Colder Than Ourselves.

Friday morning I woke up with a new found energy - a sort of excitement that pulsed through me. What caused it, I had no idea; my morning began the same as it always did: wake up, feed Bandit, fight with Lindsey, go to work – so I had no idea what caused me to be so excited all of the sudden.

It wasn’t until about lunchtime that it dawned on me Bert started working today. Alright, so it wasn’t exactly that I actually needed help around the shop because I always do all the work and it doesn’t stress me out too bad, but I felt like I needed to help the kid out. Some kids need extra motivation to be able to get things done, like going to school; if I can help change someone’s life for the better I can make work for them to do.

Besides, Bandit absolutely adores him and won’t stop chattering about him. There’s just something about that kid…

A little after three o’clock, while I was in the storage room rifling through some boxes, I heard the front door make its welcoming ding, Bandit’s unmistakable excited squeal, and the sound of a teenage boy’s greeting and asking “where’s your dad?”

“He’s in the store room, c’mon!”

Upon hearing her running footsteps and another set of heavier ones, I peered around the corner to see Bandit pulling Bert back to where I stood. His hair formed a curtain around his face as he looked down at Bandit, and when he looked up, brushing it away from his eyes, he cracked a smile making me crack one in return.

“Here he is!” Bandit announced. Whether she was telling Bert that I was in here or vice versa, I have no idea.

“Wonderful! Ready for your first day of grueling, back-breaking, manual labor?” I smiled wickedly and Bert laughed nervously. “Kidding,” I said looking from Bert to my daughter, “How about you go play with your toys, Daddy’s got to show Bert what to do.”

When she ran out of the room, Bert turned to me and swung his arms, “So, what are my instructions, boss man?”

“Well, I figured today I would just show you the ins-and-outs of the shop, where everything is located, and then the next time you come in I’ll actually put you to work. Sound good?”

“Sounds easy enough,” he smiled.

It didn’t take long to go over everything. Empty comic slots: fill them up; messed up books: straighten them; store room is in the back, everything is alphabetized by brand of comic, then by name; trash on the floor: clean it up… not hard stuff to remember.

Sitting down at the counter and taking a not really needed break, I watched Bandit busy herself by coloring. Bert watched with amusement; eventually she caught us both watching and gave us crayons and coloring books as well.

“Not to nag or anything, but how was school today?” I asked, curious, looking up from the rabbit I was shading in.

“I went,” he shrugged, pushing hair out of his eyes and looking at me, “but that doesn’t mean I enjoyed it.”

“Hey, just as long as you went. What about your friends – the ones that came in the shop with you the other day?”

“They went today too, but it’s not like they do everyday either.” We were silent awhile, no sounds except for the scratching of crayons on rough paper, then Bert’s head inclined towards me and he spoke in a soft voice, “In high school, what turned out to be bad for you?” He bit his lip, probably thinking it was a forbidden question.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. “There’s one thing you have to understand,” I said, catching and holding his eyes, “sometimes things don’t always turn out the way you want them to. And I love my daughter more than anything, alright?” Making that point clear, Bert nodded, showing he understood and waited patiently for me to continue.

Never before had I spilled the events of my personal life to a near stranger, rarely even people I knew – my brother Mikey was the only one who really knew how bad things really were right now, so why did I feel so comfortable around some kid?

“Back in high school I had everything – cool friends, good grades; I wasn’t popular, but I didn’t really care for that kind of shit, y’know? The only thing I really felt like I wanted at the time was a girlfriend, someone that I could share things with and it be special. Junior year a new girl came to my school. Everyone in the whole school was talking about her, Lindsey this, Lindsey that – I originally just shrugged it off as just talk, because that’s what everyone does when a new kid comes, right?” I chuckled, leaning against the counter and stared out the window, “Boy was I wrong. First time I lay eyes on her, I was hers and in turn she became mine. She was perfect in every sense of the word, and I was stupid enough to believe she would stay that way forever.

“At the end of Senior year I accidentally got her pregnant. I promised that I would never leave her, because I wasn’t that kind of guy, and bailing on a kid who doesn’t know any better, that’s just really low. Well, we were fine for a while. After graduation we got married, but then things started to go all downhill after Bandit was born.” I turned back to Bert, “Even though my wife is… difficult to deal with at times, I wouldn’t go back and change anything. Bandit is my life now.”

We sat in a comfortable silence for the longest time; Bert seemed to be searching for something to say. Finally he spoke up, “No offense, but she sounds like a complete bitch for being difficult after everything you’ve done for her.”

“Yeah… how would you like to meet the lovely woman?”