“I’m okay,” flattening his hands against my puffed-up chest. “I actually don’t know what even came over me in there. I just did it. It felt like an out of body experience, to be honest.” He lowered his head a little, breaking eye contact.
“Well, I’m so glad whatever invaded your thoughts and movements in there did,” I leaned down, nibbled his lips, then pressed my forehead to his. “You did amazing and it felt so fucking good,”making him beam, like the praise was his source of happiness. Maybe it was, now that I think about it. He probably didn’t get much of it in life in general. I will have to test that theory later.
After a moment, I leaned away letting him continue to button me up. I got back in bed and situated, then he joined me with his book. We read for most of the day, with Charlie every now and then stopping to make a statement about his book, ‘The Catcher in the Rye’.
Around noon, I needed to pee and stretch so we got ourselves up out of bed and also took the opportunity to get toasted bologna and salami sandwiches for lunch which Charlie threw together from the groceries that were left on the stoop. He threw a pot on, boiling some water to make iced tea out of the tea bags that were included, saying he needed to drink some flavor. It’s still making my brain flip a little, over the fact Mike got that grocery pool organized, out of all people. Clearly, he was trying.
Around dinner time, we heard banging at the door downstairs. Charlie had a concerned look. I knew that bang and who was the drummer. “It’s David,” rolling my eyes. “No one else bangs on the door like that. He does it to annoy me or to try to wake me up if I’m passed out.”
“Yeah, okay.” Charlie rolled out of bed, “I’ll go let him in.” He set his book aside. I handed him mine as well, because with David here, our reading day was coming to an end. He disappeared and less than ninety seconds later David barreled in, Charlie shortly behind him with two glasses of iced tea.
David was exploding with so much energy, he could probably power the mine and then some. “You would not believe what happened! It was rad! I have never seen anyone blowso hard.”
“What are you talking about?” I was looking up at him from my spot. Charlie was just standing there, looking like he didn’t know where to go or how to handle David’s outburst. I motioned him over to me, even though my back was to him. That way he was next to me and facing David.
“Tom. He exploded with the force of an atomic bomb,” swinging his arms out and up with his hands opening with force, fingers spread like a detonation. “I have never heard anyone get so loud or turn so red. If the cops weren’t there, I would have been afraid of what he might have physically done.”
“David,” making him pause his interjection. “Get to the fucking point! What made Tom pop?” David’s excitement was making me impatient and I could feel Charlie’s vibe behind me, still not used to David’s over-the-top personality when he was wound-up.
“Tom questioned a bunch of men, plus what Charlie told him at the hospital about what happened,” pointing to my left side. “He had the police there already when we came up at the end of shift. He fired Richard, publicly. But Richard wasn’t having it. Started screaming that you both are f–,” he stopped himself before the word slipped out, his eyes shifty before finishing with a grunt, “fairies. Said he caught you both in the mine kissing. Can you believe that!” He rolled his eyes. “It was the most absurd thing I ever heard, but it made Tom completely blow his gasket. If his head had exploded open, gears would have gone flying. The police jumped in the middle, I think out of caution, Tom looked like he was going to attack but they ended up throwing cuffs on Richard and dragged him away kicking and screaming the worst things.”
I had nothing to say.
What could I say?
But I did hear Charlie behind me, his breathing raspy.
Shit.
He was panicking. “Charlie, come here.” I reached up awkwardly with him behind me and grabbed his bicep. His eyes were beady, like he couldn’t get enough oxygen to his brain. “I need you to breathe. Slow, yeah? It’s okay. You are safe. Everything is alright, right David?” I peeked over at him, for some assistance, but he was looking at us with confusion. Rightly so, since he didn’t know Charlie’s full story. I didn’t even know it yet, but I knew enough.
I silently pleaded with David to back me up. When he got the message, he confirmed what I said, “Yeah. Everything is alright. Richard is in deep trouble with what he did to Jim.”
I was moving my hand up and down Charlie’s arm to comfort him. It all seemed to be helping a little. I needed to distract him or give him something to do. “Charlie, why don’t you go start dinner. I’m pretty hungry,” then turning my head back to David, “are you staying, I hear we have plenty of food thanks to other miners from work and their families.”
“Sure,” he responded with curiosity in his tone, drawing out the‘ur’.
“Good,” nodding at him then looking back up to Charlie. “Maybe something with the ground beef?”
The request for food must have snapped Charlie out of it enough, as he was continuously nodding, but still stayed silent like his thoughts were battling it out inside his head and he was having to concentrate on more than he could handle. He left David and I alone with our glasses of iced tea.
After a moment and hearing Charlie’s steps on the stairs, I let myself breathe out a harsh blow that I was holding. I was relieved about the outcome. Charliecan safely go back to work, and Richard won’t be a problem anymore. But what he was screaming, in front of most of the company and town–
OH GOD, MIKE!
“What the fuck was that about?” David finally asked, pointing at the door Charlie just left through.
“Was Mike there when that all went down,” completely ignoring his question. Mine was more important. If Mike was there, I would expect him to show up next, to probably drag his son out of here, for me never to see him again.
“What? Mike? Yeah, he was next to me. Why?” His brows were pinched together, mouth slightly downturned. “What is going on, Jim?”
My mind was caroseling through my thoughts, trying to anticipate how Mike was reacting and what he was going to do about it, but I didn’t have a clue. My mind was spinning out of control between all this new information and what the outcomes were going to be for everyone.
“Jim,” David said quieter, his face softer. “You’re worrying me. What’s going on? Is there something I should know, or, I don’t know, I need to be prepared for?”
“No,” I shook my head, in answer and to try to clear it. “Everything is fine,” my brain trying to come up with a response that won’t tell David about what little of Charlie’s past I knew or our present. “Ah, this whole thing is just affecting Charlie harder because he feels guilty, mixed with the violence. I’ve told him multiple times, it’s not his fault.”
“But it is his fault,” David clipped out.
