Tanked: TANKED Read Free Page A

seat.”
    All three look at me and Jessie grabs my hand to hold it and I pull it away pretending to be mad. He smiles and bumps my arm.   I follow my mother into the church down the center aisle.  Jessie and Daddy follow behind us, until we reached our pew which is the same place we sit every Sunday. Like it’s the only place we’re allowed to sit and nobody better sit in our place either since it will cause us to have unholy thoughts throughout the entire service.
    Once church is over, we go back to my parent’s house, have lunch and spend the afternoon hanging out. Sadly, before I know it, it’s time for Jessie to leave.  We have to go back to my house to get his suitcase and I help him get packed and loaded in the car.  I give him a long hug, “Still no phone contact all week?” 
    “Yep, from Sunday evening till Friday whenever we are released.”
    “That’s the dumbest rule I have ever heard of.”
    “I won’t argue with that, but I do have to go.  I'll see you in a week, sunshine.”
    “Ok, I guess I’ll get ready for work tomorrow to fight the boredom.”
    “You could always clean your room.”
    I pretend to glare at him. “Ok, now it is time for you to go.”
    I hug him one last time and watch him pull out of the driveway until he is completely out of sight.  I know in the world of therapists and psychologists, it’s probably wrong to only have one friend that you do everything, with but since the day he dumped baked beans on me in kindergarten we’ve been inseparable.  I don’t remember much from kindergarten but I do remember that day. We were at lunch and I wouldn’t leave him alone.  I would do things like tug his hair, thump him, or touch his ear.  He was always so quiet and shy, the exact opposite from the way he is now. Anyway, he told me that if I messed with him one more time, I was going to regret it, and boy did I. He grabbed a handful of his baked beans off his lunchroom tray and smeared them right down the front of my beautiful pink dress.  I remember crying and having to sit in the office waiting for my mother to pick me up.  Jessie came out of the principal’s office a few minutes later and sat down right beside me even though there were several empty chairs.  My mother arrived shortly. We went to the bathroom to change. Then we went back to the front office so she could check me out of school.  I pointed at Jessie and told her that he was the one who did it.  My mother went to Jessie and squatted down in front of him and said a few words that I couldn’t hear, and then she asked to see the principal.  Once again I found myself sitting next to the boy who traumatized me.  Years later my mother admitted to going to the principal and asking that he not be suspended and I realized then, she probably saved his life.  He doesn’t talk about it much but before his father died, he used to get knocked around a lot.  He always had bruises on him.  My parents recognized this and let him stay with us as much as his parents would allow him to, even on school nights, and that was a big deal.  When we were in the third grade Jessie’s dad died. I don’t know how Jessie’s mom landed her next husband but she did, and she hit the jackpot. He is rich and treats her and Jessie well, too well sometimes.  But in a sad way, he has earned every nice thing that has come his way. 
    I walk back inside and go straight to the laundry room that is attached to the kitchen. I smile when I see the hamper from my room was sitting in front of the washer full of my dirty clothes.  He is such a neat freak.   I program the coffee maker so it will be ready to brew in the morning and decide to do a little straightening in my bedroom.  I work most of the evening, getting two garbage bags full of junk thrown away.   Prima is happy as I rescue sixteen cat toys that have been lost forever under my bed and dressers.  I have two more hampers full of clothes out of the bottom of my closet and I