House of Boys

Chapter 2

Jordan

"You're fifteen, you don't need Coffee!"
Coffee is a regular argument for us, a comfortable one. My Dad sees me trying to have a quiet cup in the morning and always ruins it by grabbing it from my almost warm hands.

"Seriously, I had a long night last night. I need something to help me get through the day" I plead with Dad but he just shakes his head and chugs it down.

"Isn't having you work overtime against child labor laws?" My twin brother Jason flips a pancake in the air and catches it skillfully resulting in applause from our younger brother Jared.

"I'm a full-time employee, I don't think labor laws really cover this situation."
Jared puts the plates on the table then signs for me to get the juice from the fridge. I nod in acknowledgement and sign that he should put in his hearing aid, he signs no. I won't push it, they sometimes hurt his ears, plus home isn't filled with laughter anymore, why listen to the daily drudgery?

The table is set, breakfast is served, and we all dig in.

"Jared, could you please pass me the syrup?" Dad holds his hand out waiting so Jason taps Jared on the shoulder and signs for the pancake syrup.

"Dude! Why aren't you wearing your cochlear?" Dad shouts across the table.
Luckily for Dad Jason is in the mood to interpret because I don't feel like it.
"What do you mean you don't feel like it? How am I supposed to talk to you?"

Jason interprets and Jared smiles.

"Maybe you should learn to sign." Jared says very confidently, and loudly, with his signature 'I'm your cute youngest son' smile to match.

Jason and I turn our attention to breakfast and start digging in.

"When's baseball tryouts?" I ask absent mindedly. I don't hate baseball, it's just my twin's sport. I always preferred basketball but I was too young to play on the school teams.

Jason puts a hand over his mouth to catch any stray food particles, "Next week before school starts, could you get me new cleats?"

"New cleats?" Dad exclaims almost spilling his juice, "I just bought you some!"

"And some of the spikes are dull," Jason says between bites, "it's probably cause you bought them used."

Dad taps his finger on the table, " I'm sorry but we need to cut back on stuff. Your mom was the one making the big bucks and I just can't afford to get them new right now."
I feel for Dad, I have seen the bills that piled up after Mom died and I try to help out but I can tell it's embarrassing having to tell your children things are hard.

"That's why I was asking Jordan. He makes like over a hundred k a year, he can afford cleats."

Jason saw my offer contract, since we still share a room, and couldn't believe how much I was getting paid to write code. For a while he wanted me to teach him some programming but computers aren't really his thing, baseball is.

"Pick out the ones you want and send them to me."
I can feel Dad's eyes burning into me, I am doing something else he can't afford to do.

Jared jumps up from his chair and grabs his hearing device from the fridge.
"Is everyone just going to ignore me?"
He finishes putting it on and turns to us.

I sign 'I'm sorry' and Dad just grins at him.
"Can you hear me now?" Dad says, like he always says.

Jared sticks his tongue out and we all laugh.
"So what are we talking about?"

"Jordan is going to buy me new cleats."

"Cool!" Jared exclaims, "Can I get a new backpack for school?"

"Hey," Dad quickly swallows whatever he was chewing, "What's wrong with your backpack?"

"Nothing, just a hole in my side pocket and ripped up inside."

"Jared, no need to be snarky," I point at him with my fork, "I will get you both bags when we get the rest of the school supplies."

Jared pumps his fist in the air and shouts, "Yes!"

Dad is staring at me again.

My phone goes off and I see Darlene's name flash across my screen.

"Hey what's up?"

"No phones at the table," My Dad says in an assertive tone.

I jump up from the table and walk to the living room.

"Corrupted," is all I hear Darlene say.

"How much of the code is corrupted?" I try my best to keep a calm voice.

"We're not sure. I know it's still the weekend, plus you came in yesterday, but can you please come in again?"

I turn and look at my Dad, he is leaning back to watch me.

"I'll be there as soon as possible."

"Great, I'll send a car for you."

I hang up the call and look at my Dad.

"Shouldn't you check with me first? I know you have a job but Mario and his son are moving in today."

"I will meet them later, we can use the overtime pay." I run up the stairs to get dressed.

I can still feel Dads eyes watching me.