25.
***
It was several months before Lynette once again saw Scott, and when it happened it was under circumstances that neither of them could have foreseen.
Though perhaps Kevin could have.
She was out getting food. With Kevin, that could sometimes be a very involved, very difficult experience. Because he did not like changes in his routine, even something as basic as a trip to the market could be met with resistance, as though such trips were not necessary inconveniences, but rather unnecessary frivolities that were taken at his expense. And even if she managed to convince him to come to the market, it was anyone's guess how he would react once he got there. Supermarkets were, she realized once, much like Vegas casinos: all glitz and glamor, and no clocks around so that one could quickly lose track of time and wander about the market all day long if allowed. That kind of environment was almost always overstimulating for Kevin, who would invariably retreat more and more into himself as the trip progressed, and sometimes would not come out of himself until hours or even days later.
But on this day, Kevin acted almost like any other child would have. He got his shoes and socks on without fuss, and even stood at the door as though anxious for the trip to begin. It was, in fact, one of those rare days when he acted so normal that it gave Lynette an overwhelming sense of optimism and hope. Perhaps things would be all right. Maybe their little family would make it after all.
That was until they went to the store. They arrived in the parking lot of the Albertson's and Lynette found a good spot right next to the door. That was also helpful, since she never knew quite whether Kevin would be happy to leave and dart right for the vehicle, or would be in tears over the idea of going home again. Either way, having the vehicle close was helpful since it allowed her to manage his mood more easily and get him home with less fuss.
She parked the car, and went around the back to open Kevin's door.
And that was when everything changed. The second she opened the door, Kevin did something he had never done before, not once in his entire life. Without waiting for her to help him out, without needing any kind of coaxing or asking him to please leave his laptop so that they could get out of the car, the boy jumped out, dodged under her arm...and ran.
Lynette stared after him for what seemed like an eternity before her legs finally started to work, before she finally started moving after her son who was now almost invisible between the many parked cars at the market.
"Kevin!" she screamed, and her voice was loud enough and so full of audible panic that several people looked over. They saw instantly what was going on - at least, they saw that there was a mother running after her son - and several of them gave chase as well, trying to corral Kevin toward her like a pack of dogs after a fox. Like a cunning fox, though, Kevin was able to outrun them, to switchback and change directions with almost preternatural fleetness so that no matter how many people were involved in the chase, he was always just a step ahead.
Lynette felt like her heart might burst out of her chest. Not only was she not used to having to chase someone all over a parking lot, but Kevin was constantly darting out from between the cars and into onrushing traffic, apparently not noticing or not caring about the times that he came frighteningly close to being crushed in the path of one of the gigantic SUVs that were the only thing that half the population of Idaho would drive.
"Kevin!" she screamed again, and reached out a hand. If it had been winter, if he had been wearing a coat with a hood, she would have caught him then, because she was so close, so close to catching him and stopping his sudden insane race. But it was still late summer, and Kevin was dressed in a T-shirt and shorts and so there was nothing for her to grab onto, nothing for her to hold and stop his movement. He danced away again, not like a fox now but like a zephyr, like a summer wind that came and went so fast you didn't know if it was real or a dream.
He was going to die, she knew. She could feel it in her bones. After all the strangeness of his life. After her embolism, after the many complications he had suffered as an infant.
After the gray man.
After all that, he was going to die here, now, in something as tragic and mundane as a collision in the parking lot of a supermarket.
It was too much to bear, and she redoubled her speed.
She caught him at last, pinning him to the side of a red Toyota so hard that the car rocked slightly on its hinges. Kevin screamed, but not in pain as she might have expected. Rather, he acted as though she had just taken away his laptop and forbidden him to use it ever again. It was as though he was having a tantrum, only one that was far worse than any she had ever previously experienced with him.
Then he kicked her. Just as he had on the day he had saved her from the knife of the gray man, her son aimed a perfectly formed front kick. This one, however, did not knock away a threatening blade, but instead hit her right in the nerve cluster below her left knee. Lynette's mouth turned into a round "o" of shock and pain, and her grip loosened just enough that Kevin was able to shrug entirely out of his shirt, leaving the empty clothing in her grasp, and ran through the parking lot again, this time bare-chested and screaming.
Not far, though. Before he had run too long he found what he had apparently been looking for. Lynette hobbled after him as fast as she could, limping slightly as her deadened leg stolidly refused to function properly, and caught up to him at the front of the Albertson's.
Where he was terrorizing a baby.
Lynette almost couldn't believe it, but there was no denying what he was doing, what her eyes were plainly seeing. A young mother had just left the supermarket, her cart full of groceries and with a small baby in the seat of the cart. Kevin was standing in front of the cart, screaming wordlessly and striking himself repeatedly on the head with his fist.
The mother tried to back up, to back away, and young Kevin followed her, moving as one with her cart, staying exactly the same distance from it at all times. The baby started crying, and Kevin redoubled his efforts, screaming even louder as though he was engaged in some kind of bizarre contest to see who could shriek the loudest.
Lynette finally caught up to Kevin, and tried to stifle his screams and self-flagellating attacks with a bearlike embrace. But her son sidestepped her outstretched arms, remaining focused on the baby as he continued to wail and rant.
They were drawing a crowd, adding embarrassment to the long list of unpleasant feelings that Lynette had experienced on this day. One of the store managers appeared, saying, "What's going on here?"
The young mother pointed at Kevin and used the word, the one word that Lynette hated most when used in conjunction with her son, her treasure. "This little freak is trying to attack me and my baby!" she wailed.
Lynette bristled, even as she continued trying to get her shrieking son under control. "He's not a freak," she half-screamed. Kevin was kicking and hitting at her with hands and arms, though thankfully no longer with the superlative aim he had earlier exhibited. Now instead of a fighting expert he merely looked like someone having the worst temper tantrum of all time. "He's got autism."
"I don't care if he has..." the young woman searched for an appropriate word, "...leprosy. He shouldn't be allowed out to hurt other children. He should be locked up."
And now Lynette was in two fights, one with her son, one with the woman standing protectively over her screaming infant. "Screw you, lady," said Lynette, and she felt years of repressed anger at the sideways glances and the nasty looks from those who were too fearful or weak to deal with someone like Kevin boiling to the surface. "At least my kid only attacks bigoted bitches."
That drew a gasp from the crowd. "Now, then," said the manager, clearly trying to assert some level of control over the gathering group and just as clearly not succeeding. "There's no need for name calling."
"This is the last time I ever come to this market!" screamed the young mother, now directing her attention at the manager, who was wringing his hands in a gesture of futile anxiety.
"Good!" Lynette screamed back, managing to get a hold of one of Kevin's hands and pinning it to her chest. "Then I know I can always come here!"
Kevin lashed out with the other fist, then, and did another first: he struck Lynette. Though he had occasionally hit himself before, he had never once raised his hand against her. Lynette almost let go of her son, she was so surprised at the move, and immediately felt her eye begin to throb as blood rushed to what would surely be a bright purple bruise in a few more hours.
But she didn't let go, even when he balled his other little hand into a fist and raised it to strike her again, and Lynette was so aghast that there was nothing she could do about it.
Then a large hand, callused and rough, came out of the crowd and caught Kevin's hand mid-strike.
She looked up, and saw Scott. The man with the scarred face was not angry-looking as most of the people around were, but neither was he smiling. At first she thought that he was going to try to wrestle Kevin to the ground, but in the next instant realized that she needn't have worried about any such thing.
Instead of trying to overpower Kevin physically, Scott dropped the groceries he had been holding and then knelt on one knee in front of her son. "Hey, son," he whispered intensely, "if you're going to hit someone, why don't you take a poke at me?"
Instead of continuing his temper tantrum, instead of "taking a poke" at Scott, Kevin did something that not only had Lynette never before seen, but even on this day of firsts she was utterly stunned by it.
Kevin stopped crying.
He stopped screaming.
He dropped his hands.
And ran into Scott's arms, rushing at the man so hard and fast that Scott was almost knocked off his feet.
And then Lynette was knocked off her feet, along with the rest of the people who were watching at the entrance to the store.
Because at that moment the world exploded.
***