Tales From Another Broken Home

Figures. Of course today would suck. Tuesdays always sucked.

They were always the down day of the week, where nothing all that interesting, or fun, or just generally good happened. They were even worse than Monday in that sense, because at least on Monday you were in a sleepy stupor and were too tired to even think about what was going on. With Tuesdays, you’re not only tired, but you have to deal with the aftereffects of Monday, and with the fact that you have to deal with the rest of the week, and it was only Tuesday.

Of course the curse of the terrible Tuesday would mess up every aspect of my life. Jimmy wasn’t in school, yet again.

I wanted, no, needed to talk to him about tomorrow. It was absurd! Meeting him just so I can smoke a cigarette, which I didn’t even want to do in the first place, just because “I owed him.” How did I even “owe” him anything? I should have just said no.

I spent the whole school day worrying about it, and it was still stuck in the front of my mind when I walked in the door home. Of course, my mother was sitting at the table with her newest book and a cup of her usual tea, hair freshly done from an appointment earlier on in the day.

“Hi mom,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant. I filled a glass with ice water, and sat down adjacent to her.

“Your hair looks nice,” I said, and she smiled up at me.

“Thank you, honey!” She placed her bookmark carefully in the middle of the page, as not to ruin the spine of the book, and closed it.

“So what’s that one about?” I asked, referring to the book.

“Oh, it’s a long lost love story that takes place in New York,” she told me. “She meets ‘the one that got away’ again at a bus stop, and starts seeing him. Problem is, she has a fiancé.”

“Sounds interesting,” I said conversationally, and my mom smiled at me. There was a pause in the conversation, and my mother took a sip of her tea.

“So, I met a new friend,” I said casually, glancing around the room. The sun was hitting the metal patio furniture, making it reflect off into my eyes.

“Oh really?”

“Mhmm,” I said, nodding my head. “His name is Jimmy. He seems nice enough. I sit next to him in chemistry.”

“That sounds nice.”

“Yeah, I was actually planning on hanging out with him a bit tomorrow after school, just to get to know each other and stuff. Would that be okay?” I asked tentatively.

I saw it. The usual “mother” look. She pursed her lips and her eyes darkened as she considered the prospect of me going to hang out with a boy she was unacquainted with. Actually, it was the prospect of me hanging out with a boy at all. She always made up excuses for me not to be able to hang out with people, like “I had to do chores” or “it was a school night and I shouldn’t be out late anyhow,” because I always had to do schoolwork during the day.

My mother leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs, and looked at me.

“I’m sorry, sweetie, but tomorrow’s Wednesday. Don’t you have schoolwork to do? And besides, its laundry day that day, and that could take a while,” she said.

My face fell slightly, disappointed.

“Alright mom,” said, getting up. I grabbed my backpack off the floor next to me and started walking up to my room.

“I’m sorry baby, but you know how it is,” she said, attempting to still be the “good guy.”

I turned around, faking a smile, and said, “I know, mom. I have a project I wanna finish that day anyway.” She smiled, and I ran up the stairs.

--

“I can’t come today.”

Jimmy gave me a look that was a mixture of annoyance, bewilderment, and disgust. He gave an exasperated sigh and leaned far back into his chair lacing his fingers together to prop his head up from behind. After a couple seconds of quiet contemplation, he flew foreword and looked me straight in the face.

“Why?”

“Uhm,” I stuttered, unnerved by the sudden harsh closeness, “My mom won’t let me.” I glanced away, avoiding eye contact with his light, milky blueish green ones.

“Laaaaame,” he said loudly, propping himself up with his right hand. “You’re really gonna let that stop you?”

“Well, yeah,” I said, inching back away from him in my chair, withdrawing myself. “She said I can’t, and there’s no point in trying to change her mind.”

Jimmy sighed again, looking up at the ceiling in an exaggerated fashion.

“Do you wanna go?” he asked, making it sound much more like a statement than a question.

“What?” I asked, taken aback by the question.

“Do you wanna go?” he asked again, more firmly this time.

“Well, I guess, yeah, but I don’t know what this has-”

“Then go!” he shouted, interrupting me midsentance. “Who’s gonna stop you, really? ‘Oh, I can’t meet you because my mommy won’t let me.’”

I didn’t know if I was supposed to be convinced, amused, or offended at his mocking, so I just ignored it.

“I don’t think you understand,” I sighed, “I can’t. My mother is unyielding. She won’t let me leave, and that’s that.”

“Sneak out,” Jimmy said immediately. I simply stared at him with a dumbfounded expression on my face.

“What?” I asked yet again, practically speechless.

“Sneak. Out. It's not that hard of a concept to grasp, dumbass,” Jimmy said. I could tell he was getting a bit annoyed.

“I can’t! I mean, how in the world am I gonna do that? I think she’ll notice if my car’s gone, and how am I gonna even sneak past her in the first place? She’s not exactly blind, you know,” I said daringly, getting a bit out of my comfort zone. It's not every day I yelled at a punk kid about how I can’t sneak out of my house.

“Windows, babe, they’re there for a reason,” he said with a wink. “And as for your car, I’ll just come pick you up. Problem solved.”

I stared at him for a couple seconds, my mouth open in bafflement. It seemed like a good plan, but there were so many things that could go wrong. I stayed quiet, thinking, and finally let out an inaudible sigh of defeat.

“Fine,” I said quietly, pulling out a pen and notebook paper to write my address down.

--

Seeing as “I had a huge project to work on,” my mother said she would leave me alone the entire day so I could work on it undisturbed. This actually happened quite frequently, so I thought it would be a good cover story for my delinquent plans.

I slowly cracked open my bedroom window just enough for my small frame to squeeze through and slowly stuck one leg out. I reached around for the low roof just below my window - perfect to lower myself onto - and finally found the shingles. Heart racing, I eased the rest of my body out, hanging onto the sill for support, then carefully lifted my other leg out and balanced precariously on the angled roof. On my tiptoes now, I managed to slide the window shut without falling, then slid down into a sitting position. At this point, I thought my heart was going to beat right through my chest - I couldn’t believe I was doing something like this - and before I knew it, I hurled myself off the roof.

I slammed onto the grass below me in the backyard, just feet from the patio, trying to break the fall with my hands. Knowing I had just a few seconds to get away without risking being seen, I bolted for my driveway. Jimmy was waiting in the street for me in a small, beaten-up looking car, a slight smirk on his face.

“Get in!” he shouted through the open window, his grin getting wider.

I threw open the car door, almost in a state of panic by now, and climbed inside, and with a squeal of tires, he raced off before I even had the chance to buckle my seatbelt.

--

“You know how we were gonna go to that park before?” Jimmy asked me abruptly over the early 80’s punk music coming from his speakers.

I raised my head and looked over at him. I had been staring down at my hands for the past few minutes, both of us sitting in uncomfortable silence, or at least, for me it was. The car smelled strongly of cigarette smoke and a few other things that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but I knew it smelled unpleasant. Empty bottles and wrappers littered the stained grey carpet on the floor. The seats were a bit ripped up and lumpy and the windshield had a small crack in it on the passenger’s side. The mirrors were a bit dirty, and I noticed the left one had duct tape wrapped around it. All in all, the car was pretty beat-up.

“Yeah,” I said slowly, not quite sure where he was going with this.

“Well, I figured we’d go somewhere else instead.” I saw the beginnings of his signature smirk start to play on his face, and I bit my lip nervously.

“Oh. Where were you thinking of?” I asked hesitantly, not quite sure if I wanted to know the answer. I was already extremely uneasy with the idea of sneaking out in the first place, but to go somewhere I didn’t know? That was kind of terrifying.

“I know a guy that’s having a little get-together and I figured since we’re already out, why go to some crappy park and sit there alone like a buncha retards when we could be at a party? Right?” Jimmy prompted, nudging me slightly with his free hand when I took more than a few seconds to respond.

“Right,” I squeaked, suddenly losing my voice. This was a bad idea, I knew it. I had the feeling that this time, I had gotten myself in a little over my head.