Inanimate Heroes. Zack W. Van
toward the teachers. Faye went by Carl, Megan went by Doug, and I went by Angelica. For some unknown reason, only Doug’s nickname lasted up until now. Doug lived right on the corner of our bus-stop and I envied her for that; I had to walk about 3 blocks to get there and Faye walked about 2. Doug and Sandy stayed behind me and Faye. I knew she was just burning like a freshly lit match to ask me what was bothering me. My very core shook as I decided to blurt it out.
“I was walking in the hall today and this kid just shouted “get a haircut you faggot.”” Faye’s gasp seemed loud enough to shatter a crystal wineglass.
“Who the hell is he to tell you to get a haircut? He’s probably just a closet cased skinhead with like, a shrine to Hitler or something. Don’t worry about it. ”I mulled the words that Faye said over in my head and then had a conversation with myself again. He wasn’t a skin head. In fact he had brown hair and light skin. His clothes were not of the militant persuasion at all. If his demeanor had been kind, I wouldn’t find it strange at all if he was walking with us to his own safe haven.
Faye’s description of his inner being was spot on and I had no doubt about that. But her outer description was short sighted and unfortunately incorrect. He looked like he could have been me. There was no distinctive look to him at all; just a face among so many people walking in a crowd. His face was only identified by the snickering disposition it held; like a cop who finally caught his craftiest adversary. He hadn’t shot me in the heart, but more like a main artery that had been bleeding since it all happened. Sandy must have heard the elicited gasp and semi-jogged over to find the cause.
“What happened?” She asked the question innocently enough but I couldn’t help the feeling that there was a hint of malice there. It was the kind of unknown malevolence that humans inflicted upon each other with reckless curiosity.
“I stepped in gum,” Faye answered quickly. Sandy had either bought the lie or understood the need to let it go and moved on with other interests.
“So how are your guy’s teachers? I have a couple of duds already.” Faye listed off her teachers and their good and bad qualities. Human evaluation was a luxury she was built with. Suddenly it was my turn to speak as Sandy directed the question toward me.
“I have several cool teachers. My math teacher is kind of a fail, but all of my other teachers are pretty good.” My mind flashed with the sudden thought of Mrs. Carlisle. “I do have a pretty good English teacher though. She treats us like we are adults and doesn’t talk down to us.”
For a split second I forgot the pain I had endured from the moment in the hallway and remembered the good things that happened today. Mrs. Stout was a nice and interesting woman, and so was Lauren, the girl I met in Civics class. Soon after my reminiscing, the parted waters crashed back down on me and I was reminded of the hallway. Would it ever stop playing back in my head? I wanted to clean my memory the way you would clean a CD to stop it from repeating.
As Sandy went into her house and closed the door behind her, Faye and I walked in a comfortable silence. She didn’t expect me to speak and I didn’t really want her to. When we finally reached the bottom of the hill where we parted ways, she told me she would see me tomorrow and not to let what had happened get to me. I lied and told her I wouldn’t. It had already got to me and it was slowly eating away at my psyche like termites; boring holes and tunnels into my woodwork which would eventually lead to my erosion to dust.
Chapter 4
Walking down the road I’d seen all of my familiar faces. There was a former marine with a very happy family of kids. He would often take them on bike rides with his entrusted Husky. Then there came the people who were only out of their home if they were primping and polishing any imperfections that their lawn might have grown. Finally, we had the nice neighbors that lived across the street from us. They cut the grass in the lot next to ours. Their kids were often outside playing in the empty yard while I walked home from school. Our neighbor had recently passed away from cancer after being in a Veteran’s hospital for months. His house was abandoned and left to rot while in the ownership of his sister that lived far away. Why she didn’t tear down the dilapidated house and sell the lot was lost on me.
As I finally reached my driveway, I could see and hear my dog wagging and barking at the door. Sometimes she would run to the screen door so viciously that she would force it open. Trixy was only a Maltese Dachshund but like all small dogs, she was as irritating as a squeaky wheel traveling 50 miles an hour. I walked into the house and she jumped onto the back of a reclining chair where she could be near eye level with me. I ran my fingers through the hair on her head and ruffled it as she tried to sniff my hand. My mother came around the corner and greeted me elatedly. We had been as close as twins since I could ever remember. My sister Leona was also home with her computer on her lap and her boyfriend next to her watching TV. Leona had just graduated from Tomliw the year before I entered it. She was 5 years older than me and she never let me forget it.
“How was your first day bud?” I tossed my book bag onto the ground near the chair and then plopped down into it.
“It’s not bad at all. I made a new friend and I have some pretty decent teachers.” It wasn’t entirely a lie. After all, I really did meet Lauren, and I really didn’t mind my teachers that much. It was the parts I left out that had been misleading. Why would I ever even consider telling anybody in my family about what happened in the hall? So they could think that I was in danger and worry about me? It was nothing I couldn’t handle and it would only upset my family.
“Did you get lost with your big backpack?”
“Shut uppp.” I whined like a kindergartener. “My bag isn’t even that big Leona. In fact a lot of kids carry them so they don’t have to keep going to their lockers.”
“Yeah. The kids that are afraid to go to their lockers.” I really wished I had a stronger case than what I had laid out on the table. Leona was like a self-taught lawyer. She could debate anything and everything that was thrown at her and make it seem perfectly logical. She must have gotten it from my father because neither I nor my mother had ever possessed the ability. Dad walked into the room, grabbed my shoulders and shook me gently.
“How was your first day son?” I smiled and before I could even respond he slapped my back and gave me a good old “atta boy!” As if that phrase was the sound of a starting gun, everyone else began to go back to their own things again. That was pretty much all the time you got in this family. It was like when you threw food at the pigeons. They were all huddled into a group and then disbanded when the reason for their collaboration was gone. I didn’t mind it at all. I didn’t want to talk about today anyway. For a sheer instant I had a clear mind and realized two things. One was a feeling I should be having, as I hadn’t eaten all day yet and I still wasn’t hungry. The second was a feeling I shouldn’t be having. I was exhausted by all of the emotion that I had gone through.
Amazing how those exact 5 words in that exact 5-second moment destroyed the rest of the 85, 395 seconds that were left over in the day. The fact that it was so stupid and yet affected me so greatly only added wind to the dust I had become. I decided taking a nap was my best plan of action. I had a gnawing headache and an all over achy exhaustion. I walked into our living where my mom was watching TV Judge Judy was on as I put my head on the arm of the couch and closed my eyes. I bet Judge Judy never had any problems like I am right now. When I woke up it was 8pm. The only reason I even woke up was because my mom had shook me.
“You’re not gonna sleep at all tonight if you keep sleeping. Come on and eat dinner with us.” The repercussions of a nap were the exact reason why I hated taking them. I was groggy and annoyed by anything that made noise. My sister’s boyfriend was also eating over and it really didn’t bother me the much. Chris was a nice guy and my parents did in fact like him. What drove my parents to strait jackets was the way Leona acted around him. She either bossed him around and yelled at him like a poorly housetrained pet or she was apologetic for the way she had been yelling at him and moped around the house.
I told my mom I wasn’t really all that hungry or feeling well and that I was just going to head off to bed. Her built-in-mom nursing skills kicked