Come Down From Your Fences

Chapter 27

A small robin flew into the frame, its red chest a sharp contrast to the green of the grass. Looking through the lens, Johnny followed its path as it hopped across the freshly mown lawn, looking for food. He held his finger above the shutter button, debating whether or not to take a picture; but he hesitated a second too long and the bird flew off.

He and Two-Bit were hanging out in the garden he'd spied from his bedroom window the day he moved in. Two-Bit was sprawled out on the wrought iron bench that was nestled among the various flowers that neither one of them could have named if you'd held a gun to their heads. Johnny was in his chair, trying out the new camera he'd gotten for his birthday. He was having fun with it, framing various pictures through the lens, but not actually taking any of them. He didn't want to waste the film Mary had given him until he was certain it would be a good picture. He'd only taken two so far and he was pretty sure one of them was of his thumb.

A garden was admittedly a strange place to find a pair of greasers, but Johnny liked it. It was peaceful - a great place to just sit and think, even with Two-Bit talking a mile a minute.

Right now, he was weaving some elaborate story that Johnny was only half-listening to. He caught bits and pieces of it - something about Kathy, brakes, and a blonde. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what happened. Two-Bit's girl, Kathy, had dumped him ... again ... because he'd been flirting with some blonde ... again. He wasn't sure how brakes figured into the story, but with Two-Bit and his car ... well, he and the guys usually counted themselves lucky if they reached their destination in one piece whenever Two-Bit volunteered to drive. If Johnny had to lay money on it, he'd bet that Two-Bit and Kathy would be back together by the end of the week.

They'd been out there for a while. Two-Bit had shown up that morning at what was quickly becoming his "usual" time. It wasn't lost on Johnny that this "usual" time happened to coincide with Mary's breakfast which coincidentally rivaled most anything you could get at the Curtis's. It also wasn't lost on Johnny that today was a weekday, meaning Two-Bit should technically be at school. Lately, Two-Bit had been spending most everyday at the Martins'. His reasoning was that it was more important to keep an eye on Johnny than to zone out in classes that were a waste of time anyway since there was no way he could turn his grades around in time to pass this year.

Initially, Johnny had bristled at the "keep an eye on Johnny" part of Two-Bit's explanation - he didn't need anyone to keep an eye on him. He was just a guy in a wheelchair, not some newborn baby who needed help with everything. Deep down, though, he knew what Two-Bit meant and he was grateful for the company.

Mary was nice and all, but he got a little bored watching soaps and game shows all day with her. Plus, he got the feeling she wasn't completely at ease around him. She still talked to him with that kind of fake sounding voice - cheerful, but not really. Around her, he still felt like a guest instead of a member of the household. He wasn't sure if that feeling would ever go away, and part of him wondered if maybe it wasn't supposed to. Maybe foster kids weren't meant to feel completely at home.

He trained the camera on the house, adjusting the focus until he could see into the kitchen window. Mary was standing there, presumably washing dishes at the sink. She looked different; she wasn't smiling and she looked a little sad. Johnny remembered a couple of times - when she didn't know he was looking - her face would kind of lose expression and that happy gleam in her eye would disappear. He'd wondered what she was thinking about at those times, but he never had the guts to ask.

Still watching through the camera and feeling a little guilty about snooping, Johnny saw her reach up with a soapy hand and brush her eyes with the back of her hand. She did it a couple more times and Johnny realized she was crying. Now he really felt guilty. He was invading her privacy, but he couldn't make himself lower the camera.