A Twist in My Story

He had to be in the most boring room in the whole world. It was neutral colored with hard wooden tables and cracking leather chairs. There was no creativity in this room, though it had a slight unpleasant odor, and it was killing Joe. He was naturally a creative person who was drowning in boring.

A conference room in the public library of Wyckoff was where he currently was drowning. Beside him sat his charge, Dylan Saunders. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Joe sat in this room with Dylan helping him with his German schoolwork until Dylan’s parents picked the 13 year old up usually around 5pm. At the beginning of August as school was just starting up, around Joe’s birthday, he decided to volunteer with the public schools language department offering tutoring services to any student who needed the help, putting his degrees to use. He had a few regulars, such as Dylan, but others routinely dropped by…such as the just-discovered-they’re-“sexy” girls who wanted “alone time” with the “steamy” tutor. They made Joe roll his eyes and keep his group sessions.

“Okay, Dylan, now read this to me and translate it please. Remember I know absolutely no German. You’re the teacher,” Joe instructed, pointing to a line in Dylan’s notebook.

“Yeah right, Mr. Joe,” Dylan shook his head. “Hallo! Ich bin dreizehn Jahre alt. It says ‘Hello! I am 13 years old.’”

“Good job,” Joe praised him.

“What kind of stupid sentence is that? Like you go up to someone and say hi then tell them your age. Stupid book,” Dylan scoffed, slamming the book shut. The reason he needed a tutor was because he did not appear to retain anything from the class though other students were. And Joe knew why…the book was lame.

“I totally agree but we have to learn what’s in the book because that’s what you’re tested on,” Joe said calmly, reopening the book.

“It’s just this is so boring. I don’t get words on a page like this. I’m too stupid for this stuff,” he shoved the book away and slouched.

“Hey. Dylan, look at me. You are not stupid. Got it? You just learn more hands-on than lecture,” Joe said sternly. He hated when his tutees thought of themselves poorly because he knew exactly how they felt. “Call your parents and see if they give you permission to walk around town with me. I’ll bring you back here by 5pm.”

Dylan sighed and pulled out his phone, doing as Joe asked. As Dylan got the permission Joe skimmed through the next few chapters in the textbook to see what Dylan needed to know. Getting the okay from Mrs. Saunders, they took off around the town. Joe’s mission was to make learning German fun for Dylan.

“So here’s how we do this, Dylan. First, its vocab. I’ll point, you name. Don’t know it, then look it up in the dictionary in your hands,” Joe plopped one in his hands. “Then after a bit of that I’m going to be a German tourist and you are my translator. Sound alright?”

“Sounds kinda fun,” Dylan shrugged, trying not to show how cool it really sounded.

For the first half hour they practiced the vocabulary. Joe would point – banana, Dylan would respond – banana. Joe would point – apple, Dylan would respond – Apfel. Car – das Auto. Bicycle – das Fahrrad. Head – das Kopf. Book – das Buch. Girl – das Mädchen. Boy – der Junge. So on and so forth until both were tired of it. Then came the role play.

Joe opened the door to a tiny bookstore run by a high school friend of his and began the game.

“Hallo!” he waved to the girl behind the counter. “Wie heißt du?”

She looked puzzled at him before Dylan played his part.

“He says ‘Hello! What’s your name?’” Dylan translated.

“Oh, hello. My name is Jenna,” she smiled sending Joe a wink when Dylan turned away to translate into German for Joe.

“Sie sagt…Ihr Namen ist Jenna.”

“Ach. Eine schöne Namen, Jenna,” Joe smiled.

“He says ‘oh. A beautiful name, Jenna.”

“Why thank you,” she said.

“Sie sagt…bitteschön,” Dylan replied dully.

Joe noticed this and decided to spice it up a bit. “Hast du guten Bücher? Ich liebe lessen. Meine Haus ist blau.”

Dylan sighed. “He says ‘Do you have good books? I love to read. My house it blue.” Then he caught himself. “What? Your house is blue? That doesn’t even make sense.”

Jenna laughed merrily and leaned forward over the counter. “Er ist ein bisschen dumm,” she whispered.

Dylan turned and stared at her dumbstruck. “You know German?! Mr. Joe, what the heck?”

“Sorry, Dylan, but Jenna went to high school with me. We had German together. I had to take you to someone who would know what I was saying. And I’m not stupid, Jenna,” Joe fake-glared at her.

“Whatever, Joe. I gotta get back to work,” she said then returned to shelving the ever-present stack of books on the counter.

“Come on, kid. Let’s get you back to the library,” Joe nudged Dylan who was still shocked at the ruse out the door.

“Hey, Mr. Joe?” Joe looked over at him. “That was fun. Thanks.”

“No problem.” Then they walked back to meet Dylan’s parents.

After passing Dylan back to his parents Joe drove back over to Jenna’s store to help her. He had done this over the summer as well as other volunteer jobs with the American Red Cross and social services. His dad absolutely hated that all he did was volunteer stuff and not get a real job. Kevin Sr. was still pissed that Joe refused to even give working at Kevin’s job a chance.

“So who was that?” Jenna asked as he walked in the store, a bell announcing his presence.

“A kid I tutor. He doesn’t learn from the book well so we went with hands-on today. Thanks for playing along,” he leaned on the counter.

“No problem. So does that mean you have income now?” she inquired as she shelved some books. She and Joe had been great friends in high school and even though he went off to college and she stayed home to manage her father’s store, they still remained in close contact. She knew what he was going through at home mostly because she forced him to rant to her.

Joe picked up a stack and joined her. “Nope. I’m pro bono, baby. I do it through the school system so I just tell the parents to pay it to the schools. They need it more than I do.”

Jenna sighed and shook her head. “You know that just pisses your dad off, right?”

“Of course I do, but I don’t care. It’s my life and I can do whatever I want. He made me go to Kev’s school even though I wanted to go to Princeton. No way in hell is he telling me where to work too…which just so happens to be where Kevin works,” he shoved a book into place.

“Okay okay. Don’t get all huffy on me,” she held up her hands in surrender. “Is Nick going to NYU too? Family tradition and all.”

“No. He’s going to Penn State. It’s where he wanted to go so Dad’s letting him. Athletic scholarship.”

“No way! That’s not fair! Why does he a choice and you didn’t?” Jenna balked.

“Because he has potential and I don’t,” Joe muttered under his breath. “Jenna, I’ve got to go. Told Nick we could hang out tonight since he’s leaving in a few days for college. See ya later.”

“Yeah…you too,” she accepted his cheek kiss and books. “Tell Nick I said good luck and congrats.”

One last wave and Joe left for home, the bell announcing his departure.

“Nick, come on you have to take this. It’s a must,” Joe tried to persuade his brother as he helped him begin to sort through stuff to take to college.

“No, Joe, I’m not taking that. Give it a rest,” Nick shook his head and moved on to his bulletin board where he took down pictures, trashing them.

“You have to take our chia pet,” Joe insisted, placing it in the college-bound box. “Why are you throwing away pictures?”

Nick shrugged. “Just don’t want them anymore. They’re not important ones. Just parties I’d rather forget.”

“You want to forget your 16th birthday?” Joe asked skeptically, retrieving the picture from the trash.

“Yeah, I guess. It was crashed. Olivia showed up,” he scoffed, even though she wasn’t in the picture.

“Nick, she was invited! Of course she showed up. What’s up there? You and she used to be great friends. What happened between you two?” Joe pinned it back to the board.

“Nothing, Joe. Just drop it. I don’t feel like explaining it,” Nick sighed in annoyance and ripped the picture off and crumpled it in the garbage. He didn’t want to get into his private business with his brother right now. The summer of teasing from his friends had him really on edge about the topic.

“Okay, Nick…geez,” Joe muttered and sat on Nick’s bed. “So…you think you’ll like college?”

“It’ll be away from here so that’s a plus already,” Nick answered.

“What’s so bad about here?”

“Joseph!” Kevin Sr. bellowed up the stairs. “Come here now please!”

Nick raised his eyebrows at his brother. “When you love being here then ask me that question.”

Joe sighed then stood as his father called again. “I’ll help you pack more later,” he patted Nick’s shoulder and trudged downstairs to face his father for their still nightly sparring match.

He stepped one foot into the living room and immediately knew this wasn’t going to be their typical “discussion”. His mother sat in a chair looking tired, flanked on the left by his father. Her presence was not common, so this only meant that his father wanted to be a united front with her.

“Joe, sit down. We need to talk,” Kevin Sr. gestured to a chair opposite him and Denise.

“No thanks. I’ll stand,” Joe crossed his arms, fortifying his walls.

“Fine then. Have you found a job yet? Anything to bring in money?” he asked all business-like.

“You know what I’ve been doing,” Joe shrugged.

“Yes, volunteering, but has any of those panned into a real paid job?”

“Didn’t really expect them to. That’s why I did them.”

Kevin Sr. slammed his fist on the coffee table and stood up angrily. “Dammit, Joseph! You need a real job, not screwing around doing freebie stuff! It’s been 3 months since you graduated. It’s time to take things seriously!”

“I am! This is how I want to live right now! So accept it!” Joe yelled back.

“No! You need a real job. Kevin had a job when he graduated-”

“I’M NOT KEVIN!” Joe shouted, the veins in his neck bulging. “I’m sorry to disappoint you guys but I’m not him and I won’t ever be!”

Denise gasped and covered her mouth in shock. “Joe sweetie, we never wanted you to be Kevin. We want you to be Joe,” she said motherly with concern.

“Sure, Mom. That’s why you guys made me got to NYU. That’s why nothing I did was ever good enough because Kevin did it better. That’s why Dad wanted me to work at Kevin’s work just like Kevin,” Joe said scathingly.

“No…” Denise shook her head, fighting back tears. She never knew it was this bad and it pained her.

“Yes,” Joe said, glaring at his father.

“Well no matter what you think, Joseph, you are working at Kevin’s record company starting Monday. His bosses decided to hire you on a trial basis since Kevin is such a hard worker. They figure it runs in the family so don’t screw it up,” Kevin Sr. broke the news to him.

Joe stood jaw-dropped looking between his parents. His mother’s pity-filled face confirmed it to be the truth and that she had no say in the matter either. He couldn’t believe his father did this behind his back. It pissed him off that his father thought he could control him like this.

“What?! Like hell I’m working there. I told you I wouldn’t and you did this?! Screw you, Dad!” He turned and stomped towards the stairs. “I’m not going there and you can’t make me!”

Kevin Sr. followed close on his heels. “You will and I can. You still live under my roof, son, so I can-”

Joe whirled around and glared into his father’s face. “Then I’ll move out!” he yelled before storming up to his room and slamming the door.

Kevin Sr. turned and looked at his wife who was crying silently. “He just needs to cool off. He’ll see it my way,” he told her confidently.

“Oh, Kevin, you don’t get it,” she shook her head and walked towards the kitchen.

“Get what?” he followed her.

Denise just waved him off and went out to the backyard to think.

Joe huffed around his room, raking his hands through his hair. He was so incredibly pissed at his dad. Spotting his suitcase hanging off his closet shelf, he grabbed it and began throwing all his clothes in it. He knew what he was going to do and no one would stop him.

Zipping the suitcase up, he logged onto the internet and bought himself a plane ticket for 3am tomorrow morning. No one would be up until it was too late to do anything. Suddenly thinking of his mom’s broken face he grabbed a piece of paper and jotted down a note to her and his brothers. Then he called the school building to let them know he was going on vacation for a bit and that they’d have to find another tutor. He personally called Dylan to break the news to him.

Joe sat on his bed until the last person went to bed. Then he set his cell phone next to the note on his desk and checked to make sure he had all the necessary things he’d need for traveling. With one final look around his room he quietly shut the door and snuck out of the house into the dark.