“Calm down, Josie!” Seth laughed.
“Dude, I havn’t seen my father since I was a baby, and you’re telling me to calm down? Are you on something?!” I shreiked excitedly. “Oh, oh, oh, here it is! Here it is!” I looked down at the paper and looked back up at the house I was pointing to. Seth turned the car into the driveway and switched it off. I was just about to get out of the car. He pulled me back in.

“Hey,” he said seriously, holding me by the arm as I smiled, “good luck.”

“Well aren’t you coming?”
“No...no. It’s something for you and you’re dad to work out.”
“What’s there to work out? It’s not like we’ve had an argument or anything.”
“Well, you know. He ran out from fear of parenthood. You’re never sure what might happen.”
I just gave him a sincere look, “I promise everything will be alright.”
He smiled at me.
“Now, let me go! I’ve got to get over there!”
He let go gently and yelled as I shut the door, “Careful!”

The house was small and was made of wood siding that seemed to be rotting. There were some dead roses in the flower garden, and a can of beer thrown out in the yard. About three cigarettes had been put out on the porch, and the grass was beginning to yellow. There were two trees, but they were small, bare, and badly placed.

I just stared at the doorbell, looked back down at my paper, and then pressed the button slowly. The bell rang. “Ding dong!” it sang. A dog barked, and slowley I heard a pair of feet pad across the room towards the doorknob. All of a sudden my world began to spin, my mind went blank, my stomach churned. The door opened.

I fainted.

The next thing I remember is waking up on a sofa. It was kind of old...a dirty brown leather one. My forehead was being drenched with water from an icy cold hand towel. When things came into focus, the first person I saw was Seth. He was leaning over me and wringing out the water from the cloth. When I opened my eyes he grinned and looked up at someone who apparently was standing behind me. He spoke with medium volume.

“Hey, she’s awake.”
A warm voice of a man about thirty or fourty spoke. “She is?”
“Yeah,” Seth answered.
I groaned and started to sit up. He helped me, then sat next to me on the couch. I never looked towards where the voice was coming. I just lay my head on Seth’s shoulder and he put his arm around me and laughed while picking my chin upwards to examine my face. “Yep...everything still looks normal.” He dropped it and I landed on his shoulder again. He just patted my head. “Poor, poor Josie.”
“Josie...” the voice mumbled.
I shot up and whispered loudly at Seth, “What? You mean you told him?”
He laughed as if saying I was utterly ridiculous. “No! I was going to let you tell him!”

I just looked him in the eyes. That’s when I remembered where I was. I looked at the scenery of the home as I turned my head towards the man standing beside me. There was a small TV sitting on the floor, slighty soiled carpet, a dead plant resting in the corner, as well as a small dog with his head cocked to one side staring at me and thinking, “The heck is she?”

Once my eyes faced the man, I saw something. I saw...myself. The first thing I noticed were my light hazel eyes and American nose. The dimples in the chin were there too. The only different was that his face was dirty seeming, covered with whiskers, and his skin looked older, his hair thinner and more of a dark brown than blonde. He was wearing a red plaid robe and was standing with one arm across his waist, and his other hand upto his chin. His socks came up to the middle of his calves, and he wasn’t heavey or thin, but average sized. Most men who lived like him were overweight and had remnents of food hanging from their front teeth.

Despite the fact he had a good oral hygien, he was very unkempt and sullied, and in his eyes there was strong guilt and confusion, not from what was presently occuring, but from times just weeks and years before.

Carefully I stood up, frightened to get near to him. I took each step hesitantly. As I moved away from the sofa, Seth let my hand drop slowly, and he looked a little nervous, for fear of what was to happen next.

I finally stood face to face with this familiar person situated in front of me. I just looked him in the eyes. He returned the look and frowned.
“Who are you?” He asked me.
“Josephine. Are you Nick Jones?”
He pause and his voice softened. “I’m him. What do you need?” He asked politely.
“Dad...daddy, it’s me. It’s me, Josephine. I’m Josie.”

My eyes began to glass over. Behind me, a grin grew on Seth’s face. My father moved towards me.
“Josie? You’re my Josie?” He smiled and laughed with joy.
I began crying, “Daddy, it’s me!” I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him so tight they became numb. His arms held me close as I heard the tears begin to flow from him too. When I looked up at him, all the guilt had been drained from his eyes. His beam replaced his uncleanly disposition, and he held me from the shoulders and looked at me.

“Oh...oh, Josie....my little Josephine. It’s been so long, and I’ve felt so sick and horrible about my leaving. Let’s sit down, come on.”

We maneuvered towards the sofa and Seth got up. He motioned to me that he was going to go wait in the car. I nodded. As he left I began to talk. “Dad, I can’t tell you how much mom and I need you right now.”
“I am so sorry, Josie, I’m so, so, sorry. I was only eighteen, I wasn’t ready to be a dad. Now I’m ready but I can’t. How old are you? Fifteen, sixteen?”
“I’m sixteen,” I said smiling.
“Wow. I never imagined you so beautiful. I mean, look at you...” his eyes grinned as he spoke, “Is that you’re boyfriend? My goodness is he lucky.”
“No, no, I don’t have a boyfriend. That’s Seth. He’s my best friend. Has been since we were about five. He’s the one who brought me here.”
“Why? Did you fail your driver’s test?”
“No, that’s not it. I can’t take the car. I had to leave it for mom in case of an emergency.”
“Oh, I see. Where are you living? How’s school?” He slowed down. “How’s Mom?”
“Living, New Jersey. School, straight A’s. Mom...near death.”
“I’m assuming near death is just an exageration. I’m not very educated. Never got to college.”
“No. She married a man named Paul Madison. I have her maiden name. Paul beats her, Dad, and she won’t do anything about it. He hits her, he screams at her...the day I left, she had a broken arm. She acts as if it’s nothing. She can do something about it, but she won’t. I’ve tried to called police, but she just won’t take it. The last thing I could do was come here. I was going to walk all the way. Lucky for me Seth found me at a motel and drove me.”
He just looked at me and shook his head. “Come on. Go outside and get your things and your friend. I want us all to go out to eat tonight. I have enough money, finally.”
“Don’t you have a job?”
He stopped and looked down at the floor. Then he just patted his knees and said, “How ‘bout that supper? You must be famished.”

I didn’t care about what he was hiding. I was with him, that’s all the mattered. I was with my dad.

***

There were only two bedrooms in the house and only two beds, so that night, Seth and I had to share one...one bed. Neither of us wanted to sleep on the floor. It was tile, and dirty. We were certain a roach or a mouse would crawl into our mouths if we were down there. There wasn’t very much room anyways. The bed was uncomfortable too. It was bent downwards in the middle with cheap springs. There was only one sheet and two pillows. Dad said he was sorry. The blankets had to be sold for money towards some groceries. The sheets had small bumps on them...you know, when you wash something how it gets a little bumpy? Mom always called them pills. Well, it had those. I never liked those, but I had to deal with it.

I unpacked my afghan blanket to cover Seth and me with. We weren’t going to bother even changing into pajamas. We were too tired and too stuffed from dinner. We simply switched out the lights, and crawled into bed, then shared the one small blanket. In the dark we began to talk.

“Shouldn’t you have called your mom?” He asked me.
“Yeah, I guess I should. I hope she’s all right.”
“I think she is.”
“Mmhmm...” We were each lying on our backs. Moon light came in from a dirty window above the splintered wooden head board. I turned over to face him and closed my eyes. He stayed on his back staring at the celing obviously pondering something.

“Josie?”
“Hmmm.”
“How would it...nevermind.”
“What?” I murmured.
“Don’t take this the wrong way. I mean, it’s only a question.”
“Sure.”
“Well...would things between us get weird if one of us liked another?”
“What, you mean like another person?”
“No, like if I liked you. Remember, it’s only a question.”
I opened my eyes and propped myself up with my hand.
“Huh...never thought about it.”
“Oh.”
We stayed in the same position for a while. Then I let my head fall and said,
“Night, Sethie Poo.”
He laughed, “Yeah, okay. G’night.”