Remi

Pumping.  Legs and arms tightening and loosening hydraulically like a leopard chasing down an antelope.  Remi pushed all of his energy into his left leg and thrust his body down and forward neck to neck with the small white comet.  “Safe!” exploded from the lips of the man in the mask and the plush shield.  He had done it.  He had slid over the plate and sealed the Homesdale Bloodhounds’ victory.  The whole team lit off from their seats like scarlet and gray bottle rockets, squealing and screaming louder and louder as they charged their savior.
    Good job Remi!! and That’s our boy-eeeee!!  Were just a couple of the comments exploding from the entire Varsity team’s lips.  Before he could even get to his feet, Remi was already on Brock Frank’s and Mike Stadler’s shoulders being paraded around for all of the fans to see.  Remi scanned the crowd seeing all of his class-mates cheers for him.  Even Ellen Shobach was cheering with her glossy bubblegum lips and her shimmering, bronze hair swayed in a hip-lulling motion that sucked all of the sound out of Remi‘s world.  Maybe this time he wouldn’t descend an entire flight of stairs backwards if he asked her to go to the dance with him.  The crowd of players finally dumped Remi at the dug-out where he began to gather his gear when Coach Scanivik walked briskly up to him.  He held a hand outstretched in a robotic fashion, “Good Job Remi.  The play-offs are in our reach now, with your pitching, I bet we’ll go all the way to states.”  Just as Remi was about to let go, the coach pulled him in and gave him a hug that could have squeezed water from a stone, “It’s been an honor helping you come this far, I’m sure the scouts will see what all these fans saw today.”
    Remi fought his way free, “Thank you, sir.”  His head dropped as he smiled.  It was going to be tough to live that hug down at the party later.  Gathering his bags off of the ground, where they had fallen when the hug struck, he turned to go shake hands with the other team.  Twenty pairs of ice cold eyes wrapped in a flaming rage locked on him.  He grinned large and walked right up to each of them with his arm outstretched, but made sure to thoroughly wash his hands after shaking.  Even their coach’s hand seemed a little sloppy wet.  All of his teammates were wiping their hands on their game pants, with a look of satisfied disgust on their faces.
    “So Mr. Casper, can I have a big hug too,” Remi turned to see Brock standing slack shouldered, and comically stiff.  “I mean c’mon, without me you wouldn’t even be able to spell baseball.”  A sly grin slid up the side of he face and he tackled Remi.  The nut jumped forward and leveled Remi, “Please just one little kiss!”  All of the Bloodhounds were rolling on the ground howling.  The coach walked over and pulled Brock up like a toy that he had left on the floor.
    “Well Mr. Frank for that show of affection I think you will be starting the next game on the bench.”
    “Come on coach he was just joking around with me.  Really, no harm done.”  Remi hoped this would help Brock’s case but ever since a garter snake was let loose in the girl’s locker room after practice a few weeks before, the coach had been itching to punish this unidentified offender.  Brock had done it but the coach had no proof.
“No I think I am going to stick to this Mr. Casper,” he turned to look at the rest of the team, “Practice at after school Monday.  Congratulations on the win, boys, but we have a lot to do if we want to beat the Springfield Panthers in two weeks.”  He walked toward the school as the rookies started picking up all of the gear.
    “What a dick!” Brock kicked his book bag into the dugout, nearly knocking two of the rookies on over onto the bag brimming with bats.  “Sorry boys.”  Both responding with their middle fingers raised valiantly towards the sun.  “I get the point.”  He squinted and shook his head as he picked up his bag.  “Well let’s get going to DJ’s house, I’m sure I can forget about Scabby-dick if I have a keg to cuddle up with.”
    Remi pursed his lips.  “I have to go home first.”
    “Suit yourself, but Mike and I will have that keg kicked by the time you put on all of your make-up.”  They both gave a scratchy, breathy giggle.
    “Right.  So I guess I’ll see you boys later.  Hey Mike, is your girlfriend bringing any of her friends to the party?”  All three of them froze for a moment.
    Mike clapped his hands together and leaned forward just slightly, “Why buddy?  Afraid Shobach is gonna show up and kick your a*s?”  Brock leaned onto his knees with tears in his eyes.
    “Actually.  I was banking on it.  Maybe this time I‘ll show her a few of my moves.”  He raised his eyebrows and rested his front teeth on his lower lip.  With that he walked to his light gray POS, threw his bag and himself in, and sped off towards home.  He cursed at himself for picking on the girl whose yearbook photo was cut out and tucked into his wallet. 
    Remi lived in a normal house in the middle of town:  two stories, painted white, with dark blue window frames and a front door to match.  After pulling into the driveway, he ran quickly into the side door and bee-lined straight for his bedroom, grabbed clothes and silently lunged for the shower.  He loved his parents but sometimes they could be a real pain in the a*s.  Every time that he did well at school or on the baseball diamond, his dad wanted to make it a family evening and take his brother, mom, and him out to some restaurant and celebrate by staying too long, and thus, ruining any plans Remi had for himself that evening.  Telling them tomorrow would be best, that way they could celebrate and he did not need to miss yet another party. 
    Peeling himself out of each piece of clothing, he tossed them with the utmost care into gray heap in the corner by the scale.  A shower would revive him from the long game.  The cold sprits of soap guarded water on his skin poured life flow back into his long, lean body.  Rinsing away the dirt of the field his breath heaved and images of Ellen cheering, headlined through the small spinning newspapers of his mind.  His smirk burned like a stretched V trying to poke the bottoms of his softly shut eyes and then cold water sputtered and stuttered into a hot spew of steam and heat prompting Remi to throw himself against the said of the shower and stay there like a bar of soap or bottle of shampoo.  The V broke in half and fell to the sides.  The fall down the stairs came back to him.

    Just after World History, Remi flopped one foot after the other and crumpled his test on the Roman Empire into his pocket.  Mike ran up beside Remi, “Man that test was easy,” Remi glanced at his shoes, “so did you ask her yet?”  Remi looked back at Mike, but before he could say anything they were separated by group of girls who cut between them.  A half-heart-Best-Friend bracelet caught Remi’s wrist.  “There’s your chance.  Say something to her pal. I’m gonna go try to con Suzy into goin with me,” his eyebrows raised, “I heard she’s easy.”  Mike ran up to the crowd of girls by the drinking fountain shoving some freshman by accident and causing him to nearly drown.
    Remi looked down at his hand, “F**k,” he whispered so that nobody heard him.  He pulled out his test, C-, I‘m very disappointed Remi, you are much smarter than this. Bright red ink was at that moment becoming covered in blood from Remi’s wrist.  A little flap of skin now held the red in with its wrinkled thin edges.  He walked up to Ellen tripping only once or twice on his own feet, blood-dried hand shaking, “Um Ellen, I was wondering if you didn’t already have a date if you would go with me to Homecoming?”  His chin pointed at his neck, eyes rolled up to look at her, and his hands slid into his back pocket.  A group of people coming off of the stairs walked right through him, throwing off his balance.
    Tears rolled down her risen cheeks and a smirk started to form, but then her nose flared, her pupils contracted. A drop of blood fell from her bracelet.  “Never!  Dick!”  With a quick cast of her arms, her hands spread as far as she could reach.  Every person in the hall watched Remi bounce off the round oak railing and drop to his knees, teetering at the top step.  He looked up just in time for a light brown, high-heeled boot, to flash his short life before his eyes.  The last thing he could remember was the front of his head aching from the kick, and from the back of the head to his toes throbbed because of  bouncing and catching the tip of each step just before colliding with a two day coma.

    Remi shook his head and tasted warm salt mixing with cold iron-filled water.  He shut off the faucet and stepped out to get undressed.  He sprayed himself down with the pine breath of Aspen cologne, and crawled into a pair of khaki cargo pants and his favorite red polo shirt with the two thin white stripes around the collar.  He lost his virginity with this shirt dangling too close between his parts and Julie Marcellus', right after homecoming freshman year.  It was big news at school on Monday, but the next week, she had moved her short-skirt, loose-blouse, wearing self off to the other side of the country to live with her father.  So much for that fling.  His last memory of her was a friendship bracelet she gave him, she had put hers on and taken off another silver one with some sort of half-heart charm on it.  He figured it was something from one of her ex-boyfriend‘s.  The wet sloppy tears from her eyes splashed around in his mind and also that he was never going to wear that stupid piece of orange, red, and blue twine that she probably spent the whole week making to match hers.  Now it was probably tucked into the bottom of the pile of junk in his closet.  Right next to his outgrown jock strap and scribbled art class drawings of baseball players.  He snapped back to reality and looked at the scar on his wrist, right next to it was his watch, just clicking past eight o’clock.
    Remi had one foot out the door when he locked eyes with his little brother Ron.  “Party tonight?”  His high raspy middle school voice hinted that he was about to let Remi’s parents know that he was back.
    In his put-down-the-gun voice Remi said “Don’t say anything, snot.  Just let me go in peace and I’ll make sure you can have all the free time on my computer that you want.”  Seeing Ron’s eyes light up with a smile he relaxed for a moment.
    “Mom and dad went out to dinner and won’t be back till later, but thanks for the ok with playing on your computer, I’ll be sure to forget you were ever here.”  Gravity formed between them like the pressure in a bullet chamber just before the slug is fired.  The tension broke by the microwave screaming in a monotone chime.  “Mmmm burrito-time.”  He walked to the microwave, opened the door in Remi’s face, and turned on his I-can’t-hear-a-thing you are saying voice, “Uh-huh...”
    “Good, just don’t break my computer, and if mom and dad need to know, I’m staying at DJ’s tonight.”  He let out a loud breath and left.
    Ron snapped back to reality long enough to scream out the door.  “Don’t let Shobach kick your a*s tonight buddy.”  No one wanted to let that joke die, especially Ron.  The thought of his brother, Remi-the-tormenter, getting beaten up by a girl was the greatest idea since man discovered fire.
    Remi jumped into his car and sped out of town past the old police department and up Keller Hill.  This was practically a vertical drive for part of the stretch and many drunken parties ended with drag races from the top to the bottom of the hill.  Fortunately Remi always chose to ignore offers to be one of the contestants in this suicide attempt.  He barely went down the hill without riding the break, even when intoxicated.  DJ Radley lived toward top of the hill after it leveled out, and had the best place in town to throw parties because nobody lived near him, and his parents bought kegs whenever he asked.  Had Remi ever tried to ask either of his parents for a keg, they would swiftly show him the door and tell him that there was a nice bush in the neighbor’s yard that he could live in.  DJ’s house was a wood-sided mansion with a garage large enough for two huge green car doors and a small fountain in the front yard.  You know the type that has the little cherub relieving himself into the pool beneath.  Remi pulled up beside the little angel as if he was going to ask it for valet service, then he got out to see that most of the people were already there.  DJ was talking to some juniors who were all in short skirts and tight shirts.  The track jocks were on the porch doing what track runners always did, they sat there and talked about their meet last week and how either they kicked a*s or were cut off by the competition. 
    Mike and Brock were in the kitchen window holding a pair of sneakers and jeans with skinny little legs in them.  Remi went in to quickly say his hellos and get to the keg-stand action, but as he walked in the door his jaw slacked and plan B was about to come into effect:  turn around and retreat.  Ellen Shobach was standing with Mike’s girlfriend Susy Bunk and they were facing Remi with unsympathetic eyes.  Susy is one of those girls who has an unbelievable beauty about her:  everything is in proportion, flaxen dirty blond hair, emerald green eyes, with an undeniable three-thousand dollar smile.  The only problem was that she was all this and the extra thirty pounds that comes with it.  However Ellen was perfect with her thin legs working up to a gradual swell at the waist and topped off with long bronze hair gartering a face that made Suzy look like the Pig-Faced girl with bucked teeth.
    Ellen sauntered up to Remi rolled her eyes as she walked outside.  Susy walked up to Remi, “I really liked how you got that double play in the second.  Catching a line drive must hurt.”  She winked as if he knew the other side of that comment.
    “Thanks, it wasn’t anything really, I just had to choose between catching the ball and breaking my nose so I went with the less painful option.”  They both gave a little laugh and it settled into an awkward silence.
    “Well, I’ve gotta go catch Ellen before she walks back to town by herself.”
    “Wait.  You two are leaving?”  Remi’s world just sank into his knees.
    “She says it’s lame, I don’t know, but I’ll probably bring her back in a little while.”  She walked out the door slightly hunched and head leaning forward.  The sign of someone who is trying not to laugh in your face.  Remi moped into the kitchen and nearly stepped on the sophomore who passed out in the fetal position.
    “Hey!  Remi, want to join sleeping beauty here.”  Brock smiled and held up the tap, “or are you afraid of the Beer Fairy.” 
    Remi‘s eyebrows raised as he dropped the moping act, “If you mean the queer holding the tap, then yeah I am a little scared of you some days but what the hell I’m sure I can last longer that Rip Van Puke-a-little over here.”  He put his hands on the keg and was lifted till his Nikes’ scraped the ceiling.  A cold shock spread between his brain and his stomach as the tap was opened.  He heard counting and would not let go until there was no more air in him.
    A crowd formed a ring around him and they all chanted “...31!  32!  33!  Yeah boy!”  Remi returned to the floor in a different world.  It smelled like the burning you get when water is up your nose and it looked like the inside of a glass of sweating lemonade for a minute.
    Brock and Mike both wrapped their arms around his shoulders and dragged him into the living room.  Mike handed him a beer.  “Suck on this.  It’ll make ya feel better.”  They went back into the kitchen and left him alone on the leather sofa.  MTV was on and some pretty people were arguing about something so Remi assumed it was the Real World or something like that.  A light melon breeze floated under Remi’s nose just as he felt the cushion next to him press down.
    “I see that the All-Star pitcher doesn’t play so well against beer.”  Remi turned his head and witnessed a miracle.  Ellen Shobach was sitting next to him, not glaring, but actually smiling.
    “Yeah, I can only take a beer or ten, then I’m done for the night.”  A laugh popped out of her mouth.  “I thought you left?”  He glanced up from his now bowed head.
    “I was going to but Suzy wanted me to stay.  Besides there‘s nothing to do in this town.”  Her explanation did not involve him but maybe he had a chance.  Her thin, long sleeve, black shirt leaned forward on her body, leaving a hollow that seemed to beckon Remi to come in closer.
    He shifted in his seat to face Ellen, “This is kind of off subject but I just wanted to know what happened sophomore year?”  A sip of his beer curled his lips and slurred his last words, in hopes she would excuse drunken stupidity.
    “The stairs.”  He nodded and the smile left her face replaced by the upset drone of her voice.  “I liked you, but I hated you too.  Ugh I’m so stupid.”  She got up and walked quickly out of the room before he could clear his throat and tell her how wrong she was.  Every ounce of his mind had just lined up for another keg stand.  What had just happened?  Why did he ask about the stairs?  Why didn’t he tell her what he thought of her.  She liked him?  Well he liked her, so this problem was beyond his grasp.  Looking down at his wrist he saw that his scar was bleeding.  “Huh?  Must have hit it on the keg.”  Suzy stood in front of him now.
    “Are you an idiot?  Why did you ask about something that happened two years ago?”  For the first time her expensive smile did not look welcoming.  As a matter of fact it looked as if it could bite his nose off right there.
    “I needed to know because I never did a single thing to her.”  Almost as if he had hit the stop button on the CD player, the whole room walked in to the living room for the Remi Casper Drama Hour.
    “Well I just wasted the last fifteen minutes talking her into coming back and talking to you, but if you sleep with a girl’s best friend and then brag about it the next week that is the way things are going to turn out.  I don‘t know why she liked you!”  Reality had just hit him like Ellen’s light-brown boot.  Ellen and Julie were best friends until Julie left.  The bracelet, that bloody half heart.  Remi’s thoughts gelled together just at that moment as a loud ding struck the room and Brock pulled a bag of popcorn out of the microwave.  Remi broke into a dead sprint for the door nearly leveling DJ coming off from the stairs with a couple of satisfied juniors. 
    Ellen was getting away, walking toward the edge of the hill.  He sprinted towards her and caught his foot on every stick and stone between them.  He tripped once for each time he thought of holding her hand.  “Ellen wait!”  Even though he was out of breath his legs pumped like he had just started to sprint.
    “Why?  You just want to get me into bed and tell everyone about it on Monday.  Julie left because you embarrassed her.  She didn’t tell you because she loved you too.”
    Invisible hands grabbed his throat and it was like he was suspended by his stupidity’s own grip.  The rest of him was about to give out.  “Ellen, I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t apologize now.  It’s too late and I thought maybe I could forget you two but I can’t.”  Her neck was stretched tight and her eyes were doughy and wet. 
    “I didn‘t know, and even if,” he looked at his wrist, blood ran onto his hand into a big scarlet spot from his momentarily clenched fist, “even if I did brag to all of my friends about what happened between me and Julie, I did not mean to hurt her.”  He squeezed his eyes shut and walked up to put his arms around her.  “I care about you, even if you did those things to me.”
    “Me?  You never cared about Julie or me!” she looked up right into his face. He could see the fear draining the color out of his face in her broken blue eyes. Her small fragile hands rested on his shoulders and then she lifted her knee so hard that his world flashed and tipped onto its side.  He watched Ellen stagger over and plop down about ten feet away:  cross-legged, hunched over, sniffling quietly to herself, and plucking petals off from a daisy.  One after another.