Richard Yates (6 page)

In the parking lot he walked toward a small tree to pull it from the ground.

Dakota Fanning held him and petted him and said “That is bad, don’t do that” while grinning.

“Now what,” said Haley Joel Osment a few days later on Gmail chat. “Come June 8,” said Dakota Fanning. It was May 31. Haley Joel Osment said June 8 was too far away. “I won’t last that long,” he said. Dakota Fanning said to come tonight on the 11:54 train. She said she would skip school tomorrow. “Come tonight or I’m killing myself,” she said.

“Come here,” said Haley Joel Osment.

“I can’t. I don’t have any money. And Pedro is gone I think. I don’t have anywhere to say I’m staying at. I don’t ever go to Kat’s,” said Dakota Fanning about her friend who lived about thirty minutes away.

“Now what,” said Haley Joel Osment.

“Please come,” said Dakota Fanning.

“I don’t want to see your friends. Your mom will come home.”

mhp-yates-01.indd 44

mhp-yates-01.indd 44

7/9/10 7:48:40 AM

7/9/10 7:48:40 AM

45
•
Richard Yates

“You won’t. My mom doesn’t go in my room. We can

leave and come back later.”

“We can leave,” said Haley Joel Osment. “Where.”

“Anywhere,” said Dakota Fanning. “Just walk.”

“You never want to. You say you’re tired.”

“I will,” said Dakota Fanning. “We walk. We walk all the time.”

“Walk with me to the ledge.”

“Okay,” said Dakota Fanning. “We will.”

“Ledge sex,” said Haley Joel Osment. “When.”

“At night. We can go tonight. When I come to pick

you up.”

“Will we really go,” said Haley Joel Osment. “Wear a glow-in-the-dark dress.”

“I don’t have one. I’m wearing bright orange.”

Haley Joel Osment said “Okay” and that he was go-

ing to fi nish answering interview questions someone had emailed him. He fi nished and emailed the interview to Dakota Fanning who said the answers were good. He said he had to change computers and would be back in four minutes. He walked to a different computer and sat and listened to a song through earphones. He walked to the bathroom.

He splashed water on his face. He dried his hands and face and walked to the computer and sat.

“You lied,” said Dakota Fanning. “That wasn’t 4

minutes.”

“Sorry. I’m fragile. Don’t say I lied too much.”

“Okay,” said Dakota Fanning. “I’m sorry.”

“Now what,” said Haley Joel Osment.

Dakota Fanning said “11:54.” She said tape man was calling her right now. Tape man was a person Dakota mhp-yates-01.indd 45

mhp-yates-01.indd 45

7/9/10 7:48:40 AM

7/9/10 7:48:40 AM

Tao Lin
•
46

Fanning met on the internet when she ordered his chapbook. Tape man called every night and had plans to visit Dakota Fanning in the summer. Dakota Fanning didn’t like tape man anymore and was afraid of him visiting. Tape man had sent Dakota Fanning a tape recorder to record herself reading her poems for him to masturbate to while listening. Tape man was 21 and lived in Minnesota.

“He has renewed obsession with you,” said Haley Joel Osment.

“He is going to call back in like 5 minutes. I’m afraid.

I picked up by accident yesterday. I said hello 3 times then hung up.”

“Am I coming?” said Haley Joel Osment. “Tomorrow is Thursday. I need to be back Friday 1:00 p.m. to have lunch with my publisher.”

“Okay. You are coming. You will be back before

Friday.”

“Wear a slutty dress and sit on the ledge with me.”

“My dress is slutty,” said Dakota Fanning. “And bright orange.”

“Should I come,” said Haley Joel Osment. “What happened last time I came. Was it good. I forgot.”

“It was until my friends came. But it got better after they left. We watched the piano teacher stab herself and then you choked me a lot. You can take the 9:27 p.m. train back home Thursday. It’s hot here. I don’t have air condi-tioning. It’s terrible. You will be hot hiding under the white blanket.”

“I shouldn’t come then?” said Haley Joel Osment.

“No you should. You don’t want to come.”

“I do. Will I go to jail if your mom catches me.”

mhp-yates-01.indd 46

mhp-yates-01.indd 46

7/9/10 7:48:40 AM

7/9/10 7:48:40 AM

47
•
Richard Yates

“I don’t know,” said Dakota Fanning. “I’ll just choke her.”

“Will I go to jail. Would she do that.”

Dakota Fanning said she didn’t think so. Haley Joel Osment asked what would happen. Dakota Fanning said she didn’t know. “Neither of us cares if we go to jail,” she said. “So why are we talking about it.” Haley Joel Osment said she was right. He said he was just curious. “Should I come,” he said.

“Yes,” said Dakota Fanning.

“You were late last time. I was sad. I thought ‘she is late.’”

“Your train was like 8 minutes early,” said Dakota Fanning.

“Oh,” said Haley Joel Osment.

“You called me and said it was here and I was like ‘oh, it’s early.’ Late at night I think it moves faster because less people get on and off. I will be on time.”

“Drink green tea so you won’t fall asleep,” said Haley Joel Osment.

“Okay,” said Dakota Fanning. “I sneezed and my friend made fun of me today in chemistry. He stared at me. And then pet my head.” Haley Joel Osment thought about Dakota Fanning’s friend. “Drink the entire green tea,” he said.

“I’ll drink like half,” said Dakota Fanning.

“I need to leave now if I want to make it.”

“Okay,” said Dakota Fanning. “Leave.”

“When am I getting there.”

“2:32,” said Dakota Fanning.

“My phone is broken. How will I know you’re there.”

“I will be there. Stop worrying. I’m going to shower.”

mhp-yates-01.indd 47

mhp-yates-01.indd 47

7/9/10 7:48:40 AM

7/9/10 7:48:40 AM

Tao Lin
•
48

“I’m coming,” said Haley Joel Osment. “Ledge. Don’t be tired.”

“I won’t,” said Dakota Fanning. “I napped. I napped 4

hours.”

Haley Joel Osment went to his apartment and showered.

On the train to New Jersey he drew animals and read an Ann Beattie short story that alluded to Ernest Hemingway.

He lay on his back across two seats and listened to music.

He stepped off the train and walked in different directions on the platform. He stopped walking. He looked at the timetables. He looked at other things. He stood without moving. He saw Dakota Fanning in the distance. She was smiling. “She is happy to see me or nervous she’s late or probably both,” thought Haley Joel Osment.

“Have you been waiting long?” she said.

“No,” said Haley Joel Osment.

They walked a few minutes holding hands without talking then stopped. Haley Joel Osment gave Dakota Fanning the things he drew on the train. “Thank you,” said Dakota Fanning and gave Haley Joel Osment a bookmark she made that had octopi and squid on it. They walked across the steel bridge. They stopped at an intersection. They stood apart looking at the ground. Haley Joel Osment kicked things on the ground. There were pebbles and pieces of concrete.

“Where should we go?” said Dakota Fanning.

Haley Joel Osment was quiet a few seconds.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I thought we were going to the ledge.”

“Mosquitoes will bite me,” said Dakota Fanning.

“Let’s go to the ledge. I’ll cover your arms and legs.”

“Mosquitoes will bite me,” said Dakota Fanning.

mhp-yates-01.indd 48

mhp-yates-01.indd 48

7/9/10 7:48:40 AM

7/9/10 7:48:40 AM

49
•
Richard Yates

“Mosquitoes go where there’s light. It’s dark there.”

Dakota Fanning said she had been there at night and there were many mosquitoes. They walked toward Price Chopper holding hands. Large houses and tall trees were on either side of the road. It was around 3:00 a.m. Dakota Fanning pointed at a house and said it was where her brother went to do drugs. Haley Joel Osment made a small noise.

He stared ahead and didn’t think about anything. After a few minutes he focused on his life and then asked if Dakota Fanning found him an apartment yet. She said she rode her bike yesterday and looked at newspapers and didn’t fi nd anything but would keep looking and would probably fi nd something soon.

“Keep looking,” said Haley Joel Osment in a

monotone.

They walked onto the parking lot of school buses.

Haley Joel Osment said he wanted to sit in a school bus. Dakota Fanning said that was bad. Haley Joel Osment moved toward a school bus. Dakota Fanning said “No”

while grinning and pulled him away from the bus and said

“That’s bad.” She said the cops here were insane because people sometimes slashed the bus tires so they wouldn’t have to go to school. “Come on,” said Haley Joel Osment.

“It will be okay.” He walked to a bus. Dakota Fanning walked away. Haley Joel Osment stepped onto the bus. He stared at the bus seats. He imagined a zombie or homeless person suddenly appearing. He stepped off the bus and put in earphones. He walked on the side of a street. He walked onto the fi eld. He looked across the fi eld at the parking lot of school buses. He walked on a string while looking down and making both feet walk on the string. He thought about walking to the train platform. If he left now he would not mhp-yates-01.indd 49

mhp-yates-01.indd 49

7/9/10 7:48:40 AM

7/9/10 7:48:40 AM

Tao Lin
•
50

see Dakota Fanning again. “We would probably just never speak to each other again,” he thought. “It would be funny.

I would write a short story about us. I would just work on the short story every day.” He thought about the periods of loneliness in his life. There was a period of loneliness in high school, a period of loneliness in college, a second period of loneliness in college, a period of loneliness after college. He walked about fi fty feet in each direction to pieces of wood at the ends of the string and stepped on the wood.

He focused on walking on the string and forgot about other things. Sometimes he thought “I will probably remember this for a long time.” He sat on a picnic bench on the fi eld.

He had an image of putting his head facedown on his arms like he did in high school to sleep during class. He felt very awake. He thought about walking to the train platform. If he did that he would probably never see Dakota Fanning again. He knew he already thought this but did not remember what decision he had made. He walked in different directions on the fi eld for about fi fteen minutes then toward Price Chopper where he thought Dakota Fanning probably went. He saw her walking toward him. He removed his earphones while walking toward her with a neutral facial expression.

“I tried to catch a toad for you,” she said grinning.

He felt himself walking toward her calmly.

“The toad squeaked,” she said. “It got away.”

He held her for about twenty seconds in a way that they couldn’t see each other’s faces. She said “The toad squeaked”

and they walked to Price Chopper. They walked one time around the inside perimeter without talking and then to her house. On her bed one of them sometimes touched the other mhp-yates-01.indd 50

mhp-yates-01.indd 50

7/9/10 7:48:40 AM

7/9/10 7:48:40 AM

51
•
Richard Yates

a little, stopping when the other did not reciprocate, until Haley Joel Osment was asleep.

In the morning he went downstairs in boxer shorts and a T-shirt and opened a closet and ate what Dakota Fanning had said was her brother’s cereal. Dakota Fanning was at school. Her brother was at work driving cars. Her mother was at work forty minutes away. The cereal was large pieces of wheat. Haley Joel Osment showered upstairs in Dakota Fanning’s mother’s bathroom. In Dakota Fanning’s room he found a shoebox of letters and envelopes from tape man. He read the letters. He saw a Charles Bukowski poem handwritten on an envelope and read a few lines. He chose a comic book from a stack on Dakota Fanning’s dresser and lay stomach down on her bed and read for about an hour.

He looked at her clock and continued reading but with less attention. After a few minutes he heard the front door open and close. He felt himself smiling. He tried to make his smile smaller and it changed into a grin. Dakota Fanning came in the room grinning and they hugged standing on her bed. “Her grin seems like my grin,” thought Haley Joel Osment. “Uncontrollable or something.”

Around 6:30 p.m. Haley Joel Osment was under blan-

kets reading
Ghost
World
. Dakota Fanning’s mother was downstairs where the TV was on very loud. Dakota Fanning went downstairs and returned with a bowl of pasta and one fork. They sat on her bed alternating eating the pasta while looking at each other. Haley Joel Osment said it was good. About an hour later they were having sex and Dakota Fanning said “Wait” and they stopped moving.

Haley Joel Osment was on top of her on her bed. “Never mhp-yates-01.indd 51

mhp-yates-01.indd 51

7/9/10 7:48:40 AM

7/9/10 7:48:40 AM

Tao Lin
•
52

mind,” she said. Haley Joel Osment wasn’t moving. “Keep going,” said Dakota Fanning. “Your mom,” said Haley Joel Osment. “I’ll hear if she comes upstairs,” said Dakota Fanning. They fi nished having sex. About twenty seconds later they heard Dakota Fanning’s mother already upstairs. Haley Joel Osment pulled blankets over himself. Dakota Fanning’s mother opened the door. “Napping?” she said. “Tired?”

“I’m taking a nap,” said Dakota Fanning.

“There’s potatoes on the stove.”

“Okay,” said Dakota Fanning.

Dakota Fanning’s mother said the potatoes were or-

ganic. She talked about olive oil and how she prepared the potatoes. “Well, I’ll let you nap,” she said and closed the door.

“She could have come in when we were having sex,”

said Haley Joel Osment.

Dakota Fanning had a vaguely neutral facial expression.