A/N: Hey, guys. Now, I don't know how it came about, but Dwayne and I have mostly reconciled our hate for each other. I think Fulton put in a good word for him while I was sleeping or something. (damn subliminal messages! ::smacks Fulton lightly:: How dare you? ::Fulton stares at Schiz appealingly:: Damn puppy-dog eyes...get me every time...C'mere you. ::gives Fulton a big kiss:: Uh-oh. ::runs away from jealousboyfriend!Portman::) Anyway, I'm gonna try to portray Dwayne in a more positive light. Go me.
Sorry about the changing tenses. Present means that it's still the day after Dean's birthday, past means Dwayne's memory. I'll only do this when I have a memory sequence in the chapter. Otherwise, it'll be like the first chapter.
****
"Combat Boots and Clover, Chapter Two"
[DWAYNE COLE ROBERTSON]
It's another one of those team meeting in the locker room, but this time it was Portman that called it. He and Fulton are sitting on one of the benches, and from where I'm standing I can tell that something's weighing real heavy on both of them. Not everybody is here yet, just the Bash Brothers, Adam, Luis, and me. It's lunchtime, but none of us have eaten yet. The others are probably gonna come in soon with their food.
****
It was our first day in Los Angeles for the Junior Goodwill Games, and I was in the dorm room I shared with Goldberg, Ken, and Luis, sitting at the desk writing a letter. It went:
"Dear Mattie,
"Hey, sis, how are you? How's Mom and Pop? Has the bay mare had her baby yet? If she has, tell me all about it.
"Los Angeles is" I paused, trying to think of something I could say that wasn't too mean. I erased the beginning of the sentance and wrote, "I am excited for the games to start, but Los Angeles is a real big city, so it'll be interesting to look around. I got the feeling that I won't like it much, because I miss Austin and I miss all of you. And some of the people here, like the enforcer from Chicago, make me wish more people from my old team were here."
"Don't get me wrong, now. I like Portman, he's an okay guy, but sometimes he scares me. He's got the look of someone who could rip a pig in two and not break a sweat, I tell you what." I chewed on the metal part of my pencil for a little while before I continued, "The Ducks, from Minnesota, have another big guy on their team. His name is Fulton Reed, and he's rooming with Portman.
"Good thing it's him and not me. I couldn't sleep in the same room as Portman. It'd be like bedding down with a rattlesnake, you don't know if he'll bite you, and maybe you won't hear the rattle in time. Instead, I'm in one of the big rooms, with Greg Goldberg from the Ducks, Ken Wu from San Francisco, and Luis Mendoza from Miami. Luis already offered to help me get my Spanish right. He says I speak it like a gringo. I say that's the way we all speak it in the family.
"You better be watching the Goodwill Games on TV! If you aren't, I'll be real upset with you. My next letter should have more stuff in it. I miss you all, I love you all, write back!
"Yours Truly, Dwayne"
After sealing the envelope and addressing it, I got out my guitar and started practicing the chords for "Heads Carolina, Tails California" by Jo Dee Messina. I was concentrating so hard on getting it right that I was real surprised that somebody said something to me.
"Hey, you're pretty good."
I jumped a mile. But I looked toward the door and it was the Minnesota guy, Fulton Reed, the one I'd wrote about in my letter. He smiled at me, and I smiled back.
"Thanks," I said, "You wanna come in?" He did, sat down on Ken's bed near the chair, and I asked, "Do you play?"
"No," he told me, "I just listen. What can you play?"
"Um..." I went though the list of songs in my head, naming them off slowly, "'Brand New Man', 'Boot Scootin' Boogie', 'Fancy', 'We Are the Champions,' the beginning of 'We Will Rock You,' and--"
"You were just doing that 'Heads Carolina' song, right?" Fulton interrupted me. I stared at him for a moment.
"How'd you know?"
"Don't tell anyone, but I love country music."
****
Shoot. Wonder why I remembered that all of a sudden. We were friendly to each other at the Goodwill Games...I even taught Fulton a song or two on the guitar. I didn't have any problem with him then.
I look at him, murmuring softly to Portman--who, despite the fact that I've known him for about two years, still scares me a little--and it occurs to me that he hasn't changed at all. He's still Fulton. Maybe that's the point that Luis was trying to make.
Goldberg, Russ, and Ken run into the locker room, and I put aside my thoughts. Russ throws a package of Hostess Sno Balls at me, and I catch it.
"Thanks, y'all." I tell them, tearing open the plastic wrapper.
"We come bearing Ho-Hos and other assorted snacks!" Goldberg announced.
"The rest of the team is coming. But we were the only ones who thought you might be hungry." Ken says, puffing out his chest and trying very hard to look heroic. Russ bops him on the head with a Twinkie; it breaks and oozes cream filling all over Ken's hair.
Luis and Adam are falling against each other, that's how hard they're laughing. Even Portman and Fulton are chuckling. I shrug and stuff a Sno Ball into my mouth. I am starved.
****
"Oh, God, again?" Averman groans as he sees Fulton and Portman. "You're already out of the closet, what the hell else can you confess, that you're serial killers?"
"It's not a confession, dingbat, it's an announcement," Adam snaps.
Averman rolls his eyes, "Bite me, Cakey."
"Guys, please," Fulton says softly. He sounds very sad, and everyone shuts up and pays attention. "I gotta tell you...my mom's in Baton Rouge, and my uncle wants me to come down and help take care of her. I'm gonna talk to Dean Buckley about transferring for the rest of the school year."
"What?" Charlie yells. Fulton flinches and Charlie begins to sputter, "You can't...you won't..."
"Shut up, Spazway," Goldberg snaps. He turns to Fulton and asks, "What about your mom?"
So Fulton tells us. His mother is a heavy drug-user, and she ran away from a treatment center, so he has to go to Louisiana to convince her to go back. If you ask me, it all sounds really stupid. Fulton shouldn't have to go and take care of her, ain't she an adult? So I speak up.
"You shouldn't waste your time." I say from my spot near the back of the group. Everyone turns to look at me. "My family had to deal with somethin' like it...one of my cousins. The family was makin' sacrifices for /years,/ doing everything they could to help him, and he wouldn't have any of it. Just kept stealin' and doin' drugs and all that shit. 'Ventually, my uncle cut him off, and last I heard he's still using."
Fulton's voice trembles slightly, and I can see that what I've said made him angry. "My mother is not your cousin."
"I know," I cross my arms self-consciously. "I'm just warnin' you...you don't wanna expect too much."
I hear Connie mutter, "Talk about insensitive..." The others seem angry with me, too. I shrug and leave the room. I didn't mean any harm by it.
~~End Part Two~~
Sorry about the changing tenses. Present means that it's still the day after Dean's birthday, past means Dwayne's memory. I'll only do this when I have a memory sequence in the chapter. Otherwise, it'll be like the first chapter.
****
"Combat Boots and Clover, Chapter Two"
[DWAYNE COLE ROBERTSON]
It's another one of those team meeting in the locker room, but this time it was Portman that called it. He and Fulton are sitting on one of the benches, and from where I'm standing I can tell that something's weighing real heavy on both of them. Not everybody is here yet, just the Bash Brothers, Adam, Luis, and me. It's lunchtime, but none of us have eaten yet. The others are probably gonna come in soon with their food.
****
It was our first day in Los Angeles for the Junior Goodwill Games, and I was in the dorm room I shared with Goldberg, Ken, and Luis, sitting at the desk writing a letter. It went:
"Dear Mattie,
"Hey, sis, how are you? How's Mom and Pop? Has the bay mare had her baby yet? If she has, tell me all about it.
"Los Angeles is" I paused, trying to think of something I could say that wasn't too mean. I erased the beginning of the sentance and wrote, "I am excited for the games to start, but Los Angeles is a real big city, so it'll be interesting to look around. I got the feeling that I won't like it much, because I miss Austin and I miss all of you. And some of the people here, like the enforcer from Chicago, make me wish more people from my old team were here."
"Don't get me wrong, now. I like Portman, he's an okay guy, but sometimes he scares me. He's got the look of someone who could rip a pig in two and not break a sweat, I tell you what." I chewed on the metal part of my pencil for a little while before I continued, "The Ducks, from Minnesota, have another big guy on their team. His name is Fulton Reed, and he's rooming with Portman.
"Good thing it's him and not me. I couldn't sleep in the same room as Portman. It'd be like bedding down with a rattlesnake, you don't know if he'll bite you, and maybe you won't hear the rattle in time. Instead, I'm in one of the big rooms, with Greg Goldberg from the Ducks, Ken Wu from San Francisco, and Luis Mendoza from Miami. Luis already offered to help me get my Spanish right. He says I speak it like a gringo. I say that's the way we all speak it in the family.
"You better be watching the Goodwill Games on TV! If you aren't, I'll be real upset with you. My next letter should have more stuff in it. I miss you all, I love you all, write back!
"Yours Truly, Dwayne"
After sealing the envelope and addressing it, I got out my guitar and started practicing the chords for "Heads Carolina, Tails California" by Jo Dee Messina. I was concentrating so hard on getting it right that I was real surprised that somebody said something to me.
"Hey, you're pretty good."
I jumped a mile. But I looked toward the door and it was the Minnesota guy, Fulton Reed, the one I'd wrote about in my letter. He smiled at me, and I smiled back.
"Thanks," I said, "You wanna come in?" He did, sat down on Ken's bed near the chair, and I asked, "Do you play?"
"No," he told me, "I just listen. What can you play?"
"Um..." I went though the list of songs in my head, naming them off slowly, "'Brand New Man', 'Boot Scootin' Boogie', 'Fancy', 'We Are the Champions,' the beginning of 'We Will Rock You,' and--"
"You were just doing that 'Heads Carolina' song, right?" Fulton interrupted me. I stared at him for a moment.
"How'd you know?"
"Don't tell anyone, but I love country music."
****
Shoot. Wonder why I remembered that all of a sudden. We were friendly to each other at the Goodwill Games...I even taught Fulton a song or two on the guitar. I didn't have any problem with him then.
I look at him, murmuring softly to Portman--who, despite the fact that I've known him for about two years, still scares me a little--and it occurs to me that he hasn't changed at all. He's still Fulton. Maybe that's the point that Luis was trying to make.
Goldberg, Russ, and Ken run into the locker room, and I put aside my thoughts. Russ throws a package of Hostess Sno Balls at me, and I catch it.
"Thanks, y'all." I tell them, tearing open the plastic wrapper.
"We come bearing Ho-Hos and other assorted snacks!" Goldberg announced.
"The rest of the team is coming. But we were the only ones who thought you might be hungry." Ken says, puffing out his chest and trying very hard to look heroic. Russ bops him on the head with a Twinkie; it breaks and oozes cream filling all over Ken's hair.
Luis and Adam are falling against each other, that's how hard they're laughing. Even Portman and Fulton are chuckling. I shrug and stuff a Sno Ball into my mouth. I am starved.
****
"Oh, God, again?" Averman groans as he sees Fulton and Portman. "You're already out of the closet, what the hell else can you confess, that you're serial killers?"
"It's not a confession, dingbat, it's an announcement," Adam snaps.
Averman rolls his eyes, "Bite me, Cakey."
"Guys, please," Fulton says softly. He sounds very sad, and everyone shuts up and pays attention. "I gotta tell you...my mom's in Baton Rouge, and my uncle wants me to come down and help take care of her. I'm gonna talk to Dean Buckley about transferring for the rest of the school year."
"What?" Charlie yells. Fulton flinches and Charlie begins to sputter, "You can't...you won't..."
"Shut up, Spazway," Goldberg snaps. He turns to Fulton and asks, "What about your mom?"
So Fulton tells us. His mother is a heavy drug-user, and she ran away from a treatment center, so he has to go to Louisiana to convince her to go back. If you ask me, it all sounds really stupid. Fulton shouldn't have to go and take care of her, ain't she an adult? So I speak up.
"You shouldn't waste your time." I say from my spot near the back of the group. Everyone turns to look at me. "My family had to deal with somethin' like it...one of my cousins. The family was makin' sacrifices for /years,/ doing everything they could to help him, and he wouldn't have any of it. Just kept stealin' and doin' drugs and all that shit. 'Ventually, my uncle cut him off, and last I heard he's still using."
Fulton's voice trembles slightly, and I can see that what I've said made him angry. "My mother is not your cousin."
"I know," I cross my arms self-consciously. "I'm just warnin' you...you don't wanna expect too much."
I hear Connie mutter, "Talk about insensitive..." The others seem angry with me, too. I shrug and leave the room. I didn't mean any harm by it.
~~End Part Two~~