Being Wrong | ✓

Part 11

Travis kept his expression carefully flat. Charlie had been abused for years, had witnessed his mother's death, and they weren't even...? "I'll talk to them."

"Thanks. Is it time for the movie yet?"

"Uhh... yeah. Okay."

Most of Travis' attention was on Charlie as the movie started, watching him from the corner of his eye for any signs of distress, but Charlie settled in quietly, and if what happened on screen upset him at all, he didn't let it show. It wasn't until the first commercial break that he spoke. "What's that?"

Travis hadn't been paying attention, so he had to look back at the TV for a moment to figure out what Charlie was asking about. "What's life insurance?"

Charlie nodded.

"Well, it's like insurance... for people. You pay the company a certain amount of money every week, and then if the person dies they give you money."

"But they're dead."

It took Travis a moment to figure out what Charlie was talking about. "Right, but the money goes to someone else. Like their family."

"But wouldn't someone kill them to get the money?"

"Well, I guess that does happen sometimes. If you have life insurance and your death is at all suspicious, the person who's the beneficiary is definitely going to be a prime suspect. Generally the money goes to loved ones, though. People who hopefully wouldn't be willing to kill you for money."

"Oh, I guess," Charlie said as he returned his attention to the TV. It said a lot about the people who had cared for him that murder for money sounded like the likely outcome of such a scheme. "What's that?"

"Uhh... reverse charge calls. If you need to make a call but don't have any credit on your phone or money for a pay phone, you call that number and enter the number you want to call on the keypad, and then they'll call the person and ask if they want to accept the charges."

"Oh."

They managed to get through the whole movie without Charlie getting upset, which seemed like a minor miracle given Travis was pretty sure he'd gotten that lump in the throat feeling the first time he watched it and it didn't really mirror his personal experiences at all.

Travis told him there was always a movie on Saturday night and he seemed interested in watching another next week, although honestly Travis thought the commercials might have been half of the appeal to him. He'd been seriously sheltered, an intelligent kid denied information for years. He was soaking it up like a sponge now that he had the opportunity.

Charlie thanked Travis for letting him come over and watch the movie before he left, though it sounded slightly unnatural, like a kid taught to say 'thank you for having me' when his parents came to pick him up. Travis guessed his grandma had told him to thank him, though he wasn't sure it was a very good lesson in acting like a normal person. Friends didn't usually bother with that kind of thing.

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Charlie didn't know why he waited until after dinner to go over to Travis' house on Sunday night. He'd been doing nothing but studying in his room all day, but he usually only went to Travis' house after dark and that had become something of a rule in his mind. He tended to find life less stressful when he abided by his rules, even when he had little reason for them, so he didn't question it.

There was a car outside the block of flats Travis lived in that wasn't usually there. In the dark, from a distance, Charlie didn't recognise it, but it still held his attention as he headed towards the footpath. He froze when the driver's side door opened with a familiar squeak. His dad stepped out of the car and stood silhouetted by the streetlight.