Tao Lin - Richard Yates

“Yes, there is a gift shop here,” said Haley Joel Osment in an email. “All I stole was toothpaste and floss last night from the gift shop. I thought about stealing a painting off the wall to sell on eBay but I thought it wouldn’t sell for that much.” He stared out a window at a man throwing a football to a small child. “A beast is throwing a football to his son outside,” he said in the email. “After I finish my half hour on the computer I am going to walk around to see what else I can steal. My bus is at 1:30 p.m. When I get to my parents’ house I’m going to Whole Foods to buy a lot of good food for us I think. I’m also going to look for things to sell on eBay and then put them on eBay and package them and leave them in Florida so my mom can mail them after they sell. I think I have enough money to pay December rent now. Emory University paid me $200 for reading there and I have $100 from selling poetry books. I will check my email when I get home. I miss you. Bye.” He walked through long hallways to different areas of the resort looking for things that might sell for more than $20 on eBay while listening to music using his portable CD player because a few weeks ago he lost his iPod when transferring trains at Secaucus. He lay on a reclining chair by the swimming pool and read Angle of Yaw . Sunlight was very bright on the book. He put on stolen sunglasses. He began to sweat a little. He walked to the front of the resort. He sat on a wood bench. He sat in a bus.

He arrived at his parents’ house around 4:30 p.m. and made a smoothie and looked at the internet and emailed Dakota Fanning and went to Whole Foods. At night he and his mother ate nachos while watching a French movie in an independent movie theatre. A few months ago his mother emailed that she was thinking about going to a movie alone but was afraid. A few weeks later she emailed that she had gone to a movie alone. Haley Joel Osment thought about that on the drive home after the movie. The next day they visited his father in jail. A few days later he went to New Jersey.

It was mid-November. Dakota Fanning’s mother asked if Haley Joel Osment would stay at her house a few days while she was on a business trip so Dakota Fanning wouldn’t be alone. She said they could use her car but were not allowed to go to New York City. Haley Joel Osment and Dakota Fanning promised not to do anything that would make her upset.

Their first night alone they drank yerba maté tea and ate steamed vegetables and watched Wheel of Time which showed Buddhist monks creating an elaborate design representing the world of phenomena then brushing the colored sand of the design into containers and throwing the containers into the ocean. After the movie they photographed each other doing cartwheels in front of the TV. Haley Joel Osment opened the door while Dakota Fanning was in the bathroom and photographed her grinning. They had sex in the living room. The next afternoon Haley Joel Osment was staring at the back of Dakota Fanning’s head in the downstairs hallway. He had gotten upset about something and Dakota Fanning had walked away then stopped moving. “I probably would have killed myself by now if I had an easy way to do it,” she said facing the wall at an angle.

“Why don’t you just kill yourself on the train tracks?”

“It doesn’t work. They don’t go fast enough.”

“Yeah they do. You just put your neck on the tracks.”

“It doesn’t work. The trains slow down as they approach the station.”

“Why don’t you just walk to the train tracks and walk past where the trains start slowing down and then lie down on the tracks?” said Haley Joel Osment vaguely feeling like he had said this before.

“Okay,” said Dakota Fanning and walked out of the house.

Haley Joel Osment thought about chasing her and hugging her and lying with her in bed. He went upstairs and looked at the computer. He picked up packages. He went outside and saw the back of Dakota Fanning about four blocks away. He walked to the post office. He mailed packages.

He walked over the steel bridge.

He stood on the train tracks looking in both directions. He walked on a street parallel to the train tracks. He walked behind a grocery store to the train tracks. He walked to the street. He walked to the train tracks.

In Dakota Fanning’s house he sat in the computer room staring out the window. Moonlight was on the metal shed. The swimming pool was covered. Aladdin was making noises in the hallway. Haley Joel Osment looked at his email. He saw that Julia was online. He drove Dakota Fanning’s mother’s car on the street parallel to the train tracks. He parked and walked behind a flower store. He stood on the train tracks. He opened his cell phone for light.

He drove to Dakota Fanning’s house.

He walked through rooms in the dark.

He sat staring at the computer screen.

He stood in the kitchen eating popcorn from a large plastic bowl on the counter while staring at a closed cupboard about ten inches from his face. He put salt on the popcorn. The bowl was pale green. The phone rang. Haley Joel Osment quickly walked into the living room. He walked halfway up the stairs. Dakota Fanning’s mother was leaving a message on the answering machine. Haley Joel Osment walked down the stairs. He stood in the living room. He walked into the kitchen. He opened the door to the back patio and saw Dakota Fanning’s face. She moved backward a little. Haley Joel Osment held her hand and they went in the house. “Let’s lie on the bed,” he said and they walked holding hands to her brother’s bed and lay on it holding each other.

Dakota Fanning’s hands and hair and jacket were cold.

“What did you do?” said Haley Joel Osment after a few minutes.

“I went to the train tracks. The train didn’t come so I left. I went to Rite Aid and looked for Burt’s Bees eyeliner. Then I came back to the house. I hid in the shed for a while. I looked in all the windows to try to see what you were doing.”

Late that night they dyed Dakota Fanning’s hair black.

“Goth,” said Haley Joel Osment.

“Goth,” said Dakota Fanning.

“It looks good,” said Haley Joel Osment. “Good job.”

The next day they were driving to the largest shopping mall in New Jersey and Dakota Fanning said “Do you want to go to New York City?”

“I’m not sure,” said Haley Joel Osment after a few seconds.

“It would be fun to be in New York City,” he said. “We could eat at pukk.”

They parked in Greenwich Village and Dakota Fanning’s father called. Dakota Fanning said she was in Middletown. On the sidewalk Haley Joel Osment didn’t look at her and they walked without talking. “You shouldn’t have lied to your dad,” he said after a few minutes.

“You’re right,” said Dakota Fanning. “I’ll call him back.”

“Wait,” said Haley Joel Osment slowly. “Let’s just not lie to anyone anymore starting now. From now on if we want to do something we should just say we’re going to do it or else just not do it.” A few minutes later he said “I don’t know if you should call him back or not.”

Dakota Fanning called her father and said she was in New York City.

A few hours later on Sixth Avenue she was hitting her head with her fists. Haley Joel Osment said “Don’t hit your head” and touched her back. She screamed that she wanted to kill everyone. Haley Joel Osment stopped walking and watched her cross 10th Street screaming noises while flailing her arms near her hips and sometimes forcing her upper body forward.

He ran to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” she said. “I’ll kill you.”

They turned onto 11th Street and walked toward Fifth Avenue. Dakota Fanning stopped walking. Haley Joel Osment faced her at an angle with a serious facial expression while sometimes grinning or smiling.