Chris handed Sam a cue stick, and then slid the pool balls into the centre of the table. "So, Sammy, any bets you want to place?"
Holding the stick tentatively, he looked up at Chris. "Um, I kinda don't know how to play."
"You don't know--" His jaw dropped, and he blinked several times. "Wow."
"Sorry, I'm not much into billiards." Sam shrugged. "I play baseball. That's the only activity I do."
"Well, that's about to change," Chris said, smiling. "You'll love it. Actually, I don't know the real rules either, no one ever taught me. Alright, see the stick there in your hand? Take that and hit that white ball into that big bunch of them. You following me?"
"Sure why not."
Running back to the kitchen, Mattie grabbed the phone, but realized she didn't know who to phone. She didn't know anyone here. If she phoned 911, they would tell her to just sit and wait for him to come home, and if he didn't come home for a few hours, try them again. She wished that her dad were home, or even Sam. But then again, neither of them would have lost Will in the first place.
Ten minutes passed, and by this point, Sam's lack of talent for pool was so apparent that they had to stop. They went outside and began walking downtown. "So what's your sister doing today?" Chris asked.
"Mattie? Why?"
"She's really pretty, don't you think?"
"Umm…no, not really."
"I tried to talk Gordie into admitting he thinks she's hot, but he wouldn't."
"Yeah," Sam said, nodding. "I was saying the same thing to Mattie. But she had a conniption fit. Not really, but she told me to eat my breakfast in a very snotty tone."
"Speaking of girls," Chris said, now that he had tired of talking about Sam's sister. "Do you want to meet my girl?"
"Uh, sure, but isn't she oozing with disease?"
Smiling to himself, Chris said, "Anything's possible with Toby."
"Get the hell out of my room!"
"But you're feeling better! You need company!"
"I don't want your company! Get out! I'll sneeze on you, I swear I will, I've trained my nose to do things like that!"
Gordie tried to grab his cousin by the arm to pull her out of bed, but Toby pounced on him before he had the chance. She had her purple blanket clutched in her hands high above her head, making herself look amusingly like a cape crusader of some sort. She knocked him to the floor, pinned him under the blanket, and sat on him. "Now, Gordie, where do I want you to be?"
Imagining his life slowly ebbing from him as her body flattened several of his vital organs, Gordie grunted, "Away from you?"
"Very good!" she said enthusiastically. "And while you're busy not being anywhere near me, you can go get Chris and tell him to come see me!"
"He was just sick, do you really think he wants the cold germs back?" he asked.
"Uhhhm…yes." She smiled, letting him up. She flopped back on her rumpled white sheets, not brushing her sandy brown hair away when it fell over her ashen face. "Could you also get me some more ginger pop?"
"It's ginger ale and no, I will not get you any. But I'll go find Chris." He was about to exit the room, but remembered some handy advice. "Now, remember, Toby, if you throw up or drool excessively, don't drown in it."
Stopping to watch an unorganized baseball game taking place in Harrison Park, Gordie felt himself grow wistful. If it were a few years ago, he would be out there, getting dirt on his clothes from sliding, getting grass stains--and he would still have his old friends. Even though they weren't a part of his life anymore, he still thought about Teddy Duchamp and Vern Tessio from time to time. You don't forget the friends you had when you were that age. Those were the best, truest friends you could ever have.
He kept walking and almost slammed into a little boy that came up to about his waist. "Woah, sorry, kid."
The boy looked pretty angered. "Hi. Do you know where I can go see the movies?"
"Hmm." Gordie studied the boy's small face and soft features. "What movie do you want to go to?"
"Maltese Falcon! Mattie won't take me and I'm mad as hell."
Laughing, he asked, "Are you Will?"
"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers but I've been talking to you for awhile so you're not a stranger anymore so my name's Will, what's your name? Are you going to take me to the movie? Do you have a ticket? I don't but I brought some pennies."
"I'm afraid I must have left my ticket in another pair of pants. I'm Gordie." He put a hand on Will's head, and began to walk with him. "How about you come take a walk with me?"
If anything bad happened to Will, Mattie didn't know what she would do. That kid meant so much to her and he made her laugh when she should be crying. She wouldn't be able to handle losing her mom and her little brother all in the same month.
She'd been pacing up and down the hallway for about ten minutes, knowing her doing nothing wasn't helping him come home, but she didn't know what to do. Finally, she went to the back door, and jammed her feet into her street-shoes.
The front entrance doorbell rang. Her heart fluttering horribly, and expecting to see a policeman to be standing on the porch, she ran down the hall and threw open the door.
Upon seeing Gordie with Will, unafraid and unhurt, holding his hand, Mattie broke down into tears. Her eyes briefly soared up to Gordie, but she immediately knelt so fast that her knees hitting the floor made a loud, painful sound. She threw her arms around him. "Why did you do that?" she cried. "I couldn't find you and I didn't know what to do!"
Will's eyes grew wide with surprise at Mattie's reaction, but then his lip trembled and he began to cry too. He hugged her back. "I got my pennies and I was going to go to the movie by myself because you wanted to read your story!"
"I was just about to tell you that I changed my mind," she said, her sobs weakening.
Gordie stood by and watched, amazed and out of place. He didn't know how to comfort a girl he hardly knew, especially when she was bawling out of sheer fright. He cleared his throat, and Mattie looked up at him, her eyes bluer than ever now that they were rimmed with pink. Her cheeks were also pink; the only colour on her winter white skin. He wanted to leave, but was amazed by how unbelievable she looked at that moment, so helpless, so strong, and so full of love.
"Gordie, you--" She shook her head and sniffled. "Thank you, I don't even know what to say to you. How did you know it was Will?"
He smiled reassuringly down at her. "Well, he said so. That, and he just sounded like the kid you were telling me about last night."
On trembling legs, Mattie struggled to her feet, hesitated at first, but hugged him tightly. "I was so scared, Gordie," she whispered, so that Will wouldn't hear. She didn't need to worry about him overhearing; he had run off into the kitchen. "I just didn't know what to do."
Gordie touched her hair, cradling her. "It's okay, nothing happened."
"But something could have!" she insisted.
"But nothing did," he said strongly, holding her face away so he could look her in the eye. "Just be thankful for that, Mattie."
"Do you know how much I would have died if something had hurt him?"
He shook his head. "Don't think about it."
Mattie's tears were replaced by new ones as she began to cry again. "I'm sorry," she whimpered.
"No, shh," he murmured. "I don't mind if you cry."
"How do I thank you?"
"You don't have to." Being able to hold her because she needed him was reward enough for Gordie, but he didn't tell her that.