The Making of A Serial Arsonist

CHAPTER TWELVE

By Invitation Only

The ‘birthday boy’ is how is grandmother has referred to him all morning and London is especially happy because all of the R.S.V.P.s to the invitations that were sent out have been returned and it seems that everyone is going to be available to attend his party.

Grace and his grandmother will pick up the cake later that morning after they drop him off to get a haircut. After they have completed their errands, the three of them intend to have lunch together. London expects that it will seem like a long day since his party will not begin until 6:30 pm and it is only 11 am.

So, with happy spirits, the three of them enter the small corner diner; and, when they are seated they begin a lively conversation about the remaining preparations for the highly anticipated party. London is a teenager now, so the success of his first “teen” party is a big deal.

Soon, their food is served and although their conversation quiets down while the three of them eat lunch, London’s emotions do not subside. However, these heightened emotions are not responsible for the sudden raising of the hairs on his body when he looks up and sees Gary at the front counter.

“He is turning up everywhere and I feel as if I am being stalked,” London thinks to himself.

Since the weekend sleepover, London has intentionally avoided Gary and has been successful most of the time; but here he is again.

Gary picks up a carry-out bag and then turns to look directly at London who is staring at him with a perplexed look. They make eye contact. Then, Gary winks at London, nods his head in that cool way of his, turns and heads out of the diner.

This exchange between the two of them goes unnoticed by his grandmother and sister who are sitting with their backs to the front of the diner. London lets the moment pass as if it has never happened and does not comment about just having seen Gary.

Since they are only halfway through their meals, it seems unlikely to London that he will encounter Gary again when it is time to leave the diner.

Now, hours later, it is finally time for the party to begin and London takes his place in the living room where he sits on a large ottoman and decides to wait there until his guests begin to arrive. Even though it is a fairly warm evening, he doesn’t want to appear too eager by standing on the front porch.

London thinks about the afternoon as he waits and his thoughts go back to the near encounter with Gary and the moment when they had briefly made eye contact. Again, he concludes that Gary’s presence there was no accident. Even though it had seemed casual enough, London is sure that Gary had been following him and now he is certain that he has been doing so for several weeks.

The last time that he had seen him had been at the local shopping mall. Gary was coming around the corner near the Old Navy store where London was just about to enter with the intention of shopping for new jeans.

Now he knows for certain that he had not been mistaken about seeing Gary near the entrance of the mall theater just a couple of weeks ago. London had been paying for tickets for himself and Grace and he had looked away to complete the transaction; but, when he had looked again, Gary had disappeared from sight.

As he concentrates and backtracks through his recollections of previous encounters, he recalls that just several days ago, he had stepped out onto the front porch in time to see someone whom he had thought was Gary enter the home of a neighbor. London hadn’t known that Gary had any acquaintances or friends on this block.

He is roused from his reverie by the ringing doorbell. His guests have begun to arrive and as his friends walk through the open door, London greets them with cheerfulness.

Everything that Grace had said previously about giving their new lives a chance and an opportunity to create new memories seems to be turning out to be a reality. He has a feeling of expectancy that the evening is going to be fun and memorable.

That feeling is soon dashed because the next person that London greets is Gary and he fairly bristles at the fact that Gary has come uninvited to his party. Since the weekend of the sleepover, the two of them have only seen one another at school and the occasional happening upon one another, like today at the diner.

London is so annoyed that he just gives Gary a very indifferent hello and lets him into the house. He doesn’t linger to spend time with him; instead, he just walks away.

Gary had known that invitations to the party had been sent out because he and Grace, a casual friend, sometimes spend time together walking and talking on those occasions that she and London do not walk home together from school. Gary had seen the advantage of this opportunity of befriending Grace and had decided that he would use her to penetrate London’s life and his circle of friends.

It was during one of these walks that Grace had asked him if he had gotten his invitation to London’s birthday party. When he had answered “No,” Grace had responded that he would probably receive it soon.

This brief conversation had been Gary’s opportunity to ask her a few details and she had given him the time and date of the party while telling him that maybe London had forgotten to mail his invitation. She had added that she hoped that London or Grandmother Lucille had mailed out all of the other invitations and had not overlooked anyone else. So, Grace had innocently given Gary “too much information.”

After crashing the party and receiving such a cool reception, Gary finally realizes that he will never have the friendship with London that he had hoped for from the time that they had first met.

London circulates among his real friends and acquaintances and he continues to ignore Gary, all the while that he is trying to think of a way to ask him to leave without being too abrupt. Although it will be entirely uncharacteristic of him, he decides to give Gary a not so subtle hint that he wants him to leave.

The message that he intends to send to Gary will resonate with a lingering effect that he is unwelcome at the party, or in his life. With this in mind, London casually walks over to Gary as if he is about to start a conversation.

For a moment, Gary’s spirits lift because he thinks that he may have been wrong about London’s cool attitude toward him, that is, until London leans in and asks him “Why are you here?”

Gary nearly physically recoils at London’s direct rebuff of him; but, he manages to maintain his outward composure. He starts to breathe again; but, before he can form a response to the question, London walks away from him without another word.

What he does not guess is how deeply his rebuff will affect Gary, although he instinctively knows that there will be backlash against his decision.

In order to save face and not raise questions by departing suddenly, Gary walks over to Grace and speaks to her for a few minutes, makes a feeble excuse for leaving early and lets himself out of the house.

London observes both the exchange between Grace and Gary and then his exit from the house. His satisfied thought before he returns to his guests is: “Message sent and received.”