The Other Side of the Street

by Nicole Thorn

  Her eyes locked on me like targets looking to go in for the kill. I smiled, waving at her as I got to my dance. She couldn’t blame me if no one liked Stanley’s fish.

  Hamilton cursed when Helen kept walking. I’d thought she would stop at the edge of the street, but she looked both ways and started making her way over. For what, I had no idea. I grabbed a jar of honey.

  “Would you be interested in a sample of our treats?” I asked Helen as she approached. “Only fifteen bucks. Twenty for you.”

  I’d never seen her look so harsh, hard and angry lines carved into her expression. “You all need to knock it off.”

  “Knock what off?” Hammy asked, putting his hands behind his head. “I have no idea what you might be talking about, ma’am.”

  Her hands went to her hips. “You think I’m dumb? You all started selling sandwiches right after we showed up? Are you trying to put us out of business? We’re over there just trying to get by. We don’t bother you, so why do you have to bother us?”

  “Oh, you bother me,” I said. “You parked in my spot, and now I can’t go back over there. You’re the ones threatening our business, and we’re trying to keep our heads above water. If you don’t want to deal with it, then go somewhere else.”

  You would have thought I’d suggested she go fuck herself or something. “Excuse me? You’re trying to chase us away?”

  “I’m trying to earn a living. It’s not my fault you don’t make very good food. Eventually, the low prices aren’t going to be enough to sell it. See, me and my partner here have good products on our side, and you have nothing but a stolen, prime spot across the street. If you have a problem with us, then you’re more than welcome to leave.”

  It felt like I’d started a war. Maybe I had. I fought for my entire future, and this lady and her husband started their business because of a whim. It didn’t seem fair. I knew that life wasn’t fair, but this felt like too much. I just wanted to give my family what they deserved. If I had to fight, then I would fight.

  “You’re stealing our idea,” Helen said. “Stop selling sandwiches.”

  Hamilton laughed. When did he get beside me? I’d missed it. He’d also taken the honey from my hands and set it down again. It felt like I lost time with every single blink.

  “That’s not going to happen,” Hamilton said. “We can sell whatever we want to.”

  “Oh, so you wouldn’t mind if I started selling honey and jerky over with my husband?”

  I snorted. “As if you know the first thing about making honey. Do you have any idea how much work it is? Do you have the hours to give?”

  Hamilton put his hand on my shoulders, stopping me from swaying. “Hey, you should go sit down. I can take care of this.”

  “Why don’t you take him home?” Helen said. “Instead of fighting with me, you can take care of your sick friend.”

  “I’m not sick,” I said. “I’m pissed off that you took what was mine, and now you want me to leave. Why the hell does everyone want me to leave all the time?”

  Helen looked done with me, Hamilton, and everything else. She stepped closer to us but didn’t look intimidating. “I’m telling you both right now, that this isn’t going to end like you think it is. Stanley and I aren’t going anywhere. We’re here to stay, no matter what dirty tricks you try and pull.”

  Hamilton gave her a smile. “Then I look forward to your company, ma’am. Feel free to leave now and get back to your sandwiches. Try not to choke on them.”

  I wished that truck would roll down a hill and crash into a tree already. Even if they left, someone else would probably come along. I felt cursed. My truck died, my spot got stolen, it got stolen again, my sworn enemy had started looking hotter and hotter, and some guy kept hanging around, and he had all this history and months of intimacy that I couldn’t even compete with. All the control in my life slipped through my fingers.

  Back to work, I supposed.

  “Jay, sit back down,” Hamilton said, but I already walked away.

  I took up the sign on the table before I started dancing again. I didn’t have it in me to sing or yell. People driving by would only notice the dancing anyway.

  Every step hurt, but I kept on going. I waved the sign. Occasionally, the air from it would hit my face, feeling cold on the sweat. I wished the fleeting relief could have stretched out for longer.

  When’s the last time I had water? I couldn’t remember anymore as my stomach started to feel heavy. Everything started to feel heavy, actually, it felt harder to walk. Colors drained into a fuzzy smear and I couldn’t focus on anything solid. Solid didn’t exist anymore.

  I stopped, the sign slipping from my fingers. It hit the ground but I hardly noticed it. I could only feel the heat, and the whole world falling away from me like some unforeseen force pulled it.

  I looked around, my gut knowing what I wanted but nothing else able to catch up. I saw him there, and when he saw me, he had horror in his eyes. I let out a breath, and it felt like it would be my last.

  “Hammy?” I asked, feeling the last of my world being pulled out of me. Everything shut off as I fell to the ground.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Hamilton

  I managed to catch Jay before he hit the pavement. A few people from the food truck glanced over, but I’d already propped the door to the RV open and started dragging Jay inside it.

  Sam stuck his head in, a concerned look on his face. “Is he okay?”

  “Oh, yeah,” I responded, laying Jay down. “Everyone passes out for no reason, without it being a problem. Hasn’t it happened to you?”

  Sam frowned at me. “Don’t get snippy.” He came into the RV, still frowning as he watched me haul Jay over to the couch and lay him on it. Sam had left one of the coolers on the couch, so I had to kick it off before I could ease Jay’s head back. He looked flush; his face so red that I almost didn’t notice how pale he looked underneath it. His hair had turned dark with sweat.

  Sam finally came over, still frowning. “Should I call nine-one-one?” he asked.

  “No!” I said, harsher than necessary.

  “Are you sure? He doesn’t look like he’s doing so good right now.”

  “I’m positive,” I grumbled. “If you call nine-one-one, he’ll kill us. Do you have any idea how much an ambulance ride is?”

  Sam shrugged.

  Me, having lived through paying those bills twice, glanced away. “Then count yourself lucky. The ambulance alone would force him to give up on the honey. If they actually gave him anything at the emergency room? Forget about it. He would be eternally screwed. Even with a full-time job, he wouldn’t be able to pay all the bills without help from his parents.”

  “Is that a good enough reason not to call an ambulance?” Sam asked.

  Spoken like someone who never had to consider these things before. When my father had gotten out of the hospital after his surgery, there had been days where we had to consider it, where he just didn’t feel too good. Those had been the bad times, where we knew that another stay at the hospital would put us in a position where we would be in real trouble.

  “If he doesn’t wake up soon, I’ll consider,” I said, just to get Sam to shut up about the whole thing. “Get out, will you?”

  “What?”

  “We need someone watching the honey and the jerky, so that people outside don’t realize what’s happened. Go.”

  Sam frowned at me. “That’s cold.”

  He could think what he wanted, but I knew what Jay would prefer if we asked him. He would be mad at us for abandoning our posts for this long. The idiot never listened to reason, either.

  The second Sam left, I walked over to the ice chest that contained the bottles of water, and an entire bag of ice that had mostly melted. I grabbed a towel and glass. I put the towel around the back of his head and scooped some freezing cold water out of the cooler.

  Then I dumped the entire thing onto Jay’s face.

  He awoke with a start and
tried to sit up. He couldn’t.

  “What?” Jay shouted, waving his hands around. “The bees are out?”

  “Calm down!” I said, grabbing him by the shoulders. His wild eyes bored into mine, not recognizing me. I had to hold onto his shoulders while he struggled, but he still hadn’t regained enough strength to actually test me. I held on until he slumped back against the couch, panting.

  He felt so hot to the touch that it became difficult to hold him. I just kept thinking that my body heat would make it worse and he would pass out again. “Are you calm?” I asked.

  Jay mumbled something that didn’t make a lot of sense to me.

  I pulled back to look at his face. His eyes appeared glazed over, uncertain of the things happening around us. I pushed him back gently, so that he rested against the damp towel. “Okay, listen,” I said, speaking calmly. “You overworked yourself and passed out. Do you want to go to the hospital?”

  “No!” he said, grabbing my shoulders, understanding how screwed he’d be if we made this a hospital trip.

  I nodded. “Then we need to get you out of that bee suit and back to my house.”

  Jay blinked, uncomprehendingly. He glanced down at the suit, which seemed to surprise him for some reason. I’d seen this sort of thing before, with my mother, years ago. A combination of being stuck in the heat for too long and not having enough water. I felt certain that every medical professional would call me insane for not immediately getting him to a hospital, but of course, they got paid when we did things like that.

  I helped Jay to his feet and turned him around so that I could work the zipper on his bee costume. He didn’t fight me when I yanked that zipper down. The back of his shirt had sweat soaked through it, which didn’t surprise me. I peeled the suit off him, and Jay collapsed onto the couch, face down on the damp towel. His mouth hung open slightly, which might have been cute if not for the way he had been acting.

  Severely dehydrated, I thought.

  I moved back to the RV door and popped it open. Sam stood outside with his megaphone again—I couldn’t figure out for the life of me how he had gotten it back—and shouted into the thing at everyone passing by. It didn’t seem to be working out, seeing as how many potential buyers stared at him like he was a lunatic.

  “Sam!” I called.

  He turned toward me, surprise on his face. Then he came jogging over. “Something wrong?”

  “Lots of things, starting with the megaphone and ending with the unconscious guy on my RV couch. Jay needs to cool off and get something to drink. I’m going to leave you with all the supplies. You can stay here for the rest of the day and make your own way home, okay?”

  Sam frowned. “You want me to sell by myself?”

  “Yes,” I said, already grabbing the cooler full of jerky and thrusting it at him. He barely managed to catch it, stumbling backward a step.

  “Um…”

  I grabbed a box of honey jars and walked it off the RV. I put it down on the table while Sam still blubbered on about something that ultimately didn’t matter. Finally, I dropped the sandwiches off, while Sam continued to blather on.

  “What?” I asked, squinting at him.

  “Are you sure that this is a good idea?” he said, shuffling his feet. “Maybe we should just call it a day.”

  “No. If Jay gets coherent again and finds out that we missed a day, he’ll drive himself into the ground tomorrow trying to make up for it. You’re going to stay here and sell everything. All right?”

  Sam’s mouth opened and closed for several seconds before he finally nodded his agreement.

  “Good. I’ll call in about an hour to see how you’re doing.” I left him there, getting back onto the RV. Jay hadn’t moved from the couch, his face smashed against the cushions and his hair sticking up. I strapped him down using a seatbelt that had been built into the couch for reasons I didn’t know, and then got behind the wheel.

  Fifteen minutes and a lot of careful driving later, I parked behind my house and went to grab Jay again. He mumbled when I started messing with him, and he refused to wake up. Finally, I threw the idiot over my shoulder and carried him into the house that way. I assumed that he wouldn’t want to wake up in a strange bed, so I dumped him onto our pit of a couch, where he opened his eyes just long enough to call me a jerk.

  Purricane jumped onto the couch and batted at his nose.

  I moved the AC down to seventy and turned the ceiling fan on, before grabbing him a Gatorade from the fridge. I patted him on the face until he opened his eyes and then forced him to drink some.

  “I don’t want it,” he grumbled.

  “Drink,” I ordered. “Drink, or I tell your parents that you’re too sick to work for the rest of the week.”

  He narrowed his foggy eyes. “You wouldn’t.”

  “I might anyway,” I said. “Now, drink.” He reluctantly took the bottle from me, and then drained half of it in one go. That should have been enough to make him admit that I had been right. But no, he just set it down and slumped back against the pillow. He didn’t fall asleep again, though, which seemed like a good sign.

  He rubbed his eyes and then groaned. “What happened?”

  “What do you remember?”

  “You undressing me.”

  “Well, can’t say I’m surprised there,” I responded.

  He glared.

  “You passed out and I had to pull you out of the bee costume. You’re done for the day. Sam is watching the stand, and you’re gonna stay here and rest, as soon as you change out of those clothes.”

  Jay’s face went through every expression that I could imagine. Surprise, fear, horror, anger, and finally disbelief. “What? No, I’m fine. Let’s head back.”

  “Jay…”

  “Seriously,” he said, starting to sit up again. He didn’t even seem to be aware that his hands had started shaking. Purricane growled at him and dropped to the floor, walking out of the room with all the dignity in the world. “Thanks for not doing anything drastic, but I swear that I feel fine now. Let’s just go back to the store and—”

  “Stop!” I yelled.

  Jay jumped, staring at me in open surprise. I took a deep breath and let it out again. “You need to just stop. Everything that you’re doing right now is the problem. This is why we’re here in the first place.”

  Irritation started to cloud his features. “I need to make money.”

  “You can’t make money if you’re dead,” I said.

  He flinched.

  “What do you think would have happened if I hadn’t been there?”

  “I would have had my spot, and this wouldn’t have been a problem,” Jay barked back at me.

  “Really, is that what you think?” I asked. “You think Helen and Stanley wouldn’t have showed up if I hadn’t showed up?”

  He glanced away from me.

  “You think you wouldn’t be trying this hard if it weren’t for me? Because what I think would have happened is that you’d still be doing all the same things, and you would have passed out, but instead of having a friend there to pull you into the safety of the RV, you would have hit the ground. Eventually, someone would find you there, and they would call an ambulance. And then you’d have that bill and the hospital bill, and your parents and siblings would be freaked the fuck out. They would be worried about you while they’re at their own jobs, and who knows what could come with that!”

  “I get it!” Jay said.

  “Do you?” I didn’t yell this time, but my voice came out harshly, croaking. I sounded insane, and I wished that I could take it down a notch, but this hard ball had formed in my chest and I couldn’t shake it.

  “Yes,” Jay said, more subdued than before. He stared down at his lap, frowning. “Yeah, I get it, okay?”

  I relaxed, glancing away. Clearing my throat, I said, “You should change, before you notice how bad those clothes smell.”

  “I don’t have anything else.”

  “My bedroom is at the end of t
he hall,” I said, gesturing in the right direction. “It’s the one Purricane is currently screaming at. Just go get something of mine.”

  Jay didn’t argue. He got up and shuffled off down the hall, moving slower than he normally would have. When I heard the door click closed, I breathed out and collapsed onto the couch, closing my eyes. I shouldn’t have blown up at him like that, and I knew that he deserved an apology.

  The front door opened. I shot up and rushed down the short hallway that led to the front door, prepared to seriously scream at—

  My father.

  He looked taken aback by my presence. “Ham? What are you doing home so early? I was just about to come and bring you boys something to eat.”

  I rubbed my face.

  “Ham?” Dad asked, worried now.

  I told him everything, sometimes sounding so stressed that my voice strained. By the time I finished, I’d started to shake.

  Dad put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me over to the couch. I plopped down and propped my elbows up on my knees, lowering my head. Dad patted my shoulder. “Why don’t you sit here for a second, and I’ll go check on Jay. Make sure that there isn’t anything truly wrong with him, okay?”

  “Okay,” I said.

  Dad vanished, and I collapsed against the couch, too exhausted to do anything else. It felt like I had been the who passed out, not Jay. When I heard Dad’s footsteps, I jumped off the couch. “Is Jay okay?”

  “Yeah,” Dad responded. “He’s asleep on your bed, but he’s wearing a pair of your old PJs. He looks fine.”

  I almost collapsed onto the couch in relief.

  Dad frowned at me. “Hey, Ham?”

  “Yeah?” I asked. “Are you about to ask me if I called his parents? The answer is no. I thought they would freak out, and I figured that Jay would probably want some time to rest before they came to get him.”

  “Uh, well, that’s good to know. I’ll call his mother in a little bit to see what she wants done. That’s not what I was going to ask you.”

  I looked up at him, a frown on my face. “Oh? What, then?”