Katie+R-Short+Story

Birds are dancing in the air. One, floats high to low, high to low and then lands on a windowsill shaded by a beautiful summer blossom tree. Next to the window is what looks like a clock, but it is really an analog thermometer, reveling that it is 94◦ out. Inside the window is the homes kitchen. A middle aged man with dark hair and brawny looking arms and hands is standing up unfolding the freshly pressed newspaper. The cover page reads “SEASON HIGHS” and under it is a huge picture of a sun juxtaposed with a huge picture of a fried egg. As he pulls out the sports section of the paper and brings it up to his face he catches a glimpse of the full garbage can in the corner of the room. He ticks his tongue, “You have got to be kidding me!” He walks over to the can and above it on the wall he looks at the calendar. He looks and sees that it is Wednesday May, 29th and written on Tuesday the 27th in messy script is ‘CALE-GARBAGE’. “Aw what the F* Cale?” He storms out of the kitchen and then up the stairs with a face as tense as a rubber band. He fiercely swings the first door open at the top of the stairs. He stampedes into the room and directly over to the bed, not worry about what he could possibly be under his feet on the messy and uneven floor. He rips the blankets off of the bed, and there lies Cale, the 15 year old with dark hair and freckles. “Cale!” Cale jumps out of his sleep. “What the F* you didn’t F*in take out the garbage last night, who the F* do you think you are?!” A door on the other end of the hallway then opens and steam escapes out the doorway. Walking out of the fog is an 18 year old who is noticeably taller and stronger than his father. He mingles toward the room of yelling as he rubs his wet messy hair with a bath towel. “Dad, leave him alone, whatever he did is honestly not a big deal. There’s bigger things in life to worry about. Just shut up!” His dad walks into the hallway with his fists clenched as tight as snowballs. He is so pissed off the he looks like a mercury thermometer about to explode. “Don’t you start now Dean! Just because you leave for college in a few months doesn’t mean you’re some cool-kid-big-shot around here. In fact, why don’t you try actually playing lacrosse today?! You’ve been looking like a F*in girl out there!” 18 year old Dean scrunches his face and slightly shakes his head. “Alright Dad, alright” sarcasm is detected. Now all of the doors in the hallway have opened. In one stands a tall woman with blonde hair who is slipping on colorful beaded bracelets. “What’s going on out here Rich? You calling family meetings without me again?” A young girl with light brown disheveled hair and still in her pajamas walks by her mother, stumbling into the bathroom. “No Liz, I was just waking Cale up for school”. Liz does not really listen, instead she just says good morning to Dean and kissed him on the forehead as she heads down the stairs cheerfully ready to start her day. Rich takes a step back into Cale’s bedroom and picks a box of tissues up of the dresser next to the door and chucks it at Cale who is still sleeping in bed. “Cale, get the f* up” Dean is driving his small SUV, his brother, Cale, is in the passenger seat. Cale cracks open a can of orange soda. Dean looks at Cale as they are stopped at a stop sign. “Dude, what are you going to do next year? You already get in enough trouble at home with your attitude, what are you going to do when I’m not there to bail you out?” Cale slouches in his seat obnoxiously, “F* them, I hate living at home, you’re lucky you get to leave, I still have three years till I get outta’ there.” “Alright chill with your too good swagger. I know dad’s a dick and all but chill. You’re 15 year’s old. Stop thinking you’re like 21 or something.” Neither of the boys talk for a few minutes they both are in a morning daze at the road as music plays in the background. Dean looks out his right window before making a turn, and after making the turn he does a double take to look at Cale. “ Just tell me whyyy you are drinking orange soda at this time in the moning.” “No orange juice left, and it’s friggen hot out, I need to drink something.” Dean realizes it is really sticky and hot for the morning so he starts fumbling with controls and turns a knob all the way to the left, which makes a little digital picture of a snowflake show up in a bright blue. The car begins to cool off and both boys seem a lot more relaxed. A scoreboard against the bright blue sky is flashing the score four to two, it also says that there are six minutes left in the first half, it also says that it is 4:48 and 103 degrees out. The dry green field has an aggressive battle of lacrosse kids being fought on it. Parents are sitting along the sidelines, waving paper fans at themselves. All except Rich, who is standing right on the white line with his hands constantly switching from being folded at his chest, resting on his hips, or supporting himself on his knees. A yellow flag jumps into the air as a whistle is blown by a ref. The ref goes face to face with Dean and pulls a yellow card out of this pocket and points him to the bench. Dean jogs off the field as his defensive substitution jogs in for him. “No way ref! You’re kidding me right?! Get your eyes checked! Let the boys play the game like it’s meant to be played!” Rich begins to pace back and forth away from the field, with his hands behind his head revealing his pit stains. The referee glares across the sidelines, a glare the signifies that the next one to speak with this much vulgar will be ejected from the game. A whistle is blown and the game continues with sounds of pads clashing and boys yelling for the ball. “Cale! Cale!” assorted voices shout, it is obvious a big play is in the making as the white noise of the crowd gets a bit louder, and the voices on the field project more, and the coach is screaming even harder than usual. Rich jumps out of his pacing and stands right on the sideline in stressed anticipation. Number 42, Cale, is weaving up the field cradling the ball, he is getting slashed by defenders. He gets slowed down by them and loses balance a few times but he keeps loving and cradling, not once thinking of passing to his teammates whose defenders have left each of them to stop Cale. Cale leaps u and attempts to rip a shot off at the goal with all of his might. Another easy stop for the goalie. The Coach yells to sub Cale off the field, because this is his third turnover as a result of running the ball himself. “Ahhhhhgh!” Rich screams and kicks an empty water bottle next to his foot as hard as he can. The team as the only ones left on the field, each one of them has taken a knee as they listen to their coach standing in front of them. Each of the parents have cleared out the field and parking lot. The only one left is Rich. He is standing next to his car at the top of the field. His phone rings obnoxiously, he is frustrated that someone would be calling him but he digs deep into his pocket and pulls it out and flips it open. “Hello?... How was the game? It was ridiculous… No, of course the won… The problem, the problem is that our sons look like they’ve never played the sport in their life… Stop making excuses for them; if this was just and off-game then the both of their seasons are full of off-game’s… Alright, see you at home. Bye.” The team is now walking up to the locker room. Cale is amongst the first few to be walking up. He can be heard cursing about how he and others played today. As he nears his dad though he puts his head down and stops talking. His friends grow quiet too, in fear of Rich. “Cale, you really gonna walk by me like that. Get over here.” Cale walks over to his dad, his head still down and his helmet and stick in either hand. His friends know to continue on to the school. Rich starts out calmly, “ Cale, you think I pay hundreds of dollars for you to be playing in leagues during the off season for nothing?” his voice then starts to firm up and continually gets louder. “Do you think I get out of work early to come see my son play like shit with an unknown amount of shots on goal, none of which going in?! Do you really think that’s... Heyyyy Coach! How’s it going?! Great game out there. Another W to add on!” Rich gets cheerful to greet the coach as him, Dean, and a few of his friends walk near Cale and Rich. The coach gives a head nod to Rich as he continues to walk up to the school, Cale tries to tag along with Dean and the few other kids to walk up to the school. “Cale, get back here. I’m not done.” Cale acts as though he has not heard. “Cale! Get over here, I’m not done talking to you!” Cale gives no response but a few of the boys up ahead turn their heads. Dean see this and turns his head as well. “Dad!” Dean shoots a look at him, “What are you doing?” Rich notices other have picked up on his expressive anger and tries to make up for it by sounding nicer this time, “Okay Cale! Just get changed I’ll be out here waiting to take you home, I’ll be in the car right here!!” “Dad, go home! I’ll take Cale!” “No dean, I have to talk to him, I’ll take him.” “DAD! Go home!” Dean is driving, Cale is depressed, and is sitting with his head against the window. Dean looks at Cale and gives a silent sigh. “Dude, chill out, it’s one game that you got subbed out of, and you’re a freshman. You have more games this season and a whole lot more in your career. Relax.” “Nah, it’s not that. F* lacrosse, I’m F*in smoking an L tonight I don’t even care. “Noo, you should not be smoking during the season. In fact, you should not be smoking at all, you’re 15! “Shutup, I know you do it.” “That’s besides the point, don’t be doing it Cale.” “Allright whatever, I just am done dealing with dad’s shit.” They continue the ride silently. Everyone is sitting down to dinner, Emily and Liz seem in a rush, but Liz still makes time for family conversation at the dinner table. “So boys, another win, that’s great!” They both try to give her a smile because they know she truly is happy for them, but only succeed in giving a half smile because of how much Rich has but them down already. “And Emily’s dance recital is coming up this weekend, look at all of our kids honey doing great things this week. Aren’t you excited to see Emily dance Rich?” Rich completely ignores the question about dance, “Just maybe next game, Cale will actually be a part of this win and Dean will be a little more aggressive.” Emily looks down at her plate is disappointment that her dad continues to not care about her dance recital and that all he cares about is yelling at her big brothers for lacrosse. “Dad, I got carded for being too aggressive, what more can I do?” “Don’t be silly! Everyone is part of the win, even those cute girls that do stats at each game” Liz is very cheerful and still happy for the boys and their win. Rich, however, looks up angrily out of frustration. Dean and Cale are both done with their dinner and in the process of getting up from the table. Liz drops her fork onto her plate, “Oh honey! We’ve got to go we have to get you to dance class!” Liz and Emily rush up from the table and put their dishes on the counter. “Bye daddy” Emily says It’s as if Rich is immune to her voice, “Boys, put all the dishes in the dishwasher.” “Oh no I could do it when I get home…” Rich answers with assertion, “No, they will do it Liz.” “Okay thanks boys. Bye everyone! Come on honey!” Liz and Emily scurry out the kitchen door heading into the garage. Rich gets up from the table and puts his plate on the counter and walks out of the room. “Cale I’m going to take a shower, you finish this.” “What?!, help me finish it.” “No way, you already showered and I got homework to do tonight, you have like two more plates, just finish it.” Dean walks out of the bathroom door and even more steam than there was in the morning seeps out. Dean is only wearing pajama pants and he is rubbing his hair dry but stops to wave his hand to his face trying to fan himself some air. “Why’s it so hot?” he says to himself as he checks the thermostat on the wall in the hallway. He hears shouting and stops moving for a brief second, then sighs out of exhaustion from this all. He walks into his bedroom. Dean is laying on his bed but through the wall he hears louder shouting than ever before. “What is this? Is this yours?!” Loud quick stomping is heard, Then they stop and a loud hit is heard. “You F*in screw-up!” More hits and smacks are heard. Dean is texting on his phone and quietly goes out of the doorway of his room and into the hallway to stand right outside of Cale’s door. He closes his phone giving his undivided attention to what is going on on the other side of the door. “Stoooop!” a screechy whimper comes through the walls. “You F*-up what has gone wrong in your F*in mind, you F*in son of a bitch!” A really loud hit is heard. Dean realizes he is hearing things all too correctly, he opens up his phone and dials, then he quickly heads downstairs. Then he rushes out the front door. Two police cars with flashing lights come down the street towards the home. They pull over in front of the driveway and uniformed officers get out. Inside, the doorbell is heard. The door to Cale’s room opens. Riches Right arm is against the interior wall of his room as his left is on the door knob opening the door just enough for him to peak his head out to see if he is hearing correctly. The bell rings again. Rich scurries out of the room and rushes down the stairs wiping the sweat from his head and a bleeding knuckle of his shirt. He opens the front door surprised by the presence of two officers. He nervously greets them, “Hi, officers what can I do for you? Are you here for fundraising? Could I write you a check? How much?” “No sir, not quite. Could we come in, take a look around?” Rich is very nervous, “I suppose now’s an okay time, but wouldn’t you rather, maybe tomorrow. You know, so I can have the Mrs. Do her job, clean the house first for our guests, make you a cup of coffee.” The officer standing on the bottom step behind the speaking officer steps up, Officer, is a female. Rich stumbles on his words, “Actually now’s a great time, come in, make yourself at home.” The officers, already within the doorway walk in and start looking the house up and down left and right from their standing point of view from the foyer. “Is there uh, anything in uhm particular I could uhm help you with officers?” Rich is anxious. “No, just let us do our job right now sir, thanks.” In a slight panic Liz enters through the front door which was left open. “What’s going on here? Is everything okay?” “Everything is fine Liz, just stay out of it.” The officers turn their heads away from their search to watch how Rich has responded so angrily to Liz. Emily walks in behind Liz trying to hold the back of her waste of hand, whatever she can hold on to. The officers head for the stairs. “Is anyone upstairs right now sir?” An officer asks. “Yeah, uh my son Cale, he’s up there sleeping. Had a lacrosse game today, really tired. Let’s not surprise him too much.” The officers head upstairs Rich follows immediately behind. The male officer opens the door to Cale’s room, “He son, sorry if we are waking you, we’re just looking around.” Rich looks really worried and turns white and gets the cold chills down his spine as the officer goes into Cale’s room. The female officer noices the worry on his face and knows there’s something important in this room. She heads in and Rich shadows them again. Liz comes up the stairs and enters as well. Cale is slightly holding himself up with his elbows and forearms, he has bruising on his right temple and his cheek bones are red, his lip is cut open and he has dried blood from somewhere along his hairline as well. “Cale?! What’s happened? That’s not from lacrosse, you didn’t look like that after your game! “LIZ” Rich shoots a glare at her, mad that she said anything. An officer nears Cale and begins to question him, “What has happened to you, why does it seem that it hurts so much for you to sit up and where are all these cuts from?” “Cale, honey… Rich, what is going on?” No one answers Liz, and Cale won’t answer anyone he just watches his dad in fear. The officers try to talk to him and continue to look around the room for anything dangerous. “Rich, tell me now, what is going on!!” There is a pause in the cold air blowing in from the open window behind the shades. Then the breeze stops and the room feels really hot. “RICH!!!” Rich then lifts his right arm and snaps his elbow outwards smacking Liz with his backhand. Liz’s head turns with the smack. Cale’s eyes grow wide. Rich is immediately grabbed by the officers. Rich is handcuffed and being places into the backseat of a cop car. The officers then stand at the bottom of the driveway preparing to part from the scene of the crime. EMT workers aree checking on Liz and Cale to see that they are each okay. Emily is standing alone on the front porch overwhelmed. The officers then get into the cars and start them up. The cop cars drive away with their lights flashing into the dark calm sky. Dean then crosses the street and walks up the driveway. Emily runs from the front step to the driveway to hug him and will not let go. “Dean?! Where have you been? Are you okay?” Liz asks with panic. “I’m fine. I was here, just watching, for too many years.”