Prompt For:Stories From The Jukebox
Prompt by: Phillip Slater
Prompt #50 : For What It’s Worth by Buffalo Springfield
“So tell me what happened.”
Axel had been looking out the window recalling in his mind the event he witnessed.
“It’s going to be okay. You are safe here.”
Axel turned from the window and studied his father with great interest. “You know,” he said slowly drawing out his words in careful measures, “one of the differences in life is between understanding what is going on and what our perceptions are.”
Axel’s father bristled quietly. His son quoting his own words back to him was nothing new but in this situation? He sighed inwardly knowing calmness was necessary before returning his thoughts towards whatever had happened tonight.
“Be that as it may,” he started slowly knowing any words of opposition may trigger a cataclysmic event, “you are home safe, in a place where you are loved and listened to. Please tell me what happened.”
Axel looked back out the window, anger rising. “Getting angry isn’t the answer right now,” he thought as the battle raged inside him. He reached for that calm spot. Finding it he turned and plunked himself down in the barco lounger. He then proceeded to place his face in his hands and stare at the floor. “I don’t understand.”
His father had watched all of this in a state of concern. He couldn’t show much as the tension in the room had risen to previously unseen levels. He wanted to help his son. How was going to be the question so he waited with controlled patience.
“Ambulance’s and police cars and crowds of people.” Axel kept staring at the floor. “It’s all too much.”
“It sounds like it has been a lot. What’s too much?” he asked gently as he sat on the sofa.
“They took Camby away in the ambulance.”
“What happened to him?”
“Not sure. It happened before I got there. But they also took his father away in a police car.”
“James was arrested?”
“Yes. And it’s about time too.”
The few times he had met James he seemed like a nice guy. “Why is it about time?”
Axel shot his father a withering look. “He tuned up Camby regularly.”
“Tuned up?”
“You know, smacked, slapped, punched, said things that hurt Camby.”
“James did that?”
Axel shook his head. “Often.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. This is the first I heard of it. How come?”
Axel shrugged his shoulders. “Camby asked me to not say anything. I kept my word to him.”
Axel’s father moved closer to Axel. “Sometimes Axel,” he began cautiously, “We have to do the right thing for our friends. Sometimes it isn’t what they want. When someone is regularly tuning up someone else we need to step up and let someone know.”
Axel glared at his father. “I knew you wouldn’t understand.”
“Axel. I love you dearly. Tuning people up is not how I have lived my life and have tried to instill in you. But that doesn’t mean I don’t understand what you are saying. There are many people who would turn to their fists or use cruel words before making any attempt to understand what people need to learn.”
“What do people need to learn?” asked Axel.
“People need to learn that everyone has their own opinion and that there is nothing wrong with that. We are all individuals who see things differently. We are all here from birth to death. We get up. Get dressed. Get cleaned up. Eat. Go to school or work. Spend time there and then come home. Eat. Do something together and then go to bed. We wake up tomorrow and repeat. It has been like this most of my life. It is what we do within those things that are important. Those are the things that make life interesting. It is where we make a difference if we choose to do the things we see as being right.”
“And what is the second thing?”
“It is very much related to the first. It is respect. Some people have it. Some were never taught it. Others have no use for it.”
“It sounds like Camby’s dad was never taught it.”
“It could be but really that is just speculation. You know him better than I do but I would wager that you know very little about him. You only see what he allows you to see or what Camby has told you.”
“I know him!” Axel said with some anger.
“What made him like this?
Axel shot his father a look before lowering his head again. “Don’t know.”
“Some things can’t be fixed until we deal with the cause. Until then the outcome is what we see.”
Axel pulled his phone out of his pocket. “How can I help Camby?”
“Right now? We should go and see how he is doing. After that it is up to him.”
Axel stood abruptly. “Let’s go.”
“You have visitors,” the nurse said as she held back the curtain.
Camby looked concerned but relaxed as Axel walked up the side of the bed. He held out his hand and Camby shook it before dissolving into a stream of tears.
“It’s okay man,” Axel said as he reached to hold his friend.
“I was afraid it was him.”
“It’s ok. We are here for you.”
“We?” asked Camby quietly as he pulled back.
“Yeah. My dad. He’s outside the curtain.”
Camby looked at his friend. “He knows?”
Axel smiled. “It doesn’t matter. You are safe right now. We will worry about it later when the time comes.”
“I hadn’t thought about that.”
“It’s ok. I’ve got your back.”
“Will you stay while I sleep? Don’t let him near me.”
“Of course. My dad will do what he can to help. This is what friends do.”
Camby smiled and relaxed as the energy from the night was starting to wear off.
Axel smiled as his friend fell asleep.
“It’s like dad said. Just be there. One day at a time.”
That's what friends are for.....to be there when you need them.
So lovely