For a Hero (13 page)

She sat back in the chair, looking thoughtful and pensive.

He continued “But how would he know I would be there? How did he even know I was a firefighter?”

“David, they did a story on you in the news a week or so ago. It was that Congressman fellow, what’s his name? Waldorf. Yeah, you pulled his daughter out of the fire in front of all those cameras. I just about died when I saw you do that. You should think about a safer line of work. You are going to hurt your pretty face. They did a story and they wanted to interview you but you walked off after you handed the girl to her mother. It’s been in the news intermittently the past week. There’s talk of a medal. Don’t you watch the news?”

“Not really, Mom.”

“Well you should, you’re a hero. Anyway, they mentioned your name and talked about your career a little bit. Everyone in the city knows who you are now, Honey.”

“Momma, I’m worried. What if he comes after you?”

“Why on Earth would he do that? He already got his licks in on me. Besides, the court said he can’t come within fifty yards of me. He doesn’t even know where I live now. Besides, his limp has gotten so bad, I could outrun the old bastard!” She was cheerful throughout.

“Ok.” David relaxed a little bit. “I feel a little better. If it was him, why do you think he did it?”

“Your dad was scared, David. He was scared of you and he was a little scared of the way you talked about your real father. He knew you thought your Dad hung the moon and stars. I guess it got to him. He felt insecure. It was bad enough that you were twice his size at twelve years old anyway. I don’t think he’s bad. He just didn’t feel like a man around you. Men need to feel like a man, you know.”

“I know, Mom. Thank you. You really know how to make me feel better.”

“Of course I do. They give us that power when we become Moms. It comes with the cooking and the story-telling and healing abilities.”

“You’re the best.  You know, I would have loved Dad just like I love you, if he hadn’t hurt you so bad.”

“I know, and that’s just another thing that makes you a real man.”

David beamed. It was weird how mothers could do some of the most miraculous things.

“On to brighter topics, David. Are you seeing anyone?”

David blushed a little.

“Oh you are! How wonderful! What’s her name? What does she do? Is she healthy? Is she treating you well? Does she feed you?”

“Wow, Mom. Yeah she is great to me, better than any girl ever, except for you.”

“That goes without saying. When am I going to meet her?”

“I hadn’t thought about it, Mom. I don’t know”

“Well, is it serious?”

David paused for a moment. He took another bite.

He grinned to himself and then answered. “Yes. Yes, it is serious. Her name is Jenna and I’ll ask her if she wants to come by sometime.”

“That’s my good boy, David. Here, finish your spinach. You’re wasting away.”

*****

David climbed the stairs to his loft. The tension had built itself up in his shoulders so that he held them up high near his ears. He noticed and tried to relax them, to release them. They fell, but the stress remained. He needed a hot shower.

Being at home again reminded David what it was like to be surrounded by family. It was wonderful for him to see his mother again, but he needed to be here. He needed this work to occupy his mind and he needed to be near the city. He needed to help as many people as he could. Fire never gives up, and neither could David.

He twisted the knob. Nothing. His suitemates must be out, or studying. David peered over the railing and looked at the window. Dexter was home. He reached into his pocket and found emptiness. David’s eyes shot open widely. “Oh hell.”

He frantically checked the other pocket. There was nothing but his phone, a few coins and some lint. “How could I not have noticed my house keys being gone?”

He unclipped his work lanyard from his belt, just for clarification. His truck key was where it was supposed to be, the fire hall key, the key to the station’s safe, lock-box and key-box. “Why didn’t I just put them on the same ring?”

David started to knock. Once, twice, three times. Nobody answered. David tried to open the door again. Then he wondered why human beings become idiots when facing a simple problem. He immediately stopped his futile attempt at opening the door and knocked again. Then it hit him.

“My suitemates are deaf.”

He threw his palm to his face. “How did this happen?”

He knocked harder. Maybe they could feel the vibration of his knocks like they could their precious rap music. His knocks became punches, and his punches became pushes, and his pushes became tackles and kicks. Soon, the building shook with the rhythm of his beating.

A young man ran down the stairs to David’s right, dressed in pajama pants. “What the hell is going on down here? Are they having another damn party?”

“No. My suitemates locked me out. I live here.”

“Well you’re knocking loud enough. They haven’t heard you yet?”

“No. They can’t hear.”

The man collapsed laughing on the stair case.

“Yes, I know. My hearing impaired suitemates can’t hear me knocking. Go figure. Don’t worry; I’ll stop banging on the door. I don’t know what I was thinking. Sorry for disturbing you.”

“Oh no, you gave me quite a laugh. I forgive you. I’m going back to my room, if you need help, call the super, he should have a spare key.” The young man aided as he left David alone, outside his room, just as the world began to darken around them.

“I wish I had thought of that.” David pulled his phone from his pocket, and when he turned it on, he found a surprising, comforting, and exciting text message.

“David, I have what you’re missing. Come over and persuade me to give it back to you. Love, Jenna.”

He chuckled to himself. “With a woman like this in my life, why would I worry about anything?”

*****

Jenna spun in crazy circles around the room, making sure everything was in order. There were bowls of snacks on the table. Earlier in the day, she had searched all the sports channels for a football game. She didn’t know what days were football days, but she prayed to God that tonight would be one of them. After pouring through her entire subscription list, she found a channel called “ESPNC” and a game coming on at 7. “Dallas Cowboys vs. Houston Oilers” She had been so excited at how perfect it was. She was sure he was a Texas football fan, aren’t all men in Texas football fans? And to her luck, this night of all nights, two Texas teams were playing each other!

Jenna wore an oversized blue jersey that used to belong to her father an eternity ago. It wasn’t a Cowboy or Oiler jersey, although both teams wore blue, and she hoped that the fact she was pant-less would distract David from her mismatched hue.

She kept checking her phone. He still hadn’t answered. Her text was so aggressive. She hoped he would find it suggestive and tempting, but the nagging sensation left over from years of disappointment and poor male role models told her that he would find it slutty and unappealing. He may tear into the house and demand his keys back before storming out of her apartment and out of her life forever. And then where would she be? Pant-less, watching football.

Surely not, this was David. There was no way he would treat her so brusquely. Well, he did leave this morning, didn’t he? No explanation or concern. Jenna sat down on the couch as the pre-game talk was beginning. Had she made a mistake?

She didn’t have time to ponder it. There was a knocking on the door. It was very hard and sudden. Oh no. He sounded angry.

Jenna shyly pulled down on her jersey, attempting to give it the appearance of a dress. She moved toward the door and opened it slowly, terrified of what state the man standing in her doorway would be in.

David stepped in quickly, so quickly that Jenna wasn’t even 100% sure it was him until he was upon her. Her heart jumped and froze. But before she could get a look at his face to judge his disposition, he hugged her. David gave her the biggest hug she had ever gotten. His big arms wound around her little body and made her feel small and important at the same time. She shook a little bit, as the stress left her and she melted into him.

“You’re not mad?”

David roared with laughter. “Haha no. What? You change gears so quickly. You were teasing me over text ten minutes ago, and now, you are unsure what mood I’d be in? You are so cute.” He then stepped back and looked at her. His eyes moved down, seeing the lack of slacks and choice of dress. “I like the way you’re dressed. It’s very. . . progressive.”

Jenna remembered what clothes she was wearing, and felt shy.  “I thought it was appropriate, and to be honest, I hoped you would think I was cute.” Her blush painted her cheeks a pretty pink, but her smile was a bit mischievous.

Women were complex, he knew. Jenna was a woman of contradictions and he was endlessly fascinated. “You are beautiful. I have never seen a woman look so good. You are so sexy.”

The earnestness of his voice as he spoke such things made her feel wanted.

“But what makes it appropriate? I’m afraid I’m missing something.”

“Oh, I haven’t even told you yet!” She stepped back behind her table covered with snacks and shot her arms out in front of her, one gesturing toward the feast before her and the other toward the T.V. with the kick-off occurring as they spoke. “Ta-da! I’ve made you a little man-night party! I have snacks for you, I cooked you dinner that will be done in just a few minutes, and, well, I didn’t know what teams you loved, so I was super lucky to find Dallas Cowboys playing the Houston Oilers tonight! Look! Isn’t it everything a man needs to be happy?” Her voice rose with hope and expectation.

He smiled as he looked at the appealing, sexy picture she made trying to please him.  “Yes, this is everything I need to be happy.”

He gave her a little kiss and sat down on the couch, not wanting to give the impression of non-appreciation. Once he relaxed, something she said came back to him. Houston Oilers? There was no Houston Oilers anymore. They moved to Tennessee under new management. Did she mean the Houston Texans? He looked hard at the T.V. Sure enough, the Oilers ran out onto the field in their light blue jerseys and helmets. David felt puzzled. He glanced around the screen and noticed the letters at the top, ESPNC. Oh. David laughed.

“Honey, did you know I am psychic?”

She heard him correctly, she thought, but she stared at his face and saw not one drop of jokingness or facetiousness. “Umm, no.”

“Well, I am. In fact, I’ll make you a bet. I will tell you the exact score of this game before it ends. If I’m right, you have to give me a super special surprise afterward. You have to give me a strip show.”

‘Did I really just say that? I am so forward. What does this girl do to me? My mom raised me to be more of a gentleman.’

Jenna was floored, but played along. “Oh really? Well, I’ll take that bet. And, Mister Psychic, if you’re wrong, YOU have to give ME a strip show, just like you did on stage, but mine better have a very happy ending.”

“Then let the game begin.” David challenged her as he slipped some bugles into his mouth. He was grateful for store-bought snacks.  “Dallas will win 20-17.”

“There is no way. You just revealed yourself as a fraud by the way. I don’t know too much about football, but I do know that touchdowns give six points, so both scores have to be an even number.” Jenna stood up and starting doing her own little end-zone dance, complete with hip thrusts and arm stabs. It was reminiscent of Elaine’s ‘Little Kicks.’ “So you didn’t even do your math, Boy! You better start limbering up for your dance.” She got up in his face with her cute, fake attitude. He welcomed it with a kiss.

“We’ll see. You have so much to learn.” His smile was huge.

She couldn’t help it. She fell into the couch next to him. His big body made a dent in the cushion so that she couldn’t sit away from him even if she wanted to. He had his own gravity. She could see it; all the people who surrounded him could see it. She wondered why he didn’t behave like he knew it was there.

Ding.

“Oh! That’s dinner! I’ll be right back.” Jenna jumped up from the couch and walked into her kitchenette. He didn’t know it, but her kitchen was much better stocked with food and cookware than it had been before she met him. 

He watched her shuffle away. There was a whisper of her butt through the jersey; the bottom curve of her cheeks peeked at him beneath the royal blue. He peeked back.

“This is something I made
just
for you. I looked up some recipes for casseroles online, but none of them seemed manly enough for you, so I just kinda winged it.”

She placed in front of him, a tray of . . . something. He did his best not to show any emotion on his face. The top crust of whatever it was looked like a child had left three dozen black and yellow crayons out in the sun and they melted together into an amalgam of unpleasant colors and smells. David was terrified.

He took a fork and stabbed it into a corner of the dish.

“I call it ‘Game-Day Surprise.’ Tell me how it is.”

He heard a sick snap and crunch as his utensil grabbed hunks of unknowable material from the plate that may never be washed enough to remove this sin. “You sure do love surprises, don’t you?” He put it in his mouth. “Wow, Honey. Your food IS always a surprise.”

Nausea sat in. Every instinct in his body fought his swallowing movement. But, he labored, and like Heracles, he overcame. The gunk slid down his throat and was thankfully gone from anything that could taste it again. He had never tasted melted rubber before, but he thought he had a pretty good idea how it tasted now.

“Soooooo?”

“Words can’t describe the taste, and the texture, is just, inhuman.” David was very careful. “I can honestly say: I have NEVER eaten anything like this before. My life is now different. I will never think of casserole, football or you the same ever again, as long as I live.” He was proud. Every word was true.

“EEEEEEEEE! I’m so glad!” Jenna pulled out a journal and made a little note. “Since you loved it so much, I will save the recipe in my diary so I can make it for you again whenever you want.” She put it away and got up. “You enjoy it, Hon. I am going to clean the kitchen. Watch your game, and eat your food, and I’ll be right back.”