Page 23 of Between Now and Forever
“Okay. Do you have one? Because my new friend Hayes is really good at basketball, and so are his friends. But I stink. I need to practice bouncing it.”
“Dribbling it.”
He tilts his head to the side like I speak a foreign language.
“When you bounce it, it’s called dribbling,” I say.
“Oh. So, can I use your pumper?”
I want to tell him no, to go home and forget I live here. The last thing I want, the last thing I need, is to be marked as the guy next door who can help with shit. Even though I’ve already done that. Twice.
Ugh. These people are going to drive me nuts.
I start to speak, but his toothless smile gets the best of me.
“Fine,” I say, shaking my head. I walk over to my air compressor and flip the switch. It kicks on. “We have to let it get to pressure first.”
“Okay.” Carter picks up his ball and comes into the garage. He gazes around with wide eyes. “Wow.You have a lot of stuff.”
“Yeah.”
He points at a table saw in the back. “What’s that?”
“It’s a saw.”
“For what?”
I sigh. “Cutting wood.”
“Do you cut a lot of wood?”
“I’m a carpenter, so yeah. It’s my job.”
“Cool.” He nods, moseying around like he owns the place. “That’s a good job.”
“I’m glad you think so.”
“Do you think it’s a good job?”
What is this? An inquisition?“Yeah. I guess.”
“When I get older, I’m going to be a fireman.” He giggles, looking at me over his shoulder. His green eyes, the same color as his mother’s, twinkle. “Can I tell you a secret?”
No, you cannot tell me a secret.
“I really only wanna wear the costume and shoot water out of the big hose,” he says.
I can’t help myself. I laugh, motioning for him to come to me. “I understand how that’s appealing, but you should really want to do a job because you like the actual job.”
“What doesappealingmean?”
This kid.“Give me your basketball.”
“It meansgive me your basketball? That’s cool.”
“No.Appealingmeans it sounds nice. Now give me your basketball.”
He shuffles the rest of the way across the floor and hands me his ball.
