Jaden Baker Page 5

  Jaden shrugged. “Always, I guess.” Since he could remember. With Bear on the bed, Jaden’s stomach churned and twisted as the idea of what he was about to do became real.

  Without prompting, Jaden took a deep breath and headed for the door, Jenny following. He had to get it over with. Once it was over, it would be done. There was no point in avoiding the barbecue. It’s what people did in the summer. Get used to it.

  Boisterous noise came from downstairs. People laughed and talked over each other. The sound was distressing and annoying, but Jaden continued. His mouth was completely dry, but he was determined to do this.

  When he reached the last step, Derek spotted him and beckoned him with his whole hand. Jaden hesitated as his eyes traveled the room. Three couples and five other children. Holy shit. There were two boys his age who were, at the moment, having a tug-o-war match. Three girls chased each other. One was dressed in pink and had streamers in her hair.

  Jenny placed her hand on Jaden’s shoulder and led him to Derek, as Jaden’s feet had failed him. Derek spoke with a friend, who was shorter and fatter than Derek. He had blonde hair and ruddy cheeks. His red polo shirt was tight across his stomach, which rolled over the waistband of his Dockers.

  Jenny passed Jaden to Derek like a baton. Mimicking his wife, Derek placed his hands on Jaden’s shoulders and introduced him. “Ed, this is Jaden. Jaden, this is our friend Ed. He works at the firm with me.”

  “Hey little man,” said Ed, sticking out his hand.

  Jaden looked at it. If he didn’t shake the hand, he’d be rude. Modern American culture dictated the importance of touching the hand of someone you’ve just met, however counterintuitive it seemed. Why would he want to touch someone he didn’t know? But he was adaptable. He could do this. Just reach out and grab that beefy hand.

  He put out his hand and Ed grabbed it in his, shook it strongly, then released. His smile was unwavering. People smiled a lot here.

  “Derek was saying you’re a great basketball player,” Ed said.

  “He slaughtered me,” Derek replied. “We played a few games of round robin, then some one-on-one matches. He’s going to be a great player in school.”

  “My son, Finn, likes to play too.” Ed called for Finn. One of the tug-o-war boys came running, and the other boy followed. Finn resembled his father with his sandy blonde hair (in a horrible bowl shaped cut) and red cheeks, though he had not amassed the weight his father had.

  “Finn, say hi to Jaden.”

  “Hi,” said Finn.

  “Hey,” Jaden replied, his voice a croak.

  “I’m Ryan,” said the other boy, putting his hand out to Jaden and smiling. Ryan was the same height and build Jaden was, only his hair and eyes were brown, the color of dirt, and his skin tan. When he smiled he exposed crooked teeth, some missing.

  Jaden shook his hand, but Ryan laughed.

  “No, like this,” and Ryan demonstrated to Jaden a complicated handshake.

  “That’s our secret handshake!” Finn whispered to Ryan, so loud everyone heard him.

  “Stop being a baby,” Ryan said. “It’s okay, Jaden’s cool. You want to come outside and play?”

  Jaden thought he did want to go outside and get away from the stuffiness and abundance of grins. He nodded at Ryan and the three of them ran outside, leaving the rest of the adults, and the dancing, squealing girls, inside.

  Ryan had brought squirt guns from his house, and offered one to Jaden. It looked real except for an orange plastic piece on the tip of the barrel. It was black, modeled after a semi-automatic handgun. A 9mm. Be the chameleon. Jaden took it. Holding it made him feel queasy, but he didn’t want to show it. He accepted it and thanked Ryan, though his mouth was empty of saliva, making speech difficult.

  “Let’s get the girls,” Ryan said.

  “Yeah,” Finn replied with a sly look in his eye.

  “Are they your sisters?” Jaden asked.

  “The ones in pink are mine. They think they’re princesses,” Ryan said. “They’re pretty annoying.”

  “Let’s shoot them,” Finn said.

  “Will Mr. and Mrs. Kauffman get mad if we use the guns in the house?” Ryan asked Jaden.

  “Who cares,” Finn replied. “Let’s just go in, guns blazing!”

  “I dunno,” Jaden said. “I’ve never had a water pistol in the house. Let’s lure the girls outside.”

  “How’re we going to do that?” Finn asked.

  “Tell them there’s a cat out here. Girls like cats, don’t they?” Jaden asked.

  “Yeeeah!” the boys yelled in unison. Finn went to the sliding door and called: “Hey Abby, Sarah, Hannah! Come see the kitty!”

  Ryan giggled then ran to the wall and hid behind a rose bush, encouraging Jaden to do the same. “We’ll ambush them,” he whispered.

  As predicted, all three girls came rushing out of the house for the non-existent kitty. Finn jumped from behind a cement fountain of an angel and blasted away. Ryan hurled himself from behind a bush, landed, and rolled on the grass in imitation of a soldier from a cheesy war movie. Jaden pushed from the wall and pulled the plastic trigger on the shortest girl with pig tails.

  The girls screamed and covered their faces. Finn shut the slider to keep them from running inside, so the girls ran and screamed around the backyard as the boys, laughing so much their sides hurt, squirted them with tiny jets of water, chasing them all over the yard.

  “Hey girls!” Jenny yelled from the house. The three girls ran to Jenny, screeching. The boys gave chase, but as they neared, Jenny pulled her hands from behind her back and gave the water hose to one of the older girls. “Soak ‘em!”

  Pink streamer girl squeezed the nozzle trigger and a stream of cold water pelted the boys, drenching them. Thrilled with victory, the girls held the nozzle in turn and chased the boys around the backyard, jumping excitedly and giggling. The adults came to root for the girls.

  “Surrender!” the girls cheered.

  “NEVER!” said Ryan, and he ran into the stream trying to take the hose, sacrificing himself. Finn and Jaden joined him, but the girls mastered control of the nozzle, and blasted each of them in the face as they ran towards the house.

  “Okay, okay!” Ed called, raising his hands. “The girls win.”

  Beaming, Jenny turned off the water and hugged the girls, who bounced and squealed with delight of victory.

  Jaden, who had taken a jet of water to the face, sat on the wet grass, sopping wet and grinning more broadly than ever. Ryan helped him up off the ground and gave Jaden a high five. “That was awesome, man!” he said.

  “Yeah it was,” Jaden replied, grinning. “We’ll get them next time.”

  “Oh yeah. I put a mouse in my sisters’ room last night. It was sooooo cool, you should have seen their faces!”

  Jaden laughed, imagining it.

  Derek put the food on the grill and the boys helped themselves to chips and dip, talking about different things they did to their sisters and plotting future assaults against them. Jaden had some pretty good ideas considering he didn’t have a sister. He suggested drizzling honey in their hair at night, or putting snakes in the bathtub. These cunning ideas earned him many high fives.

  Jenny and Derek, Jaden noticed, watched him with silly smiles throughout the evening. Jaden had to admit the whole barbecue thing was fun, and his fear completely ridiculous. He ate two hamburgers and a hotdog, with a hefty side of out-of-the-carton potato salad, which Jenny put into her own bowl before guests arrived. For dessert, one of the moms made a fruity cake of some sort for the adults, and brownies with marshmallow frosting for the kids. Jaden had two.

  The night was wrapping up, the sun setting, and the air cooling. Jaden, Ryan and Finn thought it would be funny to start a food fight, but Ryan’s dad called over from his table to put the mustard bottle down, just as Ryan lifted it from the table and popped open the cap.

  “That would’ve been so sweet, too,” Finn said, eating a third brownie.


  “Yeah. We can still do it. At school.”

  School. Jaden hadn’t thought of school.

  “What grade are you going into?” Finn asked Jaden.

  “Fourth,” he said. “Are you guys in the same grade?”

  “Yeah. Fourth grade is Mr. Fartfinger,” Ryan answered matter-of-factly.

  “What?” Jaden asked.

  “Fartfinger. I think his real name is Farnheiner or something, but everyone calls him Fartfinger. Are you going to our school too? That would be soooo cool. We have to wear uniforms, so that kind of sucks, but the teachers are nice.”

  “I don’t know what school I’m going to,” Jaden said.

  “Our school is a smart people school,” Finn commented. “At least that’s what mom says. You can only come if you’re smart.”

  “I’m smart,” Jaden said. It was true, he always tested high. “I like to read.”

  “Ewww, why?” Finn said.

  Jaden shrugged. Maybe that was a bad answer.

  “I hate reading,” Finn said.

  “Yeah, me too,” said Ryan. “But it’s okay if you like it. You should tell your parents you want to go to our school, then we can all hang out together.”

  “They’re not really his parents,” Finn whispered loudly.

  Ryan ignored Finn and smiled at Jaden. “Do you like baseball? I’m on the t-ball team. I bet you’d be good at it. You should come to a few games and see if you’d like to play.”

  “I’ll ask them,” Jaden said. He shot Finn a dirty look then got up to throw his plate in the trash. When he returned to sit with Finn and Ryan, he saw them arguing in low whispers. He sat anyway and they stopped. So, they were talking about him. Big surprise.

  “Did you come from an orphanage?” Finn asked.

  Ryan smacked his hand to his forehead and shook his head dramatically.

  “No,” Jaden said. “I’m not an orphan.”

  “Well, why are you here if your real parents are alive?” Finn asked.

  Ryan gave him a scathing look and said out the side of his mouth, teeth clenched: “We’re not supposed to talk about that.”

  Jaden scoffed. “It’s too complicated for your infantile brain to understand,” he said to Finn. He pulled grass from the ground to give his hands something to do, but wished he had a good excuse to leave. He didn’t like Finn.

  “Oh,” Finn said. “So they didn’t want you?”

  “Shut up!” Ryan said to Finn.

  Jaden’s tried ignoring Finn’s jabs. Be adaptable. Don’t rise. He would have to change the subject.

  “What’s t-ball anyway?” he asked.

  “It’s like baseball, only they put the ball on a tee so you will always hit it. It’s kinda lame, but Dad says it’s good practice. I’m going to play peewee next year.”

  “I’m glad my parents want to keep me,” Finn continued. “Ryan’s want to keep him. What did you do to make your mom and dad give you away?”

  “Shut your face, Finn!” Ryan said.

  Jaden swallowed hard. He felt a great pressure behind his eyes and found he couldn’t summon the energy to care about t-ball or schools anymore. He kept his head down in case he couldn’t hold it in, hoping the barbecue would be over soon and Finn would go home. Ryan liked him better, and Finn was jealous. He was just being cruel.

  That doesn’t mean it’s not true. Jaden tried thinking of a good reason to leave so he could go to his room, but that would be obvious. All was merry laughter at the adult table. Jaden tried catching Jenny’s eye, but for once she wasn’t looking at him.

  “What are they doing now that you’re here?” Finn continued.

  Jaden scowled at Finn’s glowing face.

  “Why do you care?” Jaden asked.

  “Why don’t you? I’d want to know if it was me. Didn’t your mom tell you why she hates you?”

  “She doesn’t hate me,” he muttered weakly, and he felt a tear brimming under his eye. He didn’t blink, fearing it would slide down his burning face. The food he’d enjoyed over dinner weighed heavily in his stomach.

  Ryan had given up trying to stop Finn and watched nervously.

  “Because you might do it again, and the Kauffmans will chuck you out.”

  His insides churned, and his face was blazing hot. Finn was an idiot. He didn’t understand anything. He was a pampered baby going to a pampered school. He didn’t know what it was like on the other side.

  “I mean maybe it’s—”

  “Say one more word and I’ll strangle you,” Jaden said calmly, staring him down.

  Finn’s mouth twisted into a smile. “It’s not something you did. She just doesn’t like you.”

  Jaden lunged, knocking Finn backward. Jaden sat on top of him, pinned him to the ground, and punched him in the face twice, then put both his hands around Finn’s throat and squeezed. Finn gurgled and spluttered, his hands smacking Jaden’s face.

  “Stop it!” Ryan yelled, and the adults scrambled from their table and ran toward them. Ed, Finn’s father, was the first to arrive. He picked Jaden up by the arm pits and shoved him away. Jaden landed hard on the grass. He scrambled up, and watched everyone’s faces.

  Finn’s mother was cooing over her stupid son, and Ed was furious.

  “How dare you!” he yelled, pointing his fat finger at Jaden. He advanced, but Derek grabbed him. Jenny’s face was hard to read, but disappointment was his best guess.

  Before any of them could move, Jaden spun on his heel and ran through the fence gate and sprinted down the sidewalk.

  “Jaden!” Derek yelled, running after him.

  Jaden ignored him. He made a right at the intersection and increased speed. There was no way Derek could catch him. He shouted, but his voice grew fainter.

  Spanish style houses passed in a blur. He clutched a stitch in his side but pressed on, panting, wishing he could stop. But he didn’t want Derek to get a hold of him. He took a left at the next intersection and kept running.

  The neighborhoods changed as he ran through them. The Kauffmans’ was plastic, with the cobblestone walkways, grand entrances, and second story homes, but these were more real to him: yellowed lawns, smaller houses, more cars parked in the street.

  He had been sprinting for ten minutes and could hardly breathe. His feet hurt. Jaden stopped and bent over, gasping for air. He checked behind him. Derek wasn’t there. There was no one.

  Jaden kept walking until the dusky evening turned to night. He needed somewhere to hide and rest. He knew that the small gaps between two houses was a good place to hide, it was just a matter of finding a suitable one. After checking that no one stared out their front window, Jaden walked across a crunchy lawn. There was about four feet of space between one house and the next, and it wasn’t fenced off or stuffed with trash cans. He bent down and crawled into the gap, then wiped the sweat from his face. Sighing, Jaden hugged his knees to his chest, resting his head on them. It was mostly quiet. He wished he had gone back to the house for Bear.

  Finn was an asshole, but his words still stung. They were half-truths. If she wanted him, she would’ve tried harder. Instead she’d given him away, like Finn had said.

  Jaden crawled out a while later and walked along the sidewalk, thinking of where to go. At least it wasn’t cold. He was tired and wished he could find somewhere to sleep, but everyone had their garage doors shut. Tonight he’d sleep in the back of a car then push on tomorrow morning. He wanted to go back to get some of his stuff, including Bear, but it was too risky. After things had died down, say in a week or two, he could go back and sneak upstairs to get his bear and some clothes.

  There was a roomy Crown Victoria ahead of him, perfect for tonight. Headlights lit his path, casting his long shadow, as he made his way toward the Crown Victoria. The car behind him slowed.

  He turned into the light, shielding his eyes with his hand. The truck or van was too big to be Derek or Jenny’s car, and besides, they weren’t going to follow him. The headlights were too bright for him to see an
ything else.

  The car slowed but didn’t stop.

  Run!

  Jaden sprinted again. He hopped a fence, then another, to put as much distance between himself and whoever followed. The yards in this neighborhood were smaller. People were awake in their houses, and he hoped no one noticed him streaking past. Ahead was a tall fence. Grabbing the chain links, Jaden lifted himself over the top, landed on the other side of the street, and ran into it.

  A horn blared. He spun to see a car coming at him. He threw out his hands and hit the car’s hood, but he was pitched backwards. Stars burst in his eyes as he fell on his back, scraped his elbows and banged his head on the asphalt.

  “Oh my God,” someone said, opening their car door and running to Jaden. “Are you okay?”

  The wind had been knocked out of him, and his head was killing him, but he was alive. He rolled and pushed himself off the pavement, but was dizzy and unsteady on his feet.

  The driver tried grabbing Jaden’s arm, but he pulled it away.

  A radio went off, and the driver spoke into it.

  “Yes, I think I found him.”

  Jaden looked up. The driver wore a blue uniform and had a flashlight on his belt. A cop.

  The cop gave dispatch his location.

  “Your parents are worried about you, young man. How ‘bout we take you home?”

  Jaden tried standing again, but his left leg hurt.

  “I don’t want to,” he said.

  “You need to see a doctor?” the cop asked. “Are you injured?”

  “You hit me with your car, moron,” Jaden grunted.

  “Let me see,” the cop said, laughing under his breath. He picked Jaden up and set him on the hood of the car.

  “Don’t touch me,” Jaden said, pushing the cop. “I’m fine.” He looked at his cut up hands. “My ass hurts, though.”

  “You hit your head,” the cop said. “But most of the damage is to the car. You left a pretty big dent for such a small person.”

  Jaden slid off the hood and limped away. Another car sped forward.It braked and drifted before coming to a complete stop. Jenny leapt out and ran to Jaden, who simply froze.