Chapter 3
The next morning I woke up early to help Uncle Ray milk the cows.
I got dressed in a pair of blue jeans with a hole in the knee and a white t-shirt. Downstairs I slipped on my Nike's and headed out to the old barn across the road.
I fed the three pigs their slops, collected eggs from all of the hens, and carried a bail of hay out to feed George the horse, and finally helped milk the cows.
By the time we got in it was ten o'clock, and Auntie Diane was making pancakes, while Shannon sat at the table reading a book.
"Good morning boys." Diane greeted pouring orange juice into four cups. Shannon looked up acknowledging we were there then spoke.
"You stink, go take a bath." I took a deep breath remembering what my mom had said about being nice to her.
"Thank you Shannon and good morning to you too." I said through gritted teeth.After our pancakes, Uncle Ray suggested we go for a swim out in the backyard before it got too hot out. So we both went and got changed into our suits and went out back to the gated pool.
Auntie Diane sat on the deck reading her magazine, while we climbed into the pool. I wasn't sure if I should try to play with Shannon or not so I just kept my distance on the other side of the pool.
For a while, I'm not to sure how long, I just watched the little girl all by herself. Finally I got the nerve to swim over to her and ask if she wanted to play catch with the big red ball floating in the water.
She agreed.
For almost an hour we played together in the pool, not really talking to each other, but I could tell that we'd somehow grown a little closer in that short period of time.
"Boone, Shannon, time to get out, we have to go into town to get some groceries. I shrugged and pulled my self out and went to go get changed.
The nearest town was about fifteen minutes down the road, so we loaded up into the car and headed down the hill and over the train tracks into the nearby town.
At the grocery store Auntie Diane picked up some steaks and burgers, and a box of cereal. At the rather long check-out line she motioned at the chocolate bar rack and offered us each a little treat.
I quickly picked an aero bar while Shannon just looked disgusted. "My mom never let me eat chocolate; it has too many calories in it." She said curtly.
Auntie Diane smiled. "Well it's not bad to have one every once in a while, dear." Shannon glared at her.
"My mom told me not to eat it, and she was the prettiest most perfect lady ever, and she never had chocolate, so I won't either." Shannon said glaring at the older woman.
In the car ride home the two of us sat in the back and out of curiosity I asked Shannon. "Where is your mom?" She looked at me and bit her lip.
"She's in hell." Auntie Diane lurched to a stop and looked back at us. Shannon had turned back to the window and I was thinking about what she'd said."I'd much rather you didn't use that language, Shannon dear." The older woman spoke as she continued to drive down the dirt road back to the farm.
Shannon looked up. "Why?" She asked simply.
Aunt Diane sighed. "It's not appropriate for the car, and words like that shouldn't be coming out of your mouth?" She explained.
Shannon snickered mischievously. "Am I aloud to say fuck?" Again the car lurched to a stop. I kept my head down, trying not to laugh out loud, but eventually couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.
Diane took a deep breath. "If you two aren't going to act civilized than neither of you are going to have desert tonight." She said through gritted teeth.
"Great, I guess I won't get fat like you then will I?" Shannon smart mouthed again.
This time she was just ignored.
Back at home Shannon and I were both cooped up in my room, afraid what Auntie Diane and Uncle Ray would say to us when we went down, so we ate our PB&J sandwiches, and sat flipping through boring old books from on the shelf in the closet.
After a while I couldn't take the silence so I struck up a conversation. "So how'd your mom die?" I asked, not sure what her reaction would be.
She looked up. "She had a heart attack, because she skipped dinner two nights in a row, and daddy said she had bully-nemia, and she deserved it." Shannon explained.
So that explained the chocolate bar thing. Her mom was a bulimic, and had taught her 9 year old daughter to watch what she ate.
"How'd your dad die?" Shannon asked after a moments pause. I wasn't prepared for that and I looked confused,
"My dad isn't dead…." I stuttered.
My dad was now living in New Mexico with his new family. My mom told me that when I was born neither of them really wanted a baby so my father took off, so apparently he's decided to settle down, along with a wife, a dog and three kids. The last time I heard from him was a three month late birthday card last year, wishing me a happy 14th birthday.
I was 10.
"Where is your dad then?" Shannon asked, shaking me out of my trance.
I sighed. "He's in Santa Fe; my mom wouldn't tell me any more than that." I replied.
Shannon nodded and looked away. "Sorry." She whispered.
I was amazed the girl that just yesterday was making fun of my ugly braces or stealing my bed actually did have feelings. Maybe her heart wasn't made of stone after all.
Please R&R….
