks it's going to be out at his place!" "He what?" "It was his idea, remember? And we said--" "I know all that but--" "What, did you think he'd forget?" "Well yeah actually. Well maybe not forget but...change his mind?" "Well he hasn't. All I did was ask him--" "You ASKED him! How could you DO that?!" "Do what? Look Joanne, I thought this is what we had planned! All I did was ask him the measurements of the barn. It's not like we're expecting him to do the whole thing by himself! In fact I told him WE'D handle it. The fact that he's providing the barn is plenty! Don't you think?" "Yes of course it is but do you really think we should still have it out there?" "Well why not?!" "Why not," Joanne mimicked to herself. "Joanne?" Johnny's voice asked on the phone. "Oh Johnny, I'm sorry. I didn't realize he'd handed the phone off to you." "Is there is problem? I thought you were okay with the idea. If you have something else you wanna--" "NO Johnny. The idea was PERFECT! I'm just not sure we should do that to you right now though." "Do what?" "I don't know. Impose on you like that?" "Impo...It was MY idea. How would that be imposing?" "Well...I guess it's not." "Soooo...do you or don't you?" "Don't I what?" "Wanna have the party out there." "Oh we do...we do..." "Okay, well Roy said you guys would do everything but...well I'll still get the wagon from the neighbors and get him to put a trail through his corn that we can go through. I was thinking maybe we shouldn't start the party till after dark...you know...get all the kids to take naps and stuff...cause it's just going to be too hot otherwise." "That sounds fine to me, they'll love staying up late." "Okay so...the key is under the--" "I know where it is. I haven't needed to use it in a while but as long as you haven't moved--" "No, it's still in the same place. Just let me know when you're going over there so I can warn...I mean let Coty know you're coming." "How is he by the way?" "Huh?....well...he started summer school this morning. I could tell he didn't wanna go but...well Brackett said he could and...man I hope he's okay." "I'm sure he's doing just fine." "Yeah...actually...could you...I mean since you're probably going to go out there anyway to get started...taking measurements or whatever you'll need to do. Beth was gonna...she had to go to work this morning and Coty's...I don't really want him to walk home yet. Do you think maybe you could just--" "You want me to pick him up and give him a ride home?" "Could you?" Joanne blushed in glee. "Oh course I can Johnny! I'd love to." "Just take him home though okay? I think he'll just wanna go home." "I'll take him straight home. Word of honor. When does he get out?" "In about five minutes..." Johnny mentioned very humbly. "I'm on my way out the door." "Thanks Joanne. I really owe you one." Joanne couldn't stop smiling as she picked up her keys, feeling certain things were finally starting to turn around. ~/~/~/~/~ The moment Joanne pulled up in front of the school, Coty got in the car and pulled the door shut. A few kids near by shouted, "bye raccoon face." Chris slid over the back seat from the way back and rolled down his window. "Shut up you stupid morons!" he shouted back at him. Coty stared mutely at the door knob, trying to keep his face away from where anyone could see it. "Will it never stop," Joanne whispered to herself as she pulled away. "Come here and say that," one of the boys outside taunted Chris. "You better hope I don't!" "Oooooh, I'm shaking in my boots." "Chris sit down please," Joanne ordered as he leaned out the window to shout at them some more, "we don't stand up in a moving car." "I know," Chris pouted slumping in his seat, "they're just a bunch of jerks!" "You okay Coty?" Joanne asked unable to see his face. Coty ignored her and rested his forehead on the door away from her so she couldn't see him. "Your dad said to take you straight home, is that all right with you?" Joanne asked trying to get him to say something. "He probably doesn't feel like talking right now mom," Chris answered for him. "I know," she mouthed back into the rearview mirror. Several minutes later she pulled into Johnny's driveway. Two kittens darted in front of her and she slammed on the brakes praying to God that neither of them had gone under a wheel. She looked over at the Coty, but with his head still down and unmoving, he hadn't seen a thing. Joanne pursed he lips and got out of the car. In the distance, she saw the same two kittens trying to catch a butterfly. With the deepest of sighs, she got back in and drove the rest of the way up to the house. "Coty?" she asked, surprised when he didn't get out the moment they reached the house. "Hon, are you okay?" Coty gave her a confused look and it became apparent he had fallen asleep. "You're home honey." Such a look crossed his face that she was sure he would bolt out the door and disappear again without a trace. "Coty...I'm sorry...but...do you want to go in now?" Coty looked at his house, shot her another look that she could not read, and carefully opened his door. "Would you like me to make you something to eat?" The thin boy, seeming rather frail at the moment, let himself into the house and disappeared up the stairs. Joanne followed him in, unsure whether or not she should just leave. Knowing it was lunch time, and feeling he was probably hungry, she decided to grill him a cheese sandwich. When she opened the refrigerator she couldn't believe her eyes. Even when Johnny had been a bachelor living in an apartment, the fridge had never been so bare. She checked the cupboard and found them much the same way. Look as she may, she could not find a thing she could make for the boy to eat. Coty came down the stairs in jeans and boots and headed out to the barn to feed the animals. "Chris," Joanne asked, "why don't you see if you can give him a hand?" "Sure mom," Chris answered following Coty out through the laundry room. Not usually a nosey person, Joanne couldn't help but look around some more. The place was clean enough, that much was the same. On Johnny's desk in the living room she found a stack of mail and Johnny's checkbook. She knew she shouldn't, but she found herself looking things over. She discovered the Nanny service had been costing Johnny almost eight hundred dollars a month. It was apparently the first bill he paid every month while others were neglected for lack of funds. "Mom?" Chris asked startling her and making her drop the bills to the floor. "What?" she asked blushing and hastily picking them up. "There's hardly any oats left out there. I can't reach the bottom of the barrel to get them." Joanne nodded as she picked up a bill from the feed store down the road with 'overdue' stamped in red in across the front of it. "What if you tipped the barrel over...do you think--" "Oh yeah. Good idea. But...there really isn't that much left." "I'm sure Johnny will take care of it tomorrow." Chris paused, looking at his mother. "Did I...did I do something wrong?" he asked, unsure why she sounded so sad. "No honey, not at all. Thanks for helping Coty out." "Sure mom," he said, still unable to figure her mood. "I sure hope Roy didn't remind him about Chris working out here this summer. How on earth could he afford to pay him?" she wondered sadly to herself. With all the problems she knew Johnny would have being an instant father, she had forgotten to figure in money. A bachelor could just barely swing having a ranch, but to have the cost of a child, not to mention child care, how could she have forgotten it. From the looks of things, Johnny had gone very quickly into some large debts in order to pay the service. She was sure one of the reasons Coty now stayed alone was due to the cost he couldn't afford. Even so, the damage had been done, and it would be a while before he'd be able to pay the debts off. And now he was expected to free himself and his home up for a party. 'Well John Gage, I'm afraid you and Coty are going to be stuck with a LOT of leftovers,' she thought to herself with a sad grin. She knew he never ask for help when it came to money. He'd had a hard enough time just asking her for a favor that morning. Still, one way or another, she'd make sure they were all right. The phone rang startling her again. "Hello, John Gage residence," she answered into the kitchen extension. "Joanne?" Johnny asked sounding a little surprised, "is everything all right?" Joanne looked at the bills in her hand and hid them behind her back. "Fine, fine, why do you ask?" "No reason, is Coty there?" "He and Chris are out feeding the animals." "Oh." "I can run and get him quick if you--" "No that's okay. I'll just call again in a little while. Did he seem okay to you?" "Umm," Joanne mumbled, not wanting to worry him, "a little down maybe but--" "Yeah, he really hates math. I've been working with him but--" "I was thinking...I mean...I was thinking about ordering some pizzas tonight. Do you think when he's finished here he might like to come over to our place and--" "I think he'd probably rather stay home." "Oh...well...what if we ordered the pizza's out here then?" "They won't deliver out there. It's too far out." "Well I'd have to get Jenny anyway. I could just pick up--" "Did he ask you for pizza?" "No...no..." Joanne said, cursing herself for being so clumsy, "he didn't ask for a thing actually. I was just thinkin--" "He usually just makes himself something...and he does have school again tomorrow." "It's only one thirty Johnny," Joanne reminded him. The summer school class Coty was in was only for a few hours a day. "I know but...he's probably tired." He had her there. He HAD fallen asleep on the drive to the house. Still she felt herself starting to get angry. How on earth did he expect the kid to find something to eat when the cupboards looked to bare. Her chance to ask him left very quickly as he was toned out. Coty and Chris came in the door as she hung up the phone. Joanne suddenly felt nauseous over the remaining thoughts she had of pizza and rushed to the bathroom. "Mom?" Chris called after ten minutes had passed, "you okay?" "I'm fine honey, I'll just be a minute." Despite her jumping stomach, her nose started to detect an odor that was very pleasing and soon she started to feel hungry. Out in the kitchen, she found Coty had decided to feed himself. He had peeled a number of small potatoes from the pantry, and was now frying them up. She saw him glance up at her shyly as she noticed he was frying up enough for three. With as little food as Johnny had in his house, part of her felt she shouldn't eat any, but the smell and her grumbling stomach made her help herself just the same. "You're a good cook Coty," she smiled, wondering if her feelings about the food left in the house weren't just a tad stuck up. He hadn't had a problem finding something to eat at all. "What do you call these," Chris asked scarfing his down just as happily. "Well when I was a girl, we called them home fries," Joanne answered when it was apparent Coty wasn't going to. "How come you never make 'em?" "Because hashbrowns from the freezer are easier?" Joanne responded feeling even more snobby about Johnny's situation. It wasn't like either of them were starving to death. "I like these better," Chris answered matter of fact. "Oh you do, do you?" Joanne laughed messing up his hair. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Coty watching them so intently that it made her start to blush. There was such a look of astonishment in his eyes that it nearly made her laugh again. It occurred to her that the women Coty had known earlier in his life must have been even worse than the men. His mother must have been a real gem. For a time she had figured the mother to be a naive young girl, hooked on drugs and talked into letting the things happen with her son that had happened. The more she saw of him, and the ways he looked at her, she knew the mother had probably been his worst tormentor of all. Coty silently started to wash the dishes once he had finished his plate. She was struck with the biggest surprise in her life when she saw her son jump up and offer to dry them. The wheels in her mind started turning. It was obvious Chris was now trying to be his friend. If only he had done that from the beginning, maybe everyone would be having things a little easier at the moment. But she reminded herself that was not what had happened. With Coty fed and the dishes done, she found herself with no more excuses to stay. Coty watched her sitting there in complete confusion. What ever his routine was, her and Chris' presence were definitely interrupting it. Even so, she felt reluctant to leave him there alone. The idea danced in her head, but past images made her nervous to suggest it. "Come on Chris, we better get going. We have to pick up Jenny in ten minutes. Thanks for lunch again Coty, it was very good." "Bye Coty," Chris offered with a meek wave. Joanne wasn't sure, but she thought she saw Coty mouth 'Good bye,' in return. ~/~/~/~/~ "I don't understand," Roy said at breakfast the following morning, "you want Chris to what?" "Just take a class." "In what?" "Reading." "He passed reading Joanne." "I know, but just barely. Besides, his teacher DID suggest it." "Suggest...not order. You know how I feel about summer school Joanne. No kid is gonna learn a thing if they despise having to go. It would just be wasting time and money and make him hate school even more." "But what if he didn't mind going." "Don't be ridiculous." "Well I was thinking we could just ask him is all." "Summer school is already started--" "It's only the second day." "Why are you just bringing this up now?" "I was just thinking it wouldn't hurt him any and then maybe Coty would--" "What does Coty have to do with it?" "He's going to summer school." "And..." "Well I was just thinking...I don't know WHAT I was thinking." "Obviously." "Oh don't be so snooty." Roy's mouth dropped open a mile. "Look, you're the one who's not making any sense here." "I was just thinking it might be better for Coty if he didn't have to go to that school alone everyday." "So Chris should go to do.....what? They wouldn't be in the same class you know. Coty's in math, not reading. And the last thing Chris needs to take is math. You SAW the math award he brought home, right?" "That's it!" "What's it?" "Chris could tutor Coty in math! He could meet him at the school and they could walk to the ranch together." "Now hold on." "That way Chris could spend some time out there and help out." "And then what?" "What what?" "Chris walks home? How late do you have him staying out there?" "No, I could go pick him up later." "If that's what you wanna do, why don't you just offer to drive Coty home every day?" "Cause that would still leave him out there by himself all the time. It's a little much to expect Coty to take care of everything by himself, don't you think?" "Dale goes over there to--" |