Just as Tom arrived home, Derek was arriving at home himself. It was a one-story house on the poorer side of Jon and Karyn's neighborhood.
He moped off to his bedroom, continuing to think about what had happened in the park. He couldn't stop thinking about it. It was so bizarre. But it was also ... alluring. Derek was the only emo at school and didn't have any friends, except for the ones in on-line chat rooms and forums. The notion of another emo in town made him feel less alone and a little more content, even if that other emo was a former jock who hated his guts.
As he pondered these things, he accidentally bumped into his nearly overweight mom, who was moseying into the living room, lighting her cigarette as she went. "Watch where the hell you're going," she snapped.
Derek gave her the middle finger ... when she turned her back. He'd never do it to her face. Most of her weight may have been attributed to fat, but she was big enough the crush him if she fell on him or something. (Derek's mother was fat because of lifestyle choices, not because it ran in her family.)
He walked into his bedroom and locked the door, not even realizing that his mother was the second person to contract CTS from him. Soon, they'd have a lot more in common.
