R&R.


"Johnny," Barry called, knocking on his nephew's door with a tray in his hand; the tray holding a bowl of soup, and a cup of tea. "I brought you some food."

Hearing Johnny get out of his bed, and shuffle over to the door to unlock it. He opened the door, and saw Johnny getting back in his bed. But his eyes immediately landed on the list of apartments for rent in the city that was sitting on Johnny's nightstand.

"You're looking for apartments?" he asked, setting the tray down, and picking up the booklet of listings. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Because otherwise I'll be homeless when dad throws me out," he said, taking the tea from the tray.

"Johnny, he's not going to throw you out," he said.

"Well, what use am I here?" he asked. "You guys are perfectly capable of picking up where I left off on fixing the cars. And I'm not his son anymore."

"Yeah, but he's not just going to throw you out on the street," he said as Johnny drank the tea in almost record time because he was really thirsty. "He's not that cruel."

"And I don't want him doing the same thing grandpa did to him when he said he didn't want to be part of the gang," he said. "He's right. I was lucky there was a sheet of glass between us, and security guards there when I told him."

"Johnny, your dad's not going to throw you out," Barry said. "And he's not your grandfather. He's not going to beat you just because you don't want to be part of the gang. He'll learn to deal with it."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better," he said, laying back down, and having no interest in the soup because he wasn't hungry. Despite having not eaten in days. "The only reason he's not throwing me out now is because I'm not eighteen yet, and he'd get arrested again if he did."

"Johnny," Barry said.

"Don't," he said. "I know I screwed up. But staying here longer than I need to will just make me even more of a burden on you guys."

"Johnny," he said again. "You're not a burden, and you can stay as long as you want. Just because your dad had a problem with you straying from the path he laid out for you, doesn't mean Stan and I do."

"You say 'had' as if he's not still mad at me," Johnny said before coughing harshly. "Can you please go? I'm still kind of tired."

"Alright," he said, getting up to leave. "And eat your soup. I know you probably don't feel hungry right now, but it'll be better to have something in you so you can fight this off rather than suffer on an empty stomach. Okay?"

"Alright," he said, snuggling up under his blankets. "I'll eat it in a little bit."

Taking the booklet of apartments from Johnny's nightstand, he let Johnny get some sleep, and went downstairs to where Marcus and Stan were eating dinner.

"How is he?" Stan asked, as Barry threw the booklet onto the table.

"Broken," he said. "Marcus, you have to talk to him."

"What can I say after ten months that's going to make up for what I said to him?" he asked.

"I don't know. But you have to think of something," he said. "Otherwise Johnny's just going to put himself into this position over and over again until he ends up in the hospital. And even then he'll just make his health worse because he won't calm down."

"You don't think I know that?" he said. "I'm already worried enough about him now."

"Well, you better talk to him soon," Barry said. "He's not eating anything. I tried talking him into eating the soup, and he just responded with going back to sleep."

"I'll talk to him tomorrow after I call him in sick," Marcus said.


R&R