Chapter Five

The afternoon was uneventful, filled with A-type teachers. Chill and I were in different classes. We met up after school and went to his place. We always went to Chill’s because his mother worked evenings and wasn’t home till 7:30.

Chill’s mom, Orchid, worked as an anchor at the local television station doing the local news. She was a very driven woman, strong, from her long flowing brown hair to her perfect ankles...Ahhh.

Anyway, she’d read a lot of self-help books and had quotes hanging up all over the house like “See it, be it,” “Believe and be,” “Fear nothing,” that type of thing. She’d post them, she’d read them, she’d follow them.

A few years ago, she had noticed that the local station didn’t have a Crime Stoppers segment. She got a camera and got her husband at the time, Bill (a fool of a man for letting such a rare and precious flower go), to shoot re-enactments using local “actors.” She announced the segments and starred in them a couple of times.

She was such a good actor that once people even called the police on her, thinking that the footage they saw was the actual crime. The police picked her up and took her to the station. It took a few hours to sort out, although, personally, I think the police just wanted an excuse to spend some time with her—and who could blame them?

The station soon took her on doing other reports, but they didn’t hire her husband, and I think it was his jealously that brought about the end of the marriage.

She was sent out once to report on a local fire, but, always wanting to look her best, she stopped by her house to get a change of clothes. The way I heard it (as told by my mother to her friend while I happened to be crouched down just outside the kitchen door) was that when she arrived, she saw a car in the driveway that belonged to one of the “actresses” they had worked with in the re-enactments.

Orchid invited the cameraman to come inside. She made sure he was rolling when they entered the bedroom.

Orchid then proceeded to grab her change of clothing and take out a suitcase for Bill, telling him, “If you have your stuff out of here by the time I get home, I might let you keep some of it.”

Then she went back to work and got the story. I think she may have even won an award for her coverage, but I can’t be sure on that bit.

Chill still sees his dad every other weekend when his father makes the time, and Orchid tries to make sure that he does. “A boy needs a father,” she says.

Orchid was a great mom, always encouraging and looking out for Chill—not that Chill needed any looking out for. That was why she didn’t reveal her true feelings for me. I was sure that, when we went off to university, Chill would be old enough to handle it and she’d finally take me aside and confess her undying love. I was willing to wait.

Orchid went on to become a full-time news anchor at the station and selected any “field reports” she wanted to do, if she wanted to do any at all. We’d watch her every night—my day revolved around it. It was the only time I could freely enjoy her...everything. If Chill caught me enjoying when she was home, I’d get a very swift slap to the back of the head.

“What was that for?” I would ask.

He would only glare at me in return, not being able to say, “Stop checking out my mom,” because to say it meant he was admitting his mom was worth checking out, and no guy wants to admit that.

She arrived home at 7:30, on the nose, every night.

“Hello, Ms. Holinground,” I said with a welcoming grin.

“Hello, Sean,” she said. She turned to hang her coat in the hall closet, unable to bear looking at me for fear of revealing her desire.

Whack!

“What was that for?”

Chill glared.

While most guys had an irrational fear of blindness from impure thoughts and deeds, I had a very real risk of concussion or severe brain damage. It didn’t stop me, though, or even discourage me.

“How was your first day back at school?” Chill’s mom asked.

“Fine,” Chill told her.

“Our English teacher’s a real jerk!” I said.

“Now why do you say that?” she inquired.

“Just is,” I said, but then went on to elaborate on what had happened.

“Maybe you just need to give him a chance.”

This was Orchid’s one imperfection. She, like all adults, always took the side of the other adults, thinking that, as a teenager, I was prone to exaggeration.

“How was your day?” Chill asked her.

“Good,” she replied. “They were asking about you at the station.”

After his parents separated, Chill spent a lot of time at the station with his mom. He got to do all kinds of cool stuff like learn how to operate a camera, hang with local newspeople—who were celebrities in our little town. He even got to take a cpr course when the station paid for it. He never told me who he got to do mouth-to-mouth on, though—I imagine it was the woman who does the weather. If Orchid wasn’t available to me, that’s who I’d have gone for.

They also showed him how to put the composite sketches on video and would sometimes let him load them up for the “If you’ve seen this man” bit at the end of the Crime Stoppers segment that Orchid still introduced.

“You should come down to the station after school and say hello,” Orchid suggested.

Chill just shrugged.

“I’ll come down, Ms. Holinground,” I volunteered. Orchid opened the fridge and reached for something on the bottom shelf.

Whack!

“What?” I asked, rubbing my head and looking at Chill. Chill glared back.

“Shouldn’t you be getting home?” Orchid asked teasingly.

“My parents don’t mind,” I told her, to continue our banter.

“All the same, I think they’d like to see you,” she said.

She does this all the time. When she thinks she can no longer contain herself in my presence, she casually asks me to leave. I show mercy.

“Yeah, I guess,” I said, grabbing my bag. “Oh, yeah!” I added. “Chill’s going to be doing the school mural!”

“Really?” she said. “That’s great!”

“It’s not a big deal, Mom,” Chill said. “It’s not even for sure.”

“He’ll be doing it, for sure,” I confirmed.

“And when it’s unveiled, I’ll be there with a camera crew,” she said. “It’ll be the story of the year!”

Little did she know. Little did any of us know.

She kissed Chill on the cheek and gave him a big hug.

“I’m very proud of you,” she said.

“Are you proud of me?” I asked.

“Yes,” she replied.

I leaned in for my kiss.

“Go home,” she said.

So coy.