Two weeks later, I was sitting in my room with Mark, while doing our homework. Yeah you got that right, I was doing his too. I was supposed to be helping him, but somehow, he talked me into doing it for him. Actually, he does that a lot. Anyway, like I said, I was in my room with Mark when mom said I had a phone call.
“I didn’t even hear the phone ring.” I said to Mark as I slowly stood up from my desk. It just so happened that on that same morning, I’d seen my doctor and he had said that I could start going without the neck brace when at home, but I still had to wear it when I sleep and while at school.
“Who is it?” I asked, as mom handed me the phone.
“Gladys,” was the only clue I got from her as to the reason for the call.
“Hello?” I said into the phone.
“Oh, hello Max! I’m glad you’re home. And how are you? Is your shoulder feeling better?” she asked, but I could tell that, for all her talking, she hadn’t yet got around to what it was she really wanted to say.
“It’s cool. Doesn’t even hurt.” I answered, even though it was a lie. It did hurt, well a little bit anyways.
Gladys then sighed heavily and began to tell me something truly disturbing. Damien’s mom had been arrested for drug possession about eight months ago and as of two days ago, she was hauled into prison for violating her probation. The whole time Gladys was telling me about it, I kept thinking to myself, “Why is she dumping all this on me?”
I got my answer when she told me, “Damien is going to be staying with us for a while.”
Gladys paused, and I think she might have even been crying, but it gave me a chance to say something. “Gladys, I am so sorry about Damien’s parents. That is so sad.”
I glanced over at mom and she was holding a single finger up to her lips to shush me. That one puzzled me, but I figured she knew something I didn’t know, so I sealed my lips together and just listened.
“Max,” Gladys started, “You seem to do so well with Damien. Because of that, my husband and I were wondering if you would be willing to baby-sit for us again on a regular basis.”
“Uh,” I started to say, but again I looked at mom and this time she was giving me a stronger shushing. I rolled my eyes and closed my mouth again.
“I talked with your mother already and she said that, as long as you are okay with it, she will be okay with it.
There was a pause, and honestly, it felt like Gladys was expecting me to say something, but there was my mom with her finger pressed to her lips.
“We’d like you to sit for us for a couple hours after school each day and we were hoping you could walk Damien to and from school just to make sure he actually gets to school and comes home like he should.”
The first thing that went through my mind was, that I was going to have a couple hours each day alone with Damien to possibly have more diaper fun with him. Then I started to panic a bit as I wondered what I might be getting mixed up in; I mean, with their whole personal family problems and all.
There was another pause, and I looked to mom and held out a hand longingly to her. She finally smiled and nodded which meant that I could finally speak.
“Uh, yeah sure; I’d love to help, but um… are you sure you want me? Don’t you want my sister to do it? I mean, she’s always babysat for you in…”
But I didn’t get to finish. Gladys interrupted with, “Oh Max, Damien just adores you and never stops talking about you. When he ran away, whom did he run to?” She paused for effect, “You, that’s who.”
I was sure now, that Gladys was crying even though she was still trying to hide it from me.
Mom had inched over so that she was now standing right beside me with a reassuring hand, petting the back of my head. I guess that’s what gave me the courage to say, “Yes, I can do it.”
Gladys cheered so loudly that I had to yank the phone away from my ear or risk lasting auditory impairment.
“How about if you come over in say,” she paused in thought, “an hour. We’ll give you a key to the house and we can talk everything over.”
“Uh, okay. Yeah, see you in about an hour. Bye.” I said and then hung up the phone.
“I am so proud of you!” Mom started to cry.
“Moooom!” I whined, as she hugged my face with her hands and tried to kiss me.
“What’s she going to say?” I asked while motioning toward my sister’s room.
“She already said that she doesn’t want to do anymore babysitting. Besides, she’s too busy with school, cheerleading, the pep-squad, the drama club…”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it! My sister the wonder girl.” I said derogatorily.
I then switched gears, “Mom, have I just done something stupid? I mean, well you know!”
“Max, I think you have done the right thing and besides, that little boy is going to need a friend now that both of his parents are in jail.”
“BOTH?” I exclaimed.
“I thought you knew that his father is in prison too.” Mom said concernedly.
“Uh, no! I didn’t know that!” I said.
Mark walked in, looking kind of sheepish, “Sorry I sort of couldn’t help overhearing…” he trailed off at the end and stood there looking pitiful.
“Oh, hello Mark. I forgot that you had come over.” Mom said.
And as if absolutely nothing had just happened, she asked him, “Would you like to stay for dinner?”
“Uh no but, thanks for asking. I’m supposed to be home in a few minutes, so I best get going.” Mark said, still acting sheepish and uncomfortable.
“Uh, hang on Mark. Let me get my stuff together and…” I stopped and looked at mom, “I’m going to walk Mark home if that’s okay, then I’ll head over to Bill and Gladys’s house.”
Mom nodded her approval and then said, “Remember to put on your neck thingy.”
Out on the street, the two of us walked toward Marks house while we talked over what had just transpired.
“Oh man Max, that is seriously messed up!” Mark said, punching his fist into the palm of his other hand.
“Tell me about it! Can you imagine being Damien’s age and having both of your parents in jail?” I said.
“I don’t think I will ever complain about my ‘rents again.” Mark said.
“Geese, I feel so bad for the little guy.” I started to say, “Don’t get me wrong, he’s an evil little…” I caught myself before saying the ‘B’ word, “…daemon, but I guess he’s got a reason to be.”
Mark adopted a cheerier attitude, “And besides, it will be kind of like having a younger brother, except you won’t have to deal with him all day, every day, but only for a few hours a week.”
I thought about that for a moment, “Yeah, it will be like I’m his big brother.”
After leaving Mark at his house, I continued to walk to the park. I had time before I needed to be at Bill and Gladys’s and I wanted to do some thinking. Plus, since wrecking my bike, I hadn’t had a whole lot of time outside, so it was kind of nice to be in the cool fresh air.
When I arrived at Bill and Gladys’s, I didn’t even make it in the door before I was blindsided by Damien, but not in a bad way. The front door to their home opened and a blur launched itself at me.
At first, I was scared and would have jumped but the extra weight of Damien’s body wrapped around my leg kept my feet planted on the porch. Damien was sobbing like… well, like a child and mumbling something that was completely unintelligible. His arms were wrapped around my leg, his face was buried in my thigh and his legs were wrapped so tightly around my ankle that I could hardly feel my foot, which he was sitting on.
Bill appeared at the door a moment later, smiling and motioning for me to come in. Damien finally loosened his grip and slid off my feet. His face was red as were his eyes. He was still crying big huge crocodile tears and he sobbed what I took as, “Max, please don’t be mad!”
I bent down in front of Damien and took hold of his face, the way my mother does when she is trying to say something really important to me. “Damien, what could I be mad at you for?”
Huffing and sobbing he said, “For biting you right there!” he pointed to my shoulder and then began to howl. I’m talking sad ol’ hound dog howling with big tears and snot running out of his nose.
I glanced over to Bill. He lifted Damien up and carried him into the house.
Damien wouldn’t stop crying until I promised that I wasn’t mad at him. Once I did, he ran to his room still huffing and sniffling.
Bill and Gladys sat me down at the kitchen table and explained the situation to me; maybe even more than I thought they should have, but it was cool that they trusted me with so much of their family secrets.
So, starting tomorrow, I am going to be stopping by to get Damien every weekday morning to walk him to school, and I’ll be waiting outside his school at the end of the day to walk him home. Apparently, I’m doing that because, for the past few weeks, Damien had been skipping school quite a bit.
And then, I’ll be staying with Damien at their house until Gladys gets home at 5:30. That means, I’ll be watching Damien for 2 hours, Monday through Thursday after school. Now, the one part of this whole deal that I didn’t much like was the fact that, they want me to watch Damien each Friday from the time I pick him up until about 9:00 at night. The only problem I see with this is, Friday nights are typically the night that Mark, Sean and I have sleepovers, but I guess we’ll have to only have those on Saturday’s.
The three of us talked for a very long time, and it was dark outside by the time I was ready to head home. I said I’d be fine walking home on my own, but Bill insisted on giving me a ride. I gave in simply because I didn’t want to cause any more trouble.
Before I left, I asked if it would be okay if I went up to say goodnight to Damien. I found him not in bed, but sitting on the far side of the bed, jabbing a broken pencil through several sheets of notebook paper. I knocked on the door softly so as not to startle him.
“Max!” He squealed and jumped over the bed to get to me. “I thought you already left!” he said, happy to see that I hadn’t.
“Nah, I wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye.” I said, bending down to his level. “It looks like you and I are going to get to spend a lot more time together!” I said coyly.
Damien got the wildest look in his eyes. He leaned toward me, cupped his hand over my ear and whispered. “Does that mean more diapers?”
I pulled away from him and saw that he was beaming and smiling so wide, I could have counted every tooth in his mouth.
Instead of answering him, I smiled as I asked in a serious tone, “Did you brush your teeth yet?”
Damien clapped his hands over his mouth and started to run for the bathroom to brush, but I stuck out my arm and caught him around his middle. I pulled him into a backwards hug but he managed to wiggle himself around so that he could hug me back. Then I said, “I want you to brush your teeth, get your pajama’s on and go to bed. Okay?”
Damien lifted his head from my neck and kissed my cheek. “Okay, I promise.”
“I will be here before school tomorrow to walk with you, okay?” I said.
“Really?” he beamed again.
“Really, really!” I said back. “Now, go brush!”
When Bill dropped me off at home, I said thanks for the ride and headed into the house where I found Mom and dad were waiting for me.
“Where have you been young man? Do you know what time it is?” Dad barked at me before I was even three steps into the house.
He scared me so badly that I nearly fell over the coffee table on my way in.
“What? Mom knew where I…” I started to say but then dad cracked a big smile to let me know he was messing with me.
“Gosh dad! Don’t do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!” I exclaimed.
Dad put me into a headlock, not tight because my head was still a bit tender, but I managed to wiggle out of his grip before he could do it. Dad swung at me playfully but I swatted his hand away.
“Come into the kitchen a minute, would you? Your mother and I want to talk with you.” He said.
“Am I in trouble?” I asked with half a laugh.
“Uh, should you be?” dad countered.
“Oh, no you don’t! The rules state that you have to catch me doing something wrong to punish me!” I said laughing.
“Rules?” dad started to say in an absolutely horrid Mexican accent, “I don’t need no stinking rules!”
My sister was coming out of the kitchen as the two of us were walking in. She looked at me and stuck her tongue out at me.
“No thanks, I use toilet paper!” I said to her.
“Oh, that’s real mature!” she said, acting like she was going to barf.
Then she did something that surprised even my parents. She gave me a hug and kissed my left cheek.
“What was that for?” I asked, as I instinctively reached up to wipe away the kiss.
“What? A sister can’t show her baby brother some love without it being turned into a federal case?” she argued and then went off to her room.
“What was that all about?” I asked mom and dad.
Mom looked like she was going to cry again and I didn’t think I could take more water works. I was emotionally zapped and in need of some serious down time. Thankfully, dad started talking before mom could start blubbering again.
“We’ve been talking…” dad began, “and we feel that one, you are growing up and should be given more reasonability.”
Before he could continue I interrupted with, “Does this mean I am going to have to do more around the house?”
They both laughed.
“No, that’s not what we were getting at… however, now that you brought it up. The mess you call a room is starting to spill out into the hallway.”
It was my turn to laugh, “Okay I get it. I’ll clean my room.”
“Can I finish what I was saying now?” Dad said, half serious and half laughing.
Trying to be cute, I said, “Okay but make it quick would ya? I have the maid coming over in like five minutes!”
Mom gave dad a look as if to say, “He’s your son!”
“As I was saying,” Dad continued, “I believe you’ve stepped up and taken on more responsibility by offering to help Bill with his grandson during this difficult time. That leads me to the second thing.”
While he continued to speak I couldn’t help but wonder what the first point was again. Did he even actually say what the point was?
“…you’ve been showing quite a bit of maturity lately. Your mother and I have noticed and we feel that, given the fact that you are going to be away from the house more now,” boy he was really drawing this out, “you probably should have your own cell phone.”
At first I didn’t react. I guess it took a few seconds for the words to sink in, but once they were firmly rooted in my brain, I got excited.
“No seriously?” I asked, as the anticipation within me took on a self-sustaining life of its own.
Mom pulled a small wrapped package from out of the cabinet under the sink.
“No way!” I said, now dancing on my tiptoes.
“Yes way!” Mom said, as she handed me the package that was wrapped in striped green and gold wrapping paper with a huge golden bow on top.
“Oh, you’re joking! Please tell me this isn’t a joke! I-I need to sit down.” I said, now bouncing from one foot to the other while holding the back of my head with one hand.
“No, I can’t sit!” I spun in place.
“Are you going to open it or dance with it?” Dad hooted.
My whole body began to tense up and my muscles all locked, forcing all the joy and enthusiasm to see the one and only outlet left. “AAAAAAHHHH!!!” I squealed, and with the release of energy, I clutched the package to my chest, threw my head back and began to bounce again.
My howling brought my older brother out to see what the heck was going on.
When I saw him, I blasted him with, “DUDE, I GOT A PHONE! I GOT A PHONE!”
Looking serious he put a hand on my shoulder, “Little brother, and I do mean little; that is not a phone. That is a box.” And then he flicked my ear lobe, but I didn’t even care.
I began to rip open the package, causing little bits of gold and green paper to fall like confetti to the floor and island countertop.
I saw right away that it was one of the new iPhones, and that sent me into a whole new fit of dancing, prancing, hooting and hollering. Before I even had it out of the box, I ran down the hallway to show my sister. I then ran all the way back to the kitchen, hugged mom and dad, and then ran to the front door where I proceeded to announce to the entire world that, “I GOT AN IPHONE!
“Max! People are trying to sleep!” mom said.
“Oh, I have the bestest parents in the whole world!” I said, racing back to the kitchen, hugging them both and then frantically tried to free the phone from the container.
Needless to say, the rest of my evening was burned away by playing with my new phone. After a while, Mom gave up on Dad and me as we sat at the table, figuring out all the cool gadgets of my new iPhone. About half of that time was me trying to find the coolest ring tone. I ended up downloading a new ring tone that sounds like a toilet flushing. Dad said I was a sick puppy but I think it is cool.