Things that have happened.

Isaac’s Other Friends

Jay returned from the equipment shed with a basketball. Ez and Iggy had finished wheeling the freestanding hoops to opposites sides of the court, and were now finding places on the sidelines for the hand trucks.

“Teams aren’t gonna be even,” Isaac pointed out.

“Oh?” Simon counted heads. “Oh, I’ll sit this out, thanks. Emphasis on sit.”

“Two on two will work,” Jay observed.

“Hey, Simon,” Ez said. “Do you ever eat? You’ve gotta tell us where those calories go, because you sure as hell aren’t burning them.”

“No, see, all you’ve gotta do is ask him about some geek shit. He’ll talk for so long that he just breathes all the glucose out.”

“Since when d’you know what glucose is, Iggy?” Simon called back. “I mean, you’re wrong about what it is, but I didn’t realize you knew the word.”

“‘Oh, oh, lookit me,'” Iggy replied. “‘I’m Simon, and my vocabulary is almost as big as me mother.'”

“Hey, are we actually gonna play, or what?” Isaac interrupted.

“Isaac, with me,” Jay announced. “That leaves you two paired.”

“What’s our team name, Ez?”

“Scorpions?”

“Scorpions!”

“Let’s go Scorpions!”

The pair of them repeated the cheer.

“Simon, have you got a stopwatch on your phone?” Jay asked.

“It’s a default feature. What kind of phone do you think I have?”

“You’re the game clock.”

“Why do you hang out with those guys?” Isaac asked.

“Ignore them, it’s just banter. One time-out per team, per half. Four minutes on the clock. We ready?”

“Scorpions are always ready!” Ez called.

“Um, team the other team is also good to go,” Isaac said with a half-grin.

“Alright, tip-off in 3! 2! ….”

☤

Thursday Afternoon

“Can you check again?”

“Mrs. Long, we’ve looked over every attendance sheet already. Isaac was in class all day, just where he should’ve been.”

“Well he’s not where he should be now.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, ma’am. We can’t keep track of students once they’ve left campus.”

“And you’re sure he left campus?”

“We’ve looked everywhere, ma’am. There’s no students loitering about.”

“Keep looking.”

She hung the phone up, then punched in another number.

“Hello?”

“Who’s this?” came a gruff reply.

“Mr. Ozeri. Our sons are friends with one another. Have you seen Isaac? Is he over visiting?”

“No, he’s not. Japhet goes out to see friends, he doesn’t bring ’em round here.”

“Is he out now?”

“Absolutely not. He’s got a five-page essay due in the morning, and the first I’ve heard of it’s an hour ago. He’s not leaving the room he’s in til that’s done.”

“Thank you for time, Mr. Ozeri.”

She ended the call.

“Augh!”

She held the phone up, ready to smash it against the wall, gritted her teeth, and started dialing the next number as she lowered her arm.

Voicemail.

“Come now. Hello. It’s Isaac’s mother. I know you hate phone calls, Erela, but be a dear and call me back. He’s… he hasn’t come home yet. If he’s with you, just call me back. I need to know. Please.”

The school again.

“Anything?”

“Mrs. Long, there’s not many places to hide in the school. And that’s on purpose. Haven’t you heard of the Evening Child?”

“Don’t start with that. I’m looking for my son, not some folktale mocking a tragedy.”

“Well if you think you’ll find him here, ma’am, then come to the school and do it yourself.”

The secretary ended the call.

She sat for a while, as fear and rage chased each other around her mind.

And the next phone number she dialed was a short one.

“What is the nature of your emergency?”

“Yes, hello. My son has gone missing.”

☤

Missing People

“We used to walk along the lakeside,” Isaac said. “Just notice things. Appreciate nature, you know?”

“I think I’d appreciate the lake more if there was water in it,” Erela sighed.

“Maybe. But it’s interesting. You can spot fish bones that no birds picked up. You can see the way the tide used to form shelves in the shoreline, like a great, big staircase,” he reminisced. “The wind hits the bed of the lake in weird ways. It’s great for kites.”

He glanced at his friend. She didn’t always look at him when he was talking, and he mostly understood why. He knew she was listening even if she looked like she was focused on something else. But this was one of those moments when Erela watched him speak. Like she could feel the way he remembered feeling just by seeing him remember it. There was a sort of light in her eyes, reflecting those bright days.

Long since passed.

“He always told me to see the beauty buried in things. If people could dig up gold from worthless dirt, then why couldn’t we dig up happiness in any normal day?”

Isaac could feel his throat starting to hurt. He was pushing air through it when it didn’t want to let air out.

“Why couldn’t he?”

“Find all the gold you want,” Erela said. “It doesn’t stop a cave-in.”

“I guess… I guess you don’t have to go looking for happiness if it comes naturally.”

“You know what I think parents want?” Erela asked.

Isaac shook his head, but welcomed the change of subject. “What?”

“Better for their kids than what they got.”

Isaac mulled that over.

“You think he wanted to teach me to see the good in the world that he couldn’t, then?”

“My dad got a second job when I was really young. We could already afford food, a fine house, mom’s treatments, and everything, but he’s saving up for me to go to a good school someday. I’d be able to pick whatever I wanted to do for work, not just take over dad’s shop like he took it over from his dad.”

“It’s a pretty good shop, to be fair.”

“I mean, it’s more of a store these days than a shop.”

“Do you miss… no, sorry. Forget it.”

“What?” Erela asked.

“Just. I was talking about missing my dad. You mentioned your mom.”

“Oh. I don’t know what she used to be like. Nothing to miss.”

“Right. My bad.”

“Hey, it’s not a big deal.”

The conversation had run its course. They were content to simply let time pass, together.

And eventually, they said goodbye in their own ways.

“Any chance you’ve got tomorrow’s math assignment done?” Isaac asked.

“I haven’t even looked at it yet. And we’re in high school now. We can’t be trading homework anymore.”

“Hey, I never asked-“

“I know.”

“Alright, well. See you.”

“I’d better,” Erela said.

Because I don’t want to end up missing you, she thought.

☤

Blame

He shut the car door and walked to the mailbox. Nothing of note.

A rubber ball bounced across the pavement, passing him to land in the front yard.

He picked it up and walked to the other side of the street.

“How many times am I going to tell you kids?” he sighed. “Be careful, or you might hurt someone.”

“Sorry, mister.”

He returned to the mailbox, paused, and double-checked the stack of envelopes.

Nope, nothing interesting.

The front door opened, and Rebecca stepped out of the house.

“It is about time, Liron,” she said.

“Don’t raise your voice, Bec. Not in the street.”

“Your shift is meant to end four hours ago. Four, Liron.”

“Well, it doesn’t hurt to make a bit more at a time like this.”

“Overtime? You need to take time off. I need you here.”

“For what? It’s a baby, Bec, just lay it somewhere and make sure it doesn’t choke on anything.”

“You don’t know the first thing about how complicated taking care of a child is.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for the past seven months! I wasn’t ready for this,” he complained.

“We’ve had all this time to get ready. I studied. Take some time, learn how to help. I cannot do this by myself. It’s not one person’s job.”

“Voice, Bec. You’re raising your voice.”

“You’re not listening to it,” Rebecca retorted, punctuated by the sound of a rubber ball bouncing.

“If we have to talk about Erela now, we can talk inside. I’ll be there in a second.”

“Fine.”

She turned her head, pivoted on one heel and stepped forward all in one motion.

The rubber ball went flying, bounced against the back of the car.

Rebecca landed twice. Once with her neck on the edge of the mailbox. Then, on the ground, still. The metal container rested near her arm.

He stepped to one side, picked up the ball.

“What did I JUST SAY?”

He threw the ball back at the neighbor children. They scattered, avoiding it.

“Hey, Bec. Are you okay?”

He knelt to attend her.

“Bec? Hey, Bec? Rebecca?”

She didn’t stir. She didn’t speak.

“No. Bec? No, no no no. Fuck, no. Bec?”

The argument was over. A quick trip to the house, picking up everything that was important. He rested Rebecca in the back seats, and as they drove to the first of many hospital visits, the baby in the passenger’s seat began to cry.

☤

Folktale

Rami Helon woke up with an alarm set for seven in the morning.

Rami Helon moved from his bed to his closet, where he selected a set of clothes for the day. Monday was a day for blue.

It was usually a day for blue, these days.

Rami Helon moved from his bedroom to his kitchen, where he poured oil and began to fry three sausages.

While watching the meat cook, Rami Helon called the police.

“Hello, it’s Rami Helon. Morning check-in.”

“Yes, hello Mr. Helon. Making a note of it. Thank you.”

Then Rami Helon hung up the line and ate breakfast. He remained in his home for quite some time, looking through a self-help book he’d recently been recommended.

Eventually, an alarm sounded from the kitchen. Three in the afternoon.

Afternoon check-in. But when he called, the line was busy.

Rami Helon tried three more times, then gave up.

He set the self-help book down, and he pulled up a chair and waited.

He fixed himself a glass of water, took a drink from it, and splashed the rest across the stovetop. The embers of the self-help book sizzled and died.

An alarm on a wristwatch sounded. Eight in the evening. Evening check-in.

Rami Helon tried to call the police three more times.

He’d done everything they’d asked to keep up with the check-ins.

And now, out of the blue, they miss two in a row.

Clearly, the police were no longer interested in what Rami Helon was doing.

Rami Helon smiled. Then he got up to get ready for bed.

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LOOK BACK ☤ MOVE ON