Symby (11 page)

Jody limped slowly to school with Snuffles at his side. Snuffles had stopped dancing around him a few weeks after Symby had been taken. The two of them had seen better days, if only for a short while, thought Jody. He had lost hope that those better days would ever return. Even if a miracle occurred and Symby magically returned, he worried that it might already be too late for Missy.

Jody didn't bother to look up at the steps of the school when he drew near, as he had for most of the past two months. He already knew that Missy wouldn't be waiting for him. This was the third consecutive day that he would walk into school alone, eat lunch alone and attend Mr. Belden's class alone.

He had visited her the night before last and been shocked at her sickly appearance. She had lost weight rapidly the last few weeks. Her moon-shaped face now looked long and narrow. Black bruises covered her arms. The sparkle in her eyes had dimmed, almost as if some unseen force was turning down the gas on a lantern. The worst of it was that she had barely had the strength to speak. Long stretches of time passed without conversation. He had held her hand until her parents had asked him to leave. Both of them hugged him goodbye and thanked him for spending time with her. The light in their eyes had almost gone out too.

"Okay boy, time for you to head home," Jody instructed Snuffles. He watched as Snuffles turned and started towards home.

Unbeknownst to Jody, Snuffles had other plans. Snuffles had been detouring from his expected path several times in the past month. He wanted his little furry companion back. Unlike Jody, he knew where his little friend was. Snuffles may have been old, fat and arthritic but his nose still worked just fine. The creature that Jody had named Symby had a powerful, distinctive scent. The scent had led Snuffles to a small house on the other side of town. Snuffles knew that Symby was in there, but a chain link fence surrounded the house, preventing him from getting in. Snuffles kept hoping that one day the fence would be left open. He couldn't understand why the fence was closed anyway, as it was obvious that no dogs lived there. From his vantage point outside the fence, Snuffles could see that one of the windows was virtually always open. He was sure he could break through the screen that covered it if he could just get to it. The man who lived there wasn't in the house during two of Snuffle's covert visits. Snuffle's nose informed him that the boy who lived there was in the same big, brick building that Jody always brought Snuffles to in the morning. Snuffles walked a long time to get to Symby's new house. His joints ached and he was thirsty by the time he arrived. Snuffles whimpered with disappointment at the sight that greeted him. Once again, the gate was locked. Even if the gate had been open, the man who lived there was sleeping on the couch. Because he was a dog, Snuffles didn't understand the concept of irony, but he did know that if Symby could fix his legs again, he'd probably be able to jump the fence. Snuffles padded back and forth in front of the house, whining in frustration.

Snuffles spent an hour on the hot sidewalk hoping that the man inside the house would go somewhere and perhaps leave the gate open. Eventually, his thirst got the better of him. He needed to scout the area for water. He decided that rather than head in the direction of home he would continue onward in the same direction he had come, just to see what was out there. Jody wouldn't be home for a long time anyway.

Snuffles followed his nose past more houses and through a wooded area until he finally arrived at a river. Panting, he dipped his head into the water and drank until his thirst was slaked. He decided that a swim might be refreshing, as his fur was drenched with sweat. The water was cool and refreshing, but the current was strong. The river seized him and pushed him out into its middle. Snuffles fought both the river and panic. His head was pulled below the water several times. Each time he struggled to return to the surface and gulp some air. Just when Snuffles no longer doubted that his life was coming to an ignominious end, the river coughed him back up onto shore. He rolled to his side, securing his position on the muddy soil. He spent a few minutes lying there, exhausted.

Much of Snuffle's aching, tired body was on the verge of shutting down, but his nose was still functioning at its peak. He raised his head off the ground, positioning his nose at the apex of his head as he picked up two familiar scents. One of the scents stirred memories from long ago when he was still young and vital. The other was virtually identical to another scent that he had first experienced just a few weeks ago. Both of these scents seemed to be emanating from the same direction. Snuffles had an intense interest in finding the source of both of these scents. He wasn't sure if he still had the strength to walk the long distance that would be required to find the origin of the scents, but he was determined to try.

Snuffles got up, shook some of the mud off his fur and began his second long journey of the day. He stopped to rest occasionally. When he was thirsty, he positioned himself warily near the edge of the water and lapped at it from afar. He walked until his legs were rubbery and then walked some more, following the river until he was sure that he was just a short distance from his objective. At this point he moved away from the river back out into the woods. He had expected that the scents would diverge at some point and he would have to choose which one to follow, but that never happened. At long last, he arrived at a small clearing in the woods. This small area was suffused with both scents.

Snuffles could not see any evidence of life in this area, but he had long ago learned to rely more on his nose than his eyes. He began nosing around the area, sniffing each container he encountered. This process took quite a while, but Snuffles patiently sniffed until he was certain which container he wanted. He began clawing at the top of the large rubber crate, attempting to remove its lid. He was in the process of pulling on the container's lid with his teeth when a stick flew through the air and struck his side. Snuffles yelped in pain, spun around and growled in the direction that the stick had come from.

"Get the hell out of here, dog," yelled Spud. "You don't want to fight me. I'll kick your doggy ass!"

Snuffles glared at Spud, keeping his head low to the ground. Spud returned Snuffle's malevolent looks, his nostrils flaring. The two of them faced off for a few seconds, until Snuffles whined and began crawling slowly towards Spud. Spud ignored Snuffle's supplications.

"Come any closer and you'll be sorry for it," he threatened. It was clear to Spud that the dog was no longer interested in fighting and had apparently forgiven him for hitting him with the stick. Spud was puzzled by this behavior. Was this dog desperate for food and willing to suffer for it? This idea was quickly discarded as Spud scanned the dog's rotund body. The dog's fur was caked with mud, yet Spud couldn't shake the feeling that there was something familiar about this animal. At the moment that Snuffles crawled to within ten feet of Spud, Spud spoke gently for the first time since the confrontation began.

"Snuffles? Is that you?"

Jimmy scanned the cafeteria anxiously. He would have given anything to see Jody and Missy holding hands as they ate lunch together, but it was not to be. Jody sat alone for the third consecutive day. Jimmy still did not understand why his feelings had changed, but he was worried and frightened. The old Jimmy, the Jimmy of just a few weeks ago, would have been enjoying both Jody's solitude and his obvious distress. The old Jimmy might even have been plotting to ambush Jody on the way home from school, looking forward to a dramatically different result than their last encounter. Whatever it was that had rejuvenated Jody before their last confrontation had obviously receded.

The new Jimmy felt differently about Jody and Missy. The new Jimmy was prepared to forgive and forget. The new Jimmy could not shake intense pangs of guilt at what he had done. Jimmy had watched Missy's rapid decline from afar. She had lost weight, to the point where she resembled a skeleton with a shroud of skin draped over it. Bruises had emerged on her arms and legs. Jimmy was more familiar than he cared to be with the ordinary causes of bruising. He knew that Missy's bruises were extraordinary.

Jimmy continued staring at Jody until Jody looked up from his meal and glared at him. Jimmy averted his eyes, ashamed to return Jody's glower. Jody probably didn't realize it, but the two of them actually had a few things in common. Both of them were victims of disease, though Jody's was primary and Jimmy's was secondary. Both of them were viewed as lepers in school, Jody because he had a disease that nobody wanted to catch and Jimmy because he couldn't control his rage. Jimmy began to think about what had happened to Jody in the last couple of months. Jody had acquired a girlfriend who obviously loved him, something that had never happened to Jimmy. A few weeks later, Jody had somehow conquered his disease to the point where he could take on Jimmy in a fight and win. Jody must have been ecstatic with his new life, but now it had all dissolved. What would that feel like?

Jimmy couldn't take it anymore. He walked over to Jody and uttered a one word greeting.

"Hey," he said.

Jody looked up at him, his face reflecting both apprehension and ire.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I noticed that your girlfriend hasn't been around the last few days? What's going on?" Jimmy grimaced. He could have phrased his words more tactfully, he realized. He was new at the art of diplomacy.

"What's it to you?" Jody said angrily.

"Just curious," said Jimmy, grimacing again at his failure to phrase his words more empathetically.

"So you just came to gloat, right?" said Jody, his nostrils flaring.

"I'm not here to gloat," answered Jimmy. "I just wanted to know how she's doing."

Jody pushed himself up from his chair and confronted Jimmy face to face. "You want to hear how she's doing, huh? Well, she might be dying! That ought to make your day, right?!"

Jimmy could feel the blood draining from his face. He already knew she was in bad shape, but hearing that she might be dying stunned him. Jimmy's diplomatic skills failed him once again when he spoke his next sentence.

"You're kidding, right?"

Jody exploded. He got into Jimmy's face, spraying Jimmy with spittle as he answered.

"I don't think everything's a joke like you," he yelled. "That's what separates people like me from people like you! She was getting better, until something happened that I think you had something to do with, even though I can't prove it. So get the hell out of here or I swear my next stop is the principal's office to tell him you've been threatening me!"

Old Jimmy would have decked Jody on the spot, but new Jimmy backed off.

"All right, all right, I'm going," he said. He turned away and walked out of the cafeteria, ignoring the hateful stares many of the students directed at him.

Jimmy's mind raced. As bad as Missy had looked, he hadn't expected to hear that she might be dying. He was ashamed of himself for even bothering to weigh the pros and cons of his ownership of Symby versus Jody and Missy's. Symby might still be just a fantasy that Jody and Missy had made up to make themselves believe they could be cured, but their belief in Symby had obviously made a difference to both of them, whether Symby was just a placebo or not. Jimmy had scoffed at the idea that Symby could cure anything until he had actually experienced Symby's benefits himself. Jimmy was now a believer. He knew what he had to do.

Jimmy walked past his locker without retrieving any books. He continued walking past the site of his next class. He kept walking until he was past the school's doors. He climbed on his bicycle and headed for home.

His father was passed out on the couch when he walked in. As always, he prayed that his father had drunk enough to stay asleep while Jimmy was in the house. He wouldn't be staying for long. For once, his prayers were answered. A few short minutes later, he walked back out the door unchallenged holding a shoe box closed with his hands.

Jimmy's hand shook as he reached for the doorbell at Missy's home. He had no idea what his reception would be, but he fervently hoped that this meeting would go better than his encounter with Jody had. He listened anxiously as the chime rang and the sounds of footfalls followed, echoing more loudly as they neared the door. The door creaked open. A huge, pleasant-faced man greeted him.

"I'm guessing you're a friend of Missy's, am I right?" he said.

Jimmy gulped and lied, thinking about all of the times he had lied for bad reasons. Now he was lying for the best possible reason. "Yes, a friend," he replied. "I'm Jimmy Hines. May I see her?"

"I'm not sure she's awake," said the man. "I'm Ken, by the way, Missy's father. It's nice to meet another friend of Missy's. I'll go check on her if you don't mind waiting a minute." Ken extended his hand and Jimmy shook it, holding the box tightly to his body with his other arm.

Jimmy thanked Ken and waited outside the door for quite a while. When Ken returned, his attitude towards Jimmy had changed.

"Missy doesn't want to see you," he said flatly. "Have a nice day." He began to shut the door.

"Mr. Bryant, would you please tell her I brought her some things she'll need for our symbiosis project in biology class? We're working together on it. It's important, honest," Jimmy pleaded. The new Jimmy was finding the old Jimmy's talent for lying useful.

Ken looked skeptical, but stopped closing the door.

"I can take them and give them to her," he said.

Jimmy was panicking now.

"I really need to explain to her how these things work for the project. Please tell her it's for our symbiosis project. She'll know what I'm talking about."

Ken continued eying Jimmy, obviously sizing him up. "Son, I've got to be honest with you. There's a good chance Missy won't ever be able to finish that project with you, even if she wanted to."

"Please just tell her I've got something for our symbiosis project. If she says no I'll leave."

Ken sighed. "All right, I'll tell her. Wait here a minute."

As he anticipated, Jimmy waited much more than a minute for Ken to return, but the result was worth waiting for. Ken opened the door to him and waved him in.

"Come on in, son," he said. "The wizard is ready to see you now."

"Wizard?" said Jimmy.

Ken smiled. "You know, the Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy finally gets the wizard to open the door?"

Jimmy had no idea what Ken was talking about, but old Jimmy salvaged the situation.

"Oh, yeah, the Wizard of Oz," he said. "That was cool."

When the door to Missy's room opened, she was lying on her bed beneath a blanket, despite the day's temperature nearing eighty-five degrees. Jimmy received the icy glare from Missy that he had been expecting.

"Hello, Jimmy," she said coolly. "Dad, would you please close the door?"

When Ken closed the door, Missy wasted no time confronting Jimmy, despite her infirmity.

"You're the last person I wanted to see here," she said. "Say what you've got to say, then get out."

Jimmy flinched. Mending fences wasn't easy, he thought.

"It's not what I've got to say that matters," he said, "It's what I've got to give you."

"And what's that?" asked Missy icily. "You lied about doing a science project with me. I'm curious, though, why you called it a symbiosis project. There's only one thing I can think of that relates to symbiosis that would matter right now, so either the symbiosis thing is just an amazing coincidence or you know something that you weren't supposed to know."

Jimmy simply handed her the box that he hoped would make everything all right again. "I think this is rightfully yours" he said. "I'm sorry for what I did."

Missy placed the shoe box on her lap and opened it. When she viewed its contents, her face lit up with joy.

"It's you, Symby, it's really you!" she exulted. She pulled Symby out of the box and held him up to her cheek, rubbing Symby's soft fur against her face. Symby began vibrating, obviously pleased to be reunited with her. After cooing over Symby for a while, Missy's face suddenly darkened.

"You took him, didn't you!?" she said accusingly. "You don't even know what you did; you really messed things up badly."

Jimmy adopted a conciliatory tone. "I did take him, and I'm really sorry. I actually do know how badly I messed up. Symby helped me, too."

Missy chided Jimmy. "So you know what Symby does? How could you?"

"I overheard you and Jody talking in the hallway about Symby before I took him," said Jimmy. "At first I thought you two were nuts, but then Symby started helping me, too."

"But you don't have any diseases like Jody and I do, so how could Symby be helping you?" asked Missy.

"I don't have my own disease, but I keep paying the price for somebody else's disease," answered Jimmy. "That's all I can say about it."

Missy was torn between railing at Jimmy for taking Symby and thanking him for giving him back. Ultimately, forgiveness won out.

"Well, thank you for giving him back," she said gratefully. "You don't know how much this means to me and to Jody, too."

Jimmy nodded his head. "I think I do, Missy, I think I do."

When Jimmy left Missy's house, he was on cloud nine. Just before he left, Missy had asked him to step closer to her bed. When he got close, she had pushed her tiny body up next to him and wrapped her arms around him. It was clearly not a boyfriend-girlfriend hug, but Jimmy hadn't been hugged since his mom had died. In an instant, he felt redeemed and rejuvenated. As he left her room, she called out to him one last time.

"See you at school when I'm better, Jimmy," she said. "Okay?"

Jimmy turned around and demonstrated his lack of social skills once again with his pathetic, clipped answer.

"Okay," was all he could think of to say in response. "You suck," he thought, referring to himself as he walked back out to his bicycle. He waited another hour before returning home, treating himself to a soda from a vending machine. The last thing he needed was to have his father find out that he had cut school. When he arrived home, though, his father began the long, terrifying process of inflicting the last thing Jimmy needed on him.

"Where you been, boy?" he snarled.

"At school, Pop. It just let out." answered Jimmy fearfully. He eyed the nearly empty bottle of vodka on the coffee table. That bottle had been almost full when he had left for school in the morning. Jimmy had learned to regard the fill level of the ever-present bottle on the coffee table as a gauge to his father's moods and to his own pain.

"Don't lie to me, boy, where you been?!"

Jimmy decided to double down on his lie, aware of the risks of doing so. "Honest, Dad, I just got out of school," he claimed falsely. The tipping point had been reached. Either his father would believe him or he would have to brace for another "lesson."

"You're a damned liar, son! I just got a call from the school. They told me you left at noon. It's bad enough that you cut school, but don't you ever lie to me or I'll teach you lessons you don't get in school!"

Jimmy was distraught. "Really, Pop, I was there, I swear."

"So you lie to me, then you swear on the lie. You think the Lord's gonna forgive you?! Go get my belt out of the closet, son. You know what's coming..."

Jimmy dreaded what was coming, but he knew better than to protest any further. As he trudged upstairs to his father's bedroom, he thought about the fact that he wouldn't have Symby to help him feel better and heal faster this time. He had to question why the Lord would not forgive him for the "sin" of returning Symby to a dying girl. If this was how the Lord showed his love, he could do without it.

Jimmy trembled as he handed the belt to his father. He prayed that his father wouldn't say the words he feared most. As usual, his prayers fell on deaf ears.

"Pull 'em down, son. You know how this works," commanded his father.

Jimmy did as he was told. As the blows landed, he stayed focused on Missy's hug. Remembering her hug seemed to give him strength and shield him from the pain, almost like Symby's medicine had. As the beating went on, Jimmy found himself distracted by fear, not for his own welfare, but for Missy's. He wanted to have her as a friend and to keep getting hugs. As his father grunted with effort behind him, Jimmy began to smile as he flashed back to the hug. Still somewhat inebriated, his father miscalculated on one of the blows. He fell forward, hitting his head on the couch and landing on his back on the floor. The belt fell to the floor, snaking around the couch. Jimmy pulled up his pants, picked up the belt and stood over his father. Old Jimmy might have actually used the belt on his father. He was big enough now and his father had deteriorated long enough to make it a fair fight. But new Jimmy understood that his father was just a used up, pathetic drunk. New Jimmy dropped the belt onto his father's chest. He smiled at his father.