Twenty-Three

Twenty-Three

            “Good morning,” Melissa brightly greeted Sam and handed him coffee.

            “Ugh! What’s good about it?”  He grumbled, white hair a bedraggled mess of bed head.

            “Well aren’t we a chipper one,” she grinned. He murmured a few choice words about her being an annoying morning person.

            Sam shuffled over to the table, sat down, sipped his coffee and stared out the window.  Melissa knew her brother well enough to leave him be while he compartmentalized the ever-present pain.  Doctors told him in his early fifties he had the body of a ninety-year-old. He’d pushed it to its limits in his youth.  The clincher happened when he’d injured his back. Over time it’d resulted in two steel rods to prevent being paralyzed. 

            In usual stubborn fashion, he’d disregarded the doctor’s advice to stop activities like golf and canoeing. Because it would create additional scar tissue.  Which resulted in more pain and a twelve-year dependence on increased dosages of narcotics.  It hadn’t helped he’d married a younger woman who always wanted to ‘play’ and encouraged him to take pain meds so they could.  

            Despite doctor’s orders to wean himself off oxycontin, he went cold turkey after they’d put in a spinal cord stimulator; a godsend for his lower back.  He still endured upper back pain.  With the help of pain management techniques, he could function. But only after coffee and a profuse amount of morning cursing and complaining.  Melissa puttered in the kitchen and waited; he’d yack when ready.

            “More please,” he grunted holding out his cup.  She filled it, noting his lite blue eyes looked more alert despite the half-mast eyelids.

            “How’d you sleep?” She asked.

            “Not bad,” he explained, “I ate pot candy before going to bed, so got my six hours.  Just the usual pain and wishing I were dead.”

            Melissa knew this was a common morning refrain.  Although there had been a time, he’d seriously contemplated suicide.  She could think of three specific incidences, where over the phone, she’d talked him out of it.  Thankfully it had been a good ten years since that period in his life.  The constant pain, divorce, and oxycontin addiction had been a strong pull to end it all. Now he just needed to talk about wanting to die and argue with God about why He hadn’t taken him yet. 

            “What’s on the agenda for today?”  Sam half growled.

            “No agenda.  Just hang out,” she answered. “Unless you want to do something.”

            “Nah! I’m happy staying put.  What’s Ed up too?”

            “He ran over to Bob’s for coffee.” She shook her head, “He likes being retired and ‘gossiping’ with Bob. My word not his.”

            “Retirement sure has mellowed him,” Sam commented.  “I can remember back in the day he was the energizer bunny.”

            Melissa laughed.  An unbidden image of her husband dressed in a pink bunny suit like the one from his favorite holiday movie A Christmas Story dazzled her thoughts.

            “That wasn’t that funny,” her brother looked at her quizzically.

            “Sorry I was picturing him hopping all around in a pink bunny suit,” she continued to giggle as Sam spit out a mouthful of coffee and loudly chortled.

            “Hey you could have warned a guy,” he smiled and wiped coffee off his chin.

            “Sorry!” she grinned “Yep he certainly has mellowed. I also think he’s just giving us time to chat without him around.”

            “Cool! So, what ya want to talk about?” his tone brightened, “Quantum Physics? String Theory? Good versus evil?”

            “Coffee must be kicking in,” she rolled her eyes, “How about what a cute freckled face redheaded girl you made when you were little.”

            “Hey! That was all you and Debe’s doing!  I was too young to fight back!”

            “Yea, it was pretty fun. You were our living Doll.  We’d put a bright scarf on your head.  Clip on earrings, bright red lipstick and you were all ready for us to play house and make mind.” She said with delight.

            “It’s a wonder I’m not more screwed up after what you two did to me.”

            “Ah! You wish you could blame it on that!  We both know it helped you get in touch with your feminine side!”  She mocked with one hand on her hip.

            “And you wonder why I made a career of the Navy.  I had to do something drastic just to deprogram myself after you two!”

            “Like that made a difference,” she challenged then softly asked. “Do you ever wonder what Debe would be like today if she hadn’t died so young?”

            “Really haven’t thought about her in a long time. You think of her often?”

            “Now and again,” she sighed. “Usually on her birthday in March and especially when Nicole died.  I couldn’t help but wonder how different things might have been if she were alive.”

            “Hmm, after all these years you still miss her?”

            “Yes. Even though it’s been forty-five years since her death, I do. She had a way of cutting through mom’s BS and calling her on it. I never learned to do that. I think of all the mischief we got in. I mean, she’s the one who got me to smoke my first cigarette, Salem Light.  I got a bit of a buzz off um and was hooked.”

            “I remember you guys sneaking in the back door of the trailer after being out late to a party at her boyfriend’s trailer,” Sam chuckled, “You didn’t realize mom hadn’t come home yet from her own night of partying.”

            “Yea that sucked,” she flinched at the memory. “We could’ve come through the front door.  Instead I boosted her and then she pulled me up.  Which was hilarious because we were drunker than a skunk.  I kept insisting I hadn’t drunk anything!  So, couldn’t be drunk.  She giggled uncontrollably as I staggered and slurred my words.”

            “Come morning we had a major hangover. I think the only reason mom didn’t notice is she had her typical weekend hangover. Next day, after Debe talked to her boyfriend, I discovered why.  Because, seriously, I hadn’t drunk anything. They’d made a punch and added fruit cocktail.  All I did was eat the fruit at the bottom. Well, little did I know fruit absorbs alcohol and actually makes you drunker. I never made that mistake again!”

“Live and learn! But did you really?” Sam taunted.  “I recall you guys going over to Doug’s a lot!”

“Hey, what about the mischief you stirred up when we lived there?” Melissa challenged.  “I don’t care if it’s politically incorrect but we were trailer trash! A stereotypical family when it came to a single mom with four kids renting a trailer. Living in a park full of kids like us running amok without much supervision.  Thank heavens it was the early seventies where an adult could still read you the riot act for being a hoodlum!”

“Are you implying I was a hoodlum, little miss goodie two shoes!”

“If the shoe fits!” She retorted, tapping a finger on her upper lip, “As I recall you knot heads almost killed a guy with one of your stupid tricks.”

“Naw, we just scared the crap out of him,” Sam shrugged with swagger.

“You caused him to wreck his dirt bike!”

“He was an arrogant asshole!  Picked on us younger guys all the time.  It was his comeuppance.” 

“But creating a manlike dummy and dropping it from a tree limb as if it was someone hanging themselves just as the dude rode underneath! I mean seriously what were you thinking!!”

“I was eleven! You don’t think at eleven!” He mocked, “It’s far more fun to go; I wonder what would happen if … and then do it.  So, we did.”

“You were probably the ring leader knowing you,” She rolled her eyes.  “What’d mom do when she found out?”

“Oh, the usual.  Got out that old leather belt, walloped me a few times.  Grounded me for I don’t remember how long.”  He smiled and added, “Those were the days.”

“I’m amazed you didn’t end up in juvie for some of your antics!” Melissa shook her head with disbelief.

“Yea, that’s for sure!  I remember we broke all the electric meters.  Boy, the whole trailer court was up in arms about that one.  They just couldn’t prove it was our little gang.  It wasn’t too long after mom moved us to town into that house next to the cemetery.”

“Didn’t she send you out to Dad’s?  Seems like whenever you got to be a hand full, she shipped you off to Dad.”

“Probably. She did that so many times I’ve long since lost track of when, what or where,” he frowned.  “One thing I do know is I had trailer trash down to a fine art.  Dad and Alice lived in trailer courts. So between them and mom I ran wild and free!”

“I vaguely remember a few hoodlum antics from when you lived with dad,” Melissa stated.

“Wherever there’s a group of boys there’s trouble brewing, that’s for sure,” he paused, “There were twelve of us, age seven to fourteen.  We were hanging out in a treehouse, smoking cigarettes we’d stole from the cigarette machine.  The treehouse caught on fire. Smoke billowed made it hard to see as we hightailed it out of there. Ended up starting a bit of a forest fire, burnt about an acre before got put out.”

“You know it’s a wonder, an absolute wonder, you didn’t end up in jail!”

“Ah I never really did anything that bad,” he sheepishly stated, “It usually started with ‘you think it would be cool if …’ It’s just examples of the stupid stuff kids do when left to fend for themselves.”

“Good thing you joined the Navy!  Heaven only knows what would have happened to you otherwise!”

“Best thing mother ever did for me was sign those enlistment papers.  She thought she was doing me a big favor. What she didn’t realize was I was so done and wanted to get away from her. She was getting ready to send me back to Dad for the umpteenth time. Like I told cousin Margaret there’s reasons I left home at seventeen.”

            “Reason’s few understand for sure,” Melissa agreed.

            “You and Debe could’ve got into trouble a time or two. Don’t make it sound like it was just me,” Sam protested.

            “True, but ours was usually mom sanctioned.  When laundry needed done Mom would send us in the car to the laundromat. Tell us to be careful, don’t get caught because Debe was fifteen, me fourteen.  Needless to say, we’d start the laundry and off we’d go for a joy ride,” Melissa pondered for a moment, “Or she’d send us to the store for cigs.  Basically, if mom didn’t feel like doing it, she sent us girls.”

            “Those were the days,” Sam sighed.

            “That’s one way to look at it,” Melissa chuckled, “To say we had an unorthodox upbringing is an understatement. I know it seems relatively harmless but, in all reality, it was a shitty way to grow up.”

            “We survived, it could’ve been worse,” Sam stated.

            “Of course, it could have been worse, and therein lies the problem.  Don’t you think having to remember your childhood with “it could’ve been worse” is a problem in and of itself?”

            “Sure,” Sam replied, “but it’s how we’ve survived all those years.”

            “We tolerated the intolerable.  Justified and excused it because mom was being mom, not about to change and nothing we could do about it,” Melissa matter-of-factly stated.

            “Pretty much sums it up that’s for sure,” Sam agreed and grinned, “But hey, it does give us some wild and crazy stories to tell.”

            “Me oh my we do have stories,” Melissa laughed. “It would be a trip to if you, I and Jen combined our stories.”

            “No doubt a bestseller,” he chuckled.

            “Bestseller?” Ed echoed as he stepped into the kitchen.

            Melissa jumped as Sam explained, “Yea Melissa’s going to write an expose.  Tell our tall tales, because that’s what people will think they are.”

            “True, but little would they know it’s a truth stranger than fiction,” Ed validated.

            “I like that description! There you go Sis, the title to the book.” Sam said with delight.

            Melissa raised her hands in protest, “I can tell how the rest of this day’s going! You two ganging up on me.  So, I surrender!”

            “Ah you’re no fun,” Sam pouted.

            “You’ll get over it,” Melissa mocked.

Ed laughed then added, “How about I take us out to breakfast.”

“My treat!” Sam chimed in.

Melissa put cups in the dishwasher.  Ed headed to the bathroom and Sam shuffled off to get ready.  She smiled and remembered when Sam had been eighteen, Ed thirtyish and they’d smoke pot together.  Now they were old men excited to be going out for their favorite meal of the day, breakfast.  Life was good.