School Haze

Jeremy slipped on his rubber coat and grabbed his gas mask off the peg by the door then yelled “Bye mom! I’ll see you after school!” before he finished fastening it over his face.

“Don’t leave yet!” came the shouted reply. Jeremy rolled his eyes. It was the same thing every morning. He unclipped the mask and waited to see what she wanted this time.

His mother came hurrying into the room with his bookbag and Jeremy blushed. He couldn’t believe he almost forgot his bag!

“Thanks, mom” he mumbled as she kissed his cheek and she asked, “you’ve got your lunch, right?” He nodded and she helped him refasten the gas mask. “Then try to have a good day.” She placed a protective hand on his head for just a second then pulled her scarf over her face before he opened the door and dashed out into the yellow smog. He heard it slam behind him.  

It was the same every morning. He wasn’t that forgetful, but his mom was always double-checking anyway. He knew she did it so he wouldn’t get in trouble, but it still made him feel like such a baby sometimes. He scowled under his mask as he tramped along to the bus stop. He heard a muffled shout behind him and turned to see Brynly running towards him. He shook his head at the sight of his best friend. He may have almost forgotten his book bag, but at least he was dressed appropriately to be outside.

“Bryn, where are your boots?” he asked, shaking his head.

“Couldn’t find one came the muffled reply”. They wouldn’t speak any more until they got to school because it wasn’t always easy to understand someone when they were masked.

They joined their schoolmates just as the bus rolled to a stop in front of them. The doors opened and they all waved to the driver behind the glass wall as they trooped past on their way to their seats. The buses weren’t airtight, so they had to leave their masks on, but once they were seated, Jeremy pulled out his phone and texted:

-What do you mean you couldn’t find one? Don’t you always leave them by the door?-

Brynly read the message and typed back:

-I thought I did, but when I went to put them on this morning, one of them was gone.-

Jeremy pointed at plastic freezer bags Bryn had put over his indoor shoes as protection.

-Does that work?-

-Don’t know, but figured it’s better than nothing.-

Jeremey shrugged in agreement and they rode the rest of the way in silence.

At the school, the student’s entered the decontamination hall and waited until the jet engine sound of the filter had stopped and the light had turned green before they unfastened their gas masks and took off their protective coats and boots to store them in their cubbies. As usual, many of the coats fell off the hooks as soon as they were haphazardly hung over the gas masks and the boots lay in piles on the floor, rather than lined up neatly as they were supposed to be.

Brynly looked around trying to figure out what to do with his plastic bags, then shrugged and draped them over his coat. Jeremey shook his head and hurried to put on his inside shoes. As they started toward their class, Brynly coughed once. The students closest to him gave him a dirty look as they moved away from him. With a look of concern, Jeremy said “Better go see the nurse” and left Brynly so he wouldn’t be late to class.

Brynly never showed back up for class and Jeremy assumed he’d been sent home by the nurse. When he went to get his protective gear however, his boots were missing, but Brynley’s bags were still there. Jeremy looked around frantically at the pile of remaining boots, but none of them were his. Since Brynly’s bags were still there, that had to mean he’d taken Jeremy’s boots. Jeremy grabbed his phone and quickly texted:

-WHY DID YOU TAKE MY BOOTS!?!-

He waited for a reply, but there was no response. He tried again.

-Brynly! Don’t ignore me! Why’d you take my boots?-

Again, there was no reply. Jeremy marched back into the school and called his mom to ask her to come get him.

Jeremey waited for what felt like forever, then finally his phone dinged with a text from his mom that she was waiting out front. He went back into the decontamination hall and put on his coat and mask. He hesitated, then grabbed the bags that Brynly had left behind. They had started to degrade and there were holes in the bottom of them. He slipped the bags over his own shoes, making sure the holes were on top. He couldn’t believe Brynly would do this to him!

He dashed to the car as fast as he could and jumped in, slamming the hatch behind him and waited until the interior lights told him it was safe to undo his mask.

“Hey, hon! Did you miss the bus?” At least she wasn’t mad about having to pick him up. Not that she got mad very often. His mom had a dreamy quality about her that made it hard for people who didn’t know her to even imagine her as being mad.

“Brynly stole my boots!” he said indignantly, and she looked at his feet and gasped.

“What on earth are you wearing? Are those plastic freezer bags?”

“It was what Bryn wore to school this morning. He said he couldn’t find one of his boots. He went to see the nurse and never came to class. I don’t know why he took my boots!” Jeremy was incensed that his best friend would betray him like this.

Instead of joining him in his outrage though, his mother simply replied “Oh that poor boy” in a soft voice and then said, “Well, we’ll just have to go get you another pair” and she turned at the next light to head to the mall.

“Why can’t we just get back the ones he took?” Jeremy was indignant that his mother wasn’t taking this seriously. Jeremey had liked those boots. He wasn’t about to give them up so easily.

“Sweetie, Bryn’s mom is going through a tough time right now. We need to let him borrow your boots for as long as he needs to, okay? He’s your friend. Friends help each other out.” He could tell from her tone of voice that the discussion was closed but he couldn’t resist getting in one last shot.

“Well, he still should have asked.” Jeremey crossed his arms and slouched in his seat, determined to pout if he couldn’t argue.

“Yes, that would have been preferable” was her only reply.

***

Later that night, Jeremy overheard his mom on the phone.

“Well, ever since her husband disappeared, I know she’s been struggling to make ends meet and you know how kids are, always misplacing things.” Then there was a pause before she answered, “Well, the last time he came over to play, his boots looked like they were about to disintegrate then. I just figured it was easier to get Jeremey another pair of boots instead of making a big deal out of it.” More silence, then clearly having changed the subject she said “Don’t forget you’re in charge of the cookies for the bake sale next week. Mary Ann is going to…”

Jeremey stopped listening and walked quietly back to his bedroom. He grabbed his phone to see if Brynly had texted him back yet. Nothing. He opened his laptop and saw there was a message waiting for him.

“Jeremey, I’m so sorry I had to borrow your boots. The nurse said I couldn’t go to class and I had to go home. I tried to call my mom, but she couldn’t get time off work to come get me so I had to walk home. There were already holes in my bags and I was afraid to wear them home. I know your mom is usually available to pick you up after school so I hoped it would be okay. I tried to text you to ask, but my text wouldn’t go through. Mom said the phone company turned off our service. She said we had to do without phones right now. Please message me back. Please don’t be mad.”

Jeremey sat back in his chair and ran his fingers through his hair. He felt bad that he’d been mad at Brynly. Jeremy knew Bryn’s dad had disappeared and his mom was working a lot. It hadn’t even occurred to him that Brynly’s family didn’t have as much money anymore. Bryn hadn’t said anything about how hard it getting for them. Jeremy clicked reply and typed “I’m not mad. Keep the boots as long as you like. I have extras. Are you going to be at school tomorrow?” And he clicked send.

After a few minutes, his computer dinged to let him know he had a reply. Bryn must have been sitting on his computer waiting for Jeremy to reply.

“Thank you thank you thank you! I’m so glad you’re not mad. No, can’t come back to school yet, my cough has gotten worse. Looks like I’ll be doing the video classes for now. Please email me and let me know if Roni notices I’m gone. Wink. Wink. Lol. Seriously though dude, I really appreciate it. You’re the best.”

Jeremy swallowed hard as he read the message. Jeremy knew a bad cough was code for someone had absorbed too much of the yellow smog. If one cough had already turned into a "bad cough", Brynly was probably going to get a lot sicker really soon. He didn’t know when he would see his friend in person again. Was this because he’d worn bags to school? Jeremy could feel the tears forming in his eyes.

 “Mom!” he ran down the hall and threw his arms around her. “Mom, thanks for not making a big deal out of the boots.” His voice was muffled because his face was buried in her shirt.

“Sweetie! It’s okay! They’re just boots. What’s wrong?” She asked, concerned by this unusual display of affection.

“Brynly’s got the cough” was his reply as he looked up at her, blinking back tears. She pulled him in tighter and hugged him for all he was worth.

“He’ll be okay. He’ll be okay.” She said this softly at first, then with more conviction and she pushed Jeremy to arm’s length so she could look in his eye. “He’s young. He’ll be okay.”  

Jeremy nodded, choosing to believe her. He swallowed hard again and then went to message back his best friend.

“Hey turd face, don’t think that just because you’re in the online class now that you’re cooler than the rest of us suckers who still have to go to school.”

The reply came a minute later. “I was cooler than you before. Hard to get any cooler lol” came the expected reply.

Jeremy smiled and typed “You wish” as his mind chanted he’ll be okay, he’ll be okay, he’ll be okay.