by Vic Kerry
The fight ended while adrenalin still rushed through Josh. Chapman had Thomas, Harvey, and him lined up against one wall, and Marcus and his boys against the other. The classroom doors closed, as students still tried to catch a glimpse of the fight.
“All right, you birds,” Chapman said. “My office now.”
Without argument, all six of them walked in a line ahead of the principal. Once they made it to the office, they sat across a small space from each other, staring like gunfighters. Not a word was uttered. The principal called them into his office one by one. No one returned. The last two to go in were Thomas and Josh. Principal Chapman called them over at the same time. When they walked in, their father sat in a chair between two empty ones. The principal closed the door and sat down behind his desk. Their father eyed Josh as he sat on his right, farthest from the door.
“What’s the matter with your pants?” he asked.
Josh cut his eyes over at him with what he hoped was an expression of pure disgust. “I pissed myself.”
Thomas snorted a laugh. Josh gave him the same deadly look. He put his hand up as an apology.
“It’s the way you said it,” Thomas said. “I know it’s not funny.”
“None of this is very funny,” Principal Chapman leaned back in his chair. It creaked on its springs. “Two fights with three guys in a week’s time, Josh. Didn’t you learn anything from your vacation?”
“I didn’t start it,” Josh felt not the least bit comical. His face hurt. The cut under his eye had stopped bleeding but had swollen to the point that he couldn’t see very well. His chin was bruised too. The interior of his mouth stung and swelled.
“Harvey saw it,” Thomas chimed in.
“He told me,” the principal said. “And that’s why I’m not expelling you, Josh.”
“I would hope not,” their dad chimed in. “They jumped him. Look at that arm.”
Alan took Josh’s arm with the cigarette burn and showed it to Principal Chapman., who nodded his head and waved his hand for it to be put away.
“Don’t worry. Marcus and his chums are on a vacation for the rest of this week and the better part of the next,” Chapman said. “Nonetheless, I have to punish Josh.”
“Why? They jumped me, three on one.”
“It was three on one last time,” Chapman said.
“They had the advantage of surprise this time,” Josh said. “If it hadn’t been for Harvey running off to find Thomas, I’d look a lot worse.”
“Still, you broke Mr. Morris’s nose, again. His parents will have something to say about that, and if I let it go, they’ll come after me.”
“I see your point of view,” Alan said. “He is right, Josh.”
“It doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Josh answered. “So, what do I get? Another week off?”
“Alternative school,” Principal Chapman said.
“That means I have to ride the school bus,” Josh protested.
“It is part of the punishment, but it’s only for three weeks. If I expelled you, which is the other option, you’d be driving forty-five minutes one way each day to go to school up in Walker County or over in Fayette.”
“It’s out in the old library annex,” Alan said. “It will be like The Breakfast Club.”
“I hated that movie,” Josh said.
“So did I. Give me Pretty in Pink,” Thomas said.
“You can watch that at your leisure, Thomas,” Principal Chapman said. “You’re suspended for two days.”
“I was getting them off of him,” Thomas protested.
“Still, rules are rules,” Chapman said.
“It’s okay,” Alan patted him on the arm. “You did the right thing.”
“I’m not going to get to practice with the team,” Thomas said. “That means I don’t play on Friday night. It’s Homecoming.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Alan said. “We’re not playing on Friday night anyway.”
“We’ve canceled the next two games because of Corey’s death,” Principal Chapman said. “Before you say anything, I know it’s Homecoming, but this was sent down from the Board of Education.”
“Are we done?” Alan asked.
“Yes.”
Josh, Thomas, and their dad stood. They walked toward the door. Principal Chapman stood behind his desk.
“Before you go,” he said, “I know those guys started it. I’m glad you two and that pothead Harvey gave them the business. I find Smithson, Morris, and Foreman a little bit creepy,” the principal admitted. “Also, why don’t you boys go on home for the day and relax. I’ll tell your teachers.”
“Thank you,” Thomas said. “I get to start this thing early.”
“I was going anyway,” Josh said. “I’m not staying at school in peed pants.”
“Guys, politeness. Principal Chapman didn’t have to do that,” Alan said.
“Thank you,” Josh said.
The three McAdamses walked out of the office. Alan patted his sons on the back and assured them that he’d handle their mother and that no further punishment was coming.
Chapter Twenty-Two
1956
Two days before Homecoming
Sim sat at the kitchen table in his shotgun house. It was all he could afford after the divorce. Most of his money went to keeping up his ex-wife and sons. A bottle of bootlegged beer sweated on the table. He’d already drunk three of them. They were too expensive to chug, but he needed to get drunk. The hangover from them was easier than from the rotgut.
He thought about Connie as he finished off the bottle. She had no right to deny his marriage proposal. Her excuse was flimsy. She said that he carried too much baggage with a previous marriage and two kids—but every time Alan and Mikey had been around, she ate them up like they were candy. It was something else, and he knew exactly what it was. The next beer came out of the fridge, and as he emptied the bottle, it bolstered his ideas about Connie’s retraction. The plain and simple fact was that she was a nigger lover.
She never had liked for him to talk bad about the coloreds, especially that Tobias Abernathy. That monkey had ravaged his sister, stealing from her the most precious thing she had to offer a man. No real man would ever have her with the taint of the jungle on her. Connie probably joined them in wild orgies, like they were on the African continent with the rest of the free-roaming, spoon-bill jungle bunnies.
“Screwing like jungle bunnies,” he said aloud as he finished the fifth and last beer in the icebox.
The bottles sat on the table in a row like Pilsner tin soldiers. He stood and stumbled across the floor to the sink, where he found a few pint jars of moonshine. He’d bought those for labor only, helping Marshall with his still. The peppermint sticks hadn’t quite melted in the liquor yet, but Sim was drunk enough not to care. He opened the first jar and took a long swig out of it. The booze lit his gullet on fire. Only the faintest hint of mint was in it. As he sat on the floor, crying and drinking more and more of the first pint of hooch, he formulated his plan to get back at Connie. No one would hurt him like that. His no-good ex-wife had, but his revenge was to be carried out on her much later in life, once his sons grew up and moved off. Connie didn’t have that advantage. As he got drunker, he remembered of the exquisite and erotic pain when she pulled out a plug of his hair as he came while they made love a few days ago.
Finally, the last of the moonshine slipped into his gut, and he passed out on the black-and-white-checkered floor.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Josh pulled his car into the empty driveway, in the prime spot closest to the door. Thomas jumped out and headed inside. Josh took a little bit longer. He liked the song playing on the radio and wanted to listen until the end. As soon as it faded out, he opened the door and stepped out. A stiff breeze blew, and his pants were still damp enough to make his legs a little bit cool. The smell of his urine seemed stronger on the breeze.
“About time you two got home,” said a familiar voice. Jessica came out the wo
oden gate in the privacy fence that circled their back yard.
“What are you doing here?” Josh tried to hide behind the car door.
“Word of a fight travels fast. I skipped to come and check on you.” She walked toward him.
He held his hand out to try to stop her from coming closer. “Why don’t you go on inside and get comfortable on the couch? I’ll be in right behind you.”
“I know about your accident,” she said. “You don’t have to hide it. I don’t mind.”
Embarrassment rose from deep inside him. It was the feeling you got when you dreamed about giving a report in front of the class completely naked, but in reality, it was far worse. Everyone knew about him pissing his pants. There was no way to keep that kind of thing a secret.
He stepped out from behind his car door. Jessica smiled at him. “Why don’t we go inside and get you cleaned up?” she said.
He looked at her. The comment jarred him. “Huh?”
“I said, let me help you get cleaned up,” she repeated with a coy smile. “If that’s too dense for you, I want to get naked in the shower with you.”
“Are you serious?”
“I don’t make that kind of offer unless I am.” Jessica held her hand out to him.
“But Thomas is here. He got suspended.”
“I know. He can go get a pizza and video or something like that.”
Josh took her offered hand and they walked toward the door. “He’s fifteen.”
“What does that matter?”
“He might get pulled over and get in trouble.”
“Maybe I’m not being clear enough for you.” She put her lips to his ear. “We’re going to take a shower, and I’m going to make you feel much better.”
Josh swallowed hard. Although he’d fantasized many times about her alabaster skin and nude body while alone in his room or in the shower, he’d never expected this to happen. They were inside without him realizing.
Thomas came down the stairs. “What are you doing here?” he asked Jessica.
“I came to see the gladiators of Pinehurst High for myself,” she said. “It looks like you showed up the nick in time.”
“I blindsided Bill Foreman. He didn’t know what hit him.” Thomas grabbed Josh around the waist and lifted him to demonstrate.
Josh’s hand was pulled from Jessica’s while he hung a few inches from the floor. His brother put him down and laughed. Josh tried to arrange himself quickly. He had some arousal and didn’t want it to show.
“I was holding my own,” Josh said.
“Looks like it,” Thomas said.
Josh touched his swollen eye. “I’m a little worse for wear. Everything’s still in functional order.”
“I noticed,” Thomas said dryly.
“I think he needs a little bit of TLC,” Jessica said. “Something to help with the pain.”
Josh handed his brother the keys to his car and dug his wallet from his back pocket. He gave Thomas a couple of twenties he kept in there.
“Go to Philly Paul’s and get us a couple of pizzas,” Josh said.
“That’s halfway to Jasper,” Thomas answered. “I need to call ahead.”
“No, order when you get there. Make sure one of them is a Philly cheesesteak pizza. I don’t care about the other,” Josh said.
“Maybe pick up a video on the way back, something funny,” Jessica added.
“See if they have Happy Gilmore or Black Sheep,” Josh said.
“All right, I can drive your car?” Thomas asked.
“Our car.” Josh pushed his brother out the door and followed him. “Drive like you’ve got some sense, and make sure you don’t get pulled over.” When he was sure that Jessica couldn’t hear him, he added, “Don’t hurry back.”
Thomas looked at him. His eyebrow cocked up. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
His brother got into their car. He revved the engine but backed out into the street like an old lady heading to church. Once on the street, he squealed the tires and jetted off down the road. Josh shook his head, then hurried back into the house. Jessica wasn’t standing by the stairs, but the water in his and Thomas’s bathroom was running. She sang a siren song. The melody made the tips of his toes tingle. His mind felt heavy as if drugged by the greatest opiate ever. He started stripping off his clothes as he ran up the stairs.
Josh’s arm ached with pins and needles, having fallen asleep from the weight of Jessica’s head. He stared up at the ceiling, studying the pattern in the tiles. Faces and objects formed from the little dots. There were the standards: the Indian head, Darth Vader, and a car. Jessica looked up there too. They hadn’t said anything for what seemed like a very long time. A wonderful combination of exhaustion and exhilaration wrapped his body. His toes still tingled, and his mind spun giddily. The pain from the beating melted away. He’d never even made it with a girl, and now he’d done it back to back on his first time. He didn’t even know he had it in him. Everyone lied about how bad the first time was. It had blown his mind. Although his memory was a little fuzzy.
“I’m hungry,” Jessica said. “When do you think Thomas will be back with the pizza?”
Josh rolled over and finally freed his arm from under her. The blood rushed back into it, and the prickling feeling grew stronger. He shook it to try to make it quit. The alarm clock on his bedside table read that it had been nearly two hours since Thomas left.
“He ought to be here any minute. I suppose we should get dressed.”
He uncovered himself and tossed his legs over the side of this bed. The few steps to his dresser to get underwear seemed like a marathon. There were many firsts today, including his first naked walk in front of a girl. Of course, they had walked together across from the bathroom to the bedroom and had stopped to use the railing on the stair’s landing as a sex aid. It had been like porno stuff. He’d never imagined losing it like that. When he sat down to dress, Jessica pressed her hot body against his back.
“Not bad for your first time,” she whispered in his ear. “Do you feel any better?”
He had never told Jessica he was a virgin. Did his performance seem inexperienced? During all their fun, none of his battle wounds had bothered him. With that question, his swollen eye throbbed and the cigarette burn sang out. A small thin pain ran through his temples.
“I’m aching a little bit,” he said. “It just started.”
“Let me see if I can help that.” She ran her tongue playfully in his ear.
The action reminded him of Jamie doing the same thing during his fight. He jumped and she tipped forward. He looked around to see her put a hand down to keep from falling off the bed. The naked line of her body still looked like nothing he’d ever seen. Jessica reminded him of some classic piece of art.
The door downstairs slammed shut. Heavy footsteps hurried across the floor below. Josh let Jessica straighten herself out. He grabbed some jeans from his closet. His T-shirts were in the chest of drawers on the other side. Jessica sat on the far side of the bed holding the sheet around herself, more modest now that his brother had returned. She held her arms out to him. Josh walked over to her. She hopped up, letting the sheet drop, and embraced him. Their skin touching, she kissed him deeply. Something hot tore from the back of his head. He jerked away.
“Did you jerk out some of my hair?” He rubbed the back of his head.
She smiled, sheepishly. “Sorry, I got carried away.”
He kept rubbing his head as he found a blue long-sleeved shirt that looked like an old baseball T-shirt. Jessica dressed quickly, and they headed downstairs.
Thomas stood in the kitchen with one of the pizza boxes opened. He had already pulled three slices of the Philly cheesesteak pizza from the box. The cheese stretched out long. He looked up at them as they walked in, a smile plastered on his face.
“Better be glad I wasn’t Mom,” he said, “or y’all would be in trouble.”
“Did you get stopped by the police?” Josh asked.
> “Nope.”
“Did you get a funny movie?” Jessica asked.
“Yep.”
“Black Sheep?”
“Nope, Happy Gilmore.” Thomas said.
“Good,” Jessica said.
“You want your change?” Thomas asked.
“Yeah.” Josh pulled a slice of the cheesesteak pizza free.
“Do you like that?” she asked.
“Oh yeah,” Josh said.
“Did y’all do it?” Thomas asked.
“Uh huh,” Josh said, without thinking about what he said.
Thomas started laughing hard. A blush rose up Josh’s cheeks, but not much. He was proud of what they had done, like an athlete that finally made the Olympics. Jessica got a slice of pizza and disappeared into the living room.
“Good going,” Josh said to his brother. “You embarrassed her.”
The noise of television static echoed into the kitchen. The sound of the VCR accepting a video cassette clicked and whirred. Thomas smiled at him while he took another bite of pizza.
“Sounds that way to me,” he said with his mouth full. “You can give me the blow-by-blow later.”
“I don’t think so.”
Josh couldn’t remember enough of the experience to do so anyway, although he considered himself too much of a gentleman to kiss and tell.
Sim sat in his pickup truck across the street from the old gym. He’d been there for a long time, waiting and smoking. When he noticed his cigarette had burned down almost to the filter, he flicked the ash out the window and took another good drag off of it before flipping it onto the street. The high windows of the gym glowed from the interior lights. Tonight, the kids who broke in to do their decorating didn’t care if people saw them. They had grown reckless. He’d given the kids too much credit to think they would give up on holding the dance after Johnny’s grandson died. Teenagers were stupid no matter the decade.
He recognized one of the three cars that had pulled up in the driveway. It was the same one that the Smithson boy and his friends had been in the other night. Sim had a particularly foul taste in his mouth relating to that kid. Alan had called him earlier in the day to check in on him. He’d told Sim about that Smithson boy and two others jumping Josh. Although Josh had apparently handled himself in a fight with them earlier, they had bushwhacked him and made him piss his pants.