Keeping Up With the Wind: A 'Burban Tale by Suleyma Moon

18.

The next morning, I woke up at five o'clock. The alarm wasn't set, and there were no sudden noises. I just woke up. Remembering that Whisper and her mother would be leaving in another hour, I got dressed quickly and ran across the street to Li'l Jay's house. A puffy-eyed Jay finally shuffled to the window when my knocking became frantic.

            "Shadow's gone?" he asked, crawling back into bed.

            "Yeah."

            He didn't say anything for a long time, so I climbed into his room and sat by the window.

            "He didn't come to see me. I needed to talk to him," he sulked.

            "I know. The cops drove past right when Shadow was about to come over here. He had to hurry up and go." Li'l Jay still had his head under the covers when I said, "Johnny's dead."

            "Good," came his muffled response. He finally looked out at me. "That's my shirt."

            I groaned. "Don't start that again." He smiled, then rolled back over. "No! Don't go back to sleep! Get up!" I went over and yanked the pillow out from under his head.

            Angrily, he snatched it back. "Go away. I'm not in the mood for this shit."

He yawned to prove how tired he was.

            "Li'l Jay," I shook him. "Get up. You're wasting time." I looked at the clock. They were now leaving in half an hour. "Come on!" 

            "For what?"

            "Whisper. We have to say goodbye to her before she leaves."

            He pulled the pillow off of his face. "You mean she's not gone yet?" I shook my head no. "I'm grounded," he replied and closed his eyes again.

            Maybe Blaze was right. Maybe everyone really was going crazy. "What's the matter with you?" I asked softly.

            "I don't feel good."

            I went over and sat on the edge of his bed. "Don't you want to say goodbye?"

            "Yes." He sat up. "I wanted to say goodbye to Shadow, too, but I guess they just don't want to say goodbye to me. They knew I was grounded and neither one of them even came over here. Grounded for three days and they already forgot about me."

            It occurred to me that Li'l Jay might have been acting like this because he was going through withdrawal. He did say that he didn't feel well. That would explain the attitude, too, which was far worse than the one he already had. I decided that I wasn't going to let him take his chemical imbalances out on me.

"I already told you what happened with Shadow, and you know Whisper's afraid of your dad. She never comes over here."

We had tried to tell her a million times that it was Jay's mother who really had the hellified temper, so much like her son's, but I guess thinking of her own father, Whisper refused to believe it.

I continued. "Now stop whining and get your silly ass up...now." I meant what I said, and he got up.

It didn't surprise me. Li'l Jay always did what I told him to do. I think I was about the only one that he ever listened to.

Jay had been sleeping in shorts and a t-shirt, and didn't even bother to change his clothes or put on any shoes. He simply pushed me out of the way and went straight for the window. I decided to just let him go. It was a miracle that, feeling the way he did, he was even able to get out of bed in the first place.