by H.L. Nguyen
Chapter 3
Sell the House
Traveler’s parents carried the intoxicating food while walking through the hallways. Traveler could smell the food coming in from the front of the building and knew instinctually that it was hamburgers and fries.
“We stopped by Burger World. We know how you kids love that place,” Mary said while placing the food on the coffee table.
“Mom and Dad, you’ll never guess what just happened!” Traveler said.
“What?” Major Sands said.
Traveler flooded his parents with anticipation as he jumped up and down pointing at Grandpa Sands. He eagerly told them about the flinching and the grabbing. He even went through a small reenactment. It was a good thing the performance had only two audience members because he was not very compelling. Nevertheless, he was convincing enough for a jaw-dropping feat. They both turned and looked at Grandpa Sands. Major Sands shouted, “Dad, what did you say? It’s me, Eric. Dad? Dad!...” With his emotions running high, Major Sands got louder and louder, which brought much attention to himself, attention that invited some unwanted guests. Two orderlies quickly pounced on him, trying to calm him down. As they held him, Major Sands tried his best to free himself from their strong grapple. He kicked his feet in the air, yelling at the top of his lungs and begging to let him go. The orderlies did not know what to do, but were about a couple of seconds away from declaring him insane. Mrs. Sands and Traveler just stared. They did not know how to stop a person that just reverted into his childhood’s terrible two phase.
Finally, Major Sands gazed into the horrid looks on Mrs. Sands and Traveler’s faces; he realized his “I’m crazy” behavior was not helping the situation. He decisively calmed down and explained to the orderlies that his son heard his father speak. With all the commotion going on, Mrs. Sands finally realized that someone was missing.
“Sweetie, where’s Jake? Did he hear Grandpa speak too?” Mrs. Sands asked.
Traveler shrugged his shoulder. “I don’t know where he is.” Just as he said that, Jake came walking through the door with a stupid grin on his face. Mrs. Sands gave Jake the evil mother’s glare and snapped him back.
“Where have you been?” Mrs. Sands demanded. Jake saw the food on the table and leaped forward helping himself.
“Well Jake, are you going to answer me?” Mrs. Sands demanded again.
“Hey, you forgot to get some dessert,” Jake said.
“Jake, shut up about the dessert! Where were you?” Mrs. Sands demanded. Her cheeks did this weird bouncing movement every time she lost her patience. That was the only way they could tell if she was mad, and they stuck out.
“Okay,” Jake explanation came out muffled with the food. “You don’t have to yell. I was in the walking yard. I needed some fresh air.”
“Traveler said that your Grandpa spoke and you were not here to hear it.”
“Oh Mom, Traveler is lying,” Jake defended himself. “It’s obvious he’s trying to get your attention. You know he’s always trying to get people’s attention.”
Traveler looked on with disgust because Jake was about to get his way again. The lies he told were always believable to Mrs. Sands. She turned around.
“Traveler, are you lying to us?” Mrs. Sands said.
“No, I swear to you. He spoke to me,” Traveler pleaded.
“Okay, then what did he said?”
Dang it, Traveler thought. Traveler looked up into the air and tried to remember the words, but they were lost in his mind.
“Ummmmmm, I don’t really remember. I kinda of blacked out.”
“What do you mean you blacked out?”
“I mean I blacked out and Grandpa spoke to me.”
“Traveler, you’re not making any sense. You need to start telling the truth or you’re going to be in big trouble.”
“But, I am telling the truth.”
Jake was snickering at the table. He knew what was about to happen next.
“Traveler, you leave me no choice. You are grounded for a week, that means no TV, no books, and no outside activities.
“But, you gotta believe me.”
“This decision is final, Traveler.”
Just like that, Mrs. Sands’ final decision was like writing on a stone tablet, permanent. Traveler stomped away leaving his food behind. Eating was the last thing on his mind, but as he walked away, his stomach growled and rumbled. Apparently, his stomach did not agree with him. Traveler walked back to the coffee table. He gave a quick look at the couch and saw his mother rubbing Grandpa Sands’ shoulder. Traveler grabbed a hamburger from the table and walked away again. As he began to unravel the hamburger’s colorful wrapping, he thought, I wished I could remember what Grandpa said to me. He paced up and down the room, desperately trying to clear his name, but he just could not remember.
Visiting hours were over and Traveler’s parents decided to spend the night in a motel before heading back. While driving on the interstate, Jake snapped out of his iPhone trance by something on the radio.
“Pops, turn it up, I think they are talking about me.”
Major Sands reached for the volume knob.
“This is Mike Hurley with the pine talk,” The sport radio reporter said. “I have to say news travel pretty fast in this city. Have you heard of this kid from the sandy beaches of Santa Monica? In my career of national high school sport reporting, I have never seen a kid like this. His name is Jake Sands. Some sportswriters have deemed him a football God, a legend in the making. But I wouldn’t go that far; let’s just say he’s a sports prodigy. So, the buzz about him is that he can do amazing things on the field.
Sports fans, you need to see this kid in action to believe how unbelievably awesome he is. He can run through tacklers like a bulldozer. Also, like the great Joe Montana, he has the clutchness of throwing the last second touchdown to win the game.
So, why am I talking about a kid from some no name city? Well it’s simple folks, the All American High School all stars game is playing in the San Diego University stadium this year. And guess who is first on the ballot?”
“Pops, how come you didn’t tell about this all-star game?” Jake said.
“This is the first I have heard about it,” Major Sands said.
“Sports fans, at the age of seventeen, his six foot four, 230 pounds muscular frame; makes him an athletic individual force. I also heard his 40 yard time is a lightning fast 4.2 seconds. To put it into poetry terms, he is the perfect height to weight ratio for the game of football. And-” The sport radio reporter paused in the middle of his broadcast. “Hold your ears people; I guess his popularity reaches further than I had anticipated. I just got this tweet from Sarah on Fifth Street. It says ‘Don’t forget to mention his perfect ratio of spiky brown hair and piercing blue eyes.’ Well Sarah, the fact that you listen to my show, puts a smile on my face.
Well folks with that text message I will end this segment by saying this. This kid has it all: the looks, the popularity, and the talent. As the old cliché goes, women want to be with him and men want to be him. And you know what, you can put me on that list too. This is Mike Hurley and you’re listening to the pine talk.”
Jake could not help but smile as well and went back to his iPhone apps.
They found a motel that was off the interstate. The building that they chose was definitely not a four-star hotel. The place looked like a dump. The neon sign had a coat of dirt and dust; the lights were out on some of the letters. Instead of reading DRIVE-IN MOTEL, it read D_I_E-IN _ _TEL. They could barely see the exterior of the building and the lighting was subpar at best.
It was late on a Thursday night and there was not any trouble finding a room. Then again, it was hard to imagine people swarming to a place like this. The man behind the counter looked like he had not slept in years with dark circles under his eyes. What was strange was that his dark circles matched his dark hairstyle. As Traveler walked past him, he felt his skin tighten causing the tiny hairs to
stand on end. He turned back at the man behind the counter. The man looked back giving a weird half smile. Traveler could not explain it; something did not sit right.
Traveler’s parents checked out two rooms for the night. As they walked in to room twenty-three and twenty-four, Mrs. Sands made sure Traveler was aware that his grounding was still in effect and told Jake to enforce it. Jake welcomed the chance to enforce anything on Traveler.
The kids finished unpacking their nightclothes and settled down in their room. As Traveler got ready for bed, Jake walked over to Traveler and punched him in the arm.
WACK!
“Oww, what did you do that for?” Traveler said while rubbing his arm.
“Because I am bigger than you, that’s the way the world works. Plus, you deserved it because you almost got me in trouble with Mom and Pops,” Jake said.
“Well, I’ll have you know that I am the one that got grounded,” Traveler pointed to himself.
“I don’t care what happened to you,” Jake said pointing back at him. “I had a nice moment with that nurse and I came back to see Mom giving me that glare. You know I don’t like that glare. Now that moment is ruined, thanks.”
“Mom told you to take care of Grandpa and I. And if you had been there, you could have heard what Grandpa said.”
“Look bookworm, I don’t care if Grandpa did back flips off the couch; when I see something that I want, I go for it. It’s not my job to watch your every step. I’m only looking out for number one-” He balled his hands into a fist and lifted them towards his body with his thumbs pointed at him. “And that’s me,” He then pointed back. “And stop telling me about your stupid story with gramps talking to you. You got Mom and Pops in a big uproar for nothing,”
“He did talk to me Jake!” How could he say these things?
Traveler could not take it anymore. He ran towards Jake and attempted to tackle him, but it did not work. Jake stuck his hand out as if he was stiff-arming a linebacker from an opposing football team. Though Traveler’s actions were rational, it had a comical outcome. Jake had his hand on Traveler’s head pushing him at an arm length away and Traveler swinging his arms at the empty space between the two of them.
“Is that the best you can do? I’ll give you some props for trying,” Jake laughed and shoved him towards the ground. With Traveler on the ground, Jake rested his massive foot on Traveler’s chest. It was just enough pressure to keep him down. Jake had enough constraint not to crush his little brother. However, Traveler did not see it that way. It reminded him of an episode he watched on the nature channel, when a weak lion challenged the alpha male of the pride. Remembering the fight did not go well for the weak lion, in hindsight, his attempted attack seemed to be a bit premature. Traveler knew that irrational thoughts and rage was a horrible combination when dealing with stressful situations. Jake continued his dominance by placing his hands on his knee, increasing the pressure.
“If you’re so sure he talked, then what did he say? Huh?” Jake asked.
“Jake get off me, I can’t breathe. Please.” Traveler wheezed out the words as best he could; he could barely raise his voice to a normal level.
“Stop being so dramatic, if you can talk, you can breathe.”
Traveler was surprise at times, with Jake’s cleverness. However, he was not surprised at his strength.
“Jake- your foot- please.”
Jake sighed and lifted his foot away from his chest. Traveler gasped with relief and scurried away to the nearest opening, catching his breath along the way.
“Well bookworm, what did he say?” Jake asked again.
Traveler stayed silent. He got up and walked away.
“That’s what I thought. You deserved to be grounded.” WACK! Jake lunged over and punched him in the arm again. Traveler did not say anything this time. He rubbed his arm and hopped into bed. There was not much Traveler could do. His next best alternative was to get some rest, so he closed his eyes and slept.
As the night settled down, Jake managed to fall asleep within seconds of hitting his head on the pillow and without a couple of minutes; he had a stupid grin on his face. Traveler always had trouble sleeping; Jake was the cause of that. Sometimes, when Traveler went to bed early, Jake got bored at night and committed the usual brother-to-brother nightly pranks. Some of the acts he pulled were placing Traveler’s hand in warm water, putting toothpaste behind his ears or shaving cream in his hand, the usual old fashion pranks. When Jake got courageous enough, he preformed all three at the same time. There was a period, of several months that Traveler and his parent thought he had a bed-wetting problem. It would not be a problem if he was five years old, but he was eleven.
As usual, Traveler had trouble sleeping that night. However, Jake was not the cause. Traveler tossed and turned all-night, but he was not awake. Small beads of sweat ran down the side of his forehead. He moved his head violently from side to side as if he was trying to wake up. His eyes closed as if he was concentrating hard on something. There were quick flashes of different visions; they moved too fast from him to recognize them. With each flashing vision, Traveler’s head kept hurting. His brain could not process that much information in that short amount of time. The final flash was a vision of his grandfather, of course, that was the one vision he did recognized. Traveler woke straight up and said, “Grandpa.”
His whole body was drenched with sweat, but the pain was gone. He got out of his bed and walked over to Jake’s bed.
“Jake, please wake up. I need to tell you something.” Because of his lack of upper body strength, shaking his brother’s body was a difficult task for him. Just imagine someone trying to shake a gorilla from a tree.
“Leave me alone you dweeb, can’t you see I am trying to sleep.” Traveler walked away discouraged.
“Wait a minute,” Jake said.
Traveler turned around and as he did- WACK! Jake punched him on the arm.
“That’s for waking me up in the middle of the night.”
The punch knocked him to the ground, but filled with energy, the strike did not have much effect or perhaps he was still numbed from the previous attacks. It did not matter to him; Traveler got up and hurried over to the door. He walked over to his parent’s door and pounded on it.
“Mom, Dad, I need to tell you something!” Traveler said.
The door opened. Major Sands stood there scratching his head with a sleepy look on his face.
“What is it Traveler?” Major Sands said.
“Dad, I remembered what Grandpa said.”
♦ ♦ ♦
Eric had just finished brushing his teeth, and hopped into bed.
“What are we going to do with Traveler? With all the books he reads, he’s starting to imagine things,” Mary said.
“I don’t know babe,” Eric said. “I have a couple of choice words once we get home. But, I was thinking, Traveler isn’t the kind of person who would lie to us.”
“Well honey, he never told us what your dad said,” Mary said
“Look, I don’t know what to do with him right now. We’ll just stick with the grounding for now,” Eric said while yawning with his hands in the air.
“Okay. I hope I was not too harsh on him.”
“No honey, just stick to your guns. By showing your weakness you could reveal your opponent’s strengths.” Eric always spouted out words of wisdom whenever the mood stuck him.
“Oh, there was one more thing I wanted to tell you. I have a lot of vacation days coming up. If I don’t use them, I’ll lose them. This is perfect timing since the kids will start summer vacation in two days. I was wondering what you wanted to do for summer vacation. I was thinking about going to Japan.”
“Japan, I think that is a great idea.” Mary’s eyes lit up. “I have never been there before. How much leave do you need to use?”
“I have to use 60 days worth of leave. Let’s talk it over with the kids and see what they say.”
Their conservation en
ded and they went to sleep. Just an hour into their sleep, a loud banging on the door woke Eric up. The sudden shaking of the bed woke Mary up too and she shot upright.
“What was that?” The sound frightened Mary.
“I don’t know I’ll go check it out.” Eric was not afraid, in fact, he was not afraid of anything. He was a tall athletic person. His broad shoulder made him look bigger than he was. Actually, from top to bottom, he had defining muscle features that would make Navy SEAL jealous. He had a bald look that made him an aerial dynamic making people think he was faster than he really was. It did not hurt that some of his military training consisted of hand-to-hand combat. He once bragged that he could make a man fall to his knees with his thumbs. Of course, his family never witness that and they hope they never have to. As he got closer to the door, the noise got louder, but the noise he heard was a familiar one.
♦ ♦ ♦
Major Sands opened the door slowly. “What is it Traveler?” He said.
“Dad, I remembered what Grandpa said.” Major Sands’ eyes almost popped out of his socket. “Come in kiddo. Have a seat.” Traveler walked over to the chair and sat down. By this time, Major Sands noticed the dampness on his son’s clothes.
“Traveler, did you pee in the bed, again?” Major Sands said.
“No-, I’m thirteen. I- don’t- do that anymore,” Traveler said.
“Okay, so go ahead son. What did he say?” Major Sands asked
“H-h-he said sell the house,” Traveler said as he gathered his breathe.
“What??? Say that again?”
“Grandpa said sell the house.”
“That was an odd thing to say. Was there anything else?”
“Nope, that was it Dad.” There was a short pause. “Dad, what house is Grandpa talking about?”
“I don’t know. I think he was talking about his house in Lake Arrowhead. Since Grandpa’s episode, he doesn’t live there anymore, but all of his stuff are there. We have a house sitter that comes by. About once a month, she turns the water to clear the pipes.” Eric massaged his forehead. “Why does Dad want to sell his house that he grew up in? We have to go back to the center.”
“No, if that is what he said, I don’t think he is going to talk again,” Mary said.
“But...” Eric said. As strong as he was, he could never win an argument with Mary.
“No buts” Mary said. “Since you have some leave coming up, instead of going to Japan, I think we should go up to Lake Arrowhead and clean up the house to put it on the market. I mean that is what your Dad wants. Now let’s go back to sleep and talk more about this in the morning. Go back to bed Traveler.”
“Okay, Mom.”
Traveler walked out of the room and closed the door. It felt good to clear his name. As the cool night air blew on his arms, he shivered a little before walking towards his room. He went for the handle and realized that with all the excitement, he forgot to grab the card keys. He knocked on the door.
“Jake it’s me. I forgot the keys. Please open the door,” Traveler said.
The door did not open.
He tensed up conserving the small amount of body heat he had left; he thought it would make a difference, but it did not. He was starting to realize how cold it actually was. He tried knocking again, but this time with two hands and louder.
“Come on Jake, wake up, and open this door it’s cold outside.”
Jake was awake and heard everything Traveler was saying. He snickered and stayed in bed. Traveler continued to knock as loud as he could. He had a feeling the neighbors were peeking out through their curtains. The last thing Traveler wanted was to be a bother to anybody else. However, he was cold and wanted Jake’s attention. Finally, after 15 minutes, Traveler leaned back on the door giving his legs and arms some rest, but he did not give up on the knocking. He still managed to keep knocking, using the backward underhand technique. It was his last desperate attempt to get Jake’s attention.
Suddenly, the door flung open, catching Traveler by surprise; he went backward fast, waving his arms in the air. With a big thud, his butt hit the floor hard. Jake just stared down at him for while. He noticed the slight redness on Traveler’s knuckles. He could not help it but smirked. Traveler pushed himself up and as he did, Jake pushed him back to the ground with his foot. Jake chuckled.
“Do you mind?” Traveler said at a piercing, but reserved glare.
Traveler slowly got up, but was pushed back down again.
“No, I don’t mind,” Jake said.
I hate you Jake. Traveler carefully pushed himself up again, but Jake stepped back allowing Traveler to get up. Traveler turned and headed for his bed. Then, WACK, Jake’s punching force was so great Traveler tripped forward losing his balance. Luckily, he landed on the bed. Jake walked to his bed chuckling along the way. Traveler turned to look at Jake.
I wish you never wake up again. Traveler thought.
