Baby In The Basement

Buddy ran to meet them at the corner.

“Mom is deader than a door nail,” he told them.

“Oh yeah?” John grinned, mussed Buddy’s sandy brown hair.

Buddy grabbed the waistband of John’s Levis to pull him to a stop, he wanted John to listen. The neatly folded, wrinkled, little bag John had tucked under his belt, behind his back, fell onto the sidewalk.

“James is crying,” Buddy said solemnly.

“Your lunch bag, John,” Albert informed pointing to the bag.

John pushed Buddy away who was now trying to latch on to his leg and went back to pick up the little, brown, paper bag. On Mondays Mattie wrote all their names on their school lunch bags. They were expected to take care of them and bring them home every day. They could only have one a week. If the bag ripped, she would issue another but if he lost it, he would be carrying his peanut butter sandwich, hardboiled egg and apple in his pocket the remainder of the week. That would mean he would have to start carrying a jacket again to school and he would hate to have to tote a jacket again. The weather had been so nice lately that he had been able to shed that burden.

“James is crying,” Buddy impatiently repeated.

Albert bent over, “Want a piggyback ride, Buddy boy?”

Buddy jumped up on Albert’s back, nearly tumbling both boys to the ground. Albert struggled beneath the weight while John held Buddy in place. They had not expected Buddy to be so heavy. When Eddie junior piggybacked Buddy, it looked so easy but Buddy was very stocky for such a short little boy; he weighed only a few pounds less than Albert who was twice his age.

All three boys were laughing when Albert dumped Buddy on the front lawn. Buddy stretched out on the grass grinning as he watched his brothers enter the house. Everything was normal again; the scary feeling had gone away. When they got all their chores done, they would be back out to play; James would come out too. He would wait for them outside. He would not go back in unless his mother called him in. He wished his mother would do that. He waited a long time, but no one came out. He went and sat by the front door for a long time, but still, no one came out.

When the shade was over the entire driveway, the nine year old, Wesley, came home from his fourth grade class, and when Wesley opened the front door to go in, Buddy heard all his brothers crying. He went to find his scooter.