Keller and Callahan

Chapter 2

In the weeks that followed, Olivia and Sam ate lunch together every day. And before long, it felt as if they had known each other their entire lives. It was an unspoken pact that there were no secrets between them, and with that, no judgements. Sam’s relationship with Olivia was the purest he’d ever had, and in those next few weeks after Olivia had tossed those dang powdered donuts in front of him, it was the most treasured as well.

Sam ignored the snide comments that occasionally escaped from other classmates, questioning why Olivia would waste her time with trash like Sam. It didn’t seem to bother Olivia in the least bit, so he didn’t let it bother him. Even though those thoughts would sometimes creep in when he was alone at home and would make him anxious for the next day. Panicking that tomorrow would be the day that Olivia wouldn’t save a seat next to her in the lunchroom. But thankfully, that day hadn’t come. Yet.

They chatted in their easy way, about anything and everything. Sometimes it was about what they were learning in school, sometimes it was Olivia telling Sam about her favorite TV shows since Sam didn’t have cable, but mostly it was Sam asking Olivia questions about the campground and what it was like living at a place that people went to vacation.

“You must feel like you’re on vacation all of the time,” he said around a mouthful of his sandwich. Ever since that first day when she saw Sam’s lunch consisted of that dang, disgusting apple, Olivia had asked her dad to pack Sam a sandwich, and he’d obliged without question.

Olivia giggled at his garbled words as she daintily finished her bite before speaking. “Sometimes it does! Because it really is so beautiful, it’s my favorite place in the entire world. But don’t get me wrong, my dad puts me to work. It’s not like I get to hang out all day like the guests. I have little jobs to help out.”

“Like what?” he snagged a chip from Olivia’s lunch and popped it into his mouth.

“Well, it depends on the season. Like right now, since the summer season is almost here, my dad and I have been pulling out all the summer activities for the Rec Center. The basketballs, and frisbees and things. We’re actually down a housekeeper right now, so Cathy, who has been at the campground forever, has been teaching me how to clean the cabins and change the sheets and all that. So I’ve been helping with that to make sure all the cabins are cleaned and ready for new guests to check in.”

“Making beds and cleaning bathrooms? That doesn’t sound like very much fun,” Sam’s nose wrinkled as he shoved the rest of his sandwich into his mouth in a gigantic bite.

Olivia rolled her eyes before leaning closer to him across the table. “Yeah, cleaning toilets isn’t fun, but you know what is?” She asked him, her eyes sparkling.

“What?” Sam responded in a way that was barely audible around the remains of his sandwich.

“Getting to stay up really late with popcorn and watch a movie when my dad tests the projector at the pavilion.” She laughed as his eyes lit up with glee as sandwich crumbs flew out of his mouth when he responded with the enthusiasm she was hoping for.

“Really? You have a movie theater there?” Sam was incredibly embarrassed to admit that he had never seen an actual movie.

His parents had an old, dilapidated TV in the living room that only played a few of the local news channels. But even those were hard to watch through the large crack that ran through the middle of the screen from when his father had gotten angry one evening and threw a lamp at it. Owning a VCR to go with that ancient TV was just a pipedream, so the fact that Olivia had movies at her fingertips whenever she wanted was something that he was envious of.

“Yup. And Dad lets me pick the movies all the time. You should come over one time and we’ll watch one,” she said as she closed up her lunchbox. Not realizing that to Sam, she just offered him the world.

Bursting with excitement inside, he tried to hold it in so he wouldn’t seem too eager, working himself up to being able to handle the disappointment when it inevitably never happened.

“Yeah, sure. That would be cool.” Sam snagged the last of Olivia’s grapes and finished up lunch in silence before they wandered out to the playground before returning back to class.

The twenty minutes spent at the lunch table with Olivia were the most sacred of his day. Those precious moments spent with her filled him with hope that there was something better out there in the world for him besides the four battered walls that he returned to every evening. That if someone as pure and kind as Olivia could see good in him, that maybe the darkness he had felt surrounding him for years had a chance to fade away brought on by the light that she emanated everywhere she went. He was beginning to think that she was the sunshine that had been missing in his life while he had lived in the constant storms of his home. And he hoped to God that the clouds of his parents wouldn’t chase his sun away.

School wasn’t so bad. Sam discovered that he’d actually come around and started to enjoy it. Reading the books with his teachers allowed him to escape to different worlds that took him far away from the life that he lived every day, giving him hope and inspiration for the life that he could possibly create for himself in the future.

Was it lame that he was weirdly excited for the states and capitals test his class was scheduled to have tomorrow? He had been studying tirelessly for the past week driven by the promise of an ice cream sundae party for those who aced the test. Ice cream was a rare treat for Sam, it wasn’t typically one of the items that found its way into the kitchen whenever his parents decided to go to the store. So he had worked his butt off studying for the test to earn that dang ice cream sundae.

Walking home with a little extra pep in his step, he mapped out the rest of his afternoon. He’d peek into the cabinets to see if there was anything suitable for an afternoon snack to nibble on while he cracked open his social studies book to do his final day of review for the big test tomorrow. Then he’d pack his backpack tonight so he could grab it and go early tomorrow morning to meet Olivia before school to steal a couple extra minutes with her before they both had to report to their respective classrooms.

Excited about his plan, he took the decrepit porch steps two at a time and opened the squeaky screen door slowly, not knowing what he’d find behind the threshold. Peeking his head in slowly, the house was quiet, so he eased himself in and went straight to the kitchen. A quick survey of the cabinets revealed there wasn’t anything snack worthy, which bummed him out, but the prospect of ice cream in the near future quickly erased his disappointment. Humming to himself as he opened his backpack, his heart sank as he realized he had left his social studies book at school. Dreading the long walk back to retrieve it, he was working out in his head if it would be worth it or not.

“Shit,” he cursed under his breath as a knock on the door startled him.

No one ever actually knocked on the door. Any of his parents “friends” who came over simply burst through the door and waltzed into the house like they owned the place. His curiosity immediately took over as he padded the few feet from the kitchen to the front door. Throwing the door open, he felt his heart sink to the soles of his beat up sneakers. Standing on his front porch, clutching his social studies book to her chest was none other than Olivia. His cheeks immediately flamed red in embarrassment. He would have rather been subjected to a million dentist appointments than have Olivia become witness to his shit show of a house and home.

“Hey,” she smiled broadly and adjusted her pink backpack on her back as she held out his book. “You forgot your social studies book at lunch and I couldn’t catch you after school. I know you need it to study for your test tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” the gesture touched his heart immensely, but the feelings of embarrassment and nerves overtook his affections of gratitude. “Look, thanks for bringing it by, but I think you better g –,” he was cut off when a booming voice echoed behind him.

“Samuel! What was that knock at the door?”

Sam squeezed his eyes shut and hung his head as he shifted his body to block the doorway that held Olivia’s tiny frame. She looked so out of place standing on his decrepit front porch. Her pretty pink shorts and matching white and pink tank top matched perfectly with the shiny pink ribbon that held her golden hair in a flawless ponytail that swung down her back.

She was the quintessential vision of pure sweetness, contrasted starkly to the peeling paint and sunken porch that surrounded her. Sam would do anything to get her away from his nightmare as quickly as possible. He couldn’t bear the thought of her seeing his life and finally deciding she was too good for a slum like him.

“Oh and who do we have here? You sure are a pretty little lady.” Greg leaned his broad shoulders on the door frame.

“Hi Mr. Callahan. I’m Olivia. Sam’s friend from school,” she smiled sweetly as she extended her hand politely, demonstrating the kind woman Ray was raising. Despite Sam stepping in front of her to shield her from his father, his father’s hulking frame quickly brushed him aside as his large, stubby hand swallowed up her dainty one.

“Well aren’t you pretty as a picture? Sammy Boy sure has his old man’s taste in women, I’ll take credit for that!” He started to laugh but a wheezing cough came out instead, his smokers’ lungs not allowing him much oxygen these days.

“Why don’t you come inside so I can get to know you better?” Greg clucked his tongue and gave Sam a lascivious wink.

“No! She has to get home. Don’t you, Liv?” Before he gave her time to answer, Sam stepped onto the porch and started to usher her down the stairs. Seeing the fear in his eyes, she didn’t argue, turning around and gave his father a small wave.

“Nice to meet you Mr. Callahan,” she descended down the stairs and tucked herself in closer to Sam’s side. Sensing the stiffness of his body, she elbowed him in the ribs in an effort to lighten him up.

“You shouldn’t have come here,” he almost growled under his breath. Anger simmered just below the surface and he cursed himself for directing it at Olivia.

Startled by the ice in his voice, she turned to face him tentatively. “I know how hard you’ve been studying the states and capitals. I wanted to make sure you had your book before the test tomorrow,” her voice shook slightly.

The anger in his body slowly started to dissipate at the sound of her small voice, the thought of his words hurting her tugged at his heart.

“Hey, sorry about that. I just don’t really want you around my family, I hope you understand,” he said reluctantly as he shoved his hands in his pockets and shifted his feet..

He watched her eyes flicker past him to the ramshackle of a house standing behind him. Always one to make others comfortable, she gave him a smile and rested her eyes back on his. An unspoken understanding ran between them as she turned to hop back into her father’s truck.

“No worries. I’ll see you tomorrow at school. Good luck studying,” she gave him a small wave as they drove away.

Sam watched the truck bumble down the road, now that Olivia was out of sight, he let the shame and humiliation wash over him in waves. What stood at the bottom of that broken down porch was a silent shell of himself as the possibility of losing Olivia overcame him. Resigned to the notion that things were going to be different between them tomorrow at school, now that she saw with her own eyes what kind of trash he came from, he took a deep breath and made his way back inside.

He eased his way back into the house as quietly as possible, silently hoping his father had retreated back to his bedroom and all focus on Olivia would be forgotten. He found his hopes crushed when his father was sitting at the kitchen table nursing a small glass filled with amber liquid. He had put on weight quickly since being released from prison only a couple of weeks prior. Sam knew it was probably from all the greasy chips and booze that summed up the majority of his diet. The girth of his stomach hung over his belt buckle in a way that disgusted Sam.

“Quite a little lady you got there Sammy Boy,” Greg’s words were beginning to slur despite it being the early afternoon. The anger shot through Sam’s body instantly, flashing hot fire. An animalistic protectiveness overcame him, but choosing to ignore his father’s sneer, he moved to swipe his backpack off the floor so he could escape to his room.

He turned to start down the hallway when his father opened his mouth to speak once more. “I hope to see her around here more often. Would love to have that pretty little thing at my fingertips,” he nonchalantly took a deep swallow of his drink, chuckling to himself.

The laughter died into a choke when Sam lunged at him and grabbed him by the collar. Their faces were close together now, close enough for Sam to smell the booze on his breath. “Never. Never speak about her that way. Ever.” The last word was punctuated with intensity.

Greg looked down his chubby nose at the slender yet steady hand of his son that gripped his shirt in fury. Huffing a deep breath, he wordlessly stood to his feet and inched his son’s body down the hallway. Sam stared up into his father’s face and saw menace. He was being forced to shuffle backwards down the hall, his father staying as silent as the grave, but his eyes did all the talking, not mincing his intentions in the slightest.

Sam’s fury slowly rolled into fear as he was pushed down on his mattress and flinched when his bedroom door was slammed closed. Squeezing his eyes closed, bracing for what was to come, he willed his mind to go someplace safe, so he conjured up the image of Olivia’s face. As he focused on the blue of her eyes in his imagination, he felt the first blow come. The first of many.

That night was the first time Sam Callahan felt the sting of his father’s belt on his tender flesh.