The Mason List (4 page)

Chapter 7

When
I was eight…

“Ever use
one of these?”

“No.”  I
looked back a little hesitant.  “I don’t know if we should do it, Jess.” 

“Come on,
Alex.  You know ya want to.”

I stared
into a scheming set of blue eyes.  I’d seen water guns, but nothing like the
double-barrel, turbo, twenty-foot slingers Jess pulled from his large duffle
bag.  He walked to the sliding doors leading out behind the hospital.  Looking
back over his shoulder, I got his ornery grin.  “You comin’?” 

That
seemed to be the way Jess handled things.  He just assumed I would follow
behind and well, I always did.  “Wait.  I’m coming.”  

Every day
for the last two weeks, Mrs. Mason brought us food.  She delivered baskets of
casseroles and foil wrapped hamburgers and even a pie with fluffy meringue.  I
wasn’t sure if she actually made the food or scared some poor soul into sending
us handouts.  Mrs. Mason was a little over the top, but I didn’t care.  Every
time she came, Jess always arrived with her.  It was hard not to be pulled into
the contagious world of Jess.  With each visit, he gave me a few hours to be a
kid again.

My mother
continued to get worse and eventually slipped into a coma.  Most afternoons,
Jess and I were sequestered in a corner of the waiting room.   We played board
games and watched television.  Jess liked to talk.  He carried most of the
conversations while I said little.   Jess had an accent as thick as pancake
syrup.  When he got excited, he slurred all his words together, making it hard
to understand.

“Alex,
you’re goin’ on this side of the buildin’ and I’ll get on the other side by the
bushes.  The tree in the center is the safe zone.  Make sense?”  He handed me a
super soaker he filled up from a hydrant behind the hospital.

“Yeah, I
guess so.  No leaving this area, right?”  I asked.  From that exact angle, no
one could see what we were doing with the water guns.

“Nope.” 
He shook his head back and forth, making his shaggy black hair swing over his
eyes.  Jess grinned with a smirk, “Go!”

We spent
the next ten or so minutes running around, taking wild shots and diving behind
bushes.  Jess was much better than me.  I took a few hits to the back, soaking
my gray t-shirt to the skin.  My shots were not as well-aimed.  Jess had a few
splattered water spots across one leg of his jeans. 

Jess ran
out of the fight zone toward the hospital side entrance.  I followed after him
inside the building just in time to see the elevator door slide shut with Jess
inside.  I glanced around, looking for the staircase.  Sprinting up the steps
two at a time, I reached the top just as the elevator doors opened.  I shot in
rapid fire motion, hitting Jess in the face and chest.  The water in my gun
flowed down like a waterfall against the walls, soaking the carpet.  Jess
pushed every button on the panel to get the door to close, but I dove on my
stomach across the metal grate just before they slid shut.

“I’ve got
you!  Surrender!”  I pumped every remaining drop onto his face.  The heavy
stream hit his skin and overflowed into the control panel.  Sirens blared.  Red
lights blinked.  The elevator came to a screeching halt in emergency mode.

“What did
you do?”  I glared at him.

“What did
I
do?” He yelled back at me over the sirens. 

“I was
just following you!  I knew you would get us in trouble.  You broke the
buttons!” 

“
You
shot water in the controls!” 

We stood
on opposite ends of the elevator, staring each other down.  His hand uncurled
with a red knob clasped inside.

“What is
that, Jess?”

“I don’t
know.  It sort of just fell off.  Please don’t get mad at me.”  Jess looked
pathetic with his hair plastered to his forehead, water dripping down his
cheeks.  “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“You
always act like this, don’t you?”  I sat down on the floor, my wet clothes
causing me to shiver.   The siren pulsated in the background, making it much
harder to think and talk in the elevator.

“Oh, come
on, Alex.  I’m really sorry,” Jess pleaded.  “I should have left those at
home.  I just wanted you to play with ‘em.  You said you ain’t ever used one
before.”

“I don’t
want to talk to you right now,” I glared at him.  “You have nothing to lose. 
I’m the one who will be in so much trouble.” 

“You
think I don’t ever get in trouble?  Well I do!”

“
Sure
you do,” I shot back.

“They’re
gonna have me scoopin’ poop again.  I hate poop.”

“Poop?”

“Yup. 
Poop.”

“I don’t
understand.”

“Horse
poop.  Cow poop.  Dog poop.  He’ll make me clean all of it.  Gets all over me.”

I
secretly laughed at the idea of Jess with poop smeared all over him. 
Serves
him right!
  Water gun in a hospital would be a big deal to my father.  He
would ground me until I could drive.

“You want
a Skittle?”  Jess pulled a bag from his pocket.  I glared,
no
, as he
shoved a few handfuls in his mouth.  I swear that boy ate nothing but Skittles.

The
minutes ticked by as Jess crunched next to me.  I did my best to ignore him. 
The sirens stopped, but the elevator didn’t move.  He was driving me crazy
chomping on his dang candy.

“Why do
you come here?”  I asked. 

“What’d
ya mean?”  He looked up.

“Here at
the hospital.  Why?”  I’d contemplated the idea for some time.  Our whole
family situation had me thinking terrible things.

“I don’t
know.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“You
don’t know why you come here every day?”

Jess
shrugged again.  “It’s fun to hang out here.”

“Your
mother doesn’t make you?”

“Why
would she do that?” He looked confused.

“Forget
it,” I shot back.  He didn’t seem to know what I was talking about and it was
time to end the questions.  I went back to angry silence.

“You
think she makes me hang out with you, don’t ya?”

“You have
your whole ranch and everything.  You talk about it all the time.  But you come
here.  I just don’t understand why you don’t stay home.” 

Jess
watched me like he was trying to figure out what to do next.  His lips twisted
around before answering.  “I’m the only kid at the ranch, so I like comin’ up
here.  I like hangin’ out with you.  I think you’re pretty cool.  I mean, for a
girl.” 

My cheeks
burned red.  “Oh.”

“You wish
I didn’t come?”

“I don’t
know,” I mumbled.

“You
don’t know?  Maybe I just won’t come anymore since you don’t like me.”

“No,
wait.  That’s not what I meant.”  It was difficult letting someone get this
close to me, letting him see how far my broken life had spiraled.  Letting him
know I would crumble back into the deep darkness if his visits stopped.

“I don’t
want you to stop coming.”

“So ya
dooo
like me?”  His blue eyes shot open, lifting his dark eyebrows.  “I knew ya
did.”

“Don’t
make a big deal out of it.”  I felt the red flush on my cheeks.

“Ok,” he
said, cramming another handful of rainbow dots in his mouth.  He crunched with
that silly grin. 

“Jess, I
think we are moving!” 

We jumped
up and waited for the doors to open.  Stepping out in the lobby, we faced a
crowd of people.  Each set of eyes stared at the water dripping from our
clothes and the large orange guns in our hands.  I took a quick tally and saw
my father, the Masons, the maintenance crew, three firemen, and an assortment
of hospital staff.  This was bad.

I took a
step sideways to be shoulder to shoulder with Jess.  It felt much better to be
closer to him.  I needed reassurance from the boy who was my only friend.  Jess
winked at me with a half smile.  Glancing back toward the crowd, I avoided the
disappointed look on my father’s face but found another one that seemed worse. 
I was right about her.  Mrs. Mason was definitely scary when she was angry. 
Maybe Jess wasn’t kidding when he talked about getting in trouble.  This would
be bad for both of us.

Chapter 8

When
I was eight…

My father
and I sat on a bench in the garden area outside the hospital.  As the August
heat exploded like steam off the cement, I braced for the same old speech.

Over the
last week, I received different versions of the same lecture.  I wanted to
crawl under the bench to avoid it again.  He used the same sad tactic every
time with pathetic, glossy eyes. 
Alex, you need to be spending the last few
days with your mother instead of running up and down the halls destroying
things.
 His words made me feel horrible.  I felt sad for him.  I felt sad
for my mother.  I felt sad for the little girl who used to be me.

Mrs.
Mason continued to bring food, but I never saw her
or
Jess.  She left
the food at the nurse’s station.  Dr. Mason stopped by each day and talked to
my father about my mother’s impending death.  I wanted to ask about Jess, but I
was afraid it would remind him of the incident with the water guns.  The
problems my father wanted to rehash.

“Dad, you
know I am really, really,
really
sorry.”

“I know. 
But that’s not what I want to talk to you about.  Staying in the hospital has
become a problem.” 

“Like,
what kind of problem?”

“We can’t
stay here anymore, Pumpkin.”

I bit
down on my lip to stop the sudden gasp.  The doors slid open and my stomach
fell to the bottom of an elevator shaft.  Our car no longer was an option and
now the hospital kicked us out too. 

“I…I
don’t understand.  Where are we going to live?”

He
smiled, “Sprayberry.”

The next
day, we drove down a dirt road with the old Bronco packed full.  This
Sprayberry place was out in the middle of no-wheres-ville.  My only experience
with a ranch came from Jess's constant ramblings.  I missed his stories.  I
missed his smiling face.  But even if I was tortured, I would
never
tell
Jess how much I missed him the past week. 

Sprayberry
Ranch had a small, vacant farmhouse on the north end of the property.  The
Masons said we could stay for free if my father would do the repair work.  When
things got better, we could pay rent.  The Masons didn’t want us to worry about
any of that for now.  I wanted scream, but I knew we had nowhere else to go.

“Pretty
cool, isn’t it?” My father asked as we pulled up the driveway to the little
farmhouse.  The sun sparkled across the tall grass and I spotted a few red cows
in the distance.  I imagined the worst, but to my surprise, it was decent.  I
don’t know why I expected anything less from the Masons. 

Our new
home was a simple, one-story house, covered with faded gray siding, blue
shutters, and a wooden porch.   My father took a quick look around the outside
of the old place.  He smiled at my frowning face. 

“Well,
not too bad.  A few rotten boards will need to be replaced along the sides
around the roof, but it shouldn’t leak.  Just needs a good cleaning and
painting as far as I can tell.  Come on,” he put his arm across my back, “let’s
see the inside.  I think you will like it.”

We walked
through the small living room with hardwood floors, shiny from a recent coat of
lacquer.  Old, pink paper covered the kitchen walls.  I slid my hand across the
counter top with mud-colored stains bigger than my palm.  Wandering down the
short hallway, I found two bedrooms and a bathroom.  

“The one
on the right is yours,” my father called from the living room.  He found his
old cheery attitude again the moment we turned into the driveway.  

The room
caught me by surprise.  Driving out to the ranch, I didn’t  think about
furniture.  The bedroom had a large, white bed with a matching dresser and
mirror.  It wasn’t elaborate, but I could tell it was meant for a girl.  It was
meant for me. 

A fluffy,
purple bedspread covered the mattress.  I didn’t see a price tag, but it
smelled brand new.  Absently, I pulled open one of the drawers and found a few
clothing items.  I saw my father watching from the doorway.

“Mrs.
Mason asked if you had any new school clothes.  I told her we hadn’t gone
shopping yet.  She asked for your sizes.  Said she could get some for you since
we wouldn’t have time to shop before school starts next week.” 

Yeah
right!
  I yelled
in my head.  It’s more like we didn’t have the money.  It was just another item
to add to the growing list of debts we owed these Masons.

I said
nothing and pushed open the closet to find it held more clothes placed neatly
on hangers.  As my fingers thumbed through new jeans and shorts, I studied the
choice of outfits picked by Mrs. Mason.  She purchased a few plain shirts
resembling those I’d worn around the hospital.  However, most of the items had
sparkles, flowers, or were stamped with a fancy logo.  

In the
back, I found two nice dresses, suitable for Easter or maybe Christmas.  I
frowned, letting my fingers touch the fabric.  This Alex didn’t wear such
clothes.  On the floor, my eyes scanned two new pairs of canvas tennis shoes, a
pair of sandals, and a pair of shiny leather dress flats.  I now had fancy
shoes to go with the fancy dresses to wear to nonexistent fancy parties.

I let out
a deep breath through my lips.  It was all very frustrating.  Sitting down on
the floor, I slipped off my tight, ragged gray shoes.  I stuck my foot into a
pair of the new canvas ones.  My toes wiggled at the tip with plenty of room to
spare.  My feet let out a sigh of relief and sucked in a big gulp of freedom. 
If only my heart could feel the same way.

Outside I
heard a rumbling noise in the yard.  I laced the other shoe and stood up beside
the bedroom window, seeing Jess on his four-wheeler.  My chest jumped as I
watched him.  It took everything in me not to go running down the hall and out
the front door.  Instead, I walked slowly to the front porch, trying to play it
cool.  I stood by my father and waited for Jess to talk first.

“Hey,
Alex.”

“Hi,” I
said, feeling my lips smile.

Jess
didn’t look any different than when I saw him at the hospital.  He wore the
same old, roughed up jeans and t-shirt with the exception of the boots. 
Today’s pair was old and caked with mud. 

“Hey, Mr.
Tanner.  Y'all moved in?”

“We’re
getting there,” my father said back. “You want to come in?”

“Well,
ummm.  I was wonderin’ if I could give Alex a tour.  Show her all the good
spots.”  He flashed one of his big grins that made you doubt he could ever
cause any problems.  My father looked at me and back at Jess.

“I guess
so but you two need to try a little bit harder not to get in trouble.”  He gave
us both the typical stern parent look.

“I
promise, Dad.”  I squeezed a quick hug around his waist and walked over to the
four-wheeler.

“I like
your shoes.”

“Um,
thanks.”  I felt the heat burning on my cheeks.  My brand new, gray canvas
shoes felt like blood money.

“You
gettin’ on or what?”

“Sure,” I
muttered, glancing at the seat then back at Jess.  “How do you do this?”

“Here,
let me help ya.” Jess pulled me on the extra space toward the back.  “Your arms
go here.”  He put my hands on his waist in a tight grip. “Now just hang on!” 

Jess
tapped the gas, and we started out at a slow speed toward the ranch.  The
wheels hit a few holes, and I bounced up from the seat.  As we reached the
clearing away from my father’s view, Jess punched the gas and the vehicle
lurched forward.  I screamed, but my voice disappeared in the fast wind
whipping across my face.  The grass and trees flew by in a blur.   

He
would kill me
! 
My first day at the ranch and Jess would kill me out in the meadow with his
stupid four-wheeler.  I yelled at him to stop but I couldn’t even hear my own
words.  My fingers dug into the fabric of his shirt for a tighter grip.

We zipped
around the ranch for what seemed like an eternity.  In the distance, a large
building came into focus.  Jess slowed down at the driveway entrance.  My eyes
grew large at what had to be the Masons’ house.

I’d never
seen an actual plantation, only on television.  We traveled up the tree-lined
driveway leading to the large, white column structure with a wrap-around
porch.  I thought back to that afternoon when I’d watched
Gone with the
Wind.
  I knew without a doubt, this was a house that would make Scarlett
herself jealous.

As we
approached the front yard, the giant white house with black shutters took shape
in front of me.  I counted six massive white columns starting at the ground and
extending to the roof.  The poles were so large; it would take three of me with
outstretched arms to circle around one of them. 

The lower
level boasted a full wrap-around porch covered with chairs and tables assembled
into a fancy sitting area fit for a tea party with princesses.  The second
floor also had a full wrap around balcony with black iron guardrails.  The
Mason’s had two whole balconies on a single house.

The
landscaped yard held bushes shaped in fancy designs, resembling the botanical
garden from last year’s school field trip.  The Masons literally had their own
park.  The whole place made my old secret garden look like a tangled up bird’s
nest. 

Jess
circled around the yard to the back of the house.  The dirty four-wheeler
looked out of place on the manicured lawn.  I expected someone to pop out from
behind a bush to yell at us for driving on the grass.

“You live
here?”  The question came out half stupid as I muttered against his ear.  I
hoped the sound of the motor drowned it out.   

“Yeah.” 
I felt his shoulders shrug. 

Jess
parked next to an outdoor gazebo that could hold at least fifty people for a
garden party.  The white structure overlooked an extravagant in-ground swimming
pool with a ten-foot waterfall flowing from a rock ledge.  Two fountains shot
up from the deep blue water on each side of the wavy shape.  It was bigger than
any motel pool I’d seen as a kid. 

“You can
swim in the pool if ya want after school.  I like jumpin’ from the top of ‘em
rocks.  Almost as much fun as the pond,” Jess said rather matter of fact.  “You
swim?”

“No.” 
The thought of being in that deep water made my teeth bite into my lip.  I
hated swimming. 

“Let’s go. 
I’ll show you the really fun stuff.” Jess maneuvered around a few hedges and
then punched the gas to take off through the tall grass.  The wind slapped
across my face; my hair flailing out to the sides.  He slowed down again when
we reached the barns.

“We’ve
got lots of horses.  You ever been on one?”  He asked as I studied the
expensive looking stables.

“No.”  I
shook my head. 

“It’s
ok.  I can teach ya.  You think the four-wheeler is fun, wait ‘til you ride a
horse out here,” Jess laughed and punched the gas again.  I grabbed his shirt
as we shot off into the depths of the ranch.  I wasn’t so sure about the horse
riding thing.

The wind
blew in my face as we bounced along the meadow.  It was beautiful and so
carefree being out in the wide open space.  I knew why Jess loved it so much. 
Driving out on the ranch, the weight lifted in the breeze.   For a moment in
time, I felt free.

Jess
alternated between a dirt path and plowing straight through the tall grass.  We
passed a group of red cows who watched us with bored eyes.  I’d never seen one
so close, but the furry heads didn’t seem unfriendly.  Jess circled over a pond
dam and came to a stop next to the water.

“You like
fishin’?”  He asked, pointing at the murky pool.  “There’s some pretty good
ones in there.”  

“No.  I
mean, I’ve never been.  I might like it I guess.”   It was my general answer to
all his questions today.  I’d never done any of this stuff.

“It’s
really fun.  We’ll have to come back when it starts gettin’ cooler this fall.” 
I couldn’t see his face but I knew he was grinning with excitement.  He words
stumbled over each other like pancake syrup again.