Suzie’s House 125: Ben’s Final Break

“It’s for you?” Ben slapped the back of the chair Lisa was sitting in. He didn’t get it. What was wrong with Gene? A few days ago he was ready to crawl through a window to beat up his father because of what he said. Today the social worker was all set to do it for him, and he wouldn’t let her. “What do you mean it’s for you?”

Gene shrugged. He stuck a chocolate chip cookie in his mouth. Ben guessed that was better than squeezing it until it exploded like the peanut butter one had. He turned to the social worker lady.

“You buy that?”

“Yeah.” She looked like she’d swallowed something nasty, like slimy anchovies or something.

“Why?”

She messed with a pencil on the table next to her precious stack of papers, which included the story he’d wrote. Maybe she wasn’t going to say anything, but he knew. She didn’t understand Gene any better than he did.

“Well, it isn’t good enough for me.” He crossed his arms.

“What do you want to do?” she asked.

“Does it have to be Gene that turns him in? Could it be me?”

She sat up straighter, her eyes all bright. “No, actually. It could be anyone.”

“Then lets do it.” Excitement hummed through him. He could do this. For real. He could save Gene from himself and make sure that rotten old man got what he deserved.

“We have to have proof.” The social worker looked disappointed.

“What about my story?” Ben pointed at the papers under her hand.

“It’s fiction,” Gene, the traitor, said.

“Didn’t you write it for an assignment in English class? For one of Ms. Spring’s fiction writing assignments?” Lisa added oil to Gene’s fire.

“But. But….” Ben stomped over to where Mom stood at the kitchen sink, wringing out a wash cloth full of cookie crumbs. That put him right behind Gene. “What about this?” He yanked Gene’s shirt up. Sure enough, it was bad. In fact, it was worse than he’d thought. There were bruises all up and down Gene’s side and thick doctor’s tape all over.

“Hey!” Gene grabbed the fabric out of Ben’s hand and yanked down, covering everything.

“Unless Gene testifies that it was his father who did it, it isn’t admissible in court.”

“Gene, bro,” Ben put his hand on Gene’s shoulder and got in his face. “You should totally do this!”

“I said no already.”

“But why? Why?”

Gene shrugged his hand off.

“You think my dad deserves to be in jail but yours doesn’t? They were both talking with Mrs. D about having us locked up that one day.”

“Mine didn’t try to kill anyone.”

“Except you. Gene, I heard him too. He means to kill you, doesn’t he?”

“But he can’t now, because I don’t live with him any more. Right?” Gene looked at him hard. “Right?”

Ben nodded after a minute or two.

“I just want to put it behind me. I can’t do that if we’re going to go after him. So drop it. All right?”

Ben hated it. Without Gene, he couldn’t do anything, and Gene didn’t want him to. He wanted to keep arguing, to fight. But it was Gene’s business.

Gene’s eyes were all pleading. Lisa looked like she wanted to jump between them. The social worker lady looked depressed. And Mom. Mom pulled him into a hug.

“Ben, let him be. Sometimes the good fight does more harm than good. Doesn’t Gene deserve a chance to mend? Let it go.”

Ben swore, one harsh word that had everyone but Gene lifting an eyebrow or two. He felt like throwing something or hitting something. Instead, he want around the table and flopped into a chair.

“Fine. I’ll let it drop.”

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