Brownsville Tales, Jayden & Cade 12

After breakfast, Ian, Lance and Cade hooked-up the trailer and went into town to pick up the timber and corrugated iron. Jayden stayed with Mrs. C and Angel. Their job was to load all of the tools they'd need and take them down to the paddock, in her car.

Ian's crew were the first customers at the timber yard, so they were in and out of there pretty quick. It was still quiet at the dump too. There was a few people around but no-one else in the recycling centre. It would be busy there later, but not yet – too early for most people.

It only took a few minutesto load the sheets of old iron and tie every thing down securely, and then they were on their way back home.

He didn't stop at the house, he went straight down to the paddock and dropped the boys and the trailer off there. On his way back up the hill Ian met his wife and the others, coming down in her car. They both stopped and windows wound down.

“Hello. A bit late getting started, are we?” Ian grinned.

“We are not!” Mrs. C retorted. “We've already been down and dropped the tools off. Jayden had a brilliant idea and asked the neighbours if we could plug-in to their power-supply. They were fine with that, so we've been back for the power tools and all the extension cords we could find.”

“Plugging in to the neighbour's? Have we got enough cords to reach all the way to the work site?”

“Probably not, but near enough. Even if we have to walk a bit it will still be quicker and easier than cutting and drilling by hand. I wouldn't let the kids use your chainsaw and I'm certainly not doing it!”

“Fair enough too. That thing's bloody dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. I'm off to work, I'll be back as soon as I can. Be careful with the power tools, they can be dangerous too.”

“Tell me about it! We'll be careful and we'll see you soon.”

“You will. Haere Ra.”

Ian went to his work at the mine office. Underground coal mining was not an easy industry. So many things could go wrong, they seemed to have a crisis nearly every week.

He was gone longer than expected, but they knew he would be. By the time he came back the shed's framework was finished, the roof was on and they were starting on cladding the second wall. He was delighted.

“Wow! You've done great – far better than I thought you would. Maybe I should just go home and leave you to it? You don't need me.”

Lance said, “Maybe we should all go home and leave you to it? We've been working all day, you haven't.”

“Oh but I have, just not here. Are you all right there, Jayden?”

Jayden was sitting in the shade of the old pine trees. He lifted a hand and waved wearily. “I'm fine, Mr C. Just having a bit of a rest.”

“You've done more than enough for today, Jayden,” Mrs. C said. “We don't want to wear you out completely. I'm going home now, to clean-up and start getting dinner ready, and you're coming with me. You look like you could do with a week's sleep.”

“Good idea!” Cade agreed. “We'll all go home and come back tomorrow and finish in the morning.”

“I don't think so,” Ian shook his head. “We're not leaving my tools out here all night. It won't take long to finish-up here, and then the tools can go home and stay there. Besides, the way the weather changes around here, it could be wet tomorrow and that'd be no fun at all. Jayden and your mother are going now, the rest of us will stay until the job's done.”

“It's not fair!” Angel protested. “How come they get to go and we don't?”

“Not another word out of you, Young Lady! This whole project is for your benefit. It's not too late to ring and cancel the pony, you know.”

“Oh no, Mum! You can't do that!”

“Show a bit of appreciation then.

Ian located the tape measure and he, Cade, Lance and Angel started work.

Cade watched Jayden and his mum walking over to the car. It was only a few meters, but they were walking slowly and he was sure that Jayden was being quietly growled at. He knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of that.

He stood there. Frowning. He didn't know what, but something was going on that he didn't know about. No-one told him anything.

He turned back to his dad, once they were finished here they'd go home and he'd find out what was going on. Jayden looked like he was totally knackered, which was weird because he hadn't worked any harder than any of them had. So, why?

They finished cladding the shed and it was all done apart from the double doors that Ian said he would make up in his home-workshop. The kids loaded the tools and cords and rubbish on to the truck while Ian measured-up for the doors., then they all piled in and they went home.

Cade was first into the house. He went to the guestroom, and then came back out. “Hey Mum. Where's Jayden?”

“He's resting and you leave him alone.”

“But where is he? He's not in the guestroom.”

“He's not. I told him to climb into your bed. It's quieter out there.”

“Yeah, I guess. Mum, is there something wrong with him?”

“What do you mean, Cade?”

“He's just so tired. He's always tired. That's not normal, is it? I mean, yes, he's been working today but so have I and I'm not that knackered. I'm a bit tired, but not dead on my feet like he was. What's wrong with him, Mum? You know something, don't you?”

She stopped what she was doing and sighed. “Yes, I do know something, Mrs. Curtis told me, but it's not up to me, you'll have to wait until Jayden is ready to tell you. I think that was his plan for this weekend before we all got side-tracked.”

“Oh. And you won't tell me?”

“I can't. Where are you going, Cade?”

“Going to my room.”

“Don't you go waking Jayden up. If he's asleep, you let him be.”

“Yeah, yeah. No probs.”

He went to the sleepout and slowly opened the door, silently cursing the squeaky hinges as he did. He'd been meaning to put some oil on them. One day he would.

It was okay, Jayden didn't wake up. He was sprawled across the bed, on top of the covers and still in his clothes. He hadn't even closed the drapes and it was stuffy-hot in there. Smelled of boys too.

He left the door open and closed the drapes to shut the sunshine out. He sat on his chair and studied the boy on his bed. He dreamed of this – Jayden on his bed, but in his dreams it wasn't the middle of the day, he was there with him and they weren't exactly sleeping.

Jayden Thomas Curtis, his oldest and his best friend. The best friend ever! And that included the twins even. There was no-one like Jayden. He loved him and always had. He loved him more than he should, but couldn't help that.

He was just so beautiful, he really was – beautiful inside and out. If he didn't know him and he passed him in the street, he'd think, 'Okay, not a bad-looking boy. A bit skinny maybe, but not too much, and nice to look at.' But he did know him, he knew him very well. As big as he was, the boy he used to be was still in there.

He hadn't had a chance to study him like this before. Usually, every time he looked, Jayden was looking back at him, so he couldn't look too long or too hard. Now he could.

People look different when they're sleeping; Jayden did anyway. With his eyes closed and without the usual expressions flicking around his face, he could've been a different person, almost. Was this the real Jayden, or was that when he was awake and aware?

That's what the difference was, he wasn't aware that he was being studied intently.

Man, he was thin! He was so skinny it was a wonder his pants didn't fall down. It wouldn't be his hips holding them up, he didn't have any flaming hips. None that you could see anyway. And his bum – well, he had to have one, everybody did, but it wasn't big enough to notice. He had long legs, long arms, fingers and toes and an overly long neck. Maybe there was a bit of giraffe in his ancestry?

Great hair – a dark-brown bob, full and bouncy and an over-long fringe almost hiding his eyes. About time he had a haircut really, but it looked good. His full, red lips were almost pouting and his skin was pale. Very pale. Didn't he ever go out in the sun? He needed to.

His skin was way pale and bluish where the veins showed through. It looked really unhealthy, kind of. Damm! He could see that he was breathing, but if he wasn't he'd look like a corpse lying there.

Eww! He pushed that thought away. Of course he wasn't dead, he was very much alive, wasn't he? But, something was definitely not right. Someone his age should not get so tired so easily. Should they? No, they should not.

They were going to have a talk about that, when he woke up – he was worried now.

He sat back a bit. It'd be embarrassing if Jayden woke and saw him studying him aso closely he could almost put his tongue out and lick him. He wondered what he'd taste like? Sweet, probably.

Jayden Curtis – his best friend ever. He loved him, very much. Too much. Jayden would freak if he knew how much and then he'd have no best friend. Again.

Jayden woke and stretched. He looked up at the too-low cream-coloured ceiling. Oh, yeah – it was Cade's bed he was lying on. Alone, worse luck.

He was totally knackered when they came back up to the house and willingly obeyed when Mrs. C told him to go and have a sleep on Cade's bed. He hadn't bothered undressing – just kicked his shoes off, flopped, and was out to it.

How long had he been sleeping? Not long, it was still daylight, but someone had closed the drapes. He turned his head and there was Cade, sound asleep in the chair and looking uncomfortable too.

Silly Sod. Why hadn't he laid down on the bed next to him? There wouldn't be a lot of room, but there'd be enough and he wouldn't mind being snuggled up against Cade – wouldn't mind that at all.

He felt dumb for falling asleep in the middle of the day. No, not that but dumb for getting so tired that he needed to. He knew what he could and couldn't do, but no, he had to overdo it. He wanted Cade to think that he was stronger than he really was. Why? Well, because he was an idiot! But what Cade thought about him was important.

Also, he hated to admit it, even to himself, but he was not as well as he should be. Bugg'rit. That was what he had to talk to him about this weekend, but they'd been sidetracked by the pony-shed and the weekend was half over already.

He looked at him again and, like he had laser-vision or something, Cade woke up. “Hi.”

“Hey. You feeling better now?”

“Yep. How's the building going?”

“All finshed, apart from the doors and Dad'll do them later.”

“Cool. Cade, I'm sorry I never lasted until the end. I was just totally buggered and couldn't go on any longer.”

“That's okay, don't worry about it. I was worn-out too. I was just sitting here, resting my eyes.”

“Resting your eyes? You were totally sleeping – not a pretty sight either!”

“Cheek! If you're awake, let's go and see what's to eat.”

“Good idea, but not too much I hope.”

“Yeah? Well I'll eat what you don't – I'm starving!”

“Sure you are.” Jayden sat up and swung his legs out. They could talk later, when there was more time.

They ate with the family. Everyone was tired, though not as much as Jayden, but they were happy with a good day's work done and glad that it was over. The only one not celebrating was Mrs. C, she looked at him and worried.

“You're still not right, Jayden. Maybe I should ring your mother?”

“Oh no! Don't do that. She'd come straight out and take me home and I'm not ready for that. I'll be fine, Mrs. C, really I will. We'll just be lying around, taking it easy for the rest of the weekend. No worries.”

“Well – okay, I guess, but you see that you do take it easy.”

“Yes'm.” Jayden nodded and looked down.

Cade watched and listened. He knew he'd never get information of out his mother. Jayden was the one he'd have to tackle, and he would – later.