Symby (15 page)

"Hi Mom, how was church?" he asked, without actually caring how church had gone.

"Fine," answered his Mom. "Several of my friends asked how you were doing. I wish you had been there with me."

"I'll go next time, mom, I promise, but I'm glad I didn't go today."

"Why not?" queried his mother.

"I have something really intense to tell you," answered Jody. "Can you handle it?"

"I really have no idea until I know what it is. You have to tell me first."

Jody had prepped his mother as much as he could. The moment of truth had arrived. "Dad's in my room," he said cautiously.

"What? You're joking, right? That's not funny."

"No joke, Mom, Dad came back. He thought it would be better if I told you first, so you'd know about him before you saw him."

Anger flashed across his mother's face. She pushed past Jody in the hallway and opened the door to Jody's room. Spud looked at her hopefully, only to have his hopes dashed when he saw the fury in her eyes.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Kim demanded.

"Snuffles showed up at my camp site, so I came back to return him," answered Spud.

"That's all? Just to return Snuffles? Well, that's probably for the best. Thank you for returning Snuffles, now leave!"

This was the reaction that Spud had both feared and expected. In his heart, he knew that it was only fair that Kim reject him.

"I was hoping we could share a cup of coffee and catch up," said Spud, realizing he could have said that better.

"Catch up on three years over a cup of coffee? No, thanks." Before Spud could say anything more, she stormed out into the kitchen. Spud sat down on Jody's bed dejectedly. Just as he was preparing to rouse himself to leave, Kim returned with a bottle of Jack Daniels.

"We both know this is what you came for, so go ahead and drink yourself into a stupor!" she shouted. "That's what you're good at!"

Spud tried to rally, but he simply couldn't think of anything to say that might stem the tide of her onslaught. He stared at the bottle, grimly realizing that he was suddenly craving booze for the second time in less than an hour. He managed to recall Jody's embrace just minutes before and shook it off.

"No, thanks," he said. "I haven't had a drink in almost three months." His hopes that this information might prompt her to relent were dashed.

"I've heard that one before!" she bellowed. "Let me make it easy for you." Pouring a few shots into a small kitchen glass, she taunted him. "Lunch is served, come and get it!"

Jody appeared behind her. "Mom, he's trying to change, give him a chance," he pleaded. His pleas went unheeded.

"You are not going to hurt our son again! Get out!" she blared.

Spud stood up slowly. He had overcome the barriers that Jody had put in front of him, only to falter at this last hurdle. He walked towards Kim, taking the glass from her hand as he passed out through Jody's bedroom door. Jody cried out as his father walked into the kitchen.

"Don't do it, Dad, please don't drink it!"

Spud poured the bourbon down the kitchen sink, opened the dishwasher and placed the glass inside. "Just thought I'd save your mom a trip," he said. "She's right, you don't deserve to be hurt by me again. Just don't forget that I love you both. That was always true no matter how much booze I drank."

Jody waited patiently at the top of the school stairs, sitting on the flagstone wall. He was waiting for Missy, as he had for the past week, hoping that she would join him at school once again. They had viddied several times since the debacle with his father, and Jody thought that she was looking somewhat better. She kept telling him that she was gaining weight and walking again, but she hadn't come back. He was beginning to wonder whether she was conning him about her incipient recovery, just trying to make him feel better about what was happening to her. That would be just like her, he thought, worried about everyone but herself.

Jody had been feeling quite a bit better himself. His muscles had begun relaxing again. He was getting stronger every day, though he hadn't yet reached the point where anyone but he would notice. Telly's liquid seemed to have the same healing properties that Symby's had. Missy had been cajoling Jody for quite a while to come over and share Symby, but he had resisted. He still wanted to be her hero. Now that he had Telly, Missy had stopped her prodding.

Jody's life was becoming more and more complicated. Just a few short months ago, he had only had himself to worry about. Now he worried not only about Missy but his father and mother. After his mother had rejected his father, he had done his utmost to convince her to reconsider. He had told his mother that Spud now had a full-time job and had given her the money order for child support that Spud had given him, but his mother had remained obstinate. Knowing that Spud had been in possession of Telly gave him a reason to believe that his father's recovery from alcoholism might be permanent this time, though he worried that without Telly his father might revert back to his old ways. If his father came to live with them again, they could share Telly's medicine and his father would never go back to drinking. He had considered telling his mother about Telly, but that might make things worse. She would laugh at him and mock Spud.

"Your father was much better at making up stories than he was at living in the real world," she would say. Jody decided that it would be better to stay in contact with his father on his own and hope that as time passed and his father stayed sober, he could convince his mom to take him back. For all her protestations, Jody knew that his mother still loved his father. After his father had left, his mother had spent much of the remainder of the day in her room alone. Jody heard her sobs and wails echoing down the stairway.

"Hey boyfriend, where in space are you?" yelled Missy from the bottom of the stairs. Jody was jolted from his musings, embarrassed that he had been gazing in the wrong direction when she had finally arrived. His face lit up when he saw her. He grinned from ear to ear.

"Somewhere out near Neptune," he answered. "For some reason my girlfriend wasn't out there. Have you seen her?"

"I see her in the mirror every day," laughed Missy. She was climbing the steps at a snail's pace, but climbing them nevertheless. Jody would have given anything to bound down the steps, pick her up and spin her around, but he wasn't there yet. He laughed with her.

"This is like one of those movies where the two lovers finally meet each other after years apart," he said. "Everything goes to slow motion and the music plays. The only problem with us is that slow motion is our actual speed."

Missy started laughing so hard she had to stop climbing the stairs and catch her breath. When she had recovered, she threw out her own zinger.

"Slow motion works for me, as opposed to the alternative. How about you, boyfriend?" she cracked.

"Works for me too," replied Jody. "Come up here and get the biggest hug you've ever gotten!'

The two of them embraced at the top of the stairs. Jody held on for dear life, hers more than his. They chattered animatedly until Ms. Beecher sauntered slowly over to admonish them about the start of classes. As always, Ms. Beecher smiled as she issued her warning.

The morning passed ever so slowly for Jody. He couldn't wait for lunch to arrive. When the bell rang for the last morning class, Jody found Missy already waiting for him at his table, now their table.

"Hey boyfriend, how were your classes?" she asked.

"Three classes, three hours each," cracked Jody. "May I go home now?"

Missy laughed. "You got off easy," she said. "My classes were five hours each! And no, you can't go home until after bio class. Don't leave me alone in there, I need to copy your notes!"

In truth, the better strategy was for Jody to copy Missy's notes, but Jody enjoyed the humor and the compliment. Their happy banter continued until lunch was almost over.

Missy couldn't see it, but Jimmy was furtively watching the two of them from his seat near the opposite wall. Jody was growing angry again.

"Jimmy's been watching us again," he said to Missy under his breath, though Jimmy couldn't possibly have heard.

"How does he look?" asked Missy.

"I don't know, he doesn't look angry or anything. He just seems to be checking us out every now and then."

"Give him a break," chided Missy. "Maybe he's hoping that I'm getting better. When he gave Symby back, he knew that I was in really bad shape."

"That really doesn't sound like the Jimmy I know," said Jody. "Of course, you probably know him better than I do at this point."

"Maybe," agreed Missy. "Let's get out of here and find a place to make out. I'm getting my urges back. Cool, huh?"

"Awesome," agreed Jody. "My urges never went away."

Missy and Jody walked down the hall, holding hands and searching for a place to be alone. Eventually, they found such a place.

Spud was at the computer in Burt's Hardware when he heard Burton and Thelma's truck rumble up to the parking lot. He was in the habit of greeting them and assisting Thelma out of the truck when they arrived, and today would be no exception. Nights at camp had become lonely again without Telly and Snuffles to keep him company, but there was another reason that Spud was looking forward to seeing the two of them on this particular day. His anticipation grew as he walked outside and saw the two of them waving at him. Had they noticed the billboard?

Burton stepped out of the truck and walked around to the other side of the truck to help Thelma. As Thelma climbed down and began the process of steadying herself before walking, Burton spoke first.

"What's the deal with that billboard?" he asked. Spud answered coyly.

"You mean the one with the photo of you and Thelma and Snuffles on it, the one just outside of town on the main drag? The one that says, 'Burt and Thelma's Heartware Store' on it?" he asked.

"Of course I mean that one. I've got no reason to be interested in the other ones!" he exclaimed. "We can't afford it, you know that."

"Actually, you can," said Spud, still playing possum. He wanted to play out his big moment for all it was worth. "It's free!"

Thelma responded as she began taking her first steps towards the store. "Free?" she said. "I don't see how we can get a billboard like that for free!"

"Actually, it's free to you, but it cost me a pretty penny," said Spud. "I'm paying for six months."

Thelma stopped in her tracks. "Where'd you get that kind of money?"

"You folks paid me a fair share of it, but I've been keeping busy for months now collecting bottles and cans when I'm not working here," answered Spud.

Burton was astounded. "You got enough money to pay for a billboard like that with bottle deposits?"

Spud cracked wise. "Hey, a few thousand bottles here, a few thousand cans there, and pretty soon you're talking about, well, not a helluva lot of money, but enough for that billboard and some other stuff."

"Other stuff?" asked Burton. "What other stuff?"

"Well, I paid for the same ad in the Observer. It's a free local paper, so it doesn't cost much. I also searched the internet for local sites of businesses that are related to ours and placed a few ads there too. Oh, and the Pennysaver, too."

"We can't let you do that," said Thelma. "You don't even have a place to live, so why are you helping us?"

"I've gotten pretty comfortable with outdoor living, though I have to admit that rainy days sort of suck. Maybe later I'll move out and find a conventional place to live, but for now I just want to pay you folks back for giving me a chance to get back on my feet again."

"Well, we'll pay you back, that's for sure," said Burton.

"Please don't take offense, Burton, but according to my spreadsheets, you can't really afford to pay me back, so this is my gift to you. If my marketing strategy actually works and customers start rolling in the door, then maybe you could give me a little raise, just a couple of bucks per hours will be fine." Spud eyed the two of them, assessing the impact of his statement. Burton and Thelma exchanged looks, and finally assented to Spud's generous offer. Thelma spoke for them both.

"That sounds fair, fairer to us than to you," she said. "But we can deal with that later. What you've done is amazing, thank you so much!" She leaned forward, attempting to give Spud a hug, but stumbled over her cane and almost went down. Spud caught her before she hit the ground. Thelma wrapped her arms around Spud's neck and held on. "You're stronger than you look," she exclaimed, surprised that he had been able to pull her heavy body back up. Presently Thelma pulled away from Spud and turned to Burton.

"Your turn, Burton," she commanded.

"My turn for what?" he asked.

"To show your appreciation for what Spud is trying to do for us, you old coot! Now give him a hug!" she commanded.

Burton looked like a fox cornered by greyhounds. He eyed Spud. Spud eyed him back. Both of them attempted to delay the inevitable.

"Come on now," insisted Thelma. "You two show each other some love!"

Burton and Spud began smiling at each other, each understanding the other one's predicament. Ultimately, it was Burton who broke the standoff.

"Aw, hell, c'mere," he said, raising his arms in the air. He decided that a bit of levity might help each of them retain their masculinity. "I won't complain about you smelling like a homeless guy if you don't whine about how old I smell!"

Spud took the jest as the joke that it was intended to be. The two of them hugged until Thelma was satisfied.

"That's enough, you two," she said. "Now let's get into that store and start tending to all those extra customers we're going to have."

As was their custom, Spud split off from Thelma and Burton once inside the store, walking out back and beginning the strenuous task of loading the new shipments onto pallets. As he pulled the pallet truck into the store for the third load, Burton and Thelma called him over to the cash register.

"What's up?" Spud asked, enjoying the break from his physical labor.

Burton answered. "Thelma and I have been talking, and we're not satisfied with giving you a raise for what you've done."

A worried look flashed across Spud's face. "Why not?" he asked.

Thelma picked up on Spud's consternation and immediately quelled his fears. "Because if your marketing plan works, then we make all the money for doing nothing and you get a pittance. That's not fair to you. So we have a proposal for you."

"Okay," said Spud, relieved that they were not rejecting his ideas. "I'm listening."

Burton spoke next. "We're going to take those spreadsheets of yours and look at how much profit we make each month from now on. Then we'll compare it to how we did in the same month over the last three years, taking the average profit as a base. For every month we go above the last three year's average, you get half of the increase in profits."

Spud liked the offer, but thought it was too generous. "Shouldn't I just get one-third, since there are two of you and only one of me?"

"Naah," said Burton. "You've only been here for a few months, but we're already making more money than we were before you arrived, thanks to your new inventory system and the other idea you had about signing up for that supplier service."

"You mean Hardware Plus, right?" said Spud.

"Right," replied Burton. "We're spending a lot less money and time ordering our goods from them, and they've got everything we need to stock at rock bottom prices, so we're making more money for each and every item we sell. That was a really good idea."

"Thanks," said Spud. Burton continued.

"You know I didn't want to hire you, Spud, but Thelma made me do it. I agreed because Thelma is right about things a whole lot more than me. That's just the way our relationship works. Looks like Thelma outsmarted me again, but I'm pleased as punch about it. By the way, you're getting your two dollar per hour raise effective today, whether your marketing plan works or not."

Spud was thrilled and thanked both of them profusely. Burton and Thelma had just made the ultimate commitment to him. Thelma sat behind the cash register smiling broadly. She shot a look at Burton. After forty years together, there was no need for her to say out loud what she was thinking. Burton's face turned bright red.

"Again?" he asked, his face turning bright red.

"Go ahead," said Thelma. "After you, it's my turn."

Dutifully, Burton raised his arms and stepped towards Spud. "Here we go again!" he said as Spud embraced him for a second time.