“Ever use one of these?”
“No.” I looked back a little hesitant. “I don’t know if we should do it, Jess.”
“Come on, Alex. You know ya want to.”
I stared into a scheming set of blue eyes. I’d seen water guns, but nothing like the double-barrel, turbo, twenty-foot slingers Jess pulled from his large duffle bag. He walked to the sliding doors leading out behind the hospital. Looking back over his shoulder, I got his ornery grin. “You comin’?”
That seemed to be the way Jess handled things. He just assumed I would follow behind and well, I always did. “Wait. I’m coming.”
Every day for the last two weeks, Mrs. Mason brought us food. She delivered baskets of casseroles and foil wrapped hamburgers and even a pie with fluffy meringue. I wasn’t sure if she actually made the food or scared some poor soul into sending us handouts. Mrs. Mason was a little over the top, but I didn’t care. Every time she came, Jess always arrived with her. It was hard not to be pulled into the contagious world of Jess. With each visit, he gave me a few hours to be a kid again.
My mother continued to get worse and eventually slipped into a coma. Most afternoons, Jess and I were sequestered in a corner of the waiting room. We played board games and watched television. Jess liked to talk. He carried most of the conversations while I said little. Jess had an accent as thick as pancake syrup. When he got excited, he slurred all his words together, making it hard to understand.
“Alex, you’re goin’ on this side of the buildin’ and I’ll get on the other side by the bushes. The tree in the center is the safe zone. Make sense?” He handed me a super soaker he filled up from a hydrant behind the hospital.
“Yeah, I guess so. No leaving this area, right?” I asked. From that exact angle, no one could see what we were doing with the water guns.
“Nope.” He shook his head back and forth, making his shaggy black hair swing over his eyes. Jess grinned with a smirk, “Go!”
We spent the next ten or so minutes running around, taking wild shots and diving behind bushes. Jess was much better than me. I took a few hits to the back, soaking my gray t-shirt to the skin. My shots were not as well-aimed. Jess had a few splattered water spots across one leg of his jeans.
Jess ran out of the fight zone toward the hospital side entrance. I followed after him inside the building just in time to see the elevator door slide shut with Jess inside. I glanced around, looking for the staircase. Sprinting up the steps two at a time, I reached the top just as the elevator doors opened. I shot in rapid fire motion, hitting Jess in the face and chest. The water in my gun flowed down like a waterfall against the walls, soaking the carpet. Jess pushed every button on the panel to get the door to close, but I dove on my stomach across the metal grate just before they slid shut.
“I’ve got you! Surrender!” I pumped every remaining drop onto his face. The heavy stream hit his skin and overflowed into the control panel. Sirens blared. Red lights blinked. The elevator came to a screeching halt in emergency mode.
“What did you do?” I glared at him.
“What did I do?” He yelled back at me over the sirens.
“I was just following you! I knew you would get us in trouble. You broke the buttons!”
“You shot water in the controls!”
We stood on opposite ends of the elevator, staring each other down. His hand uncurled with a red knob clasped inside.
“What is that, Jess?”
“I don’t know. It sort of just fell off. Please don’t get mad at me.” Jess looked pathetic with his hair plastered to his forehead, water dripping down his cheeks. “I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“You always act like this, don’t you?” I sat down on the floor, my wet clothes causing me to shiver. The siren pulsated in the background, making it much harder to think and talk in the elevator.
“Oh, come on, Alex. I’m really sorry,” Jess pleaded. “I should have left those at home. I just wanted you to play with ‘em. You said you ain’t ever used one before.”
“I don’t want to talk to you right now,” I glared at him. “You have nothing to lose. I’m the one who will be in so much trouble.”
“You think I don’t ever get in trouble? Well I do!”
“Sure you do,” I shot back.
“They’re gonna have me scoopin’ poop again. I hate poop.”
“Poop?”
“Yup. Poop.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Horse poop. Cow poop. Dog poop. He’ll make me clean all of it. Gets all over me.”
I secretly laughed at the idea of Jess with poop smeared all over him. Serves him right! Water gun in a hospital would be a big deal to my father. He would ground me until I could drive.
“You want a Skittle?” Jess pulled a bag from his pocket. I glared, no, as he shoved a few handfuls in his mouth. I swear that boy ate nothing but Skittles.
The minutes ticked by as Jess crunched next to me. I did my best to ignore him. The sirens stopped, but the elevator didn’t move. He was driving me crazy chomping on his dang candy.
“Why do you come here?” I asked.
“What’d ya mean?” He looked up.
“Here at the hospital. Why?” I’d contemplated the idea for some time. Our whole family situation had me thinking terrible things.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged his shoulders.
“You don’t know why you come here every day?”
Jess shrugged again. “It’s fun to hang out here.”
“Your mother doesn’t make you?”
“Why would she do that?” He looked confused.
“Forget it,” I shot back. He didn’t seem to know what I was talking about and it was time to end the questions. I went back to angry silence.
“You think she makes me hang out with you, don’t ya?”
“You have your whole ranch and everything. You talk about it all the time. But you come here. I just don’t understand why you don’t stay home.”
Jess watched me like he was trying to figure out what to do next. His lips twisted around before answering. “I’m the only kid at the ranch, so I like comin’ up here. I like hangin’ out with you. I think you’re pretty cool. I mean, for a girl.”
My cheeks burned red. “Oh.”
“You wish I didn’t come?”
“I don’t know,” I mumbled.
“You don’t know? Maybe I just won’t come anymore since you don’t like me.”
“No, wait. That’s not what I meant.” It was difficult letting someone get this close to me, letting him see how far my broken life had spiraled. Letting him know I would crumble back into the deep darkness if his visits stopped.
“I don’t want you to stop coming.”
“So ya dooo like me?” His blue eyes shot open, lifting his dark eyebrows. “I knew ya did.”
“Don’t make a big deal out of it.” I felt the red flush on my cheeks.
“Ok,” he said, cramming another handful of rainbow dots in his mouth. He crunched with that silly grin.
“Jess, I think we are moving!”
We jumped up and waited for the doors to open. Stepping out in the lobby, we faced a crowd of people. Each set of eyes stared at the water dripping from our clothes and the large orange guns in our hands. I took a quick tally and saw my father, the Masons, the maintenance crew, three firemen, and an assortment of hospital staff. This was bad.
I took a step sideways to be shoulder to shoulder with Jess. It felt much better to be closer to him. I needed reassurance from the boy who was my only friend. Jess winked at me with a half smile. Glancing back toward the crowd, I avoided the disappointed look on my father’s face but found another one that seemed worse. I was right about her. Mrs. Mason was definitely scary when she was angry. Maybe Jess wasn’t kidding when he talked about getting in trouble. This would be bad for both of us.
Chapter 8
When I was eight…