“So?” I asked. “Will you come with me?”

Zack paused. “You want me to come with me to your parents’ house?”

“Well… yeah.”

“Because your mother called up out of the blue and asked you to come over?”

“Yes.”

“Because… why?”

“Because apparently I have some stuff at the house that they need me to come and collect… or they’re just going to throw it away. She was very clear about that part.”

There was a pause.

“What?” I asked.

“Why didn’t you just tell her to throw it away?” Zack asked. “Why go there… you know they’re only going to give you grief.”

I sighed inwardly. I knew that much was true, but I guess I was just a sucker for grief. And at the end of the day, they were my parents. Could I really just ignore them to the point where I could forget about them altogether? Of course, I couldn’t. Experience had taught me that their decision to cut me off had affected me to my core. At the end of the day, I was still the same young kid who craved his parents’ approval.

“I just… want to see what they have there,” I said, lying smoothly because I didn’t want to admit to Zack my issues where my parents were concerned. “I mean… it could be important to me.”

“If it was, don’t you think you’d have collected it a long time ago?”

“Will you just go with me man?” I asked impatiently. “My father’s always loved you.”

“Yeah because I chose a sensible, stable career,” Zack said. “Because I wasn’t brave like you. I doubt your father would have given me the time of day if I’d gone with my first dream to become a carnival clown.”

I smiled. “To be honest, I might not have liked you much either if that were the case.”

“Rude.”

“I hate clowns.”

“I remember,” Zack laughed. “Ok fine… do you need me to pick you up?”

“Yes please,” I nodded. “Can you be here in an hour?”

“Sure thing.”

He got a little late, but I didn’t care. Being early wouldn’t get me brownie points with my parents anyway. I slipped into the passenger seat and realized that he had worn dark trousers and a collared shirt and I realized he had dressed the way that my father liked. I cursed loudly and looked down at the cut off trousers and t-shirt I had opted to wear.

“What?” Zack asked.

“Of course you would dress like a professional, and I would dress like… a hobo.”

“Is that what hobo’s where these days?” Zack asked, in amusement. “Do you want to go back up and change?”

“No,” I said immediately. “Let’s go.”

It took us about half an hour to get to my parents’ neighborhood, and that was only because Zack drove like a maniac. I didn’t bother to tell him to slow down, at least his recklessness was distracting me from the impending visit. It had been a few years since I’d been to the house. As we drove up to the gate, Zack parked and undid his seatbelt, but I stayed where I was looking up the house.

We had moved to this particular house when I was thirteen years old, but it had never made me feel comfortable. It was too large and austere. And since dad had been the one to handle the interior it had ended up looking dark and austere on the inside too. He had chosen large chunky pieces of mahogany furniture that were old fashioned. Sometimes I felt like I was living in a different era when I walked through that house. From the looks of things, nothing much had changed.

“You ok?”

“Yeah,” I nodded distractedly. “Let’s go.”

As we walked up to the low gate, I had a sudden desire for Zoey to be here instead of Zack. Of course I didn’t want her meeting my parents at all, and that was probably the only reason I had asked Zack to be here instead of Zoey. I took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. The maid answered on the intercom, and I had to suffer the indignity of telling her who I was. She didn’t seem to understand at first, so I had to explain it to her. She had a faint accent; my parents liked importing their maids.

“New maid?” Zack asked.

“Apparently.”

The remote-controlled gate finally slid open, and Zack and I walked to the door. Of course the maid opened it for us. Mom and dad liked to make their guests wait awhile before they made their entrance… I wasn’t sure I qualified as a guest though.

“Man, nothing’s changed,” Zack observed, looking around.

“One thing has changed,” I said. “There aren’t any pictures of me anymore.”

I tried not to let that bother me as we sat down together and waited. I knew he was feeling uncomfortable and I couldn’t really blame him. Maybe it had been a bad idea to ask him to come.

“There’s going to be a meteor shower tonight,” he said abruptly.

“What?” I asked.

“I heard on the news this morning,” Zack said. “There’s going to be a meteor shower tonight… you might have a good view from your apartment.”

“Ok,” I said, knowing that Zack was just trying to make up for the nervous energy I had brought into the room with me.

“We can still high tail it out of here,” he said, and I knew he was only semi-joking.

I gave him a nervous laugh, and a moment later my mother walked into the room. She was wearing a white oversized linen shirt and beige pants. She looked like she was going someplace artsy, but I knew that this was what she wore around the house. You knew someone had their life together when they dressed for the house.

“Hi,” I said, standing up instinctively.

“Hello,” she said, giving me a ghost of a smile. Then she caught sight of Zack and her smile became real. “Zack, how are you? I didn’t know you were coming.”

“I hope you don’t mind that I tagged along.”

“Of course not,” she said, very politely. “I’m sure that Devlin dragged you here. Anything to avoid being alone with his father and me.”

I gritted my teeth despite the fact that she was not totally off the mark there. “Where is dad?” I asked. “Hasn’t finished powdering his nose yet?”

Mom turned to me with a snap of her neck. “Don’t be rude, please, Devlin.”

“I… it was a joke.”

“In poor taste.”

“I apologize,” I said quickly, knowing that it was pointless to argue.

“Already apologizing, Devlin,” dad said, walking into the room at that precise moment. “I can’t tell if that’s a good sign or a bad one.”

I repressed a sigh. “Hi, dad.”

“And you brought backup I see,” he said, looking towards Zack and shaking his hand. “How are you, young man?”

“I’m doing well, sir.”

“I ran into your father last week at the club; I heard you got a promotion.”

I glanced at Zack, who was nodding self-consciously. I wondered why he hadn’t told me that he’d gotten promoted. Was he worried I’d be jealous or something? Dad proceeded to talk to Zack and ignore me completely, and I sat back down, feeling like I had made a huge mistake by coming in the first place.

“You know, your father just helped me purchase a fantastic set of antique revolvers; would you like to take a look.”

“Uh, sure,” Zack said, shooting me an uncertain glance.

Without even sparing a glance my way, dad took Zack and left the room. Mom sat down opposite me with her hands folded elegantly over her lap. “Can I get you something to drink?” she asked.

“By that do you mean you’ll get the new Rosita to bring me a drink?” I asked.

Mom sighed. “Must you always be so difficult?”

“I’m really, really trying not to be,” I said. “What did I leave behind?”

“What?”

“You told me that I had some stuff here that you were going to get rid of if I didn’t come and collect it.”

“Oh… yes,” she nodded. “A few of your paintings from high school.”

“Ok,” I said. “Where are they?”

“In the garage,” mom replied. “I’ve packed them all up for you.”

“Ok, great, thanks,” I said, in a clipped voice.

I shouldn’t have expected anything more from either one of them, but a part of me was hurt that they hadn’t wanted to keep even one of my paintings. Of course there were several paintings lining their walls all over this house, but since the painters themselves were famous and well respected, it was worth it to display those prints.

I wondered what they would do if I actually made a name for myself and my paintings ended up selling for a couple grand a piece. It was a sweet dream, but I knew how far out of my reach it really was.

“How are you?” mom asked, even the silence stretched on.

“Uh… yeah, I’m good.”

“And you’re still going for your community service?”

“Yes, only a short while left to go.”

“And how is your money situation?” mom asked.

That surprised me. They never really asked about money… mostly because they didn’t want to give me any, but I realized that that probably came from dad.

“I manage,” I said, too proud to admit that my art couldn’t support me right now.

“If you need a little help—”

“Dad will kill you if you help me,” I said before she had even finished.

“I have money of my own,” mom said. “He can’t object to that.”

“But he will,” I said. “You know the man better than I do. It’s best you don’t help me out.”

“Maybe you’re right,” mom said, without putting up too much of a fight.

“I… um… how are you?” I asked, feeling extremely uncomfortable.

“I’m good.”

“Are you still involved with all your charities?”

“Yes I am,” she said. “It’s very fulfilling work.”

“I’m sure going to all those fancy dinners must be very fulfilling.”

Mom bristled at my not so subtle dig at her lifestyle. “We raise a lot of money at those charity dinners.”

“You also spend a lot of money giving those charity dinners. It kind of defeats the purpose.”

“You like arguing with us, don’t you?” mom sighed. “You like picking fights.”

“I object to your sense of superiority,” I retorted. “It wreaks of hypocrisy.”

Mom stood up ceremoniously. “I’ll have Carla show you where your paintings are,” she said.

“Guess we’re done then.”

“Thank you for coming when I called.”

I nodded, feeling awkward and unsure of what to do next. Do I hug her? Do I wave? In the end, I just walked out of the room and towards the garage. I retrieved my stuff from the garage and then went to wait outside by Zack’s car. A few minutes later he arrived, and the gate closed behind him.

“Thanks for telling me you were done,” Zack complained.

“Sorry, I needed to get out of there.”

“Did you get your stuff?”

“I did.”

“What was it?”

“Just my old paintings and things,” I said. “From when I was a kid.”

“Geez,” Zack replied.

“Yeah…”

“You ok?”

“Fine,” I said shortly.

“You want to do something tonight?” Zack asked, and I knew he was just trying to make me feel better.

“I know you’re busy, don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll probably just hang out with Zoey.”

And just like that, I felt a little better.