orangetoughguy | log post II

[That shrug will be the first of many non-answers this weekend. It's what a kid like Larry Dimick does because he hasn't learned the art of changing the subject or giving something that deceptively could be an answer...but isn't.

He's sinking his teeth into another taco.]

Mmmm.

[Chew, chew, chew.] Deez're [chew chew swallow] so good. [Larry grabs his soda for another sip with his other paw. He's a mighty hungry bear right now. The verdict so far is that he can trust the man he woke up with...so far he hasn't steered him wrong or asked for any favors. Though the meal isn't over, and Larry isn't stupid. Nothin' is for free. And he put it aside long enough.]

Man, if I lived here I'd be here almost every day.

I'm kinda here almost every day.

[In case Larry couldn't tell by the looks the taco people are giving them. Usually it's the kid and his dad but now the kid's got the dad's...little brother along?? Weird man, weird.]

Sometimes I get a craving for cereal though, I eat that out of the box.

[He waves a hand before tapping out his cigarette.] Doesn't anyone feed you at home? You're fuckin' inhaling this shit.

I dugh brame you.

[This stray has manners, honest! They're trumped by the tacos though. He figures the funny looks are because his clothes are just not fitting like they should.]

Mmm-[another slurp of soda] once a day and dinner if I want to sit through all the lecture... anyway not this much. [Larry wipes his mouth.] You must be rich to be able to eat out everyday.

[HAH. That gets a snort out of the kid.]

I'm a mechanic these days, I guess that counts for a lot when people don't know fuckin' shit about cars but I'm not rolling in gold.

But you said you eat at a restaurant almost everyday. That's gotta add up.

[He blinks at that snort and looks away as though he's hunting for bits of taco shell in the wax wrapping.]

Anyway, I couldn't.

They're tacos, it's not gourmet.

[Crunch crunch. Finger licking. His tacos are done.] Sure tastes like it though.

[Now he's feeling like a dummy so he doesn't say anything but slurp. Soda is about gone too.]

I don't got anything on me to pay you back but... I dunno. I'll do you a favor.

[He shrugs to make it nothing, they're tacos after all. Not gourmet.]

[What? What did he say? Is this about inflation? The kid doesn't even process the pricing difference between now and...shit what year is it for Larry, '67? Freddy Newendyke was barely 2.]

You don't have to pay me back you know. Maybe you think you owe me one but everyone's gotta eat. This isn't a favor, this is just making sure another guy doesn't go hungry.

[The way he says that, he's gotta say it so simply. Larry doesn't know how to respond. He licks his lips, not for more taco bits but for words. Is it so simple except not...]

Well. Thanks.

[He rubs the back of his head.]

You gonna get me a bus ticket or somethin' too?

[Elbows on the table Freddy has to lean forward because this conversation has to stay between themselves, but also because he wants to get a look at those brown eyes. Larry's so fucking young he's practically young enough to be the son of the Lawrence Dimick Freddy knows best.]

A bus ticket to where?

I dunno. Away. I mean, this is pretty cool. [He's speaking softly, politely and not exactly looking Freddy in the face kind of half way at his chin.] You been real, real nice to me. I can't stay here like this. [Doesn't feel right however kind he's been. The other shoe is gonna drop and he doesn't want to stick around that long.] ...Maybe I'd skip town to Los Angeles or Detroit, I hear they got work in Detroit but...gets pretty cold there.

Detroit or LA? [He gestures the former with one hand and the latter with the other. Two very different cities, is the implication, but more than that, Freddy just has to ask.]

Are you gonna stay in one place?

[Compliments are compliments, he doesn't refute the remarks on his kindness. Freddy's just more interested in what Larry's up to. Learning about Larry at this point in his young life.]

Only if I find a place nice enough to stay. I been movin' around a lot since I was eight. I don't think I'm supposed to stay in Milwaukee. Or here. [Still no clear answer on where here is.]

I kinda want to see the world too. The nice parts.

I gotta hear this.

[Their food's long gone and his cigarette's out and they've got sodas dwindling down to the bottom of the cup but Freddy doesn't look like he's ready to leave Larry's side at all.]

Where are the nice parts?

Hawaii, New York, Georgia... I heard parts of LA are nice, I think I'd visit if I could.

[Brown eyes lift to look into Freddy's face as though he's looking for something. Sure he's not going anywhere. It makes him feel good and nervous all at once. He swallows.]

I'll figure somethin'.

Hawaii huh? You can work on getting a nice even tan there.

[Almost he thinks about referring to the fact that the Larry he knows seems to have no tan lines at all. One wonders how he ever achieved that aesthetically pleasing effect. Other than sunbathing naked of course.]

Or surf, that's what I'd do there. I mean that's what I'd try to do there.

Oh yeah, huh? I was thinking it's pretty, something like the movies. Blue Hawaii.

[For a moment he feels like Freddy is looking right through him. He likes to lay out in the sun on warmer summer days. Maybe he does know him after all.]

I never been surfing before.

The Elvis movie right? Rock a hula baby. [Shit Newendyke you weren't even born. He shakes his head.] I'm bad at it.

There aren't two. [Not a second that matters. Larry paws his pockets for cigarettes.]

Anyone who isn't The King are bad at it. Don't beat yourself up over it. The man invented it. He's laughing all the way to the bank.

[Slightly cynical but there's boyish adoration in his face.]

....... [Now Freddy, don't argue the kid about special effects and all that jazz. Just....let it go. He gives a shrug.] What can I say? I never lived by the beach either anyway.

[But there it is, a smile for a smile. Before Freddy can even think twice the words are already coming out.] What's your family like?

Then we'll have time to train before the contest. [Joking of course though it does feel good that he's not the only boy in the world who's never seen an ocean.]

...My family? [The carefree nature and natural flow of the conversation is gone. Larry's face falls and he realizes that there aren't any cigarettes in his pockets. He didn't take them from that nice apartment. They're not his.] I don't have much of my real family left. [Larry stalls and clears his throat. Freddy must not know him at all if he's askin'...] My mom is dead. My Pop is gone, I dunno where. Maybe dead too. My uncle is doing time.

[We? That certainly has this kid brightening up. Even as a young man Lawrence Dimick is charming. Does anyone ever call him Dimmy?]

I meant the people you're staying with, right now, or whoever made you feel like home. [Good job, Newendyke. He feels like rubbing a hand over his own face for that obvious faux pas. Instead Freddy tries to make up for it by taking out his own cigarettes. Did Larry every notice he keeps a couple Chesterfields tucked into his carton of Marlboros? It's for practical and sentimental reasons. Like right now it fits both. He offers the Chesterfield to Larry.]

[With a name like Dimick, you can bet your life on there being a handful of people who call him Dimick.]

I don't feel like I'm at home there. The Kleins put up with me. They don't gimme money because they said I'll buy smokes or drugs or...whatever and waste it.

[See though, it's half true because he's a smoker at seventeen. He takes that cigarette. ...Wasn't Freddy smoking Marlboros? Weird. He lights up before continuing.]

So I don't eat lunch. I wear somebody else's hand me downs. It's not so bad. I mean, there are worse places to be.

Like Fresno-way. [He emphasizes the waaay with the use of flappy hands too. Here have a light on Freddy, he's lighting up second cigarettes for them both.] That's where I'm from, my family's not so bad but I don't think they really take me seriously.

[Personal stories for personal stories. That's fair isn't it?]

I never heard of Fresno. That a bad place or something?

[Puff, puff.]

What do they do to you?

[It's an incriminating question, one that he is used to asking other fosters or kids who he know that have had their share of tears.]

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