Heart in A Cage

A warm wind rustled the pine trees along the sidewalk, as I walked alongside Kelvin. He was humming quietly under his breath, and had his arms curled around one of those big, bright beach balls. It barely fit into his tiny arms but he still had a firm grip on it. I watched him out of the corner of my eye as he jumped over a large crack on the concrete and then giggled. I couldn’t help but smile just a little bit.

The sun was nowhere to be seen, as the clouds had been covering it ever since that afternoon. It looked to me as though a late summer storm might be approaching, but I couldn’t be sure… The weather around here wasn’t exactly predictable.

“Connor?” Kelvin asked, suddenly stopping in his tracks. “Can we please go to Luke’s house?”

The question took me by surprise. For one, it took me a moment or two to remember who he was talking about. Once I figured Luke mean Lukas, I needed another minute to put a face to the name. Of course I hadn’t exactly forgotten Lukas, but with everything that had happened in the past few days, I had a little trouble concentrating.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said monotonously, still walking, but a little slower now.

Kelvin pouted. “Pleeeease!” he said, looking at me with big eyes. “I want to go see his dog! He said I could come whenever I wanted!”

I considered this for a moment. Obviously Kelvin knew who Lukas was, and I was pretty sure that Lukas was familiar with Kelvin... But it just didn’t seem right for me to go marching up to some stranger’s house with my nine-year-old cousin, just because he wanted to see a stupid dog.

“No, Kelvin,” I said, trying to be serious and to the point. “We have to get home; it’s already” – I checked my phone – “five. Your mom and dad must be home by now.”

Of course I was just lying to make his whining stop. Aunt Karen and Uncle Jeff had gone out to a small dinner party some close friend of theirs was having, and wouldn’t be back until at least nine or ten. They’d left me, Kelvin and Nelson home alone, and I was supposed to be looking out for the two of them because Deon hadn’t been home. (He was probably with Lukas, now that I thought about it.) Because Nelson had gone up to his room right away, Kelvin and I had been bored – watching TV actually wasn’t all that exciting on a weekday. Kelvin had suggested taking a walk to the park, and was now, apparently, changing his mind.

“But Connor,” the little sneak whined again. He grabbed my hand, dropping the ball, which bounced and landed in a small tuft of grass. “Pleeeassee.”

Five minutes later, I was following Kelvin as he led me to Lukas’s house. It was only two streets over from the Walter home, and so it took us little to no time to get to our destination. As soon as Kelvin saw Lukas standing outside, talking on his phone with his back leaning against a black SUV, he started to jog over. As I reached the end of the driveway, I hung back and tried to keep the giant beach ball from slipping through my arms.

Lukas looked over and gave me a tiny wave, which I nodded back to. Then, as he put away his phone, he bent down and started talking to Kelvin. I didn’t want to look like I was eavesdropping, so I stared at the ball, and then around some. It wasn’t very interesting.

When I heard a loud squeal I turned around and saw Lukas walking towards me, and Kelvin bounding into the house, yelling “Artie!”

“Hey,” Lukas said, stopping a little ways away from me. “What’s up? Enjoying the neighborhood?” He had one of those smiles on that assured me he was joking.

I shrugged, giving a chuckle that barely made it out of my throat. “I guess so, yeah,” I said, trying not to look at his face. I could hear deep barks coming from inside the house. “You got a dog in there, huh?”

He laughed. He had small lines around his eyes that crinkled when he laughed or smiled. “Oh yeah,” he said, smiling. He looked back and whistled. A few seconds later, a large black lab came running up to the screen door and started to bark happily. Kelvin, who was right behind it, opened the door and then came jogging after the dog, as it headed straight for us. I tried to hold my ground but the dog was huge. I couldn’t help but flinch as he came to a stop right in front of me. Lukas must have seen because he was trying not to smile. Or laugh.

“You don’t like dogs?” he asked, bending down, and grabbing Artie by his collar. The dog whined and licked at Lukas’s hand, who tickled him under the chin.

“Y-yes,” I mumbled. “Wait, I mean no… I do like them.”

Lukas laughed again and continued to pet the dog.

Feeling awkward, I put my hand lightly on Kelvin’s shoulder, who was trying to catch the dog’s tail as it flicked back and forth. “Come on, Kelvs,” I said, trying to be as polite as possible. “Let’s go home, or your dad and mom will be worried.”

Kelvin looked absolutely defeated. He shook his head. “No!” he whined, running onto the front yard and jumping around. Artie followed him, and barked loudly. Lukas just stood there laughing.

“Just let him stay for a bit,” he said, pulling my attention back to him.

“Not like I have a choice,” I mumbled. Lukas laughed, and this time I joined in.

We stood there, silent, for a few moments before Lukas asked, “How come I never see you around school?”

I didn’t really have an answer to that, so I just shrugged.

Lukas laughed. (Was it me, or did he do that…like, a lot?) “Well, you should come around and hang with me at lunch. If you want, I mean.” He scratched the back of his neck. “It must be hard being new in town and everything,” he said, as a way of explanation.

I nodded. “Maybe.” But I already knew I wouldn’t. Being a loner was definitely better than being a tag-along.

“Kelvin?” I called, my voice edgy even to my own ears. “Let’s go home.”

Kelvin turned around, and after looking at me for a second, came running. “Okay,” he said, grabbing the ball, which I hadn’t noticed I’d dropped on the ground. He waved sadly at Artie, and then at Lukas. “Bye, Luke,” he said, starting to walk away. I followed.

“Kelvin?” Lukas called. We both turned around to look. “Come around tomorrow, alright?” he suggested, smiling. “We can take Artie for a walk together.”

Kelvin nodded, excited. “Okay!” he replied.

“And bring Connor with you!” Lukas called.

I didn’t turn around to see if he was joking or not; I started walking, fast, and only slowed down when Kelvin complained about his legs aching.

*

Kelvin, Nelson, and I had to prepare our own dinner that night. Aunt Karen had offered to make us some pasta before she left, but we didn’t want to bother her, so we’d refused. Now, as we searched the kitchen with confused faces and rumbling stomachs, we were starting to regret our decision.

“We could make some mac’n’cheese,” Nelson offered, munching on some chips. Crumbs fell from his mouth and onto his shirt, but he didn’t seem to notice. “That’s about all I can make.”

“That’s not very helpful,” I told him, laughing a little.

We ended up using his idea anyway, though, so I guess it was helpful after all. We flipped a coin to see who would prepare the aforementioned dish (only between Nelson and me – we didn’t want to see what would happen if Kelvin tried to cook). Of course, with my luck, it wasn’t hard for Nelson to win. So, as the two of them left for the living room, I started to prepare our meal.

Halfway through, I heard Deon come in, yell a greeting, and then go back out again after a few minutes. Even from the kitchen I could hear the loud roar of his truck as it started and then drove away.

After I was finished, we all poured ourselves some food, and then settled in front of the TV, the smell of cheese wafting all around us. Kelvin and Nelson fought for the remote while I sat there and laughed. Finally, we settled on an ancient western film. Nelson enjoyed the sound of gunshots and the badly-performed stunts, while Kelvin mimicked the cowboys, yelling “Howdy!” every few minutes.

It was the most normal and careless evening I’d had in a while… And I couldn’t have been happier.