Chapter 6: A Mother's Concern
"I can't believe you rented out the room, Mom!" Jasper said incredulously while pacing up and down the kitchen. This is the most animated Betsy Arnold had seen her son in a long time. "That room is mine."
"No, it isn't", his mother countered.
"It was until you rented it out."
Trying to reason with her son and remain calm herself, she informed him. "You have a room. Here, in this house. And it's time you got back to it."
Jasper and his mother's voices could be heard from the driveway as Jasper's father, Malcolm Arnold, pulled up to the house. He was returning early from a job his construction company had in the next town over from Putnam. He started to interrupt the loud conversation coming from his kitchen, but thought better of it. Maybe in this instance his wife was better capable of handling their son; especially in the mood he's been in for the last six months.
Where Malcolm would usually put his foot down and have his son obey, his wife usually took a subtler tact. He hated to admit it, but her way more often times than not turned out to bethe most effective way of getting through to their son. All she's ever needed to do was talk to him to reason with him. She could always get him to understand; or to realize something that didn't occur to him. But lately Jasper's barely said two words to anyone. Until now with this apparent disagreement with his mother. Maybe this wasn't such a bad thing. He's been withdrawing further and further into himself. At least now he was talking.
"I can't be here right now, Mom."
"What does that mean?" His mother's concern for him was growing.
"It doesn't mean anything, Mom", Jasper said as he walked out of the back door.
"Jasper wait!"
"Don't worry Mom, I'll be home later and I'll get my stuff out of the room." Jasper headed out into the fields. He had chores to finish.
Behind him Betsy remained in the doorway watching her son walk away from her. He never used to do that.
"Damn", she muttered to herself as she returned to the kitchen. She was joined shortly after that by her husband.
Malcolm came into the kitchen from the main part of the house. Not wanting to contribute any additional friction to the current situation between his wife and their son, he came into the house through the front door; as opposed to the back as he usually did.
"You heard all that?" His wife asked him when she noticed him standing in the doorway. He gave her a light kiss on the cheek before sitting down at the kitchen table; his tool belt hanging off one shoulder.
"Most of it", he answered. After a long pause, he offered, "I could go after him."
"I am worried about him, but…" Betsy signed. "No. Butting heads with him right now is not going to do anyone any good."
"You're willing to wait for him to come around? You're not worried that he'll do something stupid?"
"I know our son", Betsy told her husband, while removing his tool belt from his shoulder. She hung it on a large knob mounted high beside the back door before continuing. "I don't think he'll do anything stupid."
"As opposed to last summer", Malcolm put in. His statement tinged with a hint of accusation.
She tilted her head and eyed him slightly. "That was testosterone. Tell me you never let that get the better of you once or twice when you were his age." She waited for a response from him; but of course there was none. She went on. "When are you going to start trusting him again?"
When for the second time her husband refused to comment, she just shook her head and continued. "Honey, you're going to have to sometime. But what's got me more worried than anything else is that he's still hurting so much."
oO0Oo
The sun was setting fast and taking whatever warmth it offered with it. By the time Jasper finished up the chores he left unfinished or undone all together, it was late into the evening. He was dirty, and sweaty, and sore; the price for all his hard work. The work had its rewards as well though. He was able to clear his mind for a while and to stop thinking. He was also able to push his muscles against something and burn off some anxious energy. It worked. He was good and tired. So tired that if he didn't keep moving, he could almost fall asleep wherever he stood. With any luck, he would even be too tired to dream. He trudged up the stairs to the room above the barn. He may have to give it up on the weekend, but until then it was his.
He barely made it into the room all the way when he pulled off his shirt and dropped it to the floor in front of the closed door. Now bare-chested, the affects on his body, if not his spirit, from working on the farm and with his father's construction company, could easily be seen. Since his growth spurt at fourteen, he has stood long and lean; almost skinny. His body filled out when he was old enough to take over some of the farming chores on his own and to do actual work with his father's construction company, other than carrying tools back and forth. His muscles took on more definition. And with the abundance of sunny, though frigid weather, his exposed skin took on a constant soft tan. It could be seen whenever he worked up enough body temperature to take his shirt off. Although most of the time it was only visible on his face, neck and arms. Had he been receptive, Jasper certainly wouldn't lack for female attention, or company for that matter. But he knew of only one girl in his life that he ever really wanted to be with. The end of last summer changed all that.
Jasper finished undressing on his way to the shower, leaving a trail of clothes and shoes behind. He turned the faucets on as high as they could go and as the steam began to rise, he stepped beneath its strong hot flow. He dropped his head forward and leaned in to let the water beat down on the back of his neck and across his shoulders. Lifting his arms he planted his hands on the tiles in front of him. His back opened up and broadened. This allowed for a wave of liquid soothing to cascade over his entire body. The wave took with it all the soreness from his aching body, and splashed it away at his feet.
Feeling better and wearing only a towel wrapped around his waist, Jasper tumbled into bed. He was asleep in an instant, but his hopes of having a dreamless night's sleep went down in a wash of cold sweat. He awoke with a start having again dreamed of Samantha, Kelly and those damn yellow roses; this time they were laughing and frolicking amongst a field of them. After deciding that trying to go back to sleep was useless, he got up and got dressed. He headed out long before sunrise.
o0O0o
"Mom?" Robin began. The little girl was sitting alone at the big rectangular kitchen table. The bright sunshine streaming through the windows and the opened back door bathed the Arnold's country kitchen in light.
"What is it, Sweetie?" Her mother asked and answered as she prepared breakfast in front of a very warm stove and a welcomed chilly breeze coming from the opened back door.
"Is Jasper ever coming back home?"
"Jasper hasn't left home, Sweetie. He just needed some time by himself. He needed to be…."
"Away from us", Robin concluded for her mother with a very sad pout. She missed her big brother very much. She missed the way he would play with her sometimes, take her and her friends for rides in his car, or just sit with her on the sofa and watch cartoons. He would always put his arm around her, like at church, and she would fall asleep against his stomach. Sometimes, at night after dinner she would pretend to fall asleep so he would carry her off to her room and tuck her into bed. He would always read her a story or he would make up one just to scare her and then tickle her until she laughed.
"No Sweetie. Not away from us", her mother tried to explain as gently as she could. "Sometimes a person needs to… think."
"So why does Jasper need to think up there? Why can't he think in the house?"
"I don't know Sweetie. But don't worry", Betsy assured her daughter. "Jasper will be back home very soon."
"Will he be able to think here then?"
"I hope so", Betsy said aloud. "I hope so", she said again. This time to herself.
Just then Malcolm came in for his breakfast.
"Hi Daddy."
"Good morning Honey", Malcolm greeted his daughter as he tousled her hair and gave his wife a kiss on her cheek. "Again?" he asked her without being specific.
"Before daybreak", Betsy answered, knowing what he meant.
"Watching?"
"Checking."
Both Betsy and Malcolm sighed heavily, simultaneously. Both thinking the same thing. Jasper was being forced to move back into the house, even though he hadn't technically moved out. Whether or not that would help anything, they couldn't even begin to guess. Their thoughts were interrupted when the back screen door was pulled open and a bleached-blonde head poked itself in.
"Hey Squirt."
"Hi, Pete", Robin answered. "You know he's not here."
"Damnit! Where the he…" Pete hadn't noticed Mr. Mrs. Arnold were in the kitchen as well.
"Good morning, Pete", Mr. Arnold stopped him before he could finish his second expletive uttered in front of his little daughter.
"Uh, good morning, Mr. Arnold, Ms. Arnold."
"Good morning. Would you like some breakfast?" Betsy offered.
"Um no thanks Ms. Arnold", Pete declined. "I'm going to be late opening up the store. Just trying to catch Jas before he went AWOL again."
"So you're not talking to him either." It was more a statement than a question from Mr. Arnold.
"No sir, not much… sorry", Pete didn't venture inside all the way. He stayed in the doorway instead. He feared he may have inadvertently let something slip when he admitted that he and Jasper hadn't been speaking much.
"Pete, how long will you be at the store today?" Mrs. Arnold asked.
"Only, 'til three today, Ms. Arnold."
"And after that?"
Pete shrugged as casually as he could manage, before answering with a simple, "I don't know." He knew he triggered something with Jasper's parents, but whatever that was, he wasn't sure.
Mrs. Arnold threw a glance to her husband, and he raised an eyebrow back in response. She then returned her attention to Pete. "Could you make it back here after that then?"
"Sure. No Problem." He made a point of giving no outward indication that he wasn't too happy about coming back out there. Jasper's mom was going to want to talk, and that definitely was not good. "Um, I really gotta be going. I'll be back later, Ms. Arnold. See you around squirt."
"Not unless I see you first", Robin quipped with a gleeful grin. She was oblivious to the conversation hinting at trouble going on around her.
"Cute", Pete responded with a wink before leaving.
Malcolm looked at his wife quizzically. "What was that about?"
She didn't answer him right away. Instead, she hurried Robin along with her breakfast so as not to miss the school bus, which was due at any minute. When Betsy was sure Robin had made it onto the bus, she finally answered her husband's question.
o0O0o
Later that afternoon, Pete returned to the Arnolds' farm as promised, after finishing work at his father's store. He showed up at the back door, same as he did earlier that morning. This time he came with his girlfriend Vanessa in tow. He'd forgotten earlier that she and he had a late afternoon date. So he silently hoped whatever Ms. Arnold wanted to talk to him about wouldn't take too long. She invited them both in and they all took seats around the kitchen table.
"Are you two hungry?" Mrs. Arnold asked. "Can I get you something?"
"I could…" Pete began.
"No thank you Mrs. Arnold". Vanessa cut him off. "We're fine. She eyed him. "We're having dinner later". She emphasized later with a nod of her head in Pete's direction.
"We're having dinner later", Pete repeated.
Mrs. Arnold was silent for several long moments. She wasn't quite sure how to ask her son's best friend what she needed to ask him, or even if she should ask him. After having made her decision, she took a deep breath and plunged in.
"Pete, I asked you back here today because I wanted to talk to you and I didn't want to do it in front of Robin. Jasper has his father and I concerned with the way he's been behaving. We've tried everything and haven't been able to get through to him. I'm afraid of what might be going on in his head. And you mentioned this morning he's not talking to you either. Pete…" Mrs. Arnold paused to collect her thoughts or to summon up her courage. "Pete…"
"Ms. Arnold…."
"Pete", she stopped him. "Pete, we need to know. I need to know… if… if Jasper…." She paused again, battling her need to know against her fear of knowing. "Could Jasper be doing anything that would get him into trouble or get him hurt?"
Knowing exactly what she was asking, Pete answered absolutely. "He's clean Ms. Arnold. No way Jasper'd be down with any of that."
"Pete's right Mrs. Arnold", Vanessa chimed in. "Jasper would never. I mean Sam used to always…."
The room fell deafly silent as Vanessa trailed off, her thought unfinished. It was still awkward to talk about Samantha or what happened between her and Jasper before the end. Just as the silence threatened to linger on and on, Mrs. Arnold spoke first.
"I know Samantha's death has been hard on everyone. I know Jasper is taking it harder than most of us even now. I don't know all the details of what happened between the two of them last summer. But I know he hasn't been able to move on, to reach some sort of closure. As his mother, I know I'm probably betraying his trust by coming to his best friends, but I need to be sure it's not something else. Something dangerous. So be honest you two, if Jasper were to get himself into that kind of trouble, would you tell me?"
Pete and Vanessa looked at each other as they hesitated to answer her question. How could they put Jasper's mom's mind at ease, while remaining loyal to their good friend? Before they were forced to make a decision neither of them wanted to make, Robin came tearing into the house, having just been dropped off by the school bus. Their conversation ended abruptly. They were saved.
End of Chapter 6