Part 2

Hyde pushed his way past the growing mound of junk and debris on the covered front porch, pulling the screen door open. The white paint had almost peeled completely from the wood frame, leaving just the weathered gray boards. The front door was unlocked and open, so his mother must already be home. He set his school stuff down quietly on his way to the kitchen, not sure exactly where Edna was or who might be with her.

Much to his surprise, his mother was in the dimly lit kitchen, sitting at their small table, a cigarette between her fingers, and a beer can on the green and yellow vinyl tablecloth in front of her.

"You're home early." He stopped in the doorway, ready to turn around and leave again if Edna didn't want him around. He was never quite sure what to expect with Edna, it was easiest to just go with the flow - if she was in a good mood, appreciate it, if not, lay low until it blew over.

She ignored him, flicking her cigarette ashes into the mug on the table.

"Should I make dinner?" He tried again. Edna never cooked at home, claiming she served enough people food every day at work.

"I went to the store." Edna waved her free hand towards the cluttered counter between the sink and stove, where the unpacked bag of groceries was sitting next to the now 10-pack of beer. "What happened to your face?" She added, her eyes fixing on the scrape next to his left eye.

"Got in a fight with Kelso." Hyde shrugged, emptying the bag. Kelso had shoved his head into a brick wall, and Hyde had pounded Kelso within an inch of his life.

"Did you win?"

"It was Kelso." He repeated, wrinkling his nose at the tuna fish can. He hated tuna fish, but Edna always insisted on buying it. "Of course I won."

"Good for you."

Hyde glanced over at her as he searched through the cabinets for the one pan they had left. Something was wrong, it was giving him a creepy feeling. The pan was in the living room, he remembered finally. He had used it as a bowl the other night.

"Steven, I lost my job today." She said quietly when he came back into the room.

"Oh." He set the pan on the counter, trying to ignore the knot his stomach had just tied itself into. This had happened three times in the four years his father had been gone, and he hated it more each time.

"Don't look so worried!" Edna stood, joining him at the counter. "You're so damn serious all the time." She reached over and ruffled his hair.

Someone had to be. He didn't say it out loud, there wasn't any point in making her mad right now. "I can get a job after school." He said instead.

"No, you won't." Edna smacked him on the back of the head as she grabbed another beer and went back to her chair. "You're twelve years old, you're not going to start working yet. I'll find another job, we'll be fine."

She didn't want him working, but she didn't have any problem leaving on his own every night. Hyde bit his tongue again.

"You need to finish school." She nodded.

"Screw that."

"Hey, shut up! You're going to graduate high school, Steven!" She was getting mad now. "You're a smart kid!"

Hyde stared at her for a long moment, not sure what to make of this last comment. "Yeah, you're drunk, Edna." He said finally.

Edna's mouth dropped open in amazement. "Steven, just accept the compliment! God, you're just like your father."

There was a time when he would have considered being like his father a good thing, even when she intended it as an insult, but not anymore. "I know." He said flatly, turning back around to the sink and running water to rinse the pan out.

"I didn't mean it that way." She apologized.

"Yes, you did." He turned on his heel and left the room. If she wanted dinner, she could make it herself.

~*~

"So guys, this is it!" Bud waved his hand towards the dilapidated building in front of us. I swear, it was actually sagging in the middle. The gas pumps in front were completely covered in a disgusting black film, the windows in the garage doors were broken, and at one point, it looked as though the building had been a flamingo pink color, which had now faded to a horrid tomato soup tone.

"Uncle Len's garage?" Hyde raised his eyebrows skeptically behind his glasses. "How'd you get it?"

"Len's going to sell it to us." Bud nodded excitedly. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Yeah, it's... pretty cool." I honestly didn't know what to say. The words were completely escaping me. It was horrible, terrible, awful. The place should have been condemned. Maybe it was condemned. I started checking for a notice posted on the door.

"Isn't this where Len had that shootout with the police over the armed robbery?" Edna wondered. It didn't surprise me. Everyone in Hyde's family has had at least one run in with the law.

"Where're you getting the money, Bud?" Hyde asked sharply.

"Come on, Steven!" Bud slapped him on the shoulder, knocking him forward half a step. "It's not like I didn't have a job for the last year! Well, for most of it." He added, chuckling to himself. I really hoped he didn't elaborate on that, he was getting on my nerves as it was.

"Okay, you've got the money, what are you going to do with it?"

"Steven, your father is a pretty good mechanic, don't you remember?" Edna slipped her arm around Bud's waist, leaning up against his arm. They just didn't look right to me, the only time I'd ever seen them together, they fought all the time. There was something creepy about her hanging on Bud's arm.

There was a long pause from Hyde after she did that, I could only assume he was as weirded out by the entire display as I was. "Um, no." He said finally. "I remember him being unemployed, and then leaving town for nine years." Oh good, here came the sarcasm. Things could only get better after this.

"Hey, I was a loser back then!" Bud said it with such enthusiasm that I found myself believing him. Maybe he had turned over a new leaf.

"Bud, that's what you told me the last time, when you were working at the bar!" Hyde shot that idea down. "This place is a dump!"

Yeah, that was the word I had been looking for earlier in response to 'pretty cool.'

"So we need to work on it a little!" Bud shrugged.

Hyde just looked confused. "We?" He repeated. I thought I picked up on a hurt note in his voice when he said it, but I wasn't sure. Hyde was hard to figure out. "Oh boy, I get to be included!"

Now it was Bud's turn to look confused.

"Steven, you know what, it's your choice. If you want to walk away, that's up to you." Edna said quietly.

"Good. I'm out of here." He spun and started down the road towards downtown, if you can call the main street of Point Place that.

I glanced from his parents to Hyde and back again. I didn't really appreciate him just leaving me here, what was I supposed to do now?

"Eric, maybe you'd better go after him." Edna suggested. I'm not sure why this responsibility fell to me, I wasn't the one he was mad at.

"Yeah." I took one last glance at the dump behind them. "Good luck with the... garage." I turned and jogged after my friend. "Hey, man, wait up. What're you doing?"

"Getting out of here." He said flatly.

I like to think I know Hyde a little better than he's willing to admit. We've known each other a long time now, and one thing I've learned through experience is if he's yelling, he's not really mad. It's when he's all "zen" and stoic that I get worried. Or, when it's directed towards me, scared.

"You're walking all the way home?" I asked in disbelief. "Hyde, you hate walking."

"Yeah, but I'm mad."

He was dead serious when he said it, and for some reason this struck me as funny. I bit my lower lip to keep from laughing out loud.

"Are you laughing at me?" He stopped, glaring at me.

"Sorry." I tried to keep a straight face, which only made it worse. Now I was laughing. "It's just that we're like, two miles away from home!" I explained after I pulled myself together. "And you usually won't even walk to Fez' house, and he only lives three blocks away!"

"Are you finished?"

"Yeah."

"Good. We're walking to the AM/PM on the corner and calling Kelso."

Calling Kelso is never a brilliant plan of action. He's even dumber than usual on the phone. It's like he spends most of his brainpower trying to figure out where the voice in his ear is coming from, rather than listening to what they're saying. Hyde had to repeat everything three times before Kelso understood.

"It might have just been easier to walk." I pointed out from my seat on the curb when he hung up.

"Yep. He may never show up." He sat down next to me, and neither of us said anything for a good ten minutes. I discovered it took exactly eight and a half minutes of sitting on cement for my ass to fall asleep. Boy, that was something I'd always wondered about. Was this really worth it for Hyde to make a stupid point to his parents?

"They walked out on me. I'm not going to stand there and act like everything's okay. Because it's not." God, had he read my mind or something? That was freaky.

"So, what are you going to do?" I wondered.

"Wait for Kelso."

Okay, so he wasn't going to answer that. That was fine. I didn't have to know.

"I don't know what I'm going to do."

To be continued...

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