Richard Yates (23 page)

Dakota Fanning called her father and said she was in New York City.

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A few hours later on Sixth Avenue she was hitting her head with her fi sts. Haley Joel Osment said “Don’t hit your head” and touched her back. She screamed that she wanted to kill everyone. Haley Joel Osment stopped walking and watched her cross 10th Street screaming noises while fl ailing her arms near her hips and sometimes forcing her upper body forward.

He ran to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” she said. “I’ll kill you.”

They turned onto 11th Street and walked toward Fifth Avenue. Dakota Fanning stopped walking. Haley Joel Osment faced her at an angle with a serious facial expression while sometimes grinning or smiling.

“Don’t laugh at me,” said Dakota Fanning.

“This is funny, you were ‘screaming in agony,’” said Haley Joel Osment. “Why don’t you have a sense of humor right now?” he said with a strange facial expression.

“It won’t be funny when you’re afraid to sleep tonight.”

“I probably won’t sleep tonight,” said Haley Joel

Osment.

A few minutes later he slowly put his arms around her without touching his body to her body. She didn’t move.

He stepped back and looked at her staring at the sidewalk with a very alert facial expression. People walking past were turning to look at them. People were walking small dogs on leashes.

“You turned into a goth,” said Haley Joel Osment.

“You really turned into a goth,” he said.

“Shut the fuck up,” said Dakota Fanning.

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directions. He took Dakota Fanning’s digital camera from his duffl e bag and photographed her. “Don’t fucking take my picture,” she said and slowly turned away in place. Haley Joel Osment sat on the steps of a residential building. He took his cell phone from his pocket. It was 5:41 p.m. He put his cell phone in his pocket. He took his Moleskine notebook from his pocket. He put it in his pocket. He stood.

He walked to Dakota Fanning. “Why do you want to kill me?” he said.

Dakota Fanning was staring across the street.

“Why did you say you want to kill me?”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Dakota Fanning.

“Why doesn’t it matter?”

“Nothing matters.”

“If you kill me I’ll be dead. That matters to me.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“What does that mean? It doesn’t mean anything.”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Dakota Fanning. “Nothing matters.”

“Do you want to use the bathroom before we go on the highway?” said Haley Joel Osment on the drive to New Jersey. Dakota Fanning said she did. In Taco Bell Haley Joel Osment photographed a burrito advertisement with his cell phone while Dakota Fanning was in the bathroom and sent it to Julia.

They did not talk or listen to music during the two-hour drive.

At Dakota Fanning’s house Haley Joel Osment drank

coffee and went upstairs and sat in front of the computer.

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He looked at his email. He opened the Microsoft Word fi le of his story collection. He heard Dakota Fanning’s mother’s exercise machine being used. It was around 2:15 a.m. About an hour later Dakota Fanning came in the computer room and put seltzer water, a bowl of vegan burger and tomato pieces, a metal spoon by the computer.

Haley Joel Osment removed his earphones and said

“Thank you.”

Around 3:30 a.m. he heard the vacuum cleaner down-

stairs then upstairs.

Around 5:30 a.m. he went downstairs. He went to the basement and carried clothes from the dryer to the living room and folded them on the sofa. He showered and went to the kitchen to make breakfast and maybe lunch for Dakota Fanning. He heard her alarm clock upstairs. He quickly went to her brother’s room and lay on the bed feeling a little confused why he was afraid of being seen in the kitchen. It was 6:05 a.m. He set his alarm for 6:55 a.m. He woke at 6:55

a.m. and looked into the living room from the hallway and saw the clothes where he left them on the sofa. “She didn’t wake early to do things,” he thought. “She gave up again.

Last night was temporary.”

He slept without setting his alarm. He woke around 1:10

p.m. and went to the bus stop with a smoothie of organic coffee, soymilk, hempseed powder, frozen strawberries. Dakota Fanning had a friendly facial expression. “Thank you,”

she said. “Do you want to spend time together before I exercise and do work? My mom will probably want to take you home when she comes back. I’ll exercise and do work after you leave.”

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“Yes. Do you want walk to the health food store?”

“Yes,” said Dakota Fanning. “I would like that.”

About two hours later they walked across Dakota Fanning’s front yard toward her front door. Dakota Fanning went in the house. Haley Joel Osment heard her mother say “That better be a wig.” He went in the house and said “It’s just hair” while staring at large packages on the fl oor.

“It’s okay,” said Dakota Fanning and touched her mother’s shoulder.

“Don’t be touching me. That’s not going to work right now. I cannot believe you did this. You had this beautiful hair and you went and ruined it.”

“I think it looks really good,” said Haley Joel Osment.

“You dye your hair,” said Dakota Fanning.

“That’s different,” said Dakota Fanning’s mother. “I’m dying mine back to its natural color. I lost my color. You still have yours. I trusted you. And you betrayed my trust.

Again. You knew I would be upset and you did it anyway.”

She went in the kitchen where she had a guest and said “She had this beautiful strawberry-blond hair.” Haley Joel Osment saw that the guest had a concerned facial expression.

“I don’t even want to think about what else you guys did,”

said Dakota Fanning’s mother after her guest left.

“What else did you do,” she said after a few seconds.

“We went to New York City,” said Dakota Fanning.

“You drove? Or took the train?”

“Drove. I told dad.”

“You drove my car, which I generously trusted you

with, to New York City, when I specifi cally said that you were not to go to New York City. What else did you do?”

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“That’s all, I think,” said Dakota Fanning. “Just the hair and New York City.”

Dakota Fanning’s mother looked at Haley Joel Osment.

“And you don’t have anything to say about this,” she said.

“It was bad of us,” said Haley Joel Osment. “We

shouldn’t have done anything that would make you upset.

We were wrong. I’m really sorry and don’t want to upset you again. I appreciate that you let me stay in your house and use your car.”

About an hour later they were sitting on her brother’s bed when her mother came in holding something. “$5 for this dinky little box of blueberries?” she said. “Why would you buy this? Blueberries aren’t in season. You spent $5 on this tiny box of blueberries, because they’re organic, that is really stupid.” She walked away then walked in talking about organic peanut butter. Haley Joel Osment said he spent a lot more money than she did on groceries for him and Dakota Fanning. They talked loudly a few minutes. “And I’m tired of your self-righteous bullshit,” said Dakota Fanning’s mother. “You two with your organic foods and vegan this, vegan that.” Haley Joel Osment said something about not being self-righteous. Dakota Fanning’s mother said for Haley Joel Osment to pack his things because she was driving him to the restaurant.

She left the room. “What should we do?” said Haley Joel Osment. “I won’t see you for a long time if she takes me back now.”

“I don’t know,” said Dakota Fanning. “Maybe I can

convince her to let you stay tonight.”

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Dakota Fanning’s mother came in saying Dakota Fan-

ning had psychological problems. She talked about Dakota Fanning’s writing that was on the internet and said “Don’t you see the good in life?” She lectured Dakota Fanning and Haley Joel Osment about not having jobs. She said something alluding to Haley Joel Osment’s shoplifting. “I don’t know what it is that you’re doing exactly,” she said carefully. “If you want to do whatever, that’s really none of my business, but you’re with my daughter, and that is my business.” Haley Joel Osment said “Do you think you’re a good infl uence on Dakota?”

“I’m Dakota’s mother,” she said after a second.

“Do you think you’re a good infl uence on her?”

“I’m a single parent with a full-time job. I have raised Dakota and Tony pretty much as a single parent. Their father was around some, when they were growing up, and I appreciate that, but he wasn’t around much. God knows he isn’t around now.”

“Do you think you’re a good infl uence on her?” said Haley Joel Osment.

“Do you think you’re a better infl uence on her than I am?” he said.

“I’m her mother, I’m nearly twice your age,” shouted Dakota Fanning’s mother.

Haley Joel Osment felt himself talking very loudly and shaking a little. Dakota Fanning was also talking very loudly. “Shut up,” screamed Dakota Fanning’s mother. “Shut up. Shut up.” She bent at her waist and moved her face very close to Haley Joel Osment’s face and screamed “Shut up.” Haley Joel Osment was sitting on the edge of the bed.

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Osment said she was acting like a 4-year-old boy. “You are a terrible infl uence on Dakota,” he said loudly. “You get angry all the time, you scream ‘shut up’ and ‘fuck you’ at people all the time, do you think that’s good? It’s really bad.

Being that angry all the time is really bad, you need to see a therapist not Dakota Fanning.”

“I’ve been looking for a good therapist,” said Dakota Fanning’s mother calmly. “Charlene recommended one that I think is good, I’d like to start once my insurance gets approved, I’ve just been so busy lately. A good therapist can really help, I know. I’ve had a good one before and it really helped, and I’m glad Dakota is seeing a therapist, and I hope Dakota’s father and brother can see that they also need to see therapists. I think they will.”

“When do I scream ‘fuck you’ at people?” she said in an amused voice.

“You scream ‘fuck you’ at people in cars when you’re driving, that is dangerous,” said Haley Joel Osment. “You do it while Dakota is in the car and it’s dangerous. You even screamed ‘fuck off’ at the dog.”

“Aladdin?” said Dakota Fanning’s mother and laughed.

“He was in my way.” She looked at Haley Joel Osment with an amused facial expression. She walked away. Haley Joel Osment shouted that she was acting like a child. She laughed in the hallway walking away.

“Why is she laughing?” said Haley Joel Osment. “She’s like happy suddenly.”

“She’s a cheese beast,” said Dakota Fanning.

“I thought she was going to headbutt me or slap me.”

“Were you afraid?” said Dakota Fanning.

“I don’t know. I think I just kept thinking she could go to jail if she hit me and then we could live somewhere.”

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Dakota Fanning talked about how she didn’t have an eating disorder while Haley Joel Osment was at her house. They talked about Dakota Fanning maybe going to live with her father in Albany. They talked about calling the police to liberate Dakota Fanning before she turned 18. Dakota Fanning had said on Gmail chat that her mother abused her when she was small and that one time she said she was going to call the police and her mother laughed at her. Dakota Fanning said if they called the police her mother would talk about Haley Joel Osment to them. Haley Joel Osment said he probably didn’t break any laws. Dakota Fanning said the police could do things to Haley Joel Osment even if he didn’t break any laws.

Dakota Fanning’s mother said she was too tired to drive Haley Joel Osment to the restaurant.

The next night after work she said there wasn’t time to drive Haley Joel Osment to the restaurant before Dakota Fanning’s therapist appointment. Haley Joel Osment and Dakota Fanning talked in the backseat on the way to the therapist’s house. “Stop whispering to each other,” said Dakota Fanning’s mother looking in the rearview mirror. “It’s rude. If you want to say something say it so everyone in the car can hear.” Dakota Fanning said they were speaking at a normal volume.

“We aren’t like you, we don’t scream everything,” she said.

“It’s rude to keep talking when no one wants to hear what you have to say. That’s what you do, you keep talking when no one is even listening to you.” They parked on the street outside the therapist’s house. Dakota Fanning and her mother talked loudly outside the car. Haley Joel Osment heard Dakota Fanning scream “Don’t touch me” and “Let go of my arm.”

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