Denny Campbell

  “Mom? It’s 9. Do you have to work today?” I gently touch her shoulder.

  She doesn’t stir.

  “Mom.” I say louder, more a statement than a question.

  Her eyes open to slits and the rest of her remains still as stone. “What day is it?”

  “It’s Sunday, Mom. You fell asleep in your clothes after you got home.”

  “Oh. I don’t work until this afternoon.” She stares the words coming out slowly, almost slurs.

  “Well go back to sleep. Why don’t you go to bed and set an alarm? I might go to Nic’s so I don’t know if I’ll be home to wake you up.”

  Mom rises and stumbles to her room, the door shutting behind her.

  I sigh, hopeful that she’ll be up in time for work later. I’m supposed to go to Nic’s today and we were going to walk over to Will and Tori’s later. It’s not freezing for December luckily but I will probably want my coat. I go fold the blanket on the couch mom was draped in and turn off the television since it slipped her mind. Then I grab my key from the drawer in the kitchen and leave down the small concrete steps out front.

  I love being outside, even when it’s cold. The air clears my head, distracting me from life inside our house. Well, it’s not even our house. It belongs to Don (short for Donovan), the guy my mom married a couple years ago who is currently in jail for reasons my mom won’t tell us. It’s not hard to imagine it could be assault or battery. He’s an angry guy and it's easier having him gone for now except he can’t exactly help us pay bills from behind bars. Mom works herself to the bone: She’s a claims adjustor but trying to work her way up to HR. She really wants them to put her through school to help her get the next promotion but it seems like she’s just been putting the work in for years with no advancement. She’s working evenings and weekends stocking at a warehouse to get extra money.

  As I approach Nic’s street, I see him getting something out of his mom’s car in the driveway. I nod my head at him,

  “Yo dawg!!!!”

  “SUP DUDE! I’m going inside, I'll see you in a sec.” He projects.

  I laugh as he hustles inside. In the past two years, I’ve grown close to Nic after meeting him that summer when he was playing basketball at the court near our neighborhood. He has a couple close friends that are our age and we hang out with them too. Basketball tends to be fun with more people. One on one only lasts so long.

  I jump up Nic’s two outdoor steps and knock on the door even though I know his mom would ask me just to come right in. Nic opens the door, and he’s getting tall. His features haven’t grown to match his height, so he looks like an emaciated man with a boy’s face complete with an oversized adam’s apple. His looks don’t matter to me but it does make me feel more comfortable that neither of us is incredibly ugly. We aren't in competition with each other, outside of basketball.

  “What’s up?” I ask. His lab mutt Lewis comes up to greet me, panting.

  “Hey boy. How you doin?” I scratch behind his ears receiving dog smiles.

  “Lewis is always glad to see you. I’m just playing Super Mario World. Wanna do two player?” Nic motions toward the couch in the room next to the front hall.

  “Yeah that’s cool. Maybe we could play a few games then we can get on AIM and see if Will wants to chill.”

  “Sweet.” He stalks to the couch and sinks in deep. His knees seem high, almost hard to see over. I follow him and he hands me another controller.

  Neither of us talks too much but we thrive on dissing one another. Who knows how much time has passed as we finish up the last game. Nic tosses his controller on the window sill next to him and goes to the computer in his room. I do the same and walk in as he’s logging in to AOL Instant Messenger.

  “NicNacMarrack signing in…”

  A window pops up.

  ChillWill3579: Wassup?

  NicNacMarrack: Denny and I are just chilling. Want to hang?

  ChillWill3579: Sure sounds good. I’ll go check with my mom.

  Luckily Will’s mom is pretty easy going when it comes to him having friends over as long as she knows them.

  NicNacMarrack: Okay cool we will start walking there.

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  Nic stands up and slides his chair in. We head for his door, grabbing our coats.

  “Mom! Denny and I are headed to Will’s house!” He shouts downstairs where his mom is most likely reading or crafting.

  “Okay sweetie. You boys have fun and be careful! Be home by dinner.”

  “Alright, Mom. Love you.”

  “Love you too! Tell Kaycie I said hi!” Kaycie is Will’s mom. “Oh and bye Denny!”

  “Bye Mrs. Campbell!” I bellow.

  “Cathy!” She corrects as we laugh, walking away.

  After we get on the main street outside our neighborhood, we come up to the skate park. There are two guys practicing on the half pipe alternating kickflips between taking turns. I’ve never tried skateboarding and I don’t have much motivation to start. Luckily Nic and I are both mainly into basketball and running around.

  We have to cross a fairly busy street to get to Will’s neighborhood. We wait for a car to pass then run behind it across the 4 lanes. The guy throws up his hands at us as if we didn't see him or were trying to endanger ourselves or him. In Winford, there were no roads bigger than two lanes and even those were barely paved. That’s where we lived before mom met Travis and we moved here. It was way different having one class for most grades in school and everyone knew one another. That’s why I like the street we live on. Close enough together that it feels smaller, familiar. I sometimes miss the kids I used to live near because I spent so many years of my life in Winford. If a car drove by, you knew who was inside, unlike the person that just drove by us, looking annoyed by our crossing the street. We didn’t feel poor in Winford, because nobody cared about reputation or looks outside of just being a good person. People just saw us as a family trying to make it by and didn’t use our money, or lack thereof, as a measurement of our character.

  Nic and I come up on Will’s street. Will’s a year older than Nic and I but he’s usually around because we hang with the same people. It helps that we live fairly close so meeting up is easier. His sister Tori is in my math class. She talks to me daily and has kind of grown on me, always offering to study with me which I think I need more than her. Their dad is busy working but seems like a nice enough guy when he’s around. Since it’s Sunday, everyone should be home unless Tori is over at a friend’s house. We give a few knocks on the door before her mom Kaycie answers and lets us inside. She’s warm and welcoming, always cooking homemade meals and busy trying to ensure the kids do their chores.

  “Hey boys! It’s a little chilly out today isn’t it? Did you walk?!”

  “Yes ma’am.” I respond.

  “Always so polite. Come on in and warm up… Will! Denny and Nic are here!” She yells up the half-flight of stairs. Will appears on cue.

  “Sup dudes.” He says as more of a statement than actually asking.

  “Just here to chill or do whatever.” Nic answers even though Will didn’t require one.

  We head down to the den where the television is and Tori is on the computer in the corner desk. “Hey guys!” she chimes. “About time you got here.”

  “Oh sorry. We didn’t sprint this time.” I falsely apologize.

  “Yeah I can tell.”

  “You’re fiesty today, Tori.”

  “Well it is a day that ends in day.”

  I laugh appreciating her quick wit. “That's true!” I nod in agreement.

  I go over and pull up a chair next to her, being nosey. “Who you talking to?”

  “Nunya! As in it's nunya business!”

  “Good one.” I say dryly concealing any emotion.

  She slaps me on the shoulder. “Geez Will. Maybe next time you can have over friends who are nicer.”

  “I don't think he has any?” Nic stifles a laugh.

  “You do realize you just insulted yourself as well?” Will half smiles in amusement.

  “ANYWAYS!” Tori brings the attention back to her, “I'm talking to Bridget and a couple other friends.”

  Will motions his chin at the computer, “Tell Bridget I say hey.”

  “Mmmhmmm you'd like that wouldn't you.”

  “Who's Bridget?” I ask Will, since he seems to know her.

  HOT! He mouths at me quickly then goes back to playing cool. “Just one of Tori’s friends. The two of them together have more energy than a power plant.” He exhales trying to act unimpressed by her. “But she's funny. I'll give her that.”

  “Okay...” Nic interjects looking between Will and I. “So are we watching something? Playing a game?”

  “Oh! Let's play a board game!” Tori shouts decidedly.

  “I didn't realize you would be joining us.” Will stares.

  “You guys wouldn’t be having fun if I weren’t here.” She jumps up and scurries across the room to the bookshelf and grabs the game Sequence. “Anyone up for a game of Sequence?”

  “Uh, yeah!” I agree, rising from my chair and scooting myself up and under the table in front of the couch in the center of the room.

  Will shrugs and joins us as Nic sighs and follows, reluctantly.

  “I mean you don’t have to play if you have something better to do.” Tori snarks.

  “I’m just playing to add some competition into the game. It’s only fair that I lend my skills.” Will jests.

  We sit there and play Sequence for who knows how long. At some point Will runs upstairs and comes back down with a plate of steaming Pizza Rolls and tosses some packages of Gushers at us. The savory scent of pepperoni is comforting as we all burn our mouths unable to wait for them to cool. Tori groans and disappears bounding up the stairs.

  Tori dramatically holds up the bottle and squeezes some directly onto a roll as she eats it in one bite. Mmmmmmm!

  “Control yourself, you Ranch Beast.” Will rears back with his head.

  “She’s not wrong. It’s a good mix.” I defend.

  “No, you never mess with a classic.” Nic disagrees.

  “It’s all yours, and Denny’s if he wants some.” Will smirks and reaches for another. Nic looks physically bored with this conversation, so I pull the focus back to the game and make my next move.

  “SEQUENCE!” I call. “Boom!”

  “Ugh! Maybe you should find something else to do with your time besides excelling at Sequence.” Nic rolls his eyes and sets his cards down.

  “I only play it when I’m here!” I hold up my hands like I committed a crime.

  “I bet if we looked under your bed we’d find stacks of Sequence boxes.” Nic gestures to a giant imaginary pile of sequence boxes.

  Will grimaces, “I will never voluntarily be looking under Denny’s bed.”

  “I’ve never even looked under there,” I say with a laugh.

  “Okay sickos, give me your cards. I’ll deal once more then I have to do my homework.” Tori reaches out and gathers everyone’s cards. I grab a pack of gushers and rip it open. I flip my cards up to myself and commit to my task: whooping them all in this last game.