stand by me

chapter twelve

^^^play the song while you read^^^

Once we had gotten far enough away Teddy started to cry.
I was hurt from the words the man had said to me too but this wasn't about me, it was about Teddy. Chris had his arm around Teddy and was comforting him. Me and Gordie were walking beside each other.
"We showed him! Thought we were a bunch of pussies!" Vern said, breaking the silence. "He ranked my old man!" Teddy said between sobs.
I wondered how Teddy could care so much about his dad who practically killed him, when I couldn't give 2 shits about mine who was a mean drunk that didn't even notice I was around half the time.
"He ranked my old man!" He said again as he came to a stop. "Why do you care what a fat old pile of shit like him says about your dad?" Chris asked. "He still stormed the beach at Normandy, right?" I reassured Teddy. "Forget it," he said quietly.
I wasn't very good at comforting people. He told me to forget it, so I did, but I bet you can guess who didn't.
"Do you think that pile of shit was at Normandy?" Vern asked. "Forget it, alright!" Teddy said again. "He don't know nothin about your old man! He's just dog shit!" Vern kept going. "Whatever is between you and your old man, he can't change that!" Chris said. I gave him a look mid-sentence to stop, but he brushed me off. "Forget it, alright! Just forget it!" Teddy yelled. He kept walking with his head held low.
We hadn't walked even 3 feet, before Vern started singing 'The Ballad of Paladin.' All of us shot him a cold look and he stopped.
Teddy stopped walking and looked up at us. "I'm sorry if I'm spoiling everyone's good time," he said with a frown.
I felt bad for him. He was never sad like this so I knew what the junk man had said really hurt him. We all told him that it was ok and it wasn't his fault.
"I'm not sure it should be a good time," Gordie said. "Are you saying you wanna go back?" Chris asked. "No," Gordie responded. "But going to see a dead kid... maybe it shouldn't be a party."
I knew something had been bothering Gordie and I think that was what it was, along with the death of his brother. We all silently agreed with him. Vern agreed but not so quietly.
"Yeah, like if he's really bad like all cut up with blood and shit all over him! I might have nightmares!" Vern said. I wish he hadn't of said that.
"C'mon Vern," Chris said as we all started walking again. "You know like all guts and eyeballs-" Vern was gonna day more but I interrupted him. "Shut up Vern goddamnit!" I shouted.
I don't know what had come over me. I just couldn't listen to him talk about it any longer. "I can't help it! Sorry!" He said but we kept walking and he followed along.