Tao Lin - Richard Yates

“Don’t laugh at me,” said Dakota Fanning.

“This is funny, you were ‘screaming in agony,’ ” said Haley Joel Osment. “Why don’t you have a sense of humor right now?” he said with a strange facial expression.

“It won’t be funny when you’re afraid to sleep tonight.”

“I probably won’t sleep tonight,” said Haley Joel Osment.

A few minutes later he slowly put his arms around her without touching his body to her body. She didn’t move. He stepped back and looked at her staring at the sidewalk with a very alert facial expression. People walking past were turning to look at them. People were walking small dogs on leashes.

“You turned into a goth,” said Haley Joel Osment.

“You really turned into a goth,” he said.

“Shut the fuck up,” said Dakota Fanning.

Haley Joel Osment walked away and looked in different directions. He took Dakota Fanning’s digital camera from his duffle bag and photographed her. “Don’t fucking take my picture,” she said and slowly turned away in place. Haley Joel Osment sat on the steps of a residential building. He took his cell phone from his pocket. It was 5:41 p.m. He put his cell phone in his pocket. He took his Moleskine notebook from his pocket. He put it in his pocket. He stood. He walked to Dakota Fanning. “Why do you want to kill me?” he said.

Dakota Fanning was staring across the street.

“Why did you say you want to kill me?”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Dakota Fanning.

“Why doesn’t it matter?”

“Nothing matters.”

“If you kill me I’ll be dead. That matters to me.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“What does that mean? It doesn’t mean anything.”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Dakota Fanning. “Nothing matters.”

“Do you want to use the bathroom before we go on the highway?” said Haley Joel Osment on the drive to New Jersey. Dakota Fanning said she did. In Taco Bell Haley Joel Osment photographed a burrito advertisement with his cell phone while Dakota Fanning was in the bathroom and sent it to Julia.

They did not talk or listen to music during the two-hour drive.

At Dakota Fanning’s house Haley Joel Osment drank coffee and went upstairs and sat in front of the computer. He looked at his email. He opened the Microsoft Word file of his story collection. He heard Dakota Fanning’s mother’s exercise machine being used. It was around 2:15 a.m. About an hour later Dakota Fanning came in the computer room and put seltzer water, a bowl of vegan burger and tomato pieces, a metal spoon by the computer.

Haley Joel Osment removed his earphones and said “Thank you.”

Around 3:30 a.m. he heard the vacuum cleaner downstairs then upstairs.

Around 5:30 a.m. he went downstairs. He went to the basement and carried clothes from the dryer to the living room and folded them on the sofa. He showered and went to the kitchen to make breakfast and maybe lunch for Dakota Fanning. He heard her alarm clock upstairs. He quickly went to her brother’s room and lay on the bed feeling a little confused why he was afraid of being seen in the kitchen. It was 6:05 a.m. He set his alarm for 6:55 a.m. He woke at 6:55 a.m. and looked into the living room from the hallway and saw the clothes where he left them on the sofa. “She didn’t wake early to do things,” he thought. “She gave up again. Last night was temporary.”

He slept without setting his alarm. He woke around 1:10 p.m. and went to the bus stop with a smoothie of organic coffee, soymilk, hempseed powder, frozen strawberries. Dakota Fanning had a friendly facial expression. “Thank you,” she said. “Do you want to spend time together before I exercise and do work? My mom will probably want to take you home when she comes back. I’ll exercise and do work after you leave.”

“Yes. Do you want walk to the health food store?”

“Yes,” said Dakota Fanning. “I would like that.”

About two hours later they walked across Dakota Fanning’s front yard toward her front door. Dakota Fanning went in the house. Haley Joel Osment heard her mother say “That better be a wig.” He went in the house and said “It’s just hair” while staring at large packages on the floor.

“It’s okay,” said Dakota Fanning and touched her mother’s shoulder.

“Don’t be touching me. That’s not going to work right now. I cannot believe you did this. You had this beautiful hair and you went and ruined it.”

“I think it looks really good,” said Haley Joel Osment.

“You dye your hair,” said Dakota Fanning.

“That’s different,” said Dakota Fanning’s mother. “I’m dying mine back to its natural color. I lost my color. You still have yours. I trusted you. And you betrayed my trust. Again. You knew I would be upset and you did it anyway.” She went in the kitchen where she had a guest and said “She had this beautiful strawberry-blond hair.” Haley Joel Osment saw that the guest had a concerned facial expression. “I don’t even want to think about what else you guys did,” said Dakota Fanning’s mother after her guest left.

“What else did you do,” she said after a few seconds.

“We went to New York City,” said Dakota Fanning.

“You drove? Or took the train?”

“Drove. I told dad.”

“You drove my car, which I generously trusted you with, to New York City, when I specifically said that you were not to go to New York City. What else did you do?”

“That’s all, I think,” said Dakota Fanning. “Just the hair and New York City.”

Dakota Fanning’s mother looked at Haley Joel Osment.

“And you don’t have anything to say about this,” she said.

“It was bad of us,” said Haley Joel Osment. “We shouldn’t have done anything that would make you upset. We were wrong. I’m really sorry and don’t want to upset you again. I appreciate that you let me stay in your house and use your car.”

About an hour later they were sitting on her brother’s bed when her mother came in holding something. “$5 for this dinky little box of blueberries?” she said. “Why would you buy this? Blueberries aren’t in season. You spent $5 on this tiny box of blueberries, because they’re organic, that is really stupid.” She walked away then walked in talking about organic peanut butter. Haley Joel Osment said he spent a lot more money than she did on groceries for him and Dakota Fanning. They talked loudly a few minutes. “And I’m tired of your self-righteous bullshit,” said Dakota Fanning’s mother. “You two with your organic foods and vegan this, vegan that.” Haley Joel Osment said something about not being self-righteous. Dakota Fanning’s mother said for Haley Joel Osment to pack his things because she was driving him to the restaurant. She left the room. “What should we do?” said Haley Joel Osment. “I won’t see you for a long time if she takes me back now.”

“I don’t know,” said Dakota Fanning. “Maybe I can convince her to let you stay tonight.”

Dakota Fanning’s mother came in saying Dakota Fanning had psychological problems. She talked about Dakota Fanning’s writing that was on the internet and said “Don’t you see the good in life?” She lectured Dakota Fanning and Haley Joel Osment about not having jobs. She said something alluding to Haley Joel Osment’s shoplifting. “I don’t know what it is that you’re doing exactly,” she said carefully. “If you want to do whatever, that’s really none of my business, but you’re with my daughter, and that is my business.” Haley Joel Osment said “Do you think you’re a good influence on Dakota?”

“I’m Dakota’s mother,” she said after a second.

“Do you think you’re a good influence on her?”

“I’m a single parent with a full-time job. I have raised Dakota and Tony pretty much as a single parent. Their father was around some, when they were growing up, and I appreciate that, but he wasn’t around much. God knows he isn’t around now.”