18 Weeks of Twoey - 74. Week Eleven Thursday, November 13, 2014: Phumbling Photog

The hardest tumble a man can make is to fall over his own bluff

- Ambrose Bierce

***

Chuck

David met me this morning like he did yesterday, and like yesterday we went to the same spot. I gave him the camera and also gave him the basics of how to use it. I even made him take a few pictures down the hall to see how the zoom worked. When the flash went off he was surprised.

“Can I turn the flash off?”

“Yes, but it’s one of the clunky things about this older model. You need to go two steps into the menu to do it.”

We practiced and he got it pretty fast. Then I warned him.

“The flash will stay off until you turn the camera off. But when you turn it back on, you have to go through the menu to turn it off again.”

“Where do the pictures get stored?”

I showed him the memory card.

“It’ll hold a couple hundred pictures and I erased all my old stuff, so it’s empty now.”

“Where do you buy a card like this?”

“Any drug store or camera store will have them.”

I explained how to tell the right size and then I had to explain all about the various memory capacities. David knows shit about cameras. I also gave him the charger.

“David, this camera is old and so is its battery. You need to charge it every night cuz it’ll run down fast.”

“How do I transfer pictures to my computer?”

I showed him the socket but hadn't brought a cable. He took one look and said he had a cable. He thanked me, promised to return it in a couple weeks and took off.

At lunch, Matty asked if I wanted another sleepover Saturday night. I almost jumped across the table to plant a kiss on his face! Nah ...I didn't do that, but I gave him a big smile.

“You bet!”

David2

I rode the bike to school today because I knew I'd have a lot to do. After Chuck gave me the camera, I slipped out and rode over to Walgreens and bought another memory card. Then I decided to take a little ride to check out the Dennison, Ribbon and Zimmerman houses and neighborhoods.

The Dennison yard and house looked pretty good for me. There's an area at the very back of the property where I can be hidden from the neighbors and probably get a good view through the windows with the zoom.

Ribbon's house has lots of shrubbery which can be good for hiding behind most of the back and rear portion of each side. The only problem, it's a two story house and the fuck-bedroom could be upstairs, which would make me shit-out-of-luck.

Zimmerman's is actually in a four-apartment building. I had to check the mailboxes and try to determine which apartment it was. It seems to run front to back on the left. It means I would be too exposed on the side, but there is a parking lot in the rear, which could give me plenty of good cover if the bedroom I need is also in the rear. Let's hope.

Since I had a little time before third period math, I checked out Grady's. Two stories also, but since upstairs looks like only two bedrooms, I'm hoping Ron and Rachel are upstairs while the Mr. and Mrs. is downstairs. Pretty good cover there too. I don't really have to be successful at every house. Even just one more would be great, since I know where to be waiting next Monday at the Tomax house.

The only classes I attended today were math and Adv Prep. I didn't really need to go to math, but I knew Elcher would track me down or report me missing. I want to go to Adv Prep. The other teachers couldn't give a shit about me, but Mrs. Delmonico cares. Of course, there's Alex. I owed Chuck at least a smile in math and we did more probability experiments. I spent lunch in the library again, and finished the math homework. Adv Prep was really interesting, as usual, but finally Megan contributed. She's a really smart girl too. I like this class with its smart girls.

After we were finished with group work for the period, Alex asked where I went after Kory's last night. I know she only meant to make conversation, but I was a little pissed off she wouldn't realize I'd have told them up front, if I wanted them to know. I mean she's smart ...she should have figured it out in like ...5 seconds! Randy and I shared a glance and I could tell he got it. But I decided to play it off in a joking manner. Maybe tell her something to make her not ask in the future. The bell was just about to ring, so I waited until there were two ticks left on the clock.

“Oh, I just got laid.”

{{ RING }} ...and I was out of there, chuckling as I left.

I slipped out of school, ditching the rest of the day. After sneaking into my house, I changed into dark ninja clothes, with a dark warm jacket. Taking everything out of my backpack except the camera, I biked over to Enos’s place. The SUV was still there. It wasn't long before he came out to hop in. I think I was just lucky Monday he left so late. I'm sure this is closer to the time he's more likely to visit his chickens. I started to follow but as soon as he turned left after one block I knew exactly where he was going. I took a parallel street and flew to Mrs. Ribbon's house. I dropped my bike across the street and bounded over just as I spotted his car turning at the corner. I went to the back and got hidden between some bushes and a tree with a view of the back windows. The leaves were all fallen, but the bushes were pretty dense with branches, so in my ninja color I think I was pretty hidden, unless you went out and actually looked for me. It was two stories, so I knew I'd hafta get a little lucky. I turned on the camera, went down the menu and killed the flash. This was a clumsy procedure. I wondered who the engineer was who figured nobody would ever be in a hurry dealing with the flash?

I heard his car door shut, the side door of the house open, close and then I watched the windows for lights or shadows. After a few minutes the light went on in an upstairs window. SHIT. But I got the camera ready anyway and zoomed in, focusing on that window. Maybe there would be something to see. I waited forever and nothing happened. Then a lady came to the window to pull the blinds. I could see her hands go to the side where the cord was. She was centered in the window and she was in a flimsy thing. I guess women think those are sexy or something. So, feeling like a pervert, I started the camera on auto-take, where it takes a picture every few seconds if you hold the shutter down. I sure am glad I was a fast learner, because he came up beside her and, while I don't think I could see his junk, there was no doubt he was naked. Then the blinds fell and I took my finger off the shutter.

It was time to pack up and get the hell out of there. I checked to make sure nobody was on the street when I crossed to grab the bike and fly home. It was actually about the time I would normally get home from school, if I came right home, so I didn't sneak in. I went to the bedroom, locking the door to investigate what I was able to snag. I hooked up the cable and downloaded the pictures into a new picture file on my hidden hard drive. Then I started looking. Two of the pictures caught what was going on pretty clearly, so I renamed them Ribbon1 and Ribbon2 and saved those into a subfolder called goodstuff. Then I swapped cards and put the empty one in the camera hiding the other one in the garage.

Those two pictures wouldn't be enough by themselves to cause too much trouble, but in combination with others it would show part of a pattern. Thanks Vovochka, I'm starting to accumulating a ton of good shit! You can hire me next year! (I'll just hafta learn Russian.) I actually stayed for dinner here tonight. Since I'm still collecting data, I was a little easier on the woman who lives in my house. Only mentioned adultery about five times. It's amazing how many conversations you can weave that word into, if you give it half a chance!

Just before I fell asleep my phone chirped. Shit ...I had turned it on in case I needed Chuck’s help with the camera and forgotten to turn it off! I checked and saw it was Chuck. I was worried it would be Twoey. I answered.

“Hey Chuck, not in bed yet?”

“Actually yes, I just got in and wondered if you had any trouble with the camera. I was surprised you answered, it usually just goes to voicemail.”

“Yeah ...I usually leave it off. Thanks for your concern, but it's working really well and I'm not having any problems. While you're on the line, how are things going with Matty? You were a little worried last week. He didn't force you to do anything, did he?”

“No! We sorta fooled around a bit ...hehe ...but he was very clear we wouldn't do anything I wasn't ready for and comfortable with. He's very nice. I ...um ...I like him a lot. I don't know why I thought I should tell you, but it just seemed OK. Sorry.”

“Aw Chuck, I'm glad you feel comfortable enough to talk to me. You know ...you can talk to me about anything ...think of me like your big brother. My little brother Tommy feels the same way (poor Tommy right now ...sorry bro) and I'm also happy that Matty was the way I thought he might be. I think you can trust him. Matty's a good guy.”

“I'm going to stay over this Saturday night ...again.”

“I'm happy for you Chuck ...but I have to go now because I'm getting up early tomorrow.”

“Goodnight David ...and ...I'm really glad you're my friend.”

I disconnected and was about to shut it off when the phone chirped again, Twoey ...shit! I was about to ignore it and shut down anyway, but if he had called before and knew I was on with someone else ...well, it wouldn't be good. So I answered.

“Daleville Theater!”

“Don't give me that shit ...who were you talking to?”

“Chuck.”

“Why do you talk to Chuck and not me?”

“I'm talking to you. Can't you tell?”

Twoey got a little louder.

“I am not in the mood for your shit right now!” It almost sounded like a little sob at the end.

“I'm sorry Twoey. I was about to turn my phone off for the night when he called. Then he talked for a while about his love life with some boy I shouldn't expose to anybody. OK? You called when I was about to shut down again ...and here we are. While we're connected, how are you doing? Are you healing well? Will you be back in school after Thanksgiving break?”

There was an extremely long period of silence.

“I'm a basket case. I didn't want to call you but Mike said I should.”

This time I could clearly hear he was sobbing.

“Mike? ...Syracuse Mike?”

“He called me today while I was crying so fucking hard ...I couldn't keep it from him. But he sort of already knew something was up. He wanted to know why ...so I told him you dumped me.”

“I'm sorry Twoey ...I am really truly sorry. I don't want to hurt you ...you of all people. I told you I wouldn't love you any less ...and I don't. But I turned that part of my brain off ...the part that lets me love people. I can't have it interfering with this plan I'm undertaking. You even told me it was dangerous ...and it is. And it just suddenly got even more dangerous. If I can't devote 100% to this task ...I might get a little sloppy and then I'll be in trouble. You can't possibly want that to happen ...can you?”

“N ...No” (sob)

“The only reason I even answered Chuck's call tonight is he's helping me with a small piece of the plan.”

“He's helping you? Isn't that going to put him in danger?”

“No no nothing like that! He's not involved in any way. I just borrowed a camera from him and he showed me how to use it. He doesn't know anything and isn't in any trouble.”

“Oh ...that's better. Wait ...a camera? No ...NO ANGEL ...you can't DO that!! It's too ...TOO FUCKING DANGEROUS!!”

Now he was back to sobbing. CRAP.

“Twoey, you know I'm too smart to get into any danger. Now just relax and concentrate on healing and I'll see you in school on December 1st. Or I'll see you sooner if I get this wrapped up. Please, just forget about me until this shit is over. It's the best way to help me. Now get some sleep. I have to get up early tomorrow. Goodnight.”

I immediately broke the connection and turned off my phone.

WHEW!

Twoey

Another crappy day. I tried to work on homework and do extra reading but every half-hour I'd have a breakdown and cry for half an hour, then the cycle continued. At about 3:00 I got a phone call from Mike ...the first one since he was here! I tried to cheer up and we were beginning a conversation about maybe getting together over Christmas break when he suddenly said, “OK ...enough bullshit! What's wrong?”

“Nothing's wrong. What makes you think anything's wrong?”

“Twoey ...I've known you from the minute you came out of the womb! We're twins ...did you forget? Something's wrong. SPILL!”

“Do you remember that David kid who came over when you were here?”

“Yeah, his best buddy talked to me the day before yesterday about him acting strange. OMG did something happen to him? Please tell me he's OK!”

“Well that's just it. I'm not sure he is OK. Kids from school have been texting me saying how he's acting all strange and stuff and won't talk to anyone ...even his friends. And right around the time when all this was going down, last Saturday it was, he came over here and told me he found out something about a parent cheating, and he's got this big war going on with the pastor of his church and he's got all these problems ganging up on him at the same time and he's dropping therapy and then he told me he can't be near me anymore. HE CAN'T BE NEAR ME ANYMORE!!! I LOVE him SO MUCH ...it's tearing me apart. All I do is sit here all day, every day, and CRY.”

“Oh WOW ...he needs you Twoey ...he really needs you right now ...seriously. You're the friend he needs. Somehow you have to be there for him.”

“I know! And I'm stuck here, trapped in this fucking prison, and can't go to him and he won't come here or even answer his phone!!!” I was sobbing again.

“What about his buddy? What about Gary? Can't you talk to him?”

“Well there's the problem. If I tell Gary what I just told you, then he's going to think David's gay. I'm not even sure he IS, but I can't make Gary think he is, whether he isn't or is just really deep in the closet. Gary knows something is wrong, but I've seen those two for a while now and they usually back off when the other one is going through stuff, until they get asked in. They respect each other a lot when it comes to that. It's why Gary never went after David when we first met and he got all weird. It's why I'm just sitting here crying. I can't do anything but watch him crash and burn.”

Mike tried to help me out by calming my worries, but it didn't work very well and even he knew it didn't.

When Mom got home at about four, she came into my room while I was in a crying period, then sat down next to me on the bed with a determined look on her face.

“I know you don't want me involved in your love life, and I'm trying to respect it, but this is continuing too long. Tell me what's going on! Maybe I can think of something to help you cope.”

“Last Saturday, at 1:12 in the afternoon, David dumped me!” I sobbed it out.

She instinctively hugged me, rubbing my back. Then she stopped and pushed me back so she could look into my eyes.

“Wait. When did you two start going out? I didn't know you two were in a relationship.”

“We weren't.”

“I thought you were in a relationship with Erik, the good-kisser.”

“Um ...I don't think we are.”

“Erik loves you.”

“Do you think so?”

“I know so! Do you think maybe David is jealous?”

“I don't think so. This all has to do with something in his personal family life. Don't ask me, I can't tell you. He seems to think he can't devote energy on anything else until he gets that problem resolved. He quit therapy ...he quit his friends ...he quit me last Saturday at 1:12 PM!” She hugged me again.

“Oh. That doesn't sound good. I mean, for David it doesn't sound healthy. What are you going to do about Erik?”

“I don’t know. David doesn't suspect anything about Erik, but do you know what he told me last Saturday? He said not to wait around for him. That if a boy made me happy to go for it. He even said he'd be best man at my wedding! Can you believe it? Can you see why I love him so much? Can you understand why I don’t know what to do?” She squeezed me and rubbed my back.

“I've gotten to know him quite a bit since your shooting, you know. He is a remarkable and loving boy. I was hoping you two could be a team. I think it would be quite a thing. But he is very troubled. I saw that on Day One. I told you then to be careful with him. And you know what I'm going to tell you right now?”

“What?”

“BE CAREFUL WITH HIM. He's fragile. It won't be easy. It may not even be possible. But if it works, it'll be magic. I can tell.”

“But Mom, he needs help! I’ve got to help him.”

“Then do it honey.”

So with two of the three most important people in my life telling me, I decided to take the plunge and call David tonight at bed time. I knew he was on the line with someone else, so I kept calling and he finally answered. We had a little rough exchange, but he sorta lowered a wall to let me know a little of what he was up to ...AND IT'S FUCKING DANGEROUS!! I tried to talk him out of it, but he thinks his intelligence will save him. He's smart ...really, really smart ...but when dealing with blackmail and that kind of shit, I worry he's in over his head. I mean, you need to be more than smart ...you need to be mean.

That's one thing my Angel is not!

What’s worse, I have this horrible premonition. It’s just like the one I got before, with Danny!

I’m sick.