Chapter 09– Life is Hard
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He looked up, hopeful. "Is it too late to take you up on your offer to go out for coffee sometime?"
Mrs. Falcon's timer went off at the same moment. "Tomorrow at 4:00. I have a bridal shower I'm working in the morning. I'll meet you down the street at Corrina's Café." Jackie pointed to the small building with the giant pink neon coffee cup. "You can apologize to me there." She stood up and walked to the door of her salon. "If you don't show….well, then I'll know what kind of friend you want to be."
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He was prompt, she'd give him that much. Jackie had no sooner locked up her salon when she spied Eric Forman parking his car at the curb of the café. He waved at her and went through the door at what Jackie presumed was to save a table. He was dressing so much better!
She opened the door and found Eric had procured a table next to the corner window. He two menus but Jackie knew she only wanted coffee. This wasn't going to be some long drawn out coffee date. She smiled at Corrina who waved from the little window that peeked into the kitchen, but Jackie kept walking until she reached the table.
"You showed up." She greeted.
Eric was startled. He hadn't expected Jackie to be so prompt. Or pretty. "Uh…yeah….I didn't want to be late." He watched as she sat down opposite his seat and folded her hands on the table. "It was big of you to show up." She said honestly. "I figured you would have just have your mom phone in some excuse so you could stay home."
Ouch! That was a serious social burn. Jackie Burkhart was like an iron set on high heat – her burns were right on target. "I could have or….I could just honor my promise and meet you like I said I would. But first, let me apologize again for calling you Point Place's gossip machine. That was uncalled for and I sincerely want you to know I'm sorry."
The waitress stopped by the table to take their order and Jackie immediately ordered a cup of Corrina's strongest coffee. Eric had wanted to look at the menu but just asked for coffee also. The coffee came back seconds later. Eric decided he would let the brunette take lead of this conversation. Jackie added cream and sweetener to her beverage while Eric watched. She seemed to need something to keep her hands occupied.
"The cigarettes – hard to kick?" Eric asked to begin some conversation.
She nodded. "Yes, it's been difficult. I'm sick of chewing gum, Jolly Ranchers are ruining my teeth and I need something to do with my hands."
Eric pondered her dilemma for a moment and then the words just popped out of his mouth, "Maybe you should take up knitting."
She looked at him and blinked. "You can't be serious." Jackie Burkhart a knitter? Yeah, sure….
He gestured with his palms open. "Look, it keeps your hands busy, you have to concentrate on the stitches and you have a product you hand made in the end."
She snorted, "What do you know about knitting anyways."
Eric leaned back in his seat, some of his self-confidence creeping back. "I was teaching in a school where the villagers made fabrics. Every week trucks of raw wool would be shipped in and I watched as they spun it into yarn, dyed the wool into different colors. They made thread and would use these amazing looms to make fabric. In fact, that shirt you borrowed…..it was made in one of the villages just outside of Cape Town."
Jackie remembered the red and white checkered shirt and how soft the strange fabric was – definitely not a cotton product! "Oh yeah, I was going to wash it but there were no instructions on what temperature. Do I use cold water?"
He smiled. "You can keep it if you like. The point I was getting to, is that knitting, macramé, crocheting or sewing will keep your fingers busy if you have the desire to smoke."
Jackie considered sewing, she was pretty good at it while in Home Economics at Point Place High School but for a hobby? She'd rather go bowling! "Well, I appreciate the suggestions…but, I think I'll find a way to cope. Now what else?"
Eric leaned forward, his arms resting on the small table. "There was something you said that kind of hit home and not in a good way….I mean it was the truth but I didn't like hearing it."
She lifted a brow and brought the steaming cup to her lips. "Continue."
He played with the spoon and twirled it, stirred his coffee before replying. "You told me good luck in finding other people that would want to have a conversation with me. And while it irked me that you said it, I found that it was true. Since I've been back….I really didn't want to be around a lot of people. I just wanted to be alone."
Jackie let him continue. He spoke but didn't look up. "I have this problem…it's like…claustrophobia? When it's just me and my parents – everything is fine. Betsy is okay…my classroom is not so bad."
"Well, what is causing you to feel claustrophobic? I mean, wouldn't the airplane ride back have been more claustrophobic than being in your parents' home?" Jackie asked.
Eric looked at the beautiful face in front of him and while he and Jackie may not have had the closest friendship of all the basement teens, at least she was honest with him and free with her advice as well as her candid opinions. He needed to trust someone and why not start here?
"I'm going to ask you to keep what I tell you private okay?" He was nervous about confessing.
Jackie looked at the sincere expression on Eric's face. There was something troubling him and while they had been at odds before, Jackie was a trustworthy friend. At least she thought so! "Well, I'm not like Michael if that's what you mean."
Eric breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled. "Exactly! I've been home for a few weeks now and I'm having trouble getting out of the house. I'm fine getting up, going to work, coming home, grading papers but I don't have anything else. In Africa, I mean I could sit around a campfire and listen to stories being told. I could hang out at an outside bar and watch the stars…there's nothing like that here in Wisconsin…plus all this cold weather is a bitch!"
Jackie laughed. "You came back in the winter, what did you expect?
"Well, for one thing, December is the beginning of summer below the Equator. I guess I was thinking of warmer weather. You know, wear some shorts and sandals?"
She grinned, "Boy, you got this wrong. So anyways, what's stopping you from making a campfire at your parents' house? You know, provided you don't have the fire department coming out every evening."
Eric lifted a brow, "Well, nothing. I mean I could make a small fire ring in the side yard."
Jackie bit her lip, "Sure, and when the snow isn't falling, you could still see the stars."
That seemed logical, Eric had to admit. Jackie sipped some more coffee. "There are bars around here that have chairs outside, but since it's winter….the snow doesn't always make for good drinking beer weather."
"I see what you mean. Okay, you helped me out with two of my problems. The next is really personal and while my dad knows part of it, my mom or anyone else doesn't… so please….I'm trusting you."
Jackie sat back and listened. Eric told her the story about the bus accident taking the lives of his students. He shared the story of Connor's death and how the other guys left. He shared his loneliness and nightmares. She listened and did not judge. By the time Eric was through talking, he felt like he had purged something nasty from his body. It almost felt good to tell it to someone unrelated to him.
"So that's why you know about Betsy and the pillow….because she had seen you do it." Jackie replied compassionately. "She talks to you because she senses you have been through something bad also."
"I didn't really know Brooke, but I know, in a way, how Betsy feels. I keep asking, why not me? Why him? Why my students? Why did God leave Eric Forman alone and take the others."
Jackie bit her lip, "I'm guessing you saw a counselor with limited results?
Eric nodded. "I don't know the why and probably will never understand, but the nightmares are awful and I'm sleepwalking."
Jackie wasn't totally prepared to hear such a confession. Eric was showing her depths of his personality and highlighting strengths she didn't know he had. She was just a hairdresser that listened to women complain about their husbands – not something with as big a scope of problems like Eric Forman had to deal with! But, she guessed, confessing these experiences was heady stuff. It was like for once, Jackie was the important cog in the wheel of the basement friends. Her advice was important and valued.
She rocked!
She rolled.
Jackie Burkhart was freaking awesome.
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Eric went home feeling lighthearted and was that happiness that bubbled around the edges of his heart? Who knew that confiding in Jackie could have such a physical impact on his soul? He entered the kitchen, gave his mother a hug and clapped his dad on the back.
Kitty was startled but asked, "You had a good time? Out there….doing whatever…you were doing?"
Eric grinned. "Yes and yes. I feel tons better. I'll be up for dinner."
Kitty looked at her husband who only shrugged, "He must be on dope again."
"Now Red, Eric is a grown man. Must you bring up that stuff from years ago?"
He laughed, "Honey, I don't really care what he was doing – look at him. He's not feeling sorry for himself and that makes me happy. Look I'm smiling."
Kitty disagreed, "That's the look you give the dentist when he says 'Open wide'….you're not smiling."
Red stood up, "Well, it feels like a smile. I'm going out to the garage. Let me know when dinner is done."
Kitty was alone in the kitchen. What a perfect time to make a pre-dinner drink? She opened the cupboard above the fridge, pulled out the bottle of scotch, retrieved a few ice cubes from the freezer and found a nice solid glass. Dinner could wait. This was Saturday and Kitty Forman deserved some girl time.
Carrying her drink to the living room, Kitty clicked on the television and found a rerun of a Christmas movie that she liked. Sipping her drink, Kitty Forman decided to let the men make their own damn meal if they were hungry. She was taking the evening off.
She rocked!
She rolled.
Kitty Forman was freaking awesome.
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Rhonda was showing Eric the fundamentals of decorating the auditorium for the Christmas Chorus Show. His third grade class was going to be singing Oh Tannenbaum and they were terrible at it. The thought of a room full of parents and a school full of children crammed into this little room gave him anxiety. She showed Eric how to work the curtains and asked if he wanted to work the backgrounds or lighting.
"No…it's not really something I would be good at." Eric confessed. "Let me just lead my little troopers on stage and they can sing their song and I'll wait for them."
"But Eric, you are a part of this school…" Rhonda protested. "What about helping make the costumes?"
Eric started to say no, then remembered a friend that needed to keep her fingers busy. "I might have something in mind for that…" Eric was going to say more but the lunch bell rang and he needed to get back to class before his students.
"Sewing? Are you crazy?" Jackie's voice was almost shrill over the telephone. Eric nearly regretted looking up her home phone number in his mom's address book. Eric waited a beat and replied, "Or….can you paint? We need some scenery pieces done for the background."
She waited almost too long. Eric had to ask if she was still on the phone, "Yeah….I'm thinking."
He smiled at the receiver and waited patiently for her reply. "I guess I can paint. But Eric, you better be painting too, because I'm not making a bunch of stuff for third graders if there is no supervision."
"Don't worry, we can do this after school so there won't be any kids to supervise."
"I meant for me!" she exclaimed. "I've never done this before. What if I paint a brown bush green or put coconuts on the wrong tree?"
He laughed warmly, "It's going to be pretty simple. Even Kelso could do it….if I let him."
"I guess it won't be too hard. I can be there any time after 4:00." Jackie replied.
He answered, "Jackie….life is hard. This will be fun. The teachers and I will be in the auditorium. See you there tomorrow."
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