Keeping the Tarnished (12 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Good Morning

As Johnny yawned and listened to the playful banter taking place downstairs, he contemplated going down and telling everyone good morning. He had heard the voices of Graye and Bryce, but had yet to hear Jared or Jackson. Every time he decided to get off the bed, something held him back. He was very tired, and knew his face more than likely showed it. He intentionally stayed awake all night for fear of the nightmares.

His eyes felt scratchy, and his mouth was sticky and dry. His head hurt from where he hit it on the hardwood the night before, and after a detailed examination he found he had several small bruises on his limbs from the fall. He thought little of it, as physical bruises seemed to only sting a short while, and then fade away. The boy heard footsteps coming up the stairs. He yawned as he watched the doorknob, anticipating it opening and one of the family entering to say good morning.

He heard the footsteps reach the top of the stairs and quietly make their way down the hall to his room. Rather than wait to be surprised by whoever was about to enter, he got off the bed and headed to the door. He was anticipating Jackson inquiring as to whether or not Johnny would like to go out on a call with him. He was somewhat surprised when he opened the door and found Graye as she was literally just about to knock.

“Oh,” Graye said in a surprised voice; the woman was obviously startled.

Johnny imagined she had been up for a while, as she was wearing a nice pair of jeans and a graphic t-shirt. Her hair was fixed nicely, and she even had a small amount of make-up on. Until this interaction, Johnny hadn’t seen the woman in make-up. He thought she almost appeared awkward, thinking the woman looked much prettier without it.

Johnny smiled with puffy, tired eyes as he opened the door wider.

“Morning, sweetheart,” the woman said as she smiled warmly.

“Mornin’.” Johnny smiled as he headed back for his bed.

“Sweetie, I was wanting to talk to you about a few things,” the woman said as she entered the room and sat down on the boy’s bed as well.

“Are you mad at me for last night? I really am sorry, I don’t know—”

“Absolutely not. There is no need for apologies. None whatsoever. The last thing I want you to think is that I’m upset with you in any way.” Graye lovingly placed her hand on his shoulder.

Johnny loved these simple gestures. They reminded him so much of his mother’s loving touch. Even though his mother would be considered a horrible parent by most any societal standard, Johnny truly cherished the affectionate moments she shared with him as she reassured him that he was loved.

“I just wanted you to know that Jackson and I meant what we said. I don’t want you to feel like your place here has been jeopardized in any way. I understand that you are not ready to talk to us about what is going on, but I do think that you need to talk to someone, sweetheart.” Graye tilted her head and gave the boy a small smile. “Do you think you can talk to someone? I have a good friend, and he is amazing when it comes to talking. He’s the psychologist at my school. I called him this morning, and we are going to meet for brunch to catch up. I was going to ask him to meet you sometime this week if that was okay with you.”

Johnny was uncomfortable with the conversation, yet he knew things had escalated to a point where they could no longer be ignored or even downplayed. He understood completely that he needed help that even the Everetts couldn’t offer.

“I want to talk to you. I want to talk to you and Jackson. I just can’t,” Johnny said softly as he looked at the floor, feeling his hands become hot with anxiety as his heart rate began to increase slowly. “I wanna make this better. I’ll meet the guy,” the boy said as he looked up at Graye. He knew he would eventually have to talk about his past. His biggest concern at this point was distinguishing what had happened from what was happening. He was beginning to feel as if everything was running together, and processing it all was becoming more difficult as the days went on.

Graye reached around and grabbed the boy’s other shoulder, squeezing him. “He is a great guy, you are going to like him. Now, are you about ready for some pancakes, young man?” The woman stood up from the bed.

“That actually sounds really good.” Johnny, feeling anxious and excited about talking with this friend of Graye’s, looked up, and smiled.

Leaving his bedroom, Johnny had a small sense of hope. The tiny euphoria almost compensated for the lack of sleep.

As Johnny walked down the hall following Graye, Jared opened his door.

“Boo yea!” Jared yelled at Johnny while he made a goofy face. The boy’s hair was a mess.

Johnny jumped back and started laughing at Jared’s unusual appearance.

“Lookin’ good there, man,” Johnny said, chuckling as Graye turned from the top of the staircase.

“Oh, now that is priceless, son. Pancakes are on the table, boys,” the woman yelled out as she continued walking down.

“Man, let’s eat and go shoot some hoops,” Jared suggested as he walked into the bathroom.

“Sounds like a plan, dude.”

At the table, the family appeared in good spirits.

Jackson had finally dragged himself out of bed.

The puppy was wailing from the laundry room. She acted as if she were being tortured by being crated.

Bryce was having difficulty keeping her head up, let alone trying to eat her pancakes.

Jared and Johnny were making ugly faces back and forth across the table, laughing and moving through their huge stacks of pancakes at incredible speed. Johnny seemed to have a second wave of energy and a relaxing sense that today was going to be a good day.

“Mom, why aren’t you eating? Was there not anything left?” Jared asked with full cheeks as he sat his fork down, seemingly remorseful for taking so many pancakes.

“No, sweetie, you eat as much as you like. I’m having brunch with a friend in town here in a little bit,” Graye said as she started to chuckle.

As if a black cat went off in the kitchen, little Bryce sprang to attention. “Momma, I wanna go! I wanna go to town too!” the sleepy little girl said excitedly.

“We will see if you are still awake by the time your mother leaves,” Jackson said as he patted his daughter on the head.

Graye began laughing as she looked at her syrup covered daughter.

“Dude, I’m gonna probably puke up pancakes while we’re ballin’,” Jared said, smiling and chewing at the same time.

Johnny apparently found the comment funny; Graye, however, didn’t seem to appreciate her son’s humor.

“Seriously? Thank you for a most nauseating visual.”

“Let’s get out there before it gets too hot,” Jared said as scooped up the last bite from his plate.

“You boys head out, I’ll clean up,” Jackson said as he continued eating.

“Thanks,” Johnny said, smiling as he stood from the table.

“Yea, thanks, Pops!” Jared said as the boys left the kitchen.

The two teens were both bloated with breakfast, and were basically taking turns shooting while standing still. They had only been shooting the basketball for a few minutes, yet Johnny found himself completely miserable. The morning was beautiful, but the lack of even the slightest breeze made it almost intolerable. Today was yet another typical Louisiana day, the sweltering humidity and relentless insects made the game more of a swatting match. Johnny felt he was going strong for only having a few hours of sleep. He was actually used to sleepless nights.

“Dude, basement?” Jared asked Johnny as the teen wiped sweat from his forehead.

“Race ya.” Johnny said sarcastically as he picked the ball up off the ground.

The boys lethargically walked to the house. The idea of playing video games in an air conditioned house while breakfast digested sounded much more appealing to Johnny than shooting a ball and sweating profusely.

“Dude, we should go check on the dogs,” Johnny said as he stopped walking abruptly.

“I don’t want to. I’m just not ready to go out there yet, I guess.”

“Sunny?” Johnny asked as he watched Jared’s expression turn rapidly.

“Yea,” Jared said as he continued walking to the house.

Johnny and Jared headed in the front door just as Graye was grabbing her purse.

“Boys, I know you don’t want to even think about food right now, but I’m bringing lunch home with me,” the woman said as she looked in her purse and grabbed her keys out.

“Eh, Mom. I think I’m good for a few days,” Jared said he walked by.

“I’ll see you guys after a while,” Graye said as she headed for the door.

Johnny smiled, told her good-bye, and headed through the kitchen to the basement.

Johnny decided playing a basketball video game rather than exerting physical energy. He noticed Jared hadn’t been much for conversation. Rather than question continuously how to play this particular game, Johnny decided to watch intently. As Jared was in the process of losing to the generated team, he pushed pause and set the remote down, exhaling in an almost irritated manner.

Johnny instantly thought the worst. He figured that Jared needed his space and that he was growing irritated at being around him nonstop. Just as Johnny had made up his mind to leave the basement and give Jared some room, Jared turned to him.

“We got her when I was fourteen,” Jared said, looking over at Johnny. At first, Johnny was confused; he had no idea what Jared was talking about. “Pops brought her home, she was even smaller than Bethany. He found her right before the sun went down on a dirt road coming back from a call. She was covered in big, fat-ass ticks and fleas. We scrubbed the hell out of her with dog shampoo. Pops said her belly was swollen from worms, so he treated her.”

As Jared spoke, Johnny noticed his friend’s eyes swell with tears. Johnny realized Jared just wanted to talk about the loss of his dog. “We put her in the laundry room after we got her bathed and dewormed. Pops said I could keep her if I took care of her. The first night we had her she cried and cried, so I snuck downstairs and brought her upstairs to bed with me. Dude, the next morning I had puppy shit and worms all over my bed, in my hair, and all over my pjs.” Jared began laughing as he described the situation.

Johnny began to chuckle too, although the thought of waking to intestinal worms in his hair forced him to run his fingers through his own, just to be certain.

“I had to help Pops on weekend calls to pay him back for her vaccinations. She was seriously the best dog—” Jared’s voice began to crack, and he was unable to finish the sentence right away. “She was the best dog ever. I hate that fuckin’ coyote, and I hope that fucker is burning in hell,” Jared proclaimed as he gripped his hands together tightly. A look of absolute anger came across his face, and a few tears finally escaped the boy’s eyes.

Johnny had so many thoughts compiled, yet none of them seemed capable of forming into words and escaping the boy’s mouth. He felt horrible for his friend. He knew from Jared’s description that the boy deeply cared for Sunny. He could also tell that his friend was going to be distraught over the loss of his dog for quite some time. What Johnny couldn’t understand was how easily Jared confided in him. He had absolutely no reservation in breaking down in front of Johnny and talking about his feelings.

This was a strange concept for Johnny, and he didn’t know how to respond immediately. He desperately wanted to communicate with Jared and relate his feelings of loss from when he lost the puppy because of his father, but the last thing he wanted to even think about was anything that happened there. Johnny knew the black puppy for but a few hours, Sunny was Jared’s companion.

“I’m sorry, man. I hope it’s in hell too,” Johnny blurted out.

Jared broke his gaze from the paused video game and turned to Johnny.

“Fucker, you better not give me shit for cryin’ like a bitch.”

“I wouldn’t do that, man. That was your dog.”

Although Johnny didn’t quite understand how or why Jared was so open to disclosing how he felt to him, he did take a valuable lesson from the conversation. He had listened to Jared as he talked about his dog, and watched him cry. Johnny realized that not once did he think badly of Jared for crying. He didn’t think he was a
pantywaist
, he didn’t think he was a
pussy
, he merely felt bad for his friend and wished he could do something to make him feel better.

“So, you bout ready to get your ass kicked at this game?” Jared asked in a much more chipper voice.

“It won’t be hard. I don’t know how the hell to play,” Johnny said as he smiled and picked up the controller. He heard Jackson coming down the stairs. The man walked in looking annoyed and stood right in front of the boys.

“So, you guys know what the first thing I did when I got out of the shower was? Well, I guess the second thing, because the first thing I did was grab a towel,” he said as Johnny looked up at the man, completely intrigued.