I thought of this book 2 years ago and it has been sitting in a notebook since then. I have written some here and there and here is the first chapter.
OLD WORLD OTHERS by Margaret Leora Workman; Warponie Art
Chapter 1
The Boy Named Architecture
“Archie, where are we going today?” “We are going up this hill and then down the other side!” “Ok, only if it is not too big of a hill.” said Gweneth laughing. “Ok miss Gwen we are at the top of this hill!” exclaimed Archie, holding his arms up to the sky. Suddenly the world seemed to stop and wasn’t revolving at all. Archie turned around to see his best friend, who was his mother, collapse and then she lay silently on the grass. The carpet of grass enveloped her frail body. He remembered that she had once been strong. She acted in plays with him. Now others had come over and had started jostling her but could not revive her. They looked at him with sneering eyes and started yelling at him accusing him of torturing his mother and that he had been too overbearing with her and that he was the cause of her death. Archie didn’t realize until then that his mother, whom he called miss Gwen was gone and could never play with him again. He had wondered recently if she would pass away. She had become more ill in this home that his uncle, her brother, had put her in. He had felt very desperate about his mother in needing her to be well so that he could be with her again permanently. The atmosphere seemed hazy and bright. His uncle was there but Archie could only hear echoes of voices. Archie started to run towards his mother, but he tripped on the grass, and he fell to the ground. His uncle laughed at him, and Archie hoped right then that he could be with his mother in eternity, wherever that was for her. Then he woke up and he was traveling in his uncle’s black car. He could see that his uncle acknowledged that he was awake but didn’t speak to him and Archie did not desire to speak. He wondered where his mother was and where had they taken her body? He started to cry, and his uncle stayed silent with his eyes looking forward at the road. His uncle would only mutter at Archie, and he said something about him going to a boarding house. His uncle told him that he would never come for him, and he would be left there. Archie thought that that place may as well be an orphanage. Archie was scared. They drove up to the compound and it had barbed wire around the whole yard and building. His uncle checked in with the gate guard and then told Archie to get out. He said nothing and drove away. The guard told Archie to stay there, and the nuns would be out to get him. Archie looked at the ground and then at the guard’s feet. He had black patented shoes. Archie wasn’t expecting those types of shoes to be worn at this type of place. He looked at the building that the guard was standing in, and it was made from green metal with broken pieces of wood on the inside around the windows to hold them in place. The guard said, “Son please stand over here by this wall until they come out to get ya.” “Ok, sir.” whispered Archie. The guard asked, “Have you ever been to a nunnery before? These nuns are right mean, and they won’t stand for any back talk. But I don’t think that you would say anything against them, would ya?” “No sir.” “Where have you been today?” Archie said, “No where.” “Ok, maybe someday I will get it out uh ya.” Archie thought this guard was sort of nice and hoped that he would see him again. He wondered if his uncle really would never come back for him, and he wondered how long he would be here. Archie heard footsteps on the gravel behind him. A woman’s voice boomed ‘hello’ at Archie. Archie looked towards the voice and he saw two nuns walking towards him. One of the nuns had a face that was full of anger. He had never seen a woman with such an angry countenance before. The other nun looked worried as she was trying to keep up with the other nun that was walking by her side. The guard said, “Hey! he has been out here for a while. Why did you take so long?” “We had supper to get done.” Said the stout nun. She looked at Archie and frowned. The guard asked Archie, “Hey did you eat yet?” The nun said, “No Ronald! We are done with supper! No more!” Ronald looked at the nuns and said pointedly, “Okay then I will take him in and get him something to eat! You can stay out here in this metal shed then and look at all of these trees that I am tired of looking at.” “No, I am not doing that Ronald, she can.” The stoutly nun looked at the timid nun who looked worried and looked at the ground and stated, “Yes ma’am I will stay here if it is your will for me to be here.” Ronald looked at Archie and said, “Son let’s go so that I can get you some food. You have been out here too long.” He held out his hand and Archie grabbed it, and they started walking on the gravel to the back door of the building. Ronald opened the door and let Archie go in first. Archie could smell a musty smell coming from down the hall where the sound of other kids’ voices screeched at him through the hall. The room to his left looked like a lunchroom. The guard asked, “Son what is your name. I need to get a name tag for ya.” Archie said, “My name is Archie Sanders.” “It is nice to meet you, Archie Sanders. My name is Ronald Misserty. You can call me Mr. Misserty, Ok? I am a priest here so you will see me around.”
Archie was thinking about what had happened that day while he was turning the wheel of the garbage truck that he had to drive every day. He felt like he was carrying around millions of pounds of lead pipes every day just to get through another day. He hated it when his mind went to the back places of the memories that were always there, but he always wanted to forget about those situations that seem to be set in stone. He knew that they were set in stone but maybe he just hated that they were suspended in air, and they never changed for him. Those people in his mind never aged and neither did he, it seemed. He looked for the next trash can on the same street that he had to pick up. The same set of streets ruled his life day after day. He tried to make a game out of what he would see on each street in each trash can. He wondered what the lives of these people were like. He could always figure out if these people had had a party because of all of the wrapping paper flowing out of the can onto the road. He had to stop the truck to make sure that all of the trash was picked up from the road around the trash cans so that he had no complaints about him leaving trash out on the ground on his route. He hated people sometimes, more than he wanted to. He looked down and saw his protruding stomach and felt shame about his lack of control in eating and taking care of his weight. His doctor said that he had to lose weight, but he had no desire to go through the process of losing weight. He always looked for bottles on the ground next to the trash cans hoping that the owners would leave them on the ground instead of throwing them in the garbage can. He could not believe that people would throw away half bottles of liquor in bags just to break and spill open all of the lovely contents of those beautiful bottles. He sometimes felt frustrated with himself about his wishes, but he always felt fine about it, sort of. He liked collecting all of the items from his place of work. He knew that these things had been important to these people at one time and were discarded. He saved them and gave them new importance. He wanted to have a store but for now he just had his weekly sale at his house in his garage, and he liked how people in the community would call him sometimes and ask him to find things for them. He was their secret, important lookout. He knew that he had to do something else with his life and that he couldn’t be the ‘trash guy’ forever. He wanted something to happen to him but realized that he had to take a different path. This job ruled his life because there was nothing else besides this truck and his garage sale. Nothing happened in the small town that he lived in. He knew that all he did was hide here in this job and this town. He felt like he was in a small closet every day just surviving and trying to have a different perspective about his life, but it wasn’t working. His doctor asked him if he had any hopes or dreams about his life and he wanted to laugh at this man who was asking him this question. He remembered coming up with some sort of answer just to appease him so that he could quietly leave his office. Archie tried not to laugh out loud in the doctor’s face and he knew that the doctor could see that Archie did not want to answer those types of questions at a yearly physical required by his job. Archie just told himself that the doctor must have some sort of brain ailment and ignored him. Archie realized afterwards that he was just trying to be nice and give Archie some hope, maybe, but he still wanted to laugh at him. He joked with his manager about what he had asked Archie because he did not want to end up going on some surprise camping trip with that guy where they had to talk about feelings while fishing. He tried to put that worry out of his mind. He started to think of what had happened last year and he knew that he was never going to recover. He decided to go home and watch T.V. Maybe something new will be on.
The next morning Archie heard the alarm and wondered if he really needed to get up. He hit snooze and then out of frustration got up out of his warm bed. He looked at the blanket and it was unfamiliar to him. He looked at the wall in front of him. The sun was shining in and was creating a reflection on the wall. He saw an unfamiliar picture hanging. He saw the doorway to the bathroom and felt relieved. The doorway was where it always was, and the bathroom was familiar to him. He looked down and saw the blanket again and wondered where it had come from, and the picture was of some kittens in a basket. He smiled and laughed to himself as he heard his mother singing in the kitchen. His mother liked playing jokes on him sometimes to see if he noticed anything different. He folded up the bright pink blanket that had been quilted by his grandmother and walked out into the hall. He walked into his mother’s room and opened her closet and put it on the top shelf of that closet. He noticed the corner of a brown package with some black writing that he had never seen before. He tried not to be curious, so he closed the door quietly and quickly walked out of her room. When Archie stood in the hallway, he realized that he had still been in a dream state remembering how it had used to be with his mother. He got ready for work quickly and left the kitten picture up on the wall of his room where it had stayed since last year.
Chapter 2
The Ordinary Nothing
Archie was frustrated with himself because he was late for work again. Hal looked up at him as Archie entered the room. He became quiet and said to Archie, “Scott had to take your route today because it had to be started.” Archie said worriedly, “Ok, I can do the paperwork for the route if needed or I could clean the shop, or…” Archie let his voice trail off. He knew that he was in trouble and wanted to cry because it had been a bad morning. He hated living in that house, but he did not want to sell it. He felt that he had to be there every day just to be close to his family. He wanted to make sure that the memories would not die away. His whole life had been dedicated to his mother after his father had left her when he was in 11th grade. He remembered how his mother had talked to him about everything he needed to know because his dad worked long hours. One evening his mother told him that his dad had passed away. Archie had just talked to him the day before. He had died of a heart attack. His mother was despondent for weeks and Archie made sure that everything was taken care of in the house. He did all of the chores for her, and he did his father’s chores. He did not mind and stayed in town and started taking classes as the community college so that he could be close to her. He had half brothers and sisters who were part of his life since he was born but he was the only child of his mother. They went to live with his dad when he left his mother. Hal could see that Archie was thinking about something because he had a faraway look in his eye. Hal did not know what to do. He had been seeing Archie’s mother before she passed away, but Archie did not know about that. Hal knew that Archie respected him as his boss but also knew that Archie did not know what to say to him about his quietness. Hal thought Archie liked to do too many things and he had too many activities going on at one time and so Archie had a hard time keeping track of himself. He wanted to talk to Archie about that but did not want to pry. Hal said, “Ok Archie you can do the paperwork for all of the routes and clean the shop the whole rest of this week.” Archie was very happy that he still had his job but did not want to admit it, that he was bothered that Scott took his route. So, he just said, “Thank you sir.” Hal knew that he had frustrated him and smiled smugly which made Archie even more frustrated. Archie asked, “Would you like me to power wash the shop or your face, sir?” Hal laughed and did not answer. Archie wondered if he really did ask Hal that question. It was something he really wanted to ask. Archie walked away, still wondering. Hal wondered how Archie was doing. He wanted to talk to him, but he did not want to think about Archie’s mother. Archie was using the power washer when Scott came in. Archie thought about what his response to Scott could be. He thought about ignoring him and pretending that nothing was wrong or looking at him and thanking him. He did not really like Scott and wished that someone else had taken his route. He did not want to seem overly grateful to Scott so that his head would continually get bigger than it already was. He thought about writing a letter about how truly amazing Scott really was. Scott walked into the office and Archie walked behind him to where Hal was. Hal wondered what Archie was going to say to Scott who was a few years older and was very arrogant about his life and how it was already turning out. Hal did not know what to hope for. If they started wrestling on the floor, they would get wet because of all of the water that Archie was using. Archie stated, “Scott, thanks for taking my route today. I am going to do a write-up on you and send it to the town newspaper here in town. Like a eulogy but since you are still alive what would you want me to say? I did see you at the county fair rounding up all of your pigs with that little stick. Did it take you a long time to learn how to make them run away? I will put that for the title, Scott.” Archie proceeded to motion his hand upwards talking about the title of the article, “Scott the Great! Willing to chase pigs for money and then pick up your daily trash too! I think the newspaper will love it, Scott.” Archie wondered if what he said was being too harsh. He looked at Hal and he was quietly looking at his computer but in an approving way Archie thought to himself. Scott cleared his throat and turned red. He had just laid his drink that he bought from the gas station on the counter and without thinking his arm knocked it over and his red slushy went everywhere. Archie felt a tinge of guilt but just stared at his drink and wondered why he was drinking a red slushy. Didn’t Scott know that they always turn your whole mouth red? He looked at Scott and saw the red dye that made curved lines at the corners of his mouth. He felt his mouth gaping open for a while. Scott took his baseball cap off and turned it backwards in frustration and walked out of the room to get some towels from their disgusting bathroom that nobody ever cleaned. He wondered from time to time if Hal took trash spray that he specifically formulated and sprayed the bathroom just to make it disgusting. Hal was getting old and senile, and he always thought of him using that everywhere in town. Hal the trash sprayer at all the public restrooms. Scott wondered what his house was like and figured that he was some type of hoarder. Scott looked in the mirror and saw that he had what seemed like red lipstick on and it was extremely uneven, just like the older women in town who were always asking him on dates. He looked like a rodeo clown, just in time for the fair he thought. He tried to use soap to clean it but it was still faintly there. He walked quickly back into the office with all of the paper towels and overheard Hal talking to Archie about hiring a woman to be in the office to take care of all of the paperwork for all of the routes. Scott was instantly worried about why Hal was not talking to him about it too. Archie looked worried, which made Scott worried as well. Hal knew that it would make Archie nervous because when Archie was late, he did all of the paperwork for all of the routes. Hal knew that this change would be hard for all of them. Hal was worried that he wasn’t going to live through this year. He talked to his doctor last week and he did not receive good news. He had not told anyone because the person who he had wanted to tell wasn’t around, she had passed away. When he looked at her son, Archie, he saw her in him, though he was adopted, and that made it even harder. He wanted to retire from this job but felt that everything that he had accomplished in his life had not amounted to anything important. He wondered if he had followed the plan for his life that had been given to him and he really wanted to agree that he had, but why had that been the plan for his life? Why hadn’t a different plan been available to him?
Scott looked at Hal and Archie and asked what was happening. Hal looked at Scott and stated, “We have to hire someone for the office because we have been having to hire more people for the trash routes because this business is growing. I can’t seem to keep up with the work of the office.” Scott felt confused about this decision but knew that he had no authority to ask why he was deciding to hire someone. Scott would rather do more paperwork and get a raise rather than be a trash pick-up guy. Scott asked tentatively, “Hey, I could do the paperwork here in the office and you could hire another person for my route or Archie’s route. Or maybe Archie and I could take over the office and you could hire two new people for the routes.” Archie looked at Scott with some confusion. He liked being outside and looking at everyone’s trash. He was afraid of how things could change again. Hal looked at Scott and did not feel positive about his suggestion. He knew that sometimes he felt offended when people did not like his ideas. He wanted his idea to be seen as a good idea. Hal knew that he had to act in a positive way towards Scott and Archie, but he felt the room closing in on him. He wondered if he was having a heart attack right at that moment. The room started getting dark and Scott was looking at him in a way that said that he was confused about what was happening to him. Hal wondered what he looked like. Did his face look hideous? Hal was worried that he was dying, and Scott would always remember his face this way. Hal was worried and tried to control the muscles of his face. He wondered if it was helping him to look more dignified. Scott said, “Hey do you need some water?” Archie ran to get a bottle of water, grabbed one out of the cooler and ran back behind the counter. He opened the bottle and gave it to Hal. Hal started drinking and felt better and got a candy bar out of his drawer. Archie grabbed it out his hand tore open the package and shoved it into his mouth for Hal. Hal felt instantly better and then he worried that the candy was having a placebo effect on him and maybe he wasn’t better. Scott stated, “I am going to call 911, ok? I have to go get my bag out of the closet.” Archie wondered if they should have done that sooner. Hal said, “I’m ok, I just have the flu.” Archie was worried because Hal’s voice sounded weak. Scott called 911 and then retrieved his bag from the closet. He checked Hal’s blood pressure while the ambulance was coming. Scott had been a part of the EMT program in their town for a couple of years and had taken all of the classes so that he could become certified. Hal was lying on his left side when they brought the stretcher in and loaded Hal on to it. Archie watched as they took him out of the building. Scott said, “Hey, you should go to the hospital too, you know, ride in the ambulance with him.” Archie looked at Scott and did not know what to say because he really wanted to. Scott took him out to the ambulance and told them that Archie was going with Hal. Archie hopped into the back. He was glad to be included in case something happened to Hal. Scott watched as the ambulance drove away. He hoped that Hal would survive until Christmas and after. Hal did not talk about his personal life very much, but he knew that Hal had family somewhere in town or maybe they were out of town. Scott had wished that he had listened better to Hal when he had talked about his family. Scott knew that he did not have a wife and that she had passed away many years ago in a car accident. When Hal had spoken of her, he said that she had been the love of his life. Scott had been shocked when Hal had mentioned that because he was always so private about his feelings. Scott thought that Hal had seemed like he was aware of his surroundings so that he could be in contact with his children to let them know that he was there. Scott wondered if he should go through his desk and see if there were any names of his family members. Scott did not want to overreact. The time of the drivers coming back with the trash trucks had started. Scott was glad that Hal was gone by the time the first driver had come back. “Where is Hal?” asked the first driver.
Chapter 3
A Door Above North
It was dark in the corridor that day. Gnomeruletta noticed that the air had become stagnant, and it was getting hard to breathe. He could hear muffled screams from far off but could not place their direction of origin. He sensed harried movement in the dark underground tunnel and a scurrying of feet. He had not remembered the corridor being quite as long and he was getting increasingly nervous about the flooding that was happening more often. These caves had been formed under the earth since the earth had come into existence and when it rained specific areas would always flood. His mind went to the conversation that he had had with the Tomb Gnomes in the darkest of their tombs. They told him that the temperature of the core of the earth was cooling and because of that the earth was unable to support life as it once did. Because the temperature of the earth was becoming colder near the core this was causing the ocean floor to disintegrate in many places. This was allowing water to trickle further into the earth and was causing flooding in the caves underground. They had explained that a drought was plaguing the earth because there was less water in the oceans to evaporate into the atmosphere to be cleaned. This water returned to the earth as rain to complete the water cycle that had always kept the earth’s oceans clean and supplied the needed water for the earth’s people since the earth had been formed. The Tomb Gnomes spoke of a famine that was coming as well and that people on the earth needed to be prepared. The Gnomes were to help them so that the Old-World Others could survive as well. He finally received his instructions to specifically help Scott, Archie and their friends. The Tomb Gnomes had explained to them that a friend of Scott and Archie was dying. He had been their friend who had been there for guidance but because his time was limited it was time for the Gnomes to finally come in and take over. A few of the Gnomes, including Gnomeruletta, had to figure out how to help Scott, Archie and their friends find the other realm called North, they had to find the door above North. He had to find and gather all of the other helper Gnomes to give them each of their assignments to help their people above the ground on the earth prepare for the drought, the famine and the consequences of the earth cooling. Other helper Gnomes had already been helping the humans on earth and Gnomerulettta was instructed to go to them to get help and give further instructions when they were needed. He was excited to meet Scott and introduce himself as his Gnome helper, but he worried that Scott would not take this situation seriously. He also wondered what Scott would think about him and wondered if he believed that Gnomes were real. He knew that some humans did not believe in their existence even though they had been helping humans for thousands of years.
Water started to form in puddles, and those puddles were getting larger as he started running down deeper into the earth. He wondered right then if his friend, the tree spider, had found his way down to his usual spot. He started calling to him in his mind for him to get out because the water was rising faster than normal. Gnomeruletta felt his heart explode out of his chest as he suddenly heard screaming through the wall of the cave to his left. He started to walk quickly to try to find another entrance to that room. He did not recognize the voice as an Old World Other, and this situation frightened him. He was letting his mind race to see if he could place the screaming voice who might be missing from another realm. He called out in his mind to anyone who would listen, and he told them about this situation. He needed to get to a certain room before the water rose too high and he feared that he would not be able to find his way out of the underground cave system that made up the living quarters of the Old-World Others who were the friends of the woods.
He realized then that he had forgotten his fire post as it was getting increasingly dark. He wondered if the tomb gnomes were safe, and they all came into his mind and explained that they had gotten safely out. He saw the familiar opening in the wall to his right and knew that he could enter and be safely out of tunnel systems and the flooding and back into his realm of safety, but he was trying to find the screaming creature’s realm. He did not want to leave a creature from a different realm to die in these underground caverns in the floods. He wanted to help this creature but could not find the entrance to that room. He looked directly in front of him, and a very tall werewolf suddenly appeared and loomed over him. Gnomeruletta jumped back and looked at the creature again because it had very large teeth that formed a circle for its mouth. The spiny-faced werewolf seemed to smile at him and that caused his teeth, which looked like spears protruding from his face, to move in and out as he breathed. The werewolf, speaking through his spiny-toothed mouth, said, “Hi, I am Sam. I am looking for our missing creature to bring it back with us.” Gnomeruletta fearfully studied his face and asked, “How can you prove to me that it belongs with you in your realm?” As Gnomeruletta was talking he could see a whole army of spiny-faced werewolves appear in the shadows behind Sam. Gnomeruletta became worried that he was angering them but stood looking at Sam, the spiny-faced werewolf. The creature in the other room started screaming again right next to them. The werewolf turned to his right and stared directly at the wall, and it lit up with a motion of his hand. The wall glowed and became transparent. He thrust his arm into the room and grabbed the small man like creature with very long matted hair who was standing in the room with the werewolf and threw him into the air and he went hurtling into the atmosphere through the walls. The werewolf was sitting down unable to move so Sam grabbed the werewolf and placed him under his arm. Sam looked at Gnomeruletta and said with his gravelly voice, “Thank you for calling to out to all of the realms so that this creature could be saved. We appreciate your care Gnomeruletta.” Sam smiled through his spiny-toothed mouth and then waved. All of the other spiny-toothed werewolves started to glow and then they all disappeared in unison. Gnomeruletta’s feet felt like they had led in them as he was thinking of them disappearing. He suddenly saw a wall of water coming down the corridor. He wondered if it was too late to leave to his realm of safety. He found the entrance again and hurriedly stepped in. He found some of the other Old-World Others who were in the room as well waiting for him so they could pass through to the other realm. Gnomeruletta just remembered that he needed to call out to the rest of his friends of the woods who could still be trapped in the underground shafts to make sure everyone was out. He called out in his mind while looking at the rest of the others in the room.
Chapter 4
Bert the Shirt
Bert the first garbage truck driver to come back in looked at him expectantly. Scott did not know what to say to him. Scott always called him ‘Bert the shirt’ to himself because he looked like a guy who worked on fishing rig all of his life. Bert was extremely old, and Scott was sure that Bert knew that, especially if he ever looked in the mirror at himself. Scott wondered if Bert the shirt knew that he looked like all of his teeth were missing. Scott also wondered if he ever stole shopping carts to bring his groceries home in. They lived in a small town, so he figured he wasn’t far off base. Bert was still looking at him. Scott was worried that he would lie to Bert just to see what would happen. Just as he was always worried that he would throw a hair dryer in the bathtub when it was full, so he never stayed in the bathroom when his mother was blow drying her hair. Finally, Scott said, “He had a heart attack, and they took him in the ambulance to the hospital.” Bert looked at him and Scott knew that he was angry. Scott wasn’t sure if he was angry because he was worried or just angry because Scott was telling him about Hal and seemed to be in charge because he knew about something that Bert didn’t. Scott wondered what was going to happen with the plan that Hal had suggested and wondered if he should tell this guy. Bert said gruffly, “Maybe…Scott! You could have radioed all of us and told us that this had happened with Hal instead of standing there with your head submerged.” Scott had heard this sort of thing from his dad all of his life and he always lied to himself and said that it never bothered him.” Scott tried to keep his voice even so that he wouldn’t appear to be bothered. “Yes, sir I agree. They just took him a few minutes ago. Would you like to radio them, or do you think that I should do it now?” Scott hated himself for conceding to this guy, but this seemed to appease Bert the shirt and he said more calmly, “I will do it. Just let me know the information. I know Scott that you are only 18 so it is not as bad as all of that!” Scott was confused as to what he was meaning because he had not felt that badly about Hal going to the hospital but then started choking up a little with Bert. Scott felt worse about himself because he was just letting this guy take over and now it seemed that Bert felt that he was too incompetent to take care of anything because of his age. Scott told himself, ‘Isn’t Bert the homeless guy from work? You know the one who never takes a shower and stinks like the fair when he comes to work?’ Scott called one of the guys who had been on the ambulance to see what was going on with Hal. Mike answered the phone abruptly and said, “He was in and out of it when we dropped him off. I think he will have to recover for a while. Your friend is still with him I think, but you might want to come and get him soon. He has only been here an afternoon and has already hurt Sarah’s feelings.” Scott asked, “Who is Sarah?” “Uh…you know, Sarah at the front desk. Remember we met her through our EMT class at the hospital. Well now she is at the front desk but before that she was in the laundry department. I guess she moved up.” Scott wondered if Mike liked this girl. “I don’t remember her.” “She has brown hair and brown eyes, and she is a little heavy, but she is nice. “Who were you thinking about when we were there?” asked Mike. “I was just trying to get through the class!” Scott said jokingly. “Right! I don’t believe you. I am not sure what happened, but she looked sad after she tried to talk to him, and I don’t like that. Hal is in room 17.” Scott told Bert what Mike said about Hal and asked if James could go get Archie to bring him home. Bert looked at him and smiled condescendingly, “Sure thing.” “Or I can go get Archie and bring him back.” Scott quickly said. Bert was getting frustrated because of all of the conversation that was being put forth to him and without patience said, “Sure boss, whatever.” Scott said, “Okay. Hey Bert, today Hal told Archie and me that he wanted to hire a woman to work in the office to get the paperwork done as well as all of the other stuff.” Bert rolled his eyes and asked, “Why did he tell you and not the rest of all of us?” Scott knew that Bert was offended again and tried to smooth things over, “I just happened to be here when he was telling Archie, that’s all.” “Oh okay. I know Archie is his pal.” Bert said caustically and rolled his eyes and sighed. Scott had talked with Bert only a few times before this and was surprised at his reaction. Scott heard more men talking out in the shop area as they were coming in. Scott felt relieved that they had come back. Scott left Bert in the office and ran out to where the guys were coming through the door of the shop and said, “Hey did you all hear from Bert the sh …. guy in there…about Hal?” Scott pointed at Bert who was walking out of the office, and they all stared at Scott. Scott almost called him ‘Bert the shirt’ and he did not want them to know that he referred to him in that way. One of the guys said to Scott loudly, “Well hello Bert! Yes, we heard just now when he radioed us. Scott, we know who Bert is, man, you don’t have to point to him and tell us who he is!” Scott cleared his voice and said, “I am going to go to the hospital to pick up Archie, so someone has to watch the shop.” They all stared at Scott right then. He thought they looked like a pack of angry wolves looking at him, wanting to devour him. He felt very small at that point. One of the men said, “Yes Scott! We know that we have to take care of these things.” The driver looked offended and then looked at all of the other guys to see if they felt as offended as he was. Scott, we know your type. You with that haircut, and Archie bantering with Hal! Trying to get on his good side all of the time, right men? This guy Scott really is getting on my nerves, and I bet the rest of you have some opinions about him as well.” Scott wondered why they were talking to him like that. Normally everyone got along when Hal was around. Scott said, “Alright, great! I will go and get Archie and see how Hal is doing.” Another guy said, “Scott, I do not think he will be taking visitors, but I guess since you are an EMT you can do whatever you want, right? I bet that you even have a special parking place for you and all of the girlies there too, right?” Scott suddenly could feel another presence behind him, and he turned around swiftly to see the guy grab for his shirt and then he slapped Scott. Scott felt another punch coming into the side of him and he felt his rib crack. Scott stuffed all of his feelings so that he could think about how logically to protect himself from getting beaten up by these men. He lunged forward towards the first guy and butted his head against his own. The guy fell back, and Scott grabbed the other guy’s shirt with his right hand and pulled him close to him. Scott took his left hand and punched upward and into his stomach. The guy fell forward. The first guy wrapped his arm around his neck and pulled Scott to the left. Scott screamed in his face which distracted him. Scott lunged his body forward pretending to run so the guy tried to grab him, but Scott jumped back to his right and lunged himself over the back of the second guy and grabbed his neck and pulled his head down. Scott punched him in the ear. Scott looked up and saw Bert the shirt standing there with a shot gun and he yelled at all of them to stop and pounded the gun on the floor until they all stopped. Bert angrily yelled, “This ain’t goin to happen no more. Scott! Go get Archie and I will see you back here tomorrow.” Scott said, “Thank you sir.” As Scott was leaving, he heard Bert yelling at them to never do that again, or he would have to come in and control the situation even further. Scott was glad that he had been able to talk to Bert before all of the other men got there. Scott felt more for Bert than his own dad at that moment but knew that he could never tell him that. Scott started feeling dizzy and he knew that he must have been hit on the head but did not realize it. He wondered if he should tell Hal about all of what had just happened but did not want to bother him with it. Scott did not realize that they hated him. They had all just been the guys who picked up people’s garbage in town. He wondered if Bert had said something to them about him, maybe he had lied and said that he had wanted to take over while Hal was in the hospital. Scott didn’t care about it because he knew that Bert was now going to make sure that things were running smoothly there and he seemed to now be on Scott’s side. Scott parked his car in front of the hospital. He did have special privileges there since he had been a part of the EMT program and had finished very quickly with high honors. He really liked this job and wondered if he would have to quit that garbage truck job and work more at this EMT position? He thought of Archie and did not want to leave him behind with those men at the shop. He was also working at the grocery store part time during the evenings for extra money to be able to go to school in a few years. They had talked to him about more hours at the store and that he would be receiving a raise. He was thinking about that when he walked into the hospital and saw one of the girls there who he had hoped would be there. He had met her while he had been in the training class and was always excited to see her. Her name was Sandy. They always laughed together. He could see that sometimes she wasn’t always nice to other people and could be somewhat rude and off handed with them. He made excuses for her though and told himself that it was because she had worked at the hospital for so long, she had become hardened by those circumstances. He still had fun with her and hoped that he didn’t have to seek her out because he did not want her to know that he really was hoping to talk with her. He wasn’t sure what she would say behind his back to her friends about him. He sometimes wondered why he liked girls who were snide and rude to people and completely self-centered. Sometimes he liked seeing people get treated badly by other people so that he could live vicariously through them. He wondered to himself if he felt this way right now because he had just gotten beaten up at work. He walked in and noticed the girls at the desk to his right but tried not to stare. He did not want to let them know that he was available. He saw Sandy right away and then he saw another girl sitting next to her. She was working but looked up to greet the next person coming in. She seemed very sweet, and he wondered if this was Sarah, the girl that Mike liked. She had a pale complexion with very dark hair and dark eyes. She smiled and asked if she could help him. He smiled at her but waved to Sandy a little and smiled and kept on walking. Sandy giggled and ran to walk next to Scott. Sandy looked at Scott and started saying, “Oh my gosh! Look at your face! What happened? You have blood on your lip, and your face looks swollen!” Scott remembered that he had forgotten to look at his face to see what it looked like after the fight. She walked him straight over to a separate desk with first aid supplies and started looking through them to find what he needed. She smiled at him, and he was so relieved to spend time with his friend Sandy.
Chapter 5
Nine Inch Heels
Sarah sat in her chair doing the work that Sandy had given to her. She wondered if there was ever going to be a guy like Scott who would notice her. She kept on working but started to feel bitter feelings towards her friend Sandy who she was being trained by. She thought they were friends, but Sandy had given her much of the work that needed to be done so that Sarah could learn how to do it. Sandy did not tell her how long she was going to be, and she did not know all of the next steps to take with all of the paperwork that needed to be done. She was thinking of Archie but feeling very worried about him. She usually got to talk to him several times per week because their mothers had been best friends who had met at the grocery store many years ago when she and Archie were very young. Her mother, Denise, was missing her best friend Florence, Archie’s mother. Since his mother had passed away Archie did not talk to her as much. She knew that his mother’s death had ruined Archie’s life because he was so young. Sometimes she wished that she could have traded Archie’s mother’s death for her own mother’s death. She knew that sort of thought was the worst thought a person could ever have but she knew that she would always feel this way about her mother. Sarah kept wondering why horrible situations seemed to happen to really sweet, helpful, loving people while the rest of everyone else received whatever they wanted in this life. She wished that she could be in charge of the world instead of some sort of nothingness. His mother had been a member of the bridge club in town along with her mother and they both had been large donors to the hospital and other charity groups. Sarah remembered when Archie had started school in their hometown when he and his family were new in town. He was ten and Sarah and he had met at her house when Florence came over with Archie because they had just met. Florence and his father had adopted Archie from a convent in Scandinavia but did not want anyone in town to know. Florence had told her mother because they trusted each other and her mother said that Florence needed to be able to talk to her mother about the experience of adopting Archie from another country. Archie was able to speak the English language very well without using an accent and so his family was able to keep that secret from everyone his whole life. His family just told everyone the story that they were all brothers and sisters. Archie told Sarah eventually when they had gotten older. He had told her that she was his best friend and wanted her to know all about him. She had been frustrated and hurt that she wasn’t told about it, but she understood that his mother had wanted a normal life for Archie and knew that other children might make fun of him at school if they had known that he was adopted. She remembered that he was extremely quiet and sat very rigidly at the table when they first met at her house. He had impeccable manners that Sarah admired and tried to emulate. Sarah had liked him right away and they went to her room to play. Archie was extremely shy, but they became friends very quickly. Sarah showed him around at school and he always did so well in his studies. Sarah had wanted to always be next to him. Sarah was always there to help him buy clothes and go to parties with. Archie was destitute and didn’t know what to do when his father moved away and divorced his mother when he was seventeen. Then a year later his father passed away. He had taken Archie’s brothers and sisters with him but left Archie with his mother. Sarah felt that he deserved to die because of how he treated Archie and his mother by splitting the family up. She felt that he was completely selfish and only thought about his own interests, just like her father had done to her family. She hated them both. Archie took care of his mother through that time and now she has been gone for one year. Every time that she sees Archie he seems to be lost, not knowing where to go or what to do with his life. She saw Archie earlier and wanted to talk to him, but she sensed that Sandy and he were dating. She was very angry about that but had not talked to anyone about it. She wondered why Archie had not said anything to her about it and she did not know what to do. She did not want to talk to her mother about it because Sandy was a few years older than Archie and she did not want to put Archie in a bad light with her mother. Sandy also seemed to like Scott and that made Sarah even more furious. Sarah realized then that she had really hated Sandy. She never wanted to admit to hating anyone, but she found herself really hating Sandy. She had to pretend to get along with Sandy because of her job.
Sandy was happy that Scott came in and while Sandy was taking care of him, she knew that people were watching them talk and she felt exhilarated to be noticed. She had felt all of her life that she was more important than everyone else. Her parents had always told her that. She wanted to use her greatness to benefit all humankind. She knew that Scott was feeling so much better every time that she was giving him free kisses on all of the injured parts of his face and hands. She knew that this was the reason for her existence. She kissed Scott on the cheek again and Scott felt excited about their friendship, and he was hoping that it could be more. He did not know that Sandy had wanted to be with him that much and it was an exciting surprise. Especially after how he was treated at work. She was an extremely confident person, and he knew that they could be seen as a great couple. He really liked how he felt when they talked. Scott felt timid but also confident that he was supposed to talk to her about going out with him. He said her name but stuttered on the first ‘S” of her name, “S..S..Sand….I w..wanted to s…see if you would like to to know if you could g..go to lunch with me this Saturday?” Scott had gotten dizzy during the sentence and had no idea what he had said. Sandy looked confused and smiled and asked, “Baby, I am certain that you have a concussion. Are you going to be ok?” She was putting a small band aid on his eyebrow, and he could see the inside of her mouth as she was placing the band-aid on his face. “Let’s get you to Hal’s room and we can talk later, sweetie.” She smiled at him and kissed his cheek again. Scott didn’t know what to think about her response. He wondered if she had just told him that she didn’t want to go to lunch with him and he felt very rejected. He had wished that he had never uttered one single word to her. They walked around the counter and turned right to go down the hallway. They got to room 17 and Sandy smiled and squeezed his hand. Scott felt frustrated and confused again because she acted as if he had never asked her to go to lunch at all. His head felt suddenly fuzzy again and he knew that he needed to rest. He forgot to ask if Hal could see visitors, but he really needed to get Archie. He walked in and Archie was standing by Hal who seemed to be sleeping. Archie looked at Scott with a worried, frustrated look. Scott wondered why and asked Archie, “How is it going?” Scott looked at the bed where Hal was and expected him to be awake, but he was sleeping. Scott felt very worried. He wanted him to be awake so that he could tell him what had happened at work with the trash guys. Scott looked at Hal and then his gaze lingered to the corner of the room behind the door and met the glare of a woman who seemed to be a little older than him. Scott whispered, “Oh hello I am Scott, and I work for Hal, and I just came to get Archie. I am so sorry to bother you right now. Are you related to Hal?” She gave him a small smile and said, “That’s fine, I know that it is a small hospital here and the rules are kind of non-existent. I have been getting to know Archie a little. It has been great having someone here to talk to. Hal is my uncle, and he has asked me to help with the paperwork in the office. I have been here for a couple of days at a hotel trying to find a place to stay.” Archie looked at Scott and said, “I said that she could stay at my house because I can find another place to stay.” “Hello, I am Nora. Nice to meet you, Scott.” She held out her right hand to shake Scott’s hand and smiled very arrogantly. Scott looked at her again and decided that he did not like her and he did not know why. He also felt jealous of this woman and how she had already talked to Archie about everything, and he did not get to have an opinion about it. He did not like that she was already moving in on Hal’s business. He wondered why Hal did not say that he had already found someone for the office and had just let him talk about being in the office as if he had had a chance against this woman. He would never have said anything if he had known. Scott did not know what to say, “Sure, yes it’s nice to meet you as well.” Nora looked at Scott and stated, “Hal has already sort of let me know about how everything works. He also said that you and Archie chip in sometimes. I know I definitely will need your help with things.” She looked at Archie and said, “I might take you up on that offer of your house but only if you can find another place. If you can I might try to find some roommates to fill some of the other rooms and then you will have to figure out how much to charge for rent. You can let me know tomorrow.” Scott looked at Archie but did not say anything. Scott knew that it might be a hard situation since his mother had passed away in that house, in the kitchen. He wondered if he had told her what had happened. Scott did not know how to feel about this woman. He wondered how old she was and why was she really here in this small town. He also wondered how the other guys would feel about this woman coming in and taking over. Scott decided not to tell her what had happened today and figured that she could just do it on her own. If she left the office crying it would be her and Hal’s fault for neglecting to tell anyone at the garbage business of her coming in and taking over. He did wonder if she would need some help since she was new in town. He wondered if she had ever laughed a day in her life or if she just talked like a robot at all times. Maybe she always assumed that people cared about what she had to say to them. He did not like that she was ordering Archie around and letting him know that he could let her know tomorrow. Maybe she cursed him with flying shrews to his face before he got here and he was worried about getting into a car accident on the way home. Maybe she practiced saying spells on the weekends just to see if she could find those friends in this town that she was talking about. Scott was thinking that she had to use the mail order friend plan at all times. What was this lady wearing? Did she come dressed for a funeral for her hoarder uncle? Maybe she was hopeful that he was already dead so that she could completely take over the business. It is such a great asset to have. This garbage business with all of those men who like to slap, punch and bite people after they pick up the town trash. She will be a famous businesswoman when she goes back home. She will be known as the niece who took away a dead family member’s business all by herself. Maybe she could borrow his tools if she ever needed to fix anything in the shop. He would have to tell her the difference between a screwdriver and some sort of bolt that flew out of her head trying to get away from all of her really annoying thought processes. He imagined her fixing the garage door in her fluffy dress and nine-inch heels.
Chapter 6
Pancakes
Archie was remembering what had happened to his mother that morning when Nora was talking about moving into his mother’s house. His mother had set the table for herself and Archie with pancakes, Karo syrup and butter. He was in his room getting ready to go to church and tying his white and red polka dot tie that he was going to wear with his midnight black jacket and looking at himself in the mirror. He was admiring the colors that he had picked out and then he suddenly remembered that usually he asked his mother to tie his tie for him. He was wondering why he was doing it himself. He stopped and looked at himself in the mirror again and heard complete silence from the kitchen. His heart started pounding in his ears and the air around him turned into a pink haze. He remembered turning around to leave the room and wondering if he could still ask his mother about why the jacket was getting tight around his waist. He wanted to leave the room instantly and run down the hall to the kitchen, but he couldn’t move his body fast enough. He wanted to run but he wanted to use his manners that his mother always reminded him of. He knew that at the end of the hall was his mother who had gone completely silent, and he wondered why. He remembered seeing the pictures to his right hanging on the wall in the hallway. All of the old pictures of his family growing up were hanging in matching frames. Everyone looked so happy. He walked up behind his mother who was slumped over on the table. She looked like she had put her head down to rest. He tried to say her name, but no sound would come out of his throat. He had suddenly remembered his mother, Gweneth, who he had been pushing in her wheelchair when he was so young. He had always called her Miss Gwen because that was what his uncle required. He didn’t want to contact the nunnery to say that he failed to keep this mother alive as well because they always blamed him for Miss Gwen’s death and reminded him of that many times after his uncle had left him standing there in front of that convent. He was looking at her neck that was bent into a position that he had never seen before and started to walk past the pancakes on the table. She did not ask him if he wanted only butter this time. He walked around the table and saw her face and her eyes were half closed. He did not want to touch her. What if people thought that he had done something to her? So, he went over to the phone and called 911. He stood by the phone staring at her, afraid to take his eyes off of her in case she woke up and could bring him back to life. He wanted to leave the room and go outside but the door was too far away. Every time that he thought about walking away, he felt woozy. It took the ambulance years to get to their house, and he wondered if they had come sooner if they could have saved her. He sometimes blamed them for her death because he did not know who else to blame. He felt better when he could blame them, but he knew that she was gone when he heard the deafening silence coming from the kitchen. He started blaming himself for her death because she wasn’t that old. ‘Why was he still alive?’ He asked himself every night. Why was she gone? She took care of him all of his life. She adopted him and saved him from the convent then suffered a heart attack. What was the purpose of all of it? There was no one to ask.
They said goodbye to Nora and left the room. Scott asked Archie, “Where are you going to stay?” “I don’t know but I think getting paid all of that rent money is a good idea.” Archie heard his voice that sounded normal as he spoke to Scott, and he was relieved to have had some sort of answer that falsely stated that he was finally healing from his mother’s death. His mother, Florence, had always taught him that asking questions was the only way that a person would find the answer. He hoped that Scott would be honest about why Sandy had kissed him outside the door of the room. He was extremely worried and wondered if it was normal to have hurt feelings. He wondered if he liked Sandy more than she liked him and his stomach started to turn. He wanted to understand each of the relationships that he was involved in so that he could categorize them to be able to make sense of them. Scott said, “Yes that is a great idea. Maybe you and I can be roommates somewhere?” Maybe we can stay at Hal’s house while he is at the hospital?” Wondered Archie aloud. Scott grimaced and said, “Well I think that Nora will want to have that house to take care of since she is a family member.” “We will find somewhere to be.” Said Scott. Archie hated when people lectured him for no reason and asked Scott, “So, are you with Sandy?” Scott wondered why Archie would ask. Scott hesitantly said, “I don’t know I met her a while back in the EMT classes and I think we are just friends.” “Oh okay. I saw you talking with her before coming in the room and I saw that she kissed you.” Scott knew that Archie could be a direct person but sometimes it made him nervous. He remembered how just today Archie was making fun of him and his pigs at the fair and it made him feel stupid that he raised pigs. Scott said nervously, “No it wasn’t like what you thought. I am not sure why she did that.” Archie was quiet as they started to walk out of the hospital, he wondered if Scott was telling him everything. Scott was hoping that they would not see Sandy and that he and Archie could have more of a conversation. Scott asked Archie, “How do you know Sandy?” “Hal had asked her to give me a ride home one day and then we had ice cream at my house.” Scott asked, “oh… when was this?” Archie said, “It was about a month ago. We have been talking a few times since then. She is a few years older, but I like her.” Scott said, “I didn’t know that you are dating Sandy.” Archie said, “No we aren’t dating we are just friends, sort of.” They walked by the desk and saw Sandy and Sarah sitting and talking. Sarah was writing on some of the papers that were in front of her, and Sandy was twirling around in her chair. Archie started walking towards the desk where they were sitting, and Scott wanted to run through the front entrance. Scott trailed behind. Archie stood there and Sandy smiled brightly at Archie and gushed, “Well hello short stuff! How is my sweet boy, Archie, today? I can’t believe how cute you are sweetie!” Scott was standing behind Archie and saw his ears turn bright pink and the back of his head and neck started sweating. He put out his hand to shake her hand and she gripped it tightly and pulled him to her. She embraced his shoulders awkwardly, but Archie didn’t seem to mind. Scott’s mouth fell open and he felt nausea. He instantly felt embarrassed remembering how he had invited her to lunch. He did not know that Archie knew Sandy. He did not know that they could have even ever met, and he wanted to melt into the grate on the floor. He was thinking that what he and Sandy had was special and fun and now it was just some sort of gesture on her part. Scott stared at the top of Sandy’s head while she was smiling in the crook of Archie’s neck. Scott wanted her to suffocate and never recover. He hoped that she would suffocate on her own loud voice that echoed all over town. He was angry at Archie for being someone who was so naive. He wondered how much time they had already spent together. Scott just thought he was the kid at work whose mother died in the kitchen and who was always late to work because of it. Scott just stood there waiting to see if Sandy would ever notice him again. Sandy looked up at Scott just then and blushed. Scott felt angry at Sandy that she would be his friend and be this way with Archie. Archie asked Sandy, “Hey I just wanted to know when the patient in room 17 is supposed to leave or be moved?” Sandy answered, “They haven’t let us know yet sweets, but you can come in tomorrow, and we can tell you then, or you can call me later.” “Okay, I will do that.” Archie turned back and walked towards Scott trying to keep a straight face. Archie did not know how to feel about Sandy, but he felt like he had won a championship wrestling match against Scott and he felt very proud of himself. Scott looked at Sandy, but she would not look at him. “I didn’t know that you were seeing Archie.” Stated Scott. Sandy looked at Sarah and pretended to be busy. Scott walked towards the desk and looked at Sandy, but she would not acknowledge him. He looked at Sarah who looked back at him and she smiled a small smile of apology because of this situation. Scott felt better about himself, at least someone was acknowledging how he felt. Scott walked out after Archie who was already in the parking lot. Scott wondered if he should have said more to her, but he just did not know what to say since she was not acknowledging him. He wondered why she had become his friend and why she had kissed him on the cheek. He was guessing to himself that she was an over emotional woman who did not exercise self-control with men, and he hoped that Archie wasn’t planning on actually dating her. Scott did not want him to get his feelings hurt by this woman who did not care about anyone but herself in every situation. He saw that she was giving Sarah all of the work that needed to be done so that she could twirl around at the desk in her chair. He wanted to call his friend Mike to rat on Sandy and let him know that Sarah was getting all of the work piled onto her, but he did not want to call him in front of Archie. Scott wondered if he had ever had a girlfriend before. Maybe this was his first time dating anyone. Scott realized that he had been the one who was naive and that he needed not interfere in their relationship because he wanted to stay friends with Archie. He hoped that Archie would talk to him about her soon so that he could lead him away from her. He hoped that he would never have to see her again. Scott wondered what had happened between Archie and his father. Did he teach Archie anything or did he just leave him to do all of the chores for his mother. Scott hated all parents and that included his own parents. He wondered why parents never explained anything to their children and just left them to die in the wilderness. He also thought of the parents who did not let their children experience anything, then when something bad happened those kids did not know how to handle themselves. He did not want he and Archie to become like the old trash pick-up men at work. All they were doing was waiting for their bodies to deteriorate in their own filthy diseases while they picked up the town trash. Scott wondered if they had ever been attractive. He guessed not because only old, ugly men had these jobs. He looked in the rearview mirror and thought about plastic surgery. He looked at Archie and said, “maybe we should leave this town and go somewhere to college really soon before we get old and die in this town.” Archie smiled and asked, “How was work today?” Scott sucked in his stomach and asked in an uneven voice, “Who the hell is that woman, Archie?” He realized he really did not want to go back to work but since he was still young, he had time on his side.
Chapter 7
Duck Calling Instruments
Nora was looking at her uncle and thinking about the conversations that she had had with Archie and then Scott. Archie had been very nice but very quiet. She wondered how old he was. She wondered how old Scott was. They seemed to be on the young and immature side. She was young as well, she thought, but people always assumed that she was older than she really was. Her thoughts turned towards tomorrow. She was hoping for someone to be nice at this garbage dump that her uncle had wanted her help with. He had told her that it was just some accounting business in the office but now that he was ill and not coherent, she was going to have to go there tomorrow and introduce herself. She could see how the situation might turn out, especially since she was a woman. She was used to the city. Men in the city were used to women who could do more than get coffee for them. Women usually ruled over offices and businesses. In small towns women were only in charge of bridge clubs on Thursdays and sometimes went to the parent teacher conferences because men thought that was all that they were capable of. She was concluding that it was no different in this town because of Scott’s reaction to her. He was very guarded and treated her with complete disdain and yet he had just been in some sort of pool hall fight with his other bosom buddies all over town. She was dressed up and he looked like he had just gone hunting and had spent time on a very unsuccessful duck blind that he had accidentally fallen out of into a beaver dam where he almost drowned. He obviously had no consideration for them and their water dam that they had taken forever to build. He luckily made it out of the woods but not with her. She wondered if bears had more hair on their arms or if he did. She wondered how long he and Archie had been friends, maybe she could win Archie to her side so that she could win this battle just to say that she was better than Scott. She hoped that she could live in Archie’s house so that would be a possible situation. She knew that she needed to get something to eat but did not want to drive anywhere. She wished that she had asked one of them if they had anything lying around in their car, maybe some old chips under the seat along with a bunch of duck calling instruments of all sorts. She heard a knock at the door, and she knew that a doctor had decided to come in and let her know about her uncle. She smelled food as he walked into the room.
Joseph walked across campus to the building where the administration told him that his room was. He had just got off of the bus and had just his backpack. His parents had donated money to the school and had also decided to pay for him to join a fraternity. He did not want to be a part of a fraternity because he was afraid that he would be too distracted, and he felt that he was too old at age twenty-one to join one. He wanted to be right on campus with everyone else and not in a house that was only near campus with only a few selected guys. He did not want to get bored and watch everyone drink at parties that they were too young for. He wanted to keep his mind sharp for any situation that might come his way, and he did not want to miss those important situations because he was drinking with all of the other fraternity men. He was going to be roommates with someone on campus while he waited for a room at his fraternity to be ready for him and he felt nervous. The five-hour bus ride had been long from his hometown, and he had not gotten much sleep. He had kept track of this college since he graduated high school three years ago. This college had proven to be focused on the sciences, and he wanted to take all of the science classes that he could. He loved micro-biology, chemistry, and physics. He wanted to study all of these subjects continuously and hoped that there were other students here who had the same drive as he did for learning. He imagined having large study groups with everyone in each of his classes. He walked into the building and instantly heard loud music, laughing and yelling. He hoped that the building monitor was not there because he did not want anyone to be in trouble. He started walking further down the hall to get closer to his room. The music got louder, and a door opened on his right and then shut again. He kept walking down the hall. He wondered who was having a party, since school was starting tomorrow. He looked at his paper again to find the number of his room. He kept walking and finally he was able to find his room number on the last door on his right. He imagined that he could see the parking lot from this room, which made him very happy. He wanted to know who was always coming in and out of the parking lot. He saw a community bathroom in front of him that was next to his room and the door to the outside. He hoped that there was a bathroom inside of his room. His brother Silas had taken his room at home, but Joseph still had some of his things in the closet. He missed his brother and sister and wondered what they were doing. He had always been in charge of them since he was seven and he wanted them to be successful and to stop getting into trouble. His parents had been too busy to take care of them. His mother and father owned their own flower shop and did not have adequate time to give to his younger sister and brother. He looked at his watch and noticed that it was 3:20 in the afternoon. The last bell had just rung to let school out for the day at their high school. School had already started for them last week. He had helped them to get situated there this year and he had volunteered at the school to be a hall monitor all of last year. He did not want to miss anything that they were doing and wanted to make sure that his brother Silas wouldn’t get into any more fights at school. He knew that they were too old to receive his help to get started in school this year, but he pretended that they needed him. They still acted like they needed him when they didn’t use logic when making decisions. He remembered many conversations that he had had with them about using their head and not their heart in relationships. He had wanted to make sure that his brother and sister were older before he left home for college and his parents were still wanting his help with them as important community members. He wished that he could be back home to see what they were doing. He thought about his sister, Naomie, and wondered what she was doing. He told her that she could not date at all until she was twenty-one, but he wanted her to wait until she was twenty-five. Some of the guys in their high school asked him if they could at least talk to her and he always said, ‘no,’ because he did not think that she was ready to talk to any of them. He and Naomie always fought about that subject. He had gotten to know many of the kids in their school because he had been one of the hall monitors. He had worked at the trash hauling business for a long time and then had gotten a second job at the grocery store in town which allowed him to save money for college. He had started as a grocery store clerk and stocked items and then he learned what needed to be done in all of the other departments of the store and would work in those departments as needed. He had become a shift manager there before he left, and he had really liked being in a managerial position. He missed working at the store and all of the other employees. Then he had to leave his brother and sister to come here to this school, to this state and he hated it already. He stood in front of the door that had the matching number from his paper from the administration department. The door opened again halfway, and he saw two girls who were laughing and standing by the bunk bed. He noticed another girl who was sitting down on the lower part of the bunk bed. She was looking at someone across from her who was in the middle of the room, but he could not see who it was. He studied her face as her eyes glanced towards the open door trying to see who it was. She looked at him and smiled. Joseph felt lightheaded and all that he could see was her. He started feeling a nervous pain from his center and it traveled to his head. Pins and needles started forming in his chest and traveled through his head and down his back to his feet. She was staring back at him, and he wished that she hadn’t noticed him just standing at the door not knowing what to do with himself. Her brown hair was flowing down past her shoulders. He was wondering who she was and if she was available to talk. He looked down at the floor and wondered what to do because this was his room. He wondered if he should go in or maybe stand there forever. What if he was at the wrong door? He wondered why she and her friends were in the men’s dormitory and who else was in the room with her. He hoped that his roommate was in the room. He noticed that the other two girls who were standing by the bed were looking at her because she had become extremely quiet and was staring at him as he was standing outside of the room behind the half-closed door. Joseph smiled at them, and they both acknowledged him and gave him a small smile. Sarah felt extremely nervous while she was waiting for the new guy to come into the room. She thought about what she was wearing and wished that she wasn’t even there. Her hair had not turned out how she had wanted it to look that morning and she was still not at the weight she had wanted to be. She had been worried about meeting new people here at this school and wondered if she was going to get the negative attention that she always seemed to get in high school. She had been listening to her grandmother and mother who had always talked about how she was such a heavy girl and how she should lose weight. She always tried to watch what she ate but the extra weight was always there. She hated going to the store and other places because she did not feel confident about herself. She tried to act confidently with people and smile at people. She always used her smile to help deflect people’s judgments of her. High school had been difficult because all of the other girls talked about how easy it was to get dates, and she assumed that it was because they were so thin. She tried not to be jealous of the other girls because she knew that jealousy bred hatred and she did not want to hate the other girls. When she started working at the hospital with her friend Sandy, she tried to get along with her, but it had been difficult. She had decided one night after she had seen Sandy’s friends, Scott and Archie, walk into the hospital to see their boss, Hal, to finally leave to go to college. She wanted to be away from her best friend Archie after he had stopped speaking to her after his mother’s death. He did not want to talk to her about it. He only wanted to be with Sandy. She was too heartbroken to see them talking at the hospital when he would come in and visit Sandy. Her mother had wanted her to go away to college and experience new situations before finding someone to marry but she did not believe that she would find anyone to marry. Her mother tried setting her up on date with a friend’s son from another town, but he wasn’t really that friendly. Her mother told her later that she had lied to him and said that she was average in weight. She remembered her mother saying to her, “Love, you know that you need to lose weight so that you can find someone who will like you. This is how it is with women and men. Men like thin women, and you are too fat, hon. You must lose this baby fat that you have, or you will never be a successful woman in society.” Sarah was size eighteen right before coming to college, but she had been able to lose weight to fit into a smaller size. Being a size sixteen had given her more confidence. She knew that she should not gain confidence from her weight, so she kept telling herself that she was a work in progress. She wondered why he was staring at her, and she was nervous about what he thought about her. She could only see half of his face but thought he was the most gorgeous looking guy she had ever seen. She wondered if he was going to be a professional weightlifter.
Chapter 8
The Doorway
He wondered if his roommate, Robert, was in the room, and if that was true, then he already felt hatred for Robert. Joseph wondered if he should like this situation or if he should hate it. Shouldn’t he be excited that people were congregating in his room? He wanted to have fun, but he remembered that the women’s dorms were separate from the men’s dorms. The administration told him that if this policy was violated then students could be expelled. He did not want to be in trouble on the first day of school. He didn’t want his parents to regret their decision for him to go to college in a different state. Joseph had wanted to go to college since he was very young, but his parents had always told him that he would have to go on a scholarship because that would mean that he was earning his college degree. They had said that they would donate money to the school that he decided to go to, but it had to be a college worth donating to. When he entered high school, he worked at getting good grades so that he could possibly receive a scholarship, but it had been difficult. Joseph always had to take care of his brother and sister who were younger because his parents worked and always seemed to have other engagements to be at. Joseph had also worked a part-time job while he was in high school to pay for all of his expenses. He didn’t receive any money from his family and sometimes that was frustrating, but he knew that he had built a strong belief in working hard for what he wanted. He was excited that his brother and sister were completing their last year of high school this year and were planning on coming to this school so that he could keep better track of them. He was able to receive an academic scholarship for this college, but he had to do the best that he could to keep it. He did not like that there were people here who did not follow the rules. He wondered why she was here, in this room. He did not want to make a judgment yet about this situation and he asked himself if he always needed to be such a stiff, rule follower. He looked through the long hall to see if anyone was coming. A very thin guy with brown hair and a thin girl with long brown hair, who was hanging on his arm, were walking towards him. They smiled at him and stood behind him and yelled at the half-closed door that he was in front of, “Hey! Let us in!” The door quickly opened all the way up and they both pushed him into the room. Joseph felt embarrassed and did not know how to respond. Sarah saw him suddenly being pushed into the room and she could not help but giggle at him. She tried to look elsewhere so that he did not see her staring at him. She assumed that she could never be with someone like him because she did not think of herself as a beautiful girl who was thin or desirable. One of the short, stalky guys in the room yelled over the loud music at Joseph, “Hey! Who are you?” and then he laughed and looked at everyone for approval. Then they all laughed. Joseph smiled and stated, “This is my room, and I am supposed to find my roommate, Robert.” “I see! How will you find Robert? Maybe he is flying outside of this window? Let’s look! Open the shade, morons!” Joseph quickly became nervous, he had met guys like this at his high school, and they were usually the small guys who couldn’t play basketball, so they joined the wrestling team. He had his baseball cap on crookedly and that usually meant that he was some type of farmer. Joseph asked, “Hey son did you drive your tractor to this school? I bet you got thrown from it on the way to your harvest party last year so you never got to bale that hay that could have won you that prize at the county fair! He looked at Joseph with his mouth halfway open. One of the taller guys opened the shade and looked outside. He said, “Theodore, do you see someone named Robert out there flying?” Theodore yelled, “No! I do not see Robert out there, but let’s open the window and see if he is there?” Joseph hated both the tall guy and the short guy named Theodore who was announcing his illiteracy to everyone in the room. Joseph glanced at the girl sitting on the bed to see what she was doing. She was looking at these guys yelling by the window and she seemed confused. He looked at the other two girls who were at the foot of the bunk bed standing and they also looked confused. He looked back at her, and she was looking at her lap and he wondered what she was thinking. She liked Joseph because he was so outspoken. She did not like that Robert was being so rude to this new guy. Joseph could not tear his eyes away from her. Her brown hair was shining in the sun, and her brown eyes seemed to glow while she was looking at the window and leaning forward on the bed slightly because of the top bunk. She had a white button-down shirt on with a small, blue kerchief around her neck and blue jeans that were rolled up at the ankles. He thought that she was the most graceful woman he had ever seen. She knew that he was looking at her and she hoped that he did not notice that she was the tubby toddler that her grandmother always described her as being. She looked at the heater and then looked out of the window again. Joseph stared at her and then looked at the wall heater feeling very frustrated that he could not get her attention. Then they both looked at each other. Joseph tried to look away and ended up looking at the floor and then out of the window. She wished that she could say something, but the music was too loud, she did not want to yell. Joseph looked above her at the top bunk. She let her eyes drift quickly from looking at his eyes, down from his face to his chin. She could now see his whole upper body and how his short-sleeved shirt hugged his very broad chest. Joseph knew that she was looking at him and he thanked the heavens for all of the sit-ups that he did every day. She wondered if he was always this nice and calm. He seemed soft-spoken but very confidently outspoken as well. She did not ever feel confident and wondered if she could be the type of girl that he would like but assumed that he was taken by someone else, and if he would only like all of the beautifully thin girls. She wondered if he had come from a city or a small town. He also seemed like he was someone who wanted to follow all of the rules.
She knew that she was violating school policy and she and her two roommates had been there longer than she had intended to be, and she was getting increasingly worried. She was frustrated about how this day was turning out as it turned into the afternoon. She did not realize that she had been staring at his chest for a while. She looked up and met his gaze. He did not smile at first, but he started to look even further into her eyes. Theodore was looking at her and this new guy and felt jealous. He had always felt that he had been her best friend since the first year of high school and he had depended on her. He was thinking of Archie and wished that he could have been here. He wanted to convince him to come out here and then they could be roommates. When he met Sarah in that first year of high school, she had offered to help him with his math homework. He wanted to talk to Archie more about his mother after she had passed away, but he did not want to talk to anyone about her death. Theodore pushed her head in a playful way, and asked, “Hey, what are you doing?” She just stared at Theodore and shrugged her shoulders. She wished that Theodore had not interrupted. Theodore opened the window and yelled, “Robert! Fly the hell up off of the ground and show yourself!” but no one came. One of the other girls standing at the foot of the bed who had blonde, coiffed hair with blue eyes asked, “Guys, why are you yelling?” Theodore stated, “Because we have to! He has not stated his business here. He said he is trying to find Robert but what else does he have up his sleeve? Aren’t we all wondering about this man who just ran into the room, completely confused? He is a lunatic if you ask me!” Then someone opened the door and marched into the room. Joseph hoped that this girl wasn’t in a serious relationship with anyone, and he wondered again how she knew Theodore. Joseph looked at the man and noticed that he looked older and that he had a very arrogant attitude. Everyone seemed to feel uneasy because he was there. Joseph was nervous again and hoped that he wasn’t someone who was in charge of anything. “Hello.” The man stated, “What is going on in here?” The older man stood in the center of the room and focused his attention on the three guys and three girls that were over by the window. Theodore saw out of the corner of his eye that the people who were over by the sink quietly walked out of the room. The very thin guy and the girl that he came with left with them. They waved and smiled as they exited the room. Joseph felt frustrated by that, but he also thought they were fun people. The older man looked at the girls and said, “You cannot be here, this is the men’s dorms, and I am the dorm officer here. Joseph noticed how unprofessional he was. No one seemed to respect him because he was acting like a complete dweeb. Joseph felt frustrated that this dorm officer was such a moron. The dorm officer asked the girls, “Did you know that you are not allowed in the men’s dorm?” They just looked at him and did not know what to say. Sarah noticed that he was becoming tearful and defensive, “I am the dorm officer here and you need to leave. Are you students here at this school?” Again, they said nothing. Theodore stated, “Yes, they are students here! Why do you care?” The officer said sternly, “I just stated that they cannot be here! Be quiet, you, at the window.” Theodore piped up and said, “You know me sir! Don’t you remember? I was here last year but I was in a different room.” The officer said imploringly, “Don’t roll your eyes at me, son, you all look the same to me!” Sarah looked at Theodore and wondered why he had lied to the dorm officer. They had both just got here this year. The dorm officer looked at the girls and ordered them to leave and to stand outside so that he could radio a dorm officer from the women’s dorm to come and escort them back. He then took his walky-talky out of his back pocket and pressed the button and started to speak into it. The officer seemed very excited about using his walky-talky. Joseph wanted to laugh at him because he was such a nerd. Joseph looked at her now that she was standing next to him and wondered what she was thinking. He wanted to talk to her. He had gone to his friends’ parties in high school but the girls there were so boring. They only wanted to talk about themselves, and it seemed that they never knew anything about life. He wondered what to do because he wanted to have a conversation with her before she had to leave. She made eye contact with Joseph but felt overwhelmed by her thoughts and she felt unsure of herself. She hoped that Joseph would not understand how she felt about herself. She wanted him to think that she was a very confident person who was fine with the world. Joseph turned towards her, but the dorm officer said, “Do not move, stay in that spot, sir” Joseph looked at the officer and felt complete hatred for him. Sarah felt very angry with this officer. She did not understand why he was acting so harshly. The officer explained to the woman who responded at the other end of the walky-talky that he needed her to come and escort some girls back to their dorm, and then told her where they were, and explained that they would be standing outside. He then told the girls to walk out and not to go into any of the other rooms if they could help it. The three girls reluctantly got up and slowly walked out of the room.
Sarah wished that she could yell at that old man for being so mean. She could not believe that he was a dorm officer, he was such a horrible person. She glanced at Joseph on her way out and tried to smile but she felt nervous about what he thought about her being here in this room. She wished that she had been able to talk to him about it, but she was too nervous. Joseph could tell that she felt frustrated because of what the officer had said to them, and he felt very angry at the officer for insinuating that type of situation. Joseph wondered how he could find her again. The school population was very large, and he wondered how far the women’s dorms were from his building. The dorm officer asked the three guys that were by the window,” Who is supposed to be in this room?” The first guy who had talked to Joseph answered, “Who knows! No one knows! Joseph stayed silent and the officer looked at him. Joseph felt embarrassed again and his throat started to close so that he could barely breathe. He looked at Theodore and Theodore rolled his eyes at the officer behind the officer’s back and started smiling and laughing silently. He then motioned with his hand as if he was talking with his silent hand at the back of the officer’s head. Joseph started to smile but then tried to keep a straight face. The officer turned to look at Theodore, right then Joseph said, “Hey! I think I left something outside; can I leave to go and get it? My name is Joseph, and I belong in this room.” “Sure.” The officer said, “Go wherever you feel like going, I guess!” Joseph said, “Thank you sir.” The officer looked at the other guys and said, “I guess he wants an award for calling me sir! Yes go!” Joseph walked out of his room in hopes of finding the girls still outside, he wondered where she went because there were two entrances. He chose the closest entrance and ran outside but there were just a few guys standing there. He ran back in and back down the long hall to the other entrance. He pushed open the door and saw a woman with a uniform on walking up to the two girls who had been standing by the bunk bed in his room, but she was not there with them. Joseph felt his stomach lurching into his throat wondering where she had gone. The officer looked at him in a way that made him know that she was angry. The two girls just stared at him in acknowledgment but said nothing. The officer asked Joseph, “Can I help you? He heard the door to the building open behind him and felt air swish behind his back as she walked by and he felt relieved. Her face brightened and then she gave him half of a smile. He could see that she was happy to see him, and he was happy that he had found her. He had wanted to ask her about many things. He wondered why Theodore would invite these women into the room and where was Robert? The form that he had been sent said that Robert was his roommate but maybe the school changed the situation where people were staying without telling him. He knew that she and her friends and all of the guys in that room were in trouble and school was just beginning. He wished that he knew her name.
Chapter 9
Bending the Rules
She had not wanted it to be like this. She did not like being in trouble for not following the rules. She had come with her roommates just to say ‘hello’ to Theodore at his window. She had gone to high school with Theodore, and she knew that he was missing his family so when he asked her to come over today to his window, just to see him, she had agreed. She asked her roommates if they wanted to come so that she could become friends with them. She walked past Joseph and wondered why he had come out of the building and then she walked over to where the officer was and stood there. Joseph wanted to say something to her as she was walking over to the other girls but did not know what to say. The officer looked at Joseph and asked, “Are you one of the guys from the room where the dorm officer called for me?” Joseph said, “Yes ma’am.” Joseph wondered what he could say to make everything better. The officer looked at him waiting for him to respond more. Joseph wondered what the consequences were of this situation. When he was in the room it seemed that they all knew each other or maybe they had just been in the room for a while that day. He wondered where the men’s dorm officer was during that time. Joseph said, “I met them today, but it seemed like they had just gotten there when I arrived. It did not seem like they had been in that room for very long. The dorm officer looked at Joseph and said, “Oh, ok.” She looked at the girls and said, “You know that you cannot be in the men’s dorms at all, right?” Sarah said, “Yes ma’am we had just wanted to say ‘hello’ to a friend and then we decided to go in just to see what they were doing but we weren’t in that room for very long.” The officer said, “Ok, let’s go back to the women’s dorms, it is a far distance from here, but we can walk.” Joseph asked the officer, “Can I walk with you to make sure everything will be fine while you are walking?” Sarah felt her stomach do flip flops and wondered what the dorm officer was going to say and if she would ever see him again. The officer looked at Joseph and said, “Wow, that is so kind of you to offer! Isn’t he kind to us girls? He thinks he needs to protect us, I guess! Look, son I am a dorm officer. You do not need to help these girls because I am here to catch any monsters that may attack us on the way. It is daylight, son. We are fine.” The girls looked at each other and rolled their eyes in her direction. Sarah had talked with her roommates about how happy they were to be here at this school, finally away from home. They knew that they could be expelled but they had only intended on staying outside and just meeting Theodore and his roommate. They were not planning on entering the building. Then they saw other people in the room, and they felt that if they stayed outside too long, they might be noticed and they wanted to be included in their party. So, the guys opened the side door, and they walked quickly in. Nobody seemed to notice, and it was so fun meeting all of those people! They had planned to leave just after a few minutes but then Theodore brought out his guitar and started playing and so they had to stay for that because everyone else was there too. They could not hear what he was playing because the music was too loud, but they did not care because it was too much fun. Then Theodore had set the guitar down and the door opened, and Joseph was shoved in by the other two people who they were never able to meet. They noticed that Sarah, who had been very jovial, became quiet after Joseph came into the room. The dorm officer could tell that they all felt extremely frustrated with her because she was not going to allow this guy to walk with them to their dorm. She knew that this was a harmless situation, and she did not want to fill out any paperwork that would cause these girls to be expelled. Now that they were frustrated, she wished that she could go home. She knew this kind of situation was often going to come up for the rest of this year for her. She had not been able to meet all of the students that were in her building yet, and she was nervous about how this year would go. She had to be tough and make them follow the rules so that she would not get trampled on. She looked at Joseph and said, “What is your name, son?” “Joseph, ma’am.” he said, nervously. “Ok, if by chance there is something left in the room where everyone was congregating in that you might find, here is the number to the dorm that they are in, which is my dorm. You can call to get that item back to one of these girls. Just call this number and someone will answer.” She gave the number written on a card to Joseph. She looked at the girl who was closest to Joseph and asked her what her name was. She stated, “Sarah.” The officer said, “Ok, Joseph, you can call this number, and someone will answer, then just ask for Sarah and then you can let her know if something was left in the room, and then she can let me know and I will come and retrieve it. Okay, Joseph?” “Yes ma’am, thank you very much.” Joseph shook her hand as they walked away across the lawn towards the other buildings. Sarah turned back and waved and smiled at Joseph. He gave a small wave back. Now he knew her name.
Chapter 10
Wanting To Be Hopeful
The girls did not talk while they walked back to their building. They took the chance to look at the campus and the scenery. The dorm officer talked about the history of the school and explained to them what all of the buildings were. The dorm officer asked them again what their names were so that she could remember them. “My name is Melody.” “My name is Mary.” “I am Sarah.” They all hoped that they would never have to see her again. She was nice but they did not want to be in trouble ever again. Sarah was relieved that they only received a verbal warning. They all finally got to their building and walked in. The building was extremely quiet, and the dorm officer was relieved but also wondered why it was so quiet. The girls thanked her and told her that they were going to go to their room to rest for school tomorrow. Once they entered their room they talked about how bored they were. They were all three sharing a room since it was a bigger room than some of the other rooms. They decided to sleep and see what was happening later. Sarah could not sleep and wondered if Joseph would call. She went out into the hall to call her grandmother to see how she was doing. Her grandmother asked her if she was doing well. Her grandmother seemed sad, and Sarah was worried about her. Sarah wanted to tell her about what had happened, but she decided not to. She did not want her grandmother to know that she had broken school policy by being in the men’s dorm. Then she decided to tell her because she knew that all the rest of their conversations would be uncomfortable. Her grandmother said, “Oh well, that is how it is now, isn’t it? I guess you have to make your own choices now. Just explain to the administration that nothing happened and that it was some sort of accident.” Sarah was relieved and said, “Ok, grandmother I will do that if they ask. The dorm officer said that she was giving us a verbal warning so I don’t think anything else will happen. “Ok, dear. Do not do that again or I will have your head!” She said with a laugh. Sarah wondered if she was doing well. She normally was very strict with rules. Sarah said, “Grandmother have you been to the doctor lately?” “Oh no I am fine, love, it’s just my fits again getting to me. I have to go and eat some pudding.” Sarah said, “Ok, how is mother doing?” “I do not know; I do not keep track of her, and you know that.” Sarah got off the telephone and called her mother to tell her that grandmother was not doing well but she was not home. Sarah had been able to take care of her for several years but now that she was not there her grandmother seemed to be deteriorating. She called her uncle and talked to him, and he decided to go and check on her so Sarah felt relieved. Sarah wished that she had a custard doughnut but knew that would not be good for her diet. She kept wondering how her grandmother was doing, so she decided that she was going to call her tonight when she got back to see if she felt better. She always thought of her grandmother when she wanted to cheat on her diet. She woke her roommates up to go to the dining hall for dinner. She was afraid that they would have doughnuts there and decided in her mind to have a salad. Her roommates Mary and Melody were her size too and so she was happy because they could trade clothes, but since she did not have many clothes, she started borrowing clothes from them, instead. They did not seem to mind and seemed excited to share them with her. She could always hear her mother in her head speaking to her. Her mother did not want to buy clothes for her because she was always on a diet. She hated her sometimes because she always had unkind things to say about her. They got to the hall and people were everywhere sitting together. Sarah was extremely happy that she got along with her roommates. Melody said timidly, “Wow there are a lot of people here, I wish that Robert was here so that we could all sit together. Mary looked at Melody, “What about Theodore?” Melody said jokingly, “That is what I mean silly! So that we could all sit together! Melody looked at Sarah and asked, “Sarah, I am wondering how you feel about Joseph? Do you think that he is nice?” Sarah smiled; she was happy that Melody was including her in their conversation. Sarah looked at Melody and smiled and said, “I don’t know, it depends on what he thinks of me, and what if he is already dating someone?” Mary said, “Sarah, we are here, and he is here. Pretend he is not dating anyone because she does not stand a chance with all of these women here if she is from somewhere else! I think he likes you because he came out to find you. Remember he was looking at you in their room right away. We all noticed it, right Melody?” Melody smiled and said, “Yes! You have to like him now, so it is all settled. You like him and he likes you. We know these things, Sarah.” Sarah really liked her new friends.
Chapter 11
The Peace Talk
Joseph went inside after he could not see them walking. He was wondering when he should call over to the women’s dorm. He walked down the hall and tried to open the door to his room, but it was locked. The hall was quiet, but he could hear voices coming from inside of his room. He knocked and said, “Hey it’s Joseph let me in.” Joseph heard them stop talking and then he heard a girl whispering and then laughter. Joseph felt fire come into his face and his stomach started to turn. He did not know what to do. He yelled fearfully through the door, “Hey! This is me, Joseph, and this is my room!” Then he heard the other guy yell back, “Get another room, bud! Because this one is now taken by us, and you can never be in here!” Joseph was so angry he wanted to rearrange his face forever. He was trying not to cry so he didn’t speak. He went into the bathroom that was out in the hall and stood in the stall and cried, quietly. He hated this place; he hated them, and he hated himself because he did not know what to do. He did not want to try and find the dorm officer and he did not know anyone else here. His father taught him to take care of all situations on his own and not to try to involve others if possible because only weak people ask for help! He wanted to be an adult and obviously these boys had not become adults. He didn’t want to room with men who made fun of people. He had heard Theodore’s voice as well, laughing, and he wondered if they were angry that he had left the room before the officer left. He went to the mirror and splashed cold water onto his face. He did not know what to do. He wanted to present himself as a strong person who was never affected by people who treated others in this way. He left the building to get some air and walked towards the group of trees that he had seen earlier, he always felt better being outdoors. He was getting nervous again because it was almost dark, and he knew that he had to find somewhere to go. He was relieved that he had his schedule and everything that he needed in his backpack. He tried to find the tree that was in the center of the rest of the trees, and he could only hear the echo of cars driving in the distance. He was alone, so he sat down and rested his head on one of his knees. He thought about all of the other students that he had already met, and he wondered what the future would be like here and this school. Then his mind wandered to his family, and he began to worry because he did not check in with them to see how they were doing. He looked at his watch and it was 9:00 pm. He closed his eyes to rest but quickly felt his eyes become heavy. When he sat up the air was humid and cool. He hated that he had fallen asleep outside. He quietly listened for people talking but could not hear any noise, just the mist was floating in the trees. He heard coyotes yipping in the distance and he wondered if they were hunting small animals. He looked around to try to see through the frosty mist, but it was impossible. He tried to see the buildings in the distance, but the fog was too thick. He became fearful about being lost. Then he remembered that during the day he had been able to see the buildings from this area so he would have to wait until morning to find his building and that meant he was stuck out here in the fog. He was cold and he felt hungry. Theodore and Robert were back in the room and saw that it was getting dark. Theodore looked at Robert and said, “I wonder where Joseph is right now?” Robert looked outside and then looked at Theodore and said, “It’s my fault. When I was yelling at him, I meant it as a joke but then it sounded like I was angry and then I did not know how to take it back because I realized I was angry, but I do not know why. Why am I angry with this man! Now we are in trouble if we do not find him and it will be my fault. I will tell the dorm officer that it isn’t your fault, Theodore.” Theodore looked at Robert and said, “I was laughing as well, and I wonder if he heard me. It’s my fault too. I am angry that he was looking at Sarah and she was looking back at him. She was looking at his chest and arms! I noticed! She doesn’t do that with anyone, not even me!” “Maybe she likes him. I thought you were just friends with her, Theodore.” “We are friends I guess.” Robert said, “Just because she was looking at him doesn’t mean that she is not friends with you now!” “I guess so, maybe I will ask her.” “Maybe you should wait to see if she talks to you about it.” “OK. I will.” “It will work out, Theodore. She is a nice person, and she brought her friends here to meet us. Remember? I thought you liked Mary” Robert gently chided. Theodore explained, “I thought she was nice, but I had not thought about it. What if she doesn’t like me?” “Well, I like Melody.” Robert stated. “And who wouldn’t like you? Besides, we just got here, so maybe you should not think about it yet and wait until you meet some other girls. “How do you know that you like Melody?” Theodore asked. “I don’t know. I guess because we get along and she is really pretty.” “Oh, uh ok.” Theodore smiled and laughed at Robert. Robert said, “We had better go look for him I guess, do you have a flashlight?” Theodore said, “No I did not bring one from home, sir, I did not think we would have to look for missing children out in the wilderness when I left home. I think that the lights are on outside and that will help us, anyway, so, let’s go, before we get into trouble with that useless dorm officer. I hate how he talked to our girls.” “I know, I can’t believe he just walked in here without knocking, I don’t think we will have any trouble getting him in trouble with the administration.” They walked out into the hall and then saw the dorm officer coming down the stairs. “Hurry!” Whispered Theodore. Robert made sure that the door to the room was locked and that he had the key, and they slipped out the door to the outside. They had gotten a few feet away from the door and they heard the door open behind them. They dodged into the darkness next to a bush next to the building. They saw the dorm officer pull out a cigarette and light it. He placed the cigarette between his lips and sucked in. His whole chest heaved in, and he made a small noise with his throat. Robert looked at Theodore and they both started laughing. The cigarette holder then started singing, “She’ll be coming around the mountain when she comes.” He sang this repeatedly, over and over again, quietly to himself while staring off into the distance. They looked at each other again and Theodore pointed into the darkness to a closer bush. They quietly walked over, closer to where he was standing. Theodore started to whisper laughing noises so that the dorm officer could hear him. The dorm officer’s singing stopped. Then they heard him trying to sing again but they could hear that the officer was slightly stuttering on all of the words while he peered into the darkness. Pete had just watched Alfred Hitchcock on his small television in his room and decided to come out to smoke and he did not like this at all, he was wondering if he was imagining it. Theodore pointed at Robert to start whispering. Robert started whispering laughter in a high-pitched voice and again they heard him stop singing. Pete decided to walk in and go to his room, he thought to himself that he was going to have to take that other job as a security guard. Robert and Theodore quietly ran over to the parking lot. Robert looked across the parking lot to the next building and saw the lights of several flashlights flying around, and he knew that they were playing some sort of game. He wished that they could go but they had no flashlights. “Look, Theodore, look what they are doing, I want to go over there.” Theodore said, “We have to look for Joseph.” “I know. Let’s look for him on the way and we can ask them if they have seen someone walking around by himself. “Ok.” Easily agreed, Theodore. They hurriedly walked over and met up with a couple of people who were hiding. “Hey, what’s up?” They saw it was one of the guys who had been in their room earlier, the very thin guy who had left with his girlfriend when the dorm officer came in. “Hey! Why did you not tell us that you were here?” “Oh, hey! I thought you were in trouble.” “No, we aren’t in trouble, but we got a verbal warning. What was your name again?” “It’s Adam, I did not get to talk to you at all earlier. Do you have flashlights?” “We are actually trying to find the guy, Joseph, that you pushed into our room when you came in.” Adam said, “Oh? What happened?” Robert looked at Adam and said, “I was angry at him, so I locked him out of the room and told him to leave and then we yelled at each other through the door.” Adam said, “Oh. When was that?” “When it started to get dark.” Theodore said. Adam stated, “That was about an hour ago. Maybe we could all look for him?” Robert stated, “Sure, Adam, that would be great. I feel like such a bastard.” Adam raised his eyebrows and said, “I hope that you can work it out since you will be roommates, right?” “Well, I think that Theodore was going to trade with him, and he can be where Theodore was. That’s what we were planning.” Adam said to Robert, “So why are you mad at Joseph?” Adam was standing next to a girl who had been in their room earlier. She looked at the grass and then she took Adam’s flashlight and ran to find other people. Adam was holding another flashlight in his other hand, and he turned that one on and flashed her with it as she ran away. She smiled at him, and he smiled back. Robert suddenly felt frustrated because he never had this reaction from girls. Adam seemed extremely comfortable with everyone, and Robert wished that it could be like that for him. Robert said, “I am not sure why I hate the guy. I hated him when he entered the room. He just seems like someone who is… well I guess I just don’t know why.” Adam just stood there smiling at all of the people playing tag. Robert felt frustrated about that and wondered if Adam ever got angry. Robert sensed that Adam wanted him to explain to him what the real reason was. “Robert said, “I guess I just felt frustrated right when he came into the room, and I just don’t know why.” Adam said, “I have felt that way before about people when I feel frustrated with myself. I then have to understand that it isn’t their fault, and I have to accept that they are around and that I am supposed to learn something about myself in that situation. I then decide not to be angry with them or myself and just let it be. Eventually the answer comes to me. During that time, I can choose to be at peace with the situation and at peace with that person. This allows me to have the possibility of being friends with that person if they are a safe person to be around. This is something I do but I am not saying that you have to do that, but it works for me. I hope that you can find some peace for yourself in this situation.” Robert looked at Adam and did not know what to say.
Chapter 12
The Sandwich.
Scott had been waiting for Archie in the hospital parking lot for some time. Scott felt that Archie was making choices that his own pigs wouldn’t have approved of. Why was he waiting? He should be home making plans to build a barn or maybe a gas station since both of those places seemed to be stealing his money every day. He wanted to see if he had any hunting skills left but they had been ruined by others. Why was he here looking as if he was alone while all the other people were going into the hospital together to see the almost dead people inside. Why did they bother anyway? All they had to do was call the front desk to see if they were still alive. The people at the front desk at this hospital gave out all of the information to everyone on the phone anyway no matter who a person was calling about. That way they had someone to pray for at church while they gossiped about their diseases. They wanted to make sure that slushies were not brought to the bake sale for the diabetic souls. Scott opened his backpack and found his sandwich that he had forgotten to eat. He looked up and saw a small movement out of the corner of his eye, startled, he flung his sandwich in the dirt. He looked to his right expecting to see a cat. He looked around the tree and there was nothing there. He became fearful again and felt so angry that he was fearful about nothing. He hunched over and ran to get his sandwich. He kneeled and picked it up and wiped the mud off. He started to eat it again and then he saw a form appear in front of him. He lunged back and hit his head on a tree and then the form quickly disappeared. He rubbed his head and stood there looking for this creature that he had never seen before. He looked up into the treetops and then down on the ground and there was his sandwich on the ground, he looked at his hand, but the sandwich was gone. It started sliding across the ground towards another tree and then he heard giggling. He then saw a small man that looked like an elf standing behind the tree a few feet away laughing at him. He had a green suit on with a green top hat. His face was old and wrinkled around the eyes and his face looked very rough. Scott wondered how old he was, as he was standing by the tree laughing at Scott. He said with a shrill sounding voice, “Aren’t we all just having such a bit of fun with you Scott.” He said with a smile and started to laugh again. “We here in this wood do not like that you are here visiting us! We want you to leave. So, I, Herald, am taking your sandwich! In hopes that you will run far off and away and will never see my gold that I have stolen from those fairies!” Herald was looking right through Scott to an area behind him. Scott turned around and saw a very large, wooded area full of trees. Scott could hear water rushing in the distance. He thought he was dreaming and became fearful about the darkness in these woods that appeared right in front of him. The elf started to laugh again, and Scott saw a wall of laughing mouths with huge teeth appearing above the elf named Herald. Light streamed through the flying, laughing mouths and then they threw light into all of the dark corners of the forest as they laughed and spun. He wondered what he was supposed to do and where was Archie. Scott felt a presence standing next to his right shoulder. He looked but nothing was there. He looked for Herald the elf, but he was standing next to a far-off tree. Suddenly he sprang and leapt towards him. Scott jumped back so that Herald could not catch him. Herald hunched himself down and ran through the trees further into the woods. He looked back at Joseph and frowned, then suddenly the elf was right in front of Joseph’s face, growling right at Joseph’s nose. Joseph jumped back, trying to separate himself from this elf. Then a large laughing mouth flew right in front of Herald’s face and lunged at his neck. Herald jumped back, trying not to get bitten by the large, mocking mouth with very large teeth. Herald stated to the flying mouth, “Oh! You offend me! I was just having some fun with this horror of a child who dares to be around in our woods!” Suddenly Herald’s hand shot up and smacked himself in the face and the mouth started to mock Herald again. The large teeth smiled a very large, hideous smile of mockery and continued to dance around his head. Scott had never seen any situation such as this before, and he hoped that he wouldn’t be lost in these woods forever with Herald and all of these floating mouths. The elf suddenly punched himself in the eye and the mouth continued to dance around him. The elf started to scream with anger as if he was having a tantrum. He then fell on the ground and the mouth moved up and down his leg, biting his knee and then pushed his knobby knee up into his chest and rolled him over onto his side. Scott saw another mouth fly in from the darkness and dart right in front of him and it started pushing Scott back gently. He heard the laughing mouth’s high-pitched voice speaking to him, “Scott!” The mouth screamed his name, “We mouths are the sad mouths of the hills and hissles, and we are sad that this elf has treated you in this way, Scott. Please leave this area so that you can be safe again. We will hold him here with our large sharp teeth while you are leaving. Your helper is near.” Scott wondered where to go to get out of this forest that wasn’t supposed to be here at all. How can these mouths speak about leaving this place? How could he get out? Which direction was he supposed to go in? Then he heard the mouth’s voice screaming at him again, “You have to run Scott! Keep running through the trees! Run, through the darkness!” Scott started fearfully running at full speed trying to get away from the huge spinning, screaming mouths. He looked up at the trees and into the darkness to try to find his way. The darkness seemed to get darker and then suddenly a laughing mouth threw itself at Scott’s face and Scott was diverted from his path to his right. The mouth had a much deeper voice this time and slowly spoke, “Do not be afraid of the dark, Scott, many happy situations come from the darkness.” Scott kept running and the trees disappeared. He was suddenly back at the parking lot of the hospital. He was angry that he could not find Archie and wondered where he had gone. He became worried. Where the hell was Archie? Why had he been left by him in the parking lot to die? Scott fell onto his knees and pretended to look for his sandwich.
Chapter 13
What? No Flashlight?
No one had ever given him this kind of advice before, and he really liked this advice. Robert said, “Thanks I will think about that.” “Sure, any time.” Adam smiled and said, “OK, friends! Who here can help look for someone?” All of the people came over and one of the guys asked, “When are we supposed to be in our rooms?” Adam stated, “In about an hour because it is 9:00 right now.” “Ok!” said the guy, “We have time to look for him. What is his name?” Robert said, “Joseph is his name. He is pretty tall, and he has brown hair. He looks like he lifts weights, he is kind of big.” Adam said, “Ok let us make a plan.” Adam directed them quickly so that they would stay safe. Since it was dark out, he did not want people to get lost. Robert was not used to someone else being in charge. He was usually the guy who was in charge when his friends were around back home. He had met Theodore earlier because they were staying in the same building and Theodore was very easy to get along with. Theodore mentioned that he had asked his friend Sarah to come to his window to say hello to him and Robert hoped that she would bring her friends. Then people started congregating in their room and Robert turned on some music. Theodore was in a different room, but Robert did not care and figured that when his roommate Joseph showed up, they could trade. He did not see the trouble in that, and he did not think that they would need to ask for permission. He was done with asking for permission from adults. He was eighteen and an adult and able to make his own decisions. Theodore went along with Robert’s plan. He was fine with trading with Joseph when he got there, and he did not expect Joseph to be so stubborn. Theodore realized that they never actually asked Joseph if he would want to do that and so he did not know what to do about it. Adam and his friends looked for 30 minutes and then Adam told his friends that it was getting late. One of the girls said to Robert, “So, why is Joseph not around? What happened? Have you told your dorm officer that he is missing? Maybe you should let him know.” Adam smiled at her, “Hey we need to get all of you women to the dorm. Guys! We need to walk them back to the dorms and get back here in 30 minutes!” They all started running towards the women’s dorms. Adam yelled, “We have to go! I hope that you find your friend! Look it is starting to rain!” Robert and Theodore walked back to their building in the rain. They could see the lightning off in the distance above the treetops. Robert asked, “What should we do?” Theodore said, “I guess we need to talk to the dorm officer if Joseph is not in the building when we get inside. We have 20 minutes before we have to be in our rooms at 10:00 pm.” It started pouring rain and they started running for the door. The dorm officer was not at the door anymore. When they went inside there were other guys coming in the opposite door at the other end of the hall. Theodore wondered what Sarah was doing and if she and her friends were inside her room. She had given him the number to the dorm earlier that day so that he could call if he wanted to. He went over to the telephone, but someone was using it. Theodore stood there so that the guy knew that he was next. The guy who was talking told the person who he was talking to, “Hey, I have to go, we have to be in our rooms, OK, bye.” Theodore said, “Thanks.” and the guy said “Whatever.” Theodore picked up the phone and dialed. He looked at his watch and noticed that it was 9:45. He wanted this night to be over. Sarah answered, “Hey, how did you know that I was going to call?” Sarah said, “I just happened to be out in the hall. How are you? What are you doing?” Theodore realized that she did not know what was going on and he did not know how to explain what had happened and he did not want to tell her. He started crying, “Sarah, we cannot find Joseph. We had locked him out of the room earlier and he left the building, and he hasn’t returned. We looked outside but could not find him. It is raining now, and I don’t know why he hasn’t returned.” Sarah said in a worried voice, “Where is Robert?” “He was with me, and we were looking for him with some other people who were playing flashlight tag.” Sarah said, “Oh I heard that there was a group playing that over by your building. Were you playing with them?” “No, we never played that game with them, we just noticed that they were playing. The guy who was in charge was one of the guys who had been in our room earlier. Do you remember Adam? He was over by the sink in our room.” “Oh, I kind of remember him. Have you talked to the dorm officer yet?” “No, not yet. I am going to go and do that now with Robert.” “Ok, thanks for letting me know, let me know what happens as soon as you can.” He looked outside and did not see Joseph anywhere. Theodore had wanted to ask Sarah if she had liked Joseph but did not know how to ask. He did not want her to like Joseph. He had always been her friend from high school who had protected her, and she always talked to him about everything that she was doing, and he did not want that to change. He hated coming here, and wished he was back home and back in high school where he knew everyone, and everyone knew him. He had been on the wrestling team and had won almost all of his matches. He was always at every party, and he was a popular person. He had excellent grades, and all of the teachers liked him. He was friends with everyone who was important and everyone else who kind of wasn’t. When he saw Joseph come into the room and he had felt jealous. He had never felt as jealous as he had felt jealous about Joseph. He knew that his feelings were wrong, but he did not know how to talk about them because his parents never wanted to hear anything about his feelings. They just wanted only good situations to be in place and that meant not talking about bad feelings. He felt angry again at himself and Joseph and he wanted to go to bed. He went to get Robert who was face down on the bed sleeping. Theodore woke him up and said, “Hey we have to go talk to the dorm officer. Get up.” “OK, when can this be over?” they walked out into the hall and the officer was walking through. Robert walked up to him and stated, “Hey we need some help, we can’t find Joseph and we have been looking for him.” The officer looked at him and Robert could see that he was not pleased. The officer asked, “Who is Joseph?” Theodore looked at Robert and rolled his eyes and then he answered, “Remember today? You let him leave this room and go outside because he said that he left something outside, and he ended up talking to the women who were waiting for their officer” “Oh yeah, that guy. He talked to the women’s dorm officer when she was talking to your friends. “I did not know that part because we did not talk to him after he came in.” “What are you talking about?” asked the officer. “What was he talking about with the officer?” “She told me that he offered to walk all of them over to the women’s building in case they would need him there. She gave him the number to the women’s dorm where the girls are staying in case the girls left something here and then she would come and get it. Did Joseph tell you that?”
chapter 14
The Smoke…
Theodore said, “No he did not tell me that and neither did Sarah. I called over to her dorm and talked to Sarah tonight to tell her that he was missing but she never said that that happened.” “Oh, why were you not telling me at that time. How early was that and how did you get that number?” “Sarah gave it to me.” “I think the women have to have permission to give that number out to people.” “Ok, well I am her friend from high school. She knew me before she met this Joseph guy who is now missing” Ok, where have you looked?” asked the dorm officer. “Outside.” said Robert. “Did he show up here after he was outside with the women’s dorm officer? Yes, but we locked the door so that he could not come in. The officer said, “Any time this happens you need to tell me at the beginning so that I can find and use all of the resources that I can during the day or at least at dusk so that it isn’t so late. We could have been looking for him earlier, but now it is 10:00 pm at night, why did you not tell me before this? What have you boys been doing during this time? Playing around in your room or maybe running through the parking lot?” The officer wanted to cuss at them, but it was against school policy. “Ok, let me get a flashlight from my room. He talked to himself in his head. Why are these boys like this? They have no common sense. Now what? It is so late and this kid, Joseph, has not come back here to his room. He could have talked to me about anything. Why would it be that he did not come back? I wish I had handled the situation that happened today, differently. Maybe I should not have talked to the girls in that manner and then let him leave the room. I did not like the conversation that I had with the women’s dorm officer after she got back to the dorm. She said that I did not follow school policy by just sending them out to the parking lot and making them wait. School was just starting, and all rules had to be followed. Now this guy is missing, and I don’t know what to do. I think I will call her and ask just to make sure that he did not show up at the women’s building. He called Norma, “Hey, sorry it is so late, but that guy Joseph is missing from here, have you seen him around there with any of the girls who you had to come and get today?” There was a short pause and the men’s dorm officer, Pete, was worried about what she was going to say to him. Norma said, “It is 10:00 pm and you are just finding out that this guy is not in the building?” “Yes, Norma, can you ask the girls if they have seen him?” “They are women, sir, do not call them girls.” “Ok, ask the women if they have seen him then. Can you do that now?” “Wait here on the phone, please.” “Where else am I going to go ma’am?” “Just a minute, do not be rude sir. I will be back.” Pete rolled his eyes at her and then stuck his head out of the room and asked the guys, “Did you tell anyone else?” Theodore and Robert looked at each other and wondered what to say. They did not want to get anyone else into trouble playing flashlight tag. Robert wondered if it was against school policy to play flashlight tag. Maybe it was written somewhere that the school prohibits flashlight tag somewhere in small print. Maybe everyone would be fined for it and then expelled. Robert was frustrated about being here at this school where women could not come into the men’s dorms. Everyone was an adult here, and he felt that this school should treat them accordingly. This school was too strict. He looked at Theodore and wondered if he thought the same thing about this school. Robert wondered why Joseph did not come back and now they are in trouble, and he was worried about Joseph. He did not seem like the kind of person who would just leave and not come back. Robert remembered that he was the one who locked the door and did not let him in. Robert was getting frustrated because he was remembering what Joseph looked like and how he had acted. He seemed like he could take care of himself but why did he not have the common sense to come back. Why had he still not shown up. Theodore looked at Robert and rolled his eyes and said, “Yes we told some people, and they helped us to look for him, Mr. sad man.” Robert and Theodore frowned at the dorm officer. Robert said, “We saw you smoking outside by the doorway. But then you went inside so quickly we did not have a chance to talk to you. Pete looked at them and thought to himself how he needed to take that other job, elsewhere. Pete said, “Ok, let’s look.”
Chapter 15
Shadows
Archie started to feel urgent about ending his time with Sandy right then. He had already been there with her for an hour, and he wondered how Scott felt about being in the parking lot for so long, waiting. Archie had started to feel frustrated with himself recently because he had become so uncaring about how the people around him felt. He did not care about people suffering on the news or the other guys at work. He did not feel sad for people who passed away and their families. He did not want to talk to his brothers and sisters, and they never contacted him since their mother passed away that morning after making pancakes in the kitchen. He did not care about Sandy either but pretended to care so that they could get along. She was one of the prettiest girls in that town and he did not want to miss what she could give him. Every day he wondered if there was going to be anything different about their relationship. He was getting bored, and he wondered if she was as well. He was still having his weekly garage sales at his house even though Nora and a few of her friends had moved into his mother’s house. He kept everything in the garage, and they said that they did not care about using the garage. He was becoming close friends with Nora and her friends, but Sandy did not get along with them. He had moved into Hal’s shop after he had come home from the hospital. Archie decided to move into the shop and Scott stayed in his friend’s basement until he could convince Archie to move in with him, but he wanted some space and some privacy so that he could do what he wanted, which was drink. He and Sandy normally spent several hours together, especially when she was at the shop with him. Hal recovered well enough to go home after being at the hospital for a couple of weeks. He had needed an in-home nurse to come and take care of him, so Sandy had volunteered since she already knew Hal. Hal had a shop in his back yard where he would stay if his family needed to stay in the house when they were in town. Archie wanted to go and visit Sandy at the hospital because she had not stayed with him at the shop for the last few days. Archie had started hating Sandy, but he refused to understand why. He had wanted her to be a different person, why could she not be like who she was at the beginning of them seeing each other? She had been happier and treated him with love and affection. She started going into the medication closet at the hospital and started sharing all of them with him. He had wanted to be a fun person for her because he really liked her. He started craving the different pills that she would bring over to him and Hal. She had to sneak in and out of the closet and she had not gotten caught yet. She had told Archie that she really felt exhilarated after going in and out successfully. Archie had many, many liquor bottles that he had collected from people’s garbage bins. He loved having this collection of liquor that he could look at. Because these bottles were not bottles of liquor that he was choosing, it fascinated him. He liked to picture the families who drank them, what they were doing and why did they throw these away when they were still half full. He started obsessing about each one. Were these bottles of liquor supposed to mean something to him, he wondered? He did not like to drink them, but he felt special each time that he did. He did not talk about his feelings about these bottles with anyone, not even Sandy. She asked him what addresses he had found the bottles at and had made it seem like a game. He told her about the address for each one and she started to label them with the addresses at the bottom with a magic marker. He started to watch the trash at those houses to see if any other half full bottles were thrown away, as well as all of the other houses. He was asking for different routes to see if he could collect bottles from those routes as well. They started drinking small drinks together after taking different pills just to see how it would affect each other. These times seemed to help him forget his mother and her death a little bit more each time and each day. He had not told Scott about his dreams and how they seemed to spill over into the daytime. Sandy had no idea either. He just thought it was the effects of the drugs that Sandy was giving him and the alcohol that plagued him every day. He started finding some of his personal items moved more and more each day. He would find items rearranged in the refrigerator and on the counter. When he looked at himself in the mirror, he usually saw shadows dart by. He had seen these shadows at his mother’s house and was happy to move somewhere else. Moving into the shop was no better. He normally was fine taking walks at night but then he started seeing more shadows that turned into other images. They were large shadows of neanderthal people that followed him during his walks. He saw these shadows at the movie theater and other places at night and during the day he saw their shadows following him for little pieces of time as shadows caught by the sun. These things were unexplainable, and he did not know who to talk to about them. Nora was working in the trash business, and he was never able to work on any of the paperwork for any of the routes anymore. Nora wanted everything to be professionally done and did not approve of how Hal had run the business. She expressed how she did not like how Hal had involved two young kids in the business. She was a tough person to get along with sometimes and Scott felt it impossible to even try. She helped the business to grow beyond what Hal had imagined so her attitude was overlooked. Since Hal was still recovering at home, she took that time to change everything. She was fighting with the route drivers at times, but no one could change the situation. Archie wanted to understand Nora’s feelings and opinions about how he shouldn’t have been helping Hal, but he really liked Nora, so he decided to keep the peace and not to ask her about it until they were better friends. He just pretended he agreed by not speaking to her or Hal about it. He could tell that Scott did not approve of his relationship with Sandy. He knew that Scott had observed that Sandy was giving him and Hal drugs from the hospital but did now know how to talk about it with him. Scott would ask him at work if he was ok and Archie was tired of explaining. He did not think that it was affecting him at all, he just wanted to get more bottles! Archie was thinking to himself, ‘Wasn’t that, ok? Why did Scott have to make such a big deal about it?’ Archie remembered his conversation with Scott. He had told Archie that going away to school would be a good idea, but Archie reminded him that he already had half of his two-year degree. Archie had yelled at Scott and told him that he did not want to go to classes that would be harder for him to accomplish. Besides, Scott had all of his certifications anyway and did not need to go anywhere either as far as Archie was concerned. ‘Wasn’t this town just fine to live in? Why was Sandy not caring suddenly about him? She seemed bored with her situation.’ He thought to himself. She looked at Archie and told him hesitantly that she didn’t want to see him as much. He wanted to cry but felt relieved. He asked desperately, “Ok, how about just three times per week? That is less than it is now.” Archie knew that Scott was outside waiting for him in the car. He had said that he was only going to be a minute.
Leave a Reply