Soon about ten more people appeared, most of them young children. There were two adults, the blonde boy, a guy that looked about sixteen, a guy that looked so much like Zac it was scary, two little girls, and a little boy that also resembled Zac.
The blonde woman walked over to me and put her arms around my shoulders. “Are you okay?” she asked in a caring voice.
I nodded. “I’ll be fine. I just need to calm down a little.”
“Do you want to come inside and have some dinner?”
“I shouldn’t impose.”
“You wouldn’t be imposing at all. We really don’t get too many visitors here.”
“Well, in that case....Okay.”
“Alright. Would you like to borrow some clothes? You look about Taylor or Zac’s size.”
“Zac?” I asked. Disbelief in my voice.
“This one,” she clarified, gesturing toward the one that beared a scary resemblance to Zac. She gestured toward the blonde that had opened the door, “And this is Taylor.”
“Oh,” I choked out. Now this was just getting too weird for me. “ It’s just that, Zac is my boyfriend’s name. And he and your Zac look so much alike it’s scary.”
“Oh. Is he who did this to you? Zac, go away. Okay? Take your food up to your room. Taylor can go up and bring your plate down when he’s done eating.”
“Alright,” Other-Zac replied, with a shrug, and dashed off.
“No. It wasn’t Zac. Your son doesn’t have to leave. It was just such a shocking coincidence, it was just, really, weird. They even dress and act alike!”
“Oh. Well that is a strange coincidence. Oh well. I can yell for Zac once we get inside.”
I was just sort of standing there, feeling sorry for myself. This chick was quickly becoming the focus of everyone’s attention, and I was still sad about Marie. This sucks.
I turned around abruptly and walked inside. I trudged up the stairs. “Zac, you can go back downstairs now.”
“But I like it up here!” he protested.
“Whatever.” I walked over to my bed and collapsed on it. I reached for the CD player that I shared with Ike and Zac, and slapped the play button. It started to blast ‘All I Really Want.’ I normally didn’t listen to Alanis’s depressing whining, but today it fit my mood. I turned the volume knob to a reasonable level and just lay there, crying inside.
Tay was acting all depressed once again, but at least he hadn’t put on Counting Crows. I didn’t think I could take that. I had already finished my porkchop and mashed potatoes, and I didn’t really want to eat the gravy soaked rice. “Hey Tay.”
“Whaa?” he asked, his face buried in his pillow.
“You want this rice?”
“Nh thans.”
I sort of pushed it around on my plate with my fork for about five minutes, simply comtemplating whether or not to flush it down the toilet.
Eventually, my instincts about the rice won out over the multiple lectures about not wasting food and starving Ethiopians that my mom had given me playing through my mind.
I walked into the hall and headed for the bathroom door. Once I got in there, I opened the toilet lid, and scraped the gravy/rice mixture into the porceline bowl. I set the plate on the rim of the sink, and reached for the lever. As I pushed it down, my mom walked up the stair case.
“Zachary! What do you think you’re doing?”
“Uh, I threw up?”
“You did?”
“Yeah. I guess that ricey-gravy stuff didn’t set well with me.” It was practically the truth! That rice stuff hadn’t set well with me. That was why it was in the toilet in the first place. And I practically had thrown up, thinking about eating it.
“Oh! But why did you take your plate in here with you?”
“Uh, I dunno. I guess I just forgot I was holding it.”
“Oh. Okay, well why don’t you go to bed early. You can stay home from school tommorrow if you still feel sick.”
“Okay,” I agreed readily. Not only was I not in trouble, but if I felt like it, I got out of school tommorrow. Kick ass.
I could hear Zac lying through his teeth in the next room. He had left the room, holding his plate, a few minutes before, presumable to flush the rice on his plate. I hadn’t heard him gag one bit, and he looked just fine. I couldn’t believe that my mom, a woman of sound mind, was beleiving that crap he was throwing at her.
Then Zac walked back into the room, not looking sick at all, and, after removing all his clothes but the white, black, and red plaid boxers he wore under his Jncos, lay down on his bed.
“You lied to Mom,” I accused.
“Did not.”
“You did too. You told her you threw up, but really you didn’t. You flushed that nasty rice crap.”
“Did not.”
“Did too.”
“Whatever, Tay. I’m going to bed.”
“At seven o’clock?”
“Yes. We sick people need a lot of rest. Now you better leave me alone or I’ll give you my flu.”
“You haven’t got a flu to give.”
“Do too.”
“Do not.”
“Shut up, or I’m telling Mom you said I was faking it.”
“Good. Maybe it’ll help her see the light.”
And with that, we both shut up and soon fell asleep, although I am baffled as to how we managed to fall asleep at seven o’clock.
Cambridge seemed cool. She had said she was fourteen, but I thought she looked about my age, maybe a little older. My mom had invited her to spend the night on the couch and she had accepted. When she had been eating, it had seemed like she hadn’t eaten all day. Seriously, she had inhaled her food, a taken three servings. Like Zac. I thought that she would have taken more, if not for being polite. Mom had gone upstairs a few minutes before, and had come back bearing the news that Zac was sick and evreyone was to stay away from him. He had seemed fine earlier, but I just dismissed it.
“So, where do you live?”
“Uh, a few blocks away.”
“Oh. I haven’t seem you around.”
“Actually, I live in the big part of the city, but it’s not that far away.”
“Oh.”
“Do you need to use the phone to let your parents know where you are?”
“Uh, yeah. I’ll call them now.”
She walked over to the cordless phone cradle and picked it up. She quickly punched in seven numbers. “Hello?” She asked.
“Uh, yeah, this is Cambridge.”
After short pause, she continued, “Uh, yeah. I just wanted to let you know that I’m at someone’s house. Yeah. I’ll be home tommorrow. Bye.”
I had just punched in digits randomly and said something to an Asian sounding man who had picked up. I bet he was confused. Oh well, not my problem.
Mrs. Hanson was being really hospitable towards me. Much more than I had expected. I had hoped for, but not expected, spending a few hours here, and getting some dinner. I had hoped not to get the cops called on me, but had not expected it anyway.
But I had gotten a place to sleep, some good conversation, a little TV, enough food to not have to eat for a week, and a change of clothes. I was happy.
The next day, Mrs. Hanson had even offered to drop me off at home. I had politely declined, but she had insisted. So I had ended up getting them to drop me off at the library, saying that I could hoof it from there. But Zac had insisted on coming with me. First major difference between Zac and Zac. Zac worried about me way too much. Zac was concerned for my safety, but he knew that I could take care of myself.
So, I had ended up bringing Zac home to meet Zac. When we got to the garage he asked, “Hey! Why are we going in your garage? Why not your house?”
“This is my house. That’s Cyndi and Ralph’s house. They’re the landlords. I live here. With my boyfriend, Zac,” I explained.
“Oh.”
He looked confused as to why I would want to live in a garage with my boyfriend. I didn’t blame him. Chrissy, my bestfriend, didn’t even understand it, and we had been bestfriends since third grade.
