Scorched

Chapter Eight: The Big Park

JACKSON

I was nervous about introducing Katie to Raymond. Katie was the most important person in my life. If Ray couldn’t accept her, then there was no chance of the two of us having anything. I probably should have told him that Katie had special needs, at least given him a warning. I distracted Katie with a lollypop so that I could brush out her hair. I pulled it back into a quick braid and tied it with a blue scrunchie. She didn’t like her hair being brushed or pulled in any way, but she would tolerate a loose braid. She was wearing her favorite blue striped t-shirt. She would wear that shirt every day if she could.

“Ready kid?” I asked her as I slipped on my jacket and grabbed my keys. She gave me a nod, and started heading for the door.

Before we crossed the living room, my mother stirred herself. “Jack, where are you going?” she asked, her voice gravelly and half asleep.

“I’m taking Katie to the park, Ma.” I said, trying to suck up some patience and compassion for the woman who had given birth to us. The woman who rarely left the couch now didn’t really resemble the woman I had once loved.

She struggled to sit up. “Ugh, I’m hurting so bad.” She whined, and reached for the bottles on the coffee table. Her hands were shaking, and she knocked half of the bottles off the table before her fingers closed around one. Without even looking at the label, she twisted off the cover and shook a couple of pills into her hand. “Jack... could you bring me a soda before you go?”

I sighed and backtracked to the kitchen to grab her a can of soda from the fridge. “Make sure you eat something,” I reminded her as I popped the can open for her and handed it down to her.

“I will, I will,” she said passively. She tossed the pills into her mouth and washed them down with a swig of the soda. She eased back onto the couch and closed her eyes. “You are such a good boy Jack, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

I watched her for a minute until her mouth started to sag. I motioned for the door, and Katie hurried to scurry out of the apartment. I locked the door behind us, and jogged down the stairs to my car. “I’m going to have you sit in the back today,” I told my sister as I opened the rear door. “We’re going to pick up my friend Raymond, remember?” She gave me a look before she climbed in and reached for her seatbelt.

I turned on the child lock, shut the door, and then moved around to the driver’s side. I slipped in behind the wheel. “How come you’re never this easy when we are going to school?” I asked her as I backed out of the spot. She screwed up her face, letting me know her opinion of school.

I chatted with her while we drove. I always tried to talk to her like she was a normal kid, even though I knew she was never actually going to open her mouth and join the conversation. I knew she heard me and understood me, and that was enough. I told her about the gross stuff I’d seen at work. I told her about stupid things kids did at school. And I told her about Raymond. She was probably damn sick of hearing about Ray. I had his gift shoved in the glove box, but I wasn’t sure when or how to give it to him.

We pulled up in front of his house. There was no car in the driveway, so I guess his mom was at work again. I was about to open my door to go knock on the front door, when I saw it open and Ray stepped out. For once, he didn’t have that massive backpack slung over his shoulder. He was wearing a light green t-shirt that said “AWESOME” in block letters across his chest with a pair of black sweats. His hair was flopped over his forehead as usual. He gave me a shy smile before he slipped into the car.

“Hey,” he said to me.

“Hey,” I said back. I gestured to the back seat. “Ray, this is my little sister, Katie.”

Ray twisted around in his seat to greet Katie. “Hi Katie. Nice to meet you.”

Katie just stared at her hands and said nothing.

I cringed. “Uh, Katie has autism, and she’s non-verbal.”

“Oh,” Ray tipped his head a little. “That’s okay.” He turned around and pulled his seatbelt into place. For once, the belt cooperated and clicked into place neatly.

“Are we going to the big park or the little park?” He asked. He was trying to act cool and relaxed, but I noticed the way his fingers were nervously tapping on his legs.

There were two children’s play parks in town. The “little park” was geared more toward toddlers and smaller kids, and while the “big park” had bigger equipment, as well as basketball courts, tennis courts, and a field where the rec department had soccer and lacrosse games. “Katie likes the big park,” I said, as I steered the car in that direction. The big park wasn’t that far from Raymond’s house. I pulled into the parking lot a few minutes later. Ray let himself out, and I went to the back to help Katie out. I held her hand as we walked down the sidewalk toward the gate.

“You want the swings?” I asked her. She nodded, and we headed that way. Luckily, the park wasn’t too crowded this time of day, and the swings were free. Katie really liked the feeling that swinging gave her body. The motion seemed to calm her down. I helped her on the swing and then gave her a little push to get her started. She took it over from there, pumping her legs until she was soaring in a high arch. Raymond and I went over to an empty picnic table and sat down with our backs to the table so that we were looking out over the playground.

“Thanks for coming,” I said, smiling at him. “It gets kind of boring coming here by myself.”

Ray tipped his head up at me, and I saw something new in his eyes. I think it was respect. “You are a good big brother.” He said quietly, as he watched Katie on her swing.

I stretched out my long legs in front of me, and casually stretched an arm out behind Ray. Classic move. Ray lifted an eyebrow at me, and blushed, but he didn’t move away. “So,” I said, trying to act natural. “Two more weeks of school left.”

“Yeah,” Ray wrinkled up his nose. “Are you ready for exams? Did you study?”

I snorted, “I never study. If I don’t know it by now, I’m never going to know it. Cramming it in for the last few days isn’t going to help.”

He gave me a long, considering look. The way his dark eyes looked into mine made my toes curl. “Maybe you are right,” he said, surprising me. “I’m not sure putting all that stress on yourself right before the test really helps. If you know it, you know it.”

“Not like you have anything to worry about,” I scoffed. “You know you are going to ace everything.”

His face got a little pink again, and he looked away from me. “It's not like it comes naturally,” his tone was a little defensive. “I work hard for my grades.”

“Yeah, I know,” I used my arm behind his back to give him a friendly squeeze. “I didn’t mean to tease you about it. I admire your work ethic.”

His shoulders lifted in a shrug. “We don’t have a lot of money. If I’m going to go to college, I’ve got to get scholarships.” He said it in a matter-of-fact way. He didn’t sound sorry for himself.

I looked out at Katie on the swing set, at her faded favorite shirt and her Walmart tennis shoes. “Yeah, I know about not having a lot of money.” This topic of conversation was starting to feel uncomfortable, so I decided to change it up. “Do you have plans for this summer?”

Ray looked at me for a long moment before his eyes skittered away again. “I’m going to go work for my aunt.” He mumbled.

“What kind of work?”

“Farm work, I guess. She’s got this weird eco-farm down in the desert.”

“That sounds pretty cool?”

He lifted one shoulder. “I don’t know. I’ve never been down there. My aunt Morgan is really nice though. She’s my favorite relative.”

“Cool. Maybe I’ll get to meet her some day.” I removed my arm from around his shoulder and stood up. “Come on, let's go play.”

He gave me a skeptical look, but he followed me toward the jungle gym equipment. I ran up the stairs, across the pseudo-rope-bridge, up to the tower, and fit my body into the slide. I gave Ray a cocky grin before I pushed myself down. He was red-faced and embarrassed, but he followed me. After a few minutes, he forgot to be self-conscious, and we ran around the park like a couple of little kids. I kept one eye on Katie, but she was content on her swing. We went over to the monkey bars and I showed off a little, doing some pull ups. I had to bend my knees to keep my feet from dragging in the wood chips.

Ray blushed harder, and he made a pouty face. “Man, I can’t even do one.” Just to prove it, he grabbed the bar and dangled. He was shorter than me, so his feet didn’t even touch. He strained his biceps and barely made it half way up before his muscles gave up and he dropped back down to the ground. He shrugged it off and sat on the top rung of the ladder.

“You ever played any sports?” I asked him.

“Not since I played little league baseball in second grade,” he said with a self-depreciating grin. “I’m just not athletically inclined.”

“Yeah. I played soccer until junior high,” I said with a shrug. “But I don’t have time for sports now.” I didn’t tell Ray that my step-dad had made me quit sports when I turned 15 so that I could get a job. I didn’t want any pitying looks from him.

Ray gave me a considering look, his dark eyes traveling up and down my body in a way that made me shiver. “Too bad,” he said softly, “I bet you were really good.”

I gave him a half-grin and pulled him off the ladder. “I’m still really good!”

He shoved me playfully, “Come on, your sister is getting off the swing.”

I turned my head back to Katie, and sure enough she was dragging her feet to slow the swing. By the time we got over to her she had hopped off and was coming toward us. She looked at Ray, without looking into his eyes and then back to me, before she scrunched the fingers of one hand together and brought them to her lips.

Raymond's face lit up, “Hey, I know that sign! That means eat! You are hungry, right?”

Katie nodded, and her lips twitched. I swear she almost smiled. And Katie never smiles for anyone, except me.