The Strike Trilogy (68 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

A
t six o’clock in the morning, Tobin reached over and shut off his beeping alarm clock. Turning to his right with a groan, he looked out the window next to his bed. The other houses in his neighborhood were still dark, and the sun was just starting to peek over the trees across the street.

Exhausted and trying to force himself to wake up, Tobin reached over to his nightstand again and turned on his radio. As usual, it was tuned to Tobin’s favorite sports talk radio station. But, at the moment, the morning show hosts were not talking about sports.

“I know, for me, anyway,” one of the hosts said, “it finally feels like, at least a little, we’re starting to go back to normal. I know it’s only been a little over two weeks since the dome finally disappeared, but after everything we’ve been through for the past few months, I feel like for the first time the city can breathe again.”

“I know, it’s true,” the radio co-host replied. “The whole
country
can breathe again. I didn’t know if we’d ever go back to normal, but now I can see it, you know? I can feel it, anyway, especially when I was walking to work this morning, for some reason. I feel like normal life is finally here again, back again, at least in some small way. Finally, I can think about something other than the dome.”

“I know. And really, that’s been the greatest gift of all, surprisingly. The freedom to think about something else.”

As Tobin lay in bed, listening to the radio, he heard his mother call for him from downstairs.

“Tobin, are you up?” she asked. Tobin could smell bacon and French toast. She was cooking his favorite breakfast. “It’s almost time, you know. Bill will be here with the truck soon.”

“Yeah, I know,” Tobin replied.

“Big day today,” his mother said from the kitchen at the bottom of the stairs. “It’s the start of a new beginning.”

Tobin watched the sun poking its head above the trees across the street.

“It’s the start of a new life,” his mother finished.

Four hours later, Tobin, his mother, and his mother’s boyfriend Bill were standing in the middle of the kitchen, near the front door of the house. Only a few minutes ago, the room had been filled with plastic bins of school supplies, suitcases full of clothes, and cardboard boxes stuffed with toothpaste, shampoo, and towels, but now the room looked strangely empty. Even the kitchen table was pressed up against the wall, pushed there earlier to make room for all of Tobin’s belongings.

“I think that’s it,” Bill said, looking around at the bare floor. “Is that everything?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Tobin’s mother said. She smiled, then pointed at the window on the house’s front door. “But I think there’s some people outside who’d like to wish us good luck.”

Tobin turned to the door. Outside, he could see Jennifer and Chad waiting there, standing on the side of the street. They were smiling.

“Dude,” Chad said, as Tobin walked outside. “I can’t believe this is it.”

“I know,” Tobin said, shaking his head. “Crazy.”

“I cannot wrap my mind around the fact that we are all going to college,” Jennifer said, laughing at the thought.

Chad looked at her. “
You
I can believe
is going to college. It’s me and Tobin I’m surprised about.”

The three friends laughed. Jennifer turned to Tobin.

“When do you have to be there and everything?” she asked.

“Well, just by today, I think,” Tobin said. “Like, by the end of the day I think I’m supposed to be all moved in, before the big orientation thing tonight. How about you guys? Next week, right?”

“Yeah,” Jennifer said. “I’m driving out with my parents on Tuesday.”

“And I’m not going until Saturday,” Chad replied.

Tobin nodded. The friends stood in silence a moment outside of Tobin’s house. No one knew what to say.

When the front door opened, Tobin looked there and saw Bill, who was holding his keys and walking toward his SUV.

“Well, I guess I should get going,” Tobin said. “Looks like my mom and Bill are ready. But you guys are gonna come up and visit soon, right?”

Tobin and Chad shared the handshake they had created back in the third grade, then quickly hugged.

“Yup, in two weeks, bro,” Chad said. “I can’t wait. We are gonna rip that school to shreds. Show those kids in New Hampshire how we do things in Bridgton.”

Tobin laughed. “And then I’m gonna go see you the week after that, right?”

“Yup,” Chad said. “Before practice starts and everything.”

Tobin looked to Jennifer. He smiled, and she did, too, but she was crying. He hugged her.

“Have fun, okay?” she said, squeezing him. “But not too much fun. Anytime you think you’re having too much fun, you probably are, so just think of me telling you to stop.”

Tobin laughed. “Oh, I will, believe me. I know if there’s one way to ruin a good time, it’s to think of you yelling at me and telling me to think of the consequences.”

“You love it,” she said. “You love me nagging you.”

“Of course I do.”

Tobin parted from her. He noticed the tears still welling up in her eyes.

“So call me tonight,” Jennifer said, quickly wiping away her tears. “Or text me or whatever. If you get a chance, you know. If you’re not too busy or anything.”

“Yeah, I will, definitely. And you’re gonna come visit with Chad in two weeks, right?”

“Yeah,” Jennifer said, looking to the ground. “Yeah, hopefully, yeah. As long as school and everything isn’t too—” She shook her head. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll be there.”

“Okay,” Tobin said. “Hopefully by then you can help me with my first paper. And by that, I mean write it for me.”

Tobin smiled at her. But Jennifer wasn’t smiling anymore. The corners of her mouth were turned down and her lip was quivering. She couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“Oh, Tobin. I don’t want us to grow up.”

She wrapped her arms around Tobin and they hugged again. Pulling him close, Jennifer stood on her tiptoes and whispered into his ear.

“You’re my rock, you know. My incredibly frustrating, annoying, hilarious rock.”

Tobin laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. My phone will always be on.”

“It better be.”

Finally, they parted again. Tobin looked toward the SUV. His mom was getting into the passenger side. Through the rear window, the boy could see all of the boxes filled with his stuff.

“Well, I guess I better get going,” Tobin said. “We’re supposed to be stopping for lunch on the way, so...” The boy stepped toward the SUV. “But I’ll see you guys soon?”

“Yeah, definitely,” Chad said.

Jennifer simply nodded, her cheeks wet with tears.

After one more high-five with Chad, Tobin walked to the SUV and got in.

“Okay, we ready?” Bill asked, looking in the rear-view mirror.

“Yup,” Tobin said, putting his seatbelt on.

Bill put the truck in gear. “All right. New Hampshire, here we come.”

Bill pressed his foot to the gas and the SUV drove off down the road. Sitting in the backseat, Tobin turned around and looked back toward Jennifer and Chad through the rear windshield. They were still standing in front of Tobin’s house, watching the SUV drive away.

“Hey, Bill?” Tobin said.

“Yeah?”

“Do you think you could…”

Tobin thought a moment. He watched as Jennifer and Chad got smaller and smaller.

“Never mind,” the boy said, turning back to the front of the SUV. “Sorry.”

“You sure?” Bill asked.

Tobin turned around once again and watched Jennifer.

“Yeah, it’s fine,” the boy said. “Let’s keep going.”

Four and a half hours later, Tobin, his mother, and Bill carried the last of Tobin’s suitcases into the building that housed Tobin’s new dorm room on the campus of Pinewood University, an hour north of Boston. As they walked down the hall for what seemed like the fiftieth time, it was a chaotic scene: the building was filled with dozens of other kids and their parents, with all of them moving their boxes, plastic totes, and school supplies into the various rooms lining the hallways. Walking down to his dorm room, dragging a big, heavy suitcase behind him, Tobin had to be careful not to bump into any of the hurried, anxious strangers and stacks of plastic bins that were surrounding him.

Finally, as Tobin reached the quiet of his strange, tiny, cement-walled dorm room, he dropped the suitcase. His mother and Bill followed him inside, letting go of their own suitcases and placing them against the wall. Now, suddenly, all of the belongings from Bill’s SUV were in the cold, foreign dorm room. From the kitchen, to the SUV, and now to here, where they would stay.

“There you go,” Bill said, eyeballing the suitcases and cardboard boxes piled up near Tobin’s small, skinny bed. “That wasn’t too bad.”

“Yup,” Tobin’s mother said. Her voice was already cracking. “That’s it.”

“I guess so,” Tobin said. He looked across the room. It appeared his roommate was already unpacked and moved in, though they hadn’t seen him all day. Tobin still hadn’t met his roommate in person yet, only speaking to him a few times through awkward Facebook messages.

“Good to go,” Bill said, clapping his hands together. “You ready, honey?”

“Yeah,” Tobin’s mother replied. “I just wanna—I want to…” She reached down and began picking through one of the boxes of bathroom supplies. “Do you have everything from home, honey? Is there anything else you need? You know, if you need anything, you just tell me. Whenever you want, just call me and tell me.”

“I know, Ma,” Tobin said. “I think that’s it. I think I’m good. I got everything.”

“Are you sure?” she said. “Because I just want—”

Suddenly, as Tobin’s mother looked up at him, her eyes welled up. She stared at him, biting her lip, and then broke down. She stepped toward him and hugged him, holding him close, and crying.

Tobin laughed, rubbing her back. “It’s okay, Mom. I have everything.”

For the longest time, it had been just the two of them—him and her—but now they would no longer even be seeing each other everyday. She would no longer be cooking him breakfast on cold winter mornings, or staying up late with him to watch Conan on school nights. She wouldn’t be taking him to baseball practice and then staying afterwards to hit him grounders until the sun set, even though she barely knew how to hold a bat, and they would no longer be going to New Hampshire on vacation every summer, to go to Santa’s Village and Storyland. She wouldn’t be taking him to the movies on rainy Sunday afternoons, they wouldn’t be opening a new door on their advent calendars every day in December, and they would no longer go to the mall and get ice cream after one of Tobin’s doctor’s appointments. Many of these things no longer happened, but it did not matter. For those were the times he thought of now, when he was young and time seemed infinite.

“Be good, okay?” she said, crying. “And have fun. Have so much fun, honey. These are going to be the best days. Remember all the things I told you. And remember how hard you worked to get here.”

“I know, Mom,” Tobin said. He could feel a lump growing in his throat. “I will.”

“Just be yourself, okay?” she said. “You’re a wonderful, funny, kind person with a great personality. And you’re so bright. Don’t forget that. And be careful. Absolutely be careful. Most of all, always be careful. But have fun, too.”

Tobin laughed, still hugging her. “Okay.”

“And call me,” she said. “Every night, if you can. Or every morning, if that’s easier. I don’t care, just call me.”

“I will, Mom. I will.”

They parted. She looked her boy in the eye. “Oh, Tobin,” she said, before hugging him again. “You’re gonna do great. It’s gonna be great. You’re gonna have so much fun. You’re gonna love it.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Tobin said, squeezing her. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she said, crying more than ever.

Knowing the best thing for them to do was to leave as soon as possible, Bill put a hand on Tobin’s mother’s shoulder.

“We better go, Cathy. Come on.”

She nodded and Bill led her out into the hall. Tobin watched them go. His mother was still wiping at her eyes. Bill turned around in the doorway.

“Good luck, Tobin,” he said. “You know where to find me if you need anything, anything at all. Call me anytime, okay? I mean that.”

“Okay,” Tobin said. “Thanks, Bill. I will.”

Tobin and Bill shook hands, and then Bill and Tobin’s mother were gone. Tobin stepped out into the hall and watched them as they walked into the elevator at the other end of the building. When the elevator doors closed, Tobin walked back into his tiny, cramped dorm room and sat on the bed.