CHAPTER 6: February—Jason
At lunch time on Thursday afternoon, a few days before my birthday, Kristy, Mary Anne, Logan, and I were sitting at our usual table. "Did you see the cast list for Inherit the Wind yet?" Kristy asked, taking a bite of tuna melt.
"No. Did they put it up already?" Mary Anne asked as she finished her fruit cocktail.
Kristy nodded. "That's what Abby told me," she answered.
"I sure hope I got the part of Bert Cates," Logan commented.
"I'm sure you'll get that part, Logan," Mary Anne said reassuringly. "I mean, you nailed that audition."
"Well, no offense, Logan, but you didn't have trouble with the Southern accent, like I did," I said, taking a sip of my soda.
"None taken," Logan said. "You know, the library has those dialect CDs on the ground floor near the children's department. They've probably got a Southern one."
"Thanks, Logan," I said as we got up to take our trays to the trash can. That's when the bell rang, ending lunch.
After school, I stopped outside Mr. D'Amato's office. Sure enough, there was the cast list for Inherit the Wind. When I got a closer look, here's what I saw:
Matthew Harrison Brady. . . . . . . JASON EVERETT
Bert Cates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . LOGAN BRUNO
Mrs. Brady. . . . . . . . . . . . . KRISTY THOMAS
Rachel Brown. . . . . . . . . . . . STACEY McGILL
Rev. Jeremiah Brown. . . . . . . . . .CARY RETLIN
Meeker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .PETE BLACK
E.K. Hornbeck. . . . . . . . . . . . . .ALAN GRAY
Mrs. Loomis. . . . . . . . . . . . . .COKIE MASON
Henry Drummond. . . . . . . . . . JASON HENDERSON
Elijah. . . . . . . . . . . . . TREVOR SANDBOURNE
Jesse Dunlap. . . . . . . . . . . . . . RICK CHOW
When I saw my name beside the character of Matthew Harrison Brady, that's when I knew I'd need that disc.
As soon as I left school, I went to the library. They had the CD I needed, and I checked it out.
When I got back out to the truck (a Christmas present from Mum and Steve), I heard my cell phone ring from inside my bag. I'll bet you don't know many people whose ringtone is the opening riff to Black Sabbath's "Iron Man".
"Hello?" I answered.
"Hi, it's Watson. Listen, I hate to be calling on such short notice, but I got a call from Karen's school. She's not feeling well, and they think it might be the flu. Kristy has to baby-sit at the Kormans', and I'm on my way to pick Karen up. Could you meet us at the house?"
"Sure," I said. "I'm on my way."
A few minutes later, I was driving up McLelland Road, and found myself outside the Thomas-Brewer mansion. Since no one was there yet, I stuck the dialect CD in the player to listen to it, then opened the glove compartment and pulled out a bandanna, because I figured that Karen would be contagious. As I listened to the disc, I thought it was very interesting to hear how different Southern people sounded when they talked, and it reminded me of the time that Granny and I had watched Gone With The Wind the summer I was nine. That, of course, was in the days when my accent was really thick, and I could not, for the life of me, imitate the way those actors spoke.
I was listening to the disc when out of nowhere, I heard a really loud sneeze, followed by a hacking cough. That had to be Karen, and I looked up just in time to see her and Watson get out of the car. I put the CD in my pocket, tied up my mask, and got out of the truck.
"Hi, Jason," Watson said quickly, then he saw what I was wearing. "Oh, good, you're prepared. Listen, I have to get back to the office, so if you need anything, Nannie's number is in the kitchen. If you can't reach her, call Kristy at the Kormans'. Andrew, Emily, and David Michael are at swim practice, and Elizabeth should be home in about an hour." With that, he got back in his car and was gone before I could say a word.
When we got inside, Karen shrugged out of her coat, set her backpack on the floor, kicked off her shoes, and laid down on the couch. "And I thought the tuba I had in second grade sounded bad," she moaned.
"Poor kid," I said sympathetically as I hung up her coat, put her backpack on the bench, and went to the kitchen to make some tea. Whenever I'm feeling under the weather, I usually have this raspberry tea with lemon, both of which they had.
While the water was boiling, I went to the bathroom, picked up the little trash can, and emptied it into the kitchen trash. "Here," I said, handing it to Karen. "If you feel like you're going to throw up, you can do it in this."
"Thanks," she whispered. That's when the kettle started whistling. I ran back to the kitchen, poured the tea into mugs for us, and took them into the living room.
"Here you go, love," I said, handing one to Karen. Upon taking a tiny sip, her face contorted in disgust. I guess I should've known that she isn't really a tea drinker.
"Thanks, Jason," she said, as politely as she could manage.
"I didn't know you didn't like tea," I said.
"That's okay," Karen sighed. "If it's supposed to help when you're feeling sick, then I guess I can manage."
"Good girl," I said as I brushed her hair out of her face. "You look pretty tired, so why don't you take a nap?" Karen nodded, laid her glasses on the coffee table, and settled back on the couch as I picked up her mug and carried it into the kitchen.
I was dumping the leftover tea down the sink when I heard Karen puking into the trash can. I had a feeling that she couldn't keep it down. As soon as I put the mug in the dishwasher, I returned to the living room to retrieve the trash can and saw that Karen had fallen asleep. After I cleaned out the can and returned it to the living room, I laid a hand on Karen's forehead, which didn't feel warm at all. Even so, I went to the bathroom for the thermometer, which I laid on the coffee table. Then I remembered that the CD was still in my jacket pocket, so I went to get it, then went into the den, but kept my ears open in case Karen needed anything. I stuck the disc in my Walkman and sat down in the chair to listen to it.
Right in the middle of learning how to pronounce the long "I" sound—which I'd had the most trouble with at auditions—I heard moaning coming from the direction of the living room. I tied up my bandanna, in case I needed to get up in a hurry. At first, I just assumed that Karen was just rolling onto her side, but it was almost immediately followed by a scream. I shut off the Walkman, and was instantly on my feet.
"Kristy! Kristy, where are you?" she was wailing.
I dashed into the living room and was by Karen's side in a second. "Karen," I said. "Karen, it's all right. It was just a dream." She wrapped her arms around my neck and sobbed into my shoulder as I rubbed her back.
"Oh, Jason, it was terrible!" she whimpered. "I was on a plane that was going down, and after it crashed, I was the only one who was still alive. Then I heard Kristy calling for help, but I couldn't find her anywhere. There was so much smoke and fire, I couldn't see anything."
"It's okay now," I said reassuringly, patting her hair. "Everything's all right, and I promise you, Kristy's fine."
"But Kristy's real dad was killed in a plane crash a few months ago," she reminded me.
"Oh, is that what made you dream that?" I asked. She nodded. "Well, you're right, that was a terrible tragedy, but that doesn't mean it'll happen to you, Kristy, or anyone else in your family. In fact, it's pretty rare."
Karen was still pretty upset, so I pulled her closer and started singing "Ye Banks And Braes", which is an old Scottish folk song that Mum used to sing to me and Bebe when we were babies.
It wasn't until I'd finished singing and helped her lie back down that I noticed how warm she felt. "Karen?" I whispered.
"Mmm," she answered.
"Are you all right? You feel a little warm."
Karen didn't answer, so I picked up the thermometer from the coffee table and very discreetly put it in Karen's mouth. When I removed and looked at it, it read 100.8. I'm just glad that was all it said, because Mary Anne once told me about the time she was baby-sitting for Jenny Prezzioso, and Jenny had a fever of—get ready for this, folks—104.
The next thing I heard was the front door opening. I looked up to see Elizabeth coming in with two bags of groceries. "Hi, Jason," she said as I rushed over and grabbed the bag she was about to drop.
"Thanks," she answered. "Watson called me at work, and said Karen isn't feeling well."
"Flu," I said sympathetically as I set the bag of groceries on the table. "Oh, I just took her temperature before you came in, and it's close to 101."
"Thanks."
I returned to the den for my Walkman as I heard Elizabeth waking Karen. I put my Walkman in my pocket, then headed to the front door and was putting on my jacket when I saw Elizabeth leading Karen toward the stairs. "I'll see you later, okay?" I told Karen, ruffling her hair.
"See you, Jason," she answered.
As I let myself out, I removed the bandanna and stuffed it in my jeans pocket. I was looking forward to Inherit the Wind—not only rehearsals, but the show itself—and I somehow knew that Karen would be well enough to see it.
