Jimmy (3 page)

     “It was Alan’s idea,” Jimmy said.  “I didn’t want to go but he specifically said we needed to hurry over there before you got home and ruin our appetites.”

     “Oh, don’t even start,” Alan playfully warned.  “I just asked if you were hungry and you said yes.  I didn’t force you to eat four of those cheesy crunch thingies.”

     “No, you were too busy stuffing your face with supreme chalupas.  Mom, you should have seen him.  He stuffed himself so fast that it looked like he was getting ready to shave with the sour cream.”

     Kelly shook her head and was about to say something when the phone rang. 

     “Battle?” Alan asked.

     “Um - ” Jimmy started.

     “Don’t even think about playing that game until you two clean up the pans I slaved over,” Kelly said.  She then answered the phone and after a second said, “Sure, one moment.  Jimmy, it’s for you.”

     “What?  Who is it?” Jimmy asked, a puzzled look dominating his face.

     “I don’t know, but it sounded like a girl.”  She covered the mouthpiece.  “Have you been hiding someone from us?”

     “No,” Jimmy snapped.  He then headed into the family room and picked up the mobile phone from the corner table near the couch.  “I got it,” he shouted into the kitchen.

     “Say hi to Tina for me!” Alan shouted back.

     Jimmy twisted away as his mother asked who Tina was and said, “Hello?”

     “Hey Jimmy.  It’s Tina.  Um . . . was that Alan?”

     “Yeah, he says hi,” Jimmy said, his mind wondering why in the world she was calling.  “What’s up?”

*  *  *

     Tina put her head back on her pillow and looked up at the ceiling, her mind a spiral of colorful excitement.  She was going to the prom.  Jimmy had said yes.  Of course it had taken some convincing, but he had said yes, and that was all that mattered.

     There was a knock on her door.

     Her excitement faded.  “What?”

     “I’m leaving in a few minutes for my knitting group.  I expect the mess from dinner to be cleaned up before I get back.”

     “Then it would make sense to clean it before you leave,” Tina said.

     The door rattled but did not open since Tina had thrown the lock before calling Jimmy.  “Tina, open this door.”

     “Why?” Tina asked, adrenaline starting to flow.

     “Because I’m your mother and I told you to.”  She twisted hard on the doorknob.

     “Oh, you’re my mother.  I didn’t realize that since you were gone for most of my life.”

     “Tina, I’m warning you. Open this door right now!”

     “Why?”

     “Because - ”

     “Because you hate it when people don’t do what you say, right?  Well, when Dad didn’t do what you said you walked away.  Seems to me like that would be a good option now as well.”

     “This is my house young lady and if you wish to live in it you will respect me.”

     “I don’t wish to live in it,” Tina snapped.  “And when I turn eighteen next month I’ll leave, and I’ll take all Dad’s money with me.  So as far as I’m concerned you can go to your little knitting group and fuck yourself with the needles.”

     Tina was surprised with the control her mother showed after that, and a little disappointed, but knew it was more a result of not wanting to keep her knitting friends waiting, not because she felt she had lost the battle. 

     Whatever the reason, Tina didn’t really give a shit and just counted down the seconds till her mother left.  Once she did, Tina allowed her emotions to break free, the thoughts of her father unbearable right now because she knew he would have loved to see her going to the prom.  She also knew he would have liked Jimmy a lot, the three of them probably having dinner quite often once the two really got to know each other.

     But no.  A young lady on a cell phone had made sure that would never happen, her mind too focused on the conversation to see the long line of brake lights ahead of her on Interstate 88.

     Tina pressed her t-shirt to her eyes to soak up the moisture, and then went downstairs to make herself some tea.  While waiting for the water to boil she did the dishes, which didn’t take long.  The difficulty level of the task had never been the reason for her bitterness.  Instead it had been the principle of the thing, and the fact that her mother never did the dishes herself.   

     Finished, and with a large mug of Darjeeling tea in hand, Tina went back up to her room and started to once again think about Jimmy and the prom, concern over their status having wiggled its way into her mind while steeping the tea bag.  Were the two still just friends or more than that?  Were they a couple?  Would the prom be the first date in a long line of wonderful evenings together?  Or would their relationship crumble because they were only meant to be friends, and wouldn’t be able to handle the dating scene together?

     Answers did not follow the questions, and there was no book she could look in or website she could find that would finish the thoughts.  Instead she would just have to wait and see, live life and accept whatever happened.  That’s the way the world worked.  Nothing would ever change it.

*  *  *

     Samantha King’s hands grew itchy as the blood flowing to them slowed. Cramps had developed in the backs of both her legs and now she was sagging forward and biting her teeth together waiting for them to pass.  The pain was intense and unrelenting.

     The general ache that had developed in her back and shoulder muscles added to the misery, no doubt due to the position she was standing in.  It wasn’t natural for someone to have their arms raised upward and their body pulled tight for such a long time, and with each second that passed it grew more and more unbearable.

     Her mind conjured the image of Moses from her old Sunday school classes and how he had stood with his arms raised in the air so the Hebrews could win a battle.  How had he managed?

     Slumped forward as far as the bindings would let her, Samantha stared at the floor.  Her mind could not get a grip on the situation and seemed a mess of random thoughts and ideas.  Hours had passed with her standing in silence, and every second it seemed like she was slipping closer and closer to hysteria.

    
Why would Jimmy do this?

     It was the only clear thought that repeated itself over and over again, and seemed to be the only hold on reality due to the fact that she had to picture him in a real world setting to try and grasp the reasons behind his actions toward her. 

     Thinking about him was also a good way to pass the time, though she wondered what exactly she was waiting for.  Generally one wanted time to pass quickly because something good was coming at a certain hour and they couldn’t wait for its arrival.  With her present situation there was no guarantee of anything good happening, and each second that passed might only be bringing her toward some terrible end.  Or even worse - terrible moments of utter humiliation and pain before the end.    

    
Why did Jimmy do this?

     Images of Jimmy over the years began to play across her mind like a slide show; Jimmy in grade school, middle school and high school came and went; memories of seeing him at the movies with his parents or at some restaurant; memories of him sitting in a classroom, at a lunch table, in an assembly; memories of him walking the hallways, or the sidewalks, or through the parking lot; memories of him everywhere.  What was crazy about the images she saw was the knowledge that in each situation she hadn’t really given him any thought once her mind had put a name to the figure she was seeing, or had any fear of him harming her, yet look at what he had been capable of during that time?  It was mind numbing.

     Thoughts about what had happened broke through the slide show.  The attack wasn’t even twenty four hours old, yet the actual events and how they had unfolded were already cloudy within her mind.  The possible outcomes, however, was not.

     Anger at herself for not fighting back followed these thoughts.  Being surprised was no excuse.  She should have done something to prevent the current situation.  Fingernails to the face, a knee to the balls, or a backpack to the side of the head - all could have been avenues of escape, yet she hadn’t set a single foot down any of those possible routes.  It was incredibly frustrating.

     The thought of defending herself against Jimmy brought to mind some of the incidents she had witnessed in the past.  There had been times during Jimmy’s school day life when he had been the victim of bigger kids.  No solid memories were present, but she did remember some fuzzy details of either seeing or hearing about fights where Jimmy had gotten beaten up.

     Not that it mattered now.  A memory of Jimmy being beaten up didn’t help her out in any way, and thinking about it was just a pleasant waste of time.

     Pain suddenly raced through her arms and all thoughts of Jimmy disappeared.  She stood up fast, her toes shouting in protest, and tried lifting her arms up to a point where the ropes wouldn’t have such a tight hold.  The result was a fiery tingle throughout her hands that caused her fingers to squeeze into fists.

     She clamped her teeth together.

     It did little to stop the agony.

     The terrible pins and needles that had exploded in her hands did disappear after a few minutes, but that was only a small relief when compared to the rest of the pain her body was enduring, and would continue to endure until her hands were free.

*  *  *

     “She
asked
you?” Alan said as they sat down to watch a rerun of
That 70’s Show
before playing
Goldeneye
.  “Why’d you let her do that?”

     “What do you mean?” Jimmy asked.

     “Why didn’t you ask her?”  Alan stared at his older brother while saying this and noted that he seemed to be both excited and upset.  It was a strange mixture that produced a strange expression. 
Confused
was probably the best word for it.   

     Jimmy shrugged.  “I didn’t realize she liked me, and what if she said
no
when I asked?”

     Alan shook his head.  “Didn’t like you?”  He couldn’t believe it.  “You two sit at lunch with each other and walk home with each other almost every freakin’ day.  She’s had more of a crush on you than a boa constrictor could ever achieve.”  Alan had come up with the metaphor several days earlier, yet hadn’t been able to use it in any conversations.  Now that he had, he wondered if it really had been as clever as he had initially thought it would be.

     Jimmy didn’t comment on it.  “What if she just liked walking home with me?  What if by asking her out I ruined the friendship we already had?  What if - ”

     Alan couldn’t take it.  His older brother questioned everything too much, and at the same time didn’t see the huge signs people were leaving him.  A girl could come up to him and say, “You wanna come over tonight, my parents are out of town and I’m just dying to get your opinion on some new sexy lingerie I bought,” and he wouldn’t realize she wanted sex and would spend several minutes giving her real honest opinions on the lingerie and then head home.  “What if she wanted to go out with you, liked you so much that you both got serious and then eventually married, and then had a wonderful family.  Better yet, what if through her family she found you a great job that paid a lot and you both became millionaires?”

     Jimmy looked down at his hands.

     Alan had hit a sore spot without meaning to.  In addition to being shy around girls, Jimmy seemed unable to find a job or get any college acceptances.  The problem wasn’t a lack of skills or grades, but a lack of confidence, which prevented him from sending in applications or making calls or taking trips to see what was out there.  Hell, Jimmy probably wouldn’t even have gotten his driver’s licenses if he hadn’t done well enough in the course to take the test as school, because he never would have gotten together enough motivation to drive an hour to the DMV.  It was ridiculous.

     The opening music from
That 70’s Show
came on and calmed the room.  Alan recognized the episode.  Eric’s hot cousin Penny was coming to stay with them and would trick him into believing she was adopted so she could lure him into a trap in front of his parents.  It was a good one.

     During a commercial Alan suddenly thought of something and asked, “You did say yes, right?”  One time back when Jimmy had been in seventh grade a girl had called to ask him out and he had told her no because he was too busy.  He hadn’t been, but dating wasn’t something he was comfortable with, so he had rejected the girl.  Alan often wondered if this refusal to date, or to really make friends, had stunted his social growth, which was one of the reasons why he had so much trouble now?

     “Yeah, I told her I would go,” Jimmy said.

    
Thank God!
Alan screamed to himself and then out loud said, “Just wanted to make sure.  Prom is one of those things you would care about missing ten years from now.”

     “No I wouldn’t.”

     “You would.”

     “No, honest, I really wouldn’t and couldn’t care less about it.”

     Alan didn’t feel like arguing, but knew Jimmy’s was wrong.  Both their parents had missed their prom and still talked about the regret they felt at not having the memory or experience of it.  “Well, whatever.  I’m glad you’re going because I think you’ll have a lot of fun.”