Broken - 20. Brian’s Place

The next morning was bright but chilly. The only way that Brian could have snuggled up any closer was if he had crawled into my skin.

I was still sore from my crash on the way home the night before. Wasn’t much of a thing but once I was awake, there was no going back to sleep. I lay there quietly and just enjoyed being close to Brian.

People didn’t know him like I did and it was a damned shame. Events of the last year had changed him. He was a sullen, angry kid to most adults with the notable exception of my Mom. They called him a “little thug” or a “druggie”. To me, he was the same old Brian, just a lot needier and without any confidence.

From the way he had been the night before; some things were beginning to make a whole lot more sense to me now. I suspected that Brian had a lot more in common with his older brother Doug than his red hair and freckles. When his father had rejected Doug, he had also rejected Brian.

I was torn. Scotty loved me and I loved him deeply but Brian needed me. Damn this was hard.

I would rather hurt myself than injure Scotty in any way. But Brian... truthfully, I was scared for him. The crap he had to put up with at home, the drugs he was doing and the assholes at school- well hell, we were in exactly the same boat. The only differences were that he was way ahead of me on the drug thing and I could take a lot more punishment.

As the light of the sun began to peer through the window, it caught his hair and face giving him an angelic glow. There was really no way to describe Brian other than pretty. Not in a girlish sort of way but his features were delicate. His skin was like fine porcelain and his hair shown like brushed copper in the sun.

Suddenly he farted loudly and broke the spell. I started laughing and he woke up smiling.

He looked at me puzzled and said, “What?”

I laughed fanning my face, “The sauerkraut from last night was talking.”

“Ugh... time to get some air.”

We both got up went outside and blundered around for a minute gathering our wits.

“What you want to do today?” I asked.

Brian snickered, “Smoke some bud.”

“Yeah, but after that?”

“Smoke some more bud.”

“Feel like breakfast? My house isn’t far and my Mom loves you.” I offered.

Brian thought about it for a moment. “How about breakfast at my place?”

“Really?”

He smiled and said, “Really. My new place.”

We got our stuff together and Brian started heading off towards Oak Hill Road. I left my bike stashed at the fort and followed him wondering where we were going.

After a fifteen-minute walk, we veered off the main path on to a side trail and came out of the woods in the back yard of a nice split level brick house. There was a nice pool and a deck but it was the wrong time of year for them. Brian walked up to be back door and knocked on it like he knew what he was doing.

A tall, slender man, probably just short of thirty, opened the door with a warm, welcoming smile. “Brian, how are you kiddo. Come on in. Who is your friend?”

Brian politely said, “Casey, this is my friend Jimmy.”

I shook his hand and said, “Pleased to meet you sir.”

He laughed and said, “While I appreciate good manners, I’m neither old nor respectable enough to be called sir. Just Casey, OK?”

I smiled and nodded shyly. Despite my general mistrust of adults, I found myself liking this guy... and I smelled sausage.

Casey looked me over and asked, “Are you OK? You look pretty banged up.”

“I took a spill on my bike yesterday. I’m sore but I’m OK. It’s nothing breakfast wouldn’t fix.”

Casey smiled and said, “Well, by all means, follow me to the kitchen. Did you guys have fun camping out last night?”

Brian answered, “It got a little cool this morning.”

Casey chuckled and said, “Well, that’s Mississippi for you. This time of year it can be eighty or twenty. I’ve got some sausage and biscuits on the stove.”

“That would really hit the spot.” Brian said smiling.

Casey said, “I’ll fix you guys a plate, Brian, you know where the OJ is.”

Casey fixed two plates and Brian got some OJ for us and quick as a wink we were having breakfast.

When we were done, Casey asked, “Jimmy, has Brian told you about staying here?”

I blinked and said, “Uhhh.”

Brian came to my rescue and said, “I thought I’d introduce you and we could talk about it.”

Casey nodded. “I’m Brian’s cousin on their Mom’s side. Doug stayed here for a while before we got him sorted out with his Uncle in Ruston. After the shit that Brian’s old man pulled this Christmas, I’ve let Brian have a room here. His Mom is in Clinton with Mark but didn’t want to move Brian out of school if she didn’t have to.”

I sighed. “I’m glad that you told me. I knew something was up but I didn’t know what. I knew that I hadn’t seen Brian at his old house for a while.”

Brian sighed, “For years Doug took my Dad’s crap and protected us from it. Then when he got thrown out, it all fell on Mom and me and we just couldn’t handle it. Mom finally left his ass and took Mark so the bastard is at home by himself. Damn. Talking about him makes me feel dirty. I need a shower. Be out in a minute.” Brian retreated upstairs.

I felt a little uncomfortable but Casey was a very nice fellow. He offered me some more breakfast but I politely declined and he continued our conversation.

When Brian was upstairs, Casey shook his head and said, “Brian is really hurting Jimmy. I know that you all are. I’m familiar with what happened this past summer and it was bullshit from the get-go.”

I suddenly got that sinking feeling that I always got whenever that shit came up.

Casey exclaimed, “Now don’t you go getting all ashamed. Rainer should be real ashamed- ignorant piece of crap that he is. The trailer-trash bastards messing with you guys should be ashamed. You and Brian have nothing to be ashamed about.”

I sighed and replied quietly, “Thanks Casey. It’s complicated for me. My folks are religious and it seems like everybody in town knows what happened.”

Casey laughed bitterly. “Everybody talks about small towns like they are all Norman Rockwell and shit but the fact is a whole lot uglier than the fiction. When something like this happens, it’s the most interesting thing to happen since the volunteer fire department got Aunt Gertrude’s cat out of a tree last November. First they’ll talk about all they know until they’re bored of it. Then they’ll start making stuff up. Before long they’ll have you’ll be leading a secret pagan cult of maniacs that feed babies to demons and have blood orgies in the middle of the night when decent folk are in bed.”

“What can I do about it?”

Casey sighed and said, “I don’t know Jimmy but one thing is for sure— you have got to watch your back. All of you do. Brian and I have talked about this a lot.”

He got up from his chair and motioned for me to follow him into the kitchen. I followed slowly as I was still sore from getting clothes-lined and slammed the night before.

When I arrived in the kitchen, he had a big first aid kit out on the kitchen table. He didn’t really ask me, he said, quite reasonably, “Sit on the stool and take off your shirt. I could tell just sitting there that you’re uncomfortable. In case you’re wondering, I’m a paramedic so I’m a good guy to have around for snake bites, bike crashes and all that.”

I took off my shirt and he looked at my back. He took some gauze out of his first aid kit and soaked it in hydrogen peroxide. He started cleaning up the places on my back where I had landed on pine cones. “It’s no wonder you were uncomfortable Jimmy. This had to smart.”

When he was done cleaning the wounds, he got a big pair of tweezers out of his kit and started digging out splinters. That wasn’t my favorite part.

Casey said, “There’s one more thing we need to talk about before Brian gets back.”

“What’s that Casey?”

“Brian is falling for you hard Jimmy. I can see it in the way he looks at you, how he acts around you and how he talks about you. Look, I know we just met, and you are involved with someone else but I’m looking after him. Please don’t hurt him. He doesn’t need it. Not now, not after all the crap he’s been through.”

“Casey, I wouldn’t think of it. I’ve been thinking about this and I won’t do anything that will hurt him.”

He smiled. “Good. I didn’t take you for the vicious type. Just be careful, OK?”

I nodded grimly. Why couldn’t anything be simple?

Brian came galloping downstairs looking fresh from the shower. He grinned at the sight of my wincing and grimacing as Casey plucked pine burrs out of my back as I sat on the stool. He parked in a chair at the kitchen table saying, “Casey is good at that you know. I spent a whole day sitting right there on that stool when I crashed into Mrs. Berry’s cactus two summers ago.”

Casey snorted, “As I recall, you weren’t too pleased about it either.”

“I can think of much better things to do with a Saturday.” Brian said as he sat with his elbows on his knees.

Casey continued for a few more minutes. “Well, this wasn’t so bad. Anything else banged up?”

I sat back on the stool and said, “Just some scratches. No big deal.”

Brian wasn’t going to let that go. “No big deal? Jimmy, you were out cold when I found you. You had been out for what? A few hours? Landed on his head of course, no big deal.”

Casey probed the back of my head which was still quite sensitive. I jumped when he poked in a particularly sensitive spot. He asked, “Any nausea, blurred vision, headaches?”

“Well, I did barf after I came too. Other than that it’s just sore and I do have a headache.”

He took a small flashlight, looked at my pupils and poked around the back of my head a little more. “All right Jimmy. You can put your shirt back on. Have a seat at the table and let me talk to you a bit.”

I did as he asked. Casey closed and put up his rather large first aid kit and took a seat at the table.

“Jimmy, you’ve had a concussion. Do you know what that is?”

“A good smack in the head?”

He grinned and said, “Well, that’s essentially correct. Concussions can be serious though. If someone had found you and called an ambulance last night, you would have spent the night in the hospital.”

“What do I need to do?” I asked, a little anxiously.

Casey smiled and gave my shoulder a pat. “You’re a tough kid and I don’t see any bad signs. You ought to be just fine. Just take it easy for the rest of the weekend— nothing too rough. You don’t need to land on that thick head of yours again anytime soon. I’ll give you some aspirin and that should help with the headache.”

We sat and talked for a good while. Casey was really cool and I was glad to know him. After a while I began to feel pretty gamey and in need of a shower. I decided to excuse myself but before I left, Casey told us both something that got us both real excited: Doug was coming over for spring break!

I told Brian to meet me back at the fort after lunch and I made a quick run back to my house via the fort to pick up my bike.

When I got there my folks were out. They left a note saying that they had taken a day trip to Raleigh to see my Uncle. Mom had left a couple of sandwiches in the fridge so I cut the grass, got cleaned up and ate lunch.

I returned to the fort by one o’clock to find Brian rolling a few joints. We took Casey’s suggestion and enjoyed a warm spring afternoon taking it real easy.

We smoked out, listened to tunes and did a whole lot of nothing enjoying every minute of it.