They Were Dolphins, Chapter 3 part II

He climbed down from the tree and went across the street to talk to her. They talked for a while through the chain link fence that was almost as tall as they were. The boy asked to go inside, and Mia agreed. Mia’s room was small and cramped with a single twin bed in it. She had a noisy squawking white bird in a pink cage. The bird could speak some words, apparently, but the boy never heard anything intelligible come out of it.

The boy was immediately taken with a kid’s typewriter on Mia’s desk. It was made of plastic, but it actually worked, typing out real ink on real American-sized 8,5”x11” paper. The boy couldn’t understand he arrangement of the letters for he was used to seeing them in a certain order all the time in school. He eagerly asked for a piece of paper and Mia loaded it into the typewriter. The boy takes a long time to think of a phrase to write and takes even longer to peck it out on the keyboard.

He hid what he was typing but had to ask her how to spell certain words, including her name. He finally produced a sheet of paper with two sentences on the top.

usagi luves mia. mia luves usage

The boy was incredibly embarrassed to write such sap. The girl squinted when he presented the page to her. She interpreted it correctly without understanding what it meant. Rabbits love Mia? The boy flushed with shame and swiped the paper from her hands. He folded it in half, in half, in half, and in half again. He ripped a piece of invisible tape off a dispenser and taped the folded square shut. He didn’t know what else to do, so he shoved it into the cage with the bird.

Mia sighed heavily, in a grown up way, and the boy tried to redirect attention to something else by babbling about the park. Mia’s mother called out that the dogs need to walk and Mia asked the boy if he would help. Glad to get away from the topic written on the piece of paper, he agreed.

Mia explained as she gathered the small dogs and put leashes on them that the dogs were supposed to “mate” so they could have puppies. When her mother asked her to “walk” the dogs, she meant to let them walk outside for this purpose. The boy didn’t know what mate was. Mia explained that the schoolyard word was “hump”. It dawned on the boy what the dogs would be doing.

They turned outside the fence and went toward the triangular grass area with two palm trees. It was a fair distance and Mia had time to explain along the way that she was very familiar with humping. She had caught her mother and father humping twice. They were trying to make a brother or sister for her, she breezily detailed. The boy noted that his mother was not humping anymore because he already had a brother. Besides, the boy noted that he didn’t have a father.

Mia laughed at that. Everyone has a mother and a father. But the boy protested, nearly revealing his dolphin heritage, but he stopped short. He suddenly realised it was very suspicious that the Korean boyfriend was seen coming in the evening sometimes and leaving in the morning. He would stay in the same room with his mother, and he knew there was only one bed in there. He got sick thinking about it.

When they reached the trivium, the male dog jumped on top of the female dog and pumped vigorously. The boy was embarrassed for seeing it in front of Mia, but she was not bothered by it in the least. Dogs will get stuck together after they mate, because the male dog’s penis will swell up and can’t be removed for a while. Neither child knew the details, but Mia did know the dogs would be stuck together after they humped.

She tied the two dogs to a street sign at one corner of the triangle. She grabbed the boy dolphin and held him tightly. She said through hysterical sobs that her family were moving and they would be gone from their home in a few weeks. The boy was shocked and numb at the news. He had known some children who had moved away. They always disappeared and were never seen again. He didn’t know what he would do without her, especially after he had admitted his strong feelings for her.

The idea briefly flitted through his head that he was grateful that she hadn’t understood his message. That was a good benefit of using a fake name, he decided.

The girl apologised for moving away and said that they should spend as much time together as possible before she left. She pulled away from him and held his hand meaningfully. The boy didn’t know what to do, so he nodded and held his hand perfectly still in hers.

Eventually, the stasis was too awkward for the boy and he pulled his hand back. He looked at the dogs and saw they were still stuck together. He asked how long it would take for them to separate. Mia shrugged. The boy told her he needed to leave for some pressing business at home. Mia looked hurt, but he promised her the business was very important but that he would come to see her at her house soon, very soon.

He walked back home, relieved to be out of the awkward situation and not knowing how to react. He saw his brother in the front yard, still playing in the tree. He asked his brother if the Korean had left. His brother nodded. He asked if their mother was inside. The boy nodded. The boy told his brother they should go in to see her.

They went inside and saw their mother sitting on the filthy couch again, but this time in a wretched state. The side of her face was black and she held a bag of frozen corn against the side of her temple.

She told the boys a fantastical tale of presidents Ford and Carter who were telling all the children to go outside somewhere safe. There was a threat of nuclear war with Russia, whom president Nixon was conspiring with to oppose the United States. The news was all over the radio and television. Children must go outside to the park to play all day. It was not safe to stay close to buildings or play around homes where the nuclear blasts would hit. The boy was well-versed in ducking and dropping under a desk in the event of a blast. They practiced at school regularly for safety.

Their mother sobbed violently when she told them this. She especially seemed choked up when she told the boy he must take care of his younger brother. The boy was the only one who could take care of his brother from now on. Rather than give courage to the boy, this actually made him more fearful. Nevertheless, he bravely agreed to protect his brother and would take him somewhere safe in the park to play.

They left the house and retraced their steps to the park. The boys argued bitterly about what they should do all day since it was just past noon, they hadn’t eaten, and it was a long time to dinner. The boy had an idea. He convinced his brother that they could get a piece of paper for a free hamburger from the McDonalds. He had seen little slips of paper that were “coupons” for ninety-nine cents off. The boy had no idea how much ninety-nine cents was, nor what a “coupon” actually was, but he was pretty sure that meant they could get a hamburger for free.

They turned before the bridge to the park and followed the road to the shopping centre from the back. The boys walked inside the bustling McDonalds and stared at the bewildering signs. The boy spotted several coupon booklets and eagerly pulled out the one that was shaped like a paper money rectangle and had a large 99 boldly printed in the upper right corner. In the centre of the coupon was a picture of the most perfect, most delicious Big Mac ever. This proved that the coupon was worth 99 cents, and that the hamburger would be free for the taking if they stood in line.

The boy told his brother to sit at a booth and wait for him to return. The boy’s confidence started to waver, however, as he stood in the intimidating line full of adults. There were six lines, with at least six to eight people standing in each line. They moved rapidly and knew exactly what they were doing. The boy had no idea what to do or how to get a hamburger. The closer he got to the front of the line, the more frightened he became.

He ducked out of the line and shadowed a few booths where people were finishing eating. Carefully keeping out of sight of his brother, he approached one booth with a family and casually swiped a bag of fries from the corner. He walked to his brother and waved the bag of fries nonchalantly. He was in a panic, however, and wanted desperately to leave. He told his brother to split with him and they both left in a hurry.

They started running almost immediately as they went out the door. They ran behind one of the buildings and stuffed the cold fries into their mouth. The boy was proud of his accomplishment and was beaming in excitement to take care of his brother. He felt his stature as leader and mentor growing. He felt that being a human man might not be difficult. One only needed to have courage, conviction, and take decisive action to be a good man.

The small bag of fries was not nearly enough food for the two of them, but it would have to do. The boy had another idea. There was a toy section in the grocery store across the way. In the toy section, there were lots of toys that the boys could play with. They would borrow one from the store to play with today and then they would gladly return it afterward. The boy’s brother nodded. Technically, the boy knew he was lying and that he would be stealing. But he needed to protect his brother, and in any case, the world was likely to end soon in a nuclear attack from Russia.