Are You Listening to Me?

by Mary M. Cushnie-mansour

  Camden stopped about a foot from Toby. “Get out of the way, cat,” Camden ordered. “This sidewalk’s for people, not overweight, lazy cats!”

  Toby rolled over but made no move to get up. “Go around me, buddy.” He rolled back so he could face Camden. Toby noticed Camden’s foot start to move toward him. “Dare you!”

  Just then the front door of Jack’s house opened, and Jack stepped out onto the porch. “Hey there, Camden, glad I caught you. I was wondering if you and your sister would like to come over for supper tomorrow night.”

  Camden’s foot rested back down on the walkway. He threw Toby a nasty look and muttered, “Next time, cat.” Then he turned to Jack. “That would be nice. What time?”

  “Around six, good?”

  “I have to work until six; could you make it six-thirty?”

  “Sure. Anything in particular you guys don’t like?”

  “Nah, we pretty well eat anything.”

  “See you tomorrow night then.”

  “Looking forward to it. I gotta get to work now, though.” Camden threw another nasty look at Toby and then stepped around him.

  “Didn’t see that did you, Jack? He was going to kick me––kick your best friend!” Toby sat up and moved off the sidewalk after Camden had passed. He decided to go back to the house and have another rest; he was shaken.

  “Not going down the street this morning, Toby?” Jack asked.

  Toby threw Jack a disdainful look and jumped up on the back of the couch. “What do you care? You just invited that guy over to our house … the guy who would have kicked me if you hadn’t opened the door to ask him over for supper. I could be lying out there on the sidewalk bleeding to death…” Toby closed his eyes.

  “Well, you have a good nap there, old man. I’m headed out to have coffee with the captain; been a while since Bryce and I got together, and he called me last night.”

  “I won’t wait up for you,” Toby didn’t even bother to take note of Jack’s exit.

  ~

  Brianna had not slept well. The email kept repeating over and over in her mind. But, one thing she did not do, unless she was at death’s door, was call in sick to work. Of course, of all days, she had to be there early today. Brianna crawled out of bed, staggered to the bathroom and turned on the shower. She let the water pour over her until her eyes began to open and her mind cleared.

  She had deleted the email, but it would still be in her deleted mail file; she hadn’t emptied her recycle box yet. She wondered if she should show it to someone, and then thought better of it. Probably just some punk trying to scare people. But, it was addressed directly to her. Brianna ran through a mental list of her friends, trying to figure out which one of them might pull something like this. Not one she could think of. By the time she got dressed and ate breakfast, Brianna had run out of time. She flew out the door and put the email out of her mind.

  It was an extra busy day at work and to top it off, Brianna’s principal called an emergency staff meeting. When it was over, all she wanted to do was go home and crash; she decided to forfeit the gym. “One night won’t kill me,” she mumbled as she got into her car and headed for home.

  ~

  Tyler slept through the alarm. He either had to delay getting groceries or forego his gym workout. As he was splashing water on his face, his stomach gave him the answer. He pulled on a pair of jogging pants, slipped into a T-shirt, and headed out the door to the grocery store. He went through Harvey’s drive-thru on the way home and picked up a burger combo. As he returned to the apartment, there was just enough time to put his groceries away and make lunch before he had to head out the door to work. The gym would have to wait until tomorrow night––that way he could spend longer because he didn’t work Friday nights.

  Any thoughts of the weird email had totally slipped his mind.

  ~

  Camden was watching the clock from three o’clock on, the usual time when Tyler showed up for his workout. Brianna should be arriving shortly after four. By five he assumed neither one was going to show. He was hoping he hadn’t upset them so much that they wouldn’t be back for a few days. That would disrupt his schedule. What if they didn’t return at all? Camden started to hyperventilate just thinking about that possibility.

  “Camden … you okay?” Paige’s voice cut into his thoughts. “There are a couple of customers waiting for drinks. Should I get them?”

  “No … no, I’m fine.” Camden turned to the customers. “Sorry about that; I guess my mind was wandering. Getting close to my shift’s end. What can I get for you, miss?” he asked the lady first, not being sure which customer had been there first.

  “I was here first,” the male customer inferred.

  “Sorry, I didn’t realize. I…”

  “You should pay more attention to your job, Camden.” The young man poked Camden’s name tag. “This isn’t the first time you’ve screwed up, and the gym has only been open for a week.”

  Camden’s face turned a dark red. His head began pounding. The young woman looked displeased. “It’s okay,” she said, a hint of sarcasm in her voice, “if the big man wants his drink first, by all means, serve him first.”

  “No!” Camden almost shouted. “He’s being rude. He can wait. What would you like, miss?”

  Paige noticed what was going on and she came around the corner. “Need some help here? How say I serve this guy and you assist the lady, Camden.” She paused. “Oh my God, Owen Bains! It’s you causing this ruckus. What has gotten into you?”

  Owen laughed. “Paige, could you get me a banana/pineapple smoothie please––I know it will be extra sweet, too, if you make it.” He paused. “I guess you better make it because, after the way I’ve treated Camden, he would probably put some poison in my drink, or something!” He laughed again.

  “Oh, Owen, you are too funny.” Paige giggled.

  Camden’s face drained of colour. He made a mental note to look up Owen’s information. The guy was a real jerk. Isabella had heard the commotion from her office and she was coming across the floor, heading for the drink counter. “Oh God,” Camden thought, “now I’m going to be disciplined for being rude to a customer, and it wasn’t my fault. I don’t even know why he was such a jerk to me.”

  “Everything okay here?” Isabella asked.

  “Everything is fine,” the young woman answered her. “This nice young man was just getting ready to mix me a strawberry smoothie, weren’t you, Camden?”

  Camden hesitated a second before replying: “That I was; what size did you want?”

  “Large.”

  Isabella looked puzzled but decided not to make anything more of it. Obviously whatever had been going on had been dealt with. She would pull Paige in later, when Camden wasn’t around, and ask her what had happened. Isabella had noticed Camden’s shortness with some of the clients, and she intended to speak to Mr. Rawlings about him. She didn’t care if he had been hired all the way from British Columbia. Sometimes her boss was too trusting and gave the wrong people a job. He had done the same thing at a former gym he had owned, and it had almost backfired on him. One of the clients was ready to sue the gym, but Isabella talked them out of it. It would be unfortunate if Camden lost his job, but that wasn’t her problem. The bottom line profit of the gym was her problem and cynical employees affected that bottom line.

  Paige and Camden served the clients their drinks, and then Paige returned to the front desk to buzz through a new arrival. Camden hoped it might be Brianna or Tyler. No such luck. He sighed. It was getting late anyway; his shift would be over before they would finish their workouts. He began to clean the counter and tidy the shelves. Camden didn’t like to leave a mess.

  “It’s kind of quiet now, Camden; could you please cover here for me for a sec?” Paige asked. “I have to go to the washroom.”

  “Sure, no problem.” Camden thought it would be the perfect opportunity for him to look up Owen’s email.

&nbs
p; Paige didn’t take as long as Camden expected. He was just writing down the last few letters on a piece of paper when she returned. He quickly clicked off the computer screen. “What are you doing, Camden?” Paige asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “What did you write on that piece of paper you just shoved in your pocket?” she pushed.

  “Nothing. What’s it to you anyway?”

  “Were you looking up my phone number, Camden?” Paige grinned mischievously. “Come on, admit it … yes … you were, weren’t you … you were looking up my phone number!”

  “No, Paige. I was not. I told you it was nothing.” Camden’s voice sounded edgy.

  “You are one weird dude, Camden Gale,” Paige laughed. “Oh well.”

  Camden returned to the drink counter and mixed a drink for another lady. She was nice and left him a one dollar tip. He looked at the clock. Five to six. “I’m going to take off now, Paige,” he called over to her.

  “No problem, it’s not so busy.”

  Camden retrieved his belongings from his locker and headed home. He was pondering whether to send the email to Owen tonight. No, better not––he had to deal with the other two first. Maybe he would send them another one. Yes, that was what he needed to do. As he passed by Jack and Toby’s house, he glanced at the picture window.

  “Lazy old cat,” he muttered when he noticed Toby on the back of the couch. Camden raised his middle finger in the direction of the window. Then he paused at the spot where Toby had lain across the sidewalk earlier that day and made a kicking motion. “Stupid cat. You’ll be sorry you ever tried to cross me. One day you’ll come trotting over to my house, and I’ll be there, and Duke will be extra agitated. If there’s one thing Duke is not fond of, it’s cats!”

  Camden figured Toby was sleeping and was just a dumb animal. He didn’t realize the old cat saw everything. Toby noticed the tension in Camden’s face and once again worried for Emma. He should have gone to visit her today. Oh well, he would see her tomorrow night. The only problem was that he would have to suffer through Camden’s company, as well.

  Emma had supper ready and was watching television when Camden stormed in the house. “Cam, what’s wrong?” she jumped up from the couch.

  “Some jerk almost got me in trouble today. I may still be in trouble. I don’t think Isabella thinks much of me and I get the feeling she’s always watching me. It doesn’t seem to matter what I do, it’s never good enough!”

  “I’m sorry to hear you had a rough day, Cam.” Emma went up to her brother and gave him a hug.

  He pushed her away. “Not now, Emma. I need to go to my room for a bit. You go ahead and eat. I’ll be down for something later.”

  Duke growled when Camden pushed Emma. “It’s okay, boy; Cam didn’t mean anything by it.” Duke walked over to Emma and stood protectively by her side. Camden stomped up the stairs to his room.

  Once inside his room, Camden took the baggie out of his pocket and placed it under his pillow again. He turned on his computer, sat down and waited for it to fire up. Camden put his hands on his temples and began to rub, hoping to alleviate the escalating pain. Finally, he could get into his email. He checked the regular account; still no message from Paige. Then he moved into his other account and brought up his special message.

  “Yep … I think those two need another warning.” He started with Brianna, making a few changes first. Send. Camden sat back and smiled. Then he sent a copy to Tyler. Camden hummed a little tune. He felt much better now. He shut the computer off and went downstairs for supper.

  “Sorry, Emma.” He planted a kiss on her forehead. “I shouldn’t take my work frustrations out on you.” He lifted the lid of the pot on the stove. “What do we have here?”

  “Chicken and dumplings––your favourite.”

  “Oh, by the way, I accepted an invitation to supper at Jack’s place tomorrow night. I didn’t think you would mind since you are so attached to Jack’s cat.”

  “That will be lovely.” Emma was pleased. It wasn’t often Cam liked someone enough to socialize with them. Maybe this Jack fellow would be good for her brother. Maybe they would stay here longer if Cam made a good friend. Then she could make friends, too.

  ~

  Brianna arrived home at six o’clock. She rummaged in her freezer for a leftover she could throw in the microwave. Finally, she was rewarded with a container of stew. It looked a bit frosty, but she really didn’t feel like cooking a meal from scratch.

  The principal had been concerned with the amount of violence on the playground. Brianna thought he was overreacting. Kids would be kids. They would wrestle, especially the boys. But there was no tolerance for violence of any kind across the school board, and Mr. Cunningham followed that policy to the letter. The result had been a big meeting, and there would now be three teachers on outside duty instead of the usual two.

  While her supper was heating up, Brianna turned her computer on. She had forgotten to send a reply to her brother last night. She noticed another strange email: this one said: ‘ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME’ in the subject line. “Dear Brianna: you are still being very, very naughty. I told you what happens to very naughty people. Did you think about it? Did you ridicule someone today … ignore someone just because … blame someone wrongfully? Were you nice to someone … really nice? Did you help someone today, just because … really help? I doubt you even gave my message a second thought. Oh, believe it, you are so pathetically naughty that I can’t stand it! You might still be able to turn this around and do something about it. I am being generous giving you another warning, but it is still up to you to seek reconciliation. If you don’t, retribution will come your way … and don’t forget all those selfish, naughty friends of yours who are just like you. Pass this on to them so they can get help too … for every friend you try to save, the retribution on yourself might be lessened. You know the drill––six to ten, maybe you won’t die … one to five, you will … signed: 666.”

  Brianna hit the delete button again, but not before putting a block sender on the letter. “There, that should fix you, you sick prick!”

  ~

  Tyler got home from work in the wee hours of Friday morning. His uncle had talked to him about possibly signing on as an apprentice. He had said it would be good to get a trade, something he could take with him anywhere in the world. Tyler knew his uncle felt a sense of responsibility for him since Tyler’s dad had died when he was ten years old. He had told his uncle he would think hard about it and then thanked him for the opportunity.

  It had been a long day, and Tyler was too tired to check his email. He gulped down a glass of milk and headed off to bed. “Nothing that can’t wait until tomorrow,” he reasoned.

  ~

  Before Camden went to bed, he checked to see if either of the emails he had sent had been opened. Just Brianna’s. Oh well, Tyler would open his eventually. It was only a matter of time before those two got their just desserts. Camden crawled under his covers, curled into the fetal position, put his thumb in his mouth, and fell asleep.

  Friday, May 29, 2009

  T

  yler got up at two o’clock in the afternoon. He wasn’t hurrying to get out of the apartment, not having to punch a clock tonight. After showering, Tyler packed his gym bag and made some eggs and toast. He flipped through the sports’ channels on the television while eating.

  Just before Tyler was going to leave, he remembered he had to call his mum. He hadn’t talked to her for a couple of days. She answered on the third ring.

  “Hello.” Her voice sounded sad.

  “Hey there, Mum, how are you? Sorry, I haven’t been in touch––been really busy.”

  “Tyler!” His mum’s voice picked up. “I was going to give you a call today if I didn’t hear from you. Everything okay? Do you need anything?”

  “Oh, maybe just one of your delicious home-cooked meals on Sunday,” Tyler laughed.

  “That can be arranged.�
� She giggled softly. “How’s work?”

  “Good. Uncle George offered me an apprenticeship.”

  “Oh, Tyler, that would be wonderful. Having a trade is a good thing.”

  “That’s what he said.”

  “Are you going to do it?”

  “I told him I’d think about it.”

  “Well, you should, you know. You aren’t getting any younger. You need to settle down. I wouldn’t mind being a grandmother before I die.”

  “You aren’t going to die anytime soon, Mum.”

  “One never knows when their time will be up,” Tyler’s mum interrupted.

  “I have to find a girl that will put up with me first,” he chuckled.

  “What happened to the last girl, Veronica?”

  “She couldn’t put up with me.” Tyler chuckled again. “Anyway, gotta go. I was just on my way out to the gym.”

  “Maybe you’ll meet a lovely girl there,” his mum suggested.

  “Maybe.”

  “Think about what your Uncle George offered you.”

  “I will. See you on Sunday. Bye.”

  “Bye, Tyler.”

  Tyler hung up the phone, double-checked to make sure he had turned off his stove and then headed out the door. He didn’t bother to check his email. It could wait until tonight. On his way to the gym, he stopped for gas and made a phone call to a buddy to get together with after his workout. He smiled. Life was getting better. Tyler tapped his fingers on the steering wheel and hummed along with the song on the radio.

  When he entered the gym, he smiled at Paige, who was at the reception desk. “And how are you today, beautiful Paige?”