Chapter 2 - Down Dark Matter Roads
Day one; April 17, 7:17 P.M.
"What brings you back to our friendly neighborhood, Grace?" We were seated around the Hammer kitchen table. Marie had eased up a little but still did not show any signs of accepting the strange woman she had neither seen or heard of before. I wasn't even certain what Marie was doing there; Grace had insisted that she follow us home for a cup of coffee.
"Just back to visit my little baby brother, that's all!" She reached out and pinched my cheek, resulting in my face turning red.
"Grace, for heaven's sake..." Two months away from eighteen yet my six year older sister still treated me like the four-year old who had great difficulties riding his bicycle.
Grace was of the Cul-de-Sac's older generation; the senior siblings of my own group of friends. There was my sister, there was Eddy's by now infamous brother Michael, Nazz's sister Josephine, Jimmy's brother Cameron and Kevin's brother Andrew.
"So, why haven't we seen you around here before?" Marie raised an eyebrow, gaze ice cold. Grace duly noted Marie's disdain towards her presence and smiled politely in return.
"I jumped ship halfway through high school, moved on to other things. Couldn't stand the abuse anymore." I didn't even have to look at her to know the meaning of that sentence. So, she had returned for the same reason as always; another rescue mission.
"Abuse?" Marie's face became a mask of confusion.
"Well, yeah; bullying if you want. Guys in school did it psychologically and the bitches physically. Food was killer though."
"Why the hell would they-"
"I'm gay." Marie's mouth opened and closed, at a loss of words. "No, wait, sorry; bi! It's usually easier to say than to explain that I like both but I've only found what I'm looking for in women."
"Oh." An awkward pause appeared; in a small community, same-sex relationships was not only a rare thing to come across but also a subject that could be considered socially taboo.
"Yeah, our parents had about the same reaction. Except after shock came denial. Then rage. Then emotional breakdown. Then-"
"Straight-camp." I filled in. Grace looked over at me in surprise and gave me an impressed look.
"Seriously? Straight-camp?"
"Well, Marie, the thing about our parents is-"
"Hello there, the angel from my nightmare" The song that interrupted Grace, a particularly sad one if you ask me, seemed to originate from Marie's pocket.
"Sorry..." She started to dig around said pocket and glanced apologetically at me. Grace made eye contact with me and mouthed something I didn't quite comprehend.
"Ahem!" She contradicted her own actions by coughing loudly and discreetly pointing to Marie. I couldn't help but roll my eyes; Grace had never been a fan of questions.
"That was Mom; she wants me home for dinner." Marie returned the phone to her pocket and backed through the living room, slowly towards the front door.
"Oh..." Was apparently all I could say.
"It sure was nice to meet you, Marie." The two women smiled at each other; one rather insecurely, the other one with an act of warmth and reassurance.
"You too, Grace. See yah, Double-D." I barely got around to opening my mouth before the door was shut rather loudly.
"She seems nice." Grace's whole face hardened slightly and her smile quickly turned into a smirk while she shot me a condescending look.
"Grace, you know very well that Mother and Father were always supportive of your sexual orientation-"
"When they were around."
"Regardless, is it a necessity to feed people these lies and fibs?" I knew very well that it was necessary.
"I like to think of it as twisting the truth to a certain degree. Besides, you know damn well why I do it. A valid back story is-"
"- to belief what bacon is to eggs', I remember." I did remember her last, rather quick, visit very well; it was three years ago this fall, right around the time of the great pumpkin harvest. That is, the pumpkin harvest for Eddy. Raiding our neighbors' front yards for pumpkins three days after Halloween to later that day cut and grind them down to bake it all into... Pumpkin pies. I had completely forgotten that, dear lord; we were without mercy in our quest for quarters.
"I gotta switch that saying up; Steph's got this whole vegan thing going on at the moment. Mad props for remembering though." She smiled proudly at me before getting up and guiding me to the living room couch by placing her hands on my shoulders'. "So... You two have a love thing going on?"
"Pardon?" Please understand, the relationship my sister and I shared had not been a particularly deep one since sometime before her falling into a bad crowd and expulsion from school so, as I was too young during her travels through puberty and she absent through mine, we had never really had... Heart-to-hearts about mature matters such as emotional issues. "No, no; I would describe it as a pleasant new found acquaintanceship."
"Oh... That sucks; kinda figured you finally found a Mrs. Schrödinger whose cat you can hypothesize about." A wide grin and waggling eyebrows accompanied the comment, one which I understood all too well and couldn't help but sigh.
"... As clever as it was, I refuse to pardon that pun."
Day two; April 18, 1:17 P.M.
The following day was uneventful to say the least, rarely had a school day been of so little interest to me. Not only did I not share any classes with Ed or Eddy Fridays, but my attention was firmly fixed on the events of the previous day.
My first, civilized conversation with Marie had taken place without apparent fault. Though four months of thinking and consideration had passed since her apology, I had yet to reach a conclusion concerning my emotions towards the whole conundrum. I cannot deny that, yes, I was leaning towards accepting her apology. Forgiving her? I wasn't yet sure... Could I? Would my young, frightened and terrorized self accept that I would one day stand in this situation, handling this choice? Would that version of me approve of the outcome of these choices?
"Yo! Double-D!" On top of that, there was the return of Grace. We had conversed until some point before midnight, lightly touching upon subjects such as her whereabouts since the last visit, sharing humorous anecdotes of days gone past and general catching up. I noticed, however, that she all night subtly avoided the subjects of our parents and her reason for turning up which was not too surprising.
"Double-D! Slow down!" Grace's relationship with our parents was quite different from my own; while I had always been obedient to the rules and sure to follow their parental curriculum, she was most often out of line and all too eager to instigate something that she knew would not sit well with them. I theorize that it began as a form of attention seeking, which I cannot really blame her for since they were usually on traveling foot, but during her last years here in Peach Creek it seemed to evolve into something more; an almost compulsive behavior to disobey and abolish everything that they had ever thought us.
"Eddward!" It all eventually culminated in one fateful night where she swore of ever having been part of our family and stormed out, going off out into a world in which I was too young to join her. She wanted me to though. Oh, how she wanted me to; in her eyes, it was me and her who constituted the Hammer family, two children against the world. But I couldn't, didn't want to either. I still had hope; hope that Mother and Father would return home from work and spend their recreational time with us. That as a family, we could again be whole. But she chose to give up and left me and her life on Rethink Avenue behind her. The flame never faltered though; she returned home irregularly for a night or two, always repeating her offer to take me with her. But still, to that day, I felt the loyalty; if not to our parents then at least to my friends.
"What're you; deaf or something?" My thoughts, my walk home, was rudely interrupted when I was quickly scooped up into the arms of a person, not without struggle I add.
"What- I demand that you put me down this instance!"
"I'm hellishly thirsty so I'm making a break for your house with you in my arms, love; besides, slept for like six hours last night, lots of excess energy!" Whoever was carrying me broke into a run, sounding way too overexcited and happy to suit the situation. The absurdity that all the ghosts of the Cul-de-Sac would decide to show up within twenty-four hours no longer seemed an impossibility to phase me and so, I looked up at that all-too-familiar face.
"Would it be fatal for you to just walk up and say 'hello' for once, Max?"
"Probably! C'mon though, isn't this just a blast from the past?" His pale face, those frenetic blue eyes and that blonde hair that always seemed to be pushed back by the wind; probably because he never stayed still long enough to let it settle. Images from past adventures of a deep, albeit brief compared to all my other ones, friendship whirled through my mind and nostalgia washed over me.
It was summer. Some time after our retribution at the hands of Eddy's brother and the curious incident involving Jonny and the majority of Rolf's gourd harvest. Still not sure why he made the unusual choice of growing them, although Ed had a strange theory it was because Jimmy convinced him to do so after having seen the Lion King.
Like any summer day of old, the other children were playing in the middle of the street; riding bikes, passing around a ball of any variety, chasing each other, flying kites, the sort of things summertime free kids do. Apart from Ed, Eddy and I; our determined leader had us huddled up under a tree in the shade, thinking up a fitting scam for that precise day. After our brief time on the run, Ed and I made Eddy swear that if there was ever going to be another scam, it could not be dishonest. Something Eddy agreed with but still had some difficulty adjusting to.
"Oh, look!" There were two things that very rarely made an appearance in the Cul-de-Sac, being adults and cars, and Ed was now excitedly pointing at both; as we could see, a man and a woman was rounding the corner of the street in a silver-colored SUV. "Neighbors!"
"How queer!" Eddy lost whatever remark he was about to make and looked at me peculiarly.
"... You kiss your mother with that mouth?"
"... Paraphrasing; how absolutely unusual." I stated flatly.
"Gotta hope they have some kids in that monster; grown-ups are a damn nightmare to even try to scam."
"Shouldn't we make an approach and welcome the residential newcomers?" I raised myself off the ground, as did Ed, but only managed to take one step before Eddy bluntly pulled us back down.
"We got a whole lifetime to do meet and greets but only one chance to get their first scamming right! I swear, this was easier back when we were dishonest swindlers..."
"Just like those great American heroes; the car salesmen!"
"Hey! My dad's a car salesman! Come here!"
As Eddy jumped Ed and engaged in another wrestling match that the shorter of the two had absolutely zero chance of ever winning, I was the only one to see the car park outside the once abandoned house that was rumored to be haunted. Which it was. Heavens, it was.
While the man and the woman, both blonde and casually dressed, opened up the back to unload the cargo consisting of boxes, the door to the backseat slid open and out climbed five kids, roughly our age, and stared terrified at the gathering in front of them. We were located too far away to hear their introductions but Rolf approached first and wholeheartedly shook the hands of each of them using both hands and the full strength of his arms, making sweeping gestures of greatness in between.
What struck me at first was how incredibly similar they all looked; not just appearance wise, where they were almost frighteningly identical, but the way they dressed as well. All five wore some combination of black, white and grey tracksuits to the point where they looked... Bland, so normal they blended in with the concrete street. Compared to them, we Peach Creek natives were walking rainbows.
The second thing that occurred to me was that one of them, wearing a grey hoodie and equally grey sweatpants, was staring directly at us. Not even looking at the six people in front of him but at the three of us, sitting in the grass across the street. He nudged the arm of the sibling next to him and began walking towards us, passing between Kevin and Sarah without saying a word, closely followed by his brother who seemed to express some form or greeting or explanation while walking past.
"Howdy, neighbors!" Ed perked up from where he was lying on top of Eddy and greeted the two boys with a toothy grin.
"Hello!" They stopped a bit in front of us and the one who had followed the first offered an enthusiastic wave before looking at his brother who merely stood there, glance shifting between the three of us. "Out loud, Simon."
"Oh, yes, sorry; I was just... Thinking." Simon, as he had been called, inhaled like he had just emerged from the ocean for air and smiled slightly. "I saw you three sitting here while all the other... Kids, can I call them kids?"
"Why wouldn't you?"
"I would say that the term 'kids' is another word for 'child' and when one reaches a certain age, say the first year of your life when your numerical age ends with '-teen', I find it appropriate to use the term 'teenagers' instead. Or 'adolescents'. And as I am yet to be informed of their age, I know not what term would be appropriate."
"Just call them people, man! Besides, I hardly think they would feel offended if you called them 'kids'. Would you guys be?" The one who had yet to reveal his name turned to us who, at least Eddy and I, stared absolutely flabbergasted at the miniature linguistics lecture the boy had interrupted himself to hold.
"Boy, you can talk!" Ed, of course, had probably not understood either the problem said boy was experiencing or the question his brother had asked.
"Yes, it's... A curse, some would say, I just call it an imaginative mind combined with an attention deficit."
"Some call me that too!" My tall friend jumped up and happily extended his arm towards Simon who, seemingly hesitant, shook it.
"Overloaded imagination or floating thoughts?"
"Both and then some!"
"Ah, I see." There was a pause where everyone were simply observing each other thoughtfully, except for Simon who appeared to be studying Ed's shirt collar.
"Well, I would only find it inappropriate not to follow my friend's example. Salutations, my name is Eddward spelled with two D's!" I raised myself up to greet them for the second time that day and smiled widely as I too shook both's hands.
"Just call him Double-D! Name's Eddy and no-filter-no-brain over there's Ed." Eddy, who I imagine probably rolled his eyes at the whole procedure of standing up and shaking hands, followed suit and soon the five of us stood in a half-circle of sorts.
"My name is Simon Flywheel, it's a pleasure to meet the three of you."
"And I'm Max, this guy's and those guys' brother." He pointed back to the three siblings left behind and waved enthusiastically with his whole arm in their direction to which he received some insecure and certainly more discreet waves back. The kids just stared at him. "Hello, family and new friends!" He grinned widely. "I'm a bit weird. We all are. Well, except maybe Rerun- Sorry, Linus. He's the one to the left; hey, Linus! Wave!" The sibling apparently named Linus waved back pleasantly. Awful lot of waving that day. "We think he may be adopted."
"Sorry, Max; I have to interrupt here. He... He has an awful tendency to talk." Simon sighed and pulled a hand through his hair. "That is our brother Linus though, the one society would label the most normal of us all."
"Next to him is Spencer! Wave, Spencer!" Max turned and waved equally, if not more, enthusiastically this time. In response, he got a raised and shaking fist.
"They have a... Weird thing, it's like Alpha and Alpha; she's got a natural leader thing going on and Max... Well, he likes to have seventeen things going on, so he can always be ignoring at least fifteen of them."
"I like things." He shrugged and... It was uncanny how much he was grinning, quite an image of Ed in a way.
"Hold it, hold it; back it up here. You said Spencer?" Eddy waved his hands around to interrupt the two who seemed to be jumping between addressing all of us and just each other.
"Yes."
"Yeah!" They nodded in unison.
"But then you said 'she'!"
"Our sister; Spencer."
"But that's a guy's name!"
"Six of one, half a dozen of the other." This time, Simon shrugged.
"And the one to the right-" Max spun around again, as if no distraction had been offered, to see that said 'one to the right' was already mellowly walking over to us.
"Kinda figured you'd call me too; you wave too much, Max." The sister, who wore the same model of grey sweatpants as Simon, playfully punched Max on the arm. "They call me Oliver, Olivia if you want." She leaned in and shook our hands, smiling sleepily. "Now this guy-" She pointed to Max. "-Talks too much for his own good and never sits still while this guy-" Pointed to Simon who was observing the surrounding trees. "- Writes like a maniac, thinks like a maniac but has trouble expressing it."
"This is Ed, Double-D and Eddy!" First then did I notice that Max's leg had been shaking all this time, close to vibrating, most likely due to an excessive amount of energy.
"You guys should have, like, your own sitcom with those names."
"Eh, we tried it once; budget blew when Ed here went on a rampage after thinking the camera he swallowed was a bomb."
"Went down just like cough syrup!" At this point, it just seemed like Max and Ed were having a grinning fight.
"You actually swallowed a camera there, big guy?" Up close, it was even more obvious how similar in physical appearance the three of them were.
"Oh, that pales in comparison with my first encounter with these two; Ed ate a television." Eddy shoved a not-so-discreet elbow into my side.
"Ixnay on the amscay. It was a... Bet, sort of; Lumpy here's got an iron stomach, he's the only one who can eat the school's meatloaf!"
"Yup." Ed knocked twice on his stomach and... A metallic sound seemed to echo through him.
"You guys are weird." She grinned and put her arms around her brothers' shoulders. "I like weird."
"Max already went out of his way to inform these three that we are weird as well."
"Except for-"
"Except for Linus, yes."
"We're thinking he might be adopted." All three turned their heads and looked back at the gathering, each waving to said brother.
"Hey again, Linus!"
"Can I help you guys with something?"
"Stay cute!" Simon, who must have been used to his brother's antics, still gently covered his face with his hand and sighed heavily.
"Anyways, me and old Rerun were thinking of checking out the house, wanna join?"
"What about Spence?"
"She's gonna head off with that biker dude Kevin and Nazz to tour the area."
"Why am I not surprised?" Max rolled his eyes and Olivia gave him a stern look in response, slapping him over the head. "Ow!"
"Perhaps in a moment, Oliver; I think I lost a point somewhere at the beginning of our conversation here, would love to find it."
"Do what I do; write your name-"
"Ed, for heaven's sake; no!" I quickly grabbed a hold of his hands before they could even begin to descend into his pants.
"Well, you know where we'll be. Dope to meet you guys!" She flashed us a smile before she began to walk back to the car.
"Home."
"What?"
"Huh?" Olivia turned and both she and Max looked at Simon with confusion written all over their faces.
"You and Linus will be at home." Thoughtfulness for a moment before she smiled warmly.
"That we will, Simon."
"You know what, brother dearest? Newly found friends?" Max, who was still grinning like mad, literally jumped a little in the middle of the sentence.
"What?"
"I already like this place."
The Flywheels were with us for eighteen months before they suddenly moved back to their native New York, halfway into our freshmen year of high school. It feels like it was for so much longer though because even at the end of their first year here, they felt like almost anybody else in the neighborhood. Max and Simon spent most of their time planning hijinks with us Eds', albeit Simon was prone to quiet times where he preferred to sit alone somewhere and write, their sister Olivia had little affiliations with me and my two comrades but took quite a fondness to Jonny, Linus absolutely adored Rolf's farm life and Spencer had no problem getting along with whoever was available for activities at the moment. They certainly came at the right time, a time when all of us had the will and capacity to be great friends.
"Then I assume you are familiar with my upcoming request; Max, please put me down!" They never sold the house, as far as I know, but instead seemed to use it as a vacation home of sorts every now and then, separate or together. It was the sporadic planning, if there even was any, that drove me insane; they never left any word that they were returning, instead opting on either showing up on your doorstep asking to borrow a cup of sugar or basically kidnapping you as you're walking home from school.
"I'm sorry, Double-D, but I'm thirsty, you're slow, what would Jesus have done?" Max grinned down at me and sped up, rounding the Cul-de-Sac corner. His over-the-top hyperactivity issues had subsided over the years but he still preferred standing instead of sitting and running opposite walking. "So, how was the day?"
"Uneventful, although Mr. Ridenhour found out that his attempt to dissolve the cafeteria meatloaf in sulfuric acid failed miserably." Let me just say that what started as an inside-joke within our Science class turned into a full-blown experiment where a second-floor janitorial closet was sealed off for 'high scientific purposes'.
"They sure don't make the acid like they used to." We reached my house and he finally lowered me down to my feet before bending over to catch his breath.
"... It's been a while."
"What, since we last met? Briefly... Seven months ago, I think."
"No, since I had a casual conversation this out of the ordinary." He flashed me a smile as I unlocked the door and stepped inside.
"Daily basis with Simon, my friend." Kicking off his shoes, he slid across the floor to the kitchen where, judging by the noise, he washed his hands before drinking five glasses of water.
"How is Simon these days?" I returned my jacket to the closet and placed the school bag next to the stairs, taking a seat in the living room armchair just as he emerged from the kitchen, sixth glass in hand.
"Fantastic, I dare say. You know, I thought about it on the way here; it's astonishing how much he's grown and developed since we left this place." Simon had once experienced social issues, something that had made him a prime candidate for bullying which only turned him even more asocial to the point where he barely talked to his siblings. In later years, beginning during their time here in Peach Creek, he gained some insight and learned more about himself to which he could master his social disadvantages and gain the courage to speak up.
"Not to speak of your own development." The same thing applied to Max's hyperactive, attention-shifting behavior.
"Or your own for that matter, old bean." If speaking of their psychological matters, I can't help but briefly interrupt this story to speak of my own.
I have a form of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, which may not be too surprising if you know of our adventures back as pre-pubescent children. The major problem I had was with cleanliness and not just the materialistic sort but the personal sort as well which often put me to clashes with Ed. I'm not sure when it first blossomed up so violently but I know that it was rather difficult that summer as twelve-year-olds, mostly due to the stress of distributing the time between having to maintain the house, which in itself took an unholy amount of time, and summer activities with my friends.
It culminated in the spring both of my paternal grandparents died, an incident I would... Rather not describe. Let me just say that afterwards, I received the help and support I very much needed from friends, family and professionals. Eddy even helped Ed to clean his room near spotlessness, something I never really expected to see in my lifetime. So, like Simon, I grew to understand my condition better and could therefore control it better.
"As much can be expected when one becomes older and wiser, I assume."
"Quite so, quite so." He took a sip from the glass after taking a seat on the couch. "So, what are you up to these days? College deans slaughtering goats on your doorstep yet?"
"I... Don't believe that was ever a tradition."
"No, no, silly me; goat blood is just awful for the flowerbeds." If there is one word, one simple word, which I can use to describe the Flywheel family... It's 'nonsense'. The over-the-top parables, the absurd examples (not unlike mine about choices and the dinosaur the previous day) and the ever so casual comment about something obscure like goat blood. Imagine you are conversing with a person about a film you're both eager to see and that person somehow manages to sneak in a rumor about the Vice President, a game of Scrabble in German and the Gutenberg Bible. Which may or may not even be a real rumor, instead something they just made up on the spot only for the sake of sprouting nonsense. I know I certainly experienced moments like that with each of the Flywheels. "I hear they sacrifice watermelons now, if it's a Tech college."
"... To answer your question, I'm mostly preparing for the conclusion of my last high school courses; marginally stressful, especially since I attempt to assist Ed and Eddy as much as possible."
"You think Ed's gonna pass?"
"If not, it will certainly be close." Oh, the long weekend nights we spent in Ed's room, struggling through countless of essays and homework. "Not for a lack of effort though."
"That's great, man. Just great."
"Also, my sister chose yesterday as an appropriate time to return home for a surprise visit too so between that and your all-too-eager greeting, I'm just about set in the bewilderment department for a long period of time." A look of confusion and surprise slowly spread across his face.
"You have a sister?"
"Why, yes; yes I do."
"Curious."
"We don't... Really have the best of relationships so she's not brought up in conversations that often. It also explains the lack of... Evidence of her existence in the house."
"Ah, I see." He grew quiet and drank some more, eyes traveling across the wall behind the television where lone pictures of myself as a young boy were hung with care.
"How about you, Max?"
"Hmm?" Pulled out of a seemingly deep thought, he looked me over for a moment before continuing. "Ehr, I've been... Good, I guess; same old, same old."
"Still traveling about?" While Spencer, Simon, Linus even, had fleetingly mentioned their academic life after Peach Creek, their almost obsessive traveling was what seemed to occupy most of their spare time. As a matter of fact, I should have wondered what Max was doing there so early on a Friday.
"Oh, yes; what else is there to do?" Another wide grin. "Spencer's been dragging me down to Rio for-"
"Rio de Janeiro?!"
"Oh, heavens yes. Don't like it though, hot and humid; I look like a damn prune after a day." He buried his shaking head in his hands, still grinning. "Anyway, Spence's always seem to have some unfinished business with some guy she's got it going on with down there. Or maybe it's a business with some unfinished guys... I don't know, it's probably not important."
"But... Wouldn't the long distance raise some difficulties in whatever relationship they would have?"
"Oh, they do fight. She calls it 'debates of passion' though; dunno if that's what it is or just plain old denial. But I guess if it's meant to be, love will reign supreme." He scratched the back of his head. "You wouldn't happen to have any coffee?"
"Oh, my; how rude of me!" Between the thoughts of the newly reformed Marie, Grace's selfless mission and Max's return, I had completely neglected the duties of a good host. "I should have offered you some as we walked through the door!"
"Well, I'm sure you had a lot of other things to think about." How did he- "After all, not everyone can say that they have been carried home from school by such a fantastic specimen of a human being!" I couldn't help but laugh when he confidently flexed what little muscle that thin frame held. "I jest, of course, my good man. To the kitchen!" I believe that was the thing that attracted me the most to this 'fantastic specimen of a human being'; how carefree he could be, always optimistic, always so positive about things, ready to leap at the occasion of fun and merriment. But I know now that this was but a mere shadow of what he had once been, an echo that he maintained not to give attention to his true feelings.
"I do say, it is marvelous to have you back here, Max." After sweeping me away from the coffeemaker, insisting that he could not stand to simply sit around while I had 'all the fun', he located the necessary equipment to make... Well, the coffee.
"I do dare say, it's marvelous to be back here."
"Wouldn't you say that's a bit... Excessive?" He seemed to be casually scooping out the entire jar of coffee into the maker, it wouldn't have surprised me if he had emptied the whole thing by the end of it.
"I like my coffee hellishly strong nowadays. I blame Simon; whenever we're at Starbucks, the conversation actually goes 'Coffee, consistency of dark matter.' 'Name?' 'Carl Sagan.' and I am not even exaggerating that." I believed him.
"I believe you."
"Besides, I've had to up the caffeine intake ever since I quit smoking."
"Congratulations; good for you!" While I myself was opposed to idea of cigarette smoking, it was not a foreign occurrence in my life; the Flywheels, Eddy, Kevin, Mother even during a brief period. "How have you been holding up?"
"Good at first." He pulled up his hoodie sleeve and revealed a nicotine patch on his pale, skinny arm. "Then better." Pulling up the other one revealed five more. "Lots of stress lately."
"Could that really be healthy?"
"Probably not, no. Keeps me sane though." He winked, leaned over and opened the window. "Coffee this strong has an awful way of settling in the walls."
"Are you certain you know what you are doing?"
"Oh, never!" Turning the maker on, he joined me at the table. "So, speaking of Spencer and her forsaken love thing, has Cupid aimed for any asses here around the neighborhood?" Always so articulate.
"Not that I am aware of, no. The female population decreased drastically after Sarah made the decision to live with her and Ed's aunt and uncle-"
"Up in Montana."
"Right, up in- How did you-"
"And Nazz got shipped off for six months after her annual freshmen party." How could he possibly have known that? "I talked to Ed couple of months back, dialed the wrong number when I was trying to order a pizza drunk, made ramen noodles instead, prawn flavored, kinda bitter though. Nice to speak to him again, very easy to lose touch with old friends when it feels like you've moved on to an entirely new life."
"I agree." That last part, I could understand; the rest came out in a blurred mess of words that Max was by now infamous for.
"How are things with Marie?" I stared at him, staggered by the sudden change of topic. Where did such a question originate from? "She told me you've been talking a little."
"Uhm, I... I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that you were... On speaking terms with Marie."
"We've been... Buddies, I guess, since the summer me and the fam moved here."
"What?"
"Yeah, she... She kinda reminded me of this girl I liked back in New York, appearance wise that is, and we just kind of hit it off. She's the one who got me into the whole skate punk phase I had going on for a while, remember?" I nodded; it came to a violent end when he attempted a kickflip in the school hallway and broke his nose slamming into Rolf's locker. "'Reckless Abandon' indeed... Been keeping in touch there and then, you know; mostly stuff about relationships and love and hormones and all that nasty stuff school really should've prepared you for." He shot me a sheepish glance. "Never told any of you guys because of how your pasts are the way they are."
"You and her used to...?" There was not one scenario where Marie and Max had a romantic relationship that didn't end with him having his brain beaten out of his blonde head with a spatula.
"What, have a- God, no! Shame on you for even- Me and Marie; she would've skinned me alive halfway through the second date! It started as a kinda when-you're-bottoming-out-and-need-advice kind of thing and just went forward from there. Besides, I had my little menace back east, she had... Well, other boys in her sights." I had a hunch who that prey was.
"Me."
"Bingo." He stood up, produced forth two cups and a milk carton onto the table. "I advice you to fill at least half the cup with milk; you could probably pave a road with this Joe."
"Thank you, Max." He poured, what appeared to be, a tar-like substance into my cup before filling his own up to the brim. "Though, yes, I would say Marie and I are... Acquaintances, to the very least."
"Saucy." Grinning, he took a sip of the coffee before contracting his whole face as close to his nose as possible. "That's the way I like it."
I proceeded with telling Max the story of the moment we had shared Christmas Eve, followed by all the other ones I could think of; in the hallways of school, at the grocery store, even running into each other around the junkyard. Uncharacteristically so, he simply sat there quietly; listening and smiling slightly, occasionally drinking the thick liquid that could very well pass for blacktop. When I had finished, there was a slight pause where neither said anything, just staring at each other.
"She still likes you."
"Do you think so?"
"I know so; remember, us talking?" Pause. "What do you feel?"
"I'm... Not quite certain; ever since her apology Christmas Eve, my emotional spectrum have been off balance. I mostly think that I would... Appreciate a friendship with what I have seen from her now."
"Oh, I didn't mean towards her as a friend; d'you think you like her? Could, would, should like her?" That was... A completely new aspect of things. Had I ever had a reason to like Marie in that way? In the past? Never. Now? ... Something I hadn't even begun to consider and honestly, didn't want to at that moment. It just seemed so... Alien; not only considering what my emotions may or may not evolve into but also... The idea had always seemed so preposterous, to reciprocate the feelings of a Kanker sister. But, as I had stated, the three of them were not the notorious vultures we had all feared once. Instead, at least in my eyes, they had developed into three brand new individuals that I don't believe any of us actually truly knew to any extent. So perhaps, a friendship, a relationship with her wouldn't be... An absolute Armageddon, if it would come to that. Not saying that it would but...
Oh, hell; you know it did.
"I honestly couldn't say, Max; it's not a scenario I have considered so far. I do however believe that we could both benefit from a mutual friendship. Let's start there, if anything." Friends... With Marie Kanker. Never thought I would even make that step. "The thought that keeps haunting me though is... Everything she used to be. Used to do."
"I can only imagine." He took a sip, which almost looked like he tried to take a bite, and only grimaced lightly this time. "If I would share my thoughts... I'd say that was six years ago. Six years is a long time. People are born. Nations fall. Freedom emerges triumphantly, men take back what is rightfully theirs. You're hired, you're fired, you're rehired, married, find new friends, parent, lose old friends, divorced, lose new friends, remarried, find old friends. Change in power, viva la revolución, do you hear the people sing, es lebe unser heilige Deutschland, tomorrow is the judgement day, cancer of the lungs, cancer of the liver, illness of the brain, remission, cancer of the bone marrow, people die, are mourned, buried, move on and over everything, we change. You and me, the regular person, change. You can never expect to be the same person throughout your whole life."
"I recall Simon having a similar point of view." I know too many nights when he would call and develop thoughts that had occurred to him; most about life, the universe and everything.
"Who do you think I learned from?" Max smiled softly and shook his head. "Maniacal bastard."
"It is something I have pondered over though; how much she must have developed since she and her sisters spent most of their time pining after us. What she must have experienced; it would certainly take a lot to humble the Marie I remember from back then." That was precisely it; something must have happened in those six years to make her re-evaluate the choices of her life and, not liking the results, choosing another path to travel while most probably convincing May and Lee to join her, resulting in a change that went unnoticed by those who didn't see past their exteriors. If that does not constitute growing up, I'm not sure what does.
"I think I know what it was... But it isn't my task to tell you." He gazed out the window dreamily. "Look, I just brought it up because... Unrequited love is a bitch in sheep's clothing walking hell upon Earth."
"Elegantly put."
"Thanks. And while a person may seem fine with the way things are on the outside-"
"Their hearts would be breaking over and over again, every minute of every day." He nodded.
"Poetically and correctly put. I just want you to be careful and think this through, twice. Heartbreak isn't something I would wish upon my greatest enemy."
"I understand." I raised the cup to my lips and hesitated when I felt that it was still piping hot.
"It's Wilfred, by the by."
"Pardon?"
"My greatest enemy; Rolf's pig Wilfred. Bastard ate my Gameboy Advance, three Pokémons away from catching 'em all!" I couldn't tell if he was actually serious or just trying to break the mood, but I was still thankful for it; gloom was not a mood that suited him.
"I'm... Sorry to hear that."
"Yeah, I remember bragging to Jimmy how close I was and-" His grin stiffened before slowly fading away, the same look of gloom reappearing. "Right, Jimmy."
"I assume you heard about his parents relocation?" He stared at me silently, a sadness in his eyes I had very rarely seen before, and sighed deeply.
"I... Have to tell you a story, Double-D. It's not a nice one and I ask of you that I'm allowed to finish it before asking questions. Can you grant me that honor?"
"Why, of course, Max." He bowed his head before sighing again.
"Remember Nazz's party? That she got sent away for?" I couldn't say that I did; what I was told by the immortal bard Eddy McGee afterwards was that "early on, I got so wasted I was fubar'd beyond all recognition" which... I will admit, is the truth. Ed escorted me home while Eddy stayed at the party which he neatly summarized in a simple sentence: "nailed a chick, got punched defending the Queen, Kev stuck his... Dick up in the wrong biscuit jar, some guy was beaten down by some old lady who came from two blocks over to complain and some stupid mofo decided to give away Nazz's roof to Rolf. You didn't miss much."
"I cannot personally but I have been informed of some events, yes." He snickered.
"Oh, you were quite something that night."
"You were there?"
"Oh, yes I was; got stuck between a guy and Eddy when he defended the Queen's honour and cheered on Mrs. Marlon when she kicked that linebacker's ass. Homegirl had some serious skills, I'll tell you that." He smiled fondly, looking down into his cup. "Spence and I were in Rio back in January, took Linus' place 'cause he's even worse in the humidity, when we got a call from a guy in the city who used to work with Dad."
"New York?"
"Nope, San Francisco." The very city Peach Creek was on the outskirts of. "He'd gotten his hands on something he shouldn't have; an affair that'd been hushed up, down and every direction imaginable."
"What was it?"
"A hate crime, here in Peach Creek." My eyes opened up in involuntary shock.
"Wait, what? Here?" He nodded. "How could- Something like that would've been the news of the year! For heaven's sake, everyone up on Mareeve Avenue knew when Mr. Marlon had cancer even before he did!" It was frightening how quickly gossip spread around these parts.
"There was apparently a big cover-up for the sake of the family; the official case file made no mention of the victim's name or location of the crime. But then there was this lonely little report that was found, where every detail was stated in black and white."
"How could you possible know this, Max?" This just felt... Wrong; something like this shouldn't be able to happen. We were a tight-knitted community where everyone knew everyone and... It seemed like such an impossibility.
"Dad's friend's a paperpusher for the SFPD, thought he'd like us to know. Ignorance is bliss, though." So why tell me then? "Ordinarily, we wouldn't have thought much of it; as horrible as it is to say, these things happen." He held up a hand when I was going to protest. "But there were two things that caused us to drop everything and come to whatever aid we could."
"They were?"
"The first was that I had been there the night the rape took-"
"Rape?!" I almost knocked over my cup when I threw my hands up to my mouth; though not present, Mother and Father were never keen on discussions of such subjects.
"Oh... I thought I- Never mind, yes; the hate crime in question was a group of drunken football-players from Peach Creek High School who had decided to punish an innocent person on the grounds of... I really don't wanna live on this planet anymore; 'suspected homosexuality'." I felt faint; there were too many blows to the innocence of the neighborly peace in that sentence for my own liking.
"Suspected... And you were-"
"In another part of Nazz's house at the time." I had been there. Ed had been there, Eddy, Sarah, Jimmy, Max, Nazz, Kevin, Jonny had all been there... And not one of us knew; not one of us could help.
"I..." The bitter scent of the coffee was starting to nauseate me slightly.
"And..." There was a treble in his voice now. "The second thing was that... We knew the victim. And so do you. So does everyone who lives on this street." One person; there was only one person who had been absent in our lives since Nazz's party, one single person who suddenly left without warning, without explanation. I knew it only moments before he opened his mouth to say it and it felt like time stood still.
"Jimmy..." But it wasn't Max who spoke his name. It was I.
Jimmy; the young Jimmy who Eddy had trained into a capable and conniving scammer that exceeded us in every possible way, the young trickster who could easily manipulate people into believing what he wanted them to, the young Jimmy who kept an eye on Ed whenever Eddy or I was unavailable, the sweet younger brother of every single soul on Rethink Avenue who wouldn't want to hurt a fly. Raped by a... By a group of...
I felt the bile rise in my throat.
"Air." I managed to croak out one word before Max quickly and firmly grabbed a hold of my midsection, guiding me towards the window facing the front garden. He threw it open and the familiar sense of hyperventilation washed over me. Disappearing from my side for a moment, he returned and handed me a glass of water which I carefully took a sip of; afraid to even think of upsetting my stomach.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." And I could tell he was.
"Double-D?" A good twenty minutes had passed but we were still positioned by the window and neither had said a word. I was trying to process, or even consider the possibility, that Jimmy had been robbed of his youthful innocence in the most brutal manner imaginable.
"Yes?" Apart from the otherworldly strawberries, I will miss that scent the most; in the spring or fall when the sunshine heated up the dust and gravel outside that was constantly being stirred up. I always saw it as a comfortable security; it meant that brighter times were here and kids would once again run and enjoy life outside after a period of darkness. A sense of hope that good times were upon us.
"Who is that?" In that moment, however, it only reminded me that the world could sometimes be as dark as the black car pulling up in our driveway, flinging gravel in every direction as it came.
"It's Grace." He shifted his stance and peered out at the car where she seemed to be rummaging around in the back seat.
"Your sis?"
"Yes."
"Oh, how nice." Silence. "Grace and Eddward Hammer. Like two children in a fairy tale."
"Don't even get me started." I must have sounded incredibly bitter, for a good reason too because, well, the reminder of what my relationship with Grace had once been added on top of this bombshell was not exactly exhilarating.
"Eddward and Grace Hammer on new great... Adventures..." His words faded away before his eyes widened in shock. "Holy shit. Holy shit! Your sister is Grace Hammer?!"
"I just said so." But I don't think he was even listening, instead staring out at Grace as she stepped out of the car. "What's the problem?"
"Occam's razor; it's Occam's fucking razor! Simon always says it but I never believe him!" He began to run back and forth between the window and the front door, panicked and unsure of what his next move of action was. "She can't know I was here! For fuck's sake, this is not good!"
"Why not?!" As if noticing that I was still there, he rushed forth and shook my shoulders; words stumbling out of his mouth at a frightening speed.
"We have a cousin, back in New York, she and your sister used to have a thing of sorts; Grace shaved Mia's head, Mia dropped Grace off stark naked on the Las Vegas strip, that was before shit even actually hit the fan between them and I know she's still pissed about it!"
"How would you know?!"
"BECAUSE SHE'S A WOMAN!" Glancing towards the kitchen, he grinned widely and slid into it on panicked socks. Using the counter for support, he jumped up and out of the open window without difficulty. I was left standing stunned by the front window, still not quite following the transpiring events. Hearing Beethoven's Fifth ring out from my vibrating pocket barely pulled me out of it.
"... Hello?" I usually answered stating my full name.
"I forgot my damn shoes, man; if she asks, say Ed left them or something!"
"I... Will." The door knob turned and Grace entered, looking around the hallway before seeing me and smiling widely.
"Right, yes, shit. Uhm, the thing is, I wasn't really done with the story... You think your sis is gonna stay for long?"
"It's a possibility." I threw her an apologetic glance and smiled nervously; I wasn't sure I wanted to retell the story I had just heard if she sensed something was off.
"Damn. Wait, no, I know!"
"Are you sure?" He laughed shortly.
"You know me too well. It's... I'm supposed to meet Spence in five and she'll shank me if I skip out on her... Tell you what; I send over Marie with some homework and you can have a nice chat while I go do the whole sibling thing and upon my return, we can take a walk 'round the old block or something! Should take about an hour!"
"Do I have a say in this?"
"Of course!"
"And if I oppose?" Grace shot me a puzzled look before almost tripping over Max's forgotten shoes. Glancing down at them, she looked around the living room area before slowly sneaking into the kitchen.
"The chance to develop this... Thing, whatever you like to call it, with Marie, a distraction from the horrendous reality and homework all in one neat package!" I had to admit it, it did sound nothing but beneficial.
"Very well then."
"Now, say something along the lines of 'Why, Marie! I would be most delighted to tutor you in math, show off my enormous ant collection and perhaps engage in some very erotic snogging!'" I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed; you could almost hear the grin on his face. Most importantly, I sound nothing like that.
"Shall we say fifteen minutes, Marie? I need to gather the necessary equipment for a study session." Grace, who appeared in the kitchen door, grimaced and walked over to her bag left by the door.
"At least consider the erotic snogging! Everyone's a winner in that situation!"
"... I'm going to regret ever meeting you, am I not?"
"Oh, if I had a nickel... Well, gotta run! I'll give you a holler when I'm coming back around!"
"You're welcome then, Ma... Rie, Marie."
"Nice cover! By the by, try getting in touch with Eddy; ta-ta for now!" With that, he hung up. I stared dumbfounded at the phone, trying to find some sense in it all, until Grace cleared her throat.
"Study session? Nice move, little brother." A sly grin, a wink and thumbs up.
"It's... Not what you think."
"Oh, it never is, brother dearest. It never is." I sighed and leaned back against the windowsill. How did life become... This? This tangled mess of relationships, half of which weren't even mine? I knew that the whole adolescent stereotype brought along emotional matters but this just seemed excessive in every way imaginable. "So, who's shoes are these?"
"Ed's." Automatically, I blurted out Max's suggested lie. "Eddy... Chased him out of here with a piece of broccoli." Which wasn't completely untrue, merely... A couple of years off.
"Aight..." She gave the shoes one last look before strolling into the kitchen, humming to herself. I sighed, yet again as I so often did when frustrated and confused, and went to pick up my school bag.
'Study session with Marie... My... Friend Marie who still harbors feelings for me... Just... How?'
"What the- Did Ed use grandma's coffee cups to mix asphalt or something?!"