Five
Dave
I didn’t know whose idea it was to put me in this position, whether it was my mother’s or it was Laura’s. But I guessed that whatever point that they wanted to make about whether or not Laura wanted me around was driven home when the pair of them announced that she was going on a date, and I was going to be left behind to watch her kid. I mentally forced myself to correct away from ‘brat.’
Too many kids have got no manners at all, and their parents seem almost totally disinterested in trying to resolve the situation. They’re perfectly happy to have a little, well, brat.
Was Laura that type? Was I about to go in here and find out that the kid is a total nutcase and doesn’t have the sense that God gave a goose? Deep breath in, push the door open, and I started up towards the door. The damp lake smell still got to me, the first moment that I’m back out in the open air. Every time, in fact.
The door in front of me opened before I can get close, and Laura stepped out. She turned as she stepped, and said something I can’t hear. She turned back.
She looked nice. A dress that fit tight and showed off all her curves, without giving away the game. Whoever she’s going to see had better be worth it. The kid’s father? I don’t know.
A kid appeared in the doorway. He’s got a jacket on, which must have been warm in that weather. Or maybe it was just me, thinking it’s warm. He gave me a surly look, which probably matched the look I’ve got on my own face. If I’m going to judge a kid, I’m definitely not going to judge him for not trusting some stranger.
“Is this him?”
Laura gave me a sharp look. “Yes, Dave, this is him. Charlie? Come here.”
She pulled him the last foot, and he continued to glare daggers at me. I felt his eyes on me like I might get stabbed by one of them. I couldn’t hide a little smile about it. Quiet, but dangerous. Cute already.
“Charlie, this is a friend of your mom’s, Mr. Collins.”
“Is he related to Mrs. Collins?”
“She’s his mother,” Laura said, with a hint of encouragement in her voice. “Would you say hello?”
“Hey,” he answers, his voice low.
I replied ‘hey’ right back at the same moment that she rapped him on the head softly.
“What do we say, Charlie?”
“‘Hay is for horses,’” he repeated, as if this is an everyday thing.
“So what am I supposed to do?”
“I can watch myself,” Charlie protested. “I don’t need anyone coming around here and, like, making sure that I’m kept busy.”
“You can not, and that’s final.” Laura turned on me, and now she’s in mom mode. She could make me call her mommy any day she likes, I think. That made me smile again, and I hoped she wouldn’t pick up the general tone of what I was thinking about, because I’m fairly certain that it would get me in trouble. “As for you, uh… dinner should be done by eight, but in case I’m not home, then bed by eight-thirty, and make sure that he doesn’t watch any PG-13 movies.”
“Come on, Mom, I’m not a little kid.”
She smiled and a laugh bubbled out of her lips before she can suppress it. My own smile widened. “I know you’re not, Charlie. Why don’t you show Mr. Collins your Playstation?”
He looked up at me, like he’s weighing the decision. He had a standoffish attitude to him, and I liked that. But he thought things through before he reacted, and I liked that better. It’s something I wish I’d gotten some practice with at his age. Maybe it would have helped to avoid all the problems that I ran into later on in life.
I decided to try and tip the scales. “A Playstation?”
He pursed his lips. I guess that was a little too forward. Or I sounded a little too stupid. One of those.
“I guess,” he permitted finally. “Come on.”
I followed along behind as he stepped inside, and I got my first look around at Laura’s stuff. A child is a surprise. She wasn’t married, but maybe she had a live-in boyfriend? But that didn’t fit either. Where was he if that’s the case?
A look around at the photos on the wall didn’t give me much help. There are a lot of photos of Charlie, and photos of Charlie and Laura, but none that give some hint about who the father is.
He turns back and waits for me like I’ve inconvenienced him by taking too long. Maybe I have.
“Sorry,” I say, trying to sound sheepish. “I’m coming.”
To his credit, he waited patiently, even giving a slight nod of acknowledgment. I wasn’t that polite when I was a kid. Then again, maybe I’m judging him too gently. I don’t know how old he was, and I know that at five, my mom had me on such a tight leash that I probably never showed any signs of having a wild streak in me.
“This is my room,” he said. Then he shrugged, like it wasn’t that impressive. For an adult, it probably wasn’t. But for a kid?
“Wow.” I didn’t have to pretend very much. “I never had a room half this nice when I was a kid.”
When I was a kid, they’d still been working on renovations. My room was a six-by-nine that could barely fit more than a bed and a dresser, until I was fourteen. At that point, my dad finally decided I was old enough to help out with the construction, and the number of people actively working on what was supposed to be my bedroom increased from zero to one.
“It’s not that great,” he said, keeping his voice flat.
“No,” I say. “It definitely is, man.”
I leaned against the bed. It was a loft, which is to say that it looked like a bunk bed, and of course, everyone always wanted the top bunk when I was a kid. Which is why it was perfect for just one kid. You got the top bunk, and there’s no bottom. Underneath that was a desk, with a little seat. Sized for a kid. The frame didn’t sag under my weight, which means that whoever put it together knew what they were doing.
He picked up a controller from the table and pushed the button. I’d used these things before, in stores and stuff. Just to kill a few minutes. When you’re moving around, it’s hard to justify buying something like this and only being able to use it sometimes. So I never really took the plunge. So then he hands me one of the controllers and I took a moment to orient myself.
“You two settling in?” I looked at the door. I’d almost forgotten Laura was still here. I guessed that she had left when we’d gone inside.
“Looks like it,” I answered. “Anything specific I should do for supper, or…”
She looked at Charlie. I glanced in his direction to gauge the silent conversation that they’re having with their eyes. Then she made a tentative smile before I could figure out what was going unsaid, and said “You can order pizza, if you want.”
Charlie’s lips pinched together to hide a smile. They didn’t succeed very well, but he made the effort. I couldn’t help smiling at the attempt.
“You got it,” I heard myself saying. She reached into her purse and pulled out a twenty.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ll get it. Go have your night.”
Offering to spend money on some kid I don’t even know? Something must be off with me. But I don’t say anything about it. Instead I waited while she left. The Playstation made a series of quiet musical ideas and then finally decided that it was all the way on.
There’s only one account; the name on it said ‘Charlie’ on it, and the account picture was of him smiling. He was missing a tooth in the picture, but he wasn’t missing it any more.
He pushed the button to move on as soon as it appeared. His expression showed that he didn’t like that it had come up with the picture, and I suddenly realize what it is with him. Surly or not, he was trying to look tough in front of me. I didn’t know how I was supposed to feel about that.
“So what are we playing?”
He looked at me like he was thinking hard about it, but then he looked back at the console and scrolled one to the right. It said ‘Madden NFL 17’ on it.
“Madden,” he intoned, as the game started loading.
It’s a good choice. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought that it was intentional. I’d played this when I was his age. Though it didn’t look anywhere near as good.
“Go easy on me,” I said. “I’m a little rusty.”