Padgett steps up to play defense attorney, arguing that we tried to stop the captain. “Look at his bloody nose,” he says, pointing to Chuck. “He must have fallen down five times trying to catch him.”
The cops study Chuck for a second, but they don’t seem convinced. Most likely they’ve seen Chuck with a bloody nose before.
They’re more understanding about Bobby. Dani launches into how he attacked her, but when Mona steps up and explains how Dani was the first one to come fists swinging, the officers exchange looks that say they know what’s going on, and they’d just as soon not get in the middle of some nasty lovers’ quarrel. The crash is already more than enough to deal with.
We all have to go down to the police station so they can fill out a report. Except Mona. I guess when you own an Escalade and Coach purse, you don’t have to be bothered with the legal system. Of course, Bobby’s anything but happy to have the cops ordering him around. From the look in his eyes, I can tell things are on the verge of going very, very wrong, so I walk up and take his hand. “Come on,” I tell him. “Maybe we can convince them to let us take the captain home.”
He relaxes a little. “All right, Ceejay, I’ll go, but we have to haul Angelica back to the captain’s first.”
I let Padgett explain that deal to the cops. He’s less likely to lose his temper if they don’t like it. They don’t. “No one’s going anywhere right now but down to the station,” says Officer Dave. “You can pick up that hunk of junk tomorrow.”
Padgett looks at Bobby. “That’ll work. Nobody’s going to mess with it out here tonight.”
“They’d better not,” Bobby says.
When we finally make it to the cop shop, they herd me, Bobby, Chuck, and Padgett into a blank-walled room where we have to sit around in uncomfortable metal chairs. Dani gets a separate room to herself. One by one we’re called into a cramped office to give our statements. I’m the last one in, and it’s pretty obvious by now Officer Dave has figured out we’re telling the truth. He nods while I rattle off my story, jots down a few notes, then tells me to go wait in the other room and we’ll all get to go home in a couple of minutes. Which is a relief. I thought they were going to be dicks about it. Maybe they feel guilty about helping to get Bobby sent off to the war after all.
But out in the hall, Bobby’s facing off against Officer Larry—Bobby in his T-shirt, jeans, and boots, and Officer Larry with his starched blue uniform, his silver badge glinting in the fluorescent light. Bobby’s demanding they let the captain go home with us. This was just an accident, he growls. You don’t throw someone behind bars for a traffic accident.
But Officer Larry tells him no way is the captain going home tonight. “This isn’t just about being a public nuisance this time,” Officer Larry says, his face flaring red right up to the borderline of his short black hair. Cops hate it when somebody tries to tell them what to do for a change. “This is property damage and endangerment of life and limb.”
Bobby’s fists clench at his sides. He’s been about to explode ever since the cops showed up, and it’s up to me to defuse him yet again. I walk up and stand next to him and ask Officer Larry if they’ve called the captain’s brother. He says they have.
“That’s all right then,” I tell Bobby. “I’ve seen this a million times. The captain’s brother comes down and gets him out in about two minutes.”
Officer Larry looks like he wants to say something, probably about how that’s not going to happen this time, but he glances at Bobby and thinks better of it. Instead he’s like, “That’s right. Just let the captain’s brother handle things. You go ahead and take off. If you have any questions, you can call up here tomorrow.”
“Thanks,” I say. “Come on, Bobby.”
Bobby stares at Officer Larry a moment longer, just to let him know this thing isn’t over, not by a long shot.
I touch him lightly on the back. “Time to go home. I think we’re both probably worn out.”
“Home?” He looks at me, not in the eyes, just down at the top of my head. “Too bad I don’t have any home to go to. I’m pretty sure Dani would shoot me on sight if I showed up back there.”
“That’s all right,” I tell him. “You’re coming home with me and sleeping in your old room.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Chuck steps up from behind. “Don’t worry, dude. I still have plenty of room on my couch for you.”
“That’s okay,” Bobby says. “Take me out to the captain’s. I’ll spend the night there.”
Padgett knows it hurts me to hear Bobby say he’d rather go to the captain’s than home with me. I mean, if he’d rather do that now, when will the time ever come when he’d want to share a place with me?
Padgett takes hold of my hand and squeezes it. “Let’s all go out to the captain’s,” he says. “We need to haul Angelica back anyway.”
41
The next day, at lunch, I get Uncle Jimmy to loan me his truck for an hour so I can drive Bobby over to Dani’s to rescue his stuff while she’s at work. Actually, he owns so little, he could probably haul everything off on his motorcycle, but the truth is I just want to spend time alone with him.
As we drive away from the captain’s, I do my best one more time to argue him into giving his old room a try—just long enough so he can get a job and save up for a two-bedroom rent house—but he’s not going for it.
“The parents’ place is too small for me now,” he says.
“What are you talking about?” I ask. “It’s bigger than Dani’s ratty old trailer.”
“I’m not talking about physical size, Ceejay. I’m talking about the psychological size. I can’t be squeezed in like that. I can’t have people looking over my shoulder thinking about how I’m supposed to be or who I used to be or what’s wrong with me. You know? I have to have some breathing room.”
“Maybe it won’t be like that,” I say. “Give the parents a chance. Sit down and have a conversation for a while. I think they really do want to make up for how they let you get a bum deal. Even Dad. Maybe he is actually more like us than we’ve given him credit for.”
“But that’s just my point,” Bobby says, looking out the side window. “He thinks I’m like him. But I’m not. I’m not like anybody anymore. Except maybe the captain. That’s what I figure I’ll do—I’ll move my stuff over and stay at his place.”
It hurts all over again to hear Bobby talk like he prefers the captain over me, but I’m not about to admit it. “The captain? How can you live in the middle of all that junk he has out there? What you need to do is start thinking about getting your own rent house.”
“I’ll feel right at home in the middle of a bunch of junk,” he says, like he himself is just a piece of junk somebody threw away. I have no comeback for that. I’ll just have to wait. He’ll see—he’s not like the captain at all.
At Dani’s, the gravel driveway is empty, which is good. I’m hoping we can just get in and out with no hassles. But just as Bobby goes to stick his key in the front-door lock, the door swings open in front of us. It’s Tillman.
“What are you doing here?” he asks, his chest jutting out like he’s ready for trouble.
“Us?” I say. “We’re just here to get Bobby’s stuff. What are you doing here?”
“Mom dropped me off when she had to take Dani to work because her damn car won’t drive.” He stares at me like it’s my fault.
“Look,” I say, “I didn’t ask you how you got here. I asked you why you’re here.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because Dani figured she needed someone to stand guard over the place. Looks like she was right.”
“So what? You’re going to tell us we can’t come in?”
“That’s right.”
Bobby snorts out a laugh. “Yeah, right. Get out of the way, little man. All I want is what’s mine and then I’ll leave. Gladly.” He steps forward. Tillman puffs up like he’s getting ready to defend his sister’s grand, sparkling trail
er, but Bobby stares him down and he gives way.
There’s not much to gather up, just what will fit in Bobby’s duffel bag, but it still takes too long, what with Tillman yammering at us the whole time like an obnoxious dachshund. He says he told Dani that Bobby wasn’t worth a damn and how it didn’t take long for Bobby to prove him right. Maybe if Jace had swung a little lower with that baseball bat, he says, Bobby would’ve been in the hospital instead of causing his sister grief. All the while he’s shooting off his mouth, Bobby just goes about sorting through his things and stuffing them into the bag, but I can’t keep quiet.
“What happened to you, Tillman? After all these years of us being friends, you go and turn against me like we never even knew each other. Don’t you have any loyalty to anyone?”
“Hey,” he says. “I am being loyal—to my sister. Who are you being loyal to, your brother? Can you really tell me he treated Dani right? No. Listen, I’m not the one who changed. I’m not the one who started hanging out with the damn town crazoid, helping him make his totem poles or whatever. You want to see someone who’s changed, look in the mirror.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” I get right up in his face. “About my brother or the captain. I’ll tell you this—the captain has more sense than you ever had. Or ever will have. He just sees things in a different way. But you, you’re too narrow-minded to understand that.”
“Yeah, right. The captain has so much sense the cops won’t even let him go back home. The dude can’t even take care of himself.”
“What are you talking about? The captain’s brother’s going to get him out of jail just like he always does.”
“That shows how much you know.” He smiles a creepy little self-satisfied smile. “The captain’s brother is the one who doesn’t want him going home. Dani called up there today to make sure they weren’t letting him out, and the cops told her his brother’s having him put in a home. They’re going to juice that dude up on meds until he can’t say his own name. He’s not going to be a problem for anyone from here on out.”
That gets Bobby’s attention. “What are you talking about, you little liar?” he says, staring Tillman down.
Tillman’s like, “Calling me a liar isn’t going to change anything. Your boy’s done. Over and out and down for the count.”
“Yeah?” Bobby says, his face about six inches from Tillman’s. “We’ll see about that.”
He walks back, grabs his bag, and goes, “Come on, Ceejay, let’s get out of this dump.”
“Yeah, get on out of here,” says Tillman, “so I can fumigate the place before my sister gets home.”
We’re just about to walk out the front door, but Tillman can’t resist shooting another poison dart at us as we go. “One more thing,” he says. “I’d keep checking over your shoulder if I was you, Bobby. Dani made another phone call this morning—to Rick Nichols. Told him all about you and Mona. I don’t think he liked the idea of you messing around with his wife too much. He wants to have a little talk with you. And you know what? Rick’s the kind of guy who’s likely to bring along more artillery than just a baseball bat.”
Bobby stops and sets his duffel bag down by the door. “Well, Tillman,” he says. “You know what I think about that?” He grabs the little gold lamp from the end table next to the couch. “Here’s what I think about that.” He steps toward Tillman and cocks back the lamp at the same time. Stumbling backward, Tillman jerks up his arm to guard his face. But Bobby doesn’t hit him. Instead, he swings the lamp hard in the other direction, shattering it against the wall, then lets what’s left drop to the floor.
He hoists up his duffel bag and slings the strap around his shoulder. “Have a nice day.” He smiles and walks out the door.
42
Tillman wasn’t lying. I hoped he was making up that business about Captain Crazy getting stuck in some kind of home, just saying it to get to me and Bobby, but when I call Padgett, he knows the whole scoop. The captain’s brother, Richard, isn’t vouching for him anymore. He says the captain’s not just a danger to others but to himself, and he’s sticking the captain in Oak Grove, the old folks’ home on the edge of town. The old folks’ home! Jesus, the captain’s only sixty-four.
On top of that, you’d think Richard would at least choose Autumn Crest. I mean, as far as old folks’ homes go, Oak Grove is the worst. I’ve been there. Brianna’s big sister Karina works there. She’s not a nurse or anything. She’s like the night-shift queen of bedpan swappers, spoon feeders, and colostomy-bag changers. It’s disgusting, but other than that it’s a pretty easy job. Me and Brianna go over every once in a while at night and play Hearts with her in the cafeteria between rounds. Sometimes Brianna even sneaks weed in to her.
The building is a long rectangle made of ugly yellow brick. It looks like a stick of rancid butter with window air-conditioning units plugged into it. As soon as you walk in, the pee smell hits you right in the nose. Old folks in wheelchairs are parked all over the foyer like plants that someone set out in the sun. One time I walked in and this old lady with sores all over her legs hollers, “See anything you like?” And then she starts cackling like it’s the funniest thing since I Love Lucy.
And there’s the old man who tried to escape. Karina says they caught him rattling the emergency exit door several times and ran him back to his room. Then one day he made it. No one knew he was gone till his daughter showed up to visit. Karina had to come in on her time off and help look for him. They called the cops in too. Finally around eight o’clock in the evening, they found him in the woods sitting in the middle of a creek with his pants down. He told them he just wanted to get clean.
So you can see why me and Bobby and Padgett are pretty outraged about the captain ending up in there. He should be at his home in the country with the anti–Nogo Gatu sculptures protecting him. The aero-velocipede’s busted—what harm can the captain do now? It’s nothing but another railroad job, just like they railroaded Bobby off to the war.
That evening we try to visit, but Richard’s there and doesn’t want us around. He calls us enablers, like that’s a bad thing. Says we should have known better than to help the captain build something like the aero-velocipede.
“At least we’re there with him,” Bobby says. “What do you do? You drop off some food, give him a hard time about shaping up his life, then leave. You never listen to him. You never even give him a chance to let you know who he is. You’re way too busy telling him who he ought to be.”
Richard looks down the hall. I can’t tell for sure, but it seems like Bobby might have hit a sore spot. “How long have you known my brother?” he asks wearily. “A couple of months? I’ve tried to help him my whole life.”
So I’m like, “Yeah, but you never had us before. We’re ready to step up and take some of the load off you.”
He nods, but he doesn’t seem convinced. I guess I don’t exactly appear like your standard health-care provider. And to tell the truth, I’m only ready to take on the chore because of Bobby.
“Look,” Richard says. “My brother’s resting right now. Call me tomorrow and we’ll see how he’s doing. If he’s up to it, we’ll see if maybe he can have some visitors.”
We agree to that, but when Padgett calls the next day, Richard tells him the captain’s still not ready to see anyone. The same thing the day after that. Bobby’s getting tired of it, says it’s bullshit. “We need to make that asshole let us see the captain. I don’t care if we have to pound it into him.”
Pound it into him? Now he’s talking about beating up an old man? That’s not the Bobby I used to know. He was the one who kicked the butts of guys who talked about pounding old men. I have to steer him in a different direction fast.
“Do we really need Richard’s permission?” I say, a perfect idea suddenly striking me. “We don’t have to go during visiting hours at all. We can wait till after midnight and get Brianna’s big sister to sneak us in.”
I halfway expect Bobby to keep going o
n about pounding Richard, but instead his eyes do what they rarely do anymore—light up. “A sneak attack?” he says. “Hmmm. That could actually work. Yeah, I like it. That’s my Ceejay, brilliant as always.”
This is more like it, I tell myself. Now I have something I can actually do instead of sitting around waiting for life to change. When I lay out the plan to Padgett, he’s up for it right away—it’s the start of the misfit revolution, he says—but Brianna takes some convincing. She doesn’t want her sister to get fired—and I can’t blame her for that—but this is an emergency. Besides, if Karina can get away with smoking weed on her shift, then I’m sure she can handle a little thing like sneaking us in. Finally, Brianna agrees and calls me back later to say Karina’s in, but she wants a little something in return—a little weed ought to do it.
That evening, I tell the parents I’m spending the night with Brianna, and she, Bobby, and I load up with Padgett in his VW. As planned, it’s exactly 12:08 when we pull up to Oak Grove, and Karina’s waiting at the front door to let us in. Even though she’s older, she’s not as tall as Brianna. She might weigh just as much, though.
“Okay,” she whispers as we walk inside, “Brianna, you come with me and act like you’re just here to play cards. The rest of you, be real quiet. The captain’s room is number twenty-three, down that hall. Make sure you don’t disturb Mr. Kuykendall in the room next door. He’s a light sleeper and gets real cranky if somebody wakes him in the middle of the night.”
It’s eerie creeping down the half-lit hall. Our shoes squeak on the freshly mopped floor, but there’s nobody around to catch us. The night nurse is in the office, and Bridget, the other aide, is making her rounds down another hall. The plan is for us to stay with the captain for one hour and then sneak back out during the next round of bed checks.
At room twenty-three, I slowly twist the doorknob, but still it makes a click that sounds so loud it might as well be a gunshot. We look down the hall. No one’s around to hear anything. Except, of course, Mr. Kuykendall in the next room. I pause for a moment before opening the door, letting the silence take everything over again.