"So, do you plan on following me the whole way?"
Dannie's voice brought me back the reality that we were still walking to an unknown destination. "That depends, where are we going?"
"Right over there." Dannie pointed towards the soccer field at the Elementary school. "I have to go to work. You know the fifth and sixth grade soccer team?" I didn't have to answer, she just continued on. "Well, I'm the assistant coach."
"The assistant coach? How did you end up with that job?"
"Well," Dannie began frustrated, as if she had told this tale a million times before. "At the beginning of the year the original coach for that team quit, and they haven't found a replacement. So Coach Colons, the Jr. High coach, had to take that job over. They practice together and everything, but Colons only coaches the seventh and eighth graders, so I do the rest. Its not a bad job, and the pay is decent."
"Oh," The whole ordeal didn't interest me. "Wait, the soccer team? Lizzie's little brother is on that." Suddenly I wished to turn the clock back. Why did I have to mention her name? Dannie would be furious with me now, or so I thought.
"Yeah I know Matt. That kid is great."
Soon after we arrived at the field, practice began. There were about 20 kids under Dannie's control, but she seemed to handle it well. As they practiced kicking, positions, passing, and scoring, I stood on the bleachers not too far away. Not wanting to get in the way, I just watch, Dannie mostly, her hair, up in a messy ponytail, clothes, eyes, and many other places. But mostly, I was thinking of our past, the fun times, the sad times, and the life changing ones.
Dannie ended the practice, with Coach Colon's permission, at 4:30. After all the equipment was packed away she headed towards the bleachers, near me.
"Ok, now I can go..." A distant ringing cut off Dannie. I watch her pull out a cell phone from her bag and walk a few feet away.
"Gordo, my man, what are you doing here?" Turning around I discovered a very muddy Matt. Apparently he had a messy practice. He placed his hand in mid air and I quickly gave him a high-five. Although he was the annoying little brother to my best friend, he was like a kid brother to me. Never having a little brother to hang around with, he filled the position at some moments.
"Matt?" A somewhat angry Dannie approached. "I just had an interesting conversation with your mother." Matt rolled his eyes, as if he knew what she would say next. The smirk on her face made me realize the anger before was just a joke between the two. "So you went and got yourself grounded and your mom wants me to walk you home, to make sure you go STRAIGHT home."
"Matt what did you do this time?" Matt had been known to pull some creative pranks in the past, which usually resulted in punishment from his mom. The tricks were always to Lizzie, so I knew that he had pulled something to Lizzie, but I just wasn't sure what it was.
Matt tried to appear innocent, but failed miserably. "What? It wasn't anything bad. I just switched Lizzie's shampoo with chocolate syrup. I thought it was a better switch." He giggled.
Although it was a funny stunt, I knew Lizzie would be upset about it and complain for sometime. I rolled my eyes in anger, while Dannie gave Matt a high-five and congratulated, "Classic."
"You condone this kind of behavior?!"
"Condone it? Dannie told me to do it."
Dannie shook her head with a smile. "I never told him to do it. I just told him what I used to do to my older sister, before she left for college that is."
Dannie's older sister, Marie, was around 6 or 7 years older than her and hardly around while we were growing up.
"He wouldn't understand, Dannie." Matt broke my thoughts of Marie with his absurd notion.
"I wouldn't understand what?"
Matt looked to Dannie then towards me once more. "The younger siblings right to pull pranks on the other one. It's like an unwritten rule. Since you're an only child, you..."
"Umm.... Matt, I think its time I take you home." Dannie stopped Matt in mid sentence and rushed off, leaving me there, with nothing but my thoughts.
___________
I stepped through my front door at five past five. After returning to reality on the field, I quickly headed home. There was a note on the kitchen and message on the machine. Mom and Dad were both working late, like they did every night.
Looking around the empty house, with Matt's final words replaying in my mind, I noticed there were no pictures of him up anymore. It was as if he was never there, as if he didn't just leave, he never existed.
*******************
Ten-year-old Gordo sat down, once again, in the uncomfortable chair. There was no one else around, which made things worse for him. He fidgeted around, trying to get his mind off of it, but it didn't help. He peered through the glass that separated them and felt a tear begin fall as he thought back to only an hour before.
Gordo was sitting down to dinner with his mother and father. There was no fighting or awkward silence, just happiness. When the phone had rung, he thought nothing of it, but when he saw the tears in his mother's eyes, he knew something had happened. Before he knew it, they were rushing towards the hospital in great panic and still, no one had informed this little boy of the terrible news. It wasn't as if the parents forgot about him, the news was just too much to bare for them.
As Gordo looked through that glass window and saw the doctors working, struggling to keep that young man alive, he knew why those tears had found his mothers eyes. The young man, only 17, didn't deserve this punishment, this pain. Gordo wanted so much to close his eyes and make everything better once again, to touch this young man and make him wake from his slumber cause by pain, but soon he found that to be impossible.
Looking around the hallway, Gordo saw that his parents were no longer there. They needed to escape the site and went to the waiting room. As he sat back down, he thought that "Waiting Room" was the most appropriate name that could have been given. For in a Waiting Room, you wait for good news or bad, for success or not, and for life.... or death.
TO BE COMTINUED...
NOTE TO READERS: I updated, here you go. Tell me what you think. Thanks to all who reviewed so far and to all who have read it.
Dannie's voice brought me back the reality that we were still walking to an unknown destination. "That depends, where are we going?"
"Right over there." Dannie pointed towards the soccer field at the Elementary school. "I have to go to work. You know the fifth and sixth grade soccer team?" I didn't have to answer, she just continued on. "Well, I'm the assistant coach."
"The assistant coach? How did you end up with that job?"
"Well," Dannie began frustrated, as if she had told this tale a million times before. "At the beginning of the year the original coach for that team quit, and they haven't found a replacement. So Coach Colons, the Jr. High coach, had to take that job over. They practice together and everything, but Colons only coaches the seventh and eighth graders, so I do the rest. Its not a bad job, and the pay is decent."
"Oh," The whole ordeal didn't interest me. "Wait, the soccer team? Lizzie's little brother is on that." Suddenly I wished to turn the clock back. Why did I have to mention her name? Dannie would be furious with me now, or so I thought.
"Yeah I know Matt. That kid is great."
Soon after we arrived at the field, practice began. There were about 20 kids under Dannie's control, but she seemed to handle it well. As they practiced kicking, positions, passing, and scoring, I stood on the bleachers not too far away. Not wanting to get in the way, I just watch, Dannie mostly, her hair, up in a messy ponytail, clothes, eyes, and many other places. But mostly, I was thinking of our past, the fun times, the sad times, and the life changing ones.
Dannie ended the practice, with Coach Colon's permission, at 4:30. After all the equipment was packed away she headed towards the bleachers, near me.
"Ok, now I can go..." A distant ringing cut off Dannie. I watch her pull out a cell phone from her bag and walk a few feet away.
"Gordo, my man, what are you doing here?" Turning around I discovered a very muddy Matt. Apparently he had a messy practice. He placed his hand in mid air and I quickly gave him a high-five. Although he was the annoying little brother to my best friend, he was like a kid brother to me. Never having a little brother to hang around with, he filled the position at some moments.
"Matt?" A somewhat angry Dannie approached. "I just had an interesting conversation with your mother." Matt rolled his eyes, as if he knew what she would say next. The smirk on her face made me realize the anger before was just a joke between the two. "So you went and got yourself grounded and your mom wants me to walk you home, to make sure you go STRAIGHT home."
"Matt what did you do this time?" Matt had been known to pull some creative pranks in the past, which usually resulted in punishment from his mom. The tricks were always to Lizzie, so I knew that he had pulled something to Lizzie, but I just wasn't sure what it was.
Matt tried to appear innocent, but failed miserably. "What? It wasn't anything bad. I just switched Lizzie's shampoo with chocolate syrup. I thought it was a better switch." He giggled.
Although it was a funny stunt, I knew Lizzie would be upset about it and complain for sometime. I rolled my eyes in anger, while Dannie gave Matt a high-five and congratulated, "Classic."
"You condone this kind of behavior?!"
"Condone it? Dannie told me to do it."
Dannie shook her head with a smile. "I never told him to do it. I just told him what I used to do to my older sister, before she left for college that is."
Dannie's older sister, Marie, was around 6 or 7 years older than her and hardly around while we were growing up.
"He wouldn't understand, Dannie." Matt broke my thoughts of Marie with his absurd notion.
"I wouldn't understand what?"
Matt looked to Dannie then towards me once more. "The younger siblings right to pull pranks on the other one. It's like an unwritten rule. Since you're an only child, you..."
"Umm.... Matt, I think its time I take you home." Dannie stopped Matt in mid sentence and rushed off, leaving me there, with nothing but my thoughts.
___________
I stepped through my front door at five past five. After returning to reality on the field, I quickly headed home. There was a note on the kitchen and message on the machine. Mom and Dad were both working late, like they did every night.
Looking around the empty house, with Matt's final words replaying in my mind, I noticed there were no pictures of him up anymore. It was as if he was never there, as if he didn't just leave, he never existed.
*******************
Ten-year-old Gordo sat down, once again, in the uncomfortable chair. There was no one else around, which made things worse for him. He fidgeted around, trying to get his mind off of it, but it didn't help. He peered through the glass that separated them and felt a tear begin fall as he thought back to only an hour before.
Gordo was sitting down to dinner with his mother and father. There was no fighting or awkward silence, just happiness. When the phone had rung, he thought nothing of it, but when he saw the tears in his mother's eyes, he knew something had happened. Before he knew it, they were rushing towards the hospital in great panic and still, no one had informed this little boy of the terrible news. It wasn't as if the parents forgot about him, the news was just too much to bare for them.
As Gordo looked through that glass window and saw the doctors working, struggling to keep that young man alive, he knew why those tears had found his mothers eyes. The young man, only 17, didn't deserve this punishment, this pain. Gordo wanted so much to close his eyes and make everything better once again, to touch this young man and make him wake from his slumber cause by pain, but soon he found that to be impossible.
Looking around the hallway, Gordo saw that his parents were no longer there. They needed to escape the site and went to the waiting room. As he sat back down, he thought that "Waiting Room" was the most appropriate name that could have been given. For in a Waiting Room, you wait for good news or bad, for success or not, and for life.... or death.
TO BE COMTINUED...
NOTE TO READERS: I updated, here you go. Tell me what you think. Thanks to all who reviewed so far and to all who have read it.