Page 5 of Five Alarm Love
Mav peered down the aisle and Tuli followed suit.“No Lou yet.Must be working on something.”
“Hope everything’s okay.”
His friend crossed his arms.“I’m sure it is.”He paused.“So, now that you’re healed up from your accident, you’re getting money out of your page, and you’re living the dream here at the deli, what’s holding you back from talking with Lou?”
*
Eighteen years ago
Tulimak Sampson dashedout the back door of the Yukon Valley Elementary school to recess.Freedom!
Man, he hated math, but he sure was going to add up a high score in kickball today.
He couldn’t wait.The cool September breeze coming off of the nearby Yukon River pushed him to run faster and warm up before kickball domination happened.He didn’t even need a jacket today.Fewer layers meant he would play even better.
The shouts and happy chatter of his third-grade classmates followed him as he headed for the field.The grass was still mostly green.Ground was dry.Good.He’d be quicker around the plastic-lid bases.Conditions would never be as perfect as this fall day.
It was time to steal bases and take names.He stood in the middle of the field, waiting for the other kids to gather in front of him so they could pick teams.
Off to the side of the field, several third-grade girls clumped together like gossiping aunties.He strained to hear what they were saying.One blonde girl, Zelda, pointed at him, and he puffed out his chest.
For as much as Tuli liked kickball, helovedbeing noticed.Loved being the topic of excited conversations.Grandma Ruth always shook her head and made atsknoise when he discussed his current popularity and his future plans to harness that star power.One day, people would listen to what he said.
People would forget all about how he didn’t have parents attending the school holiday program or watching his baseball games.
They would forget that he was poor.
No.Tuli was going to be famous and popular.
But for now?Kickball!
Another giggle came from the clump of girls.He couldn’t hear the whispered words, only theessesof their hissed conversation.
Whatever.He could put together a team without them.He didn’t need to know what they were saying about him.
He glanced over again.Whatwerethey saying?
Grandma kept quiet about how Tuli had come to live with her, but Yukon Valley was a small community.People knew about his parents’ issues with drugs and alcohol.There hadn’t been enough time for everyone to forget.
Tuli sure hadn’t forgotten.He rubbed his wrist, reliving the memory of the fracture thanks to his dad’s alcohol and anger, only a few years ago.Right before his dad died.
He shook his head and stood straight, hands on his hips.Grandma always told him to project the image of the person he wanted people to see.She said that if people were talking, he should assume they were saying good things.If he heard bad things, then he should act like their words were water and he was a duck.The words would slide right off his back.
Image was everything.
Attitude was everything, even if he didn’t feel confident on the inside.
Time was wasting, people.Recess was only forty-five minutes long.
“Come on, guys.Let’s go.”
The older kids would be out soon and probably try to take over the game.The third graders needed to mark their territory right now.
As they divvied up the teams, Tuli checked the side of the field.His classmate, Louise Wright, who never got in trouble for talking out in class because she barely spoke a word, stood at the periphery of the group of girls.Her long, dark hair hid her pretty face.The girls’ conversation drifted over to him, even as the kickball teams were being decided.
“Let’s play house.We need two parents and some kids.I’ll be the mom, obviously,” the ringleader, Zelda, said, tossing her golden hair over a shoulder.Both of her parents were teachers at the school, and she acted like she owned the place.“We need a house.Here.”
Lou followed the other girls as they arranged themselves under the jungle gym with assigned family roles.
