Sam's Reviews by Irving Jan

Author:Irving, Jan [Irving, Jan]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Total-E-Bound Publishing
Published: 2013-06-06T16:00:00+00:00

* * * *

“Are you going to kiss him and stuff after dinner?” Joe asked when we finished ordering the Indian food. I noticed his hair was matted to his forehead with perspiration. He was gulping down some milk from the fridge.

“I’ll pay you good money not to hear about ‘kissing and stuff’ from you again,” Tall said.

“Yeah, how much?” Joe grinned.

“Joe…” I chided.

“Did you and Mel play basketball after school?”

“Nah, didn’t feel like it,” he said. “Did, uh, Audra like her tree?” he asked, his tone nonchalant. I was not fooled.

“I told her about it. Maybe tomorrow we can visit her and you can water it.” I looked at the one on our sideboard. It looked slightly healthier. Had Joe given it a shot of fertiliser? It smelt pretty ripe, like rotten fish.

“I got some dirt from Audra’s compost heap,” Joe told me. “I went out last night and spread some on the topsoil of the tree.”

I hadn’t a clue, but I wasn’t remotely a gardener. “Okay, good going.”

“She didn’t…like, her hand didn’t twitch or anything when you told her about her tree?” Joe looked at me.

I knew he was getting that script from TV movies. “No, she just lay there,” I said, forcing myself to be honest.

“Maybe you didn’t tell her enough about it…”

“Joe.”

“I’m gonna go to my room till the food gets here. Later!” He was rubbing his stomach.

“Are you all right?” I asked him.

“Yeah, just a little wiped.” He was gone before I could say more, and my head fell back.

“Still haven’t had that difficult conversation with him?” Tall asked, sitting down at the table and undoing another button in his shirt, loosening up after a long day.

Suddenly I didn’t want him leaving tonight. “Stay. Can you?”

“Think so.” He smiled. “A first for us, me staying over. It’ll take getting used to.”

I remembered I had guard duty tonight. “I have insomnia, so I may not be with you all night.”

He raised his eyebrows, but I didn’t elaborate.

The intercom beeped, and I rolled to the foyer to usher in our food. Tall followed me and looked towards Joe’s room. “I’ll get him,” he said.

“Thanks.” I took out my wallet, and when the kid arrived at my door with the food, I paid for it. It smelt fantastic. Would tonight be a better night for me and Ta—?

“Sam!”

I dropped the cartons, flying down the hallway. My chair hit the frame of the bathroom door, so I had to pull back, try again…

Joe was in the empty bathtub. He had his forehead pressed to the rim, his shirt off. Tall was rubbing his shoulder. I saw the pool of vomit between the bathtub and the toilet.

Joe threw up again, and Tall twisted around to look at me. “Sam, he’s burning up!”

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