Breathe Me || Completed

24.1

24.1 - Bobby

"What the fuck is this," are the first words out of David Novey's mouth when he sees us.

David looks worse than last time I saw him. He's skeletal as Samantha, his cheeks hollow and covered in messy gray-ish stubble. His hooded eyes are surrounded by deep wrinkles, as are his chapped gray lips. He's practically bald, a layer of gray-blonde bristle growing out of his scalp. He is so tall that he has to duck under the door frame, but I remember that. His eyes dart around at us, much smaller than Junie's or Samantha's or Honey's.

Samantha looks like she might cry. Her grip on the baby slackens and I grab Tammy under the arms, accepting her warm, stunned weight. Tammy lolls her little head around, trying to take everyone in.

And before I can stop her, Samantha is taking a step toward the glowering, towering man, tears in her eyes and cracks in her voice. "Daddy," she says. "It's me. Samantha. I came to see you."

The people standing behind him are two women and a young man, all with their arms crossed, giving us suspicious once overs.

David gives Samantha his own crossed-arm once over, his eyes squinted, leaning forward, closer to her. She's shaking, trembling under his gaze. Honey breaks away from her leg and runs to hide behind me.

We wait with our breaths held.

Finally, he straightens up again. He rubs his eyes with one hand, making a sound like sandpaper. "I don't have time for this shit right now," he mumbles and shoves past Samantha into the master bedroom.

One of the women, a tiny brunette with missing teeth, follows him in, grabbing Honey's hand along the way. She takes the baby out of my arms without a word. A Mexican woman whispers, "Excuse me" as she passes us to get into the kitchen. The other man just stares as he pulls the broken door closed behind him.

He can't be older than eighteen. And he looks awfully familiar. When I see Samantha's jaw drop, I know why.

"No fucking way," she mutters. From the back, I can see her shoulders shaking. There are tears in her voice. "You," she says. "You're . . . are you . . . ?"

"Your older brother?" finishes Jack. "Sure looks like it."

I come up behind her, still shaking from the David encounter. My whole body is buzzing with anxiety as the woman in the kitchen rifles through the fridge for good food among the moldy stuff. I put my arms around Samantha's trembling shoulders and feel a tear fall on my forearm. "We should go," I whisper to her.

"No," she groans. She takes a step closer to the young man who is just staring at her. "Who are you?" she demands. "What's your name?"

"Bobby," he says. He seems almost slow, looking at Samantha with his mouth open. "Who're you?"

"Samantha," says Samantha. "Are you David Novey's son?"

"Yeah."

"Well I'm his daughter."

"No you ain't. Honey's his daughter."

Samantha squints at him. Maybe he is a little slow. His eyes look a little addled and he walks strangely, almost a waddle.

"But I am, too," Samantha says. Her tears come faster now, shaking up her words like foam bits in a snowglobe. "When he left before you were born? You know that?"

"Yeah."

"Well, he went up to New York and got my mom pregnant and then she had me. Okay? So I'm your half-sister."

Bobby takes a seat at the kitchen table. He definitely has the Novey face, cobalt eyes, straight nose, everything. He looks at his fingers, then at Samantha, a look on his face like he's trying to solve a difficult math problem. "But he's here now," says Bobby. "Not New York. He ain't in New York."

"I know," says Samantha. To my surprise, she doesn't seem annoyed at all by him. She just takes a seat beside him and leans in so that his eyes won't wander off somewhere else. She manages to get her sobs under control and says, "He left me, too, just like he did to you. He left me and my mom in New York so he could come down here. Then he had Honey and I'll be fucked if he doesn't leave her, too."

Bobby still doesn't get it, obviously, but he looks Samantha over. "You're my sister?" he asks.

"Half sister. Yeah."

"Okay. So we're family?"

"Yes. We are."

"Okay." He looks her over again. His eyes catch on her breasts as she leans forward to talk to him. "You're pretty," he says.

Again, she doesn't seem annoyed or freaked out. She just straightens up and clears her throat. "Thank you," she says.

"You're welcome."

"So where have you been?" Samantha asks. "With Dad? What were you guys doing?"

Bobby shrugs. He taps his fingernails on the table, blushing. "I'm not supposed to tell anybody," he says. "Because it's illegal."

Samantha glances behind her to look at me. Her eyes are heartbreakingly red and watery, shiny with unshed tears. "Bobby," she says. "Can I introduce you to my friends?"

Bobby's eyes flit over the master bedroom which comes open a crack as Honey squeezes through back into the living room. She looks like she's been crying, too, shivering in her white t shirt. She runs to the table and throws herself into Bobby's lap. Bobby holds his little sister like a baby, her head against his shoulder. "Okay," he says.

When Honey leaves the master bedroom, the Mexican woman sidles inside to replace her. I can hear them talking loudly inside.

Samantha points to me. "This is Sally, my best friend. And this here is Jack. He's like . . . our step-cousin, I guess. His dad lives with our aunt."

"Aunt?" says Bobby. He's tickling Honey's neck, making her giggle and writhe in his lap.

"Yeah. Aunt Junie?"

Bobby frowns, but doesn't say anything else. He absently slings Honey over his shoulder, eliciting a shriek of delight and then a loud sob when her forehead hits the back of the chair behind her.

Samantha pats him on the knee to get his attention back. "Bobby, does our dad listen to you?"

He shrugs, rocking sobbing Honey in his arms. "Sometimes."

"Can you tell him that I just want to talk?" Samantha asks. I see her swallow hard, a squeaky sob leaking out of her throat. "Tell him I don't want anything, I just want to talk to him. Can you go in there and say that to him?"

Bobby shakes his head.

"Why not?"

"They're snorting," he says with a shrug. "He gets mad if you interrupt."

So we sit around the table with Bobby and Honey and Jack and Samantha until finally, there is a harsh knock on the door and the three adults stumble back out of the bedroom.