LEAVES FLY AWAY

by Ché Enrique Muñoz Ramírez

Crisp leaves scented the air and whirled within swirls of trash. The wind captured the leaves and blew them away. Kids flew their kites and played soccer, and they laughed.

Benji stood at the other side of the fence and watched the kids play. His hands gripped on the bars, and a cigarette hung on his lips. Joshua walked next to the old man when a leaf caught on the old man's scarf. Joshua picked it off, and Benji watched it fly away.

"We're done walking." Joshua said. Benji sucked on the cigarette down to the filter, threw the butt to the floor, and puffed the smoke out of his nose.

"I want something hot." Joshua said. "Let's go to the cafe."

Joshua held two coffees in his hands. He then moved one coffee to the old man's hand and wrapped his fingers on it. The old man's eyes were milky colored, and he smelled like dried pee. Spit dried out his lips, cracked the skin of his chin, and formed a crust on his whiskers. Benji tore his napkin in little pieces and pushed them on the table. They flew away in a gust when somebody opened the door.

"You can speak to him." Joshua said. "They say he won't listen, but I think he does." Silence passed between them, and then Joshua said, "You want anything? I can buy you something." Benji nodded his head no, and Joshua said, "Where do you want to go next?"

Benji shrugged his shoulders.

"The park again?"

Benji shrugged his shoulders again.

"Let's go back to the park." Joshua said. "Then we'll go."

Before they went, Joshua wiped the crust off the old man's whiskers, rubbed lip balm on his lips, and covered his face with the red scarf. Benji smoked again and watched kids play soccer in the wind and leaves. Their grandpa watched them at the sidelines, and he laughed and clapped his hands at them. Their grandpa called out for them, and the kids huddled around him. Benji threw his old cigarette and got a new one.

Joshua said, "ouch," and then rubbed his eyes. "Stupid leaves," he said, "they're everywhere." He rubbed his eyes, and they watered. "Take care of him," he said, "I got to use the bathroom to rinse out my eyes."

Benji and the old man sat next to each other. A gust of wind blew the old man's scarf away. The old man drooled all over on his whiskers and chin, and Benji did nothing but watch the wind dry up the spit. Benji took out a new cigarette and placed it on the old man's lips. The cigarette hung on the old man's lips and then fell on the ground. Benji picked it up and put it back in the old man's mouth. The old man began to chew on the cigarette. Benji then stuck his finger in the old man's mouth and pulled out the cigarette and threw it.

Benji's fingers smelled something nasty, something bacterial and putrid. He wiped his finger on his pants. Pieces of tobacco and paper mixed with spit leaked out the old man's mouth. Benji got close to the old man and then wiped his lips and chin with the collar of his shirt. The boy stared into the old man's milky eyes.

Then Benji kissed the old man on the mouth.

The old man's tongue was dry and rough. His spit was sticky, almost like paste, and tasted like something rotten mixed with tobacco. Benji pushed his head forward, and his teeth crashed into the old man's teeth. He glided his tongue around the old man's tongue, around the edges of his teeth, and to the inner corners of his mouth.

Benji lit another cigarette and smoked after he was done. Joshua came back, and his eyes were red and watery. He said to Joshua, "Where's his scarf?"

Benji said nothing and puffed out smoke. Joshua looked for the scarf and saw that the wind blew it far away. It was tangled on the fence with the leaves.

They walked together to the old man's home where his daughter waited for them. She was packing trophies in several boxes.

"I made some hot chocolate," she said. "I got marshmallows if you want any."

"We got to go," Joshua said.

"Please stay," she said, "Let's talk. I think he likes the talk. I'll pay extra if I need to."

"I never did this for money, and I wouldn't accept it now."

"Then I'll give it to Benji," and she slipped two 20-dollar bills in Benji's pocket and then said to him, "Give the other half to Joshua when you can."

They drank chocolate in silence. Several trophies and pictures remained on shelves and walls.

"What time will you be leaving?" Joshua said.

"We would get there around ten in the morning," she said.

"Need help packing?"

"If you two could, please thank you."

"He has so many trophies."

"Yeah, I know. I never realized how many he won."

The old man's daughter grabbed a trophy and polished it with the sleeve of her shirt. She then said, "He said that his real trophies weren't these, but the hearts of everyone he loved. Especially kids. He loved kids. Hey, Joshua, where are they right now?"

"Who?"

"The kids he taught. The kids he loved. You're here and Benji's here, but where are the rest?"

"I don't know. They've grown up. They got their own lives."

The daughter sipped her chocolate, put the trophy in a box, and then said, "Maybe it's better that way. But I wish at least that he knew you two were here. He loved you two the most."

"I think he knows. I know that he feels."

"Why are you sure?"

"He's trapped outside, but he can still feel."

When they finished their chocolates Benji and Joshua packed the old man's trophies in boxes. The daughter went to buy more boxes in the meanwhile. A photo album fell to the ground and Benji picked it up. He flipped a few pages of the album. Then he saw his picture when he was 6 years old. Joshua was next to him too, and both smiled from behind of a trophy. The old man looked younger in the picture and didn't have his cataracts yet, but his hair was white and his skin wrinkly. Nonetheless, he was handsome.

"I remember that," Joshua said. "We won. Do you remember that, Benji?"

Benji nodded his head no.

"You forgot about that."

"Yeah." Benji said, and he took out a cigarette and smoked again.

"Did you forget everything?" Joshua said.
"I remember he said that he loved me. I wish I could forget that." Benji was quiet for a second, took the picture out of the album and slid it in his pocket. He closed the photo album and put it in the box. Then he said, "Joshua, do you forgive him?"

"I do. Now. And you?"

Benji nodded his head no, and said, "Do you actually believe he listens? That he's trapped?"

"Yeah." Joshua said.

They drove the old man and his daughter to the airport early in the morning. She wheeled her father in a wheel chair.

When the daughter heard her plane was boarding, she said goodbye to Benji and Joshua.

"Could we have a minute together, alone?" Joshua said to the daughter. "I know it doesn't make sense, but I want to say goodbye to him. I just want one minute alone."

"Okay," she said, and she stepped off to the side.

Joshua stood in front of the old man, brushed off lint that clung on his sweater, and then said, "Goodbye, coach. Forever."

Benji walked in and stood over the old man. His shadow covered the old man. Then he leaned into the old man and kissed him on the side of the cheek. Then he whispered in the old man's ears, "I. Love. You."

The old man and daughter left afterwards.

Benji and Joshua didn't return home immediately when the old man and the daughter left. Benji wanted to go to the park, and Joshua went with him.

Leaves fell from trees, and the wind swept them away. The kids who played soccer yesterday played again, but this time their grandpa played with them. Benji and Joshua watched them from behind the bars of the fence. He swallowed, took out a cigarette, and tried to light it. The wind kept blowing out his flame. It frustrated him and he threw his cigarette and lighter away. Benji was shaking.

"Are you okay?" Joshua said.

"I just want to smoke, okay," Benji said, and his eyes were watery.

"Are you crying?"

"No. I got something in my eye." Benji said and he tried to walk away. "It's the leaves."

"Benji..." Joshua said, and he tried to touch him, but Benji pushed him away.

"Leave me alone." Benji said, but tears flowed out of his eyes. He held on the bars of the fence, and tried to hide his face. The kids and their grandpa were leaving. "I'm not crying... It's just the leaves."

"I know it is." Joshua said, and a gust of wind blew his scarf away.

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