Do-Gooder (26 page)

Finally we were given the go-ahead to go home.

Mom wanted to leave the minute we were done with The New Suits. While I definitely wanted to get home—I’d had enough of Africa for a while—I wanted a chance to talk with Henry, to clear the air. In the end, there was no time. It didn’t help that he seemed to be avoiding me. Whenever we were in the same room together, he managed to make sure someone else was between us at all times. He wouldn’t meet my eyes either.

I got more determined the closer it got to my departure time. Mom and I would be flown by helicopter back to the airport in Gemena, and then we’d begin the four legs of our trek to Milwaukee. Dad and Henry were returning to the Lobéké refugee camp.

Finally, two hours before we were to leave for the airport, I stalked to where Henry was sitting in a corner reading one of the animal magazines I’d seen in the gift shop the night before. I tore it from his hands and pulled him into the lodge manager’s office.

“What’s got into you?” he demanded as soon as I shut the door behind us.

“Damn it, Hank, we need to talk.”

“About what?” He wore the calm, empty mask he’d used when the mercenaries had first kidnapped us. The mask he used to hide his fear. Why would he be afraid of me?

“Don’t be stupid. You know what.”

He crossed his hands over his chest. He wore one of the T-shirts and a pair of the pajama bottoms Dad had picked up for me in Brussels. He’d been allowed to shower and his still-damp hair waved a bit. “I know you’re disgusted with me. I really don’t need to hear you tell me.”

I blinked. Disgusted with him? “No, you see, that’s exactly why I needed to talk to you. I wanted to apologize for the way I acted. You saved my life, and then I treated you like crap. I’m sorry.”

Henry looked down at his feet. “I didn’t expect you to react any differently. I didn’t want you to have to see me like that.”

“Here’s the thing,” I said, pacing the small room. “I wasn’t disgusted by what you did. Either back when you lived on the streets or back at the lumberyard. I was mad that you did it.”

“I know—”

“You don’t know,” I interrupted. “It was like the snakebite all over again. You stepped between me and danger, no matter what it did to you. You put my life and well-being above your own. It’s like you don’t realize that you’re important too.” I jabbed a finger at him. “You need to take better care of yourself. You can’t help anyone if you destroy yourself in the process.”

Henry leaned against the desk. It was old, painted an institutional green that didn’t match the glossy, elegant lobby at all. “I don’t know what you want me to say. You want me to promise not to do it again? I can’t. I won’t. I’d do it again if that’s what it took to keep you from dying. What I did, it was nothing. It didn’t mean anything to me, and it’s nothing I haven’t done before. So, as far as sacrifices go, it wasn’t one.”

“That’s such bullshit.” I stood toe-to-toe with him, close enough that our chests almost touched. “It wasn’t nothing. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past. What you did to save me hurt you
here
.” I jabbed him in the chest. “You think I didn’t notice? I may have been delirious, but I saw that.”

Henry pushed back into me. “It would have hurt worse to watch you die.”

“Self-sacrificing son of a bitch.”

“Martyr.”

Henry grabbed my head and mashed his mouth down on mine. It was a kiss of passion and frustration and desperation. I gripped his shoulders, pressing into him. It didn’t take long for the aggression to change into something different, something softer. When I had the choice of pulling back or passing out from lack of breath, I stepped back. It was a close call. Passing out would have been a small price to pay to continue the fun.

“Thank you.” I rested my head on his shoulder.

I felt rather than heard his chuckle. “My pleasure. Absolutely.”

My hand slid from his shoulder, trailing down his arm until I could link fingers with him. “No, I mean, thank you for what you did. You probably saved my life. I don’t think there’s any way I can thank you for everything you did—the snakebite, the insulin, heck, even just keeping me sane.”

He cupped my cheek with his free hand, his golden brown eyes serious. “You came back for me. Your father told me it was you who demanded I be rescued, you who pushed for it. If not for you, I would probably have died there.” His thumb traced the edge of the cut on my cheekbone. “You came back for me. No one has ever put me first. You did. I’ll never forget that.”

Tears welled in my eyes, but I blinked them back. That sounded an awful lot like a good-bye. I didn’t want to say good-bye.

“Come with us.” The words burst out before I could think better of them. “Come back to the States.”

He shook his head and looked away from me. “I can’t,” he said after a long pause. “I don’t have anything to do there. At least here I have a purpose.”

“What, you want to be my dad’s errand boy for the rest of your life? What about the animals and things you love so much? If you come back you can go to school, get a degree. Do something meaningful to
you
.”

“That’s good in theory,” he said, “but there’s more to it than that. I don’t have anywhere to live, no way to support myself. What I do here is volunteer work, you know, so I don’t have any money. It’s just not possible.”

“It
is
possible,” I insisted. “There are ways, programs. My mom would pay for your airfare to get home. She’d probably let you live with us too.” I was begging, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want him to stay in Africa. It was too dangerous. Too far away.

“I can’t,” he said. “I do a lot of good here. People need me. I can’t just leave them.”

I wanted to tell him that
I
needed him, but bit the words back. I rubbed at the pressure building in my chest. Once again, someone was choosing Africa and his good deeds over me.

It wasn’t fair to blame Henry, I knew it, but I didn’t really care. The painful breaking of my heart wasn’t fair either.

“Okay, then.” I cleared my throat. “Well, thanks again for everything. Take care of yourself, Hank.” I didn’t look at him as I turned away. I didn’t think I could bear it. So I walked away, leaving Henry in the lodge manager’s office.

I had to find Mom. We had a helicopter to catch.

ONE MONTH,
three weeks, and two days later the monotony was driving me crazy. I’d thought that coming home would fix things. I was healthy, sure. No one was threatening to kill me or anyone else. But home wasn’t what I’d expected. My life returned to normal, and Milwaukee was just as it had always been. Why, then, was I so dissatisfied? Maybe it was being back but not having anyone to talk with about everything. Most of my friends wouldn’t have understood. Either they’d have overreacted or they wouldn’t have believed me. I really needed to talk to Wendy.

This was the first day I’d finally been allowed to come and visit her. I sat with her at a table in the lounge on her floor in the psychiatric ward of the hospital. After her attempted suicide, she’d been kept here under observation. She looked pretty good. Someone had repaired the hatchet job she’d made of her hair, and her face was scrubbed clean of makeup. She said the therapy she’d been getting helped, as did reporting her father’s abuse. She was pretty sure she’d be discharged soon. Her plan was to live with her aunt—her mother’s sister—until she went to college.

“Jesus, Ice, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

After we’d caught up on her ordeal, I told her a little of what happened to me. I didn’t go into a lot of the details. She felt guilty enough without me telling her how close I’d come to dying. If she hadn’t had the gun, I wouldn’t have taken it from her and, ultimately, been sent to Cameroon. That was how she saw it at any rate. So she got a heavily edited version. I’d just gotten to the part where I stole the four-wheeler and went charging like a macho idiot into the mercenaries’ camp.

“I know, right? Clearly I’d lost my ever-loving mind.” I went on to tell her about Dad’s rescue. “There he was, cool as can be, like he was some kind of action hero.
Let go of my boys
, he says. He was totally kickass. And Henry and I strip Snake Eyes of his weapons, tie him up with an elastic bandage and his own belt.”

When the story was done Wendy looked at me with wide eyes. “That sounds… intense.”

I shrugged. “That’s one way to put it.”

“So….” She bit her lip like she was afraid to finish her sentence.

“So?”

“I take it things are better between you and your dad? I notice you’re not calling him Chuck anymore.”

“I guess. We talked and cleared the air a little bit. He’s still in Cameroon, so it’s not like we’ll get to spend much time together, but at least now we can chat over e-mail.” Dad had given me his e-mail address and Skype contact information with a promise that he’d stay in touch. Since he’d e-mailed me even before I’d landed on US soil, I had to believe he was serious about it.

“Now that we’ve got that worked out,” Wendy said, leaning forward with her elbows planted on the table. “Tell me about the Henry guy. You’ve never talked about any boy like you do him. Did you completely fall for him?”

“Hard-core.” I pulled out my phone and showed her the single picture I’d managed to take on our way out of Yaoundé. “I mean, it’s a bad picture, but you can totally tell how hot he is. But he’s like my dad. And while I don’t resent Dad the way I used to, he’s still determined to try and save the world. And Henry, he’s determined to help him.”

“It’s kind of admirable, you know. Believing in a cause to that extent.”

“Yeah. I can’t even blame them. Some of the things I saw there made me want to charge to the rescue too. I’m seriously considering spending a couple of years there with Dad after graduation and before college. I only saw one group of refugees, and I don’t think that image will ever leave me. There’s so much that can be done.”

Wendy smirked at me.

“What?” I asked.

“Answer me this: is it just the refugees you want to help or do you want a chance to be with Henry again?”

I’d wondered the same thing when the idea first occurred to me. Because I had thought about it, I could be honest with my answer. “I really want to help. Henry helped me see things in a different way, and I wouldn’t turn away from the chance to see him, but even if I never saw him again, I think I’d want to help.”

“I’m really happy for you,” Wendy said, taking my hand. “I have a feeling things are going to work out. After everything you’ve gone through, you deserve some happy ever after.”

I squeezed her hand. “You too.”

An aide walked into the lounge. “Visiting hours will be ending in five minutes, folks.”

We stood up and I pulled Wendy into a hug. “You take care of yourself. Let me know when you’re released. Or, if you just want some company, give me a call.”

“I will,” she said, kissing my cheek. “I really have a feeling things are going to work out.”

“I hope so.”

I’D BORROWED
Mom’s car to visit Wendy. When I pulled onto our block I noticed a strange vehicle in the driveway. I pulled in next to it and looked at the stickers on the window. It was from one of the airport car-rental places. I jogged up the front porch and into the house.

“Mom? Who’s here?” I stopped dead in the entrance way. I didn’t see Mom, but sitting at the dining room table was Dad.

Dad jumped to his feet, wringing his hands like he was uncertain. “Hey there, Isaiah.”

“Dad?” I ran forward and hugged him tightly. “I can’t believe you’re here. How long can you stay? Why are you here?” I looked around. “Where’s Mom?”

“She was showing—”

“Hello, Isaiah.”

I spun around. Henry and Mom stood in the hallway.

“Hank?” My voice croaked on his name. “You’re here? Why are you here?” My gaze swept from Mom to Dad to Henry. “What’s going on?”

“Let’s sit down,” Mom said. “I ordered some pizza.”

Henry’s eyes rolled. “God, pizza. I’ve dreamed about pizza.”

Mom smiled and ruffled his hair. That’s when I noticed he’d cut his hair. It was still kind of long, but now it barely brushed the top of his shoulders. “What did you do?” I asked, touching the shorter strands.

He shrugged. “I needed a change.”

“Oh. I like it, but I liked it longer too.”

“Isaiah, why don’t you and Henry sit down? That way we can find out why your father and Henry are here.”

“You didn’t know they were coming?” I asked.

Mom shot a look at Dad. “I was as surprised as you are.”

We sat around the table. Mom and I looked at Dad expectantly. Dad cleared his throat. “Well, Henry and I talked and I guess you can say we decided to move back.”

“Are you
serious
?” I whipped my gaze between Dad and Henry. My heart pounded, and I tried to keep it cool. “I mean, when you say here do you mean
here
, as in Milwaukee, or
here
, as in the continental US?”

Dad leaned back to rub his palms over the thighs of his jeans. “I made some phone calls. I have some friends in the area. One of them is opening a clinic for homeless and low-income families in Milwaukee, and they’re looking for someone to run it. I don’t have to be in Africa to help the underprivileged.”

I practically bounced in my seat. “You’re moving to Milwaukee?”

“If you don’t mind.”

“Mind? Are you kidding me? That’s awesome.”

Dad’s smile was full of relief. “I’m glad you’re okay with it. One of the things I want to do is spend some time with you. Time that doesn’t revolve around mercenaries and weapons of mass destruction.”

“I’d like that.”

Mom wiped a little tear from her lashes.

I spun in my seat until I faced Henry. “What about you?”

Henry shifted on the chair. “Well, Dr. Martin—”

Dad interrupted him. “I’ve told you to call me Charlie.”

“Charlie, then.” Henry smiled. “He said I could live with him while I get my GED. Then I hope to be able to go to college. For biology, maybe.”