They’d curl up on the braided rug in the children’s section and he’d guide her through children’s classics. The first book she ever read a page from was Green Eggs and Ham. She was around eighteen, and it was probably one of the proudest moments of her life. She could only read very small words. Having Parker read to her was much more enjoyable than struggling to hear herself clumsily piece together letters.
Growing up within and never leaving a ten-mile radius, books opened a world of imagination for her. She saw things in her mind she could only dream of ever seeing in real life, the ocean, Egypt, the Big Top, all described in such thought-out detail she could taste the cotton candy and breathe the salt air without ever leaving that magical braided carpet.
He made it a goal to read her as many classics as possible, The Catcher in the Rye, The Color Purple, Of Mice and Men. She couldn’t get enough. Scout became obsessed with words. Even if she couldn’t read big words, there was no stopping her from saying them. She clung to every syllable he spoke, like a thief.
Then there were the more mysterious sides of Parker. When a person is homeless, there is little entertainment, so in the fall they enjoyed watching the little league practice and play games. The T-Ball players were the cutest. She and Parker made a habit out of finding entertainment that was free.
One day she’d gone looking for Parker so they could find something to do together. He had a few places he hid out when he wasn’t at the library. She ended up finding him in an alley, where she heard noises. When she peeked into the shadows, she wasn’t prepared for what she saw. Parker was doing to another woman what Slim had wanted to do to Scout. However, this woman seemed on board with his plans.
Scout gasped, and Parker immediately turned and cursed. The woman gave Scout a nasty look that haunted her for days. She now was old enough to know that Parker was having sex. That afternoon, a world of mixed emotions opened up inside of her over the span of a minute. She supposed she’d always looked up to Parker in a way, found him admirable. She wasn’t jealous of the woman. Sex scared Scout and she wanted nothing to do with it. Yet, there came a twinge of something she couldn’t name when she realized Parker was doing it with that woman.
He chased after her, completely discarding the other woman. When he caught up to her, he grabbed her arm.
“Scout, what are you doing here?”
“I . . . I was looking for you.”
His face was creased with frustration, and his cheeks were flushed. “You shouldn’t have come here.”
His words irritated her. She jerked her arm away. “I’m not a child, Parker. I know what you were doing.”
“I know you’re not a child. I just . . . I didn’t want you to see that.”
“Why?” She was truly curious about his reasons.
He frowned and wedged his hands in his pocket. Looking away, he mumbled, “It’s dirty.”
She frowned as well. “You aren’t the only person who does that, Parker.”
“I know. But I don’t like it.”
“Then why do you do it?”
He shrugged. “Guys are different. We need . . .”
She waited quietly for him to continue. His cheeks grew redder and he said nothing. She touched his arm. “It’s okay, Park. I get it.”
He shook his head and curved his lips into a barely there smile. “No, you don’t, but thanks for trying.”
Her hand dropped from his arm. “Thanks.” She was insulted. “You know, you aren’t much older than me—”
“I know that! God, Scout, I know that.”
“Then why do you say things like that, like I’m some dumb kid?”
“Because you’re a good girl and a good girl shouldn’t see two people going at it like animals!” he hissed.
She drew back. Her understanding of sex was twisted. She’d seen her mother and other men. There was no modesty. She saw things no child should probably witness. She only needed to see it once to determine she never needed to see it again. But to her knowledge, there was no way to have sex that wasn’t animalistic.
After they stood awkwardly silent for a while and the woman he had been with slunk away, he said, “Come on. I’ll walk you back.”
They walked in silence, she playing back what she’d seen, and Parker scowling about what he had inadvertently showed her. One thing she was sure of, he did not see her as a sexual being, but as more of a little sister. This pleased and irritated her for reasons she didn’t understand.
Evelyn smiled, remembering how, after that, he made a point to read adult stories to her. They were never graphic, but sometimes they mentioned some of those less animalistic couplings he must have been referring to. He would sometimes blush when he read her the more adult parts of those classics.