I Am The Absorber

I Am The Absorber Ch 10

Ben came outside carrying a plate with three large steaks. He opened up a shiny chrome barbecue and fired it up, piling the meat on.

"I stuck the rest in the freezer for later." he said to Laura. Then he turned to me.

"So, what's your story?" Both of them leaned in, eager to hear what I had to say.

"Well, I came from an abusive home," I began. "It was so bad that I ran away. I'm never going back. And I refuse to go into the system."

That was all I was going to tell them. I knew if I started giving out details, sometime or other I'd slip up and then where would I be? I'd be digging myself a pretty deep hole, that's where I'd be.

"So what are you going to do now" asked Laura, sitting back in her chair.

"Well, I'm probably going to find an apartment. I know I can't afford anything nice but I can survive until I'm eighteen. And then I'll be free."

"What about school? You know missing class is truancy." Ben said.

"I'm just going to skip school. I don't need to go anyway."

"Really?" Laura said, raising her eyebrows. "Did you know that the difference between someone with a college education and a high school education is about a million dollars in salary over the course of their lifetime? And you don't even have a middle school education."

Well, I couldn't tell her about my ace-in-the-hole now, could I? I said the first thing that came to mind.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me."

Laura looked at Ben and moved her eyebrows slightly. I suddenly felt uncomfortable.

"Do you have a bathroom? I have to go." I exclaimed suddenly, my voice sounding oddly loud in the enclosed space of the porch.

"Yes, there's one by the bedroom." Ben said, pointing toward the house.

I stepped inside, glad to escape the tension lingering on the porch. They wanted only the best for me, just like every other adult in my life, but it wasn't their decision. It was mine.

The bathroom offered a small refuge, a chance to take a break and relax. The toilet seat didn't look too inviting, so I sat on the bathtub instead, placing my head in my hands.

Much as I didn't want to admit it, I couldn't do this. I couldn't just run away from home and expect everything to fall into place. Tears hovered at the edge of my eyes but they wouldn't fall.

I finally finished my little pity-fest, going out to where Ben and Laura sat waiting for me to finish up so that we could begin eating. As I came out, Ben stood and looked at me, Laura following suit a moment later.

"Levi, there is no way you can survive in this city alone at your age. We have decided to open up our home to you and let you stay here until things can work out. Are you okay with that?"

---------------- Over the next five years ----------------

Levi decided to stay with Ben and Laura Jones.

During the next few days, he moved into their upstairs apartment, which they had only been using for storage. It had a bedroom, bathroom, kitchenette and even a small living room. He paid for the first month's rent out of his first paycheck from the café, which turned out to be the best job he ever could have hoped for.

He enrolled in a private school the next year at Laura's urging, a small, struggling, seventh through twelfth grade school with dubious business practices who quickly accepted the paperless student for a reduced fee. He finished the eighth grade with flying colors and quickly gained the respect of the students and teachers.

He saw his face on the news many times over the few months after his disappearance but he stayed out of sight and soon the broadcasts stopped.

He became a permanent fixture at the Joneses household. They didn't want children but Levi had a special place. He was there for dinner almost every night, though he remained suitably independent, paying rent on the apartment and buying much of his own food and clothing.

Exactly one month before his eighteenth birthday, he recognized his parent's pictures on the news. They had been driving along an interstate when a semi-truck had sideswiped their car, driving it into the canal next to the road. The cars roof had been crushed and it was ten long minutes before anyone could get to the poor people inside. Levi's parents had died, if not from the impact, then from the cold water. The news went on to describe Levi and mentioned how he had disappeared some years prior to the crash.

Levi was in shock at the news but he never cried. He had not seen his parents for so long that he no longer thought about them or his old life regularly. He decided to go back home and see what he could do. On his first day of adulthood, he and Ben drove back to his old home and visited his parent's lawyer. Their will had been changed; the beneficiary was now his mother's best friend.

She gladly gave Levi thirty percent of the proceeds of the estate. If he had decided to go to court over it, it was quite possible that he could have gotten all of it but it was his decision not to. His parents had never been that wealthy anyway.

Then they visited the cemetery. The headstones over the graves had their birthdates and names carved into the granite but that was it. Levi laid down a bouquet of flowers on his mother's headstone and then left without saying a word.

He went back home, satisfied at his decision with the estate but sad about the loss of his parents.

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Levi grabbed a cup of cold microwave soup out of the cupboard and twisted the cap off, drinking it as fast as he could swallow, trying not to spill on his starched white shirt or his navy tie. It was nearly seven A.M. and he had to be at the southern café at eight.

It was a forty-five minute drive in good traffic and Mondays were the worst days for driving. Ben and Laura were scoping out a possible new location in the original café's adjoining section of town so they were letting him drive the old Mercedes.

He chucked the paper cup at the garbage can as he ran out of the house and missed. Groaning to himself, he dashed to the empty cup and smacked his hand down on top of it, absorbing it instantly. It could be discarded later, probably when he was pretending to throw another piece of trash away.

He flung the car door open and threw himself inside. This was the last time he would be arriving at work late.

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