Chapter Text
A gust of wind blew open the screen door with a bang, and rattled the windows. The sky was twilight, not too light but not too dark, but the white clouds had molded into a deep grayish color signifying that a storm was coming.
Heyward sat by the window on his worn leather couch, and stared at the outdoor world with a warm cup of coffee in his hands.
He preferred coffee and TV in the evenings to give himself a second kick. Sometimes he also enjoyed falling asleep to the infomercials and sleeping until his wife came home, coaxing him into bed.
It never felt right to Heyward to sleep in bed without his wife, so he would wait on the couch. She’d laugh at him, and wake him with a kiss, and tell him all about her day as they stumbled exhausted into bed.
Tonight, however, Heyward had some urchins inhabiting his home, and he felt like he needed to be alert rather than asleep in case they ended up bleeding for the third time that day, or worse, destroying something else in his home.
Almost as soon as he thought about the destruction of his property, Heyward heard a noisy chime of ceramic bowls landing in the sink.
He turned his head and peaked into the kitchen where the boys were goofing off and joking around.
After today’s earlier events, Heyward had to admit it was nice to hear the kids laughing and having a good time. They deserved some fun despite Pope breaking the rules. Heyward figured they had been through more than enough for to hold a grudge. Pope’s friend was hurt after all. Heyward could make an exception this once and not punish him for breaking the rules.
But now he was left with the curious thought of how long the urchins would be staying? Heyward didn’t exactly promise a sleepover, but he had the vaguest feeling that the kids were already planning on staying the night.
Shifting back on the couch, he placed his coffee mug on the side table and rested his head on the cushions to watch a re-run of Perry Mason. He liked blacked and white episodes. It reminded him of his childhood.
The coffee was supposed to do the trick and give him a buzz, but Heyward felt his eyes droop as Mr. Mason cross-examined his witness.
_______________
“I have an idea!” JJ said. He was perched on Pope’s kitchen counter, legs dangling over the edge.
Pope and John B exchanged nervous glances. JJ’s ideas were never good.
“Let’s call my uncle. He knows how to win at casinos.”
“You want to bet our allowances on a slot machine in Vegas?” John B asked to which JJ nodded.
“Sure why not? My cousin Ricky did, and he won like eight hundred dollars. I’m dead serious right now. I counted it with him and it was eight hundred bucks!”
“But the odds of that happening again are slim to none,” Pope explained, putting a major damper on JJ’s idea.
They were all hanging around in the kitchen cleaning up their ice cream bowls, which really didn’t consist of anything more than throwing the bowls in the sink and waiting for them to magically get clean.
“Well fine then. What do you wanna do with your allowance?” JJ asked, kicking his legs against the cabinets below.
He was antsy to move, John B could tell. JJ was like that sometimes. Pope knew it too. He said it was hard to keep JJ still long enough to study together so that’s why he started asking John B to study with him.
“Mom wants me to see another play at the theater.” Pope said. “I’ll probably spend it on that.”
John B shook his head. “Another one? Jeez. How many have you seen so far?”
“About seven. The last one was called The Playboy of the Western World and it was really boring.”
JJ snickered, wiggling his eyebrows at Pope. “Sounds like a sexy play.”
Pope laughed.
“It was the complete opposite of sexy. It was about a young man in the early 1900s becoming a hero amongst a bunch of villagers for speaking out about the murder of his father.”
JJ seemed disappointed. “Oh.” He said, glancing out the window. “A rather misleading title if you ask me.”
“I wish we could go outside.” John B added randomly. “I wanted to go fishing.”
“Dude, I know. Or we could go and chase some geese by the pond. Why’s it gotta be raining?”
John B laughed at an old memory of them running after a few geese, only for the amount to double in numbers, causing John B and JJ to bolt in the other direction since they were being chased.
“Maybe we should start thinking of ways to convince my Pops to let you guys sleep over.” Pope said.
JJ nodded along, and then: “Oh Pope. I know what you should do with your allowance. You should buy Return of the Jedi so you can add it to your growing collection.”
John B nodded approvingly. He knew how much Pope loved Star Wars. Actually, Pope loved anything with the word ‘star’ in it. Star Wars, Star Trek, Battle Star Galactica. Basically anything sci-fi and star related was Pope’s cup of tea.
“Why waste money buying my own copy when I can borrow John B’s?”
JJ opened his mouth to say something, possibly to agree with that comment, but he was interrupted by a ringing noise coming from his cargo shorts.
“Since when did you get a cell phone?” John B exclaimed, lifting a curious eyebrow at his small blonde friend. JJ was always getting to do new and cool things before the rest of them.
“Since Ricky started working. He bought it for me so I could call him in case of an emergency. It’s sweet, right?”
“By bought, do you mean your cousin stole it?”
“Probably.”
“You mean to tell me you could have called your cousin this morning instead of me?!” Pope’s tone was a little more strained than usual.
“Yeah… guess so.”
“So you bled all over my house for nothing.”
“I doubt Ricky would have been able to pick up. He’s in summer school. Besides, I thought you wanted to practice being a doctor.”
“My Pops could have killed me for bringing you to the house.”
“But he didn’t,” JJ flashed him a toothy grin and answered his cellphone. “Hello?”
__________________
Heyward woke just in time to hear the screen door slam shut.
He caught the boys at the end of his yard, hustling in the torrential downpour of rain towards their bikes.
“Where on Earth do you think you’re going?” He shouted from the porch.
Pope’s eyes were huge when he turned to him and far more alert than they should have been. He set his jaw, pushed his shoulders back and declared. “Kiara needs us.”
Heyward wasn’t surprised at this point, which he found vaguely troubling. But it made complete sense that the last little urchin would be making an appearance before the day concluded.
“What do you mean she needs you?” He asked, voice gruff, hoping silently that Kiara
wasn’t hurt too. The last thing he needed was to deal with another injury. He was more than tempted to call Kiara’s parents to let them take care of their own kid. The people on this island needed to stop shuffling their children around like commodities, and take responsibility.
“He means,” JJ began, waving his cellphone at Heyward, “Ki called us and said she needed help so we’re going.”
“Why did she call you? Why not her parents?”
“Her parents aren’t home!” John B yelled, what little patience he had evaporating as his clothes were getting completely soaked. “She said they got called into work, okay?”
Heyward was about to warn him to watch the attitude but Pope began explaining how Kiara’s father promised to take her surfing, but he had to go into work so Kiara went surfing on her own and got caught in the storm.
“Which is why we need to go right now.” JJ said storming down the yard, but Heyward was quick to go after him. He hustled into the rain that was hammering on his shoulders like bullets and soaking through his red t-shirt instantly. He might as well have been nude because his clothes weren’t protecting him worth crap.
“Hey, hey. You boys aren’t biking in the storm all by yourself. It’s dark, and it’s raining, and I ain’t gonna be responsible for you catching pneumonia!”
He grabbed Pope’s bike, and stood in the way of JJ.
“Heyward!” The boy shouted, exasperated with him. “We need to go.”
“Let me get my keys and I’ll drive you.”
__________________
“Ki!” The three boys called out, disappearing into a small shack on the beach.
Kiara Carerra, the last little urchin, with long wavy black hair, had joined the group of self-proclaimed Pogues as a temporary member as early as kindergarten. She didn’t hang out with them as often as the boys hung out with each other, but Heyward had a feeling that had more to do with her parents than it did with her.
Unlike JJ and John B who couldn’t be separated with a ten foot pole, Pope and Kiara were a little more distant. They both had chores to do and curfews to abide. They spent some evenings at family functions and some evenings doing homework. Unlike Kiara and Pope, JJ and John B didn’t have to worry about family functions or curfews or pretty much any general sense of responsibility once so ever. They were wild and lonely matches looking for a place to ignite, and they found that ignition in each other. That’s what made them a dangerous combination, but also closer than brothers.
Heyward would know.
He had the same relationship with his best friend Donny. From the day they met, Heyward knew a spark of mischief and trust formed, and he’d be doing anything for Donny. There was something about being ignored and neglected by his family that made him cling to Donny.
“Kiara? Are you okay?” Pope’s concerned voice pulled Heyward out of his thoughts. He turned his head away from the loud and vicious waves that were slamming into shore with a devastating speed, and noticed that the urchin’s were all out of the shack now, and standing on the beach.
It was hard to see amid the rain and the sand, but Heyward could make out her outline.
The sand clung to his wet skin as it blew through the air, and Heyward knew he was swallowing large amounts with every breath he took.
They needed to get home.
Standing in her tank top and cut off jean shorts, Kiara was shivering to death. She stiffened as soon as she saw him.
“Ki, what happened? Are you hurt?” John B asked crouching next to the bench, and grabbing her cold hand. She batted him away, irritated at all the doting they were doing.
“My board went under. I swallowed a ton of salt water, but I’ll be fine. I just need some water.”
She blinked at them. “You forgot the water didn’t you? The one thing I asked for…”
“It’s John B’s fault!” JJ yelled, pointing in his direction.
“It is not!”
They began bickering. Pope and Kiara joined in too, arguing about their carelessness and the inaccuracy of who it was they should be blaming.
Chafed, Heyward tolerated this for nearly two minutes to see if the kids would calm themselves but it only seemed to be escalating.
“Hey!” Heyward’s voice was a blade through their conversation, and all four of them silenced. “Ya’ll better stop talking and get in the damn truck before I leave you out here to suffocate.”
The kids were not particularly concerned with Heyward’s outburst, and some of them even had the never to snicker at him. But there was no time for smacking heads. Heyward needed to get the urchin’s back to his truck before they all swallowed too much sand.
He herded the children from the beach to the boardwalk, trying not to fall over from the vicious wind that was knocking them around.
Strong, old, and sturdy, Heyward was able to maintain his balance. The kids, on the other hand, weren’t so lucky.
Multiple times they had to pause to help a fallen friend back on their feet. It was becoming tedious, and the boys were becoming irritated from falling. It was staring to hurt. Especially JJ and John B who had previous injuries.
But the one who kept falling the most was Kiara.
At one point, Heyward had tugged Kiara’s arm until she was sitting upright, and then he slung her over his shoulder in one singular movement. He shifted her around so he could carry her bridal style, then trudged onward.
The boys gawked at him, as if they’ve never seen him lift someone with such ease before. Heyward felt a surge of pride ripple through him. ‘You’re old man’s still got it, Pope.’
As they walked, Kiara’s head lobed against Heyward’s chest, nuzzling against the crook of his shoulder. The boys followed behind, chatting about hot blankets and cocoa awaiting them when they returned home.
“Kiara should sleepover.” Pope announced. Heyward stiffened, stopping in his tracks, not sure he heard his child correctly.
“What did you just say? Cause I know, you didn’t just say that right now.”
Pope cringed at his Dad’s angry expression, but he felt a lot better when JJ concurred that they should indeed let Kiara sleep over.
In fact, he thought it would be just grand if everyone slept over at Heyward’s tiny fish shack of a house. Yeah, what a fun idea that would be.
Too bad it wasn’t happening.
As soon as Heyward arrived home he was calling parents to come pick up their bratty children and then he would be grounding Pope for an eternity for putting him through this shit.
Heyward looked up at the rapidly darkening sky and cursed under his breath. He hoped beyond hope that the roads weren’t flooded. After walking what felt like miles, he finally found his truck.
Placing Kiara in the front seat, Heyward buckled her in. The boys would have to really squeeze together to fit. They shifted and complained, Kiara unbuckled and moved because John B was crushing her against the door. She ended up sitting on his lap.
Heyward would have made someone ride in the back if it wasn’t storming like hell.
A tumultuous clash of thunder exploded and it sounded more like a bomb going off than regular thunder. The very core of his being went ridged. He could only imagine the fear it evoked in the kids. One thing was for sure, the storm was directly overtop of them, and they should not be traveling right now.
He stepped on the gas, trying to get home quickly, yet he remained cautious of the slick flooding pavement. When water pooled too much, the roads become like ice. It was easy to lose control and crash. He had four kids in the truck, and he’d be damned if he let anything happen to them.
Pope stiffened beside Heyward, as if could sense his father’s growing anxiety.
“It’ll be alright.” He told his boy. He needed Pope to stay calm even if that meant he had to pretend everything was okay.
But he wasn’t fooling any of the urchins. They were deathly quiet, able to sense his concern. Kid’s were weird like that. They were like dogs in that sixth sense type of way. They might not fully understand why an adult is scared, but they can tell.
At long last, Heyward pulled into his driveway and let his tense shoulders relax. He hadn’t realized how tightly he was gripping the steering wheel until now.
Pope’s teeth began chattering as they once again ran through the rain to get to the house. Once they were inside, the cold air conditioning was making it worse. Pope had his arms wrapped instinctively around his middle for some warmth.
John B looked like a drenched rat with his long brown bangs sticking to his forehead and sand dripping down his cheeks like dirty tears. He tried to wipe the droplets away but ended up smearing more sand under his eyes.
“Uh-oh.” JJ said quietly.
“What’s wrong?” John B asked.
JJ’s face was pinched between concern and concentration.
“My phone’s kinda wet.” He made a face. “Ricky’s gonna kill me.”
Heyward wasn’t sure who Ricky was, or why JJ had a cell phone, but he was certain all the kid’s parents were going to kill them.
Kiara was twisting her hair, squeezing the water all over Heyward’s hardwood floor. She glanced at John B and JJ as they spoke but said nothing. Sometimes Kiara enjoyed sitting back and watching them talk rather than get involved herself. Heyward admired that quality. He liked to think he had that same observation skill and it was one Pope emulated well.
“We should watch Ghostbusters.” JJ said. “Cause we already seen Pope’s Star Trek stuff, and we watched Indiana Jones a million times. But we only saw Ghostbusters once.”
“Will you watch it with us too, Mr. H?” John B asked eyes bright.
“Nah.”
“Please. It’ll be fun.”
They broke into a chorus of pleading and it slowly bled into an argument about watching Ghostbusters or Disney’s Tangled, courtesy of Kiara, and then John B started bringing Indiana Jones back into the mix so Heyward clapped to get their attention.
“If I watch Ghostbusters will y’all shut up?”
A simultaneous yes.
“Fine.”
“I guess we need a change of clothes.” Heyward mumbled at the urchins who were creating puddles on his floor.
Gloria was going to divorce him if she saw this mess.
“C’mon. To Pope’s room.”
They passed the bathroom and went to the bedroom where it looked like a tornado swept through.
Pope eagerly pulled open his dresser drawers and handed his t-shirts and pajamas bottoms to his friends.
“It might be a little big on you,” he said to Kiara, “But I think you’ll manage.”
“Thanks,” she replied taking the clothes.
Heyward turned to leave the bedroom, giving them some privacy to change. He was moving to the doorway when Kiara stopped him.
“Hey, Mr. H?”
“Yeah?” Heyward turned to look at her. The kid was standing by the dresser, holding the pile of clothes and fidgeting in place.
“Thank you for letting me stay here.”
Aww shit. How was he supposed to send her home now?
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it dear.” Heyward assured her. “I’m just glad you’re somewhere safe and not out in that storm.”
“I know. But I just wanted to say,” Kiara continued, words spilling out faster as she began to babble. “Thank you for like coming to get me, and wanting to keep me safe, and for like spending time with us.”
“That’s what Dad’s do.”
Kiara snorted. “Not all Dad’s.”
Heyward frowned. “What do you mean?”
Kiara seemed uncertain as to whether or not she should keep talking. After a moment of thought, the words came tumbling out. “It’s just…My Dad never wants to watch movies with me or take me surfing anymore. He doesn’t even care about my art projects and I work really hard on them.”
She pulled out a piece of string from her bookbag. It had mini crushed seashells strung together to form a bracelet.
Heyward was taken aback by her words. But as he let it sink in, he understood why it might seem like that way to Kiara. Her Daddy was preparing to open a business. That’s a time consuming thing. If Heyward hadn’t already had his business running before Pope was born, he might have neglected a lot more important moments in Pope’s life too.
Heyward spoke carefully. “What about your mom? Have you try talking to her about these kind of things?”
“Yeah kind of.” Kiara shifted her gaze to her feet. “She says I’m going through a phase, and that eventually I won’t want to surf anymore and I won’t care about making arts and crafts. She said -“ Kiara’s lower lip began to wobble. “That I’ll grow up eventually.”
It was in that very moment that Heyward decided he might just have to adopt all three of these kids.
“It’s okay,” he said, walking over and pulling her into a warm embrace because now the tears were flowing freely down her face, and it was starting to make his own eyes water. Damn the urchin’s for tugging on his non-existent heart strings.
“Listen, kid. If you ever need to talk to someone about surfing, or fishing, or movies or even the hard stuff. You can always talk to me.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” Heyward shrugged. “I’m not as fun as your friends and I can’t promise I’ll be much help. But I can be there.”
Kiara wiped her eyes with the back of her cold and clammy hand. “Thanks Mr. H.” She grinned up at him. “Here. You can have my bracelet.” She said, wrapping it around his wrist.
“It’s beautiful. Thanks, sweetheart.”
“I made it for my Dad, but he ditched me so I think you should have it more.”
“I feel like I’ve seen this before.”
“I have one too.” Pope said softly, raising his hand.
Turned out, JJ and John B also had matching sea shell bracelets that Kiara had made for them. He was corrected, however, and told that each bracelet was not the same but unique.
“Pope’s bracelet is really organized and neat.”
“Oh he loves organization.” Heyward said, knowing his boy and his obsession with order.
“This one is for John B because it’s got a lot of color and it’s really nice looking.”
JJ scoffed, earning him a nudge from John B. They started hitting one another’s arms, until Kiara snapped them out of it. “And this is JJ’s.” She said, holding up his wrist and showing off the bracelet. “Cause it has jagged edges just like him.”
“She’s saying your rough around the edges, kid.”
“I know, I took personal offense when she first told me.”
“You should,” he joked, ruffling JJ’s wet hair. “You kids need a shower too. It’ll help ya warm up.”
“I’ll go first!” Kiara yelled, racing out the bedroom door. “Why are the towels bloody?” She called back. Pope and JJ shared a knowing smile.
_____________________
Heyward finished taking a shower in his bedroom bathroom just in time to catch two little urchins stripping the blankets off his bed and tucking his pillows under their arms as they ran off giggling down the hall.
He grunted, kept the towel securely fastened around his waist and moved over to his door to lock it before getting dressed.
Once he finished getting dressed, Heyward made a few phone calls to Big John and the Carerras’ explaining that he had the kids at his house and he would drop them off at home tomorrow morning. He debated calling JJ’s Dad. He wasn’t sure what the responsible move would be. On one hand, he could call to inform a possibly concerned father on where his son was staying for the night, but on the other hand, he could also inadvertently alert an angry father to the location of his kid and cause an unnecessary scene.
Heyward’s witnessed a few of those ‘scenes’ in public: at the school, in a restaurant, and on the side of the road. Though it was only ever screaming he witnessed, a part of Heyward always worried about what happened to the Maybank kid after the screaming stopped.
He made a split decision and decided not to call.
When he arrived in livingroom, he found all four of the kids lying on the floor, tangled in a heap of cotton blankets, snuggling next to each other, half asleep.
JJ was in the middle, an arm thrown around Kiara’s waist. She had her nose buried in his chest.
John B was lying on the outside, wrapping an arm around JJ’s middle, and his other arm was wrapped maround a pillow.
Pope was on the other side, pressing against Kiara, resting his chin on the top of her head.
It was starting to make sense to Heyward, just a little, as to why this group of pogues wanted to hang out together. They were all rather similar, but also very unique; each kid providing their own assets to the team.
Heyward smiled and put his head on the back of the couch. He began watching the movie, but lasted all of five minutes before passing out.
They were sleeping like that when Gloria returned hours later arriving with the dawn.
Heyward awoke with a stiff neck, and a few questions he needed to answer. He rolled his head to the side until he heard that satisfying crack and then he smiled at his wide.
“You wouldn’t believe the day I’ve just had.”