Home Improvement
Chapter 21: Is Anyone a Friend
Mark soon forgot all about the vow. October passed and November arrived. Mark began to think they were arrested, though nothing on the news said anything about it, except a report from Officer George, saying a teen was beaten. The month of giving was always Mark's favorite month. He couldn't explain why, he just liked November.
"Hey Mark," Kenneth said, passing him on their way to class.
Mark clapped Ken's hand as they passed. "Yo, what's up," Mark said.
"Nothing much, except the sky," Kenneth said, looking up.
Mark laughed as they entered the ninth grade classroom.
The Math teacher, Miss Frieda, walked in. "Good morning class. The lesson for today is graphing linear equations. All of you open your books to page three hundred and seventy-two. I am going to explain the lesson."
"I hate math class," Kenneth said out loud when they walked out to recess. "It's so annoying. It plays with your brain so much, you can't think straight for Geography afterwards."
Mark bought some food, waited for Kenneth to pick a brownie from the serving table, and they took their snack to a seat and ate.
"I never much liked math, I find it pointless," Mark said. "Why the hell do you need to know how to graph liner equations? How is that supposed to help?"
"I have no idea," Kenneth said shaking his head. "You know what really plays with your brain? When Mark shook his head, Ken answered, "Time."
"Well, when you think of it…"
"I know exactly what you mean," Kenneth said very talkatively. "I swear, it's like it is so…"
Mark sat listening there for the rest of recess. It's when he first noticed a small problem with Kenneth; he talked too much.
"… So after watching that freaky movie…"
Now Kenneth was talking about movies. Amazing how they were talking about math first, and then time, and then Ken decided to talk about a 'freaky movie.' What the hell?
"So I went to my dad and asked him if dinosaurs…"
"Ken," Mark said in a strained calm voice. "We were talking about math."
"Yo, look whose here, act natural."
Miss Frieda walked past a gossiping Mark and Kenneth about how awesome they thought math was. "I swear, I had to teach my little brother math once, he freaked out when he found I was smarter than him."
When the teacher disappeared, Mark asked, "So, do you have any siblings?"
"Sure, one twin sister and two little brothers," Ken answered. "What I told you was true."
"Why don't I see this sister," Mark asked.
"She's in Australia with my mom," Ken replied. Mark was surprised, so Kenneth continued. "It's a long story, but I'll explain. Once before, we were all in Australia. We're Australian, but something happened. While we were on holiday over here, summer before last, a tornado hit. A raging F-5 hit our Kansas holiday home. We lost everything, except each other. The tornado destroyed our house, and even the bank my dad kept his money in. So, the bank is in major debt. It had to pay back everyone. My mom and dad had enough money left with them to do one last desperate attempt to prevent us going poor. Mom had a job in Australia, so she moved back. My dad stayed here, to get a job. My dad took my second youngest brother and I. My mom took my youngest brother and Martha. Now, we can only afford to see them every summer."
Mark tried staying awake for the long explanation. "Is anything improving for you" Mark asked sympathetically.
"A bit, hopefully sometime in the next year, we'll be reunited," Kenneth said sadly.
"That's sad, I never knew," Mark said quietly. "I'm… sorry."
"Its fine, I just miss them, a lot," Kenneth said sadly.
"I didn't think something like that could ever happen," Mark said.
Ken obviously wanted to get off the subject, because he changed it, "So, what about you? Has anything ever happen to you."
"Well… that drinking-driving-death incident," Mark recalled. "One thing for sure, Alcohol is my phobia."
Kenneth laughed, "You're one-of-a-kind, mate."
"One question though," Mark said. "Do you have the American passport?"
'Mate.' Mark was unfamiliar with that word, but he guessed it meant friend. It must be Australian talk
"Yeah, my dad is American, that's why he stayed here," Kenneth said happily. "I also liked America, so I stayed here as well. The rest were attached to Aussie though."
"Do you think you'll work here?" Mark asked before Kenneth could go off into another long blab.
"I think I'll take a one year break from education before entering University," Kenneth replied. "I'll move to Australia for a one year break, and then study University there and work there. If I get a better job offer though, I'll work here. I'll get married here. I'll raise my kids here. Whatever I do though, I plan to die in Australia."
Mark couldn't believe it. It was so annoying, it was funny. He asked for one part of Kenneth's life, instead, he got a life plan. That was so weird. Why did everyone have a problem? Thomas drank, Ronny smoked, and Kenneth talked too much. What the hell was going to come next?