“He’s already sick, Jack,” said Eddie.“It’s fucking cold.If he takes his shirt off, he’ll get pneumonia.”He was trying to save me.He wasn’t telling Jack why I was panicking.
“When did you graduate from medical school?”said Jack.“If I tell you to take your shirt off, Craig, take your shirt off.”
He sounded exactly like my uncle after I’d refused to take my clothes off.Right before he lost his temper and yelled at me in that low voice so no one outside my bedroom heard.I walked to the side of the boardwalk, leaned over the concrete barrier, and puked into the water.Then Eddie was there, and he held onto my shoulder so I didn’t fall over the barrier.The sunglasses fell into the lake.
“Eddie, get off the set,” said Jack.
“Go fuck yourself!”said Eddie.
I’d never heard him so mad.I didn’t know if it was him shaking or me or both of us.
“You want to get fired?”said Jack.“Get off the set and let him dance.”
My knees gave way.
“Come on, Craig, let’s go.”Eddie put his arm around me and got me up and over to a chair off the set.Then he was pulling my hoodie on over my head and pulling my arms through the holes so I was warm again.
“Eddie!”said Jack.
I couldn’t talk.My throat was on fire from the puke, and I couldn’t look at Jack, because I was afraid I’d see my uncle, like I’d never gotten away from him.
Then Eddie pulled me up, put his arm around my waist, and he said, “Fire me if you want, Jack, but I’m taking him to hospital.”
Chapter Twenty-One: Fallout
He got me away fromthe set.Then we were on the ferry.I leaned over the side, staring into the water, still shaking.He stood beside me with his arm around me.
“I don’t need the hospital,” I said.
“I know.I said that so we could get out of there.I’m sorry, Craig.It’s not like Jack to get personal.”
“Does he know about...?”
“I never told him.”
“He sounded just like...”
