Junk

Chapter One

Jack passed the cemetery every day on his way to school. From a distance it was beautiful. The long meadows were covered with rolling grass of the deepest green and dotted with huge old trees that spread their branches in cool circles of inviting shade. Today that shade beckoned to him teasingly. Though it was only a little after eight in the morning, the heat was intense and Jack felt perspiration bead on his forehead as he crossed to the other side of Willow Street as far away from the cemetery as possible.

As he passed directly across from the gated entrance, he risked a glance into the heart of White Rose Memorial Gardens and immediately regretted doing so. Row upon row of headstones stared back at him from both sides of the narrow winding driveway. His father lay beneath one of those headstones and that thought brought a thick lump into his throat. Jacks eyes burned but he did not cry. He had never cried.

When his mother had come screaming into the kitchen two years ago covered in blood and frantically called 911 he had not cried. When the ambulance and the police cars arrived he had not cried. When he heard the doctor say his dad was dead... he had not cried. He had been in shock... that's what everyone said... and they were right. The accident was so sudden and unexpected. The tractor... the blood... the screaming.

Jack closed his eyes, swallowing the lump down like a huge dry pill and walked faster. He pushed away the memories and focused on what lay ahead

It was Friday and his first class was English. Another wave of emotion rushed through him as he thought of the humiliation he was about to endure. Today they had to read their book reports in front of the class and that would not go well. Jack could not even kid himself about how it was going to turn out. His stutter only got worse when he was the centre of attention. Surely Mrs. Klein knew that but she had made it clear that everyone would have to stand at the chalkboard and read aloud.

He turned into the Warden Elementary School parking lot just as the bell rang and did a half run to the main entrance. All around him, kids were laughing and yelling hellos to each other. If he were lucky, maybe no one would notice him, but of course, today was not a day for luck.

"Hey, J-J-J-Jack-ass! How's it g-g-g-going?" called Scott in a loud and terribly accurate imitation. All around Jack kids laughed.

Jack increased his pace, trying to ignore Scott and was almost at the classroom door when he felt the hard tug on his backpack. There was a ripping sound and more laughter. He stumbled backward and felt his books and binders tumbling out behind him.

Jack turned and there was Scott, smiling hugely.

"Oh, sorry J-J-J-Jack-ass looks like your piece of shit b-b-b-backpack fell apart!" Scott said, clearly playing to the group of kids that were now crowding around to watch the fun.

Scott Sawyer was a big boy. He was a head taller and a year older than everyone else in grade five and he had a thickness that made him look even more imposing. His head was as round as a ten pin bowling ball, with long greasy brown hair stuck on top and two piggy eyes where the finger holes should be. His arms seemed disproportionately short compared to the rest of his body but they were heavily muscled from working on his families dairy farm.

Jack bent and began picking up his books. He could feel the torn flaps of his backpack dangling against his narrow shoulders. His mom was going to kill him... they did not have money for a new backpack and he knew it. He reached for the last textbook and suddenly Scotts foot flicked out and kicked it away from his hand. It slid easily on the polished grey floor and Jack watched it skitter away to the sound of more laughter. He crawled towards the book but as soon as he was close enough to grab it, Scott kicked it away again.

"What's wrong J-J-J-Jack-ass? Come on d-d-d-dummy, pick up your book!"

Jack felt a flood of rage course through him and imagined grabbing Scott's foot the next time he kicked. He would flip Scott over and then put a karate style beating on him like in an action movie. The other kids would cheer and slap him on the back. Heck, they couldn't really like Scott Sawyer... could they?