Chapter 4
Chapter Four
It was strange being in Jamie’s house without him there.
Jamie was teaching classes. Kenny and Cindy were on the floor watching television, while Todd sat at the computer.
A number of companies were indeed hiring, and they had online application processes.
Pretty quickly, he found that he needed things he didn’t have and had to get.
Jamie had said that he would take him to get his papers, but Todd needed them, so he got Kenny ready to go out, took the extra key Jamie had showed him, and locked the house.
Thankfully, the entrance to the LeTort trail was near the house. He and Kenny headed down to the creek and then made the turn along the former railbed. There were a number of people walking and biking on this warm day, so he felt pretty safe.
“Where are we going?” Kenny asked as they approached where the trail went under the freeway.
“Right there,” he said at the first bench along the trail.
“Sit there, and I’ll be right back.” He stepped off the trail, pushing the underbrush aside.
From there, he kicked at the topsoil until he found the metal box.
Opening it, he pulled out the papers from inside and closed the box, putting it back in case he needed it again, and covering it up.
He shoved the papers into his pocket and joined Kenny maybe two minutes later.
“Did you find it?” Kenny asked in a whisper.
“Yeah. Let’s go back.” He took Kenny’s hand, and they walked back toward Jamie’s house, taking the shortcut through the bushes alongside the trail.
He stopped Kenny as Charlie walked in front of the house and up the walk.
He knocked on the door, and Todd held his breath to see what he’d do.
Cindy was probably going nuts at the visitor, and he wondered if he should do something, when Andrea approached.
Charlie loomed over her, but she pointed and waited until he was gone before going back to her yard.
Todd waited a few minutes.
“Is he gone?”
“I hope so,” Todd told him, and then took Kenny’s hand. They hurried across the neighbor’s open yard to the front of Jamie’s house and went inside. Todd locked the door behind them and closed the curtains in front. Then he breathed a sigh of relief.
“I don’t like him. He’s mean,” Kenny said. “He even smiles mean.”
Todd hugged Kenny and wondered if he was comforting his son or himself.
He thought of messaging Jamie but took deep breaths and figured there was nothing he could do.
Instead, he stayed inside, and after a few minutes, set Kenny up at the table with some crayons and a coloring book that Andrea had sent over.
And while Kenny drew, Todd spent some time taking pictures of his ID and filling out applications for employment.
Most asked for some sort of image of identification, so he submitted that as well.
“Look, Daddy,” Kenny said with a grin, and held up a picture. “This is you, and me, and Cindy.”
“What about Jamie? Are you going to add him?” Todd asked, and Kenny pulled the picture back, quickly adding another figure right next to him. “What are we doing?”
Kenny giggled. “Kissing.” He continued laughing.
Todd rolled his eyes. “Why are he and I kissing?”
“Because you want to, I can tell.” He giggled again, and Todd wondered where this came from. There were times when Kenny surprised him, especially when it came to other people, but this was like having his mind read by a five-year-old—scary as all hell.
“How can you tell?”
“When you look at him, your eyes go gooey. Grandma told me that was how you know when someone loves you, and you kiss the people you love. Right, Daddy?” Sometimes kids take leaps of logic that are hilarious, and other times they are so on the ball, it was frightening. This was definitely one of the latter.
“Yes, I guess that’s right,” Todd agreed, and made a big production of kissing Kenny’s cheek, which then turned into a raspberry that had his son laughing.
Todd got up and chased Kenny around the room with Cindy barking excitedly.
He lifted Kenny into his arms and swung him around before blowing on his belly.
Todd would never ever get used to or stop loving the sound of his son’s laughter.
A key in the front door made him stop. The door opened, and Jamie came inside. “It sounds like you two had quite a day.” He set his bag down in the chair by the door.
“The bad man came, but Daddy and I stayed away,” Kenny said.
Jamie grew serious. “Again?”
“Yeah. We were out, and he came to the house. Your neighbor got him to leave. I had to get my papers and things so I could apply for jobs, so we took a walk, and he was there when we were coming back.”
Kenny ran to the table, grabbed his picture, and took it to Jamie. “That’s Daddy, and me, and you, and Cindy,” he said happily.
Jamie lifted his gaze, eyebrows arched. “It’s really good. I love it. Can I put it on the fridge?” Kenny handed it to him, and Jamie used magnets to attach it. Then he joined them at the table, sitting right across from Todd, and got out his computer.
“I applied for jobs at six places,” Todd said. “Once I had my IDs and stuff, it was easy, and I had references from my past job. I just had to look things up on the internet.”
“What email address did you use?”
“I got a Gmail,” Todd said. “The first one was tough, because I had to set everything up. I needed email, and my identification. I needed a phone number, so I used yours because it was all I had.”
“That’s fine.” Jamie rubbed his forehead.
“Did I do something wrong?” He asked.
Jamie shook his head. “No, you didn’t. Not at all.
They have to have a way of contacting you, and you have to have a phone number.
But that means that you could get a call while I’m at work.
And those kinds of calls are ones you want to take right away.
But we’ll make it work.” He stood, went to the kitchen, and rummaged in a drawer.
“Yes. And I have the charger.” Jamie returned and plugged in a cord, then set a phone on the table.
“I got a new phone at work, so I transferred my number. I almost forgot I had this one. If it still works and takes a charge, then I can activate it, and you’ll have a phone of your own. ”
All Todd could see were more things he needed, more barriers to entry. Thank God he had made the decision to let Jamie see him, to trust that when he saw him, Jamie would help. But he wondered how much longer he could count on this help. “Thanks.”
Jamie fiddled with the phone and then smiled. “It’s taking a charge and coming up. I can add it to my Wi-Fi so you can use it, but it won’t accept or make calls.”
Todd glanced at Kenny, who was engrossed in his picture. “Do you want to watch cartoons?” he asked. Kenny climbed down, turned on the television, and found what he wanted.
Jamie stared at him, his lips curling upward slightly. Then he closed the cover of his computer. “Okay, tell me what’s bothering you.”
“How…?” Was he so open a book that everyone could figure him out, including his five-year-old son?
Jamie rolled his eyes. “I watched you all through high school. I had a crush on you big-time junior year. So, I know when you tap your fingers that you’re nervous and wound up about something.
You used to do that a lot on test days.” He folded his hands in his lap while Todd pulled his hands off the table. “So just tell me.”
Todd didn’t want to sound ungrateful. “The clothes, the phone, letting us stay here… the food, the, well… everything. We’re costing you a fortune, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to pay you back,” he said softly.
“Those are all small things. A few dollars. Nothing more.” He leaned over the table. “But if you really want to know why?” Todd nodded. “Fall of senior year,” Jamie said softly. “Do you remember?”
Todd thought back and tried to think of some important occasion, but nothing came to mind. “I’m sorry, I don’t.”
Jamie didn’t get upset but shrugged and then nodded slowly.
“I don’t suppose you would. But some friends and I decided to go to a football game.
It was homecoming, and we thought it would be fun.
We were dressed in green and white. Looking back, we probably looked silly, but we were showing school spirit and trying to get into the fun.
After the game, my mother was supposed to pick me up.
I called, and she said she was on her way.
So, I sat on one of those half walls outside the entrance.
I was alone, and Kyle Larch and Steve Mariner found me there. ”
“They were meatheads,” Todd said. Those two guys were lucky if they had a brain to share between them. “I saw Kyle at Auto Zone once, and Steve went to work for his dad… until the shop closed.”
“Yeah, well, those two decided that since I was alone—and, of course, gay—that they were going to assault me.” Jamie shivered, and suddenly the scene from that night came back to him.
“Apparently, their girlfriends had blown them off, so they decided that I was going to take care of them.” Cold fear flashed in Jamie’s eyes.
“I saw one of them pull you down and hurried over. I remember now. Steve had you by the hair and was saying a bunch of shit as he pulled you away.”
“Yeah. He wanted to get me in the shadows. You punched the asshole in the face. Gave him a bloody nose and a fat lip. Kyle backed away because no one messed with you. My mom showed up a few minutes later and took me home. I know at the time it didn’t seem like much to you, but to me, you saved me from God knows what.
I don’t know what they were going to do to me.
That was the closest I’ve ever come to being assaulted.
I’ve been called names and shit, but…. You saved me once. I don’t know why you did.”