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w back part one part two part three part four part five // henry by Mark Spencer & Shawn Chuisano _______________________________________________________________________________________ w w The next afternoon I was feeling cocky and cool, sitting in a
booth in Taco Yummy. There were a bunch of other people at tables
and in booths, and Josh came in, looking around for me.
“Dude!
Over here.” I waved. He kept his head down, his chin on his chest. He slipped into the booth on the other side and grinned.
“Returning to the scene of the crime, huh?
When you called and
said to meet you here I thought you were psycho, but now I like this
idea.”
“Yeah. How can Krebs accuse us if we show up and hang out
here?”
Josh looked over at the gruesome partial remains of a burrito supreme on
another table. He made a face and said, “But we don’t have to
eat any of the food, do we?”
“Hey, here he comes.” I nodded toward one of the entrances from
the parking lot. Krebs was coming through the door. Brandi was
right behind him, wearing her Taco Yummy costume. Krebs was in
uniform, too, but the cap he had on today was more like a burrito than a
taco.
Krebs and my sister both froze like I’d shot them with a ray gun, and
they glared at me. Their eyes slid over to Josh for a second and
then back to me. Krebs muttered something to Brandi and then
disappeared into his office.
Brandi came over to us.
“Did
you let Krebs give you a ride to work?” I said.
“He thinks you and the J-man here are the two punks that paint balled
his car last night.”
“Did you let him give you a ride?” “You guys did, didn’t you? You’re such assholes.”
“Now would we be sitting here in Taco yum yum if we’d done something
like that?”
“Yeah. Cause you’d think it was the cool thing to do. You’re so lame,
Henny.”
Josh
was blushing and said, “So Mr. Krebs got his car paint
balled? I didn’t know that.”
Brandi
stared at him and he blushed harder. “Why are you twerps here if
you’re not eating?”
“We’re going to eat,” Josh stuttered. I was disappointed in
the dude. He was not taking pressure well. “What do you
recommend?”
“McDonald’s.”
Then she walked away.
“Let’s get a couple of Cokes,” I said.
“That’ll work.”
We went to the counter and ordered from Edward.
“Would you like to try our new buffalo-meat burrito?” Geek boy asked
us.
“No way, dude,” I said.
“They’re really good. And really nourishing.”
“I’m sure. Just two Cokes, dude.
In the grill area, Brandi was getting our Cokes. Some times I
couldn’t help getting loud. This was one of those times. I
got loud enough for everybody in the place to hear me. “Hey,
don’t spit in them this time!”
Several customers looked at Brandi, looked down at their drinks.
Brandi looked around at everybody, smiling. “He’s my little
brother. Little brother humor.”
Then she gave me a look that promised future violence.
Krebs opened the door of his office. “Brandi, I need to see you
in my office.”
“Sure, Mr. Krebs.”
He went back into his office. After fidgeting a few seconds and
looking kind of scared, she went into his office and shut the door
behind her.
Josh and I stared at the closed door and then went back to our booth.
Josh took a drink of Coke. “You think he’s going to fire
her?”
“I hope not. My mom really needs money. It wouldn’t be a
good time for Brandi to be whining for spending money every second. ‘I
need a CD. I need make-up. I need a sports bra.’”
“Yeah. That’s how girls are. They’re all about money.
My dad says you got to fork over the big bucks if you wanta get in most
girls’ pants.”
“Is that what he told you when you guys had your facts-of-life
talk?”
“Not
really. One day he just started letting me watch Cinemax with him.
Skinamax. And giving me little bits of wisdom. Stuff like,
‘Don’t rub it too hard.’”
“Rub what too hard?”
“I don’t know. Anything, I guess.”
“Oh.”
“Your dad ever talk to you about sex and stuff?”
“Yeah. Yeah, he did. Couple of years ago. Before him
and mom split up.”
“Did
he, like, show you copies of Hustler?”
“No. He just talked. He said you should love the girl
before you have sex.”
Josh grinned. “What about loving a guy? Somebody
“Screw you, you pervert. I’m trying be serious.”
“Okay. Sorry. Go on. What’d he say? Did he
explain techniques?”
“He said you fall in love, and you should be nice and gentle and never
do anything the girl doesn’t want you to do.”
“Man, that’s not the way it works on Cinemax. Some chick just
says to some guy, ‘You want some of this?’”
“Those people aren’t in love. They’re just banging. If
you fall in love with a girl, you don’t want to have sex with her.”
“What?”
“Not unless you’re gonna marry her. My dad said that, too.”
“Man, no wonder you hate your dad. What a tight ass.”
“I don’t know. I kind of like that idea. You know?
Loving somebody and all?”
“Yeah, sure, you might wanta get married some day, but you gotta get
some practice in before. You can’t wait till you’re married.
You’ll explode or something. Besides, chicks expect you to know
what you’re doing.”
“I asked my dad if him and Mom had sex before they got married.”
“You did? Did they?”
“He said they did, but they loved each other and got married, so it
was okay.”
“Man, that is so lame.”
“What you mean?”
“Well,
now they’re divorced and bangin’ other people. What a load of
bullshit.”
“Yeah. I guess.”
“Wasn’t your mom, like, screwin’ around on your dad before he
left?”
“That’s what he said, but she never admitted it. She
said he was just making it up so he’d have an excuse to leave.”
“Who you believe?”
“Even
if she was, he was still just making excuses.”
“So you think she was? I mean, screwing around on your dad.”
“No.
Dog was never around until after my dad moved out.”
“Maybe it wasn’t Dog. Maybe it was some other guy, and she met
him at motels or at his place.”
“You
been watching too many Skinamax movies. Hey, my sister’s been in
Krebs’ office a long time.”
“I don’t think he’ll fire her.”
“Why not?”
“Cause he thinks she looks like Paris Hilton.”
“You think I should go apologize to him about yelling that stuff about
her spitting in the drinks?”
“Apologize? To that bastard?”
“Brandy can’t get fired. Mom needs money.”
“What does she need it for?”
“An operation or something.”
Josh got this look all of a sudden like all the blood or light or
something drained out of his face. “Oh.”
“You don’t think my mom has what your mom had, do you?”
Josh looked at the white table top. “Breast cancer. No,
man. Your mom wouldn’t get that.”
“I’m going to see what’s going on.”
I
got up from the booth and walked to the door of Krebs’ office. I tried
to be causal as hell, but it was hard because I wanted to get my ear
close enough to hear what was going on. When I leaned against it,
the door popped open like the top of a jack-in-the-box.
I fell into the little office and there was Krebs sitting behind his
desk, sitting up all stiff in his chair and red-faced, the desk top
cleared off except for a crumbled fifty-dollar bill, and there was
Brandi standing on the other side with her shirt unbuttoned and her bra
hanging, showing her tits to him. She
covered up real fast and screeched, “I’m telling Mom!”
“Well, I’m telling Dad! I don’t get it, Brandi. Do you
like this guy?”
Brandi stuffed her bra in the pocket of her Taco Yummy smock and
buttoned up, not looking at me or Krebs or anything except some wooden
file cabinet that had a bunch of little Cadillac models on top.
Krebs swiped the fifty-dollar bill off his desk and stuffed it into his
pants pocket. “You carry a paintball gun round with you all the
time, don’t you, boy? It just happens—-”
Suddenly, I was in his face, and his eyes were big and scared and I
liked seeing him looking that way. “You leave my sister alone.
You don’t, and I’ll get a real gun.”
I turned away from his bad breath, and as I was bolting, I heard him
say, “You’re my witness. That psycho little bastard threatened
my life!”
* * * Maybe it was from inhaling the stench of all that Taco Yummy food, but
that night I had some freaked out dream about being in the woods at the
park, and I was chasing Krebs the way he’d been chasing Brandi. I was shooting paintballs at him.
The worst part of it was that he
was wearing a bikini and he was all fat and hairy, just like in real
life. On his head he wore the Taco Yummy cap that looked like a
burrito. My paintballs splattered against his hairy back.
* * *
The
next day I said screw the ban, and I was out there at the park with Josh
and Brandon and Weston and Seth, me and Josh at war with Brandon and
Seth. I was having a pretty good time, and nobody had called me shrimp
or called my mom a whore or my dad a pig. I thought I was so cool
when I found a hollowed out fallen tree big enough to lie down and hide
in.
Brandon
was approaching with no idea I was in that dead tree. When he got
close enough, I came up out of nowhere like Jason in those slasher
movies and shot Brandon point blank in the chest. And the bastard
shot back, hitting me in the chest and shoulders.
“You’re
dead!” I yelled. “You dumb bastard! You can’t shoot
back.”
“No, you’re dead, Wales.”
“What the hell? I shot you first. Come on. Play
right, dick wad.”
Then
he shot me in the neck, just at the edge of my face mask, same as he had
a couple of days ago. I dropped my paintball gun, clamped my hand
over my neck, which felt like it had been torched. Tears came to
my eyes, but I couldn’t help it. Brandon stood there smiling.
So I leaped at him, knocked him to the ground, sat on his chest, and
started beating his face.
“I’m tellin’, Wales!”
I
just kept pounding his face until I felt Josh and Seth pulling me off.
Josh
was saying, “Stop it! Stop it, dude! He’s hurt. You win.”
Brandon
was all teary and bloody and waling, “I think my nose is broke!”
“I’m sick of people not playing by the rules. If you’re not
going to play by the rules, then what’s the point of playing?”
“You’re psycho, Wales.”
Seth
helped Brandon get up, and they started to walk away, while Josh held on
to me.
“Your
mom’s a whore, shrimp. I’m telling the first cop I see
you’re not supposed to be in the park.”
Josh was pretty strong for a small guy, and he was able to hold me back.
“Come
back here, asshole, so I can kick your ass some more.”
But
quick enough Brandon and Seth were out of sight.
“That
son of a bitch. Let me go. I think I’m gonna puke.”
Josh
let me go, and I dropped to my hands and knees and stayed that way for a
while but nothing happened. All I could do was spit.
“Henry,
we better leave the park the back way.”
“I
was feeling so good. Then he had to screw it all up.” I
shook my head and got up from my knees, and we started walking. “That’s the way it is with everything.”
“What
is?”
“When
things feel good, somebody always screws things up.”
“Dude,
you were playing some intense paintball.”
“I was thinking about Krebs.”
“World’s
full of guys like Krebs. Can’t kill ‘em all.”
“Pervert
won’t leave Brandi alone.”
“I
don’t think she minds that much. Now don’t go psycho on me or
anything, but don’t you think your sister’s kind of a slut?”
“She
hasn’t always been. She used to be a regular girl.”
“A
regular girl?” “Yeah.
After Dad left, she changed.”
“So what’s the deal now? You think you can save her? Make her regular again?” “Somebody
has to.” “I
wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for her to turn into a nun.” “When
we were little, she used to make me play school with her. She was
the teacher and I was her student, and she’d make me sit in front of
her and do dumb stuff like spell ‘cat’ and tell her what two plus
two equaled. And she’d keep saying, ‘That’s very good,
Henry. That’s very good. Your grade for the day is A
plus.’” “I
bet you hated that.” “She
took care of me a lot back then cause Mom was always needing to take a
nap or something as soon as my dad left for work in the afternoon.” “Did
she give you baths and stuff?” “No.
I didn’t grow up in Arkansas like you.” “Brandon
says his big sister used to give him baths.” “He
probably enjoyed that. Hey, can we go to your house so I can get
cleaned up some? I don’t want to go home looking like this.” “Sure.”
* * * Josh’s
house was small, messy, and dark. We went through the back door,
hearing TV voices turned down kind of low.
“Either
Dad’s home or he left the TV on.” Being quiet, we stepped into the living room. A big lounge chair sat in front of the TV. We were behind it and couldn’t see if anybody was in it. Oprah was on.
“Dad?”
Josh
waited.
“Dad?”
“What?”
It was creepy the way Josh’s dad’s voice came out of the thin air.
“What
you doing home? I thought you were going into the store at
three?”
“No. I decided not to.”
Josh
stayed back with me. He didn’t act like he wanted to see his
dad.
The
phone exploded into a loud ring and I damn near jumped.
“Don’t
get it!” Josh’s dad said.
“Okay,
okay, Dad.”
We
just stood there while the loudest phone in the world went on and on.
Finally, it stopped and I could start breathing again.
“Boss
been calling.”
“You
going to work tomorrow?”
“Yeah. Sure. Just not today, sir.”
“Come on,” Josh said to me.
“Who’s
with you?”
“Henry.”
“Who?”
“Henry Wales.”
“Never heard of him. Hi, Hank. Name’s Mike.” His
hand appeared above the back of the lounger, and it waved.
“Henry. He’s my best friend.”
I didn’t know I was Josh’s best friend until that second.
“My best friend. Yeah.”
“We
been paint ballin’. He’s going to take a shower. Or his
mom will kill him.”
“Is
she good looking?”
“Who?”
“Hank’s
mom.”
“Henry.”
“Okay,
Henry. Is she?”
“Yeah.
She’s real hot, dad.” Josh grinned at me.
“But
his sister’s hotter.”
“Hot as Mom was?”
“No, Dad.” Josh looked at me. “Come on.”
And we went down the hall to the bathroom.
“There’s soap and a towel.”
The tub had mildew all around the edges. I touched the one towel hanging
next to the toilet.
“It’s wet.”
“We’ve only been using it this week.”
“Oh.” I touched it again. “Is your dad drunk? Why’s he watching Oprah?”
“He
doesn’t drink. Not even beer. He just gets this way some
times.”
“Cause
of your mom?”
Josh shrugged. “I guess. Some times he’s okay. He
goes to work, comes home, watches Skinamax. Eats chips. Gives me tips on how to get in girls’ pants.
Then all of a
sudden he’ll get like this.”
“Does
he ever go out with girls . . . women?”
“No.”
“Don’t
you think that’s weird? He’s probably lonely since your mom
died.”
“He’s
too old. He’s a lot older than your dad and mom. He’s
like fifty or something. He says sex is just a spectator sport for
guys his age.”
“How
old was your mom? Was she really young and hot or something?”
“She
was forty-something. He always says she was hot, but she
wasn’t.”
“Don’t
you worry about him when he gets like this? Shouldn’t you do
something?”
“What
am I going to do? Go find him a hooker to cheer him up?”
“Just
something.”
“Henry,
haven’t you noticed that all adults are pretty screwed up? Dude,
they’re worse off than kids our age.”
I stared at Josh. He was right.
“I gotta get this paint off.”
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