more (original) character development and interaction (and movie-verse)
And with the black banners raised
As the crooked smiles fade
Former heroes who quit too late
-Fall Out Boy, The Kids Aren't Alright
We stop at the fence. It's not open yet, but that isn't going to stop us. I wonder if they're worried about Milo, or Chopper. Just because the junkyard is closed doesn't mean they're not around here somewhere. Honestly though, it's not even Milo I'm wary of, it's Chopper. He was hardly seen, but everyone knew about him, and everyone was afraid of him. The kids at school had so many different stories about that dog that if he wasn't ten feet tall and over two hundred pounds with a bite strong enough to break bone, he would be a letdown.
The worst part was that Milo had trained Chopper to sic, and any kid who would illegally scale the fence (like we were clearly doing right now) might hear Milo command, "Chopper, sic balls!"
To be fair, I'm not exactly scared about that last part, for obvious reasons.
Gordie hooks his fingers through the fence and turns to Vern. "Looks like your ma's been out driving again," he jokes.
Vern rolls his eyes. "That's so funny I forgot to laugh."
Teddy takes his bedroll and tosses it over the fence. "Paratroops, over the side!" he shouts before he and Vern start to scale the fence. Chris and Gordie follow quickly. I wait until they're at the top before I follow.
I jump down and grab onto Gordie to stop from falling on my butt, and he steadies me. I straighten my dress and we follow after them. "Teddy's insane," I say when I hear he's still shouting army talk.
"He won't live to be twenty, I bet," Chris adds.
"Remember the time you saved him in the tree?" Gordie asks. I shudder. If I hadn't been there, I never would have believed the story. Somehow Chris managed to grab Teddy from falling out of a tree by grabbing onto his hair. I remember screaming, because I was so certain I was going to watch Teddy crash all one hundred and twenty feet down to the ground.
"You know I dream about that sometimes," Chris confesses. "Except in the dream I always miss him. I just get a couple of his hairs and down he goes."
"Thank god you didn't miss." I say with a shrug.
"Chris Chambers never misses, does he?" Gordie says.
Chris laughs. "Not even when the ladies leave the seat down."
I groan and push him. "Don't be gross!" I tell him.
He laughs and turns to Gordie. "I'll race you."
Gordie glances over at me and shrugs. "I don't know."
"Right to the pump, man, come on."
"No, I'm kind of tired – go!" Gordie drops his pack and takes off.
Chris takes off after him, shouting, "You're a dead man, Lachance!"
"Stop running!" I call to them, but I can't help but laugh. "You'll get heatstroke!"
They stop by the pump and I shake my head. One of them is bound to pass out before this adventure is done.
I grab my canteen from my bag and stick it under the water, and once it's full I take a long drink. I twist the cap back into place and then hold the canteen to my forehead. It feels nice.
Gordie fills up his canteen and we go over to a pile of junk and sit down in the shade. I'm between Vern and Gordie, where there's the most shade. I don't want to get up. It's too hot.
"Have you guys been watching the Mickey Mouse Club lately?"
"Duh," I tell Teddy. I don't have to look over to know he's glaring at me.
"I think Annette's tits are getting bigger."
I kick out at him, but miss. He's too far away, and now he's laughing at me. "Shut up, Teddy. Don't be gross!" I tell him. The others start laughing.
"You think so?"
"I think he's right. I've been noticing lately that the A and the E are beginning to bend around the sides."
I drop my head to my hands. "I hate all of you and you're perverts."
There's a pause, and then Vern says under his breath. "Annette's tits are great." I sigh, but remain silent. "This is really a good time," he says a few moments later.
"The most."
"A blast."
Vern didn't mean being here in the junkyard, or what we were on our way to do. There was something underneath the words he said, and we all knew it. It was probably different for all of us, but it was there. I wonder if they knew how much it meant to me, being here with them. They could have left me back in town, and they didn't. They invited me. There was no hesitation in the invite. It's on the tip of my tongue to tell them, to thank them, but Teddy squirts Vern with water from his mouth and I start to laugh instead of speak. Gordie laughs so hard he leans into me to keep from falling on his side.
"Great, spit at the fat kid, real good. What time is it Gordie?" Gordie manages to stop laughing and tells him it's a quarter after one. "We better go get the food. The junkyard opens at third. Chopper will be here."
"Sic balls!" Chris says, tossing the rock he's holding.
"I'm thankful I have nothing to worry about," I tell them, trying to act serious when I'm trying not to laugh. I glance over at Chris, who is laughing, and also shaking his head. He looks up and catches me. I smile and look away.
"Let's flip for it."
Gordie takes the coins out of his pocket and hands us each a nickel. We flip quickly and when it's revealed we all flipped tails, Vern starts freaking out.
"I don't like this. Sincerely."
Teddy rolls his eyes. "Verno! Nobody believes that crap about moons and goochers, it's baby stuff! Now come on, flip again." We all flip, and keep our hands over our coins, waiting for Vern. I hope I don't have to go alone. "You gonna flip, or not?!" Teddy demands.
"Flip your damn coin." I tell him. He sighs and flips.
Only Gordie gets heads. Teddy starts to laugh, and it makes my head pound until he stops. I don't want him to laugh anymore. His laugh grates my nerves like nothing else.
Gordie gathers up his stuff and leaves after delivering a sick comeback to Teddy that I truly appreciate. We sit there silently for a while. The guys are throwing rocks at an empty tin can. Eventually I finish the water from my canteen, and I have to ask Chris to help me pump more water. We take Gordie's canteen too, seeing as he forgot it, and go over to the pump. Chris starts priming it, and I stand back so I don't get elbowed.
When the water starts flowing, I fill both canteens and drape them both over my shoulder. I glance over my shoulder and see Teddy and Vern now throwing rocks at each other. Why doesn't that surprise me?
"Today has been pretty good," I tell Chris. He looks over at me, surprised. "I mean, being outside with you guys; knowing mom and dad are in Washington. There's just this feeling of…freedom I have here. No one expects me to be a mind reader."
Chris takes a step towards me, and I appreciate his closeness. "I know it's bad," he starts, but I shake my head.
"It's not that, it's…it's suffocating. I feel like I'm being suffocated." I pause. "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't complain or whatever," I stop, because I don't know how to continue, or even if I should.
Chris reaches out and puts his hand on my shoulder. I like this too. "It's okay, Cordelia," he tells me. My full name sounds weird coming from him, but it makes me listen. "I get it."
I open my mouth to tell him, it's again on the tip of my tongue, but a car backfires somewhere in the yard. Teddy and Vern jump up.
"The hell was that?" I ask.
"Milo must be here. We gotta go." Chris gestures to the others, and they hurry towards us. We make our way to the fence and climb it quickly.
"What about Gordie?" I ask. "He'll be back any second."
"He's on his own, man," Teddy says. I slap his arm.
We wait on the outside of the fence for only a couple moments when Gordie appears in our line of sight. He doesn't see us at first. I hear Milo's voice, and wonder if Gordie can too.
Gordie turns and finally sees us. I start waving him over when I hear, "Hey! Hey you kid! What're you doing there? Come over here!"
"Run Gordie!" I shout, trying to make my voice heard over the others, who are shouting essentially the same things.
Gordie starts running, and then screams when he hears Milo call, "Sic him boy!" He gets to the fence and climbs it faster than I thought was possible.
The dog hits the fence, and I'm shocked. That was not the kind of dog I expected. I would have bet money he was bigger than I was, with blood around his mouth. But the dog Teddy is now taunting is kind of cute.
And much smaller than I thought.
Milo's at the fence, pointing a chubby finger through the links at Teddy. "Sonny, I'm gonna beat your ass, teasing my dog like that!"
"Yeah. I'd like to see you try to climb over this fence and get me, fat ass!"
I turn around because I don't want Milo to see me laughing. The way Teddy said it is so funny to me I have to take a few steps back so no one hears my laughter.
"Don't you call me that, you little tin-weasel peckerwood loony's son!"
Teddy stops. Everyone freezes. I turn around quickly, my laughter cut short. My hand comes up and covers my mouth.
"What did you call me?" he asks in a quiet voice I didn't know he had.
"I know who you are. You're Teddy Duchamp. Your dad's a loony—a loony up in the nuthouse in Togus. He took your ear, and he put it to a stove, and he burnt it off!"
I take a step forward and place my hand on the small of Teddy's back. He doesn't shake me off, or step away; in fact, he doesn't move at all. He might not even feel it.
"My father stormed the beach at Normandy," Teddy tells him quietly. He's never quiet. I don't like this. We should just turn around and leave.
"He's crazier than a shithouse rat! No wonder you're acting the way you are, with a loony for a father."
"You call my dad loony again and I'll kill you."
Milo must realize he's hit a sore spot, and it's obvious he doesn't care. "Loony, loony, loony."
Teddy screams and jumps at the fence. "I'm gonna rip your head off and shit down your neck!" He starts climbing the fence. I try to grab for him, but Chris gets a better grip on him and pulls him away.
"He wants you to go over there so he can beat the piss out of you and then take you to the cops!" Gordie tells him, trying to be heard over Teddy's screaming.
"You watch your mouth, smart guy. Let him do his own fighting."
"Sure. You only outweigh him by 500 pounds, fat ass!" Gordie shouts.
"I know your name. You're Lachance! I know all you, and all your fathers are going get a call from me!" He points his finger at me and raises his eyebrows. Thank god dad is out of town. "Except for the loony up in Togus."
Teddy screams again and tries to get away from Chris, screaming. Gordie grabs him too and we manage to drag him away from the junkyard, with Milo still calling out for us until we're far enough away that his voice fades.
Teddy takes off his glasses, wiping at his eyes. He's crying. I can't believe what I'm seeing, but I'm seeing Teddy cry. Gordie takes Teddy's bedroll; Chris takes Teddy's glasses and hands them to me. I hold them by the middle so I don't accidently break them.
"He ranked my old man."
"He doesn't know anything about your dad, right?" I demand. It's weird seeing Teddy so upset. Usually things just roll right off him. I feel like going back and punching Milo in the face, if I could reach it.
"Just forget it," he mumbles.
"He don't know nothing about your old man. He's just dog shit." Vern pipes up from my left. I switch Teddy's glasses from one hand to another.
"Whatever is between you and your old man—he can't change that," Chris adds.
"Forget it, alright?! Just forget it!" Teddy shouts.
Vern tries to lighten the mood by singing again. Chris and Gordie just stare at him until he stops. There's a moment of silence and when I turn to look at Teddy, I see he's stopped. I tap Gordie, and he turns as well.
"I'm sorry if I'm spoiling everybody's good time," Teddy says when we've all stopped.
"It's okay, man," Chris says.
I take a step forward. "It wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for that asshole."
"I'm not sure it should be a good time," Gordie says.
"You saying you wanna go back?" Chris demands.
"No. But going to see a dead kid—maybe it shouldn't be a party." He's right, of course. Maybe we shouldn't be treating this as a fun adventure.
"Yeah. Like if he's really bad, like all cut up and blood and shit all over him. I might have nightmares..." Vern says. I didn't even think of that. Oh God, he's right. I can't get the picture of what he's saying out of my head. "...you know, like all guts and eyeballs all ready to jump and grab..."
"Shut up, Vern, goddamn it!" Chris yells. I put my hand on his shoulder. We're too far from home to be fighting like this. He relaxes quickly.
"I can't help it. Sorry."
We're silent as we continue walking down the tracks. I switch Teddy's glasses again, only this time I smudge the lenses. I sigh and start cleaning them on my shirt. When I think they're clean enough, I hand them back to Teddy, who I know can't see shit without them.
"Thanks."
I fall to the back of the group and glance at my watch. I feel my stomach sink when I see it's only two forty-five. We have such a long way to go, and the day is almost half over.
fuck the junkyard; this chapter is long, and that's because I just wanted it over and done with