by Kevin Craig
“Just a Honda Civic?” Manny practically screams. “Girl, you’re Claire. Bang on. Get it on. You don’t even recognize your privilege.”
Everyone laughs. I laugh along even though I don’t know why and I’m pretty sure I’ve just been insulted.
“Anyway, can we get back to the question?” Manny says.
“Wait,” Troy says. “Can we just make sure everyone knows I’m the Brian guy? Before we go any further. The Brainiac with a future brighter than all the rest of you losers. Thank you.”
“This did not need to be discussed, brother,” Manny says, even though I think that if there’s a brain in our group, it’s him. Manny’s a definite candidate for this Brian guy. “We all knew this. My question…since we are at that point in our little Camino movie… we gonna be friends when this is done?”
“Of course. We’re really nothing like those guys in the movie,” Greg says. “They spent, what, six hours together in that library? We’re here for almost two weeks, walking our feet off and smelling each other’s stink every night. Come on, dude. Not even a question. We’re solid.”
“Greg’s right,” Diego says, dead serious. “I got my girl.” He leans close to me, and I rest a head on his shoulder. “And my boys.” He smiles at Manny and Greg. “And these two misfits.”
“How do we get to be the misfits?” Claire asks. “Troy and I have more going for us than all the rest of you put together.”
“Yeah,” Diego says. “And you also have Creepy Jesus. Soooo, my little misfits.”
Even I laugh this time.
“The comparison falls apart when you try to peg us into those guys,” Greg says, coming back to the characters. “I mean, obviously I’m Judd Nelson’s character. The bad guy with a good heart. But so is Diego. And so is Manny. But Manny’s as much a Brian as Troy. Don’t forget what brought Manny here, children.
“The gun in his locker? I mean, damn. That is exactly why Brian was in detention. Manny’s Brian. But he’s also Emilio Estevez’s jock character. Manny’s a total athlete, no? The whole point of the movie was that all the characters had a bit of each of them in them. Remember the essay they finally conned Brian into writing?”
“Oh yeah,” Manny says. “At the end. True, bro. About each of them being a brainiac, a psycho, an athlete, a hood, and a princess.”
“Yeah,” Diego says. “Wow. So true.”
I look around the table, and everyone’s nodding and agreeing.
After a long pause, Diego says, “We’re friends.”
He takes turns looking all of us in the eye. After he makes his way around the entire table, he says, “Forever. Peregrinos.”
We grow quiet and look around at one another. Claire sighs and smiles.
“Yeah,” Troy says in something just above a whisper. “Friends in the afterlife.”
Manny raises his Coke in the air. “To the Camino Club.”
“Amen,” Diego and Greg say at the same time. We all raise our drinks together and seal his words with a toast.
In the silence that follows, Troy clears his throat. “Ahem,” he says. “I’m so glad we’ve had this little kiki, kiddies. Because I plan on leaning heavily on all of you for about a month or so after we get home. I’m about to be brokenhearted and I’m going to need, oh, I don’t know, about five shoulders to cry on.”
“Kei?” I say. Damn. New York is far away. And he chose to walk with us this afternoon instead of with Kei. Wow.
“Yep. Kei. I never expected to find a Kei on this walk.”
“We got you, Troyboy,” Greg says. And I know he means it.
Chapter 39 — Troy Sinclair
Last day. I thought I would be the first one downstairs for breakfast. But when I step into the dining room balancing my tray of scrambled eggs and my café con leche, I find Bastien and Diego sitting together at the long wooden table.
I make my way over to them, but as I go to sit down I hear bits and pieces of their conversation and realize I’ve walked into something a little too serious to interrupt.
“Oops, sorry,” I swerve to avoid sitting beside Diego. “Good morning, gentlemen.”
“Hey, Troyboy,” Diego says. He smiles and pops a forkful of egg into his mouth.
“Troy,” Bastien says. “Happy last day of the Camino, son. Today, we walk to the cathedral. The jewel at the end of the journey, no?”
“Yeah,” I say. “I can’t wait.” And despite the fact that my heart is being torn out of my chest knowing it’ll soon be over, I’m honestly excited to begin it. I’m dying to see the cathedral and the swinging of the Botafumeiro in the church. I’ve read about the ceremony over and over in the guidebook. And I also watched a dozen videos of it on YouTube. I’m looking forward to smelling the burning incense as it swings through the air.
“Your life, it begins after Compostela, yes? You shall see.” He smiles and takes a sip of his coffee.
“Listen, guys. I’m gonna take my tray outside and sit on the patio. Looks nice out.”
“You can sit with us, bro,” Diego says.
“Nah, I’m good. Thanks, though. You guys go ahead and have some time alone together.”
I leave them to their thing and step outside. What a gorgeous day to walk to Santiago. The sun is shining, and it’s not stinky hot like it was yesterday.
I sit at one of the two park benches that rest against the outside wall of the albergue. As I start to shovel the eggs down, Greg joins me on the other bench.
“Hey, dude,” he says as he tucks his hair behind his ears. I swear, it got three times blonder since we arrived in Spain. He’s full-on surf dude now. “Ready for this?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”
“What about Kei? What’s going on there?”
“Yeah. Trying not to think about it.”
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to poke. That must suck, dude.”
“That’s okay. It’s gonna be one of those days. I’m going to be an emotional wreck for so many reasons today.”
We sit in silence as we finish eating. When I see that Greg has nothing left on his plate, I ask him, “So what’s waiting for you back home, Greg? You’re very private. Share.”
“Well,” he begins. “Pffffft. That’s a hard one, Troy. Where do I even begin?”
“Well, that sounds intriguing.”
“Remember how I told you about my parents’ divorce and how my brother is getting lost in the fallout?”
“Yep,” I say. “That seriously sucks. I couldn’t imagine my parents splitting.”
“The splitting wasn’t the worst part,” he says. “It’s the way they both became so self-centered. Like their drama is the only thing in the world. I’m so stressed about Robbie. I’m gonna be looking at schools soon. Last year I was excited about college, you know. I was going to pick somewhere far away and stay on campus. I was so pumped. Their marriage spins apart, and all my prospects go out the window with it. There’s no way I can leave Robbie now. This, being here? This is bad enough. Who knows what he’s gone through since I abandoned him?”
“Come on, dude,” I say. “You did not abandon him.”
“Nice of you to say, but I knew the score. I never should have messed up the way I did. He’s the one it hurt the most. Robbie needs stability more than anything. He can’t deal with change. I mean, not at all. It destroys him. Anyway, now I’m looking at schools close enough for me to get home before supper every day. Just so he can have some kind of normalcy. Because my parents have become incapable of giving him that. I feel like raising him has become my main responsibility. I’m so stressed.”
“I’m sorry, Greg,” I say. I don’t know what else to say. It sounds like he’s doing the right thing, and there’s nothing else he can do without abandoning his brother. “Sounds like you have a lot of crap to deal with.”
“Yeah,” he says. He
shrugs, though, like he’s blowing it all off. “But, seriously. We’re talking U of T, Ryerson, York. They’re all amazing. I just had this image of going away for school, you know. Guess you can’t always get what you want.”
“Yeah, but you got us,” I say. I laugh, but I’m also serious. This has been cool. Nothing makes a friendship like living twenty-four seven with people. “One good thing came out of your life of crimes and misdemeanors.”
“Ha,” he says. “Yeah. Guess you’re right. I’m sorry I was such an ass at first, Troy. I’m just really mad at my parents. I made you a target. That was shitty.”
“Nope. It’s okay. We already did this. You don’t need to apologize again.”
“Buen Camino.”
We look up to see an older woman walking past the house. She has wild gray hair with a bright blue streak in her bangs and wears rainbow leggings and a lime-green T-shirt that reads: Free Your Mind Instead. I love her already.
“Buen Camino,” Greg and I reply simultaneously.
“Enjoy your day, gentlemen. Santiago awaits!” She holds a victory fist in the air. “It’s happening!”
We’re all smiles. Greg laughs. “You go, girl,” he says.
“Where are you from?” she says, slowing down. “I’m Betty. Taos, New Mexico.”
Greg points to himself and then to me. “Greg and Troy. Toronto.”
“Go, Canada! Enjoy, boys. See you at the cathedral.”
“Buen Camino,” we repeat. She smiles and walks on.
“Where was I?” Greg says. He stands up and puts out a hand and I give him my plate. He sets it on top of his own.
“We all have our own little clouds, Troy. Otherwise we wouldn’t be here. Happy people don’t fuck up.”
“That sounded just a bit like Bastien wisdom, in a weird unedited-for-potty-mouth way.”
“Yeah, well,” he says, as I open the door for him. “Maybe he’s rubbing off.”
“Wouldn’t be such a bad thing.”
We go inside to prepare for the rest of the day. Our last day. Wow. I can’t even believe it.
* * *
“Okay, gang. Our last group discussion before Compostela.” Gil says, once we’re all packed and ready to go. He and Meagan sit on one of the beds and the six of us surround them. “Time to think about what we’ve learned out here, eh?”
“Can we just cut to the chase,” Claire says. “We’ve all fessed up about what brought us here. Manny, with his accidental weapons charge, Shania with her grand theft auto, Troy with his roid rage Captain Destructo ‘incident.’ Diego, the arsonist Casanova. And me, the B & E expert who likes to break things just as much as Troy does.”
She stops there and makes a show of counting to five on her fingers. She slowly raises a sixth finger while she glares at Greg. “According to my calculations, that leaves one delinquent without a story. My, my. How ever did that happen?”
“Rules,” Meagan says. “Nobody on the program is required to divulge their crime to the rest of the group. Gil and I? We both know everyone’s story. The rest of you? You only get to know what each of you wants to share. Greg doesn’t have to say a word.”
“Blah, blah, blah,” I say. “Come on, Greg. Give it up.”
The other guys start up a Yeah, Greg, Yeah, Greg chant.
“Now, guys.” Gil wriggles on the bed. “Let’s not pile on. He has every right to—”
“No, no,” Greg says. “They’re right, Gil. If I want to be part of this club that nobody on the outside would ever want to be a part of, I should at least share my story.”
“Okay, kiddo. But you don’t have to. Don’t feel forced into it. That’s not what we’re about.”
“Nah. It’s all good, Gil. I was talking with Troy at breakfast about stuff and, yeah. I’m ready.”
“Cool,” I say. “Let’s have it. Speak.”
Claire laughs.
“Can I just start off by saying I don’t think I really belong with you losers. Yeah, I did something bad. And, although the thing I did is the same thing one of you did, I did my bad something with the very best of intentions. So, not a criminal.”
“Yeah, and the anti-gay camp didn’t deserve to be taken down by yours truly,” Claire says.
“Okay, okay. Maybe you’re the possible exception, Claire. I give you points for socially conscious criminality. Sincerely.”
“You’re stalling,” I say. I sit down on the bed opposite Gil and Meagan. Shania and Diego join me.
“Okay, okay. So it was a perfectly sunny spring day. Robbie, my little bro, was freaking out about some LEGO dilemma. He sometimes snaps over stuff. One of his many issues. He’s a seven-year-old on the autism spectrum. He’d been inside for a few days, and I could tell he was suffering from cabin fever. His schedule was completely messed up, and you can’t do that to these kids.
“But Mom was out of town on some business trip, and my father lives across town now. I didn’t want to deal with his passive-aggressive crap. He’d bitch about Mom leaving us alone instead of sending us to his house. He’d be pissed at her instead of coming and getting us. And pissed at me for not calling him sooner.
“There I was with this kid who’s having a breakdown because his LEGO weren’t doing what he wanted them to do. The sun was shining. I knew the Boardwalk would be a perfect distraction.
“Robbie loves the beaches. Especially Woodbine Beach near the end of the Boardwalk, where they have all those volleyball nets. When they’re out and there’s games going on? Man, he’s a one-kid cheering section.
“I packed Robbie’s favorite beach toys. He has all these sandcastle molds. I packed a lunch, a couple beach towels, and sunscreen. I did everything right.”
He stops. The look on his face is fierce.
“Then we walked to the town center, and I made my way around the parking lot until I found an unlocked car. I got Robbie inside and jacked it. That kid needed a break. I had to do what I did to give him the day of magic he needed. His meltdown was epic. My parents put us through a year of hell, and Robbie was pretty much destroyed by everything. I was taking that kid to the beach, no matter what. I no longer cared.”
“What the shit?” Shania says. “How many times did you joke about me being a car thief?”
“Shania,” Gil begins.
“I know, words. Last day, Gil. Come on.”
“Nope. Rules are rules.”
“They suck,” she says. But she’s smiling. “Who doesn’t say shit? Besides, he gets to joke about my—”
“Words.”
“Shhhh,” I say.
“We drove down to the Boardwalk, and I took Robbie to the beaches. We would have been fine, too. The parking’s pretty far away from where we actually walked to. When the cops found the car, we could have just walked away and found another way home.
“But with all the crap I packed for Robbie, I had so much to carry from the car. And he was freaking out, half meltdown and half excited to get to the lake. I left the most important thing behind on the passenger seat. My wallet.”
“Whoa, dude,” Manny says. “That’s mad crazy.”
“Wow, Greg,” Diego says. “That’s, you know… stupid.”
“Gee, thanks,” Greg says. “Sorry, D. I guess I just don’t have a criminal mind. Not like you. It takes real skills to start a fire when all you really need to do is pull the alarm. I mean, same result without the arson charge. Yeah. I’m stupid.”
“Well played,” Diego says. Everyone’s laughing and I think it’s the beginning of a lighthearted day. And also an emotional one. This is going to be so strange.
“Just one more thing,” Greg says. “As much as this will probably make Gil cringe and Meagan cry, I’d do it all over again. I’d do anything for Robbie. Anything.”
It starts to make sense to me now, the reason Greg has been so overprotective of D
iego since his grandmother died. He’s a champion of the underdog. He doesn’t like to see the people in his life suffering. He’s a good guy.
“Okay, guys. Okay. Can we get back on track now? We only have a few minutes left before we need to set off. Anyone want to start off on the topic of what we’ve learned so far on the journey. Tell me how things are going to change when you go home?”
We’re all quiet as we look around the room at each other. Shania is the first to raise her hand. Her eyes well up with tears before she even begins to speak.
“I hated all of you people before I stepped out my front door back home in Toronto. I wanted to die. And I was angry at each and every one of you. Especially you, Gil.” She points to him, and he shrugs who me? “With your face-cracking smile and your optimism. I did not want to come here. And I hated this stupid-ass diversion program shit most of all. Sorry. I know. Words.”
Shania stops talking, reaches for Diego’s hand, and watches as their fingers intertwine.
“And now I never want to leave. You people? You see me.”
I find myself wiping at my own tears. Meagan silently hands tissues to both me and Shania.
Gil puts his hands together and stretches his arms out, fingers intertwined, and we all recognize this as his lecture stance. We’re about to get our last lesson on the Camino. Unlike all the other times he’s done this, I don’t hear a single moan. Not a single one of us rolls our eyes. If anything, there’s this imperceptible movement toward him as he prepares to speak. He has our undivided attention.
Chapter 40 — Diego Nelson
It feels so right to finish this journey with Bastien at my side. Even more right that we’ve all stayed close together today. Though we started out as a reluctant group of eight, there’s no reluctance in our expanded group of twelve—unless you count Troy’s reluctance to leave Kei’s side. And my reluctance to leave Bastien’s. And everyone else’s reluctance to leave the Camino.
We have walked all day. The last of the towns in the guidebook are being struck off the list one after the other. Through a gravel path to Rúa, on to Arca, and through a forest to O Amenal, where we crossed a river. Then we walked through more woods. It’s been a day of everything, even hills.
