Kenney: Still Waters Part 2

Chapter 76

The next day, Wallace came by to see me. He slapped my outstretched hand and sat down next to the bed. I pointed to the chair by the door that Jazz used to sit in, and he got up and walked over to it. He picked up the completed GED application and turned it over in his hands. He looked at it for a real long time before he came back to sit down by the bed again.

I could tell he was trying not to smile.

"You got a lot of work ahead of you, son."

I gave him the same steady gaze that he was giving me.

"Yeah."

"You up for it?"

"Yeah." I continued to watch him. He was so hard to read. I always thought he hated me.

Wallace studied my pinched face, and the tired bags under my eyes. "They already take you to rehab this mornin'?"

"Not yet." I put my head back into the pillows and tried not to stress any more than I already was. That shit was hard. And it hurt like a bitch.

I was in pain all the time.

Every day.

All day long.

"You can do it, son. I have faith in you." Wallace leaned forward and put his hand on my shoulder. "I've seen you take care of your whole family before, son, so I know...you can do this."

I looked over at him, surprised. I never expected him to acknowledge me like that.

Wallace smiled. He almost never smiled at me. "You're a tough young man, I'll give you that." Then he kicked back in his chair and observed me, just like I was observing him. "I can't wait to see how you turn out."

We watched each other in silence, and then he sat forward again.

"You know, your aunt needs you." He maintained eye contact with me, like he always did when he was speaking on things that I thought he should keep his mouth shut about. I stayed quiet and let him say his piece this time, though. "She won't go back to Virginia without you, son."

I watched him talk, and wondered silently if they were just trying to keep Aunt Jazz from sticking me with them. Mama couldn't handle me. We all knew that. She didn't even try. Charity thought she could control me, but deep down she knew she didn't run shit over here, either. Wallace had taken the hands off approach with me from day one, and just kept me at arm's length, which was the best thing for both of us. The only person that I had ever listened to in my life, other than Sammy, daddy, and Rico, was Jazz. And most of the time, I only did what Jazz said because I didn't want to hurt her feelings.

And I definitely didn't want to make her sad.

It was always when she got too sad that she started doing...dumb shit.

Wallace put his hand on my shoulder again, bringing me back out of my thoughts.

"She needs you to make it, so that she can make it, too." When I looked over at him, he didn't move his hand from my shoulder, and I didn't tell him to.

It was weird, and probably my imagination, but it almost felt like I could feel his energy transferring from him to me. It gave me the boost that I needed to at least make it through morning rehab.

I continued to watch him. "You stayin' for a while?"

Wallace kicked back in his chair and read my face. "Yup." I couldn't tell if that was his original plan or not.

"Good." I sat back, too, and relaxed.