The wind blew through my long blonde hair softly as I drove in my '67 Chevy Impala with the windows down. My Ray Bans sat softly on my nose while I sat comfortably in the seat of the car. My arm sat in the window opening and the soft tune of some Queen played from my radio. My brother, Michael sat in the passenger seat, reading a magazine, his curly brown hair rustled with the wind. In front of us, in the other car was my mother and my other brother, Lucy and Sam. The light blue Rover and my Chevy smoothly drove the winding roads and soon enough They come upon the large billboard that read "Welcome to Santa Carla".
"Look Mike, we're close." I said with crooked grin as I hit his arm softly.
Mike looked up from the magazine and saw the sign and smally smiled and he just so happens to look at the back and saw the words "Murder Capital of the World" spray painted there.
"Murder Capital of the World?" Mike's brow frowned in confusion as he turned his head to look at me.
"Yeah, apparently Santa Carla has the biggest Missing Person's rate in the United States. Some say the World." I told him with a small shrug.
"And we just so happen to move here?" He said with a teasing tone.
I scuffed softly and grinned. "Yeah, well Grandpa Emerson has been living here pretty much his whole life." I noticed Lucy pull off to a gas station and pulled in at the other pump beside the Rover. I notice you can see the boardwalk from here as I get out. Mike gets out as well and looks around with his eyes hidden behind his dark sunglasses.
I put my arm on top of the hot roof of the car and tap my hand, my rings and bracelets causing a small tink sound. My Lapis Lazuli family ring on my middle finger shined softly from the sun. Michael also put his arm on the roof and look at me. His ring on his index finger. "Why don't you go get us some snacks inside, huh?" I smiled big at him. He grins and nods as I walk to the back of the Impala and take the gas cap off and go to start putting gas in my tank and fill it up.
As the tank was filling up, I walked over to Mom and saw that Sam was over near some railing with Nanook, his malamute dog, looking at the boardwalk. I walked to stand next to Mom and crossed my arms. "How was the drive, Mom?"
"It was okay. A little tiring but it always is." Mom smiled at me and put a hand on my back and rubbed it as her other hand lifted to softly play with her Lapis Lazuli necklace. We hear some noise and look over and are saddened to see two teenagers that have seen some better days rummaging through a garbage can for what we assume is food.
Sam runs back over with Nanook and is grinning big at us. "Ma! Farah! There's an amusement park right on the beach!" He says excited. Nanook runs up to me and rubs against my side.
I grin and pet his head as Mom tells him "That's the boardwalk, Sammy."
"Can we go now?" Sam asks Mom as I look back at the teenagers and sigh as I take some cash from my pocket and walk over to them and hands them about ten bucks.
"Here, go get something to eat huh?" I smile softly as they grin at me.
"Thanks lady" They turn and run off.
I watch them and sigh and turn around to walk back to the cars. I walk back to my Impala and take the pump out and put the gas cap back on as Michael comes back with a bag of drinks and some candy.
I notice Sam pouting. Mom must have told him no.
"We should go to the boardwalk later tonight." I tell Mike as he gets in the car. I pay the attendant and he gives me change back.
"Sure. We should ride our bikes to the boardwalk. Stretch our legs." I grin as I open the driver door and get in.
"Yeah. I got to go look at the record store tomorrow too. And start setting up." I sigh as I start the car. I wait for Mom to drive off to follow her.
"I have a feeling, things will change." Mike says as he takes a drink from his Coke.
"Me too." I softly chew my lip as I drive on behind Mom's Rover.
We follow a long winding road that leads to the old lodge-like house that belonged to Grandpa Emerson. There were tons of hippy décor around the house. Wind chimes and a totem pole and a big wooden Native American statue. Lots of trees and plants and also an area with some horses grazing through some grass.
We all got out of the cars and look around at the place. Mom stops as she sees Grandpa Emerson laying lifeless on the front porch. "Dad!" she softly calls as she rushes to the man laying down.
Me and my brothers approach slower and frown. "He looks dead." Mike says as he leans on the porch post and crosses his arms.
"He's just a deep sleeper" Mom says as she feels his head.
"He's not breathing, Ma" Mike says.
I grin and put my hands in my black distressed jean pockets. Knowing he was faking it to prank Mom.
"If he's dead, can we go back to Arizona?" Sam said nonchalantly.
I look incredulously as I swat at his head. "Ow" He yelps and holds his head as he flinches away from me.
"Playin' dead... and from what I heard, doing a damn good job of it too." Grandpa spoke up from the ground as he lifted his head. Grandpa stood up and hugged Mom after dusting off his old denim pants and shirt. He had a band wrapped around his head with a grey braid down his back.
Mom chuckles "Oh dad!"
Eventually after Mom and Grandpa hug and Mike and Sam look at each other weirdly, Grandpa greets the rest of us. He pats Michael and Sam on the shoulders before he comes to me and grips me tightly in a hug and chuckles "Hello, Farah my girl."
"Hey Grandpa" I grin and chuckle as I tightly hug him back, patting his back.
"How was the drive?" He asks me as my brothers and mom move to start unpacking the trailer that was attached to the Rover.
"It was long but that was expected" I sighed and smiled at him. I nod to the others. "Come on, lets help the others."
Grandpa grins and nods as he puts an arm around my shoulders and mine around his waist, walking over to the trailer.
The big trailer held the bigger things and Michael's and I's bikes. The smaller one that was attached to my car held smaller items. I walked over and moved my bike off the trailer and walked my black Yamaha Virago over to the garage. Michael following me with his red Honda XL 250S.
We parked it and move back to the trailer to take some of our stuff. I grabbed a box of my records and Mike grabbed his barbells with some clothes hanging on it, making me chuckle. Sam grabbed one of his big boxes that held some of his comic books and we walked into the house. We looked around and saw the funky furniture and odds and ends all over the place. We walk through the den.
"This is a pretty cool place" Michael says as he walks into the kitchen.
"For The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Sam says following him.
"Come on, Sam, give Mom a break" I say as I set my box on the floor. Michael does the same and takes the clothes off the barbell.
Sam then goes off on a tangent as he puts his box on the kitchen table "What's wrong with this picture? There's no TV. Have you seen a TV? I haven't seen a TV. You know what that means when there's no TV. No MTV!" he waves his hands as he whines and pouts. I shook my head at him with a small grin.
"Sammy Grandpa's old." Mike tells him as he pumps the barbells a couple of times before putting them on the back porch.
"So, even old people have TVs" Sam says. I sigh and pick my box back up and head towards the stairs.
Grandpa comes in and sees me just as I was half way up the stairs. "Farah, your room is on the last one on the right. I figured you'd like the one I picked out." He winks at me as he passes me. I grin and head upstairs and towards the room he said.
I opened the door and looked around at the decent sized room. I walked in and set the box on the queen-sized mattress. The bed frame was made of a dark wood and the headboard was half way up the wall. The walls were a simple beige and empty. But I had some things to put on the walls and sheets and a comforter to go on the bed. I looked over and saw a window seat that was about four feet long and was sticking out from the rest of the house. I walked over and looked out and saw that my room looked over the back yard where there was a big area with the horses and then a couple of yards back from that was some wooded area.
I smiled as I watched Nanook chased some of the horses. I sighed as I turned around to walk back out. My brow frowned as I heard the sound of running footsteps across the floorboards down the hall. I peeked my head out and laughed as I saw Michael chasing Sam out of a room and down the stairs.
I follow after at a slower pace and watch as Sam grabs the banister and uses it to change direction. Michael jumps over the banister making Sam yell. "Ma! Help me! Ya gotta help me Ma!"
I snort and walk down the stairs as I see Sam open some sliding doors and comes to a dead stop. Mike stops behind him runs into his back and they stare wide eyed into the room.
Raising an eyebrow, I walk over and look into the room and realizes that its grandpa's taxidermist room. Stuffed animals of all kinds stare down at the three. Squirrels, birds, cats, and other animals hang around the room along with boxes of eyes, pelts, hides, wooden figures.
I chuckle as I head outside to get another box. "Talk about Texas Chainsaw Massacre." I hear Sam say as I shake my head and grab some more of my boxes to bring inside.
Just as I'm headed back in, I hear Grandpa say from the kitchen "Second shelf in the refrigerator is mine... keep my root beers and double –thick Min Oreo cookies there... Nobody touches the second shelf!" He points at the boys as me and mom watch from the living room with grins on our faces.
Grandpa closes the fridge as Mike notices some plants outside the window. He scrunches his nose as he quietly chuckles. Mike and Sam follow Grandpa towards the living room and they stop next to me and mom. Michael softly smacks me and Sam before he points to a small marijuana crop growing outside. Sam looks puzzled for a moment till Mike makes a "smoking a joint" gesture making me and Sam laugh.
Grandpa continues to explain his rules. Holding a TV Guide book in his hand with other mail, he explains, "When the mailman brings the TV Guide on Wednesdays, sometimes the corner of the address label will curl up... you'll be tempted to peel it off. DON'T." He points at us with a serious look on his face, making me grin. "You'll end up rippin' the cover and I don't like that."
He walks into the taxidermy room as he looks down at the TV Guide and turns to the boys. I look at Mom and she looks at me and shakes her head as we sigh. I lean against the couch with my arms crossed as I chuckle at Grandpa.
"And stay out of here" Grandpa says as he goes to close the sliding door.
Sam stops him and looks at him hopefully "You have a TV?"
Grandpa looks at him and grins "No, I just like to read the TV Guide...Read the TV Guide, you don't need a TV" He chuckles as Sam's huffs.
I laugh as I turn to head back to get more boxes. Shaking my head as Mike grins at Sam's pout. Mom also has a grin on her face as she walks away to put the box she has down.