Salted Wound

Chapter 13 Zamari- Sep 8, 2018

"Ready..set..go!"

     Amari explodes out of moms room at the end of the hall and races through the room, dipping around the kitchen chair laying on the floor in his way, jumping pillow to couch cushion through the maze of chaos and finally catapulting himself onto the couch so hard it rocks back and wacks the wall, shaking the pictures hung there. Jade stops her timer as I cheer.

    "Broke the record! Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new champion!" She shouts and I scoop Amari up and we cheer as I parade him through the living room and he waves to a pretend crowd.

    Just as I'm about to put him down, mom opens the front door, appearing bone-weary from work, her hair straggling out of the bun it had been in at the nape of her neck. Her shoulders curve slightly in and I feel a pang in my chest at the obvious exhaustion she radiates.

    "Hi, mom!" Amari calls cheerily.

    She looks up from putting down her bag and upon seeing Amari dangling from my arms, half upside down, the skewed pictures and furniture peppered through the room she smiles instead of getting mad.

    "Good to see you guys playing around," she says, kissing each of us on the cheek before flopping on the couch with a sigh, pushing her shoes off of her feet.

    I set Amari on his feet and grab a bottle of water from the fridge. Jade joins me in the kitchen, getting water as we listen with amusement to Amari describe his perspective of the "flying" that had taken place.

    "I remember when we used to rough house like that all the time," Jade climbs onto the counter and I sit backwards in a kitchen chair, facing her as I snort.

    "We did a hell of a lot worse than that," I say.

    Jade smiles softly, most likely recalling any one of the countless times we pulled some dangerous stunt where we could have broken an arm, or worse, just for the rush.

    "I remember dad would always pretend to be mad at us, but when mom wasn't looking he'd wink," Jade says, and I can't help a grin at one of the better memories of my dad. Of a time he was actually involved in our lives, trusted us. Mom calls to Jade and she winces. I raise my eyebrow in question.

    "I hate chem," she grouses while rolling her eyes. "You want to take Amari for some ice cream while mom lectures me on having an F?" She asks.

    "Sure," I chuckle. "Good luck, man."

    I sit on the edge of the couch to put my shoes on. "C'mon champion, let's celebrate the victory with some ice cream."

    Amari runs into his room for his shoes and I give a backward glance to see Jade mouth the words help me before I stifle a laugh and shut the door.

    "Where are we going?" Amari asks.

    "We could try Benny's" I reply with a grin, pushing him by the head.

    "I haven't been in a while but it's close by."

He pretends to be offended by my push, before being distracted by God knows what, talking excitedly about what he knows he wants to order.

    The walk is peaceful and Amari chatters about school, superheroes, the obstacle course we had created, and after that, I start to zone out a bit. When we step inside the diner, it's not as crowded as I expected for a Saturday afternoon, and among the few there I spot Ana walking quickly from a table back into the kitchen. I'm surprised to see her until I realize I never bothered to ask where she works. Amari and I sit in an empty booth and I crane my neck, hoping Ana will see me, or even better be our waitress. Amari opens the menu and begins looking at the available food like he doesn't order the same dessert no matter where we are. He drops it back onto the table suddenly and asks me, "Can we go to the park?"