Chapter Twenty-Three - Zach's Mom

I opened my eyes to a dimly lit room. When did I fall asleep? Where was I? My vision partially obscured by the ear of the fluffy dalmatian onesie drooping in front of my ear, I turned my head to my left and spotted Laurie snoozing underneath the covers right beside me. Now dressed in his own pajamas, a simple Paw Patrol themed t-shirt and shorts set, he had his arms wrapped around mine and was letting out occasional quiet high pitched snores like a contented baby kitten. I wriggled out from under his tight cuddle, just about able to maneuver it out of his grasp without waking the golden haired boy.

Sitting up, I saw there was a night light set up by Zach’s bed dimly illuminating the room. I had forgotten that he was afraid of the dark. The light wasn’t like a toy or anything - not like something you might get for a baby - just a solitary bulb sitting in the socket filling the room with a dim blue light. His bed was still empty, and the red glowing numbers of Zach’s alarm clock read 10:12 PM.

I blinked in bewilderment, a little surprised at how late it had gotten. I must have been asleep for a few hours. Hopefully Laurie wasn’t upset with me. He had seemed so excited to play fireman.

Thinking back, it occurred to me that I didn’t actually remember going to bed. I blushed, realizing I must have nodded off watching Laurie play. Worse, either Kianna or Zach must have had to pick me up at some point to put me in Laurie’s bed. I didn’t think we would actually share a bed for the sleepover, but that didn’t really matter now. We must have been sleeping peacefully together for a good couple of hours - fireman and loyal pup cuddled up snug.

Laurie’s bed had a safety rail on each side, so I had to crawl down carefully to not wake him up. The wooden boards felt cold on my bare feet as I stepped down onto the floor. The bedroom door was ajar, light seeping in from the hallway making clear that the two babysitters were still very much awake. I could hear their voices from somewhere in the house, muffled argumentative murmurs reverberating up through the floor. I couldn’t make out exactly what they were saying, but it sounded like Zach was rather upset. Narrowly avoiding impaling my foot on an upturned DUPLO block, I moved silently across the bedroom and slipped out the door - trying to hear them better.

Feeling like a secret agent, I slowly crept down the stairs - my fantasy shattered somewhat by my silly costume. I briefly wondered if I could be a new secret agent hero pup on the Paw Patrol, though just the silly thought made myself blush. Pretend games like that were fine for kids like Laurie, but I was eleven years old - no matter what people thought. Besides, I was dressed as a dalmatian, and the Paw Patrol already had a dalmatian. I was so distracted, that I almost ran head first into Zach’s bottom. He was standing in the doorframe leading to the kitchen holding a cordless phone, and Kianna was standing right beside him. Luckily however, neither one seemed to have noticed me. I scurried back to the hallway, lurking behind the stair rails.

“You need to call your Mom.” Kianna told Zach sternly. “You were in a fight, got hurt, and you’ve been upset all night.”

“You’re not in charge of me.” He argued in a defiant tone, though he was still clutching the phone obediently in his hand. “I don’t need to tell her anything.”

“She’s going to find out either way.” Kianna said.

“From who?” Zach demanded.

“From me, for one.” She told him.

Zach grunted and groaned for a second. “Fine.” He agreed and started to punch in numbers quickly, clearly knowing it from memory. “I’ll call.”

I tried to hold my breath, but it was so tense I couldn’t even look away. I felt my breath rising in tempo instead, feeling thoroughly out of place - like a naughty little boy eavesdropping on his parents. I considered scampering back up the stairs, but I was frozen in place, eagerly listening in.

“Hi Mom.” Zach squeaked into the phone, speaking in an odd higher tone than I was used to. His foot started tapping slightly against the floor. “Laurie is asleep with Cooper.” I stood up slightly, trying to see if I could make out what was being said on the other end of the phone, but it just sounded like garbled nonsense. “Yeah… We still had the sleepover. Kianna is here though.” Zach nodded, keeping his shaking hand steady with one arm now holding the other. “Mom… Mom!” He said louder, trying to get a word into what must have been the start of a lecture. “When are you going to be home?”

I could hear the creak of the plastic cordless phone in his hand as his grip tightened. Kianna had stepped back a little as if to give him some space. From the sounds of it, the conversation wasn’t going the way Zach had wanted.

“You said you would be home tonight!” Zach said loudly and angrily. “Laurie has a friend over.” There was a snarl in his voice and he backtracked quickly. “Sorry I mean, why won’t you be home sooner?” Zach seemed to get angrier as I saw his knuckles turn white from gripping the phone.

Clearly sensing his frustration, Kianna locked eyes with her former charge and displayed a slight censuring cock of her head. The boy’s grip on the phone slackened almost immediately, his furious fighting stance going as limp as a wolf pup held up by the scruff of his neck. She smiled and gave him a calm reassuring nod, as if giving him permission to continue, though she kept her distance a few steps away. “Take a deep breath.” She soothed in a quiet voice.

Zach frowned at her, but he did as he was told - holding the phone away from his ear for a moment and inhaling deeply before he went back to the conversation. “I got hurt.” he whispered almost inaudibly, twisting his body shyly around as if hiding from Kianna and lowering his eyebrows into a sad vulnerable pout. “Yeah…” he continued. “When I was taking the beavers around for Apple Day. Na—a boy hit me. On my nose, and my tummy…” The older boy looked a lot more relaxed now, cradling the phone tenderly and nodding along to what his mom was saying down the line. A moment later however, his mood seemed to turn on a dime. “Laurie’s fine. Just a little scared.” He said neutrally. There was another brief pause, his mom saying something else down the line, before his eyes hardened into a mean scowl - wearing almost the exact same expression as he had during the fight with Nate. “No!” he blurted out suddenly. “No! That’s not what happened!” There was another brief silence, Zach grinding his teeth and once more gripping the phone so hard I thought he might accidentally snap it in two. “That’s not fair!” he shouted down the line, yanking the handset away from his ear and slamming it hard down on the switch hook.

“Zach!” Kianna exclaimed in shocked disapproval, darting forward and grabbing hold firmly of the offending hand. “What did you do that for?”

“Leave me alone!” Zach yowled at her, too furious to be cowed by the older girl’s calming presence.

Kianna shook her head, picking up the phone again and starting to efficiently redial the number. “You need to call her back.” She told him, shaking her head. “You can’t put down the phone like that. It’s rude and-”

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” Zach bellowed, ripping his hand free. Kianna was shocked into silence, slowly putting the phone back down on its hook as she stared in surprise at the hyperventilating red-faced boy in front of her. Tears were streaming down Zach’s face now, and his arms were clenched up around his own chest - almost as if he were trying to give himself a comforting hug. Though Kianna was only a little taller, in his current state Zach looked impossibly little; the normally calm and mature older boy reduced to sniveling and hiccuping back streams of tears like an over-emotional toddler.

I shifted where I stood, an old creaky floorboard groaning conspicuously under my feet. The two scouts quickly turned their eyes on me in unison like startled dogs, seeing me lurking nervously at the bottom of the stairs like a scolded puppy. I shrank back shyly into my dalmatian costume, blushing red cheeks framed by the silly black and white spotted ears hanging down from my hood. “Um…hi…” I finally managed to squeak.

“Oh, Cooper.” Kianna sighed in frustration. “What are you doing out of bed?”

Zach let out a sudden yap of anguish, turning on his heels and running out of the room. The sound of his steps stamping down the hall echoed through the house before an almighty banging sound alerted us to him slamming the bathroom door.

I immediately sensed a horrible heavy feeling weighing in the pit of my tummy, feeling as if I had made everything a million times worse. “I only wanted some water.” I lied, not wanting Kianna to know I’d been snooping on purpose.

The older girl gave me a small sympathetic smile, absolving my guilt. She pointed authoritatively upstairs, holding her hands stoically by her side as she moved steadily away in the direction Zach had run. “I’ll bring you some in a moment, Coopy.” she assured me. “Why don’t you go back upstairs?”

All too eager to do as I was told, I nodded and quickly clambered up the stairs again. I let out a deep breath as I darted behind the safety of the bedroom door, glancing over to see that Laurie was still snoozing peacefully on his own bed. Feeling a little awkward, I went over to Zach’s bed and sat down in a rigid anxious posture - listening to the muffled unintelligible sound of Kianna coaxing him out of the bathroom door below.

I felt a nervous sense of unease as I thought back on the conversation Zach had with his Mom. Of course, I sometimes argued with my Mom too, but she had never made me upset from just a phone call - especially not as upset as Zach had looked. I looked at the dimly lit bedroom the two boys shared, trying to remember a time I had ever seen either of Zach’s parents. I couldn’t remember any. I suppose it just felt natural that Zach watched over Laurie, but I had never really questioned who looked after Zach.

I looked at Laurie splayed out in pure bliss on top of the tangled mess of his bedsheets. I wondered how he felt about everything. He had gotten caught in Nate’s cross fire earlier, but he hadn’t seemed too upset at all when we were playing . I suppose between me, Kianna and Zach he felt perfectly safe.

The door swung open, and Kianna came in holding a plastic lidded tumbler with a straw in it. The design printed on the side was faded from age and use, and I couldn’t really see it properly in the low light, but it was clear that at some point it had had a Paw Patrol theme - featuring a half-peeled off picture of the heroic fire pup Marshall. “Okay Cooper, take a drink.” She whispered and held out the cup to me. I blinked at it blearily, thinking it looked suspiciously like a sippy cup, but I didn’t want to make a scene. I took it and sucked the straw dutifully, even though I wasn’t really even thirsty.

“Thanks.” I said and held it in my lap. “Is Zach okay?”

“Shhh.” Kianna shushed and pointed at Laurie, not even acknowledging my question. “Let’s get you back into bed.”

Kianna took the cup from me and placed it on Laurie’s end table. She placed her hand on my back and gently guided me back towards Laurie’s bed. “Zach will be up when he calms down.” She whispered to me. “Let’s let him have his own bed.”

She reached down and patted my bum. “Do you still need some protection?” She asked in a sweet whisper. “Did you bring any?”

My heart beat a little faster. Of course she still thought I wore night time diapers. That had been what the whole fight at camp was about, after all. I had even admitted I was the one who used them that day!

“Oh… Uh… No.” I told her in a quiet mumble. “I don’t need them anymore.”

“You sure?” Kianna asked again. “I know I saw some in the bathroom for Laurie, you could still borrow one.”

“No, I would rather not.” I told her firmly, starting to get embarrassed. I was really starting to regret that particular fib, even if it had made Laurie feel better.

She nodded and pointed at the smaller bed. “Then go back to bed.” She instructed with all the authority of the babysitter she was.

I carefully crawled into bed beside my friend, trying to be careful not to wake him, but it seemed impossible. Amazingly however, Laurie didn’t even open his eyes - instinctively wrapping his arms around me and pulling my head down onto the pillows.

“Sweet dreams you two.” Kianna told us and left the room, leaving the door open just a crack.

Laurie’s hug made me feel a lot better, the tension seemingly disappearing from my body. I hugged him back. I thought about Zach’s parents and figured I would give them a talking to when I saw them in the morning. Maybe I would even tell them my real age. Perhaps then they might actually take me seriously. It would be embarrassing, but it would be worth it - for Zach and Laurie. I glanced down to my current outfit and rolled my eyes. I would need to change out of Laurie’s dalmatian costume first.

I laid in bed awake for what felt like a long time, waiting for Zach to come back to the room. It seemed to take forever and my eyes had gotten droopy again. Eventually, I allowed myself to close them - but kept on listening to what was going on downstairs. The front door had opened and closed, presumably signaling Kianna heading back to her own place. A heavy plodding noise marching up the stairs followed soon after, heralding Zach finally returning to his room.

The door swung open again and then closed firmly. There was another loud thump, and I winced open one eye, registering that the night light had got a lot brighter. Looking across the room, I saw Zach slink a hand away from the nightlight like he had just turned up the settings. I saw the bloodshot eyes of the boy as he sniffed and sat on his bed, but luckily he didn’t look at me - assuming I was asleep. I closed my eyes again as I heard him finally remove his cub uniform, discarding it on the floor. There was another series of grunts and thumps as he crawled under his own covers and rolled around facing the wall, and then there was silence.

I snuggled a little closer to Laurie, placing my head on his chest and falling asleep once more.