Nobody’s Hero

by J. Leigh Bailey

  Unlike the family barbecue the month before, this was a company party. All of the employees of Ortega Construction and their families were invited. Games were set up in the front lawn with a crate full of prizes for the kids. Trash cans were filled with ice, bottled water and cans of soda and beer.

  The weather couldn’t have been better. A couple of wispy white clouds floated in the sky, but did nothing to hide the bright sun, and there was no wind to blow plates and bags off the table. Soon the scent of grilling beef, chorizo and hot dogs wafted through the air and guests started to wander over. It didn’t take long for the odor of sunscreen and insect repellant to mix with the smell of cooking meat, a combination that practically shouted summer.

  Brad mingled for the first hour, letting himself be introduced to his coworkers’ families. Jesús’s wife—unlike her super-sized husband—was a tiny little thing with a shy smile. Jackie’s girlfriend was a leggy blonde who worked in advertising. Brad spent a lot of time watching the two of them together. The way they interacted, the way others interacted with them. He was happy to see no one seemed to notice or look at them funny. The two women held hands and whispered into each other’s ears, and it didn’t faze anybody. Maybe some people didn’t care after all.

  As the day wore on, his tension eased. He spent the afternoon helping Danny’s sister Aurora with the kids’ games. He judged three-legged races, arranged paper plates for an outdoor version of musical chairs and spun kids in circles before letting them loose to whale on a piñata shaped like a teddy bear. When the final prizes were handed out for Pin the Moustache on Uncle Sam, he was pleasantly exhausted.

  He sat on the front steps to relax while the kids raided the dessert table. Cold water splashed on his neck, causing him to look up. Danny stood above him, shaking a bottle of water. Danny handed it to him. “You look like you need this.”

  “I do. I really do.” Brad took the bottle with a grateful smile. Within seconds he had the top off and downed half the contents in three quick gulps. “I hadn’t realized how thirsty I was,” he said, taking another, slower sip.

  “Those kids can run you ragged.” Danny sat down next to him and stretched his legs out.

  “What have you been up to?”

  “Nothing, really. Talking and eating. Unlike you, I know how to relax and take it easy.”

  “I like staying busy,” Brad said.

  “I’ve been hearing a lot of ladies sighing in disappointment over you.”

  “Yeah? Why?”

  “It seems your secret is out. The rumor of you as a gay man has spread.”

  “What? How?” Brad jerked straight, squeezing the bottle of water.

  “Well, I don’t think it was much of a secret. Ray apparently let the truth out of the bag weeks ago, then Connie and Bobby sort of assumed after the camping trip and, well, I might be a bit to blame.”

  “You?”

  “According to my cousins, I moon over you like a love-sick cow. Their words. They think I’m too smart to make eyes—their words—at a straight guy.”

  Danny’s tone was light, amused, but worry darkened his eyes.

  Brad tried to figure out how he felt about everyone knowing. He’d expected anger. Fear. Two weeks ago it would have been enough to send him packing his bags again. Now though, the panic didn’t overwhelm him. Caution, he decided. He’d watch and wait. After all, Danny had kissed him in the kitchen the night before. The Ortegas might have thought he was a thief, but they were quick to defend him when Ray called him a fag. If Mr. Ortega was going to fire him it wouldn’t be for dating Danny. And things were still okay. Now others seemed to know. While the knowledge made him itch, it might still be okay. Maybe things could work out. Maybe Danny’s optimism was contagious.

  “What are people saying?”

  “Such a shame,” Danny said, raising his voice an octave or two in an attempt to sound feminine. “‘If only he weren’t gay. He’d be perfect for my daughter/granddaughter/niece,’ et cetera, et cetera. Apparently you are perfect boyfriend material.”

  Brad scoffed. “No they didn’t.”

  “They did! ‘Such nice manners. So good with the kids. So good-looking.’ Dude, I’m not making it up. If I have to hear the all the good ones are taken or gay lament one more time, I’ll probably do something incredibly stupid. I haven’t decided what yet, but it will be crazy and will probably go viral.”

  “You’re full of it.” Brad rocked a little to his left and nudged Danny’s shoulder with his.

  Veronica and a handful of girls about her age came giggling around the side of the house. Each held a small party bag full of piñata candy in one hand and one of the toy prizes from the games in the other. They settled in a small cluster next to the mailbox.

  “I reassured them you were, indeed, perfect boyfriend material.”

  Brad imagined jumping out of a plane would feel like this. Wondering whether the leap would send him crashing to the ground, or if it would finally let him fly. He jumped. “Am I? I mean, can I be yours?” He held his breath. Out of the corner of his eye, Brad saw Danny bite his lip.

  “Do you want to be?” Danny shifted his hand a little closer to Brad’s until the edges of their pinkies barely touched.

  “Yeah, I mean, sure. That is, if you want...”

  “I do.”

  The girls at the mailbox squealed at something and though Brad didn’t really see them, he kept his eyes directed their way. Inside he was grinning like an idiot. He only hoped he managed to keep the grin off his face.

  Danny rocked into him, still facing forward. “Dude, did we just DTR?”

  “DTR?”

  “Define the Relationship. What, don’t you watch TV?”

  They both turned their heads at the same time. Danny looked at him with wide eyes, obviously trying to look innocent, but one side of his mouth quivered. Humor rose in Brad, escaping in a chuckle that rolled into full-blown laughter. “DTR,” Brad said between gasping breaths. “What are we, fourteen?”

  The hilarity of the moment was broken by a shrill scream from the girls.

  Brad jerked up. In the center of the small circle, Veronica’s body was stiff, her eyes bulging. Her little hands tore at her throat.

  One of the girls ran to the back of the yard, yelling for her mother.

  “She’s choking!” Brad ran forward, calling over his shoulder, “Go get her parents!”

  He dropped to his knees next to the child. She wasn’t making any noise, but the panic in her eyes was horrible to see. “Can you cough?”

  She didn’t respond. She was so caught up in her fear she likely didn’t realize Brad had said anything.

  Everything he’d learned in first aid courses flashed through his mind. Brad pulled her close, turned her to face away from him, and held her slight weight with his forearm, his palm bracing her chest. With his other hand, Brad delivered three quick whacks against her back, hoping to dislodge whatever choked her. Where are her parents? There’s got to be someone here more qualified to help her. Jesus, please don’t let her die.

  Still no air passed to or from her lungs.

  Shifting his grip, Brad made a fist with the hand that supported her weight, and placed it on her stomach, above her belly button but below her ribs. Please don’t let me break a rib, he prayed. He gripped his fist with his other hand and thrust inward and upward. The first two times he did this had no result. Brad ignored the panicked shouting around him as adults converged upon them. Someone grabbed at his shoulder but he shrugged them off. The third time he delivered the Heimlich, something burst from Veronica. Her harsh inhale and subsequent coughing sent relief coursing through him, weakening his muscles until he slumped there on the grass.

  Aurora yanked Veronica from Brad’s lap and enveloped her in a tight hug. Veronica whimpered and clutched at her mother. Aurora alternat
ed between frantic thank you’s for Brad and my baby’s for Veronica. Mrs. Ortega charged forward, pushing her daughter and granddaughter toward the house. Pepé the terrier yipped at all the chaos.

  Frankie, Aurora’s husband, helped Brad to his feet and pulled him into a tight hug. “Thank you. I don’t know what to say. You saved her. You saved her.”

  Now that the urgency of the moment had passed, Brad was nauseous. The adrenaline crash made him jittery and weak. He waved aside Frankie’s thanks. “She’s going to be okay, right?”

  “Yes, thanks to you, I think she’ll be fine.”

  Brad didn’t know how Danny did it, but one minute Brad was surrounded by dozens of people intent on getting the whole story and the next he was alone on the ground, leaning against the mailbox. When the last person had been shooed back to the party, Danny slid down and wrapped his arm around Brad.

  “You’re pretty amazing, did you know that?” Danny asked, and rested his head on Brad’s shoulder. “I was totally freaked out. I just stood there. I didn’t know what to do. But you, you charged forward and saved her life. If you hadn’t been there...” His voice trailed off.

  Brad shuddered. He didn’t want to think about what would have happened if no one had been there. “You’d have done the same thing as soon as the shock wore off.”

  “You have more faith in me than I do. You’re an honest-to-goodness hero.”

  “I’m not a hero. I just did what had to be done.”

  “You’re my hero,” Danny murmured.

  Brad didn’t argue. Maybe, just maybe, someday he’d be able to do enough to make up for all the times he hadn’t reacted the way he should have. This was a start.

  Chapter Twenty

  They had their first official date on Thursday. Danny decided to skip the whole dinner-and-a-movie routine. They’d done both before they were officially a couple, so they needed something special to celebrate their new status. Or, if not special, then fun. After work on Thursday night, Danny dragged Brad to the county fair.

  “Somehow I wasn’t expecting the smell.” Brad wrinkled his nose as they walked behind the barn on their way to the arena at the center of the fairgrounds.

  “Just wait. We’ll hit the carnival side and the smell will have you drooling.”

  Brad looked around skeptically. “I’m not sure I believe you.”

  “We had to park by the animal barns, which means all we can smell is hay and manure and animals and more manure. The other side has popcorn, churros, funnel cake and hot dogs.”

  “Do you always think about food?”

  “Food as fuel is a horrible conspiracy perpetuated by evil people out to suck the life out of the world. Food is one of the world’s treasures, like the Great Pyramid of Giza or the Temple of Artemis.”

  “You’re not seriously comparing corn dogs to the seven wonders of the world?”

  Danny swerved to avoid a cow pie and pointed to the first attraction along the fairway. “Sure. I mean, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon is cool and all, but food on a stick feeds the soul.”

  Brad shook his head, smiling. “You are completely ridiculous. You know it, right?”

  “Stick with me, kid. I’ll teach you the ways of my world.” He swung his arm across Brad’s shoulder. Brad shrugged it off and took two steps to the side, his gaze searching the area.

  Danny tried not to take it personally. After everything Brad had been through, PDA probably wasn’t going to fly.

  The silence stretched awkwardly between them.

  “We’ll start here,” Danny said after a minute, nodding at a row of BB guns and paper targets. “Loser buys the corn dogs.”

  “Nobody wins these games.”

  It was one of those games where the shooter had to completely obliterate the center of the target with the BBs. He shrugged. “So whoever does the best is the winner.”

  Brad grinned. “You know I went to a military school, right?”

  “Yep.”

  “I can dismantle, reassemble and shoot an assault rifle with the speed and accuracy of a trained soldier.”

  “But I know something you don’t know.” Danny handed some cash over to the skinny carnie in a grungy white tank top and a blue apron.

  “Yeah?” Brad passed his own cash over and then they waited for the guy to load their air rifles with BBs.

  “BB guns are not assault rifles, and these guns don’t aim for shit. All of your skill won’t help you.”

  “A challenge? I accept.”

  At the carnie’s nod, they lifted the guns to their shoulders and pulled the triggers. Danny’s strategy was to hold the trigger down, letting the gun spew ammo in a constant stream. Brad shot his in short bursts, taking his time. He seemed to be compensating for the gun’s crooked aim.

  When he was done, the red dot on his target was completely gone. Danny didn’t have to look at his to know significant chunks of red still showed among the BB holes.

  The carnie looked at Brad’s target carefully, smoothing the ragged edges of the demolished center. “We’ve got a winner.” He pointed at the line of cheaply framed posters and threadbare stuffed animals hanging behind him. “Pick your prize.”

  After scanning the choices, he pointed to a little pink rabbit.

  Danny looked from Brad to the bunny and back again. “Seriously?”

  Brad shrugged. “I figured Veronica would get a kick out of it.”

  “She will,” Danny said. “If you’re not careful, I’ll have to fight my niece for the right to go out with you.”

  “Not so loud,” Brad hissed.

  “Excuse me?”

  Brad looked pointedly at the line of people waiting for their turn at the BB guns.

  “No one is paying any attention to us.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  Since no one gave them a second glance—and barely a first glance—he was pretty sure. But he wasn’t the one with the traumatic past.

  * * *

  “What am I supposed to do with this?” Brad held up the bag with a pink-and-black goldfish swimming inside.

  “It’s your own fault. If you weren’t so competitive, you wouldn’t have won it.” Danny smirked at him and his armful of cheap toys.

  “I’m not competitive,” he protested. “But I can’t play a game without at least trying to do my best.”

  They had made their way down the row of game booths while waiting for sunset. Danny refused to let them do any of the rides until dark. He said it had something to do with the lights and stars, but Brad figured it had more to do with not seeing how close to breaking down the big machines were.

  “You’re the one who told me no one wins these games, yet here you are with two teddy bears, a stuffed rabbit, a poster of some eighties hair band and now a goldfish.”

  He’d been having way too much fun. If this was what a date was like, he was a fan. Unfortunately, he’d been trying to impress Danny, which was probably why he’d ended up with the armful of loot. “It’s not my fault. But seriously, what am I supposed to do with a fish? I can’t exactly take it on the Tilt-o-Whirl or whatever.”

  Danny bit his lip, probably trying to hide a grin. He was enjoying this way too much. “You could probably give it to some kid.”

  “But what if it dies? A carnival goldfish probably doesn’t have a long life expectancy. I don’t want some poor kid to get it, only to have it die in a day or two. It’d scar a kid for life.” Okay, he was being silly. It was a fish and he was thinking way too hard about it. “Never mind,” he said before Danny could answer. “You’re right.”

  A little girl, probably the same age as Veronica, leaned half-asleep on her mother’s shoulder. She sucked her thumb and watched the carnival-goers from heavy-lidded eyes. “Excuse me, ma’am.” He approached the mother.r />
  She looked as tired as her daughter. “Yeah?”

  He held up the fish. “I won this but I don’t have anything to do with it. I thought maybe your daughter might like it?”

  “Really? That’s so nice of you. If you’re sure, she’d love it.”

  Brad passed the fish over with a quick prayer that the poor thing wouldn’t die right away. Danny watched him with a smug smile. “What?” Brad asked when they moved on to the midway.

  Danny kept his voice quiet. “You are adorable. I don’t know what I’m going to do with you.”

  “Well, you can start by taking me on a ride. I think it’s been long enough since the funnel cake and corn dogs. I won’t hurl on the Gravitron, or whatever.”

  “You’ve got it. But we have to do the Ferris wheel first.”

  “Why the Ferris wheel?”

  “You’ll see.” Danny went to put his hand on Brad shoulder, but pulled back before Brad could react.

  The line for the ride was made up of couples. Lots of teenage boys and girls, clearly on dates. There were a few parent/kid combos, but most of the riders were definitely on dates. Brad made sure there was an extra buffer of space between him and Danny.

  “I’ve never ridden a Ferris wheel before.” His voice was louder than necessary, but he wanted to give an excuse to anyone who might see the two of them together and wonder.

  Danny arched his brows but said, “It’s a great view. From the top you’ll be able to see all the way to the river.”

  When they reached the front of the line, Danny handed over a few tickets to a bored man who secured them into a gondola.

  Brad tested the lock on the lap-bar. “You know, this is the first time I’ve been to a carnival.” The big wheel moved a few feet up, allowing the next couple to be loaded into their seats.