Tanglewood Road

Chapter 1-2

With his mom at work, Cody faced another lonesome day in the new house. Since they’d moved into the foreclosure last week, he’d had precious little contact with anyone. He spent most of his time cleaning up and rearranging furniture to his mom’s satisfaction. He also battled the endless stream of miniscule ants that paraded into the house via any crack they found. They’d quickly learned that all food lived in the refrigerator.

Besides the ants, Cody dealt with cockroaches and the occasional spider the size of his fist. Lizards appeared in the dozens on their patio around the screened-in pool where Cody dipped his legs into the refreshing water and watched the stillness of the neighborhood behind his new home. When they’d arrived in the middle of the night the week before, they’d discovered the pool’s water was a thick mossy color. Seven days later, it was finally clean enough to enjoy.

Cody stared at his reflection in the surface of the water. His straight black hair was combed over one side of his face. The strip he recently dyed yellow covered one narrow eyebrow, the one he wanted a piercing through. He had asked for that for his birthday four months ago, but then the incident happened and everything took a back seat.

He wiped the sweat off his forehead, thankful to feel something, and thought about how it was all his fault. His parents were practically saints to deal with all the stuff he put them through. Life was normal and everyone was happy, and then he noticed Brad looking at him after gym class.

Brad was a year ahead of him, but in his gym class for some reason. The guy was funny, popular, and wore white boxers that contrasted sharply with the thick smattering of black hair that covered his chest and abdomen and trailed downward.

Cody never really considered himself gay, but he never identified as straight before, either. Then Brad changed dozens of times in front of him, and Cody realized he wasn’t exactly straight. The way he was supposed to feel about girls, he started feeling toward the guys in gym. Cody got nervous and hated himself, and decided to hide his feelings.

He’d been a loner for a long time, and as he realized how he felt about Brad, he thought it was because part of him felt like he had to hide who he really was.

When the substitute teacher told them to hit the showers five minutes earlier than usual, Cody took his time and ended up alone in the locker room with Brad. He’d willed himself not to have a boner, since it would show through his briefs and he’d die of embarrassment, but then Brad said, “Hey…uh…I…um, do you like my body or something?”

Cody had just nodded shyly. Brad had taken a step closer, and they kissed. It was a beautiful moment full of possibilities.

Three guys from the next period walked into the room, and Brad leapt backwards.

“f**k,” Brad shouted, “this fag tried making out with me. He wants my d**k!”

Things didn’t go well for Cody when the snickers and pushes started. He couldn’t see a way out of it, so he went out to his garage, sat in his mom’s car, turned it on, and let the exhaust fill the room.

If his dad hadn’t come home early from the office, Cody would have escaped it all. As it was, his dad opened the windows, gave him air, and took him to the hospital. A few weeks later, the house was for sale and Cody was whisked away from the dreaded town that nearly killed him.

“Who moves to Florida in the middle of the summer?” he’d asked after they told him the plan.

“We do.”

School wouldn’t start for another three weeks, leaving him with countless hours to fill. He wondered what Brad was up to and chastised himself for being so weak. That life was dead, those friends had withered, and people like Brad shouldn’t exist anymore in Cody’s new Floridian life.

The edge of Cody’s black shorts dipped into the water as he watched the lizards on the screen. None of them moved while he eyed them, but every now and then he’d notice another nearby. A TV blared in the house behind them. Through the blinds, Cody could barely make out the blurry image of a face and heard a woman addressing a courtroom. He never saw anyone turn the TV on or watch it, but still the muffled audio blared until after Cody went back inside the air-conditioned home.

He hadn’t showered or shaved in two days and he’d worn the same black T-shirt all week. He slipped on a pair of sandals and checked the mailbox out on the street, finding the usual junk mail. He considered his options, desperate to speak to someone, and meandered over to the closest mailbox on his side of the street. He looked around to make sure no one could see him. He thought he could knock on the neighbor’s door with the excuse that he’d gotten some of their mail by mistake, but the mailbox was empty.

Cody hurried over to the next mailbox, but it was empty as well. Then the next, and the one after that.

Dejected, Cody returned home and watched TV while he waited for his mom to get back from work.

When she did, Cody greeted her with a hug and asked, “How much do you think a camera costs?”

“What kind, and why?”

“Video camera, and to spy on the neighbors,” he replied with a grin. “I know that sounds horrible, but—”

“It is horrible,” she interjected. “And did you shower today?”

“I sat in the pool.”

“So tomorrow when you get up, around noon, it’s mow the lawn, then shower, right?”

“I don’t have the energy to mow lately,” he grumbled.

“Then get to bed early. I want to make sure this place looks great when your dad gets here. And I don’t want the neighbors to think we’re slobs.”

Cody asked stubbornly, “What neighbors?”