UNTIL ANGELS CLOSE MY EYES
Chapter Seven

August 21, 2004

"Playing hooky again?"

Jack opened his eyes slowly as his mother’s voice roused him from sleep. In spite of having gone to bed shortly after getting home the night before, he was still exhausted. His body ached all over, and a faintly queasy feeling lay in the pit of his stomach.

He pulled the sheet up a little, not wanting her to see the new bruise on his arm that he’d gotten at basketball practice the previous afternoon. She fussed over him every time he got the slightest injury—and this was a particularly ugly bruise, the result of another team member slamming into him.

"What?" He turned his eyes to her slowly, feeling so tired that he simply wanted to fall asleep again.

"Jack, it’s almost second period. Look at the time."

He turned slowly to look at his alarm clock, which he’d forgotten to set. 8:40. School had started almost an hour ago.

"Shit!" He clapped a hand over his mouth. "Sorry, Mom."

"Jack, this is the second day in a row this has happened. Tell me the truth. Are you feeling sick again?"

Jack tried to get up, but his aching body protested the movement, and his stomach lurched. He lay back down, pulling the sheet over himself.

"A little bit." He gave Lorraine a sheepish look. "I think it was something I ate."

"What?" His mother looked at him skeptically.

"Sushi," he mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Sushi," he said again, more clearly this time.

Lorraine sighed, putting a hand to her face and shaking her head. "Jack, what did we tell you about eating things that might not be safe?"

"Well, Joanna was eating it, and she kind of talked me into it…"

"Jack…" Lorraine sighed. "When is your next doctor’s appointment?"

"Uh…next week," he lied, unwilling to admit that he hadn’t seen a doctor since May.

"Good. I’m worried about you. You’re acting just like the last two times you—"

"I’m fine." Jack cut her off. "I just ate some bad sushi, is all. Meg was smart—she didn’t want to eat it."

"So you’re staying home today?"

"Yeah. I just don’t feel up to going to school. Besides, I don’t think my teachers would like it if I puked in class." He gave her a small smile.

"No, probably not…but Jack, you need to get up and go to school in the morning. Mr. Bennett kindly asked you to be his TA, and you need to show up. Either that, or you need to let someone else be his TA. Don’t leave him in a lurch."

"I know, Mom…I just overslept yesterday and then ate that awful sushi at lunch. I’ll be better by tomorrow."

"I hope so. If you’re not feeling better, I’ll take you to Urgent Care."

Jack shook his head. "I’ll be fine. It’s just been a weird couple of days."

"Nevertheless…"

"Mom, won’t you be late for work if you don’t leave now? Traffic is bad, you know, especially on Fourth Street and Perris Boulevard."

Lorraine put a hand on her son’s forehead. "Take a couple of Tylenol, Jack, okay? I think you’re running a fever." She straightened. "I’ll see you this afternoon. There’s some fresh ginger in the refrigerator if your stomach keeps bothering you."

"Thanks, Mom." Jack pulled the sheet back up, his eyes drooping sleepily. "See you later."

After Lorraine had left, Jack stretched uncomfortably, trying to ease the aching in his joints. Maybe some Tylenol would help…but later. He was too sleepy to get up now.

Besides, he had to better by tomorrow. He didn’t want his mother taking him to Urgent Care and discovering that he didn’t even have a regular doctor anymore.

He didn’t need one. He was cured. If he hadn’t been cured, then he would have been referred to a new doctor when he outgrew pediatrics. Besides, he had passed his physical in May, and if that didn’t mean he was well, what did?

He wasn’t sick again. The symptoms he was experiencing had other explanations. The bruises were from basketball practice and from Rose falling on him the other night. He was tired because he was doing a lot of things—just like a lot of other teenagers. He wasn’t hungry because he’d eaten that awful sushi. Why Joanna thought it was so wonderful, he didn’t know.

There was nothing wrong with him. Absolutely nothing.

*****

Rose looked up as the doorbell rang. It was almost nine o’clock, and she was almost finished with her calculus homework. Setting her pencil aside gratefully, she hurried to answer the door before her mother could get there first.

"Jack!" Rose grinned when she saw him. He was leaning against the stucco wall outside the door, poised to ring the doorbell again.

"Hi. Uh…can I come in?"

"Sure. I’m almost done with my homework. Calculus is the worst."

He nodded. "I’m not much for math, either…I got through geometry and decided I’d had enough." He followed her into the house.

"I didn’t see you at school today." Rose looked at him more closely. He was pale and had dark circles under his eyes.

"Yeah…I didn’t feel too good. I think it was that sushi…that’s why I wasn’t hungry yesterday."

"Joanna wasn’t looking too bright today, either…Meg kept teasing her, but Joanna said it wasn’t the sushi…neither of us believed her, though."

Ruth chose that moment to poke her head around the corner. "Rose? Who’s at the door?" She stopped when she saw Jack.

Rose took a deep breath, wishing the confrontation didn’t have to come at this time. "Uh…Mom, this is Jack Dawson. He lives next door…"

"Oh. Is he the one you went out with last night?"

"Um…yeah. Yeah, he is."

Ruth looked him over critically. "Well…it’s nice to meet you, I suppose."

"Mom!" Rose hissed, embarrassed. Couldn’t her mother at least be nice when she met him?

"It’s nice to meet you, too, Mrs. DeWitt-Bukater." Jack shifted uncomfortably.

"So, you’re Rose’s new boyfriend," Ruth went on, ignoring his greeting. "Where did you take her last night?"

"Mom, he’s not—"

Ruth shot Rose a look that warned her to be quiet. "What did you do? Take her to one of those…what do you call them? Mash pits?"

"Mom, they’re called mosh pits, and no. He took me to Sizzler, across the street from the high school."

"Rose…" Ruth narrowed her eyes at her. "I asked him, not you."

Rose clenched her teeth angrily, but Ruth went on before she could say anything.

"What do you do, then? Get into fights? I can’t think of any other reason you’d have so many bruises."

Jack stiffened. "I play basketball," he told Ruth coolly. "I admit we’re not the best team around, but we do try."

"Mom, leave him alone." Rose’s face was flaming. She couldn’t believe her mother was being so rude to someone she’d barely met.

"Rose, I’m looking out for you. You’ve suddenly found a new boyfriend and you haven’t even introduced him to me…"

"Mom! He’s not my boyfriend. We’re just friends right now."

"Right now?" Ruth arched an eyebrow at her.

Rose looked down, wishing she could sink through the floor and disappear. She didn’t know if Jack wanted to be more than friends. She wished she hadn’t said anything—and she wished that her mother wouldn’t make an issue of it.

"We’re just friends, Mrs. DeWitt-Bukater," Jack told Ruth, trying to get Rose out of her embarrassing spot. "And I don’t get into a lot of fights or anything. I just play basketball—and sometimes it gets a little rough when we’re all trying to get the ball at the same time. Besides, I live next door, and it’s always good to get to know your neighbors."

Ruth looked at him disbelievingly, but nodded. "All right, Jack. As long as things don’t get too serious without my knowledge, Rose can continue to see you. But she just started at a new school and broke up with her boyfriend, so you’d better not hurt her or introduce her to a bad crowd."

Rose had been staring at her mother in amazement as she spoke until her last statement. Then she ducked her head again. Of course her mother would think that Jack would introduce her to a bad crowd! As far as Ruth was concerned, poor and working class people always got into trouble. She could tell Ruth a thing or two about the kind of trouble middle class and rich kids got into, but she doubted she would believe her. A person was faced with "bad crowds" wherever they went, regardless of how much money they had.

Rose shook her head. "Mom, do you mind if Jack and I go for a walk? We won’t be long."

"I’d rather you didn’t, Rose. Why don’t you just go out in the front yard if you want to talk?"

Rose sighed. "Okay, Mom. We won’t go anywhere."

When they were outside, Rose turned to Jack apologetically. "I’m sorry she acted that way, Jack. She’s been very bitter about this move, and she takes it out on people. We used to live in a big house in a neighborhood with a homeowner’s association that made sure everyone conformed to certain standards, and she doesn’t like living here, in a smaller house in an old neighborhood. She thinks it’s trashy, but it was all she could afford after paying all the bills Dad left behind. They really got into debt trying to keep up with everybody’s else status symbols, and after Dad’s car accident, the creditors wanted their money right away."

"So she had to sell her McMansion and move to a real neighborhood, huh?" Jack stopped. "I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. It was mean."

"But true. The people I knew when I lived there…it was so shallow, Jack. Everyone was worried about looking just right and having fancy houses and perfect yards and making sure their kids had everything…and so many kids were spoiled brats because of that. Cal is a perfect example of that. His dad buys him everything he wants because he feels guilty about never being there, and even though Cal is irresponsible and doesn’t appreciate what he has, his dad just keeps buying him more and giving him money and everything. Cal wrecked his first car when he drove too fast and got into an accident, and his dad just bought him another—and Cal hasn’t learned a thing."

"What about your parents? Are they that way?"

"Not as much. Mom would like to be that way, but we can’t afford it now, and Dad was always a bit more practical. He didn’t have such a sense of entitlement and always thought I needed to learn the value of things. That’s why I drive a Saturn instead of a luxury car like a lot of the kids in my old neighborhood. Dad didn’t think a luxury car was appropriate for a newly licensed teenager. But I’ve taken good care of the Saturn. I only scratched the side once, backing into a fence, and I had to pay to get it fixed myself, which taught me to be more careful."

"I’ve noticed that about some middle class people—they’re so concerned with what’s going on in their own world that they don’t stop to see what’s going on outside it, and people pay so much attention to what’s on the surface that they don’t see the problems underneath—or when they do see them, they want them swept under the rug."

"Yeah. Some of the kids I knew got into so many things that were bad—drugs, sex, violence, things like that—and the parents were never around to notice. Most of them were commuting to jobs in Orange County or San Diego or LA, and they were never around to see what their kids were doing. Middle class kids can get into as much trouble as anybody else. It’s just hidden, and if you talk about it, you’re the bad guy—not the people causing the trouble."

Jack nodded. "Uh-huh. My mom’s a social worker right here in Perris, and she knows a lot about the things that go on. And my dad’s a high school English teacher in Murrieta—he gets really tired of dealing with parents who think their kids can do no wrong. It seems like nobody wants to know what’s going on until something really bad happens. Then they overreact, and everyone suffers, even the kids who weren’t getting into trouble, and the people in charge look for scapegoats and usually get the wrong people."

"I know. And it never seems to stop, either. Something bad happens, and people react with shock and horror—and then they forget…until it happens again."

"Until it gets to where they can’t ignore it anymore." Jack sat down on the front step, inviting Rose to sit beside him. Changing the subject, he asked, "Rose, what did you mean when you said that we’re just friends ‘right now’?"

Rose blushed. "I…uh…well…I…"

"Do you…uh…want to be more than friends?"

"I…um…well…maybe."

"Maybe?"

"I don’t know. I just broke up with Cal, and that was awful. And we only just met."

"Okay." Jack ran a hand through his hair nervously. "I…uh…I came over to ask if you’d like to go to the movies with me tomorrow after you’re done with work. I tried calling," he went on, "but I got a busy signal."

"Mom was on the phone, talking to my aunt in Pennsylvania."

"Oh. I tried your cell phone, too, but I couldn’t get through there, either."

"I had it turned off so I could work on my homework."

"Sorry. Maybe I should have waited until tomorrow to call you."

"No, it’s okay. I was almost done with my homework anyway—I like to get it done as early as I can so I won’t have to work on it over the weekend—and I needed a break anyway. Besides, I like you."

Jack grinned. "I like you, too. So…do you want to go to a movie tomorrow night?"

"Sure. That’ll be fun." She paused, taking a deep breath. "Uh…Jack…about being more than friends…why don’t we give it time and see what happens? I’d like to get to know you better…"

"Sure. I…uh…" There were reasons why he’d never let any relationship get very serious, but he didn’t want to bring them up now. "You’re right. Let’s see how things go."

Chapter Eight
Stories