Take Me Away | ✓

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K A D E N

"Where do you want us to put this?" One of the removal men called over to me, holding onto one of the legs of my dad's desk. That old thing had been in our family for generations and I was surprised that it hadn't rotted by now.

"Right this way." My dad said gesturing to the two men to follow him.

The removal vans were still full, waiting to be unloaded. It was hard work, hefting about the heavy furniture and the wet pavements from the rainfall earlier today didn't help the situation. I would've helped out had my right arm not been covered in a cast.

It was covered in crude messages from when I'd left my old school in Australia. A few of my classmates decided it would be funny to scribble badly constructed genitalia and other perverted drawings in rainbow coloured pens as a practical joke. Once we were at the airport I was in the waiting area with my suitcase when a little kid came up to me. He kept staring at me from a few rows down and had eventually come and sat in the seat next to me.

Our conversation went something like this:

He stared at my cast a few minute and then grinned at me showing a row of wonky teeth and a gap in one of them. "Hello."

"Can I help you?" I couldn't see his parents anywhere near. If the little boy was lost then that wasn't good, obviously, and he didn't seem to know that he shouldn't talk to strangers. I could be a kidnapper for all the child knew but he seemed oblivious to the idea.

"Why do you have a penis on your arm?" He blurted out.

I choked on air.

How the kid even knew what a one was amazed me since he looked like he was around five or six years old.

"It's a banana." I said the first thing that came to my head.

Just then a woman appeared and took the kid by the hand. "There you are, don't ever run off like that." She clutched a hand to her chest along with the boy's hand and breathed a sigh of relief.

"But mommy this man says a penis is a banana." I cursed under my breath as multiple heads turned to look our way. The kid had a loud voice and I could feel my ears start to go red.

His mom gave me a shameful look and I shrugged saying what could I do? Was it really my fault if her son came up to me first and asked the question?

"Come on honey. Don't listen to this silly man." She ushered her son away, giving me one more dirty look as she turned her back.

After that unfortunate event I frantically tried to rub the images off my cast but to my despise I found that they'd used permanent markers. Throughout the whole car ride, I'd sat in the back trying to use white-out to cover everything up but we went over a bump and the whole bottle toppled over and covered the seat next to me. I had thrown a blanket over it because if my dad ever found out that I'd done it then god knows what he'd so. Luckily he didn't notice anything which gave me time to sneak back later and somehow fix the damage I'd caused.

"Kaden, come inside!" My mom called and I found her in the kitchen talking to an older woman.

"I was just talking to Ms Johnson here. She's our new neighbour." Turning back to her she said, "Thank you so much for the casserole, that'll be our dinner sorted for tonight."