“So your father set me up. And you let me rot when you knew better.” He shook his head. “Just leave. You aren’t doing me any favors telling me what I already knew was true.”
“I realize that I can’t make-up for everything that happened, but I would like to try to make amends.”
“So you have a guilty conscience and you want to ease your own burden now by giving me your charity. Well I don’t want it. Keep your damn money… and your guilt. You deserve it. At least the guilt.”
“You’re absolutely right. I don’t deserve to be let off the hook. And if it makes you feel better, this has stuck with me my entire life. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t see that image of you staring at my dead mother, wondering how you got there. But you know that my father was a very wealthy man. I can give you enough money that will care for you for the rest of your life. And I think with this evidence and my testimony, you can get your record expunged. You could enjoy all the freedoms you once held. You can have it all back.” The pitch of my voice is rising as I explain how things could finally be turned around in his life. I think that I have him convinced.
“My record expunged.” He chuckles to himself. “Now that’s a good one. You know I once walked the straight and narrow. Then I crossed paths with your father. He sent me packing… to the big house. Do you want to know what goes on in the big house? No… you don’t want to know. By the time I got out, I had learned to beg, cheat, steal, and if necessary, beat someone to the brink of death if it suited my purpose. They don’t rehabilitate you. They institutionalize you. You become a part of the system. I’ve been back in the joint twice since getting out the first time.”
“So that’s it? This is where we leave it?”
“I’ve made my peace with it long ago. I suggest you do the same.”
“That’s not good enough.”
“It ain’t for you to decide! Now please be on your way.”
I look down in shame unsure what to say. This won’t help me at all. As he steps back into his apartment I catch a glimpse of a photo hanging on the wall. It’s a picture of the little girl I saw him with at the fair. “Wait!”
Derrick holds the door open just a crack.
“The girl in the photo on your wall… is that Mei-Xing?”
Derrick is shocked at the mention of her name. “Where did you hear that name?”
“I saw it on your tattoo. She died… didn’t she?”
Derrick lowers his eyes as the pain returns.
“I saw you that day you were walking in the rain… with the crushed flowers.”
“What? You saw me. How long have you been following me?”
“I haven’t. Until today I’ve been avoiding you.”
“I don’t understand. You saw me six months ago walking in the rain, but you weren’t looking for me.”
“Yes, I have a gift, if you want to call it that, a photographic memory. I don’t forget things. I’ve actually seen you six times over the last thirteen years.”
“Hmmm. Well if you see me again keep it to yourself.” He starts to push the door shut again.
Suddenly I have a flash. “Wait!”
“Can’t you just leave me alone!”
“I will… but I want to make one last gesture. It isn’t money.”
Derrick sighs. His patience is wearing razor thin.
“Do you remember the fair? You were with Mei-Xing. I spotted you on the midway.”
“Yeah.”
“I saw you go ride the Ferris wheel. I followed you that day. You had bought her a big cotton candy, and she got it all over her face. Then she dropped it and started crying. You calmed her down and promised her an ice cream cone after you rode the Ferris wheel.”
The edges of Derrick’s eyes fill with tears as I retell the story. His memories of Mei-Xing have faded, grown soft around the edges, details have been lost.
“She cried at first when the wheel began turning. I could hear her. But the tears became laughter as you swung by on three trips around. When you got off she was giggling and begging to go back on it again. You said…”
“I said we’d have to see. After we got our ice cream, we’d see about riding again.” Derrick’s tears ran down his weathered cheeks. “She passed out in the middle of eating that ice cream. I had to carry her to the bus stop. Boy, she was heavy.”
“She wasn’t completely passed out. She cracked her eyes open once you had her on your shoulder. She saw me staring and smiled at me. She had such a friendly smile, such beautiful eyes… your eyes I think.”
Derrick realizes he is crying in front of a virtual stranger and quickly becomes self-conscience of it, wiping the tears back.
I continue. “Look Mr. Calloway. I know you don’t want my money and you want to leave what is in the past, in the past.”
Derrick stops me. “Thank you. You have given me something I couldn’t get anywhere else. Please go. Try to forget what happened. You were just a kid. I forgive you.”
I stare silently at the door as it finally closes. I turn to face a gentle breeze. A new sense of calm comes over me. It’s a feeling I remember from many years ago, when I was seven.
As I walk towards the gated entrance of the complex I see a young boy playing on the sidewalk with a Hot Wheel fire truck. It’s very similar to the one I was playing with that fateful night. It had been my favorite for years, but I never had looked at it the same after that night. I wonder to myself as I walk past whatever happened to that little fire truck. I don’t seem to remember.
* * * * *
Other stories available online by Hickory Cole:
Amnesia
The Equation
The Death of Emily Pritchett
Orange
Road Trip
Alone
The Offer
Kalini
Replica
And be sure to look for Cole’s debut novel, Little
When Juni Little uncovers the mystery behind a sudden outbreak of violent killings on the outskirts of his home town, he must convince the authorities of the dangerous creature lurking in the woods, all while a more sinister threat walks among those he trusts the most.
For the latest news and updated list of works by Hickory Cole go to https://www.hickorycolebooks.com/
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