What Following Brings (8 page)

Ignoring the offer and e
lbowing the girl out of the way, he pushed open the door and walked inside. The girl made no attempt to follow him. As he
entered the foyer
, he
gazed
around and saw how crowded it was. Everywhere he looked there were sweaty, drunk
,
people. The stench
of stale beer and vomit
made him feel ill.

H
e pushed his way farther inside
and then he
looked
down at the couch where his mom lay spread o
ut, staring at the ceiling.
She
was painfully thin with
blond
hair
which
fell
out in patches and pasty, pock
-
marked skin. Next to her was a little girl, probably eight or nine, who had her knees drawn up to her chin.

“
Mom,
”
Yuri said furiously, seizing his mom
'
s arm.
“
What are you doing? You are supposed to take your meds. You promised me you weren
'
t going to do this anymore.
Don
'
t you remember?
”

His mom stared up at him with
red-rimmed
eyes and didn
'
t say anything.

“
You know what your doctor said, didn
'
t you?
”
Yuri said.
“
He is going to put you in the mental hospital. I have been fighting this with you for as long as I can, but you have got to help yourself.
”

Staring at him with blank eyes, his mom
grinned
an
d patted his cheek
wordlessly. He had never seen
her this bad.
I can
'
t believe this. What do I even work for?
He grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet.

Just as he
was about to yank his mom out of the room
, the little girl
looked
up at him with pleading eyes. He wanted to turn away. He was tired. So tired. But he couldn
'
t just leave a kid here.

“
You shouldn
'
t be at a place like this,
”
Yuri said, frowning.

“
I think my mom and dad forgot me here,
”
the little girl said.

Horror filled him. He stole a look around the room.
Dougie has some pretty wild parties, but this is insane.
Who would forget their own kid or even bring a child here to begin with?

“
Are you okay?
”
Yuri asked.
“
No one gave
you anything to drink, did they?
”

Heaven help me, an eight-year-old
who is
drunk.
The little girl shook her head
and he felt relieved. At least he wouldn
'
t have to deal with that.

“
How far away do you live?
”
Yuri asked.

“
About fifteen minutes,
”
she said.

“
Okay,
”
Yuri said.
“
Come on.
”

“
Really?
”
The little girl
'
s eyes brightened.

“
Yes,
”
Yuri said.
“
Will you have a way to get inside
your house
?
Is there anyone at home?
”

“
Well, my parents are probably home, but I don
'
t think they
'
ll be able to open the door in the state they
'
re in.
”
The little girl nodded.
“
There is a way through the back window. It
'
s always unlocked.
”

As Yuri reached forward to take the girl by the arm, his mom clenched his shoulder.
He
whirled around
to look at her.

“
Let
'
s not…
”
his mom
said.
“
I
want to go home.
I
'
m exhausted.
”

You
'
re tired? I just worked three eight hour shifts in a row with no sleep
.
But he didn
'
t say
the words
. His mom was practically an eight-year-old herself whenever she was off her
medication
.

“
You can sleep in the car,
”
Yuri said.
“
Come on.
”

As he did his best to maneuver both his mom and the little girl out of the house, he felt overwhelmed. People were everywhere,
pressing in on him
. Finally, he opened the
front
door and stepped through, and he took a breath of fresh air. He
looked
around and realized the group on the front stoop was gone.
At least he wouldn
'
t have to worry about being hit on again.

Yuri walked toward his car and unlocked it, still towing his mom and the girl along. There was a napkin on his windshield with some writing on it
. The
girl
grabbed it
and
frowned
at it.

“
Alison,
”
the girl said.
“
It
'
s some
woman
'
s
phone number.
”

“
Not again,
”
Yuri groaned.

“
Why would a
woman
leave a phone number on your car?
”
the little girl asked.

“
Beats me,
”
Yuri said.
“
Maybe you can tell me when you
'
re older.
”

Just as Yuri was about to get in
the car
, he heard groaning and then
looked
up and saw his mom had disappeared. He wound around the car
to see
that his mom leaned back against the door and peered up at the sky with big eyes. He swore, seized her underneath her arms, opened the door, and then tried to shove her inside. Mid-shove it got easier, and he saw the little girl had begun to help him. She was stronger than he realized.

“
Sometimes my dad comes home and does this. He likes to drink a lot,
”
the little girl said.
“
I have to help my mom get him to bed.
”

Poor kid. She has it worse than I do.
Yuri
grabbed
his mom by her belt and shoved her
farther
back into the car. Once he was done, he
looked
at
the little girl
and found himself smiling.

“
Thanks for helping me,
”
Yuri said.

“
It
'
s okay,
”
the little girl said.
“
By the way, I
'
m Dawn.
”

“
I
'
m Yuri,
”
he said.

Dawn
beamed
at him
. He
opened the door for her and then walked around to the driver
'
s side again. When he climbed into the car, he
looked
straight ahead and his vision blurred
.
He rubbed his eyes and then tried to focus. He felt as though every second he was getting stretched thinner and thinner.

“
Are you okay?
”
Dawn asked, shooting him a worried look.
“
You don
'
t have to take me home if you
'
re drunk. My dad got in
a bad
accident once because of
drunk driving
.
”

“
I
'
m not
drunk. I would never drive after drinking
,
”
Yuri said.
“
I
'
m just tired. I
'
m sure I
'
ll be fine.
”

He
put the key into the ignition
and the engine
sputtered to life
. As he pulled out into the road, he heard the sound of his mom
'
s snoring in the backseat of the car. He stole a look in the rearview mirror and saw
that her
head was back
against the headrest
and a line of drool drizzled down her chin.

“
Turn left here,
”
Dawn said, knocking him back to reality.

Focusing, Yuri
looked
at the road again and
went
left. He realized Dawn
led
him onto the freeway.

“
You sure this is the right way?
”
Yuri asked.

Dawn nodded.
“
Like I said, my parents forget me a lot. Sometimes I walk part of the way and then hitchhike a ride half-way when somebody feels sorry for me.
”

A cute kid like this? Hitchhike?
He
gazed
at Dawn
'
s golden skin, curls, and bright brown eyes.
Someone like her hitchhiking is dangerous.

“
You shouldn
'
t
hitchhike
anymore,
”
Yuri said, getting into the lane to enter the freeway.
“
Next time you need a ride somewhere, call me. It might take me a little while to get out of work, but I
'
ll give you a ride. Remind me to
hand
you my number when we get to your house.
”

What are you saying, Yuri? You don
'
t even have enough time to eat or sleep.
But as he stole a look at Dawn, he realized
he didn
'
t care. It was only a matter of time before she ended up getting hurt because of her parents
'
negligence.

“
Yuri?
”
Dawn said.

“
Yes.
”

“
Why would you do that for me?
”
Dawn asked.
“
Most people ignore me.
”

“
I can tell y
ou
'
re a good kid,
”
Yuri said.
“
You deserve better.
”

He saw Dawn glance at the rearview mirror and say,
“
So do you.
”

He wasn
'
t sure why, but he felt inclined to explain himself. Leave it to a kid to get right to the heart of the matter.

“
I love my mom. She wasn
'
t always like this. I mean,
we were always poor, but that
didn
'
t matter
. My family was great.
”
Yuri stole a look at the mirror at his mom.
“
Eight years ago my dad went to work and didn
'
t come back. I was seventeen at the time. I was going to go to California to learn photography at
college, but she needed me. The first year
I missed out
, I told myself I would get my chance soon enough. But every year she
got
worse. It
'
s hard to imagine it
'
s been eight years like…
like
this
…
”