Page 90 of Pride High 2: Orange
After a shower, while getting dressed, Diego noticed that his pager had gone off. Someone wanted weed, which made him feel better, because if today was as magical as people made it out to be, they wouldn’t rely on such things. While grabbing his stuff to leave, he noticed the keychain Ricky had given him. Diego picked it up. Fingerprints could be seen in the clay’s surface. He touched one, easily obscuring it, since Ricky was so damn small. If anyone could make him believe in all the stupid happy crap…
He huffed and returned to the living room, standing in front of his mother’s closed door while tempted to knock. But then, what would he say?Thanks for the all the years of neglect, Mom. And all those Christmas presents you never bought me.
Diego thought about an experiment they’d made him learn about in school, where scientists took newborn monkeys away from their mothers to be “raised” by two constructs. One of the replacement mothers was soft and made of cloth. The other was wood and wire with a milk bottle attached to it. The scientists observed that the baby monkeys spent most of their time with the soft mothers, except when needing to feed. Big surprise. Later they split the babies into groups that only got one type of mother. The monkeys that had soft mothers turned out better. The monkeys who got stuck with hard mothers would still cling to them, no matter how bad it hurt, because it was literally all they had.
The experiment had stuck with Diego. Not because of the obvious parallels with his own situation. No, what continued to haunt him was that some dipshit scientists had thought it was okay to rip a newborn child away from its mother and toy with it to see what happened. The heartless fucks. Someone should have taken their wives and husbands away and replaced them with logs wrapped in barbed wire. Maybe then the scientists wouldn’t have felt the need to prove what anyone with common sense could have guessed.
The world sucked. But not always. His hand closed around the clay Frankenstein head that Ricky had given him. Then he went outside, got in his car, and made a delivery, his mind on one destination in particular. Diego parked the Trans Am down the street from Ricky’s house. Then he used the key to let himself in, and it was like stepping into a completely different world.
He stood in the entryway and listened to the house breathe. He could hear a distant clock ticking. A refrigerator hummed. The heat clicked on, even though it must be turned down low, because it was chilly inside. Diego didn’t move. He closed his eyes, experiencing a rare sense of security. Which was messed up considering that he was trespassing. With unauthorized permission, but still.
Diego exhaled and began to walk through the house with no goal or purpose in mind. He tried to imagine what it must be like to live here. Everything was clean and organized, the cupboards full of food. Which was nice. Even though he knew it was all surface bullshit. Ricky’s parents probably had secrets and filled their son with well-meaning lies. But having now returned to such a place, he could see why so many people embraced the delusion.
Diego paused when entering the living room. A fully decorated Christmas tree stood in one corner. Ricky’s idea, most likely. He probably begged his parents to put up the tree, even though they wouldn’t be in town today.
Diego noticed a family photo on the fireplace mantle and picked it up. Ricky’s parents were squished close to him on a ski slope. All three of them were smiling. His attention settled on Ricky. Just seeing that eager expression again made him feel better somehow. Diego took the photo with him and set it on the coffee table. After plugging in the Christmas tree and sitting on the couch, he stared at the twinkling lights and felt like he no longer existed. Nobody knew where he was. He’d left his pager in the car, so no one could reach him. He was isolated. Alone. And it felt good. Although on occasion, his eyes would return to the photo of Ricky’s smiling face, even though he wasn’t sure why.
CHAPTER 20
December 25th, 1992
Cameron only managed a few fitful hours of sleep. But that made it feel more like the Christmases of his childhood, when anticipation kept him up for most of the night. He wasn’t expecting any miracles this year. And yet, once he had showered and gone downstairs, the scene that greeted him was unusually tranquil. His parents were sitting around the living room while idly chatting.
“Good morning, baby boy,” Brenda said.
“Merry Christmas, son,” Trevor added, raising his cup of coffee.
“Merry Christmas,” Cameron echoed, waiting for him to say something about the holidays not seeming so merry at his age. Instead, his parents continued whatever conversation Cameron had interrupted. Without any sign of bickering. That was different. Cameron sat down carefully, not wanting to break the spell, but to his delight it continued for the rest of the morning.
Everything remained peaceful while they opened presents and hung out in the living room afterwards. Cameron didn’t mention Anthony, too worried that it would end the truce. But he did think of him more and more as the day wore on.
“I have a couple of presents to deliver,” he said to his parents. “Can I take the station wagon?”
“Sure thing, hon,” Brenda said. “Drive safe.”
Cameron drove to Mindy’s house first. He worried about showing up on another holiday, this time unannounced, but he was so grateful for everything she had done for him that he wanted to give her a present.
“Cameron!” Mindy said when answering the door.
“Merry Christmas,” he said, holding up a small wrapped gift.
“You got me a present?” Mindy said loudly over her shoulder. She winced when facing him again and whispered, “They still think you’re my boyfriend.”
That had been painfully obvious after the play, when she’d introduced him to her mother. “I don’t mind,” he said. “Although I’m not sure why you bother.”
“I’ll show you,” Mindy said.
She put a finger to her lips and beckoned him inside. Together they crept through the house to the living room, where he could hear the Rankin/Bass version ofRudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeerplaying on the TV. Mindy peered around the doorway before motioning for him to do the same. “That’s who my sister is dating,” she whispered.
Sitting on the couch, next to an older version of Mindy with auburn hair, was someone who looked like a surfer dude. His white teeth were on permanent display, his blemish-free skin tan even though summer was long gone.
“Wow,” Cameron whispered when he pulled back. “He’s hot!”
“Incredibly!” Mindy moaned, before covering her mouth. Then she grabbed his hand and pulled them both into plain view. “So veryverynice of you,” Mindy said, holding up the present. “Look what my boyfriend gave me!"
"It's nothing,” Cameron said bashfully.
“It might be,” her sister said. “Open it and let’s see.”
