Listen to the Words

Chapter 6

"Murphy, come look at this! Come look at this!"

"What?" He went through the dining room to the kitchen, around the table to the bathroom door. His mom stood at the sink.

"Look!"

"What?"

"There is actually a plant growing up from the dirt on the bathroom sink!"

He turned around, pushed a chair out of his way, and yanked open the back door.

"Can't you at least have a sense of humor about it?" she called after him.

As he walked around the house to the sidewalk, he shivered in the cold. At the next corner, Jack and Ian sat on Jack's front steps. Murphy crossed the grass and sat beside them.

"Her two front teeth, like, point towards each other," Jack said.

"So?" Ian asked. "I'm above judging a woman by her teeth."

"Who?" Murphy asked.

"Kayla Nordmann. She asked me out."

"She did?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Are you going to go?"

"I don't know. I'm thinking about it."

Jack said, "She's -"

"Hey, what do you guys think about Samantha Jackson?" Murphy asked.

"What about her?" said Ian.

"I don't know. What do you think about her?"

"I don't think anything."

Jack laughed. "Apparently, Murphy spends far too much time thinking about Samantha Jackson."

The door opened, and Charlie came out with his keys in his hand.

"Where are you going?" Jack asked, as his cool older brother stepped around them down the stairs.

"Nowhere... Bella's house."

He went to the driveway and got into the car, and they watched him drive away.

"Bella who?" Ian asked.

"Collier," said Jack.

"What, are they going out?"

"Mm-hmm."

Murphy's phone rang, and he pulled it from his pocket. "Who is it?" asked Jack.

"My mom," he said. "It's nothing."

He tapped the message. Where are you? He stuck the phone back into his pocket.

"You've never..." said Ian. "I mean, have you ever, like, gone out with anyone?"

He looked across the yard, at a squirrel hopping up a tree. "No."

"Have you ever even kissed a girl, or...."

"Well... well, no." His phone rang again, and he tapped the message. If you're going to your grandmother's house tomorrow you're going to have to get your homework done today.

Murphy stood up. "I have to go." He walked home.

************

He sat at the kitchen table with his algebra book, a piece of paper and a pen. Water was turned on and off in the bathroom, and the smells of mouthwash and perfume wafted through the air. His mom and his brother stepped into the kitchen, wearing dress-up clothes. Cameron's hair was wet and slicked back.

"Give me another one," he said.

"'Subpoena'."

"S-U-B-P-O-E-N-A."

"Right!

"Well, we're leaving," she said to Murphy. "Get your homework done."

They exited the room, and a minute later he heard them leave.

His stepdad came through the archway. "Do you want me to get your screen fixed?"

"Yeah, I've been wanting you to...." He pulled his phone from his pocket and set it on the table. His stepdad picked it up and left the room. Murphy heard the front door open and close.

He looked at his homework, and then at the window. The sky was dark. He left the table, and crossed the dining room. In the living room, he went to the staircase. He held onto the rail and climbed two steps at a time, finding his way between toys and shoes and clothes.

At the top of the staircase, the hall was pitch black. Murphy moved carefully across the floor, stepping on something that made a cracking noise. With another step he kicked some object that rolled across the floor and hit the wall. He stuck out one hand and felt for his bedroom door.

He found the doorway but couldn't remember if the light switch was on the left or the right. His hand moved up and down the wall, until he felt the plastic switch. He flicked it up, but nothing happened. The room was totally dark. He turned around and felt his way back to the stairs.

He went downstairs, through the living and dining rooms, and across the kitchen. The basement stairs were wooden and creaky. Puddles of water stood in various spots, but the floor was porous and never quite dry anywhere. Near the washer and dryer, clothes hung from hangers that hung from pipes. Storage containers were stacked all over, as well as broken furniture, deflated basketballs, and bikes without tires.

Murphy crossed the floor to his stepdad's work bench, and searched its dusty surface. A large industrial flashlight stood upright. Murphy picked it up, not expecting it to work. When he moved the switch, a dull beam shone onto the wall.

He carried the heavy flashlight up the stairs, through the house to the living room. He made his way back to the second floor, shining the flashlight. The upstairs hall was littered with old clothes and stuffed animals and library books that had been "lost and paid for." He stepped through the doorway of what had once been his bedroom. His Mario posters remained on the walls, but were covered in some kind of filth. A stack of Encyclopedia Brown books sat on a chair, and spiderwebs were everywhere. He left that room and went past the bathroom, down the hall to Cameron's room. He shone the flashlight over the unwalkable floor to the bassinet and a rocking horse. A train set was on a table, and a stuffed monkey hung from the ceiling.

At the other end of the hall was his parents' room. He shone the flashlight into the doorway. A bed was in the corner, its mattress bare. A dresser stood near the wall, and old clothes lay all over the floor. The windows looked out to the back yard, and were covered with home-sewn curtains. The curtains were speckled with grime.

He turned and walked back down the hall. The attic stairs were narrow, and shaky, but they were actually clear of stuff. Murphy shone the flashlight ahead of him as he ascended. At the top of the stairs, he pulled a spiderweb away from the doorway. He shone the flashlight into the attic and heard a loud hiss. Glowing eyes shone from one corner. He swung the flashlight beam onto a disdainful-looking possum. It bared its teeth at him, and slunk up the wall to a hole in the roof.

He jogged back down the stairs, down the hall, down the stairs, and switched off the flashlight as he stepped onto the living room floor. He crossed that room and the dining room, and stood the flashlight onto the counter in the kitchen. He stepped into the bathroom. A little green plant grew from the dirt that covered the sink. He yanked it from the sink and threw it in the trash.