“I was. I went for a walk and didn’t get lost. I watch TV, but it get boring. People just sit and talk all the time. It dumb.” The real housewives… they could not possibly be real. “I find grocery store and use card to get things for dinner.” He showed Atlas the food card Chris had given him. “She say I have only so much money, so I careful what I buy. But I make dinner.” He took Atlas’s hand and pulled him into the kitchen. “Rice with some chicken and spices. There chicken left from last time I cook. So I make using leftovers.” That term tickled him. It was one he heard on TV, and for some reason it made him laugh. Maybe because everything back home had been leftovers most of the time.
“It looks good,” Atlas told him, but he seemed really tired as he sat in the chair. Bazel brought him a plate and then got one for himself and sat down.
“You want beer?” Bazel was already up before Atlas could answer. He set the bottle on the table and sat down once more before eating. He was just so happy to have Atlas here. The day had gone slowly just sitting in the house. What he needed was a job, something for him to do to make money and help out. He did not want Atlas to think him lazy or that he was sponging off him. Apparently, according to the show he watched today, sponges were bad. “You need anything?”
Atlas touched his hand. “Just relax. I’m fine, and dinner is really good.” He continued eating. “Bazel, I’m curious. How old are you?”
“Twenty-three. Why you ask?” It seemed strange for Atlas to ask now.
“You know you can have a beer if you want.”
Bazel shook his head. “I try once, and I didn’t like. But you like, so you can have.” He almost opened the bottle for Atlas but let him do it. “On the housewives, they—”
“Hey, you don’t need to act like they do. In fact, you probably shouldn’t. Those shows are not how real people act. So just relax and have your dinner too. Did anyone visit today?”
Bazel shook his head. “No. Maybe Chris can come over. Last time she give me card for food. Maybe she can give me card for car.” He had it all worked out. If she did that, then he could go everywhere he needed to.
Atlas laughed at him, and he let his smile fall. “Things don’t work that way. She was able to get you the card for food because that’s a necessity, and when you get your own place, you might need to buy your own food. But they don’t have cards for cars. And you don’t need to use your food card when you’re staying here. You can save it for later if you need it. Okay?”
Bazel nodded and lowered his gaze. He had wanted to help, but maybe Atlas didn’t want help. He had never thought of that. “Okay. I not help.”
“You are helping a lot, I promise. You helped with my mess of a yard, and you made dinner.”
Bazel shrugged. “I like garden, and I can help with cooking, but back home, cooking is what women do.” He wasn’t sure if that was how Atlas saw him. Maybe he did.
“Here both men and women cook. After dinner I can show you. There is a cooking show on television, and we can watch it.” Atlas put down his fork. “The things men and women do aren’t as defined here, and you helping with the cooking is really nice. I like what you make.” He went back to eating, and Bazel tried to piece together what Atlas had told him.
“So you not see me as woman?” Bazel just wanted to make sure he understood.
“No. But don’t let Chris hear you talk like that. Woman can do just about anything that men can do. There are women on the police force, and they are great officers. Chris is an amazing person. Do you understand?”
Bazel nodded. “Things are different here.” That seemed to sum up just about everything he’d experienced. The things he had grown up with just didn’t translate to this new reality here in America. And maybe that was a good thing. He had wanted to leave to find a place where he might fit in—and that that place would need to be different from where he came from. Sometimes he just wished he felt more in step with everything around him.
“I HAVE TOhave something to do,” Bazel told Atlas later that evening as they were watching TV on the sofa, with Evie on the floor near both of them so she could get double pets. “I cannotwatch TV all the time, and staying here in the house is….” He did not know the word in English.
“I understand. But you cannot get a job until you have the right papers, and Chris is working to get those for you.”
“There must be something I can do.” He needed to earn his keep and not be a sponge.
“Why don’t we ask Chris tomorrow. Maybe she can help,” Atlas said. “You have her number in your phone because I added it for you. So call her and ask what ideas she might have.”
“Okay.” He was excited. Maybe he could get a job doing people’s gardens for them. He had always been good at it. The plants here were different than at home, but he still liked to make things grow, and there were lots of pretty flowers that he could plant. “I call her first thing. I also ask her about others to make sure they are okay.” He settled back and gave up trying to follow this show. The one man spoke English with an accent, and he found it hard to understand. And then people ran around trying to find out who was bad and who was not. They got it wrong and people were being murdered, except they weren’t really. The whole thing seemed confusing and silly to him, but Atlas got excited over it, and Bazel liked being with him. It was sort of their quiet time. No one called, and Atlas didn’t have to be at work. “When day off?”
“Oh,” Atlas said. “I work tomorrow, but the next day I am off. I thought we could go to one of the parks for a hike in the woods. We could bring Evie so she could have fun too.”
Bazel thought that sounded nice and closed his eyes, tuning out the TV and the people trying to row a boat where no one listened to anyone. He shook his head at them and leaned against Atlas, content and happy for the moment.
He liked that he didn’t have to worry about anything at times like this. Most of the time, he wondered what was going to happen to him. Was Atlas going to let him stay, or was he goingto have to go and find a place to live on his own. He liked it here, and he liked Atlas and didn’t want to go. But like so many things since he moved here, those kinds of things were not up to him. Ever since he decided to come to America, others had made decisions that got thrust on him. The only one who never did that was Atlas, and that was why he wanted to stay with him.
BAZEL STRETCHEDas the sound of rain dripping off the house woke him. He blinked and checked the clock. Atlas was still in bed, and it was early. Evie was still asleep as Bazel stretched again and then stilled. He didn’t want to get up any sooner than he had to, but he had a lot to do today.
The yard and all the flowers were getting a good drink, though the rain meant he wasn’t going to be working outside today, but that was okay. Maybe Chris could help him find a job. “It’s still early,” Atlas mumbled next to him. “Go back to sleep, babe.”
“I tried already,” Bazel said. “It didn’t work.” Lying on his side, he slid next to Atlas until he was pressed to his back.
“Oh, I see,” Atlas said. “Everything is awake.” He rolled over, and before Bazel could smile, Atlas kissed him and pressed him back onto the bed, Atlas’s weight against him as he continued the deep kissing until Bazel forgot about everything else. “We have to do something about that.”
Bazel giggled as Atlas’s lips slid down his neck, the sound turning to a groan when they latched onto one of his nipples. Atlas loved to lick things, and Bazel was more than happy to be on the receiving end. He was really good, and when Atlas tossed back the covers and slid his lips over Bazel’s cock, he whimpered before closing his eyes, because what Atlas did to him was just too good for words and made him stop thinking and everything.
