Neighbors

It seemed like days had passed, but it was beginning to get late in the afternoon and they had been talking for hours. Mr. Radke still hadn’t come home, and he knew that he was going to have to go home soon. He had no desire to leave, but he knew that he couldn’t stay forever. “I don’t know what to do. I really need this picture and he still hasn't come home yet.” She looked at him for a minute before replying, “Wait, what about my yard! Jumping up she took off running towards the fence. Matt continued to swing and had still not said a word. Jerome knew shy, but he had never seen someone so quiet before. He wondered momentarily if the child might have something wrong with him. “Over here!” The angelic voice of Misty came across the yard.

Jerome realized he had never moved and had instead just watched her run across the yard. He got up and quickly ran over to where she stood. They were standing along the fence overlooking the river below. He imagined it wasn’t as good of a view as the wrap around porch, but it was still pretty magnificent. Somehow with her standing there by his side it seemed the best view in the world. “You… I mean this is perfect.” He said and blushed again. She only giggled. He lined up a shot with his camera trying to get a perfect perspective of the spidery river below.

“I think I better get home, not that I want to leave yet, but you know parents.” He said as if there were an explanation of his feelings. Misty turned and looked at him staring into his eyes for what he felt was an eternity. “I’ll walk you back to the flooded road. I am not crossing that, but I’ll follow you there.” He blushed for a third time that day. He was pretty sure he had never blushed this much in his life. “Where are your parents? He asked as they began to walk back to the driveway.” She replied quietly, “My mother works as a waitress until around eight. My father doesn’t live with us, but he works for the City. He comes to see us on the weekends, but he never showed up today. I think it might be because of the flooding.” They reached the driveway in what seemed like seconds to him. He looked up on the porch and waved to Matt. “Bye Matt nice to meet you.” “Bye” the boy replied which surprised Jerome, but he still grinned and waved again. “Wow he must like you. He never talks to new people that soon.” She said to him.

“Where do you go to school?” He asked as they began to descend the driveway back to the place they had first met. It seemed like he had met her ages ago, but it had only been a few hours. “I’m actually home schooled,” She replied. This made sense as he had never seen her before at school. “That must suck?” “No, not really, I’m used to it and it saves the confusion of running from one class to another. I suppose it does get lonely, but now I’ve met you, so I don’t have to be lonely anymore, right?” she said. Jerome blushed again and replied, “Absolutely not, I will come visit you as often as I can of course.”

“Well Jerome, we have reached your final destination.” He had forgotten her house wasn’t that far from the flooded area. “Yea so we have. It was very nice meeting you Misty, and I look forward to seeing you again.” He put his hand out to shake hers, and felt like the dumbest person on the planet for shaking hands with someone as beautiful as her. She giggled and quickly kissed him on the cheek. “You better come back.” was her reply as she quickly ran back to her house.

He stood there for what seemed like an eternity watching her dress float around her in the wind and still in shock as to what had just happened. She kissed me. He suddenly realized his hand was still extended and quickly retracted it before anyone noticed. In his head he heard the old lady “stupid kids.” He turned back towards the water, and once again stuck his foot in. The cold was still a shock to his system, and he wasn’t sure why he thought it would be any different the second time. I would cross the river for another kiss from her he thought to himself as he made his way back up the road to his house.

He realized that he had talked to her for hours and never got her story. They had just talked about movies, television, music and all the typical stuff that people talk about. He also realized that had been entranced by her and she had said more than him. He had stared at her awkwardly for several hours. It felt as though he needed to go back and make up for that, but he knew that was silly. She had kissed him so clearly she had enjoyed his company. He continued thinking of her and re-experiencing the day in his head on the way home. Before he knew it, he reached his house.

His home was a small blue house with three bedrooms. His dad was a doctor, but they had bought this house outright and even though the town was small. He found that the prices here were higher than those in San Bernardino, apparently this town had a huge tourist population, and the cost of living far exceeded the normal range. Their house was long and box shaped. You couldn’t hear or see the river from their backyard, but it was about a mile behind his own home. He briefly worried about flooding at Misty’s house and if she would be ok, but her house was uphill from the road and pretty high above the river. The police officer's house seemed to be much more at risk in his mind. It was flat to the ground, but that might have also explained why he never came home.

You had to enter his house from the side door off the driveway, and when walking in you found yourself immediately between the kitchen and the living room. The furniture was bleak at the moment as they had just moved in, but there was a new black leather couch located to the left followed by his father’s recliner. The dining table was also new and already set for dinner. “Is that you honey?” His mom called from the kitchen. “Yea mom, just got back, got some great pictures and met a girl.” “A girl!, She quickly replied “Tell me everything!”

He followed his mother into the kitchen and began to tell her all about his adventure and Misty. “What were you thinking walking through a flooded road like that!” She admonished him when he got to that part of the story. She quickly forgot as he told her about Misty. He purposely left out the part about the small B&E event that had occurred. Thought it was probably for the best she didn’t know about that. “She sounds promising if she could keep your attention for more than 10 minutes. I certainly can’t ever do that.” She said pointing to the potatoes he had forgotten to start stirring. She had asked him to help while they talked and he had already forgotten.

“Help me set the table your father will be home soon.” She said as he finished telling her about Misty. They began to set the table. He had to be meticulous about the setting as their father was very formal about meals. He always forgot what side the glasses went on and always put them to the right of the plates. His mother would always come through and reset them to the left, and tonight was no different.

Michael, his father, arrived home around six pm as always. He was very punctual, probably why he made a good doctor. Always paying attention to detail. Michael was a well dressed fit man of forty two. His hair was brown like Jerome's, but he always kept it shaved to hide the bald spot that had begun a few years back. He wore black rimmed glasses and always wore a suit no matter the occasion. Jerome was sure his father didn’t own any casual wear at all except for his jogging outfits.

His mother on the other hand was much more fuller in her figure. She was far from fat, but she was definitely not as worried about her appearance as her father. Sheila had grown up in West Virginia and met her husband while on a business trip when she was twenty one. She had curly blonde hair, she wore glasses, but only when she read. Her face was distinctive and reminded Jerome of Nichole Kidman in The Others.

They sat down to dinner, and did their nightly prayer ritual. Jerome wasn’t particularly religious and neither was his family, but his mother insisted. It was a remnant of her Catholic upbringing he was sure, but it wasn’t something you argued about. “Our son met a girl.” His mother said once they had begun their meal. “Oh really? Tell me everything his father said.” For the second time since he arrived home Jerome recounted the day's events again.

Once all the conversation had come to an end, he finally made his way to his bedroom. He entered his room which wasn’t that big, but it was sufficient. He hadn’t fully unpacked from the trip yet. It was his way of protesting the move he hadn’t signed on for. Tonight was different. He finally felt like unpacking so he began to pull his stuff from the boxes he had stacked in his closet. After decorating his walls with numerous posters ranging from rock bands to his favorite comic strip women. He laid down and fell asleep. His dreams were full of memories of Misty and premonitions of things to come, or at least he hoped they were premonitions. He woke up ready for another day at school. He found himself happy that it was Friday as he had the weekend to spend with Misty.

He was already planning to go there directly after school today, but his mother had other plans. So he would have to wait till Saturday. He found himself having irrational thoughts. What if she forgets me already, he thought to himself. That was silly he knew but he couldn’t help his anxiety growing as he went through the chores his mother had enlisted him for. He couldn’t believe she was punishing him like this. How could she not see how important it was for him to see Misty!