Inanimate (4 page)

“
Five!”

Basket crashed
to the ground, the
sandy floor sending up a thick cloud of dust.

Everyone, even Bear
held his breath. The
large Dummy nudged one of the smaller ones.

“
Looks like we might not have to
kill him after all. He’s done it himself.”

A tense moment passed
and finally the dust
cleared. Basket crouched in a successful landing pose. The crowd
erupted in ecstatic applause.

“
Ladies and gentleman, the
one
, the
only…Basket the Clown!”

(More eruption)

“
Come on fellas”
said the large
dummy, and the three of them pounced onto the sandy ground beside
Basket.

The crowd fled
in terror, these
dummies meant business.

“
This
is our town clown! Time for you to
leave!”

“
Now fellas, let’s not cause any
trouble”
said
Bear.

“
Quiet you!”

One of the smaller dummies muscled in on
Bear while Basket readied himself for a fight.

Connor’s bedroom
was a far cry from
the big top but in his mind, something big was about to go down. He
hadn’t bought any new toys since his mom died, nor had he played
with any others bought for him. He would much rather have had
clothes for Christmas and birthdays. His mother gave him almost all
the toys he had now and so he felt a special bond with them. All
except Betsy. Betsy was a porcelain doll that stood up to his
waist. His mother gave her to him one night when he was scared of a
storm outside. She said Betsy had looked after her when she was a
girl and so, she would look after him too. Connor slept well that
night knowing Betsy was beside him but he never played with her.
For one, Betsy was a girls doll and for two he would never have
forgiven himself if he broke her, knowing how much she meant to his
mom.

“
You forget I have friends in
this town”
said Basket.

“
Yeah, like who?”

Connor
grabbed his toy dog and mashed the
dummies with it while making barking sounds.

“
Retreat!” Connor
yelled, mimicking
the Dummies voice.

Forced by the human hand the
dummies
were
whisked off to the side of the “Big Top” allowing Basket to assume
center stage once again.

Mimicking a real crowd, Connor instilled
life into Basket. Making his favorite toy the object of affection
for the masses meant Basket could be real outside of his head as
well as in. Connor found his collection of toys to be most
versatile. With the right imagination a boy could play circus games
or gangster games, war games or even westerns, with the dummies
usually playing the “goon” roles. War games were fun as Connor had
his little plastic army men which he used to provide cover fire for
any one of Basket’s adventures. Bear was a big hero of his too,
though Basket, due to his color and generally happy demeanor was
the clear front runner. The dolls were large compared to most
children’s collections. Basket and Dummy were the largest, standing
the height of Connor’s neck and shoulder respectively. The two
smaller dummies were the height of Betsy and dog only came up past
his knees. Bear was a little shorter than the smaller dummies, but
his chubbiness helped him appear larger. His mother bought him
these dolls above others as these were the ones he showed interest
in when they were out. He would pick them up from the shelf himself
and so, Martha knew those were the ones he wanted. Uninterested in
toys from television shows like other kids, Connor chose these
dolls because they weren’t already popular children’s characters.
Much in the same way people prefer reading a book to watching a
movie, Connor loved the fact that he could imagine whole new
personas for his dolls instead of having their personalities
written for him by a TV show. Timing the game just right, no sooner
had Basket defeated the dummies when Connor got called down for
dinner. Oven pizza with fries was Andy’s after fishing specialty,
and Connor could smell the pepperoni.

The emblem of the local corporate coffee
house seemed softer on Sundays. People have certain misgivings
about coffee hangouts like this one. Having a pretty local girl
serve you a drink to a setting of soft jazz and local rags could
fool anyone into believing this was a family run place. Pale colors
of eggshell and lime green mixed with creamy brown carpets and
hardwood sanitized surfaces. Oversized, odd-shaped mugs set in a
euphoria inducing sunk-in dark felt chair made everyone’s
cappuccino taste better. At the end of the day, no-one cares about
the corporation behind the company, as long as the corporation
pretends (like everyone else) that it is a simple outfit. A few
sips into his Sunday tall breve double shot latte with one hand
grasped firmly on the sports pages Andy was at peace. Alcohol was
not in his Sunday service. Instead, a nice relaxing afternoon with
his son and his coffee was the order of the day. As Connor sipped
on his hot chocolate with an extra pump of vanilla he appreciated
the ambience. He enjoyed the peace of this weekly ritual much like
he did fishing. Sitting quietly he was lost in his own thoughts
while Andy quietly read his paper. Connor felt something on him. A
pair of eyes gazing towards their table. He had felt these eyes
before but never so intensely. Looking up he saw the face of a
woman that would change his life forever.

“
Single father?”

Andy wouldn’t normally
have engaged a
strange woman in conversation but when he lowered his paper he
realized this was a particularly beautiful woman. This meant all
new rules applied. Taken by her beauty Andy nodded while rolling
his wedding band with his thumb. Unable to tell how she knew that
seeing as how he was clearly still wearing his wedding ring Andy
looked at her intensely, trying to figure her out.

“
How did you know that?”
he asked

“
I asked about
you
,” said
the woman, gesturing to the barista behind the counter.

“
I notice
d you came in here a lot so I asked
them who you were.”

Andy was taken aback by how forward the
woman was, but he was also extremely flattered. Pulling out a chair
and sitting down the woman said softly.

“
The
girl told me you used to be
married.”

Andy looked down at the table

“
I’m sorry” The woman said,
immediately backtracking,

“
I didn’t mean to pry.
I was interested in
you and all I had to go on was your name.”

“
Well, it is on the cup” remarked
Andy.

The two shared a smile at the coy
comment.

“
I’m Beth.” The young lady said,
oblivious to the fact that it was written on her nametag in pink
chalk marker.

Andy couldn’t
help but feel
completely at ease around her, she was very pretty, with a very
natural smile. There was a pause, Andy was not used to interacting
with women anymore.

“
Oh, I’m
sorry; this is my son,
Connor.”

Beth extended
her hand to Connor
who reluctantly shook it.

“
Nice to meet you
Connor
.”

“
Hello
.” came the response.

Beth looked at Connor and
smiled
“He’s
very handsome…just like his father.”

Andy
was instantly smitten. Amongst the
warm colors and ambient sounds of espresso machines and jazz; Beth
and Andy clicked. Her sharp blue eyes had an allure which Andy was
unwilling to break himself from. All Connor could do was sit there
and accept it.

CHAPTER 4

“
Where’s
your friends loser?” Beth stood in
the doorway of Connor’s bedroom, high on a combination of Gin and
Valium. “Did you hear me you little faggot? I asked where all your
shitty little friends were!”

Connor sat
with his back to her, playing
with Basket. The house seemed darker now, dirtier, with less
color.

“
You just going to ignore me
like you do every girl you little homo?”

Pointing a b
ottle of “London Dry” at the boy
she continued her abuse

“
You’re going to end up a loser,
just like your father!”

A single angry tear
streamed down the
child’s cheek. It reached his mouth and he tasted the salty
bitterness. Stewing, he thought back to when things got this
bad.

For over a year things were good again in
the Williams house. Andy had been drinking less and Beth was
bringing in a second paycheck. Connor was even warming to the fact
that he had a mother figure in the house again. Something he craved
but never talked about was finally becoming a reality. Connor
remained much the same in his attitude towards school and friends,
(namely that he didn’t believe either one was worth much) but he
did start to enjoy being out amongst other people much more. When
the three of them would go out to the circus for real, Connor would
take Basket and imagine he were the one performing death defying
acrobatics. Or when the fair came to town Connor would go along and
play the carnival games; even though he would always refuse to take
any toys that were won from them. Time seemed to pass quickly in
this period and before he knew what was going on; Connor was
another year older. It was just after Connor’s ninth birthday that
things started to go decidedly sour.

Still in her early thirties Beth was a
definite looker. Family roots entrenched deep in Scandinavian blood
gave her a light complexion complete with long legs and a naturally
generous bust. She held a good job as an aesthetician at a trendy
salon in the city brining in a decent paycheck every fortnight.
Positions for this job were scarce and thanks to every little city
girl who got through life based solely on her looks, there was
never a shortage of candidates to fill the few positions available.
Still, with her experience and strong repeat customer base she was
never short of work. She would often supplement her income by
giving manicures and facials from the home she now shared with
Andy. One Tuesday afternoon Beth managed to get away from work
early. The long weekend had just finished so a lot of customers had
their hair done the previous Thursday before they left town for the
holiday. This meant business was slow so she left early trying to
avoid the rush hour. Andy could not get away early to pick her up
so she headed for the train; which Beth didn’t mind doing. Popping
in her ear buds and heading out the door she waved goodbye to her
colleagues before heading into the windy street outside. The train
from downtown was still fairly busy, though not as it would have
been had she left an hour later. As the pop music pumped in her
ears she heard nothing of the dozens of conversations going on
around her. Nor did she hear the beeping of the train doors closing
behind her; she heard nothing but the music. Having committed the
short route home to memory long ago, she did not require the
assistance of the train’s automated announcer. Despite the southern
weather being normally mild that time of year there was a chill on
this day. The wind picked up, blowing dust and leaves around in
mini cyclones all over the neighborhood. The house being a fifteen
minute walk from the station was like a challenge to her. She
planned to make it in ten, cutting a third of the time from her
journey in order to avoid as much dust being blown into her face as
possible. Risking safety for speed, Beth jaywalked across small
roads with nothing more than a quick glance for moving dangers.
Only a few blocks away was a driver in a solid black SUV. With a
few beers for lunch and some heavy metal in the CD player the
driver was paying just as little attention to the road as Beth was.
The two were on a fateful collision course, which would prove to be
an extremely one-sided event. If recent surveys are to be believed,
the average American vehicle weighs over 4000 pounds, whereas the
average American woman weighs 166 pounds. Unfortunately no-one
showed these numbers to Beth who weighed in at a paltry 126 pounds.
At over thirty times her weight the SUV hardly felt a thing, Beth
on the other hand was not as lucky.

CHAPTER 5

The hospital was a different experience
for Connor. He knew people went there when they were sick or hurt
but he had never actually been in one. If he was being honest with
himself he liked it. He liked how quiet it was, only a PA system
calling Doctors to rooms and the hum of the pop machine to listen
to. It seemed like a peaceful place to him.

“
Good news Mr. Williams” said a
portly, balding doctor.

Miss Gray
is going to be fine. We had to
insert a steel rod in her arm to keep the bone in place but it
should heal in six to eight weeks. Her leg on the other hand, will
heal a lot faster than that, she’ll be up and walking in no
time.”

The news was a welcome
relief for
Andy.

“
Thank you doctor” he
said as the doctor
headed off to see about his other patients.