Rain Chapter 4
Two days later, that Saturday, Ms. Amy had a mild stroke. I had been cleaning her kitchen that always got completely filthy over the course of the week. As I cleaned up crumbs on the counters she called me into the living room, commanding me to call for an ambulance. Her speech was slightly slurred and the left side of her face was a bit drooped. I did what she told me and sat with her awkwardly as the paramedics came. Ms. Amy didn’t seem too bad off. She tried to start a few light conversations, but my mouth didn’t want to form actual words beside ‘uh’ and ‘um’.
The ambulance came and pounded on the door. I jumped up to go get it and was pushed to the side while they rolled a gurney in. Two paramedics loaded her into the vehicle while another one asked for my name and number so the hospital could call about her condition since I was apparently the closest thing to her. Though my two jobs got us by, I couldn’t afford to keep the phone line up. If I told the hospital they would wonder. So, I told them the first number I could think of and that was Pizza Hut’s number.
This caused problems. The main one being that I lost a job and needed a new one immediately to keep everything together. None of the local jobs hired for just weekends, and if Ms. Amy wasn’t coming back, I would have to pull double shifts or get another part-time job.
Even though I had these problems, all I wanted to do was go home and see you. I locked up the house with the extra key she kept on the top of the refrigerator and made the short walk over to our house. You were fast asleep in your room that hadn’t changed in about sixteen or seventeen years. I silently beat myself up for not searching the newspaper for another job, but I couldn’t tear myself from watching you sleep.
I used to watch you sleep a lot before Dad left and Mom died. Every time I did I could almost imagine that everything was different. You were normal… our family lived together happily, but when you woke up I could see the childish glint in your eye. I couldn’t keep dreaming. It would never come true.
You stirred slightly and opened your eyes halfway. Quickly shutting them, you let your limbs stretch out and your mouth open wide as you yawned. I rubbed your stomach and smiled as you reopened yours eyes. “Morning,” I whispered, although I wasn’t sure why I was. You sat up and smiled, waiting for me to start your daily morning routine. I obliged and pulled you out of your bed and steered you toward the bathroom.
I thank Mom every day for potty training you a while back, but you never liked to take your bubble baths alone. So, I sat on the toilet lid and supervised you while you played with the bubbles surrounding you until I handed the bar of soap to you to remind you the whole purpose of the bath. A good twenty minutes later you finally stoop up and got out. I helped you dry off, you giggled every time I did, and helped you dress before fixing your favorite cereal, Frosted Mini-Wheats.
I watches you sit Indian-style with your bowl in your lap as you stared at the television that was turned to Saturday morning cartoons. Times like those were rare. Times were everything seemed okay. But I still had all the bad thoughts on my mind. There were still five months or so before I would be able to get any money from Mom’s insurance, and even after that I still had to take care of you for years after. Getting a better job without a high school diploma was out of the question. Money would eventually run out and you would be put in… a mental hospital. I couldn’t do it on my own. I needed help. No matter how much I didn’t want to, I went to Frank for help.
Asking Frank for help may have been one of the hardest things to do. Frank and I usually hung out at school so I had no idea were he lived so I waited outside the school for him on a Tuesday afternoon. Five days after I told him to leave me alone. The look he gave me when he spotted me… I’ll never be able to fully put in into words. There were just so many emotions crowded together in his eyes.
“Mikey, why are you here? Shouldn’t you be working?” I nodded. In fact, I was on my lunch break. “Then go back.”
“I-I need…” I sighed. “I need your help…” I said it all so quietly that I wasn’t even sure if he heard it.
“What?”
I spoke up a bit. “One of my jobs fell through, and I’m going to have to get another job. If I get that job there’s no one to watch my brother.” My chewed up fingernails suddenly became very interesting.
Frank shuffled his feet. “So, I can help you?”
I nodded. “It’ll take a while for Gerard to get used to you, but if he sees that I’m friends with you, he won’t be so worried…” When I looked up at Frank, he looked mildly confused so I went on to explain. “I want you to watch Gerard while I work, and only watch him. I don’t want you to get a job. I don’t want your money. You don’t even have to watch him that long, just a few hours a day. But that’s just unt-”
“Mikey! Shut up!” Frank kind of laughed and shook his head. I took that as a ‘no’ and started to leave, but he grabbed my hand. “I want to help, but I’m not letting you do all the work Mikey, you’re only seventeen. I’ll help you out on two conditions. First, you let me get an after school job and you will take my paycheck.”
“But what are you gonna tell your parents? And that’s your money and you should do whatever you want with it.” Frank put his hand, that wasn’t holding mine, over my mouth.
“Let me finish. This is what I want to do. I want to give you my money. Let me deal with my parents later. Now, the second condition is that you’ll promise to go back to school as soon as I graduate. All you’re gonna get is crap jobs without graduating. You’re my friend, but if you don’t take that, I’m gone.”
For the longest time we just stared at each other. I had no idea what was running through his mind, but I was trying to decide whether or not to take him up on that offer. I finally nodded like he was the most difficult decision I ever made because it was. I felt and I still do feel that I was agreeing to letting Frank waste his time on me.
But what was done was done. Frank and I both stood by our word, but as always, everything didn’t go to plan.
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