Boys in Gilded Cages by Jarod Powell Read Free Book Online

or whatever – was in the store
would reveal itself. Suddenly he heard an alto voice. “Hypno?” The
voice said, an ethereal but human-esque sound. Jack turned around
swiftly. It was Nathan. His skin was grey, he was glazy-eyed, and
it looked like he needed a bath. “Hey, big brother,” Nathan
said.
    “ Hey, little brother,”
Jack said with his best poker face.
    “ Follow me,” Nathan said
playfully. He briskly walked behind the shelf, and Jack followed
him. He looked up and down the short aisle, and peered around it.
Nathan was not there. He became frightened.
    “ Nate?” He
shouted.
    “ Nate?”
     
    Home was both a soft place to land for Jack,
but a painful place. It felt as if ghosts lingered. Jack imagined
the ghosts of the trailer park’s murdered drug dealers and hookers
floating from trailer to trailer, magnifying the home’s bad
energy.
    As Jack watched his mother asleep in the
ratty recliner, he observed a military documentary playing on The
History Channel. Thelma woke after a few minutes of him standing
over her sleeping body, as if she noticed impending danger.
    “ How was work?” Thelma
said, groggy.
    “ It was okay,” Jack
said.
    “ School go okay?” Thelma
asked, seemingly uninterested.
    “ Yeah,” Jack said. “I
didn’t go to history class. I had Ms. Luptas.
    Thelma’s expression hardened a bit. “Yeah,
she called.” Thelma scooted over to make room for Jack. “Come sit
by me.” Jack sat on the arm of the chair, but Thelma pulled him
closer. “It’ll get better babe,” Thelma cooed, stroking Jack’s
hair. You’ll grow out of it.”
    Jack looked embarrassed.
    “ Wanna watch something
else?” Thelma asked. Jack was silent and sullen.
“Heard from your
dad?” Thelma asked, desperate to get something out of her
son.
    Jack, with his trademark distant look, said
somewhat harshly, “I saw Nate today at work.” Thelma froze, and her
eyes widened. 
“You saw Nathan again?” Thelma had a look of grave
concern.
    “ Mmhmm.” 
“You miss your
brother?” Thelma asked with genuine concern in her
voice.
    “ I don’t know,” Jack
said.
“You don’t know?”
    “ No.”
    Thelma was trying to get information without
seeming like an interrogator, or worse, a therapist. “You just…try
no to think about him?”
    Jack blinked. “Maybe. I don’t know.”
    Thelma got up, and handed Jack the remote
control. “Here. Why don’t you watch something else? I’ll make some
popcorn.
    Jack doesn’t turn the channel. Instead, he
gazes at the black-and-white historical military documentary, not
really watching it.
    Thelma popped popcorn in the outdated
microwave. Her chin trembles started small, before a cavalcade of
silent weeping washed over her face. Even with her back to Jack, he
knew she was crying. It didn’t occur to him, for whatever reason,
to ask what was wrong. Instead, his eyes dilated, his eyes rolled
back, and he fell asleep peacefully.
    He awoke to a creaking bed coming from
Thelma’s room. Jack walked down the hollow-walled hallway, but he
inexplicably tripped. He looked back to see Nathan with his foot
mischievously out. Their eyes met, and the disdain and accusatory
feeling Nathan appeared to have filled the room. Thelma let out an
especially offensive sexual moan, and Jack reflexively looked
forward to see through the crack in Thelma’s bedroom door. He saw
two men, one of which was probably Frank, having sex with Thelma in
a most unconventional way. He looked back. Nathan was gone.
     
    Petor could talk Jack into anything. So when
Petor said to Jack, “Let’s go to 7-11,” Jack knew that meant a trek
to find a five-finger discount. Pushing snack cakes down his pants,
Petor gave Jack a stern look. “Well?” He whispered. “I can’t hold
all this shit in my pockets by myself.”
    “ I don’t have pockets,”
Jack said. A frustrated Petor grabbed handful of processed snacks
and stuck them down Jack’s pants. Jack resisted.
    Officer Luptas noticed