A Long Way From Disney: Stories of the 1980s and Beyond by Seth Harwood

Author:Seth Harwood [Harwood, Seth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780615603452
Amazon: 0615603459
Publisher: Porter Circle Books
Published: 2012-02-24T05:00:00+00:00

responsibility

Adam noticed Vaughn sitting on his mother’s front steps when he turned into her driveway. Vaughn sat smoking, and didn’t move as Adam parked. Vaughn was his mother’s boyfriend now, and lived with her, but Adam had only met him twice: once over Christmas, and once when he first got home for the summer, about three weeks before.

“It’s good to see you,” Vaughn said, holding out a pack of Camels when Adam got out. Adam had reached the point where cigarettes didn’t nauseate him anymore. He’d started to like them even: they were good for time management on the long nights at his summer job with Emerson Electric and the long days without Sarah. He took one and closed the door of his father’s car.

“Your mother will be excited you’re here,” Vaughn said.

Adam thought he could smell the booze on Vaughn’s breath, but he knew his mother and Vaughn weren’t drinking, that Vaughn was supposed to have quit.

“Well?” Vaughn said, his eyes bright behind his thin glasses and his mouth open wide enough for Adam to see his molars. Vaughn looked directly at him, like he was trying to meld their souls.

“Thanks?”

“OK,” Vaughn said. Adam turned away from him, avoiding the gaze he couldn’t return. Across the street was a house with a yard he’d once played in. He remembered the upstairs family’s son, a boy named Phil. Most recently, Adam heard Phil was off doing something other than college, something that involved a garage. Now in the yard the hoop was bent like someone had been hanging on it, and the net was missing, too. No one had played there in some time.

Vaughn stood up and patted Adam’s shoulder. He tilted his head. “I like you, Adam,” he said. “I think we can be buddies, me and you.” He let his jaw drop after each word, his mouth wide open. “How would you feel about that?”

There was an enthusiasm in Vaughn’s eyes that Adam couldn’t match—they sparkled, as if he thought they could really be pals. “That sounds all right?”

Vaughn inhaled, watching through thin eyes, and then turned away to blow out smoke. “Good,” he said. He brought the cigarette below his knee and rubbed it between his thumb and finger until the lit cherry fell onto the stoop. After rubbing out the rest of the tobacco, he dropped the filter into his shirt pocket.

“You want to see a trick?” Vaughn said. He dug his hand into the pocket of his shorts and brought it out with a rubber thumb. Adam could tell it was supposed to look like skin, but it was too light—it looked like it was made out of canvas.

“Do you like magic?” Vaughn said.

Adam looked away from the thumb, at his mother’s Corolla parked in front of the house: Vaughn’s Taurus was just behind it.

“Can I have your cigarette,” Vaughn said. “You’re done with that, aren’t you?”

Adam took a last drag and passed the cigarette to Vaughn.

“Nothing in my hands, right?” Vaughn showed his palms and turned his hands over, holding the cigarette between his fingers.

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