Tigers on the Run

by Sean Kennedy

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Me?” I asked. “What on earth makes you think he will listen to me? He never has.”

  “Well, he’s not listening to me either.”

  I chewed on my nail. By the time Micah got his act together I wouldn’t have any fingertips left. “I’m going to have to call in the big guns. Speak to you later.”

  And I hung up. I took a deep breath and looked up at Dec, even though I was dreading it.

  “Dec, my love,” I said, knowing I was probably the furthest thing from it right now, “come on. We have another fire to put out.”

  “THIS TIME I’ll rip his bloody head off,” Dec said as we got out of the car.

  “Oh, good, that’s just the attitude we need.”

  We had driven in silence all the way to Coby’s house, where he was going to meet us. Dec was talking about Jasper, however. Coby’s head was safe; I wasn’t so sure about mine.

  “I suppose you think this is funny? That I’m the one going off the deep end for once, and you’re being calm and quiet?”

  “I don’t find any of this funny,” I said truthfully.

  I saw it hit him, and he stopped walking, his hands on his hips in defeat. “I’m sorry. I’m taking this out on you.”

  “It’s my fault.”

  “It didn’t help, but a lot of things caused this, my mistakes included.”

  “I know you’re mad at me, and that’s fine. But just know I’m here to help, and try to fix it.”

  “I know.”

  It burned a little that he didn’t argue against being mad with me. But he did stretch out his hand, and I took it. We resumed walking, his pace quicker so that he was practically dragging me along.

  Thankfully Jasper’s car was in Coby’s driveway. We weren’t too late. For what exactly, I didn’t know. Like I said, we hadn’t talked in the car although as Dec kept trying to get hold of Micah and his parents.

  Coby opened the door immediately. “What a surprise!”

  “You knew we were coming,” I said.

  Coby glared at me.

  “We’re not pretending,” Dec said firmly. “Where’s Jasper?”

  “I’m on my way out,” Jasper said as he emerged from beyond the hallway. A vague shadow, I could tell he had his bag with him and looked ready for business.

  Dec pushed past Coby. “No, you’re not.”

  “You can’t run out on visitors,” I said, trying to make up for Dec’s brusqueness.

  By now we were all in Coby’s kitchen, and it seemed tiny. Dec loomed over us all like a pissed-off parent, and Jasper instinctively backed away for more room.

  “What do you want?” Jasper asked, trying to sound tougher than he looked.

  “Are you on your way to meet Micah?”

  Jasper looked genuinely shocked. “No, why?”

  “But he called you?”

  “Yeah, he called me. And I tried to call him back. But I didn’t get hold of him.” Jasper turned to Coby. “You dobbed on me? I must have forgotten when I woke up this morning that I was back in primary school.”

  Coby gestured helplessly.

  “Why am I always the bad guy?” Jasper asked.

  “Do I even need to answer that?” I snorted.

  “Don’t start.” Jasper adjusted the strap of his bag. “If that’s it, then I’m off.”

  “Hold on a minute,” Dec said. “Where are you going?”

  “To work! I told you, I know nothing about Micah except that he wanted to talk to me. I guess he doesn’t want to talk to you.”

  Dec shook his head, trying not to lose his temper.

  Jasper was at least smart enough to realise that, so he started babbling. “He just left a long message, saying that he was quitting football, that he’d had enough, and he wanted to give me an exclusive. That’s all.”

  “Let me hear it,” Dec said.

  Jasper didn’t put up a fight. He punched some buttons on the screen, and handed his phone over to Dec.

  Dec’s frown deepened as he listened. He handed the phone back when the message ended. “And you didn’t think that was the sound of a kid in trouble?”

  “I told you, I tried to call him back.”

  “But you didn’t think of calling me?”

  “You’re not his dad, Dec.”

  “Okay, so did you call his parents?”

  “How would I know their number?” Jasper asked, exasperated.

  “By calling me and talking to me,” Dec said slowly and painfully, as if speaking to a child. “Then I could have called them. Instead, it was Coby who did the right thing. He knew to get other people involved. You know, like you’re meant to do if somebody’s in trouble. Get somebody to help them, rather than just writing it off.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind next time.”

  Dec made a move for him, and Jasper chose that moment to flee. Coby followed him, while I restrained Dec by placing a hand upon his chest. Of course, this really wouldn’t have stopped him if he wanted to pursue Jasper, but he just stood there and scowled.

  I could hear Coby and Jasper arguing at the front door, but not what they were saying.

  “Do you believe Jasper?” I asked.

  Dec sighed. “I do, actually. He wouldn’t be able to resist bragging if he had some in with Micah that I didn’t have.”

  “Then what do we do now?”

  “Try his parents again, I guess.”

  Coby entered the kitchen. “Well, I’m in trouble.”

  “Sorry, Coby,” Dec said.

  He shrugged. “I guess he has a right to be mad. In his eyes, I betrayed him.”

  “Like Dec said, you did the right thing,” I told him.

  Coby turned on me. “For you, yeah. Not for me.”

  “For Micah,” Dec said. “For fuck’s sake, everybody’s so worried about themselves, but it’s Micah who feels all alone and feels betrayed. At least we’ve got the excuse that we’re adults and better equipped to handle it.”

  “Dec,” I said gently. “He knows he has support.”

  “That probably doesn’t matter much to him right now.”

  “It might, if he hadn’t knocked it back at every opportunity!”

  Dec glared at me. “That isn’t helping.”

  “Guys, don’t you start fighting over this,” Coby said.

  “We’re not fighting!” Dec and I snapped together.

  “Obviously.” Coby walked over to put the kettle on.

  “Let’s go see his parents,” I suggested to Dec.

  “They probably won’t let me in again.”

  “Then you can scale up the wall and into his bedroom.”

  “A thirty-two-year-old man breaking into the bedroom of a seventeen-year-old boy? Do you want me to get arrested?” Dec paused. “Besides, they’re single storey.”

  “Well. That makes it easier, then.”

  Dec burst out laughing, and that seemed to relieve Coby.

  “Tea first,” Coby said. “And then you guys can get arrested, but please leave me out of it. I don’t think Jasper would pay my bail right now.”

  Chapter 15

  “DO YOU want me to go in with you?” I asked Dec as we pulled into the Johnsons’ driveway.

  “Maybe you’re not the best person to see Micah, after what happened today.”

  “Oh,” I said, wounded.

  “Don’t give me that look,” he pleaded. “You know what Micah’s like. It’s going to be difficult enough to talk to him.”

  I had to be the adult. “I’m not the bad guy.”

  “I know you’re not.”

  But he obviously still thought I had fucked up. I mean, I still thought I had fucked up.

  “Simon,” he said, gently.

  “I’m fine, go and see him.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check my e-mails.

  He sighed, but opened the door and left. I grimaced as I read an e-mail from my manager berating me for the money that was wasted on a day of empty shooting. He didn’t
have to tell me, as I was already aware how much had been blown. The thing was, it was a moot point anyway; it would end up being charged to GetOut as they were funding the documentary, and Dec would probably pay it out of his own pocket rather than let them absorb it. So I was being chewed out by my boss for nothing. And I couldn’t defend myself because I didn’t want to get fired.

  Bloody Micah Johnson, I thought to myself as I carefully worded a reply back to my boss that pointed out these very pertinent facts in a way that wouldn’t find me at a Centrelink office tomorrow. I’ve had enough of your dramas. (Obviously that wasn’t directed at my boss, or else I would find myself without a job.)

  I jumped when Dec rapped loudly on my window. I wound it down, alarmed by the look of panic on his face.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Micah’s run away from home. His parents are hysterical.”

  Dec was actually looking pretty close to it himself.

  Fucking hell, I had done it again. I had cursed us with that stray thought about Micah’s dramas, and now I was reaping what I sowed.

  “Let me talk to them,” I said.

  It showed Dec’s state of mind that he didn’t automatically think this was a bad idea. He nodded, and I followed him into the house.

  THE JOHNSONS were conservative people. I’m not sure about their politics, but if they’d been giving Micah grief over being gay I had to guess they weren’t of the so far Left I’m off a cliff variety like me. I meant they were conservative in dress, design, and decoration. No wonder Micah felt stifled.

  But that didn’t mean they were horrible people. They were perfectly pleasant. I got the feeling that they wouldn’t have been with loggerheads about Micah being gay if they had had time to process it a little, and if he hadn’t been making such an arse of himself. There was fault on both sides. Micah was basically confirming their worst fears by acting up and acting out.

  When it came down to it, however, I was Team Micah. And not just because I felt responsible for his disappearance. He was a kid, lashing out, feeling misunderstood, and his parents hadn’t given him the response and the immediate acceptance he wanted—no, needed. They had failed him, not the other way round. He was still trying to find a place in a home he felt had rejected him.

  “We don’t know what set him off this time,” Joanne said. “He came home in a foul mood and wouldn’t talk to us. Then when we tried to get him to come down for dinner a couple of hours later, that’s when we found out he was gone.”

  “We should call the police,” Rick said. “We should have done it already.”

  Dec was biting the inside of his lip, deep in thought. “That might not be the best idea.”

  “This is our child we’re talking about!” Joanne cried.

  “I think Declan has a point,” Rick said, and at his wife’s expression, “Hear me out! I don’t think he’s in any danger, and if we involve the police, it could screw up his chances of getting into training camp.”

  “I don’t think that’s the most important issue here,” Dec said, as gently as he could. “Micah’s just really unhappy, and he needs to make sure that he doesn’t potentially fuck up anything he may actually want to do later. We just need to get him home and allow him to think over everything rationally.”

  “This is my fault,” I said suddenly.

  Joanne and Rick looked at me in surprise. Dec winced.

  “Micah and I had words this afternoon,” I continued. “And he found out that we had been discussing the reason why he had to leave school.”

  Both parents flushed, and I thought it best not to elaborate.

  “I told him there was no way it was going to be used in the documentary, but it freaked him out. I’m sorry.”

  Rick gave a wan smile. “Micah’s problems are many. You didn’t cause him to run away.”

  It didn’t make me feel any better, and I didn’t think it would absolve me with Declan, either. But at least to be fair, Declan was blaming himself just as much, if not more.

  “Can I use your loo?” I asked.

  I was given directions, and left Dec to continue discussing Micah with his parents.

  I passed a set of bedrooms—the posters on the door signified these were obviously Micah’s and his brother’s. One door stood open, and from the mess and the AFL posters on the wall I guessed it to be Micah’s lair. I hovered in the doorway for a moment, and turned to go on to the loo when I saw the door opposite was now open.

  A mini Micah was staring at me, and I jumped.

  “Shit, you scared me!”

  He looked about five years younger than his brother.

  “Are you Declan Tyler’s boyfriend?” he asked, totally unfazed by putting that out there.

  “His partner, yeah.”

  “My friend Cheryl has two dads. They’re pretty cool.”

  “Two dads, and they called her Cheryl?” I asked, surprised.

  “That’s what she says. I’m Alex.”

  “Nice to meet you, Alex,” I said, wondering if I should shake hands. “I’m Simon.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Looking for your loo.”

  “No, I mean, what are you doing about Micah? I heard Mum talking on the phone, but then Dad sent me up here.”

  “Well, we’re trying to figure that out.”

  “I tried to talk to Mum about it, but she fobbed me off.”

  “Talk about what?”

  “I know where Micah’s gone.”

  “And your mum fobbed you off about that?”

  “She was stressed and not listening.”

  Oh, boy. Alex probably had that happen a lot, especially when there was golden child Micah to contend with.

  “Where do you think he’s gone?”

  “Not think, I know.”

  “He told you?”

  “He’s gone off to be with his boyfriend. Did you know he’s got one?”

  “He did let it slip.”

  “I don’t think he wanted anyone to know.”

  “Why?”

  “He’s older.”

  A cold sweat broke on me. Could this get any worse? “How old?”

  “Eighteen.”

  Crisis averted. For now. I’d been having sudden visions of finding Micah shacked up with a fifty-year-old predator. And Dec having a heart attack because of it.

  “So your parents don’t even know?”

  Alex rolled his eyes. “Of course they don’t. He wouldn’t tell them anything like that.”

  “So how do you know?”

  He gave a sassy smile. “Because I’m a sneak. And I heard him talking to him on the phone. Lots of times.”

  I liked this kid’s style.

  “Okay, but how do you know where his boyfriend lives?”

  He walked into Micah’s room, and I followed him. Pulling the desk chair out, Alex propped it against the wall and stood upon so he could reach the air conditioning vent. He removed it like an experienced electrician, felt around inside, and pulled out a battered St. Kilda pencil tin.

  “I really don’t think I should look in that,” I said.

  “I think your boyfriend should go get him. He won’t come back with my parents.” He handed me the tin.

  “And what does this have to do with it?”

  “It’s got all his secrets in there. Plus Jeff’s address.”

  “I thought you kids put everything on your phones nowadays?” I asked.

  “And what will happen if there’s an electromagnetic pulse that wipes out technology? We won’t even know our friend’s numbers.” He noticed my expression. “What? I like disaster movies.”

  “If there is an EMP you won’t even be able to call your friends, so it won’t matter,” I told him.

  Alex’s eyes widened. “Snap!”

  I pulled the lid off the tin and started rifling through the contents. I hurriedly flipped past the half packet of condoms (Dec did not need to start worrying about his protégé’s sex life, although it seemed he was at le
ast practising safe sex) and the bag of mull (another thing to avoid telling Dec, although if I got the chance I should probably tell Micah to quit it before he went on training camp) and found a small notebook.

  “How old school,” I murmured. “I hope it’s not a diary.”

  “It’s not.”

  “Alex!”

  “How else do you think I know Jeff’s address is in there?”

  “You better hope Micah never finds out. But he’ll definitely wonder how I did.”

  “Tell him you got a tip off.”

  “I’m not an investigative journalist, Alex.”

  “Then tell him Emma told you.”

  “Emma? Emma Goldsworthy?”

  “She runs a gay teen forum for all the kids in GetOut, and closeted kids who aren’t but want help.”

  “She does?” These kids were far cooler than I had ever been at their age. “Of course she does. I don’t think Dec knows about that.”

  “Well, duh. It’s so they can talk without adults finding out.”

  That depressed me. I was definitely an oldie in this generation’s eyes. I always fooled myself into thinking I was young and hip, but I might as well be wearing a cardigan and getting books on tape out of the library. Books on tape.

  I really didn’t want to go through the notebook, but I quickly skimmed through the collection of names and numbers. Jeff’s was flanked by a heart on either side. I had gotten a glimpse into Micah’s hidden side, and I felt I had violated it. He would die, or kill me, if he knew I’d seen this page. And seen how unabashedly lovey-dovey he was when no one was looking.

  But I had to do what I had to do. I snapped a pic of it with my phone and stuck the book back in the tin.

  “How the hell did he find a boyfriend in Lorne?” I asked Alex. “It’s a five-hour round trip!”

  “Online.” Alex shrugged.

  “He couldn’t have met someone closer?”

  “You have met Micah, yeah? You could only go out with him if you lived hundreds of miles away.”

  I wanted to laugh, but it felt a little cruel. Even for two people who Micah had pissed off quite a bit in recent times. “You can put this back for me?” I asked.

  Alex nodded.

  “You did good. I honestly don’t know where we would have begun, and your parents seem just as stumped.”