14 Years Ago
"Who's that?" Lucas toddled into the living room, as his mother sat in front of the window. She had a horrid glare on her face, and she held the phone clutched to her chest.
"Someone's moving in next door."
"Neighbors?" Lucas' eyebrows raised in amusement.
"No. Not neighbors." His mother shook her head angrily, as she often did. "Trash."
"Why?"
"This used to be a prestigious area. People were breaking their backs trying to get in... now we have... just anybody off the street moving in. It's bad for the neighborhood. Very bad. This is how it starts, and suddenly a perfectly nice neighborhood is gone." His mother explained.
"Why?"
"They... just don't live like us. Your father has a great job and makes a good deal of money, those people... they don't have that, and they bring down the whole value of the street."
"Why?"
"Lucas." His mother bent down, trying to explain it in a way that he could understand. Though her ideals were born of a bitter life and completely foreign to an innocent child, so there could be no real way for him to understand. "Imagine you had an amazing new toy, but instead of just you having the toy, everyone had the toy. Then you wouldn't want it so much, would you?"
"Ah." Lucas agreed. In his mind it would be better if everyone had the toy, because then they all could play together, but he wasn't bold enough to go against his mother. As Lucas grew he better understood his mother's disdain for the neighbors. Property values were down, and the family that moved in was below the 'wealthy' threshold his mother held. They were solidly, comfortably middle class, but that wasn't good enough for his mother. The Chances would become the bane of her existence, as they moved to join the homeowners association, after it attempted to force them to remove their tire swing, or have their own potluck dinner, after Lucas' mother spitefully neglected to invite them to the official one.
The Chances were an affront to Lucas' mother's world order, and thus the most backwards and unwanted people that could ever exist. Lucas didn't understand why, and he didn't really need to. The Chances were rabble, and not to be interacted with. He'd never heard his mother complain worse than the day the Chances had decided to put out a political sign on their front lawn. It was a blip of blue in a sea of red and Lucas' mother was never more disgusted.
She explained this being in the way that they were leftists, radicals, or 'not the type to vote for Lucas' father.
The Chances were Irish Catholics, a far cry from a minority, but in the white-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant neighborhood they still stood out as different. From a political standpoint they were more liberal, from an economic standpoint their money was newer, and being that their family had ties only back to the U.S. as early as the 1890s they were literally newer as well.
Everyone in the neighborhood attended the same church, but the Chances went to a Catholic Church. Everyone attended the prestigious private prep school, but the Chances insisted on sending their child to a more working class Catholic school.
Once it became clear that Lucas and Vincent were going to be friends, and Vincent's mother was practically raising Lucas, Lucas' mother had pleaded with the Chances to send their kid to the more expensive school, knowing that if Vincent went to the Catholic school, Lucas would absolutely insist on going to the Catholic school as well. The Vincent's refused, and begrudgingly in favor of domestic harmony the Marshalls were forced to send their child to a Catholic school instead of a more traditional blue-blooded private school for better breeding. It was a slap in the face to Ms. Marshall's pride, but Lucas cried for days at the thought of not being able to attend school with Vincent.
From a young age Lucas never saw his parents very often, and therefore was not overly concerned with the rules they attempted to place upon him. He stared at the family not in disgust, but in fascination of how others might live differently from him. On a particularly sunny afternoon where his nanny had fallen asleep on the couch, Lucas endeavored to go out and play with the redheaded boy about his age next door.
"What are you playing?" Lucas approached slowly. In his mind he would run up to the boy and join in, but his fear, and lack of socialization made that more difficult than anticipated.
"House."
"Can-" Lucas tiny voice squeaked, "Can I play?"
"Mhm." The redheaded boy sounded in agreement.
"What's your name?" Lucas tried lightly.
"Vinny." Vinny answered without looking up. He was sat in a sandbox that resembled nothing of a house, playing with buckets and shovels as dishes.
"I- I have a playhouse." Lucas attempted, gesturing towards his gated yard. Behind the fence sat a little cream and blue playhouse that Lucas rarely played with. It has been given to him by his parents or some relative, but sat empty most of the time.
"You do?" Vinny's eyes widened in awe.
"Yes. It has windows, and a doggy door, and-" Lucas smiled, happy to be impressive to somebody for once. He never seemed to be able to be good enough for his parents.
"Can we play in it?"
"Well..." Lucas looked back to his house. Letting Vinny into his yard was a definite breach of his mothers orders, not indirect like his current excursion, but the rule seemed arbitrary anyway. "We can't play too rough, on account of my asthma."
"Azmar?" Vinny twisted his head.
"It's a 'deficiency." Lucas sounded out, clearly repeating something said to him by an adult, "My mommy says it's because of my father, but I don't think he has asthma."
"Oh?" Vinny responded absentmindedly, peering off into the distance, already considering all the different kinds of games that could be played in the house.
"Would you still want to play with me?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Vinny looked back at Lucas in confusion.
"I have a deficiency..." Lucas mumbled.
"I don't see anything wrong with you." Vinny shrugged and Lucas broke out into a grin. It solidified in Lucas the resolve to go against his mother. It wasn't Vinny who was judging someone, it was her, and Lucas knew if she met Vinny, and really got to know him, she'd like him too.
"Okay." Lucas nodded, and pulled Vinny up from the sand. The two boys made their way over to the white fence, and Lucas had a last moment of hesitation before opening the gate and going against the wishes of his family.
Lucas never forgot that gesture, or Vinny's words. As he grew and became more intertwined with Vinny's world and Vinny's family he sought to repay them for doing what his mother never could, making him feel like he belonged. Lucas loved Vinny for his kindness, his hesitance to judge someone, and his purity. Lucas loved Vinny for his acceptance.