We did our dinner shuffle again. I was getting pretty good at balancing a plate, a cup, a can of soda, and utensils walking down the hall. I wondered if Eli knew how much more work it was for my mom and me to make Santos eat in our room.
I almost cleaned my plate when Jacob’s mom knocked on the door. The movie theater was clear in town so I was really glad she was gonna take us.
“I’m here to take the boys to the movie!”
Shit, I thought. I forgot to tell my mom. I ran to the door, “Yeah, me and Jacob are gonna go to a movie.” I gave Jacob’s mom a look that I hoped she understood meant “whatever you do don’t mention Santos.”
I guess she got the message cause my mom said to have fun and closed the door. Jacob’s mom had seen Santos at church but I didn’t know what she knew about him. We pulled out of the driveway and got a little ways down the road and I asked if we could stop to pick up Santos. I knew a way to the quarters from a gate near there that you couldn’t see from the house.
I opened the door that led into Santos’s room, but he wasn’t there. I walked into my room, and Santos was standing with my old baseball bat in the corner. I guess he thought I broke in or something cause he seemed terrified. Just standing there breathing heavy holding a bat.
I put my hands in the air. “Whoa, it’s just me,” I said, and his shoulders dropped like half a foot. I must’ve scared him nearly to death. I grabbed the dictionary and asked if he wanted to come to a movie. He seemed really hesitant, but I tossed him a shirt and said vamonos, let’s go. I motioned that we should be quiet and we snuck out the door in his room. When we got to the car, Jacob’s mom said she was glad we could all come. She didn’t even ask any questions about why we used the other door or snuck through the field. Just drove us to the theater and said she’d pick us up in a couple hours. I wonder if Jacob told her about Eli.
I don’t remember what movie we saw. It was pretty funny though. At least the first half was. Jacob bought popcorn and he saw a girl he knew a few rows in front of us. I wonder if he had a crush on her or something. He threw a piece of popcorn at her, and it just stuck in her hair. She didn’t even notice, so I threw another piece, a little harder. She didn’t notice again and we started laughing. It was supposed to be a quiet part of the movie though, so all three of us were just trying to stop laughing. You ever start laughing at a really bad time and your friends just make it impossible to stop laughing? So anyway, we got kicked out of the movie. Which was okay I guess, cause we just sat in the lobby and talked until Jacob’s mom got there. I hadn’t realized yet, but Santos was really picking up English fast. I guess you can learn a language pretty quick if you’re scared for your life.
We all agreed not to tell Jacob’s mom we got kicked out. Except as soon as she got to the theater, she asked what we thought about the ending. We all went quiet, but Jacob was pretty slick at coming up with things to say so adults don’t realize you got kicked out of a movie or something. “We can’t spoil it, you wanted to see it with Dad, remember?” And his mom just laughed and kept driving. I wonder if she knew and was just not saying anything. Moms really are the best sometimes.
When we got back to Jacob’s house it was already pretty dark, but we were having such a good time we wanted to hang out more. So we talked until pretty late, even after his parents went to bed. When Jacob tried to start his mom’s car, it wouldn’t start, so we figured me and Santos could just walk.
We were glad we made it home okay, and we figured Eli would be asleep already, so we quietly opened the front door.
“Where ya been?” Eli’s voice was shaky. My whole body tensed up when I heard it.
“Sorry dad, Jacob took me to a movie, remember?” I motioned for Santos to go around to the other door. I was too much of a wuss to stand up for someone, but I can at least keep him out of harm’s way. Besides, if he knew Santos went with me he’d let me have it too.
“I needed yer help and you weren’t here,” he was basically shouting. I never could tell if it was cause he was mad or cause he was too drunk to tell how loud he was.
I don’t really remember what happened next, except there was a lot of shouting. I know I dodged a couple of punches, but he got me right in the eye. I’m just glad Santos wasn’t around to see it, it was horrible.
After swinging his fist a few more times, Eli grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled my face right up next to his. “Don’t let this happen again, understood?”
I nodded and he threw me onto the coffee table, then turned around to go to his room. I was pretty dizzy walking back to my room, and down the hall I heard my mom screaming and Eli hitting her, and worse. Something about how she needed to control her kid. My stomach still turns when I remember that. If I had any guts at all I would’ve gone in there with a bat or something. Gotten rid of the stupid man.
When I got back to the room Santos looked like he saw a ghost. His eyes were wide, his mouth was open, and he was wrapped in a blanket on the bed. I think it brought back his bad memories with Eli. I washed my eye with cold water like my mom taught me and we just sat on my bed for a while. Not talking or anything, just sitting and staring at the fucking wall until we fell asleep.