Broken Toys

Chapter 31

It was a rather distracted Casey who headed off to the darkroom alone after assuring his friends that everything was all right with the dean. They had both offered to accompany Casey, but he'd firmly refused, needing the time to think.

He'd been reprimanded a lot over the years and usually he felt quite bad, sometimes even nauseous, but this... what happened with the dean was different and Casey wanted solitude to think about it.

Photo developing was second nature to him by now and he went through the motions automatically while his brain puzzled things out. He poked and prodded at his feelings, trying to understand why a reprimand would make him feel kind of warm and... cared for?

Was that it?

He didn't even have to close his eyes to picture his father reprimanding him, the man's face flushed red with anger, his voice loud and harsh. Sometimes he stood very close, shouting down into Casey's face, anger and disgust flowing from him in waves that threatened to drown Casey, to kill him painfully. More than once Casey had almost wished it would kill him, or that his father would finally hit him. Surely the pain of a fist wouldn't hurt as much as the sneer of contempt, the open disgust in his father's face.

The dean never looked at him like that; not when he was in their room and saw the beds pushed together, not even when Casey's father screamed those terrible words. Even when he was lying on the bathroom floor sobbing pathetically, the dean hadn't shown revulsion, hadn't turned away.

Why?

Was this what it was like with a father who cared? Did a reprimand make you want to be better, not to avoid the screaming and contempt, but because you didn't want to disappoint? Was it really that simple?

Casey didn't have an answer. The concept was too foreign, he had no reference for it. In the end he just shrugged and accepted it.

As he cleaned up the darkroom he decided to work harder to meet the dean's expectations. "Must be that Sesame Street thing," he decided with a smile as he headed back to his room.

*****

Zeke and Billy were discussing power tools when Casey returned. He moved around the room getting changed and finding a snack, deciding that he was glad he'd missed most of this discussion.

"What do you think, Casey? Chainsaw, right?"

"Don't drag me into this. The only thing I know about power tools is what I've seen in beer commercials."

"They don't have power tools in beer commercials," Billy retorted, then whipped a pillow at Zeke who was snickering having already gotten the joke. "Okay," he conceded. "Casey skips that shopping trip."

"Thank you," Casey said fervently.

"So what about furniture?" Zeke asked. "Any ideas, Case?"

"Yeah," Casey leaned back on the bed getting comfortable. "We can make do with most of what's already there for starters but I think we should spring for a nice big king-sized bed. Maybe the kind on a platform. Clean lines. Simple."

"A big bed?" Zeke asked crawling slowly across the mattress to Casey. Casey leaned forward and they kissed. Just when it was getting really nice, Billy sprang from his seat and launched himself at them, wrestling the pair until they were all tangled and gasping for breath.

"I owe you, Mal." Casey declared.

"Mal?" Billy asked breathlessly.

"Yup. For marsh*mal*low," Casey replied, then yelled as Billy and Zeke grabbed him and dragged him back into the muddle.

"If I'm Mal, can I call you CC? And Zeke must be what... Fin?"

Casey wiggled around and threw himself on top of Zeke while Billy laughed like a lunatic.

"You're both nuts," Zeke told them calmly.

"'S why you love us," Casey assured him.

"Think so?" Zeke demanded.

"Yup," Billy chimed in.

"Might be right. Let's see if you can prove it."

Billy and Casey looked at each other and grinned.

Zeke just smiled, spreading himself out on the bed and waiting while the others moved the other beds closer. Thank goodness for Casey's felt.

It was a good thing their friends had gone out to a movie and they had the hall to themselves for a while.

*****

"This bedroom's done. How are you doing, Case?"

"Okay," he replied, sniffling against the cloud of dust he'd raised. "Gonna need another cloth. This one's filthy."

They'd decided to clean the bedrooms first working strictly against dust and dirt - leaving the sorting of items in closets and dressers for later. Thankfully the back two bedrooms were simply furnished with few knickknacks to slow down the cleaning.

From the master bedroom in the front of the house, they could hear Billy swearing and coughing. He'd found an ancient vacuum cleaner in the linen closet and had been struggling with it and cursing at it ever since.

"Use a broom," Zeke yelled, giving Casey a grin before he went to offer some assistance. Casey folded the cloth over and took another swipe at the windowsill.

*****

Billy threw himself into a kitchen chair and groaned dramatically.

Zeke calmly walked over to the fridge and took out a cola, handing it to Billy, then returning to his seat.

"All done?" Casey asked. He was sitting back with his legs up on the fourth chair. Like Zeke and Billy, he had dirt smudges on his face and hands and looked tired.

"Done," Billy confirmed. "Next weekend we can bring some groceries and plan on staying overnight. The whole upstairs is clean - including the bathroom thank you very much - and I even changed the bedding in our room."

"No wonder you're wiped out, Billy. You should have told us; we would have helped." Casey shoved the bag of pretzels in Billy's direction.

"Thanks. No, it's fine, Casey. I'm really not all that tired." He crunched a pretzel and took another drink of soda.

"What say we get cleaned up and then check out some of the buildings before we go?" Zeke suggested, leaning close to Billy and snagging some pretzels.

"Sounds good," Billy agreed and Casey nodded. Billy finished off his soda and Casey closed the notebook he'd been writing in, leaning back and closing his eyes for just a moment.

"Come on," Zeke urged. "We'd better go before we all decide we're too tired to move." He helped Casey up. "Okay?"

Casey nodded, taking up his crutches and heading off to check the house before locking up. Billy rinsed out his soda can and dropped it in the bag they'd set aside for recyclables.

When they were ready, Casey locked the house and they headed off on a slow tour of the buildings. There were a few smaller structures that they decided to leave for another day, but they took time exploring the barn, the garage and what Casey called the summer house.

They started farthest from the car at the summer house, a two-story cottage with porch and dirt basement. The ground floor consisted of one large room with a staircase off to one side. The upstairs was mostly open with a low wall dividing the space into two almost equal parts. There were odds and ends of old or damaged furniture here and it was extremely dusty, as if no one had been in it for several years at least. They left footprints in the dust. The basement was lined on three sides with uneven shelves, many filled with home-canned fruits and vegetables labeled in a tiny scrawl.

They didn't talk much while in the building, almost as if they were afraid to disturb the thick silence. Once they were outside, Billy suggested it would make a good guest house.

Casey nodded stiffly and for a moment, there was a hint of moisture in his eyes.

"The barn," Zeke said quietly leading the way with Billy close behind, the older boys allowing Casey his privacy. By the time he joined them in the barn, Billy was happily describing how he could convert part of it into a workshop.

"Power tools," Zeke mouthed at Casey, grinning. Casey mock shuddered and wandered off to explore the rest of the space.

"Hayloft's pretty cool," Zeke reported when he returned. Casey had decided to skip that trip as his leg was beginning to hurt a little.

"Off to the garage?" Billy asked and they agreed.

"Pretty nice," Zeke decided, inspecting the work area off to one side, full of drawers of small parts and shelves for tools.

"Workshop upstairs," Billy reported as he clattered down the wooden stairs. "Lots of windows, Casey. Might make a good studio and then the attic in the house could be converted into living space instead."

"Sounds like you've got some ideas, Billy," Casey smiled. "You know we're going to depend on you for all that power tool stuff, right?"

"I think I can handle it," Billy replied, throwing an arm around Casey while grinning at Zeke.

"So where are we going to set you up, Zeke? You need a workroom too."

"I'll take the hayloft, Case. Unless you suddenly decided to be a farmer?"

"Nah, cows scare me. Unless they're on a dinner plate of course."

"As long as it's not one of Snuffy's radioactive dinner plates," Zeke countered grinning wickedly.

Billy rolled his eyes. "Speaking of which, when are we going to invite the gang out there? I think they could stand a workday."

"Cheap labor? We could bribe them with one of Zeke's meals maybe?" Casey suggested, looking to Zeke for an answer.

"'S okay with me. Just don't expect great things. I haven't tried out the stove yet."

"Speaking of food..." Billy said.

"That's my line," Casey teased heading off towards the car.

The ride back to school was full of excited conversation - ideas for remodeling and setting up work spaces flying back and forth between them. Casey tried to write everything down in his notebook but soon got caught up in the excitement of it and abandoned pen and paper.

They were all looking forward to next weekend when they could return to their new home.

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