 |
| a story from Wonderland by Hitomi |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
TV was showing Joe the lawyer standing at the steps outside the court room. Surrounded by many broadcasters, Joe the lawyer was trying to escape from the crowds. But in the living room at the Malchovich, none of us was watching TV. What we were watching was two hospital bills on the table, which the Sullivans had mailed to Mrs. Malchovich.
One was from the Sullivan kid's head injury, which Lisa accidentally caused by throwing a rock at him. The other was from his face injury, which I didn't mean to scratch that badly.
"I saw the Sullivan kid throwing the stones at Kenny and calling him burglar." said Lisa.
"So I picked one of the stones HE threw at Kenny and threw it back at him. I just did exactly what he was doing to Kenny. Unfortunately his stone missed Kenny, but accidentally mine hit him."
Lisa opened a bag of potato chips with anger.
"He started it anyway."
She said, munching potato chips.
"That got me bullied more."
Kenny wiped his tears.
"Vicious circle caused by a good intention."
Lisa nodded and kept munching.
"Mine, too. Vicious cycling caused by a good intention." I said.
"Not cycling. Circle." Lisa corrected me.
"I just wanted to ask the Sullivan kid to stop bullying Kenny and tried to give him my candies since we sort of stole some from his house on Halloween night. But he threw all the candies back at me and grabbed my backside, threatening me he would put me back in the animal shelter.
"I was just trying to get away from him,and then accidentally my paws scratched his face."
I defended myself as Lisa did although I felt terrible about what I did.
"I didn't mean to hurt him at all. Accidentally..."
"That got me bullied more and more!"
Kenny cut me off and wiped another tear.
"I am telling you. We are in a vicious circle." said Lisa casually, offering Sylvia potato chips.
"Mrs.Malchovich, he is a mean kid. You don't tell animals to go back to the shelter, do you?"
I tried to get understanding from Mrs. Malchovich, but I couldn't help but feel guilty for our actions causing more tortures on Kenny.
A couple of days ago, Kenny started home schooling. The more we saw Joe the lawyer on TV, the harsher bullying Kenny suffered from the Sullivan kid at school. After Halloween night, Mrs.Malchovich took all of us to the Sullivans to apologize for what we did to them on Halloween night, but they didn't even open the door for us. As Kenny got bullied more, Mrs. Malchovich talked with the principal in school and they decided to let Kenny take absence from the school for a while. Since Sylvia is here until Thanksgiving, Kenny is staying at home studying with Sylvia.
"You know something? You should also think about why you are the only one who gets bullied. We all were there with you on Halloween night. None of us gets bullied BUT YOU. The more you get bullied, the more I feel guilty not being bullied at school. Think about that." said Lisa, pointing at Kenny with potato chips in her hand.
That was not a nice thing to say, but I sort of agreed with Lisa because we all couldn't let only Kenny suffer from the consequence from Halloween night.
"I don't have time to think about that!"
Holding onto Mrs., Malchovich, Kenny yelled back at Lisa.
"Yes, YOU DO! You are at home doing home schooling a whole day! You have a bunch of time to think about that."
Lisa yelled back at Kenny.
"Stop fighting." Mrs. Malchovich, who stayed in silence, finally opened her mouth. She picked the hospital bills from the table and put them in her pocket.
"What happed was not something I can be proud of. But I know you guys were trying to protect Kenny. To be honest, part of me is relieved to see all of you stick together for each other. Joe is going to come by tonight. We will find a way to solve this." said Mrs. Malchovich, smiling at us. Her smile put me at so much ease, but Kenny was still whining and snuffing.
"It's all his fault. I was telling him we should go back home."
"Stop acting like you are the only one victim! You ate fiber cereal Joe the lawyer stole all by yourself. If you hadn't eaten it, we could have just returned it to the Sullivans.""
Lisa threw potato chips at Kenny.
"Stop!. We all have to stick together. Please don't fight here."
Sylvia said, stroking Kenny's head. |
At that very moment , we heard someone knocking at the door.
"Please go get the door. If it's religious soliciting, please tell them I am not here." said Mrs. Malchovich.
Listening to Kenny and Lisa still arguing behind me, I got up and opened the door.
Standing at the door was a man in black suits with beard all over his face holding Bible in his hand, so I told him what Mrs.Malchovich told me to.
"I am sorry, Sir. Mrs. Malchovich told me to tell you she is not here. But we all have faith in God."
Before I finished my sentence, the man pushed himself inside through the door quick, and took the beard and the eyebrows off from his face. "It's me."
I looked at both Joe the lawyer being interviewed on TV and Joe the lawyer standing at the door, not being able to comprehend seeing two Joe the lawyer in the two different locations at the same time.
"That's a rerun. They show the same scene over and over just to add the oil on fire. I got paparazzi after me 24 hours. I had to disguise myself to get here. Thanks God, today is Friday. I blended in."
Lisa got excited to hear the word "paparazzi" and ran to the window to check outside. Pointing at Joe the lawyer's outfit, Kenny pulled Mrs.Malchovich's arm and cried for help.
"This gets me bullied more!"
Joe the lawyer looked exhausted. I could tell he lost weight during these weeks and must have been dealing with so much stress and pressures from the charges and all the media attentions. I felt sorry.
Sitting on the sofa and holding his hat in his hand, he slowly started a talk to us.
"All I wanted was giving you a fun Halloween night. But when the Sullivans started to turn off the lights instead of coming out and telling us they didn't have candies ready for you, and when I had to see all of you in the costumes standing outside and wondering, I couldn't hold my anger and lost my control. But I am not here to make any excuses. I came here to ask all of you to give me time and be patient with me. I will do anything to make it up for this and get you out of this mess as quickly as I can. So please trust me."
We all knew why Joe the lawyer lost his control and we all remembered when he came out of the door at the Sullivans, the first thing he did was putting Halloween sweets into our each bag. Whether we wanted the stolen cereal and snack bars was not an issue here. We knew he did that for us.
"How?" asked Kenny, sounded still skeptical.
"I wrote a letter to Opera Winfeild. She is inviting me on her talk show." answered Joe the lawyer. "Opera Winfeild show?!"
Our jaws dropped with surprise. None of us ever expected someone we know will be on the most popular show in the United States.
Joe the lawyer looked into Kenny's eyes and put his hand on Kenny's lap.
"Kenny, Opera Winfeild is not only a host in the talk show but also a founder of "Stop Bullying Program". I wrote her all about you.She will help us get you back to school. I am really sorry for what I caused on you, but please trust me. I will take care of this."
Kenny nodded with complete trust on Joe the lawyer. After a short silence, Mrs.Malchovich said, "Joe. Stay with us for dinner tonight. You look thinner. "
"Yes, please. Let's have a feast tonight." agreed Sylvia.
We got excited about the idea of a feast. Kenny, who was pouting all this time, forgot about his tragedy and jumped up and down with joy and hope.
|
|
|
|
|
Since Sylvia asked me to go get Don for our feast, I ran to Don's on the second floor.He was working on his script after coming back from his work. I told Don all about what just happened, Joe the lawyer's appearance on Opera show, his sincere apology to us and his disguise in black suits. I expected Don would share the same excitement I had and he would laugh his head off. But he responded indifferently with "Did he?","Does he?" and "Is he?" with his eyes on the keyboard.
In two more weeks to Thanksgiving, tonight we had a pre-Thanksgiving feast with Big Steaks, Spaghetti, and Sylvia's potato salad. Mrs. Malchovich and Joe the lawyer got tipsy over wine.
But one seat was empty. Don didn't come down to join our dinner.
It was the first dinner gathering I had without Don........
To read the previous stories, visit:
| |
|
|
|
|
