Page 38 of Second Chance

18

Stolen Moments

[Denton]

Chris and I had been friends since as long as I could remember. Chris and me…and Mati. While the Harringtons were my neighbors, a house filled with boys, Mati was the one I fell in line with because of our schooling. She’s also the one I fell in love with and I remember the exact moment…

A river edges the back of our properties on the Lane. A dock existed off the Harringtons’ property as well as a tree fort near it. Little Mati Harrington wanted to be part of the boys’ club which included Billy, Charlie, Chris and me. No girls allowed. We were holding one of our regular meetings which really involved cookies stolen from our kitchen, thanks to Etta my housekeeper, and playing handheld video games. Some days we fished. Some days we swam. That day was one of those days. Off went our clothes, down to our tighty-whiteys, and in we went to the frigid water. Mati hadn’t been included again and while we whooped and hollered in the cold river, the sneaky devil stole our clothes and our precious video games.

My dad would be murderous if anything happened to mine, after I whined I needed it. We had the money, but it was the fact I wanted something other than for my birthday or a holiday. I went to Magnolia instead and she had me work her yard to earn the money. This pissed him off even more and he hit me on the side of my head with the device once he found me with it.

Don’t be crawling to that woman as if I can’t provide for my offspring.

The second I saw Mati taunting us from the edge of the river, dangling the whole stolen lot over the water’s edge in a giant butterfly net, I went for her. Mati didn’t scare easily, so even as I pressed up on the dock, trapping her at the end, and cussing at her to give me our belongings, she didn’t flinch.

She slipped.

Her flatfooted tennis shoes went off the decking and the momentum took her forward. She didn’t let go of the net, holding it like it could save her, until Mati and all went in.

I didn’t dive for Mati, I dove for the video game, but all was lost. The concept of soaking electronics in rice hadn’t been predominant then, and I wanted to kill Mati, but I was more concerned my dad would kill me.

“You little…” I barely bit my tongue at the same time Billy Harrington warned me to watch my words.

“She ruined my game,” I whined from the river, holding up the precious item like it was the holy grail, of all things.

“And she’ll get you another,” Billy assured me. I didn’t believe him. That wasn’t the point. All I saw was the fury of my father.

“He’s gonna kill me,” I whispered.

“No, he’s not,” Mati admonished, and in that moment, I hated her. What did she know? “You can come to me if he does.” Spoken like she could stop him, like she ruled the world, and fists would halt on her command, she nodded her head for emphasis—her wet, wild lion hair matted to her forehead. I ignored her. I vowed I’d never pay her any attention again.

But that night, after a smack that rattled my teeth and swelled the side of my face, I went to Mati. Climbed the trellis along her porch leading up to her bedroom on the second floor and crawled through her open window.

“See. See what you did,” I whisper-yelled, pointing a finger at her through the tears. I shook with rage and hurt, but little Mati uncurled herself from her bed and guided me to it. She went for a washcloth in the bathroom off her bedroom and returned to wipe my face. She mothered me like my own mother was afraid to do after an incident. Then Mati crawled into the bed next to me, rolled me to my side, and wrapped her arms around me. She tucked my head into her chest, making me listen to her heart beat as she stroked my back and whispered her apology. She promised to get me a new game and harm my father in a multitude of ways. Fierce lion cat had no idea she couldn’t really save me. It had been all her fault—both the beating and the result—that night I fell in love with her.

+ + +

The memory washes over me as we drive for a bit. Besides dancing, drives were another thing Mati and I did, and what I loved most was we didn’t need to speak. Music played on the radio. In this case, my phone as the original radio no longer has reception in the Beast. We drive until I find an old turnoff for Bolton Lake. The Beast doesn’t handle the terrain as well as an old pickup might, but within minutes we park.

When I open my door, Mati opens hers and hops out. I leave the headlights on to guide our way. I don’t know where I thought we’d go, and I have no plan once we’re here. Finally, I stop walking, pick up a rock and skip it out across the inky water. Mati pauses at my side.

“Sometimes I’d come out here and pretend you were going to meet me,” I admit, surprising myself I tell her such a secret, and Mati gasps. I hold my tongue from telling her the rest of my fantasy—how we’d make a bonfire and kiss or dance to a song on the radio or make love to the lull of the lake.

“Is it strange being back here?” Her voice remains low as if she didn’t want to disturb the night sounds of nature. Her eyes watch a second rock—skip, skip, skip and then plunk—into the black liquid. She’s shorter than me, smaller than I remember, and with her arms crossed over her body it’s like she’s holding herself together. I want to reach for her, wrap her in my arms, but instead, I answer her question.

“Yes.” I exhale, facing out toward the lake. “Everywhere I turn, there’s a memory.”

“And that’s bad, right?” The question surprises me, and I twist to look at her.

“Not bad…just…overwhelming.”

“It’s been a long time,” she says softly, her voice lowering as does her head. Mati kicks at the dirt with her toe and her hair falls forward. My fingers have a mind of their own, and I reach for her wild locks which appear a little tamer as she’s aged. Her hair is straight compared to the curls of her youth, and I brush thick strands behind her ear. Her head shoots up and my fingers pause on the side of her neck. Her throat rolls as she swallows and then she speaks. “It’s hard to remember it all.”

“I remember the most important things.” I don’t recognize my own deep voice as I stare down at her. My eyes trace over her face, her brown eyes sparkling with gold in the reflection of my headlights. My lips twitch and I want to taste her. I want to feel the Mati who held me those nights so long ago, have her press against me again, only this time as adults, with larger bodies and greater needs. Like the night I learned Mati Harrington was a necessity in my life. She would be my safe haven until I was eighteen.

“What’s something good you remember?” she asks as my thumb strokes up and down the front of her neck, under her chin. I like this spot on her and I feel her voice tremble through the pad of my thumb.

I shake my head as I respond. “Football games and bonfire parties and swimming in the lake.” One of our friends had a house on Bolton Lake, and it eventually became the party place. Mati’s brow pinches at the answer, her head nodding to agree, but somehow, I don’t think my response was what she wanted.