Moments - Part I - Chapter 2: Signs

I don’t know exactly all of what happened to Jack that night and he hasn’t told me much, but the following day, he arrived at school wearing sunglasses. When Ms. Vera finally got him to remove them, we all saw his bruised eye. Some kids laughed, some immediately started asking what happened, and some just stared. I was one that just stared. 

Ms. Vera eventually got us all settled down and back in our seats. At that point, I immediately turned around and said, “My mom said you can come over after school today if you want.”

He looked up as I turned back around and said, “Cool. Thanks.”

So, I turned back around and asked, “So, what happened—to your eye, I mean?”

He answered, “I was playing catch with my dad and the ball bounced off my glove and hit me in the eye.”

“Ouch,” I said. “Does it hurt a lot?”

“Uh, just a little, but not too bad,” he answered.

“Maybe me and you can play catch sometime. My brother won’t play with me anymore ’cause he thinks I’m a baby and my dad’s too busy,” I told him as I turned back around.

“Yeah, definitely,” he said.

“Maybe after school today?” I asked.

“Sure,” he said, a little reluctantly, though, at the time, I didn’t notice.

After school that day, Jack got off the bus at my house, like we’d planned. We went inside to the kitchen where my mom was making us lunch.

“Hi, Mom. This is my friend, Jack. You said he could come over today,” I informed her.

My mom smiled and knelt down in front of us. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Jack. Are you boys hungry?”

“Yeah,” I answered for both of us. “And after lunch, we wanted to go play catch. Can we?”

“Yeah, but just play in the front yard. You’re still a bit too little to walk to the park without Will or me or Dad, okay?” she told us.

“Okay,” I said, as a plate of half a turkey and cheese sandwich and a couple Doritos were placed in front of me. Jack had an identical plate placed in front of him. As we started eating as quickly as possible, a glass of lemonade was given to each of us, which we guzzled down. 

After we were done, I asked, “Can we go play now?”

 “Yeah, go ahead,” she told me.

I told Jack to follow me to my room. I grabbed my glove and asked if he’d brought his. His eyes shifted to the floor as he admitted that he hadn’t brought his mit. I told him it was no problem, that he could use my glove and I’d just use Will’s.

“Is Will your brother?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I told him. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

He shook his head. “No, but I want one. It gets kinda lonely at my house.”

“Well,” I told him, “you can be my brother. My real brother’s not always very nice to me anyways.” That made him smile. 

 We played catch all afternoon, that is, until my brother came home and saw I was using his glove. He ran over from the bus, knocked me to the ground, grabbed the glove off my hand, and told me off for taking something that didn’t belong to me. I just stood up and looked over at Jack. He asked me, “Are you alright?”

I told him, “Yeah, he does that kind of stuff all the time. He never actually hurts me because he knows he’ll get in big trouble if he does. Trust me, if you had a big brother, you’d understand.” He just nodded. 

“Well,” I said, “what do you want to do now?”

He thought for a moment and then ventured, “Do you want to walk to the park? We can play on the swings and monkey bars and jungle gym. Then, we’ll be prepared next year when we have recess.”

It made sense that we would have to practice for recess, but I remembered, “My mom doesn’t want me to walk to the park alone.”

“Well, you’re not alone, Alex. You’re with me. I wouldn’t let anything bad happen to you. Don’t you trust me?” Jack said.

I thought about it and then said, “I trust you, Jack.” And I still do.

We played at the park together until dark and then we walked back to my house. I remember we were laughing and talking and just having a good time when, as soon as we walked through the door, my dad grabbed me and pulled me into a hug. And I heard my mom say, “Oh thank god!”

“Where have you been, Alex?!” my dad asked. “Your mother and I have been looking everywhere for you!”

 “Me and Jack walked to the park,” I said.

My mom was quite livid after that confession (which I announced like it was no big deal). “Alexandria Josephine Grayson! I specifically told you that I did not want you walking to the park by yourself!”

“I wasn’t by myself. Jack was with me and he’s my best friend,” I told her.

“Alex,” my dad said with his hand over his eyes, “if you’re too young to walk to the park, what makes you think a kid in your class that’s the same age as you would be old enough?”

“Well, alone, we’re both five. But together, we’re ten!” I told him. “And that’s older than Will and he can walk to the park by himself.”

“That’s not how age works, genius,” Will told me.

“That’s enough, Will,” my dad told him. “Alex, this will be your first and only warning since it’s your first offense. When your mother says you cannot go to the park alone because you are too little, that does not mean find a school friend to go with you. That means you either ask Mom, or wait for Will or me to get home. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” I said. “But Jack thought it would be okay. And I trust Jack. He doesn’t have any brothers so he can’t wait for one to get home to take him to the park. Going with me’s his only chance to go.”

“Jack is welcome to go with you to the park, if your dad or Will or I am with you. But it’s too dangerous for kids your age to walk to the park alone,” my mom said.

“Yeah,” my brother said. “Wait for someone who’s not a baby to take you.”

 “And Will, you are not to go alone either. You either take your brother or go with friends or me or your dad,” she told Will.

“Yeah, I know,” Will said.

My dad seemed to notice Jack, who was trying to look as small as possible, for the first time. “I assume you’re Jack?”

Jack nodded tentatively.

“Do your parents let you walk around the city by yourself?” my dad asked.

Again, Jack nodded tentatively.

“Well, I’m sorry, Jack, but I sincerely doubt that. I’m gonna call them and tell them where you are. They’re probably worried sick. What’s your phone number?” my dad asked as he picked up our phone.

“I dunno,” Jack mumbled.

“You don’t know your own phone number?” my dad asked.

“No,” Jack answered. “We don’t got a phone at the moment.”

“What do you mean?” my dad asked. “What happened to your phone?”

 “It got broke,” Jack told him. Then, with a look of urgency, he said, “Please, sir, can I go home now? My daddy’s gonna be mad. I told him I’d be home by nine and it’s almost nine. He’ll kill me if I’m late again.”

My dad softened a bit and then said, “No, you know what? It’s dark out. I don’t want you walking in the city at night by yourself. I’ll drive you home.”

“You don’t have to,” Jack told him. “I’m used to walking home by myself.”

 “Maybe, but tonight, I’m driving you home,” my dad told him. And that’s exactly what he did. 

That’s how I found out that Jack lived in a trailer in a trailer park. And that, for some reason beyond my five-year old mind, he didn’t want anyone to know.

Over the next few days, Jack started coming to my house everyday after school and staying until nine at night. By the next few weeks, he was spending the night at my house more often than not. And, even at five, I knew it was because he didn’t want to go home. But I didn’t know why. One night in November, a couple months after he started his obsession with staying at my house, I decided to find out why.

We were playing cards, Go Fish!, when, instead of asking if he had any threes, I asked him, “Hey, Jack? Why don’t you ever go home?” which, in retrospect, was very callous and rude, but that’s a kid for you.

He looked crestfallen and said quietly, “Oh, do you not want me here?”

“No!” I backtracked. “Of course I love it when you’re here! I was just wondering why you never go home. Don’t you miss your parents?”

“Not really,” he said. “Do you have any fives?”

I may have been dismayed at his response, but all that came out of my mouth was, “No. Go fish.”

 

Tags: Sad, Humor, Depressing, Hope, Dark,