Chapter 8 -- "Talk to me"
Heartache to heartache we stand . . .
That night Brandon and Jonny sat at the desk. Both the desktop computer and Jonny's laptop
were up and running. Jonny worked
actively at the desktop system while Brandon watched in fascination. The laptop displayed a screen with a number
of icons across the top. Taking up
about 2/3 of the screen was a large blank area. In a single column on the right was a second blank space. At the top of the column it said
@JBond. Across the top was the legend #Battle: "Home of the Terrible Trio".
"You need a nickname, Brandon. This system works on nicknames. What would you like to be called?"
"I don't know. I've
never had a nickname before."
"Well, I have an idea. Let's use CmptrWhz." Jonny
worked briefly at the desktop system again and then moved back to the laptop.
Brandon grinned. "I
like that." He glanced at the laptop
screen and suddenly got excited. "Look!"
Jonny glanced over at the screen and saw SciGrrl display in
the column below his nickname.
***SciGrrl (jbannon@quest.com) has joined #Battle
"Is that Jessie?" Jonny nodded.
SciGrrl Jonny, are you there?
Jonny ignored the message, continuing to work on the desktop
computer.
SciGrrl Jonny, where are you?
***Sikh (HSingh@quest.com) has joined #Battle
SciGrrl Hadji! Do you know where Jonny
is?
Sikh He is
signed on. Jonny, are you there?
SciGrrl JOOOONNNNNNYYYYYYY!!!!!!
JBond In a
minute! Geez . . .
***CmptrWhz (CmptrWhz@quest.com) has joined #Battle
SciGrrl Hi?
Sikh Hello.
"Okay, Brandon. Come
over here." Brandon slipped into the
chair in front of the desktop computer. "All you need to do now is type what you want to say and then hit
'enter'. It will pop up in this window
and Jessie and Hadji will see it where they are. And you can carry on a running conversation with them. Go ahead. Give it a try."
CmptrWhz Hi,
Jessie.
SciGrrl Uh,
hi. Who is this?
CmptrWhz It's Brandon.
SciGrrl Brandon! Hey, Hadji, it's
Brandon. You remember Jonny and I telling
you about him. He was with us in
California this summer. :-)
Sikh I
remember. Hello, Brandon. It is good to meet you finally.
CmptrWhz Hi. You're Jonny's brother,
right?
Sikh I have
that honor, yes.
SciGrrl So
Brandon, how are you doing?
CmptrWhz Better. I'm living with Jonny
now.
SciGrrl He
mentioned something about that last night but didn't have time to stay and
explain. Why don't you tell me about
it.
"Brandon, I want you to do something."
CmptrWhz Hold on a minute, Jessie.
The boy looked at Jonny questioningly. "Type /mode #Battle +o SciGrrl and hit
enter." Brandon carefully typed the
code.
***CmptrWhz sets mode: +o SciGrrl
"Good job. Now do
the same for Hadji." Brandon typed
again.
***CmptrWhz sets mode: +o Sikh
"Very good, Brandon!"
"Cool! What did I
do?"
"You made them managers so they have special privileges in
the session."
***SciGrrl sets mode: +o CmptrWhz
Sikh Thank
you, my friend.
CmptrWhz You're welcome. Jonny's teaching
me. I've learned lots of new things
since I got here.
SciGrrl I'll
bet. Jonny's a good teacher. And you obviously learn quickly. Now, tell me all about what's going on.
Jonny's laptop beeped at him softly and the private chat
icon appeared at the bottom of the screen. He clicked on it and the screen changed.
S What is
going on there my friend?
JB What?
S Jessie
says you were angry yesterday and cut her off.
JB I wasn't
angry. Where did you hear that?
S She called
me last night. She was very upset.
JB I didn't
mean to upset her. I was just
busy. Brandon is here and things have
been kinda tense. I just didn't think I
should take the time to try and explain it over IRC. I'd sent her an e-mail about it. Furthermore, she said she was busy, too, so . . .
****Sikh frowns at JBond
S Jonny. We are friends. I would be much happier if you did not try
and lie to me. Please tell me what is
wrong.
JB sigh Look, Hadj, I'm in
kinda the same situation you are . . . I'm not really ready to talk about
it. Just leave it, okay?
With that, Jonny bounced back out to the main channel to
find Brandon and Jessie still talking.
CmptrWhz . .
. and so I'm living here now.
SciGrrl Wow. I've missed a lot.
JBond It's
pretty cool to have him here. We've
been having a lot of fun.
CmptrWhz Yeah, we have! And I've been
helping Dr. Quest on some of his research too. That's really neat!
Jonny's laptop beeped at him again and another private chat
icon showed up. This time it was
Jessie. Inwardly, Jonny sighed. He
wasn't really sure he was ready for this.
Sikh I often
get to help him, too. Why don't you
tell me about it? I have been away from
home for a long time.
CmptrWhz Well . . .
Jonny clicked the icon and bounced over to join Jessie.
SG Jonny?
JB I'm here.
SG I'm sorry
about yesterday.
JB What
for? You didn't do anything.
SG I should
have been reading my mail. It's just
that things have been so . . .
She trailed off, not sure what to say.
SG I miss
you.
Jonny's heart contracted sharply and he closed his eyes for
a minute.
JB I miss
you too.
SG How are
things at home? Really?
JB sigh Tense. Brandon is really happy here but Dad is
afraid the courts won't let him stay. I
don't know what's gonna' happen if they try and make him go back to his
mother. I'm really scared for him,
Jess. He gets so depressed sometimes
and I'm afraid of what he'll do. He
keeps talking about how he doesn't think he could 'live' with her anymore. There's something about the way he says it .
. .
SG What
about his Dad?
JB No sign
of him for almost three years.
SG Maybe you
could find him. Brandon always seemed
more connected to his dad than to his mother anyway.
JB Yeah. Maybe. It's a thought.
SG Can't be
much worse than the situation he's in right now.
JB I suppose
that's true.
SG How are
you?
JB I'm okay.
SG I wish
you'd tell me what's wrong.
Jonny's mind screamed at him, Tell her the truth! Tell her
you love her! Tell her you're dying by
inches because she's gone. Don't lie to
her! But another part of him
whispered, She deserves better . . .
don't muddle her head with your needs . . . she's found someone else . . .
don't do this to her. Finally, all
he said was,
JB Nothing's
wrong. I'm fine. You have enough to worry about so don't fuss
about me. How are Race and Estella
doing?
SG 'Bout the
same. One minute they seem really happy
and the next minute they're screaming at each other.
JB I'm
sorry.
SG shrugs What can you
say? Maybe Hadji's right . . . maybe
that's just the way they are. But I
think something else may be up. I'm not
sure what. I can't put my finger on it;
just something about the way they've been looking at each other.
JB Looking at each other how?
SG I don't
know . . . kinda sappy, I guess.
JB Did you
ask Race about it?
SG No, I'm
just leaving them alone, trying to let them work it out. We all do what we can to help. Ruben is the best at it. I'm really glad he's here. I talk to him a lot. It helps.
JB I'm glad
he's there for you.
SG I wish
you were here.
JB It's
probably better that I'm not.
SG Why? What do you mean?
JB Just that
I'd be in the way. Ruben is better than
I would be in that situation.
SG Why?
JB You
wouldn't understand.
SG Try me.
JB Forget
it.
SG NO! I want to know what you mean, Jonny
Quest. You tell me right now!
JB Did you
ever think that maybe I liked things better the way they were? When it was just the five of us?
SG I can't
believe you just said that!
JB Well,
excuuussse me! I told you you wouldn't
understand.
SG *Understand*?! I understand
perfectly well . . . you're selfish and don't want my parents to be happy
together!
JB Fine! Think what you want. Why don't you go and talk to Ruben about
it??! I'm sure he will be very
sympathetic.
SG Yeah! Maybe I will!
Jonny jumped back to the main channel to see,
SciGrrl Brandon, I have to go now. I have a lot of work to do.
CmptrWhz Will you come back again? I miss
you.
****SciGrrl reaches out and gives CmptrWhz a big hug.
SciGrrl I'll
try and be here again tomorrow.
CmptrWhz Are
you going to come home soon? Jonny
really misses you.
SciGrrl Yeah, right. I'll talk with you
tomorrow, Brandon. Bye, Hadji.
Sikh I will
talk with you tomorrow, Jessie.
***SciGrrl has quit IRC (See you tomorrow, Brandon!)
JBond Brandon, we should sign off, too.
CmptrWhz Okay. Bye, Hadji. It was nice to have met you.
Sikh Yes, it
was. I will see you soon. I should be home in a couple of weeks or so.
CmptrWhz Bye.
"Just type forward slash PART leave a space and add #Battle,
Brandon, and that will sign you off."
***CmptrWhz has quit IRC
Sikh Jonny,
what is going on? Are you and Jessie
fighting?
JBond Haven't we always? Look, I gotta
go. I'll talk to you tomorrow.
***JBond has quit IRC
Jonny sat there staring at the computer screen for a long
time. Brandon just looked at him and
wisely left him alone.