The Experiment

by Grant C. Holland

  Aaron tried to quickly assess what he needed to get finished before the work day ended, and he couldn’t think of anything specific. He settled into a conversation on the dating site with Jamie, and it felt like he was talking to a friend until Jamie shared a photo of his face with his lips pursed for a kiss.

  Nervous about how to respond to the implications of kissing Jamie, Aaron tried changing the subject. He began to talk about his app. Jamie responded positively and said it sounded like a great project. He said:

  I admire people who do their own independent projects. I wish I could do that.

  Aaron breathed a sigh of relief, but a few minutes later Jamie brought up the idea of meeting in person. Aaron was happy that they weren’t speaking over the phone. He knew that he would be horribly tongue-tied. He wanted to meet Jamie in person. His entire body tingled at the concept, but his introvert tendencies made him want to hide in the coat closet in his apartment until Jamie went away.

  Jamie asked explicitly about meeting either in the city or Catlett’s Cove. He asked Aaron to suggest a date and time. After twenty minutes of battling his fears with affirmative comments, Aaron suggested two weekends in the future. He explained that a deadline was approaching for the app, so the next weekend wouldn’t be possible.

  Jamie responded:

  That’s perfect! I’m a charming tour guide. There’s so much to do up here in the city. Then the next time we meet I can come home to Catlett’s Cove.

  Aaron shivered when he realized that Jamie was already thinking ahead to a second date. Jamie was confident in their compatibility. Unfortunately, Aaron wasn’t confident in his ability to maintain a relationship in general.

  He sent a message back that read:

  That sounds great! Let’s set up the details later. I need to get back to work. Have a great day, Jamie. I can’t wait to meet you in person.

  After one more hour elapsed, Aaron was on his way home from work. As soon as he stepped through the door, he pulled out his phone and dialed his friend Thomas.

  “Hey, Aaron, how is it going? I just got home, and I’m trying to corral the pups to take them outside.”

  Aaron grinned as he thought about Thomas trying to get multiple puppies on a leash. Thomas was taking care of them until he found homes for all but one. They were the offspring of the pregnant dog Lucky who Hadley brought into the veterinarian office when he first met Thomas.

  “Do I need to call back?” asked Aaron.

  The sound of puppy toenails on kitchen floor tile filtered through the phone. Thomas’ voice in the distance said, “Uh, no, this is fine. It just might sound like I’m not near the phone for a few minutes, because…I’m not.”

  Aaron laughed, and then blurted out, “Thomas, he wants to meet me and kiss me!”

  Thomas muttered, “Come on guys, I know you all wanna go out. Just get over here and hold still.” Then there was a pause, and Thomas said, “Oh, Aaron! That’s great! Is this Christy’s brother?”

  Aaron said, “Yeah, and Thomas, honestly, I’m terrified now. Two days ago I was confident, and now I’m terrified.”

  Aaron heard heavy breathing, and then Thomas’ voice was much closer. He said, “That just shows how much you like him Aaron. If you’re terrified, it’s because you think you’ve got a lot to lose. That’s a good thing.”

  “But what should I do? How should I act? He lives in the city, and it looks like he’s got a boatload of money, Thomas.”

  “You said he’s from the Cove originally, though, and he’s Christy’s brother,” said Thomas.

  Aaron took a deep breath. “Yeah, I guess that’s a valid point.”

  Thomas said, “You’re a great guy, Aaron. You’re sweet, funny, interesting to talk to, good at your job, supportive of all of your friends…” He paused. “You can stop me any time, now.”

  Aaron said, “Thank you, buddy, and you can tell me all of that all over again when the day arrives for me to meet him.”

  5

  Aaron

  Aaron was so close to finishing the app that he could taste it. The project had consumed the majority of his waking life outside of his day job for months, but now it was nearly complete. It was time to shut everything else down. He closed all the non-essential tabs on his computer, and he turned off his phone. Aaron vowed not to go to bed until the app was complete. He wore just shorts and a T-Shirt so that it would be easy to roll into bed when the time came.

  Much of the work was tedious, but Aaron never really minded that. He only wished that he could somehow freeze real-world time for several hours while he got work done. Maybe that was a subject for an app in the future.

  An hour into the homestretch of work, Aaron stood up and stretched. His tall, lanky frame cramped up after so many hours in a chair. He knew that he needed to get back to the gym regularly. In fact, he really needed to go to the gym regularly for the first time in his life.

  Sitting back down, Aaron dove into another 45 minutes of productive work. Just as he was reaching to open a new tab and check for any new messages from Jamie, Aaron stopped himself. His resistance to outside distractions was starting to fail. That meant that it was time to get up and go to the bathroom. He pushed his desk chair back and stood. The bathroom and a quick trip to the kitchen for a glass of water would help break the temptation to turn away from the work on the app.

  As he sipped at the water, Aaron leaned back against the sink and closed his eyes thinking about what might happen when he met Jamie in person. He prayed that he wouldn’t trip over his own big feet or make an embarrassing comment of some kind. Being awkward and attempting to make clever comments among friends was one thing. Addressing it when meeting someone as handsome as Jamie was an entirely different game.

  He tried to focus on the fact that Jamie was Christy’s brother, and he grew up in Catlett’s Cove. That meant that at heart he was just a small-town kid regardless of his lifestyle in the city. Aaron tried to keep that in mind while he headed back to the computer.

  Staring at the screen, Aaron guessed that he had about three hours of solid work left. That meant that he could be in bed by 1:00 a.m. Then he could sleep in the next morning. It wouldn’t be a bad night at all.

  His fingers had just hit the keyboard with that reassuring sound of the keys clicking away when shouting outside disrupted his thoughts. Aaron heard loud laughter from his next door neighbors often enough that he learned to tune that out. There were also shouted conversations from parking lot to the shared balcony in the apartment complex. There was also the occasional loud whistle, but these shouts sounded angry.

  When he heard anger in a voice, Aaron always tensed up. His father was a gentle man, but his uncle was the opposite. The memory of visits with his cousins and the shouting they endured from their father lingered somewhere deep in Aaron’s subconscious every time he heard the sound of anger in a voice.

  Aaron took a deep breath and pushed himself back from the computer. He stood up and quietly walked to the front door of his apartment. Placing his ear to the door with his hand cupped to act like a makeshift stethoscope, Aaron listened.

  As he suspected, Ethan was back. Ethan was shouting to Christy something about what a mess she made of everything. He was casting blame on her for their failed relationship. Aaron heard a few high-pitched shouts back imploring Ethan to leave.

  Aaron heard no sounds of a physical altercation. In fact, the voices were some distance apart. He guessed that Christy was on the balcony of her second-floor apartment or possibly even standing in the doorway. Ethan sounded like he was on the ground level, perhaps in the parking lot.

  Aaron hoped to hear the sound of a car door and then driving away. Instead, he just heard more shouts and that word, “Christy!” followed by expletives in a deep, growling voice.

  Past experience told him that the situation might take thirty minutes to resolve, but so far Ethan’s rages resulted in no more than shouting and occasional minor property damage. Christy insisted that she could deal with it,
and she would call the police if anything escalated.

  Once before, Aaron wanted to call the police himself, but he held back, because Christy asked him never to do that without consulting her first. She feared the interference of authorities with raising Sylvia.

  Aaron wondered about how it was possible to really ever got rid of someone that caused such grief in your life. He wondered what kind of worry and stress Christy experienced on a daily basis. He wondered if she thought Ethan would never completely disappear.

  Aaron heard what sounded like a car door and then a moment of silence. It was followed by the sound of an apartment door closing. Aaron breathed a heavy sigh of relief. He turned around to resume work on the app when he heard the shout, “Christy!” again. It was followed by shouts from the balcony. The arguments were starting all over.

  Aaron considered whether to go to the door to listen once again. He stood frozen in the doorway to his home office. Then he heard the sound that prompted him to action.

  It was the sound of Sylvia crying. The cry of a child was instantly distinguishable from that of an adult. Aaron could not stand to hear the sound of Sylvia’s tears without responding by trying to do something.

  He opened the door to his apartment and stepped out on to the open-air balcony walkway that connected all of the second floor units. Christy’s apartment was three units away and around a corner. Aaron stepped up to the balcony railing and stared down at the dimly lit parking lot.

  Aaron could make out the silhouette of Christy’s ex. He was yelling, “See! You made her cry! She should be with me instead of an unfit mother!”

  Trying to make his voice sound as deep as possible, Aaron yelled back, “We know who’s the unfit parent here.” Then, in a quieter voice, he turned in Christy’s direction and said, “Go back inside. Take Sylvia and shut the door. I’ll take care of this.”

  “Get down here and say it to my face!” yelled Ethan. “Whoever you are.” Aaron could see that he was scanning the balcony trying to pick out the direction of the voice.

  Christy whispered, “Aaron, no, this isn’t your fight.”

  Aaron hissed, “Just get in the apartment,” as he started to scrambled down the concrete staircase to ground level. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest and the hair on his arms standing on end. He was by no means a fighter, and he rarely stood up to bullies, even when they picked on him in high school Instead, he gathered together Yale’s and Thomas’ intimidating bulk to help ward of the offenders.

  Christy whispered again, “Aaron, please.”

  He turned his head up toward the balcony and said, “Christy, do it now!”

  Aaron shuddered slightly when he heard the door to Christy’s apartment close, and he realized he was alone with an angry man. Ethan met Aaron at the bottom of the staircase. Ethan asked, “So, who are you butting into my private life?”

  Aaron stepped down off the bottom step and squeezed slightly to the side. He didn’t want to have an uneven surface beneath his feet. He answered, “I’m a friend of Christy’s, and I think she has told you more than once that she doesn’t want you to come back here.”

  The man glared at him and leaned forward with a growl in his voice and small droplets of spit escaping into the air. “It’s none of your fucking business. She has my child, and she won’t let me see her. I don’t care what the fucking lawyers say. She’s my child!”

  Aaron did his best to calm things by saying, “If you just leave right now, nobody will call the cops. If you don’t, then you’ll have to tell someone with a whole lot more authority than me what your story is.”

  His attempts failed, and the anger only escalated. Aaron reached into his pocket for his cell phone, and he didn’t see the punch coming. It landed squarely on his upper cheek bone propelling him backward. He wavered on his feet but managed somehow to stay upright. He gripped the lower iron railing of the staircase to try and regain his balance, while Ethan backed away.

  Ethan yelled, “That’s just the fucking beginning. Butt out of my life if you know what’s good for you.”

  Aaron was still shaking his head and reaching up toward his eye to try and figure out whether anything was broken when the car engine started and tires screeched as it raced from the parking lot.

  The next sound Aaron remembered was feet scrambling down the staircase and Christy’s voice, “Are you okay? Damn, that’s why I told you this isn’t your fight. It’s between Ethan and me.”

  Aaron’s eye was already starting to throb and swell as he blinked and tried to focus on Christy. He said, “I heard Sylvia crying. I couldn’t help myself.”

  “Come up to the apartment with me, and let me take a look at that eye.”

  He followed behind and climbed the steps. Heavy doses of adrenaline were still coursing through his veins, but he was pleased that he didn’t just stand by while an innocent child like Sylvia was dragged into the mess. Something more permanent needed to be done about the situation, but he didn’t know what.

  Sylvia was watching a cartoon video when they entered the apartment, but she came rushing to the door squealing, “Mr. Austin!” and instantly wrapped her arms around his right leg.

  Christy said, “Now Sylvia, let Aaron walk. He’s got a sore place by his eye, and I need to help take care of that.”

  Sylvia asked, “Did you fall down, Mr. Austin? I got hurt right here when I fell down one time.” She pointed at her right forearm. “I had to have a Band-Aid on it.”

  Every time he saw Sylvia, Aaron was relieved that none of the rancor between Christy and her ex was ever turned directly on to the young girl. For all of the upheaval in the life of the adults around her, Sylvia was a remarkably happy child.

  Christy said, “Aaron, come sit here at the kitchen table. I’m going to get the first aid kit and a washcloth.”

  A few minutes later, Aaron winced when Christy dabbed at his cheekbone with the washcloth. “Ouch, be careful, Christy.”

  She said, “It doesn’t feel like anything is broken, but I bet you’re going to have one nasty black eye.”

  He grunted and said, “I’ll live.” Then he leaned toward Christy to whisper in her ear, “We need to talk about this sometime when Sylvia is asleep or she can stay with a sitter or something.”

  Christy nodded and said, “We need to visit Mrs. Crimshaft on the first floor again soon, don’t we Sylvia.”

  Sylvia turned away from her video for a moment and said, “Oh, can we go now? She gives me cookies, Mr. Austin!”

  Christy shook her head. “Not right now, and it’s really late. We need to get you to bed.”

  Sylvia pointed at the TV. “Can I wait until the story is over?”

  Christy smiled. “Yes, you can wait until the story is over, and I think Mr. Austin might just help tuck you in tonight.”

  Syliva bounced up and down and turned to look at Aaron. “Oh goodie. Tell me a bedtime story Mr. Austin!”

  6

  Jamie

  Jamie called his sister Christy at least twice a week. Now it was getting closer to three since she finally broke off the relationship with his niece Sylvia’s father. Having Ethan out of the picture was best for everyone involved. Christy fell hard for him at first, but soon after Sylvia was born it became obvious that he had real anger issues. Ethan was also jealous of the attention that the baby required from Christy. Despite Christy’s tearful insistence, he refused to seek counseling, and, in the end, Christy stood her ground and moved out taking Sylvia with her.

  Christy said, “I’m always happy to hear that things are going well for my baby brother. Maybe Sylvia and I can come up and visit sometime next summer. She would love the zoo, and she’s getting old enough to get a lot out of kids’ museums.”

  Jamie replied, “That would be great. My place is always open for the two of you. How are things going down there in the Cove?”

  She said, “The usual. Work is boring, but it pays the bills. Sylvia is getting bigger and smarter all the time.” She paused, and Ja
mie could hear a snuffle on Christy’s end.

  He said, “Hey, wait. What’s that about?”

  “That what?”

  “I heard snuffling.”

  Christy tried to sound cheerful and said, “Oh, I might have just a touch of a cold. Everything is…,” she paused, and then added, “Fine.”

  “Christy, don’t be holding back on me. I can read between the lines. Things aren’t fine. What’s going on?”

  She said, “It’s okay Jamie. Really, I can handle it. Don’t worry about anything.”

  Jamie was growing impatient. The more Christy tried to keep something from him, the worse it usually was. He said, “Tell me about it, or I’ll drive down there and find out myself.”

  She finally broke down and cried over the phone. After a few minutes Christy pulled herself together enough to tell Jamie that her ex was causing problems again. She said, “He even punched one of my friends here and gave him a black eye.”

  “Did you call the police?” asked Jamie.

  “I don’t want to. I can handle it, Jamie. If I call the cops, they might try to take Sylvia away.”

  “But he’s violent, Christy! You and Sylvia are at risk!”

  Christy regained much of her composure and said, “Jamie, please calm down. He has never hit me harder than a slap. He has never touched Sylvia when he’s angry. There is no reason to think he will start. Just let me handle this. I need your support, but I don’t need lectures.”

  Jamie took three long, deep breaths. He said, “I have some time that I need to take off from work. Can I come down there this Friday and then spend a four-day weekend? I think it would be good for Sylvia to get to know her uncle better.”

  “Will you be calm?” asked Christy. “Sylvia doesn’t need any more upheaval than she has already.”