As The Summer Wind Blows-- The Brooklyn Bridge

Just for everyone's information, this is my new story, it hasn't been edited, at all, so there will be many mistakes. I'm sorry for that. I just haven't gotten the time to edit it yet, but here it is for you're comments and spelling mistake ciritisicms. Oh and the book of short stories is gonna be called, As The Summer Wind Blows. And this story is called, The Brooklyn Bridge. Just as an overview: this story takes place mostly in Manhatten, New York. And is told from the prespective of a high school boy named, Pheonix Lander. And is about the experiances of him and the people who surround his life for one whole summer.


The Brooklyn Bridge

The kids around here are all phonies. Stuck up, up tight, phonies. And then all of, what, 30 minutes out of here and you’ll meet some of the coolest people on God’s green earth. But here, not so much.
The last day of school’s supposed to be some kind of jubilant experience; when in reality most people don’t even go to school. They’re all done with their finals so they’ve got nothing to do here. The only reason I was here was cuz I’d just been talking to my old english teacher about a writing program. My english teacher, Mr. Billus, was really this old fart. He just sat around all day reading literature. But man could he write! He used to change all my writing around, damn it was amazing.
I had walked into his room at about 12:30. He was sitting at his desk listening to some classical crap re-reading The Cather in the Rye, his favorite book. Once a year all his classes had a huge discussion about it. It came to be known as The Billus Catcher. I thought he’d read that book about 20 million times, but he really loved it. He looked up from his book as I walked in, he looked rather serious.
“Solo Suite for Cello Number… 3?” I guessed, he liked it when you guessed what he was listening to, I’d gotten pretty good at it.
“Number 11.” He corrected me. I walked over to his desk and sat down. “So what have you got for me?” He asked, barely looking up from his book. I hate it when people don’t pay attention to you. Like they’re reading a book or something and they can’t even give you the time of day.
“I’ve been working on these new short stories.”
“Prostitute living in New York City.”
“Yes. She’s trying to work at the thearter. I hope it's interesting.”
“Any kind of story line?”
Now I was getting annoyed with his bored questions. I wished he'd either care or just tell me to go away.
“Yes! Like I said, she's dancing at this theater in New York to get away from her old life, but like I said, she's still got no money.”
“Doesn't have, doesn't have any money.” He corrected me.
“Fine. She doesn't have enough money to live off of. Sir, I have to go. I've got stuff in my locker that's been there all year and I have to get it out. Have a good summer Sir. Thanks for all your help.” I said, trying to get out of there. He was really bugging me, he wouldn't even pretend to care at all. He just sat there reading his book, and it was really quite depressing.
“Leaving so soon are you?”
“Yes well, like I said, I have to go. I've got all my stuff around the school.”
“Well then,” he said finally standing up. “have an excellent summer young man. I wish you well on all your travels.”
He was always saying stuff like that, like he was some kind of historical, great poet or something. He was real full of himself some times. Sometimes he'd hold a class up for a whole half hour, just cuz he didn't feel like he wanted to stop talking.
He gave me this little half bow, like he still lived in 1900, and sat back down heavily on his chair which teetered on the edge of breaking. I turned my back on him to leave but then remembered something he'd once said to me and turned back to him.
“Yes Mr. Lander?” He asked, seeing me turn out of the corner of his eye.
“Do you remembered that time that you quoted Salinger at me and told me never to let people know too much about your life from your writing?”
“Yes.”
“I disagree. Why not let someone see your life to get to the point?”
“That, my boy, is why you are a believer. You believe people care, and maybe they do, but then again maybe they don't.” And with that he brought his book back up to his face, and disappeared into it.
I left contemplating his statement. How was I a believer? I hated it when people said things like that. Like they're trying to sound really smart and all, but they're really just pretty average.
The final bell of the day rang, I'd never really had anything in my locker. I barely knew where my own locker was. I just couldn't stand being there with that old sulky know-it-all. I met Danna at the front entrance. She was coming back from her history final that she had missed because of one of her crazy reasons. She was standing there tapping her foot when I walked up to the front doors.
“Hard?” I asked her, already knowing the answer from the way she kept putting her thumb and forefinger on the bridge of her nose, and the way she kept rolling her shoulders from her aching back.
“You have no idea.” She replied abruptly, and I noticed then how annoyed she really was. She was my only friend in the whole school, and pretty much the only real person I'd met in the past two years here. I mean I'd met a lot of her friends, but most of them I found rather mean, or they just put up this mean front. Like her friend Chloe who I found rather manipulative and bitchy. And she'd showed me her ex-boyfriend who she still secretly loved, and would kill me if I ever told anyone, but even he seemed like pretty much of a dick around his friends.
She walked in a huff out the front doors, and I followed her.
“Hey you know what? It's summer break! We're free. And we're seniors now!” She turned to look at me, and she could tell I was just trying to cheer her up; but it worked.
“Can we go to the city? I've gotta get away from this damn place.” We both seemed to be thinking the same thing cuz we were already walking towards my black Chevy. It had been a gift from my mother when we moved. She always felt terrible for making me leave the one place I loved. Which also meant she couldn't care when Danna and I went to the city about every weekend, because I had been dragged kicking and screaming out two years ago. We never got along well ever since. She had made me move to this depressing phony town, and I hated it. Everything these dumb kids did depressed me. Everyone only cared about their grades, or if they were in with the latest UGG Boot trends, or how much money they could nick from their parents to buy their drugs. I couldn't stand it! No one cared about art, or writing, or beauty. Just their mundane bull, and that's what really depressed me.
I opened my car with the useless electric clicker that I really hated. I revved the engine, and turned on some no-beat Indie Rock and hyped up the volume to annoy people. Then I drove like a bat out of hell. Danna laughed softly to herself next to me as we jerked to a stop at the stop sign, and let a jockey football player and a prom queeny blond girl pass in front of us. I snorted as I watched the phony with his prize lead her off to his car. Danna looked over to me and put her hand knowingly on her shoulder.
“So what you doing this summer P?” She asked a while later.
“Same old, same old. Writing, sitting in coffee shops. You joining me?”
“I got anything better to do?”
“A boyfriend?”
“As if.”
“You can't tell me you're still hung up on James?” James was her ex-boyfriend. I personally didn't like him. He's one of the biggest phonies in this place. The kid's a joke. I really don't understand why Danna's so hung up on him. He was always awful to her, he really was. I barely knew her when they were still together; I'd just moved here. I saw them together only a few times. By the time I became friends with her their relationship was already on the fritz, and her family was already starting to have problems, and her life seemed to be falling apart. I wouldn't say I saved her, but I did try my hardest to help. Now her parents are divorced, and her boyfriend's gone, but at least she's got one good friend.
She didn't answer me for a long time; just sat there in silence thinking.
“I really don't think you understand.” She finally said, and leaned her head back against the seat looking tired.
“Oh really? Why? Cuz I'm not a girl? I don't think the same?”
“Don't you horse around with me Phoenix Lander. No. Because you've never been in love.” I really was horsing around with her, and she always just seemed to get so annoyed when I did.
“I've never been in love? I've never been in love!” I tried to sound incredulous. “Yeah, you're right. I've never been in love.” I really hadn't either. Like I'd had girlfriends who I'd gotten all sexy with. But love, not so much. Love was kind of a foreign term to me.
“See? I can't just stop caring.” She explained
“Why? He did.” That forced her into another long silence; and she sat there in quite a huff.
“Okay, I'm sorry.” I said after a while of her silence. I felt bad that I'd hurt her feelings. She's quite touchy old Danna is. You say one thing these days and she'll go off in a big old huff.
She just kept ignoring me until we finally arrived at this little coffee shop we liked to hang out at in the village. It was smashed in between these two pretty hardcore stores. You could usually find a fair amount of druggies, rockers, and desperate Indie writers just hanging around here. I knew the guy who worked behind the counter from my days when I lived here. He tipped his head a little to Danna and I as we entered and then went back to washing this glass. We sat down at our favorite table right up next to the window and sat in silence for a while. Then when she couldn't bare to stay quiet anymore Danna let out an “Ohhh... him, that's pretty cool.” She whispered, gesturing towards a guys in black skinny jeans, with tattoos and a bright orange mohawk walking down the street towards us.
I watched him dazedly. He had a long jolting stride that made him look like he was in a hurry. Danna was watching him with child-like enthusiasm, I laughed shortly at her. Then I noticed some of her friends; some of her friends that I didn't like. She noticed them too, and then they noticed us, sitting here in our little peaceful coffee shop that wouldn't be peaceful for much longer. It was Chloe and her gang of juvenile delinquents. They called themselves The Blades like they were all cool hot shots and all. But they were really just a bunch of gay girls who sat around, and skipped class, and smoke, and once in a while had fights with their opposing gang the Abolishers. James was part of that gang. I thought they were both pretty damn stupid, but Danna envied them.
Chloe walked in first, towards Danna, not noticing me; head held high like she owned the joint.
“Danna!” She squealed, coming over to us. She threw her arm around Danna's neck when she got to her.
“Hey Chloe.” Danna answered, trying to sound pretty suave.
“You wanna come with us?” Danna's eyes lit up, she loved walking with these damn gangs; it made her feel tough, undefined. I myself couldn't care less. She looked at me as if asking permission to abandon me.
“Go. Have fun. It's gotta be better than sitting around here all day.” She almost squealed and jumped up quickly to join Chloe.
“I'll meet you at the tree at five.” She said as she left.
The tree was this giant old oak tree right on the outskirts of Central Park West. This one time I found this old pair of real beat up 60's roller skates tied up on one of the branches. Almost broke my neck trying to get 'em too. But I have them still to this day. One of the few reminders of the place I once lived.
I sat only a few minutes more and then left to walk aimlessly. I went across the street to this cool old underground clothing store that I liked. The owner was standing outside smoking, he did that a lot. I stopped and leaned against the wall next to him.
“What's good P?” He asked me with out even looking to see who it was. His leathery skin stretched over his cheek bones as he talked, and his Steven Tyler like figure curled forward in on itself a little.
“Last day of school.” I said really trying to sound cool, bored, and suave.
“School... pff... what a joke.” He said blowing out a long stream of smoke through his teeth.
“Smoked any good?” He continued. That's about all Alex cared about, his store and his joint.
“No.”
“No good man, no good.”
“Sure.” I said, and continued on inside.
“Phoenix!” Alex called after me.
“What?” I yelled back, not bother to turn around.
“Aint you gonna come have one with me?”
“Not today man.” I walked on to the back to where I knew this nice girl Marcy worked with the shoes. She was good for a light conversation, and she was always horsing around. But she was pretty damn dumb.
This one time I took her out for a movie, back when I lived in the city, and she got on my nerves so bad that I just got up and left. She wouldn't talk to me for two whole months!
“Hey Jess.” I called coming into the back room.
“Hi Phoenix. Look I'm really busy. Alex just got in all this new shit, and we're already overstocked. And I'm really stressed out; and I just found out I'm failing two courses. And my brother never came home the other night. And every thing's really screwed up. And...” She kept talking my damn ear off as I walked around the back room a bit, looking at all the new shoes. I noticed a pair of real old converse, no doubt donated by some rich bastard Alex liked to get high. They were all drawn on and the color was all fading, but for the most part they looked pretty cool. I picked them up and looked them over, and put them back down. When I looked up Jess was still jabbering away holding this damn box of shoes.
“I'll see you later Jess,” I yell and get her attention.
“Oh... well then I'll see you later P. Try to get Alex to come in here on your way out would you.” She says as I leave.
“Jess wants you in the back.” I tell Alex absently, as I walk by him.
“Uhh... that girl again! What does she want now? She never stops talking!” Alex grumbles stumbling inside.
I walked down the side walk by the street vender's and bong shops. I decided I'd take a cab over to Brooklyn to visit this kid I knew back when we were in grade school. He a was a good kid this guy and we hadn't talked in a while. He was one of those kids that you'd just go and walk right in his front door. I flagged down a cab on the corner next to an open air pizza place.
The driver was this good looking young guy, and I couldn't imagine why he was spending his life driving around in a taxi cab. I tell him 15th Street in Brooklyn and we head for the bridge. The Brooklyn bridge's a pretty damn majestic thing if you've ever seen it. With all those wires and then the big pillars that stand in the middle and keep all the wires up. It's pretty great. I never really went to Brooklyn that much but it wasn't bad. We were stopped at a light when the driver first talked to me.
“What's your business in Brooklyn kid?” He asked in a kind of stupid Tony Soprano accent.
“Just visiting this guy. Why are you driving a cab?”
“Now that my friend is a very good question. I'm drivin' a cab because of a girl. You get em' all pregnant and what not and then they don't want you to leave. They don't want you to go to school cuz you're not makin' money. They don't want you to be workin' cuz you're not at home. It's endless! So I says, you know what I'll go drive a taxi cab. And you know, that's just where I end up.”
“Oh. Well man, that sucks. But how's she expect you to ever get some kind of a good job if you never went to school?”
“That's just what I says! I says, why would I spend my life drivin' around in a cab when I can be makin' so much more money somewhere else. I says, hey why don't you get off you're fat lazy ass and do somethin'? You know, they don't like that, them woman. They don't wanna hear none o' that. She's like, well maybe you shouldn't of knocked me up you asshole! That was the end o' that. You got a girl man?”
“No.”
“Aww, no? Why not? Nice lookin' guy like you. You ain't a gay are you?”
“No. I don't live round here. I live in the suburbs. Well sorta. But they really suck. I mean the people. I used to live in the city. On the corner of 53rd and 3rd.”
“Oh yeah, yeah. I know where that is.” We were on the bridge now. There were all these people walking in the nice summer air. But I noticed one girl walking right on the side of the road. Not in between the car lanes like you're supposed to. No, right on the side next to the cars and on the edge of the bridge. She was walking real slowly looking down at the water. Pondering it.
“You know, you can just let me out right here.” I tell the driver, and had him some money.
“Okay man, be safe.” He mocks and then laughs. I get out and walk behind the girl, sort of trying to catch up with her. I think she hears me, cuz she turns around and I think is pretty startled that there's someone following her.
“You know, that middle partition is for people to walk on.”
“I could tell you that same thing.” She says to me. Her voice is nice; girly and feminine. She's pretty pale with blue eyes and blond hair. But her clothes aren't too nice and she might have been wearing them for a while. “What do you want?” She asks, crudely.
“Well... I just... saw you on the bridge... and well...”
“You don't know, do you? You just thought you'd be a good person and see what was wrong with me? Eyy?”
“No! No! It's not like that. I just thought I could talk to you.”
“Well my life isn't for you to make some kind of story out of! So you can just leave me alone...”
“Phoenix.”
“Well you can just leave me alone Phoenix. Phoenix? That's a nice name.”
“I'm a nice guy.”
“Oh sure you are. Sure.”
“Well I don't know what the fuck your problem is.”
“And I don't know why you even care enough to talk to me. What are you, some kind of stalker?”
“No I'm not. I just wanted to talk to you.”
“Why?! You don't even know me!” She screamed at me. I cowered away from her, she was pretty crazy. “I'm sorry.” She stopped walking, “I just... have people problems.”
“Well I'm sorry to hear that. But really I just wanted to talk to you. But really, why are you walking here?”
“Cuz I feel like it.”
“No, I mean like near the water and what not.”
“Oh... that...” She trailed off.
“You don't really have to tell me. I'm sorry if I annoyed you. I'll just be going now.” I start walking away because I don't think she really wants to talk to me.
“No, don't leave. Please. I'm sorry.” She pleaded. I walked back towards her and looked at her. I knew she would call me back and I didn't go far. “I'm Anna.” She said quickly to break some of the tension.
“That's nice. Anna what?” I ask. We stopped walking and stood there with the cars whizzing by on out left side.
“No, no. Just Anna. I don't go by my last name normally.” I look at her; her eyes are serious and dark and solemn. I can barely even read one emotion from the other. They are so full of mystery and all the things I don't know about her and her life.
“You live in the city?”
“You gonna come stalk me or something?” She asked jokingly and started walking again.
“No. I promise you I won't”
“Yeah I live in the city most of the time. I move around a lot. Do you?”
“No. I used to live in the city. My parents made us move. I live in the suburbs now. Bedford.”
“That's a nice place”, she commented.
“Yeah, if you're a phony.” She laughed at that, and her laugh was nice. Not real girl or loud. It almost tinkled, like a bell.
“So you're not one of those phonies?” She joked.
“No! Are you?”
“Not in the least.”
“So why don't you live with your family?” I ask quickly; getting into some of the more serious stuff.
“Next question”
“No. I wanna know. Why don't you go by their name?”
“I don't live with my family cuz we don't get along very well! Okay? Happy?” She turned her face away from me and I was afraid she might cry.
“Please don't cry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. You don't have to talk to me anymore. I'll go now.”
“I'm not crying!” She protested, but her voice gave it away some.
“You really don't have to talk to me anymore if you don't want to.”
“No, I like you. You're really nice; you know that? You're one of the nicest people I've met in a while.”
“Well than you must not have met too many decent people.”
“No I don't,” she said sullenly.
“What are you really doing out here?”
“Do you really want to know?” She asked.
“Yes”
“Will you judge me?”
“No”
“Do you really care?”
“Of course.”
“I might have jumped if given the chance. I really might have. Ph that really would have met them happy, those scum bags.”
“Who?”
“People. But I really might have.”
“I really might too.” I say, and she turned to smile at me. Her big smile friendly as she stopped walking to talk to me.
“You're a good guy Phoenix. I trust you.”
“You shouldn't” I responded.
“Well, lets think about this now shall we? You're not a crack whore. And you're not a major drug lord. Trust me, if you were I'd know you would have been to my house at least once. And you don't seem to be a cocaine addict. So I'd say, you're pretty damn trustworthy.”
“Well thanks. And no, I'm none of those things. And I thought you didn't live at home.”
“Yeah well, when I do. You don't need to know about that. Neither do I.” She said, shutting me down. “Phoenix, you're a really great guy. Thank you”
“For what?” I asked. I couldn't figure out what I had done that was so damn great.
“For being nice to me.” She seemed serious in a way that compelled me to believe her.
“Oh. It was nothing. Just trying to be a good person.”
“You are a good person. Thank you” Then she paused and pivoted so that she wasn't really facing me. “I've got to be somewhere.” She said hurriedly; and turned all the way around. Her mood changed so fast I never saw it coming.
“Oh.”
“I'm sorry. I do. Will I see you again in the city?” She asked looking over her shoulder with giant blue eyes.
“If you're lucky.” I saw and smile. And then she's gone. Running back down the bridge. Gone like and a breeze in the summer that fades awfully quickly. And I'm left standing there on the bridge, half awestruck. Standing there on that damn bridge. The bridge that connects. The bridge that allows the New Yorkers and the Brooklyn thugs to unite and make a city. I'm standing there watching her leave. A summer breeze is blowing and I can feel it, warm on my cheek. I take out my cell phone and call Danna for her to get my car and pick me up. She does; but I don't tell her about Anna.

Henry's Batman

Prologue:

“Henry Milo. Can I see you for a minute?” asked my English teacher, Mrs. Cobalt, as I walked out of her class. I turned, annoyed, and walked back towards her desk.

“Yes?” I asked as politely as possible.

“I think you should take a look at these grades.” She said holding out a grade book to me. “You’re failing.” She said sternly. I looked and true enough right there on the paper next to my name was a big fat F. “Now there are many things you can do to raise this grade, like extra credit. How would you like that?” I was barely listening, lost in my own little world about how I could be failing, but replied anyway.

“That’d be great I guess… if I’m failing.”

“Ok. I’ll find something for you and let you know.” She said hurriedly. I didn’t answer. I just walked out of the room.

I didn’t care about English, that’s why I didn’t do the work, and therefore, that’s why I was failing. Mrs. Cobalt pissed me off. She was one of those English teachers with a high pitched, smarter then you voice, and I always felt like she judged me and looked at me weird. “How would Batman deal with this?” I thought to myself as I walked down the hall away from her room. “Well first of all Batman wouldn’t even have to worry about failing, because Batman would actually care and work hard in school, like he did when training to join The League of Shadows.” I continued on with this line of thought and came to the conclusion that Batman would take whatever punishment was given to him and would do all the extra credit he could and help out and raise the grade so he wouldn’t get grounded for the rest of eternity.

Chapter 1: Batman’s Extra Credit

I woke slowly and rolled over not wanting to get up. I rubbed my eyes and looked for the comic book, lost somewhere in my bed that I had been reading when I’d fallen asleep. I rustled around the covers and couldn’t find it. I groaned as I leaned over the edge of my bed to look for it on the ground. I found it half way under the bed the front pages all crumpled from falling and sitting like that all night. I smoothed out Batman’s face on the front cover and returned it to its hiding spot under the mattress. I flopped myself back down on my pillow and rolled over putting my face in the pillow smelling the sweet smell of the laundry detergent. Then the phone rang; the sharp ears buzzing, jolting, clang of that phone. I groaned and waited for someone else in the house to pick it up. But no one did. So I pulled myself out of the soft comfortable solitude of my sheets, out of my room, and down the hall to where the phone hung awkwardly and sudden on the wall. I picked it up and a rather high pitched voice that I knew all too well from the lectures at school said, “Hello?”

“Hello.” I replied halfheartedly.

“Is this Henry?” The voiced asked.

“Why yes it is.” I said almost sarcastically.

“This is Mrs. Cobalt, your English teacher; sorry for calling so early. But, I have an extra credit assignment for you.” I think she expected some kind of response from me, but I gave none, so she continued. “There’s a nine-year-old boy who needs a tutor. And I assigned you to be it. It’s a perfect chance to pick up your grade in my class. His name is Kevin Angeleno, and you are to meet him today in two PM at the library. Is that ok for you?” I wanted to groan. I didn’t want to have to baby sit some stupid little kid to raise my stupid failing English grade.

“Sure.” I said trying not to sound too annoyed.

“Great! Thank you so much Henry. I’ll be so proud of you if you do well on this.” And then there was a click and nothing as she hung up the phone before I could even give a response.

This time I did groan as I walked back to my room got back into my warm smooth bed, and pulled the covers way up over my head. Who cared about some kid who wasn’t doing well in school? He was probably some stuck up little brat who just wouldn’t work. He’d be one of those kids who dressed like they were all ghetto and had gelled up hair. And he’d probably look at me and call me a nerd, which was probably what I hated the most.

I pulled out the Batman comic from under my mattress because I needed something to calm my nerves. I lay back in bed and opened it to the page I had been on last night before I’d dozed off. Batman was saving people from a terrorist attack, and Cat Woman and Stephanie, the girl who had tried out to be Robin, were overlooking a secret villain meeting that was going terribly airy. This meeting would lead up to the outbreak of gang battles throughout Gotham city that would push Batman to the edge making him admit he needed backup. Just like my meeting with Mrs. Cobalt and the way everything would soon blow up in my face.

I got up an hour later, the sun was peaking in around the edges of the shades and the room was starting to get light. I walked out past the phone that hung awkwardly on the wall and down the tight old stairs the creaked every other step, and into the small custard yellow kitchen where my mother was slaving over the hot stove. My mother was one of my best friends. She was an amazing woman who took care of me, the youngest, my older brother who was about to leave for college and my older sister who had to be a pain in the butt all the time, mostly without the help of my father who worked a lot but loved his family. I was the baby of the family physically, but not mentally. I had always been more mature than my adopted older sister and I was always on the same page as my immensely smart child prodigy of an older brother.

We adopted my sister when she was four. I was two at the time and don’t remember much of it. But I do know that all my mother wanted was a little girl and when she didn’t have one, she adopted one. But what she didn’t know was as soon as my sister, Leslie, turned 12 she would become a raging ball of hatred that would push my mother away. And that’s where I came in, her favorite child and her baby boy once again.

I walked over to my mother and kissed her on the cheek. She turned and smiled sweetly at me and went back to the bacon she was cooking. I sat down at the round five person table and looked down at the worn and knolled wood. I ran my fingers over a big brown swirl and tried to figure out how to tell my mother that I was failing.

“Hey mom….” I stared and trailed off, losing hope.

“Yes Henry?” She could tell there was something I didn’t want to tell her, so I just spit out the words as fast as I could and then ducked for cover.

“Mom I’m failing.” I said in an extremely hurried voice. Then I put my head down on the table and covered it with my arms, as if a giant bomb was about to be dropped on my head. There was a long pause and I could tell it was one of those disappointed pauses as she thought of something to say.

“What class?” She finally asked.

“English,” I said shortly.

“English? How hard could English possibly be? You speak the language don’t you?” She was angry, and I was ashamed that I had let her down.

“Yes but….” I trailed off because I didn’t really have a reason for failing English. It was an easy class I just didn’t like it, or the teacher.

“Too many comic books,” She went on. I ignored this completely, and knew that wasn’t the answer and hated that she would suggest that.

“Well you see there’s this tutoring thing that I have to do for extra credit. And my teacher said that if I do well that I could bring my grade up to at least a C. And if I start working in there too I could get it up to at least a B.” I waited for my mother’s response which she didn’t give for a long time.

“I’m very disappointed Henry. You do know that, right?”

“Yes.” I said and hung my head.

“Well you have to work hard on this then. Who are you tutoring?”

“Some nine-year-old kid named Kevin Angeleno. He’s probably just gona be some stuck up little brat who just doesn’t feel like working, and will hate me, and not listen, and think I’m a nerd.”

“Well Henry you shouldn’t judge this boy before you meet him.” She says in response to that. She always says things like this as if they’re going to make me a better person. I didn’t answer her just kind of rolled my eyes. I went to the fridge and pulled out a piece of fruit which I took back up to my room grumbling thanks to my mother as I went.

I lay in bed eating my fruit and reading Batman for a while until I finally forced myself to get up, get dressed, and go see this stupid little kid to make him a smart little kid.

Chapter 2: Batman in the Library

I arrived at the library five minutes early and chained my bike up to the bike rack. Then I walked into the cool, quiet, carpeted library through the automatic sliding doors. I sat at one of the tan square tables with their small chairs and slotted backs. Only a few minutes later a small boy dressed up in a Batman costume walked through the same double sliding glass doors. He was with a tall stern looking man with graying hair and a shapely face. The man led the boy over to where I sat.

“Are you Henry Milo?” Asked the man with the sharp face, his voice was as stern as his face.

“Yes.” I stammered, intimidated.

“Good. He’s your problem now. Have fun with Batman.” He said the word “Batman” mockingly and looked down at the little boy who didn’t seem to be listening to a word his father said. The boy’s father sniggered, turned, and walked away leaving me with the boy in the Batman costume who I secretly envied.

The boy looked at me. He seemed like a quiet kid. His Batman costume had a rippled chest and I tried to ignore how much I longed to be able to dress like that. We sat there in silence for a few minutes. The young boy seemed to go from examining me, to looking down at his boot clad feet pretending he wasn’t there.

“Do you have your books?” I finally asked. We’d been sitting there in silence for what seemed like hours but were really only about five minutes. The boy took a while to answer but finally said,

“I don’t like school. I like Batman! I am Batman!” I recoiled a little bit at his reaction and tried not to laugh.

“Well… well… you have to study for school.”

“Why would I do that?” Asked the boy in a high pitched voice as if I’d asked him the most unbelievable question he’d ever heard, and wondering how I could ever possibly think he would want to study.

“Well because that’s what you’re supposed to do! Come on, please.” I was frustrated and almost pleading with him. How was I ever going to pass English?! This was impossible the kid wouldn’t work. But I did admire him for his Batman taste.

“I’ll read Batman with you! Do you like Batman?” He asked changing the subject quickly. I hesitated for a moment and didn’t want to answer the Batman question.

“No.” I lied, “You have to read this book for your English class. Look it’s a book about a dog, how bad can it be?” I tried coaxing him into reading it.

“No! It’s not Batman! I don’t read anything unless it’s Batman!” The little boy was yelling now and I couldn’t make him stop.

“Whoa! Ok, ok.” I said pleading with my hands putting them out in front of me trying to get him to stop yelling. “Look, if Batman really had to he’d read the book for school and get it done with so he could go save the world.” I finally insisted in a last hope to get him to read the stupid book. He looked like he was considering it for a second.

“But Batman doesn’t have to read a book about a stupid dog in a supermarket. All he has to do is save Gotham.” He persisted, doubting my Batman knowledge which angered me.

“Well he did when he was your age! Just read it. Batman would be proud” I finished, hoping he would take my lead. He sat in silence for a minute thinking the idea over.

“Ok. I’ll read the book if that’s what Batman would do.” He finally said, giving in. A smile cracked over my face at my good work on getting him to read. I wondered if the kid could read, though he must’ve read the Batman comics I guessed. I opened the book to the first page, and set it down in front of him telling him to read it out loud to me. And I was impressed; he whizzed through the book with excellent speed and had gotten through the sixth chapter in just about an hour.

“Wow.” I said when he was done. “Good job kid.” I added halfheartedly. The little boy smiled up at me; I ignored the smile, and the Batman costume.

“Can we read Batman next time?” He asked hopefully.

“Umm… well I don’t know. You need to finish this book and you’re so far behind… so no.” I said ending sternly, not letting the cute little kid in the Batman costume get to me. His face fell and I felt bad for a minute, but then I reminded myself I was dealing with some random nine-year-old kid and it was his happiness or my grades.

The boy’s father walked back in through the sliding glass doors and over to the table where we sat. “Finally, I get to get away from this kid and get my head back.” I thought to myself as the stern looking man walked towards us.

“Did Batman do ok today?” He asked in the same mocking voice. I glared up at his father.

“Actually, he did. He even read almost half of his book.” I said snidely back to him. He didn’t look too happy and I thought he might say something like, “Don’t disrespect me boy!” or “You’re in trouble now kid!” but he didn’t. He just grabbed the kid by the arm, which looked like it hurt, and wheeled him around towards the door.

“Come on Kevin, you little brat, let’s go.” He said sternly as he pushed him towards the exit.

“Bye Henry.” The boy squeaked, turning around to me before he was pushed awkwardly out the door. I suddenly felt sorry for the little boy and I tried to hide it, but I wanted to cry. I swallowed all the feelings I felt for him and walked out the sliding doors myself. I unchained my bike from the rack and wheeled it away from the library, the library that I would have to go back to again later that week to tutor the little boy so he could get away from his evil father. And once again I would have to feel no feelings for the kid, again. No thought of Batman, and no caring for the poor little kid who was helping me raise my nice, failing, English grade.

Chapter 3: Embarrassed by Batman?

I got home about a quarter to three and walked back into the kitchen where I knew my mother would be cleaning up the lunch mess. She was washing dishes in the soap filled sink yellow gloves pulled up to her elbows, the hot foamy water almost pouring out the front of the basin. I walked over to her and kissed her on the cheek like I had that morning, and every other morning before that.

“Hi Henry, how was your tutoring session?” She asked me in a “how was your day?” kind of voice.

“Well I got the kid to read like half of his book.” I replied, not giving her any of the emotional details about the boy, if there were any.

“And it probably wasn’t as bad as you thought it would be, now was it?” She asked in her favorite motherly voice.

“No.” I said shortly. I wanted to tell her how the kid dressed like Batman and how awful his father was to him and how much I actually did care about the little boy; but I couldn’t, she would have to work it out of my.

“See. I told you not to judge him. So tell me, what was he like?”

“He was… well… he was dressed up in a Batman costume and he was really an ok kid.” A smile broke over her face and she seemed pleased that the boy was maybe a bit like me and maybe we would be able to relate and maybe he could get me out of this hole I seemed to be stuck in, but I doubted that.

“Well now that’s very nice. Maybe you boys will get along after all.” She said smiling widely.

“Yah, maybe,” I said dryly.

“Well, you like Batman, and apparently so does this little boy. And maybe if he doesn’t want to work you could use some of your Batman knowledge to help him work.” She tried to make the statement as inoffensive as possible and I wanted to thank her for that, but didn’t.

“But Mom, you don’t get it. Batman’s not like the coolest thing around.”

“So what? He’s a nine-year-old boy, he won’t mind if you’re not the coolest kid on the block.”

“Yeah but… just… no. I can’t Batman’s like my secret thing and it’s just too embarrassing.” I was ashamed of having to admit how embarrassed I was of Batman and I knew he’d be very disappointed in me if he had ever heard that. My mother rolled her eyes, not understanding where I was coming from at all. I just walked out of the kitchen and back up to my room to the only place where I could just shut the door and think for myself.

The next day was Monday. Monday mornings are probably the worst thing in the whole entire world and I hate them so much. I woke up just on time and got slowly out of bed grumbling and groaning as I went not looking forward to my second period English class that I also hated. I got slowly dressed in blue jeans, a tee shirt, and sneakers the same outfit as most days. I looked at myself in the mirror in the bathroom and rumpled my hair that was sticking up in some places and lying flat in others. I brushed my teeth with the blue minty tooth paste I always used and walked down to the kitchen where my mother was serving my sister a bowl of cereal. I could hear my brother Tony yelling from the front hall and could hear the jangle of his keys as he swung them around his fingers.

“You’d better get going, he’s already yelling about your sister being too slow and how he has a math test first period.” My mother said to me when I entered the kitchen. I nodded in acknowledgement of her and grabbed a cereal bar and quickly told Leslie that “Tony would leave her here and then she would have a problem”.

Tony and I got in the car and waited for my sister who climbed in shortly after me grumbling about getting the back seat. We sped off in Tony’s jeep towards the school. Leslie leaned over the seat and asked Tony in a winy voice if she could drive home which he quickly turned down saying that she could drive next year when he was gone. I barely listened to their conversation lost in my own world about English class and how much I didn’t want to see Mrs. Cobalt along with a swirl of Batman facts.

First period went by quickly. It was an ok class, History. I didn’t mind history too much. One of my friends was in the class. We mostly sit in the back and just talk and write on each other’s papers. It’s a very uneventful class. But then I had dreaded English. And if I wanted to actually pass that class I would have to work hard and pay attention. We were reading a book called Fallen Angels. It was a book about the Viet Nam War and I didn’t find it very interesting. I’d already finished the book just to get it over with when she’d first handed it out. But then I just didn’t do any of the work for it. The class rolled by pretty fast. I even raised my hand to answer a few questions which seemed to please Mrs. Cobalt. I walked up to her desk after class to tell her about the tutoring session with Kevin, the little kid in the Batman costume.

“Hello Henry.” She said sounding surprised when I walked up to her desk. “What can I do for you?” She asked. I almost raised my eyebrows and asked if she’d even remembered giving me the tutoring assignment, but resisted the urge.

“Well, I thought you might want to ask me about the extra credit assignment.” I said prompting her to ask me so that I could leave.

“Oh, yes. How’d it go?” She asked, her high voice ringing in my ears.

“Good actually, umm… I got him to read the first half of his book.” I tried not to sound too much like a suck up brat because I realized I was suddenly sounding like one. She smiled and I could tell she was proud of me. Proud, eww. Proud was the last thing I wanted Mrs. Cobalt to be of me.

“Good job Henry. Your next tutoring session will be on Wednesday, every Wednesday and Sunday for the next five weeks.” She said ending the conversation as if she too wanted to get away from me. I didn’t answer just followed her lead and walked out of the room, kind of raising my eyebrows as I went.

As I was walking out of the room a girl was walking in for her next class. She was the most beautiful girl in the world. Her name was Natalie Vegea and she was perfect. She was what some called a drama geek. But in her group she was a queen. She got all the lead roles in the plays and every girl in drama wanted to be her. I stumbled over my feet as I walked by her and almost fell, bumping into her. She grabbed me by the arm with hands that were stronger then it seemed they should be and put me back on my feet.

“Careful,” She said to me, and for a second I thought she had noticed me. We had four classes together and she never noticed me.

“Thanks,” I stammered. But she was already gone talking with her friends. For a second she had noticed me, for a second I was a living, breathing human being to her. How could I make that second come back?

“Batman would know what to do. Batman wouldn’t have to worry about not getting a girl to notice him. Everyone noticed him, and everyone loved him. I mean he was like The Batman! He was big, and strong, and tough, and all the girls probably loved him. He was looked up to; no one looked up to me. I barely had any friends. I was the loser who read Batman comics and was failing English. So how could Batman make her notice me? He probably couldn’t. She wouldn’t like Batman. How could she? If she ever knew that I liked Batman I would be even more invisible to her then ever. Or would I? If she thought I was a loser at least she would notice me. If she thought I was completely weird; at least I would be there to her. No that was a crazy idea. Why would I want to make the girl I loved think I was a freak?” I was confused. I didn’t understand how I could get her to see me. I wanted to be her friend, I wanted to know her, if only just to know her and not be invisible to her. But how?

Chapter 4: Killing in Gotham City

Tuesday was uneventful. Wake up, listen to Tony and Leslie fight, go to class, see Natalie, go home, eat, and read Batman. And that was about it. Then Wednesday came and I had to tutor Kevin again. I didn’t really want to see Kevin, the boy in the Batman costume, and try to suppress the pity I felt for him. I was jealous of him for being able to show how much he loved Batman where as I always felt I had to hide it.

I was sitting in English and Mrs. Cobalt had just asked the class if anyone knew anything about The Odyssey. I personally had read it when I was in fifth grade because I had been interested in Greek mythology, it wasn’t a bad book. Mrs. Cobalt waited, she was getting anxious.

“Anyone? Anyone know anything at all?” She was asking. I raised my hand slowly. She looked at me, almost in disbelief. “You better not be asking to go to the bathroom.” She said when she called on me.

“Umm… no… The Odyssey is about an epic battle where Odysseus, the main character, is lost at sea and trying to get home but he keeps running into all these obstacles, and then when he finally gets home he has to fight off all these suitors who want to marry his wife, and wins.” I said slowly but surely. Mrs. Cobalt just stared at me in disbelief for a few seconds, amazed that I’d answered the question correctly.

“That’s exactly right Henry. Yes Odysseus is fighting to get home after the Trojan War, and then has to fight off a group of men who want to marry his wife, with the help of his son.” She says summarizing what I had just said. The bell rang then and everyone got up to leave and started filing out the door.

“Good job today Henry.” Mrs. Cobalt said as she walked by my desk as I packed up. I don’t answer just finish packing up and got out of the class as quickly as possible. I didn’t see Natalie in the hallway outside of her room and that depressed me. I liked seeing her during the day, she was always bright and happy and surrounded by a bunch of friends not noticing me. I wished for once she would notice me, or say hi to me, or just look in my direction, but she never did.

I thought about how well I’d done in Mrs. Cobalt’s class today and how she’d complimented me. “Maybe she didn’t hate me, maybe she’d just giving up on me. I knew I was smart, I always had been. Just a lot of the time I just didn’t care enough to do the work. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life which made me care about school even less. Who knew, maybe this whole tutoring thing would help me.” But then I stopped and wanted to kick myself. “What was I thinking?! I was acting like a suck up little girl. Tutoring some annoying little kid wasn’t changing me at all apart from maybe making me more of a baby.”

By the end of the day I was worn out. I hadn’t seen Natalie all day, she hadn’t been in any of her classes, and I had to keep trying to work hard and pay attention in all of my classes. And now I had to go be a teacher, the last thing I wanted to be, for a nine-year-old kid who probably didn’t even care if I helped him in school or not. I went home quickly with Tony and Leslie just to drop off my books, get my bike, and say hi to my mother and then left trying not to be too early to the tutoring session. I peddled up to the brick library about five minutes early like I had the Sunday before. I got off my bike and chained it up to the bike rack, feeling the rapidity of it. And then I walked sluggishly into the air conditioned, quieter than real life lobby of the library. I walked in past the shelves of children’s books and over to the table where I’d sat the time before. To my surprise Kevin was already sitting at the table, this time with out the Batman costume. He was dressed similarly to me, worn out sneakers, blue jeans, and a Batman tee shirt. I envied the tee shirt too and wanted one like it.

“Why are you here so early?” I asked protectively of the little boy.

“My dad said that he wouldn’t drive me. So I had to walk here from school.” The kid seemed so tiny, and he must have been small for his age, but at that point there was something about him that seemed extra small, maybe just in the way he had said the statement. The school was about ¾ of a mile away and it must have been a long walk for him. I couldn’t believe the boy’s menace of a father wouldn’t even drive his own son to a tutoring session so he could learn!

“Oh.” I replied trying not to let on that I cared. “Well we should get started. You remember where we left off last week, right?”

“Yah, they went to that old ladies house that they thought was the witch and she talked about the melancholy.” And his face seemed to lighten up a bit. And I was surprised that de didn’t even persist about not wanting to work. Maybe I really had gotten to him last time about working and how Batman would do it too if he had to.

“Right, so why don’t we start from there and maybe you could do some of the worksheets today.” I placed the book open in front of him and had him read it out loud to me again. And again he read it very well. I stopped him about 30 pages from the end and said that that part was for next time. Then I had him start working on all the many worksheets he hadn’t done, with questions about the book. At first he persisted. Asking why he couldn’t just read Batman, and how he’d thought that if he did so well on the stupid dog book he could read Batman, and how unfair it was. I tried to console him, saying that he really did have to read the book and do the worksheets. He complained and finally I gave in. We only had about 10 minutes left and I decided to end it early.

“That’s enough for today.” I said after 10 minutes of his complaining about how unfair it was. “Is your dad coming to get you?” I asked him, knowing the answer was probably no.

“No.” He said and he looked small again and I wanted to put my arms around him and comfort him but wouldn’t dare do that. “He says that it’s my fault that I didn’t do the work in school so he shouldn’t have to waste his time on me.” I wanted to cry. What an awful man his father was. I was glad my father wasn’t like that, and that every chance he got he came home to be with his family that he loved. I debated whether of not I should walk him home. I decided that he’d be fine and started leaving with a quick “ok bye”. I was half way out the door when my conscience got a hold of me and I turned around and walked back over to the table and said, “Ok come on, I’ll walk you home.

I wheeled my bike along side of me as he walked on the sidewalk oh the street.

“What’s your family like?” Asked the little boy suddenly; I thought of not responding but decided that I probably should.

“Well, I have a brother, his name is Tony. And I have an adopted sister, her name is Leslie. And then you’ve got my mom who’s really nice, and my dad who’s in New York for work a lot but always tries to come home.” I hoped this wouldn’t make him feel bad since his dad was so awful to him. “What about you?” I asked because I really did want to know.

“It’s just me and my dad.” He said almost sadly. I was shocked, I felt really bad and didn’t want to ask him to continue but he did anyway. “My mom was killed eight months ago. She was trying to stop a mugging. I think that’s why my dad hates me so much, I remind him of her too much.” I wanted to cry. How could this poor little boy be so awfully jaded to the world because of one awful man? “He’s putting me up for foster care. He hates me.” Kevin finished. He seemed smaller then ever when he said this and I just wanted to drop to my knees and comfort him like you do when a little kid falls down.

“No, he probably doesn’t hate you. He’s probably just sad.” I say trying to comfort him. By then we’d reached Kevin’s house and had turned into the driveway. He turned around to look at me with his sad little eyes and his Batman tee shirt.

“No Henry, he hates me.” He said in the smallest, saddest little voice ever and then he turned back around and walked into the house with out another world. I was about to cry. The tears were starting to fill my eyes so suddenly and I was trying so hard to push them away, but they wouldn’t leave. I couldn’t believe that poor, cute, little, Batman loving kid had to go through that every day of his life. I felt awful. I just wanted to go home and tell my mother about the whole story but I knew that I couldn’t because it wasn’t my business, and it wasn’t my place. But I wanted to help him. I had to make this tutoring thing last, I had to connect with him. I had to tell him about Batman. I sighed, this was my biggest secret in the world and I was telling it to a nine-year-old.

I looked back at the house; it was small and brown and seemed to be falling apart. It had little white shutters that were partially falling off their hinges and a stone wall with weeds poking out of small holes. I sighed again and turned around, feeling bad for the kid. I had to find some way to help him, make him happier, give him a family, give him a chance, and give him a life.

Chapter 5: Noticing Batman

I wheeled my bike away from the broken house and hopped on at the corner. I was riding slowly home thinking about Kevin and his life.

“How do I impact people?” I thought abruptly. “Like Kevin. Do I impact him? No. I was just some Batman loving guy who was tutoring him to raise my English grade. He probably didn’t care about me. But maybe somehow I could impact his life. Did I already impact his life in the three days I’d known him? Or was I just another mean grown-up who hated him?”

It only took me about 17 minutes to get home on my bike. I wheeled the bike into the garage next to Tony’s red jeep and then walked into the house through the outside garage door. My mother was sitting at the worn kitchen table reading The New York Times like she did every evening right after the snack rush and before the dinner rush. She looked up at me when I entered and could tell that something was wrong.

“You ok Hun?” She asked partially getting up from the table. “You’re home later then I expected.”

“I had to walk Kevin home.” I said in a small voice. I didn’t want to tell her about Kevin and his problems because it wasn’t my business and I wasn’t supposed to care.

“Well Henry there must be something wrong, you look like someone’s died.” My mother said coming over to me and putting her arm around me.

“Mom it’s nothing. I just… it’s nothing.” I said faltering, shrugging off my mothers arm. What I really wanted to say was, “Yes mom someone had died, Kevin’s mom. And now his father’s taking it out on him. And oh mom, I don’t know what to do, I have to do something!” But I couldn’t so I pushed her away. She seemed a little taken a back by my sudden shortness with her.

“It’s fine mommy, don’t worry about it.” I added to reassure her but I could tell she didn’t believe it at all, but I couldn’t tell her about Kevin’s business. I sighed and retreated back to my room to do homework. If I was going to pass any of my classes I was going to have to work.

I sat at the small desk in my room, a History notebook spread in front of me. We were assigned a project on the American Revolution and we were supposed to research one of the events that led up to the war and write a paper on that. My topic was the Boston Tea Party. “What was there to know about that? Some American guys dressed up like Indians, no Henry not Batman,” I told myself getting off topic shortly, “and dumped a load of tea off some British ships. Hmm… I wonder if that would impress Natalie, open rebellion. No Henry, we’re not talking about Natalie,” I told myself, “Boston. Tea. Party. Remember? Boston. Tea. Party.” My brain was drifting off away from the American Revolution and onto Natalie and how much I wanted her to notice me. “Well I could do something crazy like stand up and start singing to her in the middle of class; that should get her attention. No, too weird. I could rent a plain and have it write Natalie look at me in the sky. No, too expensive. I could just say hi to her and start a conversation. Yes! That could work! That could definitely work. I’d just have to say hi. Maybe ask about drama, maybe even ask about Batman! No not Batman, then she’ll think I’m weird. I could tell her about Kevin! All girls like cute little kids, right?” I was so excited about my new idea to talk to Natalie. I was a little scared to actually talk to her, but I would be talking to Natalie Vegea, the girl of my dreams. And she would be talking back, and she would notice me, she would have to! I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of this before and I was overjoyed.

I did a little work on the History project almost twitching at the thought of talking to Natalie tomorrow, and then got into bed. I hadn’t eaten dinner because I wasn’t hungry even though my mom had called me down about 10 times I just told her I didn’t want to eat. I lay back in bed, Batman comic open on my chest my eyes not focused on it. I was thinking about Natalie and what if we could actually be friends. But then my mind slid to my mother, my wonderful mother who had cancer. She had been diagnosed about a year ago and was just ending chemo. She’d gone through the whole losing her hair and everything but now it was growing back and she was getting her strength back. I was so scared for, at times I thought maybe even more scared for her then she was. What would happen if something did happen, if the worst happened? My father was never home to take care of us, and I didn’t think I could live with out my mother.

I fell asleep dwelling on the awful thought, the Batman comic still open on my chest. I dreamed of Natalie and my mother and seeing how happy she would be if she ever met her. And I dreamed of Kevin and him getting away from his awful home and coming to live with us.

Secrets You Know

I know things I shouldn’t know.
About where they go when the world gets heavy.
About how they go and let the world spin.
I know what they know, but they won’t let me in.
Deserted here by all who know.
Deserted here, and left to be blue.
Plans to kill that fill her head.
Plans that kill have left you dead.
One way streets, turned into two.
Split down the middle, cut in two.
Like lives split by divorce.
Killing kids with its great force.
No one cares about what’s going on.
Their friends are dieing, they go on and on.
Crying about things that only matter to them.
It’s their world no one else can get in.
People come, and people go.
People say, and people know.
Not ready to grow up, not ready to get old.
Not wanting to be here, this life is getting cold.