I went back and forth about whether or not to post my entry for the CBPC this month. I'll be the first to admit I'm not totally happy with the entry. But a good friend convinced me to go ahead and post anyway so here it is.
The challenge was First Times and, totally out of character for me, I chose to write about Zach. It really was a challenge so even if no one likes it, I'm proud of myself for stepping outside my comfort zone and writing about a character I don't normally write about.
The dark grey skies were finally starting to clear and Mrs Addy opened the back door to let her brood of children out into the afternoon. They had been cooped up all day and they had begun to take out their frustration on her good furniture. As child after child zoomed past her and down the porch steps, Mrs Addy sighed with relief. That is, until she turned around to see Zachary still seated at the kitchen table.
"Zach honey, why don't you go out?" she suggested. Zach barely lifted his head from the textbook on the table to answer her.
"No thank you." He mumbled in response.
"Zach, you can't spend all your days reading those books. You need to get out there and play with your brothers and sisters." Mrs Addy spoke encouragingly.
"They don't like playing with me." Zach replied quietly.
"Honey, that's because you spend all your time reading those science books. You're eleven years old, be an eleven year old."
"I find nothing stimulating about running around the fields in circles. Besides increasing physical fitness it's a pointless activity."
"Zach, you wonder why your brothers and sisters don't want to play with you, maybe if you stopped talking like a thirty year old they would be able to relate to you." Mrs Addy's voice turned slightly agitated. It was only a few months ago that her son had been tested and found to have an extremely high IQ. While she was relieved to have an explanation for her son's sometimes odd behaviour, it worried her that he had so much trouble interacting with other kids.
"Please sweetheart, just go out with them for a little while." Mrs Addy almost pleaded. Zach seemed to pick up on this and slowly closed his textbook. She watched the boy, slight for his age, slide off the stool and trudge with hunched shoulders towards the door. As he passed her, she ruffled his messy brown hair affectionately then stood by the door watching him as he slowly followed the path his siblings had taken just minutes earlier.
Thirty minutes later Zach stood stiffly at the edge of a field watching his brothers and sisters run around, passing a ball between them and laughing loudly. He scuffed his shoe in the dirt and thrust his hands into the pockets of his pants, wondering just how long he had to stay here to appease his mother. Suddenly a scream caught his attention and he looked over to where his siblings were gathering at the other side of the field. He began walking over, curious about what his little sister's wail was about.
When Zach reached the group, his older brother Michael was trying to move everyone away. Zach pushed through to get a better look, ignoring the order of his brother to go get their father. As the group of children moved back in horror, Zach remained transfixed by the sight before him. He wasn't shocked. He wasn't scared. He was intrigued.
"Zach, don't touch it." Michael yelled as Zach crouched down beside what he recognised immediately as a skeleton. The bones were covered in mud and some of them were buried in the soil but he had no doubt about what he was looking at.
"His leg is broken." Zach stated quietly. His eyes scanned over the remains, taking in the skull, the forearm and a leg.
"Zach, dad is going to kill you." Michael warned.
"They're just bones." Zach shook his head and poked at the partially exposed skull with a stick he found in the grass. "See, there's his ulna."
"You are so weird." Michael backed off, shaking his head.
"It's old man Carson." Zach suddenly announced.
"What?" his brother asked.
"These bones. It's old man Carson." Zach repeated as he stood up and stared down at the remains.
"Why would you say that?" Michael asked, his voice shaking a little.
"This skeleton is wearing his medal, the one he always had around his neck." Zach shrugged.
"Carson left town months ago."
"That's just what Dad said." Zach replied quietly. "I bet he got hurt and no one was around to help him so he died here."
"You are such a freak!" Michael yelled as he hurried back across the field to where his father was striding purposely towards the group. Zach realised if he didn't want the wrath of his father, he'd better back off so he slowly moved away from the remains before his father reached them. He remained at the edge of the field as the local police arrived to deal with the situation, listening to all their comments and wondering what was going to happen now. He stayed as long as he could but finally his mother came out and dragged him back to the house. She looked almost angry at him and Zach couldn't work out why.
Three days later Zach was sitting quietly in the room he shared with one of his younger brothers, a new book from the library open on his desk before him. There was a quiet knock on the door then it creaked open.
"Zachary." His mother spoke softly. "Sheriff Wilkins called your father."
"Uh huh." Zach nodded but did not turn around.
"That body the children found. It belonged to Mr Carson."
"I told Michael that." Zach whispered.
"I know, he told me." Mrs Addy moved closer towards her son. "I'm worried honey." She rested her hand on his shoulder.
"Why?" Zach finally turned to face his mother. He could see her furrowed brow and his furrowed in response.
"You're a child Zach. You should be doing things that children do, not looking at dead people and reading all those science books."
"But I want to read these books. I understand it, more than I understand other kids my age."
"You're isolating yourself sweetheart. I don't want you to lead a lonely life."
"But I could help people with this stuff." Zach tried to explain. "You're always telling us to help people." His eyes pleaded with his mother, wanting nothing more than for her to understand though he had a feeling she didn't and maybe never would. After a long pause she shook her head sadly.
"I just want you to be happy Zach." Zach looked up at her as she raised a hand to ruffle the hair on his head in her usual gesture of affection. She didn't say anything else; she simply walked out the room to carry on making dinner for the Addy family. Zach was left alone to go back to his book, "The 206 Bones in the Human Body."
Thanks for reading and I'd appreciate if you left me a review to let me know what you thought. jemb