Towelhead (15 page)

“But I already have some.”

“You'll run out,” she said. “Then you can use these. And when you run out of these? Just come and tell me and I'll get you some more.”

I looked at the box.

“Take them,” she said. “Please.”

“Okay,” I said. “Thanks.”

After a second, she said, “Are you sure you weren't in that car?”

“Yes,” I said. I might not have looked her in the eye that time.

“Mr. Vuoso is a pig,” she said. “Just so you know. Any man who wants a girl your age to be his friend is a pig. Do you understand?”

“I wasn't in his car.”

She ignored me. “If he asks you to be his friend, I want you to come and tell me. Okay?”

“Okay,” I said.

“I mean it, Jasira.”

“I will.”

Back at home, I put the tampons under my sink with all the other ones Thomas had given me. Then I went and lay on my bed. I thought about the night before, when Gil had seen me on the sidewalk. I tried to imagine his going inside and telling Melina. I thought about her getting all mad and bossy, like she'd been today. I thought about the two of them making decisions about me, worrying. It was the strangest feeling I had ever known. It made me smile a lot, even though I was alone.

At lunch the next day, Thomas asked if I needed him to shave me again yet. “Maybe,” I said.

“How long is the hair?” he asked.

“Not too long. We could wait a few days.”

“Oh,” he said, “okay.” Then he said, “Could I come over and look at it?”

“I didn't ask Daddy,” I said.

“I'll leave before he comes home again.”

I thought about this for a second, then said, “Okay.” I liked Thomas. I didn't think hanging around with him made me a slut or ruined my reputation or any of that stuff. Mostly, he just reminded me of Barry, the way he always wanted to shave me.

The bus let us off at the end of my block. Since there was never any traffic, we walked down the middle of the street to my house. We'd been holding hands on the bus, and Thomas didn't let go now, even as we saw that Zack was outside, kicking his soccer ball around.

“Hi, Zack!” Thomas yelled in a fake way.

Zack stopped kicking for a second and looked up. I wasn't sure if he saw our hands or not, but I figured he probably did. Then he went back to kicking his ball.

“What the fuck is the matter with that kid?” Thomas said, letting go of my hand.

“I don't know,” I said.

“Yes, you do,” Thomas said. “You know exactly what's wrong with him.” We had reached my house by then, and Thomas yelled, “Hey, Zack! Kick that ball over here!”

Zack ignored this and kept playing by himself. He was moving away from us, toward Melina's house.

After a second, Thomas went after him. He didn't chase him, exactly, but he moved in really close. The next thing I knew, Thomas had taken the ball away from Zack and was kicking it back toward me. “Hey!” Zack yelled. “Give that back!”

“You say hi to me and I'll give it back,” Thomas said.

I noticed that he was very good at kicking the ball, even though his main sport was swimming.

“Fine!” Zack yelled. “Hi!”

“Now say hi to Jasira.”

Zack looked at me.

“Say hi to Jasira, and I'll give you the ball back,” Thomas said.

“Hi,” Zack said to me.

“Hi,” I said.

He turned to Thomas and said, “Now give it back.”

Thomas ignored him. He kicked the ball a little closer to Zack, but his feet were moving so quickly that Zack would never have been able to steal it. “Where's your babysitter?” Thomas asked.

“Give me my ball,” Zack said.

“Tell me where your babysitter is, and I will.”

“I don't have a babysitter anymore,” Zack said.

“She quit?” I said.

Zack glared at me. “I'm old enough not to have a babysitter.”

“Oh yeah?” Thomas said. “How old are you?”

“Eleven,” Zack said.

“I thought you were ten,” I said.

“I was,” he said, “but then I had my birthday.”

“Oh yeah?” Thomas said. “What'd you get?”

“Give me my ball!” Zack yelled.

“Tell me what you got first,” Thomas said. He'd hopped the curb with the ball and was now on the sidewalk in front of Zack's house.

“I don't have to tell you anything,” Zack said.

“Of course you don't,” Thomas said. “And I don't have to give you this ball.”

“Yes, you do,” Zack said.

“What'd you get for your birthday?” Thomas said. “It's a straightforward question. Answer it, and you can have your ball.”

“I've already answered your questions,” Zack said. “You said five questions ago that you would give me my ball, but you didn't keep your word. That just proves it!”

Thomas stopped kicking then. “Proves what?”

Zack didn't say anything.

“Proves what?” Thomas said again, and he picked the ball up and walked over to Zack.

“Nothing,” Zack said.

“What'd you get for your birthday?” Thomas said. He was standing right in front of Zack now, hovering. It was strange to see him like this. So mean.

Zack turned to me then for help. I felt sorry for him, only I wanted to see what Thomas was going to do. “Just tell him what you got for your birthday and he'll give you the ball,” I said.

Zack looked like he was going to cry. He looked like he thought I was as bad as Thomas. Finally he turned back to Thomas and said, “I got a kitten.”

“What kind of kitten?” Thomas asked, and though it didn't seem possible, he moved in even closer to Zack.

“Get away from me,” Zack said.

“We want to see the kitten,” Thomas said.

“You can't,” Zack said. “No one's allowed in the house.”

“So bring it outside.”

“No,” Zack said. “She's an indoor cat.”

“It won't hurt her to come outside for a second,” Thomas said.

Just then, Zack reached out and punched the soccer ball out from under Thomas's arm. It fell and started to roll a little, and Zack quickly chased it down. Thomas stood calmly and watched. He acted like Zack could've had his ball all along, if only he'd asked for it.

Once he'd scooped up the ball, Zack ran in his house and slammed the door. “What a brat,” Thomas mumbled.

I nodded.

“I want to see that cat,” he said. “I like cats.”

“We'll see it another time,” I said. “Let's go inside now.”

He didn't move.

“C'mon,” I said.

Thomas eyed Zack's house. “Let's go over there and ring his doorbell.”

“No,” I said. “I don't want to.”

“Did you see how scared he looked when I was talking to him? Why was he so fucking scared?”

“I don't know,” I said.

“Yes, you do.”

We went inside eventually and I gave Thomas a Coke. Then we went in my room. He lay back on my bed and I took my pants off. I went and stood next to the bed, and he reached out and touched me a little. After a minute he said, “I'm too mad to shave you. I might slip and cut you. I'd better not.”

“Okay,” I said, and I went to get my pants.

“No,” he said, “wait.” He pulled out his penis then and started to touch it, but nothing really happened. He stared at me and touched it for a long time, but it didn't get as big as usual. Finally he gave up and let go of it.

“Can I get dressed now?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I went and got my clothes.

“I guess I'm too mad,” he said, zipping up his fly.

“It's okay,” I said. I was about to go and sit with him on the bed, but then I remembered something and went to my dresser. I opened the top drawer and pulled out a silver key. “Look,” I said, bringing it to Thomas.

“What is it?” he asked.

“The Vuosos forgot to take it back from me when I got fired.”

He hiked up on his elbows. “Really?”

I nodded. “We can go and see the kitten.”

He took the key and looked at it.

“We'll just see the kitten, though, okay? I don't want to be mean to Zack anymore.”

“That's all I want to do,” Thomas said. “See the kitten.”

“Okay,” I said, and we went to put our shoes on.

 

Zack wasn't in the living room when we let ourselves in. I thought he might be in the kitchen getting himself a snack, but when we tiptoed in there, it was empty. There were small bowls of food and water beside the refrigerator, with a few pieces of the food spilled onto the floor. There was something else, too. A different smell. I went and looked in the half bath beside the kitchen and found it. A litter box. It was lumpy and mounded from use, and I could see a piece of poop poking up. A can of air freshener sat on the back of the toilet.

Thomas came in and found me. He was eating an apple from the fruit bowl on the kitchen table. “Pee-yew,” he said, chewing and looking over my shoulder.

“Zack must be in his room,” I whispered.

Thomas nodded. “You go first,” he said, and he stepped aside to let me out of the bathroom.

We were quiet as we went up the stairs. At the top, I peeked in the Vuosos' bedroom and saw that Mr. Vuoso's duffel bag was still at the foot of the bed. “Look,” I whispered to Thomas, pointing at it. “That's for when Mr. Vuoso gets called up.”

“Called up for what?” Thomas said.

“The war. He's a reservist.”

“Oh.”

“There are condoms in there,” I told him.

“How do you know?”

“I looked.”

Thomas was quiet for a second. Then he said, “What about his wife?”

I shrugged.

“Shit,” Thomas said.

We moved down the hall toward Zack's room. I thought he'd be in there doing his homework or something, but he wasn't. He was in the guest room, looking at
Playboy
s. He was sitting on the bed with his back to the doorway, so he didn't notice us at first.

The kitten did, though. She was sitting on the bed with him. A little white puffball with blue eyes. She looked at me and made a tiny cry. For the first half of it, no sound came out.

“Hi, Zack,” Thomas said.

Zack jumped. This made the kitten jump, too. Then she ran to the edge of the bed, hopped off, and crawled underneath it.

“Oh no,” I said, dropping to the floor to see if I could find her.

Zack set his magazine down and got off the bed, too. His face turned bright red, and he started to cry. “What do you want?” he said, looking at Thomas. “Are you trying to kill me? Get out of here! Just get out of here!”

“Shut up!” I said, still on the floor. “You're scaring the kitten.”

“Don't touch her!” Zack yelled. “You leave her alone!”

“Zack,” Thomas said. “Calm down. Would you just calm down?”

Zack wouldn't calm down. He started crying even harder as he backed himself against the bedroom wall. “How did you even get in here?” he wailed. “Did you break in?”

I got up from the floor then. The kitten was out of my reach. “Zack,” I said, “just shut up, okay? Stop saying that stuff.”

“We just wanted to see the kitten, man,” Thomas said. “That's all.”

“Well, you can't,” Zack choked. “She's afraid of you.”