Chapter Two: Hoyt and Hunter
A Friday in May in San Antonio, Texas…
What the fuck? thought Hoyt. Thinking it wasn't the same as saying it. So 12-year-old Hoyt Stackhouse decided to say it aloud.
"What the fuck?" Saying it wasn't the same as screaming it, so then he screamed it.
"WHAT THE FUCK?"
Hoyt, staring at the computer screen, was upset over an email he'd received from his oldest sister, Sookie. Having a little time to kill before leaving for school, Hoyt had decided to check his email. His 11-year-old brother Hunter, meanwhile, was sitting on the floor of the family room playing games on his Xbox.
Sitting at the desk, a worried expression on his face, Hoyt marveled at his younger brother. Hunter hadn't even batted an eyelash at the sound of Hoyt's scream. In fact, the younger boy was so immersed in his game, it was as though Hunter hadn't even heard Hoyt's scream. Peeved, Hoyt channeled his annoyance into an angry glare directed at the back of his younger brother's head. Hunter continued to ignore Hoyt.
Aunt Linda, however, did hear Hoyt's scream. Displeased, she was more than willing to acknowledge it.
"Hoyt Stackhouse, watch your goddamn mouth," she called from the other room. "Don't make me beat you. I don't have time today."
Hoyt knew Aunt Linda was joking about the beating. She hadn't whipped them yet and Hunter was such a pain in the ass, he constantly gave their aunt cause to want to lay him out. It didn't matter that she wouldn't beat them, though. Hoyt knew Aunt Linda could come up with other methods of punishment. She was a lot like Sookie in that way. Maybe Aunt Linda would send her boyfriend Felipe in to talk to Hoyt. Hoyt shivered at the idea of spending time with Felipe. The guy was creepy.
Suddenly Aunt Linda appeared in the doorway of the family room, with 3-month-old Hadley balanced on her hip. "Now, I realize I've only been your guardian for a year, and I don't mind a little swearing here and there, but don't scream. This is an apartment building and the neighbors hear everything." At this point Linda turned to her daughter and switched over to "baby-speak." "Right, Hadley? The neighbors are like vampires. Up all night and know everybody's business. Hmm, don't they? Don't they?"
Hadley smiled a toothless grin and shyly buried her face in her mother's shoulder.
Aunt Linda turned her attention back to her nephew and godson.
"So, what's going on today, Hoyt? Half of San Antonio's got to hear you cuss before their morning coffee?"
Hoyt sighed. He didn't really feel like talking about the email with Aunt Linda. Fortunately for him, she realized at that point she was still only wearing a bra and slip.
"What the hell?" She shook her head in bemusement. "Sorry, kiddo. I gotta get dressed for work." With that, Aunt Linda sailed out of the family room with Hadley, one last quick-over-the-shoulder look to Hoyt, "Watch your mouth. Seriously. I'm a single working woman who suddenly has three kids. I don't need social services after me."
Hoyt sighed. At 12 he was still pretty young, but he was old enough to know Aunt Linda was a little odd. Just the fact that she dated Felipe. Biting his lower lip, Hoyt turned around to look at his brother. He didn't want to discuss what was wrong with Aunt Linda. He did, however, want to discuss it with Hunter. Hunter, who, at that point, was still staring at the Xbox screen, completely oblivious, and wrapped up in his own world.
"Hey, Hunter." Nothing. "Butthead." Nothing. "Window-licker." Nothing. "You know, I could hide that Xbox and Aunt Linda wouldn't give a rat's ass and then where wouldya be?"
Finally, Hoyt's threat to Hunter's beloved Xbox garnered a reaction. Hitting pause on his game, Hunter turned around and glanced at his brother. Letting out a loud, exasperated-sounding sigh, he met his older brother's gaze.
"WHAT?"
"I got an email from Sookie."
"Big deal. I got one day before yesterday. She said Dallas was really hot. They expanded her column. She saw some stupid George Clooney movie with that dickwad Bill and she had to get the air conditioning in the Cabrio fixed. Dickwad told her she should just get a new car. Some friggin' blue hair car. Like a Chrysler or a Buick. Can I go back to my game, now? We have to leave for school soon and I'm hitting a high score."
"Yeah, well, this email today had something different. News. Big news." Hoyt kept his gaze steady on his brother.
"Oh yeah? What?" asked Hunter.
"She said the house is going to be sold."
"No," Hunter replied, reasonably. "She can't do that. It's not her house to sell. It belongs to all of us."
"Hunter, she said she's selling the house. End of story."
Hoyt was watching his younger brother like a hawk. It wasn't that he necessarily wanted Hunter to go apeshit but Hunter, at eleven, was so eminently practical and pragmatic that very little seemed to faze him. So Hoyt knew if something did succeed in upsetting Hunter, then there was cause to be upset.
"What the fuck, Hoyt?" Hunter asked. "She can't just sell the house. Where we gonna live?"
"Hunter, that's what the email said. She's going to Bon Temps today and she's cleaning out the house and Uncle Mike and JB are selling it."
Hoyt watched as Hunter's eyes opened wide.
"ARGGGHHH!!" Apparently it was Hunter's turn to scream.
Hoyt had initially thought eliciting some kind of reaction from his younger brother would have proven more satisfying. But he quickly realized his error in judgment. What's more, he realized very little would make him feel better right then.
The boys heard a door creak open down the hallway. From her bedroom, they heard Aunt Linda call out, "Boys, I'm effing serious. Cut out the screaming before 8am or you can kiss that damn Xbox goodbye!"
"Sorry Aunt Linda!" Hoyt called out. "Hunter was just surprised over something!"
And Hunter was surprised. In shock, even. Catching flies, thought Hoyt. That's what Gran always called that expression. Finally Hunter's bottom lip met his top lip. He shook himself out of the spell he was under and finally could once again form words.
"Fuck, no. She can't."
"She said she's selling the house."
"Who's gonna buy our house, Hoyt? For fucks sake, I know the people were living there before and they liked it, but—Jesus H. Christ—the FBI came and took 'em away! The house is empty now. It's just waiting for us to come home! Who would want to live in a place where they had a SWAT team bust in and arrest folks? Nobody, that's who. We were supposed to move back there. That's what Sookie said. She said we'd take a break for a year and then move back. Besides, our stuff is there. And what about Long Shadow? Terry Bellefleur said he'd take care of your dog for a year. He didn't say he'd keep him forever."
Hoyt looked at his younger brother who had just mentioned the unmentionable. Long Shadow. It hurt Hoyt just to think of his dog. If he started to think of Long Shadow, he wouldn't be able to focus on anything else. Instead he decided to focus on the other half of what Hunter said.
Hunter's recall of what Sookie said was a bit off. She hadn't said they'd all move back in a year. What she had said was that they would take a break and see where things stood in a year. Hunter had a talent for reimagining things exactly as he wanted them to be. For an 11-year-old, though, Hoyt had to hand it to his younger brother: Hunter was pretty damn smart. He saw things logically. Cleanly. Rationally. He just knew things. A strong intuitive sense was how Gran used to describe it. It was almost like he could read minds.
"Sookie said we would rent it out for a year and then 'see where things stood.' She's there now. She says we're supposed to email her a list of the stuff we want to keep from the attic, but not to get crazy about it. And she had other news, too. She's getting married. To Bill."
At this Hunter groaned. "Bill?"
"Yep."
Hoyt and Hunter usually spent holidays with Sookie in Dallas, so they had met Bill. They were not impressed.
"Argh!"
Suddenly Aunt Linda reappeared at the door, dressed in a skirt, blouse, and heels, with Hadley at her usual spot perched on her mother's left hip.
"Okay, what the heck's going on? I can hear you two going at it in my room. Spill."
"Sookie's marrying that douche bag, Bill!" burst forth from Hunter's lips.
Hoyt gaped at his brother. He figured Hunter would bemoan the sale of the house to their aunt, not Sookie's coming nuptials.
"Oh, is she?" responded Aunt Linda who absorbed this new information and then seemed to consider it. Hoyt bit his lip to keep from laughing. It wasn't lost on him that Aunt Linda hadn't reprimanded Hunter for his assessment of Bill. Hoyt figured Aunt Linda probably thought Bill was a douche bag, too. "Well, I suppose that's good. She's a beautiful girl, but she's not getting any younger. And she's got a fierce temper on her. Only gonna get worse." Again Aunt Linda switched to "baby-speak." "Isn't that right, Hadley? Isn't that right?"
Hadley cooed, letting her mother know she agreed with her.
"Okay, listen. I'm all set. I have an early meeting so I'm leaving now to drop Hadley off at the sitter. You boys leave this apartment no later than 7:55 and pull the door shut. Do not forget your lunches, backpacks, and keys. Hoyt remember your cell. Have Chow walk you to the bus stop. I'm pretty sure it's his shift. But no matter who it is, the shift is ending, so they should not have a problem walking you two to the corner. Comprende?"
The two boys nodded and were quiet as their aunt packed up her stuff and Hadley's, gave them each a quick kiss, and made her way to the door. They responded to her final "goodbye" and waited silently for the door to shut. After Aunt Linda and Hadley's departure, Hoyt and Hunter stared silently at each other for a few minutes.
Finally, Hoyt cleared his throat.
"What do you think we should do?"
"For fucks sake, Hoyt! We gotta go home. Sookie said last year we'd revisit, and now it's time for us to revisit. That's what she said we were supposed to do and that's what we gotta do."
Looking at his brother, Hoyt could see that Hunter's face was in lockdown. For 11, Hunter had an excellent poker face. Hoyt closed his eyes and considered the matter.
On the one hand, Hunter was right. Kind of. In a way. Last year, when they all split up and went their separate ways, Sookie did say they'd "revisit" everything in a year. Hoyt figured she had meant they'd revisit the idea of not living in the house—the part about 'seeing where things stood.' But, heck, what did he know? Maybe Sookie did mean revisiting the actual house itself. This was obviously Hunter's interpretation of her words.
While Sookie hadn't mentioned them going back to Bon Temps in her email—she'd only instructed them to send her a list of the stuff they wanted to keep—how could she possibly expect them to be able to put together a list without actually going home to take a look? They were twelve and eleven, for fucks sake! How could she expect them to remember what was in the attic anyway?
Besides, reasoned Hoyt, most of the important stuff wasn't even in the friggin attic. The tree house wasn't. Long Shadow wasn't. The only thing important in the attic was Amelia's weird witchcraft books…
Hoyt let out a breath.
Okay. So was Hunter right about this? Were they supposed to "revisit"? Or not?
All of a sudden, Hoyt decided that he agreed wholeheartedly with Hunter's interpretation. If Sookie said they were gonna 'revisit', then they were gonna 'revisit'. Technically you don't visit your home: you just go home. But she was pretty much telling them it wasn't their home anymore, so now visiting was an appropriate thing to do. He cracked a huge Stackhouse grin. As the older brother, he knew it was up to him to get a plan together.
"Okay, go get your money and pack underwear, socks and some clothes in your backpack. Pack mine too. Hide our books under the bed. We don't want Aunt Linda to know anything's up until we have a chance to talk to Sookie. Grab the lunches. I'll sign a note from Aunt Linda to give the principal. We'll take the school bus to the school and then walk around the corner to the Greyhound station. I'll check the times and fares now. We'll call Amelia from the bus. Maybe we can make it to Shreveport by dinner!"
Hoyt turned back to the computer to check the Greyhound schedule, while Hunter ran to their room to pack.
Suddenly things didn't seem so bleak. By tonight, they'd be home. Or, at least, they'd be in Shreveport. From there they could call Sookie and ask her to come get them. Hoyt couldn't stop smiling.
AN: Please R/R. Ideas for the sequel? Thanks for reading.
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