[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
irement home where they were supposed to be helping out. They each had to s
tay an extra hour that day because of the incident. So, Ray kept Caleb and
Jame separated, except for when he had the four of us picking up littler of
f the highway, or other places around town--mostly places where tourists fr
equented. He had us doing that a lot. The rest of the time, we were broken
up into two, or just by ourselves, helping out around local businesses or c
harities. A couple times I ended up in someone s barn cleaning up after hor
ses or at the Humane Society getting scratched to hell by cats that needed
baths. The chores weren t so bad, I guess. And, it only took me a week to g
et used to the early schedule. Most days Caleb and I would get there togeth
er, Ray would tell us what we were doing, and Officer Trujillo would threat
en to shoot us. Most of the time, Milo and Jame simply wouldn t speak to Ca
leb and me, and we didn t speak to them unless it was required. I tried to
be friendly, though. Caleb didn t seem to understand this, but he tolerated
it--to a point. One day when it was particularly windy, Milo was faced wit
h a knocked-over trash can near the campground and when I went to help, he
d told me to fuck off. I helped him anyway, when he made no further objecti
on, but Caleb had heard what was said and the next thing I knew he was with
us and threatening Milo with all sorts of bodily harm before Trujillo, who
was babysitting us that day, told us to knock it off, or he d shoot us. Ca
leb s outbursts only earned me more dirty looks from Milo. It was becoming
discouraging.
I wouldn t say that I was trying to be friends with Milo Trust. It would hav
e been a futile task to attempt something like friendship. He hung out with
Assface. According to Caleb, befriending Assface or anyone who liked Assface
would be like a crime against the human race as we knew it. But, I couldn t
help being a little drawn to Milo. Caleb had given me my duffle bag back th
at second night when I dropped him off at his house and I d hung Milo s pain
ting on my wall, so it was the first thing I saw when I walked into my bedro
om. My mom had said that she really liked it. I told her I did, too, but I d
idn t say that every time I looked at it I thought of the artist, and spent
most of the time I usually spent sketching up goofy comics of my friends, sk
etching images of that night, at least the ones I could remember. But, every
thing was of Milo. Milo at the beach, selling Haily and I that painting. Mil
o kneeling down in front of his car to change the tire, Milo over me, ready
to rip my head off...
I did a lot of thinking about Milo. As the weeks passed and everyone s pare
nts let up on their punishments, Joe and Haily began to come visit Caleb an
d me at whatever one of the four bakeries we worked at on the weekends; and
as my friends and I were able to schedule more visits with each other, mee
ting for a short time at someone s house, or even meeting at Hangman Cove a
fter Caleb and I were finished with our community service for the day, thin
gs began to feel normal again. But when I was home, and by myself in my roo
m, I was always thinking about Milo. When it came to his painting, I though
t about returning it every time I looked at it, but he never asked me to, s
o it stayed right there on the wall in room, and continued to be the first
thing I saw when I walked in. Until four days before our community service
was supposed to be over.
Uncle Ray had decided to let the four of us off two days early, giving us a
free weekend before school started again. Four days before, on a Tuesday m
orning, once again I d found myself picking up litter near the highway as I
listened to Caleb bitch about how he wanted to get laid at least one more
time before summer ended, preferably at Hangman Cove because this year, he
wanted to hang a bra next to the scarecrow. I wasn t to tell Haily this bec
ause according to Caleb, she d slap him. He was likely correct in his assum
ption.
"So you wanna go to Hangman this weekend?" I asked him.
"Hell, yeah. But Joe s not fucking driving. You think Haily will agree to be
designated?"
"I ll do it," I replied.
Caleb gave me a funny look. "You sure?"
"Yeah, it s no problem," I insisted.
"Yeah, you guys missed a spot!"
I frowned, wondering why Assface took it upon himself to provoke Caleb. I f
ound myself grabbing my best friend s arm, just in case he decided that he
was in a bad mood. But instead he looked at the empty soda can amongst a ta
ngle of tumbleweeds on the side of the road, picked it up, and threw it in
Jame s direction. Jame laughed, and I saw Milo smack his arm and tell him t
o just get back to work. Caleb turned to me, shaking his head.
"I m so tired of those fuckers," he remarked. "I can t wait til this shit is
over and we don t have to deal with them anymore."
It was those very words that had me pausing to look towards Milo, and suddenl
y, our community service being over didn t sound like such a good thing. Summ
er was almost over. I d be starting school, at a school that Milo Trust didn
t go to. I felt a little sad about that. Maybe we weren t exactly friends, bu
t I was pretty sure that I d miss seeing him. I d even miss the way he glared
at me, or the way he told me to fuck off when I tried to do something to hel
p him. It was kinda pathetic, actually, this sense of loss I felt. But that n
ight when I went home and looked at Milo s painting, a strange sense of closu
re came over me as I finally decided that I needed to return it. He d lost al
l of his work that night, except this, and since I was partly responsible for
destroying the other paintings, I d convinced myself that I didn t have a ri
ght to have this one, no matter how much I d grown to love it.
Only, returning it was easier said than done. I took it with me to the Polic
e department the next day, but when I tried to return it to Milo, he rolled
his green eyes at me and walked away. Now, I understand that a normal person
would have figured that he didn t want it back, and likely would have left
the situation alone, but I didn t do that. Instead, that afternoon, I looked
up the Trust s phone number in the phone book. Of course, it wasn t listed.
So, on Thursday, I did something incredibly stalker-ish. I followed Milo Tr
ust home. Actually, first I followed him to Assface s house when he dropped
off Jame, and then I followed him home. I was actually really surprised that
he didn t see me, even though I tried to stay a block away from him at all
times. But even then, I was really surprised that he hadn t heard me, since
Caleb was in the car, and adamantly objecting to this behavior.
"Please tell me we re doing this so we can egg their houses later," he d said.
"I just want his address so I can mail that painting back," I explained, at w
hich point Caleb rolled his eyes at me and insisted that if it were him, that
stupid painting would be in a million pieces and floating across the lake. W
e were on our way home shortly after that, after I d seen Milo pull into a lo
ng driveway, only a block or so away from where all of our troubles had start
ed three weeks before.
........................................
I d never planned on mailing that painting back. I d planned to do somethin [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl akte20.pev.pl
irement home where they were supposed to be helping out. They each had to s
tay an extra hour that day because of the incident. So, Ray kept Caleb and
Jame separated, except for when he had the four of us picking up littler of
f the highway, or other places around town--mostly places where tourists fr
equented. He had us doing that a lot. The rest of the time, we were broken
up into two, or just by ourselves, helping out around local businesses or c
harities. A couple times I ended up in someone s barn cleaning up after hor
ses or at the Humane Society getting scratched to hell by cats that needed
baths. The chores weren t so bad, I guess. And, it only took me a week to g
et used to the early schedule. Most days Caleb and I would get there togeth
er, Ray would tell us what we were doing, and Officer Trujillo would threat
en to shoot us. Most of the time, Milo and Jame simply wouldn t speak to Ca
leb and me, and we didn t speak to them unless it was required. I tried to
be friendly, though. Caleb didn t seem to understand this, but he tolerated
it--to a point. One day when it was particularly windy, Milo was faced wit
h a knocked-over trash can near the campground and when I went to help, he
d told me to fuck off. I helped him anyway, when he made no further objecti
on, but Caleb had heard what was said and the next thing I knew he was with
us and threatening Milo with all sorts of bodily harm before Trujillo, who
was babysitting us that day, told us to knock it off, or he d shoot us. Ca
leb s outbursts only earned me more dirty looks from Milo. It was becoming
discouraging.
I wouldn t say that I was trying to be friends with Milo Trust. It would hav
e been a futile task to attempt something like friendship. He hung out with
Assface. According to Caleb, befriending Assface or anyone who liked Assface
would be like a crime against the human race as we knew it. But, I couldn t
help being a little drawn to Milo. Caleb had given me my duffle bag back th
at second night when I dropped him off at his house and I d hung Milo s pain
ting on my wall, so it was the first thing I saw when I walked into my bedro
om. My mom had said that she really liked it. I told her I did, too, but I d
idn t say that every time I looked at it I thought of the artist, and spent
most of the time I usually spent sketching up goofy comics of my friends, sk
etching images of that night, at least the ones I could remember. But, every
thing was of Milo. Milo at the beach, selling Haily and I that painting. Mil
o kneeling down in front of his car to change the tire, Milo over me, ready
to rip my head off...
I did a lot of thinking about Milo. As the weeks passed and everyone s pare
nts let up on their punishments, Joe and Haily began to come visit Caleb an
d me at whatever one of the four bakeries we worked at on the weekends; and
as my friends and I were able to schedule more visits with each other, mee
ting for a short time at someone s house, or even meeting at Hangman Cove a
fter Caleb and I were finished with our community service for the day, thin
gs began to feel normal again. But when I was home, and by myself in my roo
m, I was always thinking about Milo. When it came to his painting, I though
t about returning it every time I looked at it, but he never asked me to, s
o it stayed right there on the wall in room, and continued to be the first
thing I saw when I walked in. Until four days before our community service
was supposed to be over.
Uncle Ray had decided to let the four of us off two days early, giving us a
free weekend before school started again. Four days before, on a Tuesday m
orning, once again I d found myself picking up litter near the highway as I
listened to Caleb bitch about how he wanted to get laid at least one more
time before summer ended, preferably at Hangman Cove because this year, he
wanted to hang a bra next to the scarecrow. I wasn t to tell Haily this bec
ause according to Caleb, she d slap him. He was likely correct in his assum
ption.
"So you wanna go to Hangman this weekend?" I asked him.
"Hell, yeah. But Joe s not fucking driving. You think Haily will agree to be
designated?"
"I ll do it," I replied.
Caleb gave me a funny look. "You sure?"
"Yeah, it s no problem," I insisted.
"Yeah, you guys missed a spot!"
I frowned, wondering why Assface took it upon himself to provoke Caleb. I f
ound myself grabbing my best friend s arm, just in case he decided that he
was in a bad mood. But instead he looked at the empty soda can amongst a ta
ngle of tumbleweeds on the side of the road, picked it up, and threw it in
Jame s direction. Jame laughed, and I saw Milo smack his arm and tell him t
o just get back to work. Caleb turned to me, shaking his head.
"I m so tired of those fuckers," he remarked. "I can t wait til this shit is
over and we don t have to deal with them anymore."
It was those very words that had me pausing to look towards Milo, and suddenl
y, our community service being over didn t sound like such a good thing. Summ
er was almost over. I d be starting school, at a school that Milo Trust didn
t go to. I felt a little sad about that. Maybe we weren t exactly friends, bu
t I was pretty sure that I d miss seeing him. I d even miss the way he glared
at me, or the way he told me to fuck off when I tried to do something to hel
p him. It was kinda pathetic, actually, this sense of loss I felt. But that n
ight when I went home and looked at Milo s painting, a strange sense of closu
re came over me as I finally decided that I needed to return it. He d lost al
l of his work that night, except this, and since I was partly responsible for
destroying the other paintings, I d convinced myself that I didn t have a ri
ght to have this one, no matter how much I d grown to love it.
Only, returning it was easier said than done. I took it with me to the Polic
e department the next day, but when I tried to return it to Milo, he rolled
his green eyes at me and walked away. Now, I understand that a normal person
would have figured that he didn t want it back, and likely would have left
the situation alone, but I didn t do that. Instead, that afternoon, I looked
up the Trust s phone number in the phone book. Of course, it wasn t listed.
So, on Thursday, I did something incredibly stalker-ish. I followed Milo Tr
ust home. Actually, first I followed him to Assface s house when he dropped
off Jame, and then I followed him home. I was actually really surprised that
he didn t see me, even though I tried to stay a block away from him at all
times. But even then, I was really surprised that he hadn t heard me, since
Caleb was in the car, and adamantly objecting to this behavior.
"Please tell me we re doing this so we can egg their houses later," he d said.
"I just want his address so I can mail that painting back," I explained, at w
hich point Caleb rolled his eyes at me and insisted that if it were him, that
stupid painting would be in a million pieces and floating across the lake. W
e were on our way home shortly after that, after I d seen Milo pull into a lo
ng driveway, only a block or so away from where all of our troubles had start
ed three weeks before.
........................................
I d never planned on mailing that painting back. I d planned to do somethin [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]