A simple story II part 2
#2 of A simple story II
In all the rooms welcoming the pupils, the scene was identical. The teacher stood up, back to the students, writing on the blackboard of formulas or phrases. The latter agitated the hand to go as fast as he could, because behind him, some thirty pair of eyes did not do anything other than fixing the wall clock.
Each teacher was advised of the thing and attempted to win the race against time. The white and round clock had no needles to indicate the seconds but when the large needle fully covered the small and the ringing sounded to indicate midday, a savage horde rushed to store their business, to close their bags and binders in an indescribable din of floor-scraped chairs and pushed tables to allow the flow of pupils to scatter in the establishment, investing the toilets for the most pressed, the lockers aligned along the corridors for the most meticulous and the canteen for the most hungry.
Each teacher tried vainly to yell at the lessons to be reviewed before abandoning in the face of the disinterest shown by the eager teens to do something else. At least, the school site would be there to remind the dunces the chapters to study for the next remedial teaching.
The high school was rapidly filled up with more or less unemployed pupils who would enjoy the time of liberty offered to them before the resumption of the lessons. Bunches of friends gathered in the lobby where, since the morning, a series of tentative panels had emerged. The time had come to complete the ritual of the first school day and vest the different clubs and sports teams.
The large central lobby accommodated some twenty of these panels covered with white sheets brightened by recruitment announcements. Pupils rushed and watched, made their choices, registering their names on the leaf or ignoring the club if the latter did not correspond to their expectations.
In order to attract the students and force them to look for the desired club, the school's management was careful to mix the clubs ' ads well, thereby forcing students to browse all the panels to find out what they wanted. It encouraged them to discover other passions, which was good for the intellectual and physical development of the teenager.
Stretching one last time before closing his locker, Greg stowed in his jacket pocket the pen picked up for its task. He needed nothing else and once the padlock was closed, he stayed on the spot, looking around him and awaiting Francis's arrival, exiled by his father in a different wing of the high school.
Greg terraced to his locker, picking up his pen in his hands, playing some with. He was occasionally greeted with a pal, but he made him realize that he was expecting someone, and that he could not engage in too long conversation. It was not too long to wait because the chubby donkey quickly made its appearance at the bend of the corridor, the hands and shoulders empty of any business. Francis stood opposite Greg and hugged him in his arms, sharing a moment of affection, rubbing each other's cheeks along the lockers.
This friendly and emotional gesture, he would never have dreamed to share it in public before, with anyone. His coming out had liberated him and he and Greg had agreed not to conceal their mutual affection, however, deciding to keep their kisses for some more intimate moments and places.
Walking side by side, the two boys continued to attract the gaze sometimes. If Francis had learnt to ignore others, Greg knew that his position did not allow him to remain neutral. As a captain of the football team, he had a status to defend. For this reason he graciously greeted those who smiled, wearing a black gaze upon those whose gaze disapproved the homosexual relationship of the two boys. Francis was doing his best to help his friend defeat the crowd in front of the panels. The pen in hand, he enrolled his name on the sheet dedicated to the computer club.
« Do you intend to register for a sport team ? This would allow you to broaden your circle of friends. »
Francis shook his head in a sign of denial.
« No, not really. I don't really have time with my gardener job, and then, I don't really have a team spirit, you know. »
Greg knew it, but he had to ask him again. If Francis could lose a little weight, or at least some grease, it would be beneficial in the long run. His friend also knew that, but he was obviously restive at the idea of playing sports. Probably the consequences of years of mockery on his account. Greg didn't really insist, knowing that he had a share of responsibility for this.
« Did you see Fred ? »
Greg shook his head.
« No, not since this morning. »
Greg's attention was on the sheets, searching for the "Football" section. He finally found it and ignored his friend time to write his name. Francis did not formalize it, knowing how important the team could be to him. Greg had only a few seconds to write his name, but he stayed an extra moment to look at what he had just wrote. Obviously, he liked to wear this new name because he wore a wide smile all the time. Finally, Greg made a step backwards and returned to Francis.
« Things have evolved. I don't know half the names already registered !
Is that true ?
Yes. I knew than five players left high school to go to college, but there were twice as much candidates as usual. The selection of new ones will be rough !
As long as it doesn't hurt you !
No, no worries, the players already members are of the pre-selected list if they reregister.
You know what the days of training will be ?
No, it wasn't marked. This is not surprising, it is always the war between teams to know when they have the right to use the facilities. At the junior school, once, it took two weeks after the first day before the coaches agreed themselves. »
Francis listened to Greg speaking with pleasure, however, feeling a hint of apprehension. That would be the first time Greg would find his teammates after his coming out. Greg had expressed his concern, too, but he had concluded that the holidays would have given all the time to make the point and get used to that idea. Only one thing was certain : Greg knew that Reese would not be on, having been heard about his transfer to another high school in the city. The video posted on the net had, it was said, devastating effects on the boy who had watered his friends with his lies about what had happened in the toilet. Greg didn't care about it. Reese was wiped out of his shelves for good.
--
Startled, the spirit somewhat panicked, Fred looked around him. The gaze of all the pupils sitting around him converging on him, not wanting to miss the student's impending death. Seated in the middle of the row, in the fifth row, Fred was roughly certain to merge into the mass of high school students. But the gaze of the tiger standing beside the blackboard, the finger pointing towards an equation entered without his solution was inquisitorial, had found him.
Mathematics had always bothered Fred, despite his ease in the matter. Maybe he had yawned too much than a few seconds before. Perhaps his face had shown too much trouble at this end of the hour. Anyway his name resounded twice before the boy understood that it was him that the teacher was addressing to.
« I'm waiting, Mr. Kaplan ! »
Fred attempted to ignore the stress that pushed him to entertain his mind to less scientific subjects, to flee the fear of uttering a bad answer.
His gaze remained, however, fixed on the large blackboard, his mind noting the slight cackling of the pupils who expected to see him fall.
The worst part was Fred knew the answer. This kind of equation, he saw in the books he borrowed from a library for two years. But in a real situation of having to respond quickly and in public, Fred felt a bit blocked.
The professor wasn't a new one. Archie Grey had a ten-year career behind him, in high school and in college. In the light of the deterioration of the cloth, he had to wear his white shirt for at least four years, and his friends and colleagues began to note that its size was increasingly diminished as the tiger's body grew inexorably in width. Archie knew how long to leave a reluctant student before he had to change the speaker. This time was over for two seconds according to his standards and his head was already turning to another pupil when the desired phrase was heard.
« X is equal to 7, so Y is 5. And in this case z is 0. »
Archie's gaze returned to the original speaker. Seated and shaking a little nervously on his chair, Fred gave the right answer to a firm voice. The teacher's face relaxes and seeing him so, Fred allowed himself to take his breath. The Tiger noted the answers on the board, nodding.
« That's correct ! »
The teacher wanted to pursue his sentence, but the liberating ringtone was resounding and the silent Room changed to a capernaum of chairs ripped on the ground, pushed tables and screams of barely veiled joy while the pupils were fleeing the classroom to take their pause. Still relieved of his last second success, Fred took his time to take his books and put them under his arm before leaving the classroom. He greeted a quick head to the teacher who had no time to make politeness. Fred continued his way to reach the corridor and the hall. The crowd of pupils formed a turbulent river, but once his books were handed over in his locker, Fred headed faster to the lobby. He noted the mass of the agglutinated pupils in front of the information panels. With one hand, he ensured that he had kept a pen in his pocket in order to try to enroll in one of the activities that would seem to be interesting.
Having not yet tied a strong relationship other than with Greg and Francis, Fred had no one to hail and asking him for news on the first morning of classes. It was a familiar situation for him, and he had learnt to do with due to the multiple moves he had suffered in the previous years.
Neither of his friends were in sight. Fred felt foolish to try to call them when he could meet them a second later in favor of a favorable crowd movement. Anyway, they'd probably get out of the class. Or not. Everything would depend on his luck, and Francis's mood. Despite his forgiveness, Fred always felt a deaf hostility toward him. He did not hold it against the donkey, believing he deserved it.
The pupils who rushed into the lobby were bebaloring, spoking, hailing and the voices were mixed in a strong disengagement. This thought gave Fred the idea of perhaps integrating a music club someday. He did not play any instruments but perhaps the envy would come to him someday to learn.
For the time being, Fred cursed the direction of the establishment that had the preposterous idea to mix the ads of the clubs. No theme by panel, no alphabetical list. Fred was going to have to read it all and waste time searching for what he might not find.
A chess club ? No. Fred didn't play it any manner. He had tried, but he was unable to plan his shots in advance. It was just not for him. He also neglected ads for the movie-club and the writing for the high school newspaper. He had travelled two-thirds of the panels, sometimes playing elbows to get closer to the stapled sheets of paper to read them, and he had not yet registered his name nowhere.
Finally, the last panel. The leftmost sheet invited applicants to join the judo team. Fred considered the question. He had promised his father to join a combat sport team so that he could learn to handle situations in which his homosexuality might be confronted by one day. He hardly wanted to, but the memory of his father's struggle in the bar, or he had defended his son's honor, encouraged him to obey anyway. And then, a little more physical exercise wouldn't hurt him. Fred liked to feel his aching muscles by exertion. Not to mention his sweat that acted on him as an arousing thing.
Fred put his hand in his pocket, grasped the pen and approached his hand from the last line still free on the leaf.
« Sorry, but that one, it's for me, cutie ! »
Fred had no time to be surprised and sought to know where the voice flourished from, determined. Barely his eyes had posed to the black panther girl who had appeared on his left, the body camped on her strong and slightly arched legs, than the name of Lorette McMillan was registered, occupying the last line, taking the last place available at the Judo club.
Stunned by the rapid and sassy onset, Fred did not knew how to react. He was shared between indignation, feelings of injustice and admiration. The young woman, thin but with a firm body, her buttocks lightly bounced and her chest captive on a yellow T-shirt straw does conceal anything of the teen forms while preserving her modesty, smiling at Fred, amused by the trick she had just played him, and also by the somewhat silly figure of the boy who obviously didn't know how to react.
« You have already had the honours of the class by not making you eat at the last second, I must have a little revenge, you don't believe it ? »
Fred was looking at the girl who was smiling at him. His voice was somewhat shy, still surprised by her appearance, and seduced by her visibly anti-conformist ways.
« You're in my class ?
- Two rows behind you, on the right. You didn't see me. Considering the teacher's eyes, it would have been me who had to answer but as you found the solution on the gong... I didn't stole this place for the judo team, you know. I've been practicing for six years now. So unless you can say the same... »
Fred made a gesture of denial with his hand.
« No, it's okay. I never set a foot on a tatami mat anyway. »
Fred kept a seduced eye on the young girl. Her presence pleased the boy. Lorette was an extrovert, but respectful young woman. Her firm voice clearly showed her voluntary character. Fred still began to look at the following sheets, but the young woman continued to speak to him.
« If you've never done judo before, why to register ? »
Fred kept his eyes on the sheets, making sure to keep a respectful tone, to show that he was able to do two things at once.
« Dad's orders. I'm already lifting weights, but Daddy thinks it's useless in everyday life.
- I can see. I started judo too for the same reasons. Daddy wanted me to be able to put the too much enterprising boys in the ground. »
Fred smiles at this thought. He had almost answered « me too » but he had been held silent in time. It was, according to him, not yet the time to come out of the closet. Even with an humorous tone.
« And it worked ? »
Lorette smiles in turn.
« Yes and No. Some people found themselves in the ground, but for other reasons ! »
Lorette's smile was communicative as it also enrolled in Fred's face, who turned his gaze to Lorette.
« If our parents knew everything we do when they're not here !
Oh, yes ! Daddy would lock me up in an Irish convent if he knew it.
What about your mother ? »
Lorette shrugged shoulders.
« She doesn't care. I mean, I think. Mom's too busy with her store. I spend more time in her shop with her than at home !
She's a saleswoman ?
Not only. She also manages. We moved out last June. She picked up a costume shop. So to spend time with her, I give her a hand. I was doing the same in Saint George. What about yours ? »
Fred's gaze returned to the sheets, always searching for, but also keeping his attention on the girl.
« She's swamped with work too. Executive Assistant. »
Lorette nodded, admiring.
« But in fact, she's the boss to what Daddy tells me.
I wouldn't be surprised. Mom told me how many men sometimes couldn't get away with them without their secretaries. What about your father ?
He's got his garage. We moved in not a long time ago, too.
Mine is a pharmacy preparer. I don't know the worst. The smell of chemical products or that of car grease. Are you new, too ?
Yes. Arrived in June, too.
I hadn't seen you yet. But with the few days of school that remained, it's not surprising.
There was no more work where you were ? »
Lorette sighed, rolling slightly her shoulders.
« Not really, no. Southern Utah is no longer popular as a tourist destination. Too much drought. I remember last year I saw the rain only three or four days all the spring. As no one came, my parents decided to stop the charges. They were able to sell their goodwills and we arrived here. »
His gaze on the panels, Fred could not see the attention that Lorette was wearing to his body. The young girl admired the boy's mighty stature, finding whimsical romance how he had to wear his pen to the mouth while he was searching the ads. Lorette was gauging Fred in all possible ways. She found no defect in the male body that presented her is left flank. Already thick arms, a straight back, barely bounced buttocks over long legs. The pants, of course, kept the mystery of the boy's intimacy. His face was still marked by childish traits but his gaze was already the one of an adult. Fred was physically only in the middle of the transformation period that would make him a complete adult. But Lorette was already seduced by what she saw. Lorette was also captivated by his mindset. She didn't knew him, but she felt confident. Perhaps it was also because of his shirt, of military inspiration ?
One thing was certain in the young woman's eyes. She wanted to make more acquaintance with him. On the one hand, because he was new, she had no friends yet. Then because she found Fred attractive. She didn't grieve to see Fred answer her while looking at the panels.
« And you ? Where are you from ? »
Fred quickly looked at the young girl before redirecting his face to the ads.
« Lots of places at once. I was born in a lost place south of Allentown, on the east coast. But I hardly have any memories. In fact, for nine years, I stayed no more than a few months in the same place. It happened to me to go to three schools in the same school year. It's the first time in a long time that I have a little stability and I have to say appreciate this. »
Lorette was nodding, listening to the young man in front of her. The boy had not had an easy life but it seemed not to have been too marked. He seemed to be balanced, cheerful, open. A little shy, by his habit of not fixing it too long. That was seducing Lorette.
« Have you had enough time to eat ? »
Fred turned his head, shook her in a sign of denial.
« No, I wanted to get rid of these formalities before going to eat. »
The boy's attention was then on a sheet of a smaller format, pinned to the edge of the table, its surface being roughly half the forms usually stapled.
A drawing, summary, represented two adults in the fighting position with bare hands, the left character punching a stroke that the right one blocked. Only a dozen rows indicated available seats, unlike other clubs that sometimes offered more than thirty seats. And only five names appeared on the list. Fred connects the header and a thin smile drawn on his lips.
He didn't know there was a Krav-Maga team in high school. He knew the existence of this Israeli martial art by his Jewish culture, but he had never had the opportunity to join one.
The announcement stipulated that beginners were accepted. Fred no longer hesitated to write his name on the list.
« Kaplan. It's a nice name ! »
Fred turned his head again to the young lady.
« It comes from my Armenian grandfather. He arrived in the United States at the end of the war.
- I find it always captivating to see how diverse our origins can be. My mother is Mexican and daddy comes from Ireland. Well, by his great-grandmother. »
Lorette kept a little smile on her lips by gently speaking to Fred. The latter found the young girl of pleasant company. The young woman was friendly, and despite the fact that Fred had no attraction for her, he wanted to know more about her. He was beginning to disinterestingly from the clubs and teams who were still waiting for volunteers.
« Dad has Armenian origins, and Mommy is Jewish. Her family came from Hungary. I think it was in the 1920s.
They had the chance to get out at the right time ...
You said it. »
Lorette approached Fred, who was concentrating again on the last panel.
« I'm glad we're in the same class. At least on mathematics.
Are you struggling with math ?
A little, I have to say. I'm more comfortable in biology and English.
We all have our weak points. I'm bored with math. I find it too abstract.
And you're good at what ?
In mechanics. In physics, too. Daddy would like me to come work a little in his garage but it's not too much with cars. I prefer flying gear.
It must be exciting.
I hope I can work in this area. Leaning on a drawing board or a turnkey.
Paycheck is not the same !
I know. But I find it unnecessary to spend his time on a keyboard without putting his hands in the grease occasionally. That's how I learned the mechanics. Manipulating, it helps me understand. »
Still smiling, Lorette wasn't losing a crumb of Fred's words. The more he talked to her, and the more interesting she found him.
« I have a weakness for nocturnal activities. Dad offered me an astronomical scope when I was seven. I use it as soon as the occasion comes.
Really ?
I know. It's not common to see a girl interested in science ...
That's not what I meant ...
It's so usual. When I arrived here, a group of unbearable girls approached me. Well, they were hairy and their clothes were well cut, it wasn't the problem. What worried me were that they were perfect bitches. »
Fred didn't hide his widening smile.
« What did they wanted ?
- They wanted to know if I wanted to join their group. My god. I spoke to them three minutes, but they only have two centers of interest. Boys and gossips. »
Fred nodded.
« They're known here. Last year, the school had nicknamed them the Sinister Six.
Why is that?
I don't know, I think it's from a comic book, but I didn't dig the question. »
Lorette thinks a little.
« Now that I think about it, they were seven.
They've already had to recruit, then. I trust the students to find a new nickname.
You finished registering ? I'm hungry, and I have to say I don't want to find myself still in the midst of these bitches in the cafeteria. »
Lorette showed a point of impatience. Fred was surprised by the tone and especially by the implicit invitation. He didn't know what to say, what to do.
Fred had already had friends. His multiple moves had made him lose their traces. But none of them were so volunteer. Fred was facing for the first time in his life with a seductive young girl who wanted to befriend him. And in fact, he liked it. That changed his ideas, forcing him to think of something other than Francis, his butt and his intolerable behavior towards him and Gregory. His attention was given one last time on the billboard. Around him, the crowd of pupils became less compact as the sheets were filled. Once the inscription was made, the students were going to eat or spend the rest of their free time in the outside sun.
« Want to have lunch with me ? »
Fred had posed what was for him a rhetorical question. Lorette's insistence on this point was obvious, even for a boy like him. That did not prevent the girl from acquiesce. Fred made him a quick gesture of his hand to tell him he wanted to see a final announcement.
A simple sheet, no frills or drawings, already quite filled, invited who wanted to integrate a club of rhetoric. Fred was wondering if he would add his name or not. Sometimes suffering from sickly shyness in his childhood, he had sought to reinforce his character. His adolescence had given him more confidence in him, but he always felt at the deepest of him hesitations that sometimes put him uncomfortable. Having to argue, justify publicly, argue and take away an audience seemed a good way to correct this defect. A quick gesture and his name added to the final list, which attracted the young girl's attention.
« Do you really want to join this group of no-life ? »
Fred was surprised at the mocking tone. The unexpected replica marked him enough for his voice to become hesitant and his uninsured tone.
« I don't see how these are no-life. And then I don't know them. You too, right ? Why say they're no-life ? »
Lorette was happy to smile, approaching the boy, making him feel his peach-based perfume while she enrolled her name in turn under Fred's.
« Relax, man... It was a joke. And see how you were going to react too. I've been part of this kind of club already and I know how great the people who are part of it can be ! »
Fred looked at the young girl with a suspicious eye, before finally relaxing.
« Mommy was right to tell me to beware of girls ! You're manipulatives.
- We're just smarter, that's all. »
Lorette kept a mutin smile while Fred headed to the cafeteria. The girl stood at his side, quietly looking at the boy's butt.
« If being beside you can help you avoid having to join the seven plagues of Egypt, then you are welcome ! »
Lorette wondered what Fred meant. The memory of the seven bitches came back and she understood.
« Well found.
Thank you.
I didn't think to ask. That's not going to interfere with your girlfriend if I eat with you? »
In this unexpected question, Fred had stopped walking a short moment, embarrassed. He looked at Lorette in the eyes, a little shy smile on the lips.
« I'd have to have one for that. I'm single. »
Fred curses himself inside his cowardice. But he took care not to let anything appear on his face.
That girl was formidable. Not only was she pretty, but besides she had enough character to, without realize it, put Fred in trouble.
This replica reminded him of the difficulties he had to assert himself publicly as homosexual.
Even to his parents, he had a relative confidence when this question before to know that his mother knew and accidentally put his father on.
Seeing his spawners accepting it as easily should have given more mental strength to the boy. But that wasn't the case. and Fred knew why.
That cursed day was still in memory. Greg had forgiven. Francis was not hiding to show his resentment towards him despite their mutual efforts. More importantly, Fred wasn't forgiven himself. He had changed the life of Greg Forever.
The fact that the latter seemed better than the previous one was removing nothing from pain. He lost Francis because of that. That was what was most troubled by Fred.
He showed a little sad smile. Mark's recriminations about his self-centeredness seemed still valid. But it was difficult to ignore his own needs, his own desires. He had been seduced by the donkey from the first glance. And because of him, the boy would never be his.
Lorette, she, did not conceal her joy to know Fred single. She was still trying to keep a certain capacity. Fred, far from being silly, knew he was a target for her.
« It was a little foolish to ask you that. You're new too, there's a little chance for you to have someone already. »
Fred agreed.
« I've never had a well followed relationship before, I have to say. And ... say, I've done and said things before that don't encourage me to have such a kind of relationship at the moment. »
Lorette didn't hide her surprise. Fred returned a look at her meaning that he understood the real meaning of his approach.
« Of course, I'm always willing to let you sit beside me the time it takes for the girls to leave you alone. And even afterwards. I know how difficult it is sometimes to be in a new school. »
Lorette was a bit disappointed, but she managed to keep her disappointment. Fred was still a nice boy. And then, who knows... The coming weeks and months could help him change his mind. And she'd be on the front line, if everything was going well.
The new duo walked together to the cafeteria.
--
« Harmony ? »
The hand on the brushed aluminum door handle, the bear was expecting, the ear alert, the permission to enter after hitting. Nothing was coming. He knew the young otter was in her room, but no sound was coming out. He struck a second time, calling again, the ear more attentive. Maybe she didn't hear it.
Still nothing. Ed frowned the eyebrows and walked in. His position as a nurse allowed him to bypass any absence of authorisation, he could argue a medical emergency in disregard of the intimacy that a 10-year-old girl could claim. Growling, Ed had only time to close his eyes under the powerful luminous flash that struck him by entering. He barely noted the giggle of the little girl's pleasure, time for his retinas to recover from the surprise.
« Come on ! I thought I told you not to do that anymore, Harmony ! »
Ed, quite angry, rubbed his eyes, entering in the room. Faced with him, lightly on his right, he guessed the child's upright body, bearing in her hands a fairly wide box.
« Sorry Ed, but you know it ! It's always by surprise that we take the best shots ! »
Ed quickly recovered his eyesight, starting to smile to the child. Harmony had a frail body, but her clothes well cut were illusion. Already tall for her age, the girl posed the box after quickly taking note of the picture taken. It seemed to satisfy her, also she ran her fingers on the commands on the back of the camera for a short time. A warm and continuous sound was therefore made to hear from the table on the left of the duo, stuck to the bed not yet done. The printing was beginning.
Blocked in the hospital room for weeks, Harmony had been able to get from her parents and the hospital's direction to be able to use her digital camera. Ed, when seeing the camera, knew that it was a very expensive one. It was the same for the portable laser printer that was beginning to edit Harmony's last shooting.
« Why were you coming for, Ed ?
- Wait a moment, time for me to put my eyes back in place... Are your things ready ? »
The girl nodded.
« I still have two or three vials to wrap but I have everything, I think. »
Ed reopened the eyes completely. He could now discern all the arabesques that illustrated the harmony's sweat shirt, as well as the small beads that adorned her trouser pockets.
« You let me check this out ? The last time you went home, you had left half of your clothes !
- I know, I did it on purpose ! I wanted to get rid of them ! Mommy has always had horrible tastes for colors ! »
Ed was smiling.
« There are other ways to do it, more discreet ones !
Will my parents be here soon ?
They called to say they'll be half an hour late. The traffic is difficult this noon to what I've heard. »
Ed headed to the bed and looked inside the girl's bags, then in the closet. A quick glance had informed the bear that the latter was empty. He had to check out two more small drawers. Harmony was pleased to look at her last pic. Ed smiled at the young girl, knowing her demanding about her compositions. She was just ten years old, she already had an experienced and competent eye on photography. Her numerous and long-enforced trips in oncology gave her the time to improve herself. It had become a habit of seeing her wandering through the corridors of the various services, the device on her hand. She used to be in a corner, tp observe and once her prey found, to study her from different angles. She was able to take hundreds of pics before she arrived at a photograph that was suitable for her. The result was partly taped on the windows. Ed was there sometimes. Twice to be more precise. On the first cliché he was standing, faced with an elongated patient, the look concerned and concentrated on a syringe that he had in his hands, pushing the plunger and causing a few drops of the fluid to be sure not to inject any air bubbles. The device was of such a quality that one could see the reflection of the drop in his right eye.
On the second, he was simply walking in the hallway, the eyes half-closed, the hand in front of his mouth, yawning. Ed remembered that day. He had just completed a fairly busy ten-hour service. The astonishing thing is that on these two occasions he did not pay attention to the presence of Harmony on the premises. The laying of the various patients, visitors and other photographed physicians showed that they also had no awareness of the girl's presence until after shooting.
The bear's throat was torned by thinking quickly that the young girl would probably not have the opportunity to improve her photographer's talent even more. She would probably never be able to make her profession despite all the skill she was demonstrating. Because the 10 years old little girl would probably never be eleven.
It was a terrible idea. Unfair. But Ed couldn't do anything. He tried to repel this hopeless idea, but he did not fully. His gestures, usually mild and precise, were imbued with a slight left-handed.
« Be careful not to break anything, otherwise they'll deduct you from your paycheck ! »
It made Ed be aware of his current clumsiness. He tried to recover.
« If they were doing this, it would be me who should give them money !
Come on, I'm sure you're not so badly payed for it !
You would be surprised, Harmony ! »
Ed turned around, smiling. He had seen than the drawers were empty. He was trying to keep his smile as warm as possible, but he couldn't really do it. Harmony felt his fake smile, and she turned the gaze, focusing on the photos displayed. She took off Ed's photos and gave it to him.
« It's for me ?
- No, for the dying tramp of the first floor. The one who's bleeding out of his blood ! »
Ed couldn't prevent a smile to curb his lips. The rhetorical questions was not his strong.
« I have the originals on the hard drive, so they will not miss me. I don't know if I'm going to miss you... »
Ed tried to keep a pleasant face, but not yet achieved.
« I see so many people here. Some only spend a few days. Others of the months, years. They leave and we don't see them again, for some reason. »
Ed posed his hot hand on the face of the little otter, raising her head to look at her eyes. He didn't know how to finish his phrase, so to speak. He knew what fate was expecting Harmony once out of her room. But he didn't want to remind her that.
« In some way, we never forget anything. We just need to think to remember about that. »
Harmony smiled sadly. His voice was strong. In any case, she made the effort to keep it as well. Showing her capacity seemed important to her.
« I don't know what the worst is. Forgetting, or ending as a picture buried in the bottom of a book that we never open. »
Ed delivered his warmest and cheerful face to the girl. She demonstrated such maturity for a child of her age. Ed knew that lying to her or considering her as a child would be insulting her.
« We always end up opening this book at one time or another, Harmony. We don't know when, that's all.
- Did this really happened to you, Ed ? »
Harmony's gaze was deeply anchored in Ed's. The bear knew he was going to be careful about his answer.
« Yes, Harmony. I once opened a book that I didn't even know I possessed. I saw a picture of a person that I had never seen and than I knew that I will never see again.
- Who was him ? »
Ed hesitated a short time. Harmony was talking about a valuable souvenir for him. The bear's face told her that, and she almost regretted forcing the adult to indulge.
« You don't have to answer me, you know. »
Ed knew that. But Harmony showed so many caring sometimes.
« I... I've never seen my mother any other than that. On a video surveillance film. I have no other image, but every line I could see is engraved deep in me, Harmony. I know that sensation. And despite the hundreds of people, the thousands I will cross over my life, your face is one of the most important. I know that. »
Harmony smiled. The voice, the body, the facial expression of the bear. It all showed that he was telling the truth. The little girl hugged the bear's belly, who returned the gesture.
The nurse and the patient remained entwined for a moment. However, Ed felt the small otter sigh, slightly hiccuping. She was doing her best to not cede, but her tears were practically impossible to stem. Ed gently caresses her back.
« Go ahead. I won't tell anybody. »
Isolated in the arms of the ursine, alone in her room, Harmony eventually ceded. The walls resonated with muffled sobs and cries of the girl. Ed was doing his best to keep his capacity in turn to offer the condemned child all the comfort he was capable of.
How many times had he served as a pillar there poured out the tears of the harmless struck ? He didn't know that anymore. Every time was a torment for him. And at his great shame, it was fading. His life continued, his mind found his calm, most often in his husband's warm and muscular arms. And at his dismay, over time, he forgot those who ended their lives prematurely.
Ed knew this behavior was a backup. One way for his mind not to crumble over time. He had to live when the others couldn't. Oblivion against life. Another unfair market. Ed, sometimes, thought about the sick, their families who were going to pray such or such God to spare their son, their father, the daughter, the mother.
On rare occasions, the wish was granted among the residents of the oncology department. But most often, it was in a bag where ended the tortured lives.
And Harmony could not escape her fate, Ed knew it. Admittedly, everyone was doomed to die. Ed knew he'd die someday. Like Mark. Like Greg.
But so young ? So talented ? So nice ? So affable with the others ?
Ed hugged the little weeper more intensely, stifling her screams gently. It was only when the long cries stopped that Ed released the girl. Harmony sniffed, wiped her eyes blushed with her hands, smiling.
« I feel better, thanks. »
The little girl brought her attention to her camera. She took her in hand and extinguished her. She looked at the black box for a moment, then she tended it to the bear, which looked at her.
« Take it. »
Ed shook his head.
« No...
- Why ? I'm not going to need it soon. »
The girl's voice was always marked by her tears previously poured. Ed was more than embarrassed.
« On the contrary, you're going to need it. »
Harmony looked at Ed with a curious eye, the voice full of reproaches.
« If you tell me I will need to photograph the Angels and send you the photos then, you're laughing at me ! »
Ed shook his head, smiling more widely.
« I'm not joking. You're going to need it.
- I don't know what else to take ! I have millions of views of the house and the family ! Unless they got tentacles now, I'm tired of filling my flash drives with their heads ! »
Ed sighed. He said too much. Better then to finish to spit out the piece.
« Good. I promised not to say anything, but you're not going home. Not directly in any case. Your parents arrive and they will take you directly to the airport afterwards. »
The girl's eyes are widened.
« The airport ?
- Yes, you know, it's a very big place where strange big metal birds come swallowing small children to take them to strange lands. »
Harmony watched Ed with an eye disillusioned, enjoying only moderately the joke. Ed replied with his biggest smile.
« Brazil. Please, fake the surprise, okay ? »
The face of the small otter illuminated quickly. She was joining her hands on her mouth so she wouldn't scream her pleasure. Ed was happy to see such a feeling of surprise eventually emerge from the tormented young face.
« But it's awesome ! But I have nothing to wear ! It has to be hot in this season, isn't it ? and the filters ! The objectives ! Am I dumb, it's a digital cam ! But I do not know what is the right exposure, it is not the same light ! »
Deep inside him, Ed was satisfied. He saw the girl, depressed one minute before, inventorying her clothes to know if she would have enough to dress once in Rio. The parental surprise was ruined, admittedly, but her mood was again excellent. For Ed, nothing was more important.
« You understand why I couldn't accept your gift. »
Harmony agreed. For nothing in the world now she would be separated from her camera.
Ed was going to replicate when his pager vibrated against his hip. He detached his gaze from the now joyful child and mumbled an insult.
« He has to make me a heart attack just now, that moron ! Sorry Harmony, but I have to go ! Don't unpack all your stuff and remember, do the one who knows nothing, all right ? »
Harmony had the nose in her bags. Ed knew that now he was no longer existing for the moment, also released from the room, the mind always concerned, but the heart a little lighter.
--
The warm rays of the sun struck the city with all its intensity. If there was not a slight northerly wind, as well as a thin cloud veil to diffract some rays, the air would have much hotter and heavier than the season could propose on the city. Encouraged by the good mood that the beautiful weather put in this end of the first day, the crowds of students had emerged from the gates of the establishment to spread on the lawns and the parking, joining the school buses and the cars that waited for their drivers since the morning.
For about ten minutes, the entrance to the high school was more than a moving and bawling crowd, delighted by the end of the first day, trying to ignore the fact that the lessons were going to resume the next morning.
The quick step, the light heart, a thin lip smile, Fred had spent a few minutes at the entrance, near the useless grates. He wanted to see Greg and Francis and know if they had digested this first batch of school day.
And then, but that, he was trying not to confess to himself, because he hoped to see Francis again, hoping to look at his face a softer and calm gaze when he was near him.
Fred sighed about that thought. Despite everything he had done, he always hoped.
Not to have a chance to go out with Francis, the latter were now officially with Greg. But he wanted to know first of all if, in the distant future, he would have a chance to get a little more mercy on his part.
Turning the head from the right to the left, then bearing his attention farther away, in case the latter were already out, Fred sought a while. Seeing nothing coming, he withdrew his cell from his shirt pocket and slowly taking the path of his home, he sent a short message to Greg.
« Already out ? »
To avoid wasting time, Fred resumed his walk. He had only time to turn around the corner of the avenue that the reception vibration was felt. Taking his cell phone in his hands, he read the answer.
« We can't stay, I'm sorry. Daddy need us to go home. »
Fred was fairly familiar with Mark's character to know that none of the two boys would dare to disobey. Understanding that they would not be available for anything this day, he more frankly resumed his walk to his house.
--
An extended silence soothed the two occupants of the first floor. The closed window would let no sound from outside. Only the intense light of the sun was bathing the room, highlighting the beige walls formerly naked and now decorated with some posters. The wooden furniture all wore the same honey tint on which the colorful clothes of vivid tones thrown at the go-quickly somewhat swore. The bed was wide enough to accommodate two adults and leave them room, also the two teenagers did not seem fogged on the mattress. Despite all the place they had, they stood one against the other, hugging each other, hands gently rubbing the back of the partner. The two boys weren't bare, but almost. Francis rubbed his cheek, smiling, against Greg's nose who returned the gesture, their lips almost occasionally approaching, the hot saliva that had so much missed them throughout the day. The two boys had always a different look, illustrating for each one's deep affinity. Gregory hid his intimacy under a red jockstrap that emphasized his almost flat and firm buttocks. The rest of his body was the endorsement. Years of intense sporting practice had given him a dream body in his eyes. Thick, muscular, the boy exhaled intense virility.
Francis had a much more rounded body. His gluttony was defeated but years of excess were in his rebounded shapes. The boy was not weak anyway, his full-air activity built him gently but surely a more pleasant physique, including to his eyes. He would probably never be an Apollo, but he enjoyed his growing muscles under his grease. Francis liked the bottoms more closed. His rejection of his luscious butt had made him to favourite boxers. The one he wore this day was light gray. He was well carved on his body covered with a thin black coat. From time to time, they opened their eyes and watched. Each glance gave them a slight extra euphoria. Their relationship was only a few months old but each glance wore a promise of additional physical desire. None of the two were surprised to feel the physical excitement of the other when their curious hands lingered on their respective loins. They had, over the last few weeks, made love so many times that the words were useless to know what other desire was expressed by his posture, his gaze, his gesture.
Their situation seemed identical, and yet it slowly began to evolve. In the early days of their love, desire overwhelmed them easily, and they would happily cede. So often that Mark and Ed did not hesitate to underline this by sometimes salace and ironical remarks.
But now the two boys took their time. They discovered, learned the importance of bodies in a romantic relationship. Man against man, this did not change anything against this universal truth. The sex was only evanescent. What really mattered, what really built a couple, was the contact. What they believed to be the pinnacle of a relationship was only one component. They were satisfied with the sauce, believing that this was the most important of food. But now they were beginning to understand the importance of vegetables and meat that needed to be added to get the real full meal.
And what meal ! That was what Gregory thought, the current nose just under the right nipple of his young lover lying on his back. Francis smiled at his partner, happy to feel the expiration of the young Rott against his bare skin, his right hand under the flank of the boy, somewhat stiff by the muscular body weighing on it. But it would have broken the mood to withdraw it, or ask Greg to raise a little. An extra time of passion, it was worth a few extra pins and needles in the fingers.
« Get down, boys ! »
These three words were enough. The abrupt tone and the imperative of the phrase had broken for good the romantic ambiance prevailing in the room. The two boys were looking into the eyes. Both knew what to do, but none of them wanted to.
A short time, the teenagers believed being able to ignore the given order. They knew it was emanating from Mark and that each of his desires was orders. But like all good teenagers, they thought they could get rid of their duties by staying silent, hoping to erase their presence from the minds of the adults with whom they lived.
Futile hope. That's what Greg and Francis understood when three heavy shots were struck at their door and a powerful
« You have thirty seconds to come down before I cut the WiFi for the rest of the month ! »
remind them of reality.
Ranting somewhat despite their smiles, the last souvenir of their sentimental caresses, the two boys rose and hastened shirts and T-shirts to make themselves more presentable. Greg had assured his father Mark, on the other side of the door, that they had heard and they arrived.
Barefoot on the wooden staircase, the two boys came down on the ground floor, looking, a bit curious, Mark and Ed who waited in the kitchen. On the latter's table, instead of traditional food and work utensils, they were checkbooks. By approaching, the boys saw other elements. Envelopes. Cash, payment cards and a laptop computer. More accustomed to the thing Greg was, Francis identified a fairly old one already. The shapes were angular and its thickness had nothing to do with the current laptops. Without back up to the prehistoric times of the 1980s, Francis saw that he was in the presence of an at least ten years old machine. There were also two binders lying on the flank.
In the kitchen, backed up on the worktop, Ed covered the teenagers with his usual gaze. A look filled with attention, tinged with severity and enjoyment of being in their presence. Like Mark and the both lovers, he was bare feet too, yet still wearing the pants and shirt he had donned in the morning for the resumption of his post at the hospital.
Mark was still wearing his blue tracksuit. A size smaller, his informal uniform emphasized his great musculature, and it served him both for his training and to impress his pupils when they tried to challenge his authority.
« Well. We're going to be able to move on to serious things ! »
Mark wasn't hiding his joy. That fact pushed both boys to prudence. Mark pulled two chairs and put them side by side on the same side of the table, faced with the papers and the two greens binders.
« Sit down, this may take some time.
- How long ? We have our homework to do ! »
Mark wanted to ignore the remark, but he knew he could not afford it, while the two boys took over.
« You don't have much to do, and something tells me you've already reviewed your biology ! »
Ed didn't hide his amusement in the slight embarrassment of the teenagers.
« We made you come because it's time to give you special lessons."
Francis watched Ed.
« Lessons ? »
Ed nodded. Mark began to take some sheets from the heap on the table.
« Home Economics ! It's time for you two to get seriously prepared. You'll soon be sixteen, and your majority will be there faster than you can imagine ! »
Greg had taken some sheets on the table. There were for a nice sum, scrolling the contents of the bundle between his fingers. Mark noticed.
« Be careful not to lose anything. It's all the money of the month ! »
Greg and Francis watched the money and the cards.
« The money of the month ? »
Ed got closer.
« The money of the month, Yes. The one who serves us to pay the bills, the loan repayments, the groceries and the unexpected. To make simple, we will teach you to take care of it because now it is you two who will be in charge ! »
This would have made no difference if, for some unknown reason, the two chairs supporting Francis and Greg had suddenly changed into electric chairs. The eyes of the boys alternated between them, the papers and the adults, wondering if they hadn't lost their minds.
Ed and Mark understood perfectly what was happening in the younger brains. Mark had taken a workbook and opened it.
« Statements of accounts. Checkbooks. Invoices, tax records, reimbursement of medical expenses. These things, no one dream about, but they are part of an adult's life. No one escapes, and the best is to learn as soon as possible to manage this. It's boring, I know, but it's part of chores, just like housekeeping and cooking. »
Ed granted, alongside his husband.
« Of course, we are not going to let you go in nature like this. You will begin by learning how to set up a forecast budget. To make simple, what will remain once the obligatory expenses paid for eating. As Mark said, it is not exciting, but it is a obligatory passage to avoid having to borrow from months in months and finish crushed under debts. »
Ed noticed that Greg seemed less concerned than Francis, so he spoke particularly to him.
« It's valid for you too, Greg ! I know you believe you have a gold-paved future, but even wealthy people need to learn how to manage their money. Even more than the others.
Why is that ?
Because they have more to lose ! I know, almost none of them take care of it, and they entrust this to employees, notaries. But how will you do to live if your attorney empties your bank accounts and goes to the Bahamas to live a beautiful life ? »
Greg shrugged his shoulders.
« I don't think I'd like it. But well, I just should make more new money, right ? »
It was Mark's turn to shrug.
« And if you didn't earn any more money ? Because you would have had an injury that would have ended your career ? Or even worse, if you were injured before you got your chance ? You would be happy, to run the errands and be a jerk in a real TV show like all these has-been that you sometimes see getting ridiculed for ten bucks a week ? »
Greg's scowled a little bit. As many times, Mark was right. And as often, Greg hated to show that he agreed with his father. Ed talked.
« I'm the living proof. I don't think I'd have been on the top ten, but one moment has enough to go away forever, Greg. It can also happen to you. You must never forget it. »
Greg turned his gaze. But his face showed that he understood. Mark showed up.
« Of course, you will not sign the checks. You'll fill them up and we'll do the rest. To this will then be added to the driving lessons after your respective anniversaries. »
The eyes of the two boys, dull until then, are enlightened. Ed had to shower their hopes.
« Even with your license in the pocket, out of question to let you drive my car ! You will drive Mark's pick up ! »
The pouts of the boys were identically disappointed. Ed was smiling. His little sport coupe was safe. Even Mark agreed. His old pickup was worn and tired, but the repairs would be less costly. And then it was better to start driving old blunderbusses, than forced the young drivers to be more cautious. An essential quality for a long life of driving on the road. Mark took advantage of the short silence to return to the load.
« By the way, Greg, you started looking ? »
The boy shook his head.
« Not yet.
Don't drag, it's right now that the best places are found.
Daddy, do I really need to take a job ? »
Mark nodded.
« Oh yes ! Look at Francis ! He works on his side and gently pays us half of his earnings while he doesn't have to ! No question for you to pour it soft ! A part-time job is perfect to teach you the value of earned money !
- But, and the training ? What about the matches ? »
Mark shook his head.
« I didn't say you had to work full-time! I heard they were looking for stevedores in the northern quarters. It's handy, Ed can take you occasionally !
To be honest, I don't really want to stack cardboard for hours !
I know. I don't want to do it again. But I did it because I had nothing else. You have a golden future, boy. The universities will fight to get you and get you to play in their teams. This is the ideal springboard for the National League !
Why would I do it, then?
As I told you, you will learn the value of money. This will save you a lot of trouble because in the professional sports community, these are not the parasites that are lacking ! And we quickly made ourselves stripped by sycophants or unscrupulous agents ! Besides, they're physical jobs. The ideal to muscle you even more. And also because you work and contribute to the income of the house, or I'll cut your subscriptions. You will pay them yourself, and no more allowance ! You're not ten anymore ! »
Mark was no more serious. Greg turned to Ed, but the bear only endorsed his husband's words. He looked to Francis, who was merely smiling, approving also.
« Game, set and match, Greg ! »
Defeated, the boy gave up his forehead to the table heavily, despite being overcome.
« It's not the kind of thing than could happens to Fred ! »