Oh well, I won the first two times we played who-can-hold-their-breath-the-longest, I guess he can win this one.
I poked him in the back again to signal that I had come up for air and his head sank toward the bottom and rose again like a lazy balloon. He didn’t budge.
“Come on, Adam, you win. You can come up now.”
The way his body drifted made the hairs on my neck feel funny. I stiffened a little. Where’s Dad? Does he see this?
There he is, talking to the neighbor, probably boring things. It’s funny our neighbors name is Cornelia, good thing she’s old, sounds like an old name. I wouldn’t even play with someone with a name like that, with a name that sounds like a vegetable or a disease. They’re nice neighbors, I guess, but their dogs are mean. Maybe cause we tease them through the fence. I should tell Dad. If he yells at Adam to get up he definitely will. How is he holding his breath that long?
I climbed over the side of the pool and avoided dog poop as I crossed the lawn.
“Dad?”
I knew I shouldn’t interrupt his adult conversation. This was important though; Adam couldn’t stay underwater all day since we still had a fort to build. I wasn’t stupid, it was his turn to sneak food from the pantry and he just didn’t want to. I was sure that that’s what this was all about, sneaky older brother.
My dad kept talking to Cornelia about how Long Island isn’t what it used to be, and how much he hates bills. “New York is an expensive place to live, I know, but how am I supposed to raise these kids and send all three of them to private school on one paycheck? Not to mention Molly didn’t plan on breaking her back, and disability only pays so much. Plus she’s due any day now, that’s just another mouth to feed.”
“Dad, I have to tell you something.”
Cornelia looked down at me and smiled. She’s a pretty lady to have a disease for a name.
Dad gave me the stare, the one that said go away. I don’t think I’ve ever really seen his eyes because his glasses are so thick, but I know they’re blue, like mine. My mom’s are blue, and all of us kid’s eyes are blue, so his have to be too. His are different though, his eyes never laugh.
“Yea, what?”
Better make this fast. “I have to tell you something.”
He blinked at me.
“Adam won’t get up. And he already won the contest so-”, I pointed toward the pool.
My dad was halfway across the yard before I even put my hand down. When I started running after him, he had Adam scooped up in his arms and face up on the ground beside the pool, his beard pressed against his lips. They were the color of blueberries. Cornelia started screaming about an ambulance, but I didn’t see one. All I saw was Adam lying on the ground in his Ninja Turtles bathing suit.
What a faker, he doesn’t have to fake to get attention, I already know he won.
Adam started coughing and water came out of his mouth at the same time he started crying. “Daddy!” he gasped still choking, his white knuckles grabbing at Dad’s shirt. I started crying too because it seemed like the right thing to do, and I didn’t realize that Adam was really in trouble until just then.
My dad helped Adam to his feet. “That’s all I need, another bill for an ambulance. It’s not like I have insurance or anything. Brooke, get next door and tell Cornelia she better not call an ambulance. He’s fine.”
Cornelia didn’t look happy but I did as I was told and ran back home. Adam was still breathing in deep swallows of air as tears slid down his cheek and a Popsicle stood hostage in his left hand. My dad sat at the kitchen table, his hands shaking as he sipped his water.
Look at him, my dad, he just saved Adam’s life. I bet he would save mine too if I needed it. I bet he would do anything for us.
My feet stuck to the kitchen floor as I crossed the room and grabbed my dad’s arms to open them so I could crawl into his lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck and put my cheek against his scruffy face. He always smelled like machines. Mom said it’s because he works hard all day, putting them together, making sure they work right.
“Let’s not tell mom about this, snuggle bug.” He pulled me into his chest with one arm and took another sip of his water.
Adam’s near drowning would be the first of many secrets I would keep for my dad. “I won’t, Daddy.”
I put my head on his chest. I knew why he didn’t want me to tell. Mom would get upset she missed Dad saving Adam’s life. She would have wanted to see it happen too, like I did, so she could remember all her life how great he is, like I will.
Chapter Two
I was seven. All I knew about a C.B radio was that my mom and dad met on one and after a week of talking they decided to meet up at Jones Beach. It took them over an hour to find each other since New York’s beaches that stretched the length of Long Island were packed before noon on the blazing summer weekends.
My aunt had already landed her beau-to-be and had a wedding planned for that October. Not wanting to be outdone, my mom moved in with David after a few short weeks. They wed in September and planned the house, the two kids, and the white picket fence. Three kids, two bug infested apartments and a small unkempt ranch on a desolate dead end street later, I finished a glass of milk and readied my next question.
“So, what’s a C.B?” I asked.
After I watched a cartoon that morning about two giraffes in love, I realized I didn’t even know how my parents met. The giraffe’s flirted through a lyrical orchestra of words and sing-along's. I imagined that’s what my mom felt like.
Mom looked up from the tea bag she was trying not to burn her fingers with. “Uh, it’s a way people used to meet each other. You would talk over the radio. Get to know people you wouldn’t normally meet. It was a new kind of technology then. Everyone was doing it, I wasn’t the only one.”
I remained motionless. Keep going.
She took a sip of her tea. I stared at her.
“Why, you doing a book report or something?”
“No.”
I watched the cigarette ash dangling from her mouth threaten to drop onto the table before turning away. It was always the same. Unless there was a reason, keep your questions to a minimum. She went back to her tea, ending the conversation. I left to find Adam.
He was cross legged on the floor playing with his K’Nex set when I walked into the living room. I leaned against the grand piano and cleared my throat. “You’ll never guess how mom and dad met.” My arms folded across my chest and I shifted my weight. “Mom just told me.”
“Through a C.B,” he said, without looking up.
“Not-uh.” Why does he always know everything?
He stared at me.
“How’d you know?” I said.
We were fifteen months apart in age which meant everything was a competition; who could read all the Disney books the fastest, ride their bike further or know all answers to the universe both large and small. I studied Adam as he focused on jamming a long yellow connector onto a blue corner piece.
Ha, that’s not gonna fit, he needs the green connector. Stupid.
He would sit there for hours in his solitude and craft the most magnificent things; Ferris wheels, cars, the empire state building. Sometimes I would play with him, but building houses and cars that fell apart got boring.