A Home For Timmy (boyxboy)

Chapter 4: Crushed.

Chapter 4

It was that time of day when the sun was low in the sky, the crickets were singing out in the grass and the heat of the day had cooled to a bearable degree. Across the room Timmy sat on the carpet by the couch, a small bowl of strawberries trapped between his tiny legs and his eyes glued to the television on which colorful vegetables danced to a silly tune.

I sat at the dining table doing my taxes with Jason across from me. On the table before him, he had placed his crumbled ten, twenty and one dollar notes and in the book he held, he scribbled numbers and dates. He looked completely focused on his task, never taking his eyes from the page except to count and straighten out his cash. I set down my pencil and sat back in my chair, taking the time to observe him.

 His curly black hair floated over the page, the finally clean locks looked like woven threads of silk and I wondered if it would be soft to the touch. He had delicate features, almost like a woman’s. His eyebrows were dark and full and seemed perfectly coiffed, he had lashes that were so long it was a mystery how he could even see past them and his nose was slender and straight, fitting his face like the perfect puzzle piece.

Then there were his lips, looking soft and pink, glistening every time he licked them.  They strangely inviting, especially when he frowned. He didn’t have much stubble but it was there…a soft dusting of dark hair that lay just right against his tanned face.

There was innocence there as well, one that crept up on his features when he was calm and unaware. Innocence that made you want to keep him hidden from the world and all the shit it had to offer. Innocence that scared me.

How did you pass this man on the street and not give a damn and how could you see him with his child and not crave the love and tenderness that existed between them? The longer I waited to do my duty, the harder it was to think about doing it.  

Almost Two days and I felt like I’d known them all my life. The sound of Timmy’s laughter, the sight of his tears, the softness of his hands and the way it felt to hold him securely in my arms, to teach him new words and show him how to wipe his hands in a towel…I felt as though I had lived this my entire life, but how could that be?

And his father… Jason, the only rock Timmy had ever leaned against. The man with his stubbornness and his intense dislike of those with authority. The man who would clearly walk a mile for his kid, with so much love in his heart and too much weight on his shoulders.

I felt as though I had known him too…as though I had shared in his worries for a long time. Less than two days and who they were was already carved in my mind. How did I do my duty? How could I do the right thing now?

“Why are you lookin’ at me like that?”

I snapped back to the present at the sound of Jason’s voice. He stared at me with furrowed brows, his pen still trapped and poised between his fingers.

I shook my head. “What’re you doing?”

He glanced down at his work, then back up at me with a small frown. “I’m makin’ this plan. I gotta make sure I use my money right so I got enough for when the week is done.”

I nodded in understanding. “Like a budget.”

He shrugged.

“You mind if I take a look?”

He shrugged again, then slid the book toward me.

He’d laid out everything in columns with the amount of money he had in total at the top, then the days of the week on the side and inside the columns he made detailed notes on how the cash would be spent;