Rain
…4 months later
Drake put his hands around the bottom of the beer bottle. He didn't get carded even
though his friend Ed Kramer whom he met at JFK Memorial High in Burien was the king
of fake ID's in the Northwest. It was no different from Belleview High back home. There
were the same cliques, the same token hot girls that wanted to be on his arm, and the
same teachers who expected things out of him. He graduated with his D average in tact
and when he turned 18 and Uncle Richard was at his job at Clark Security Products he
packed his bags and guitars and roomed with Ed and Gary Martin, another school
slacker from JFK. He had to do something he hated and that was to supplement his
income by working at the Northgate Mall washing dishes of all things at the Azteca
Mexican restaurant because the gigs weren't as steady as they were in San Diego. He
smelled like spices and his hands felt like sandpaper.
He didn't even call his Mother and that made him put the bottle to his lips. Uncle Richard
probably contacted Audrey already and told him he left on his eighteenth birthday.
She didn't own him anymore.
"Another Sam Adams?" Stanley the bartender asked him
"Sure."
What else was there?
It was raining. What a surprise. And he had no desire to do anything but sit at the bar
and get plastered until it cleared up.
Los Angeles, CAYesterday was the scalp advance; forehead recontouring, brow lift and trachea shave
with Dr. Emily Wilson (formerly Eric Wilson) at Los Angeles Cedars-Sinai. Megan
jumped in the puddles outside the entrance of the Butterfly Retreat where Dina and
other transgendered patients were recovering in a non-judgmental environment. There
would be another facial surgery next year for the jaw, chin, and the optional rhinoplasty,
which Dina was adamant, be done. Then the bottom half surgery would be completed
by a different doctor five months after the last facial surgery.
"There you are, Megan." Said Mindy who sat on the green park bench.
"I don't need you to check up on me."
"I wasn't," She opened up her purse to take out a pack of Marlboro Lights, "I need a
smoke. Don't tell your Mom, Grammy, or Dina."
"I don't care if you smoke. It's your lungs."
"Did you get your first period yet, Megan? Because you are certainly acting very bitchy
lately."
"Pardon me for having feelings. I'm sure you know about the second mortgage. And I
don't fault Dina for that. Walter—the prick. May I have a drag of your cigarette?"
"Megan! You're a minor!"
"Spare me."
Grammy also sold her house to help with the expenses.
Their family was torn apart so how appropriate for the past two days here it's been
storming.
"All right, but be quick…."
Mindy was fearful of the video camera that was perched on the light fixture. She didn't
need to be arrested for giving a cigarette to a minor.
Megan coughed after she took two half-hearted puffs before handing the cancer stick
back to Mindy.
"How come you aren't with Dina?"
"She's sleeping."
"I miss Drake," Megan sighed as she sat next to Mindy on the bench, "I know you don't."
"He's your brother." Mindy replied matter-of-factly.
Between Megan and Dina why couldn't they just be happy that he was finally out of their
lives for good?
Mindy never wanted to see him again. He hurt Dina and was about as supportive as a
raging pit bull as far as she was concerned he could rot away in Washington state.
"Why doesn't he call? He just left Uncle Richard's on his 18th birthday."
"Because he's a selfish person."
"No, he's not!" Megan stood up. While she wished her older brother were supportive of
her other older brother missing him seemed to take precedence over anything else. "I
lost my stable family! You are the selfish one, Mindy Crenshaw!"
Mindy didn't answer the hurting girl. She just let the angry pre-pubescent girl run away to
the market that was around the corner as the dark clouds were about to open up again.
Burien, WA
It was a few hours later and the bartender stopped serving Drake any alcohol over two
hours ago and gave him a complimentary turkey sandwich and a black cup of coffee.
"Do you want me to call you a cab?"
"No, I'm fine. I'll pay for the---"
"No, Drake, it's on the house."
"Thanks, Stanley. I'm going home. See you tomorrow."
The storm wasn't showing any signs of stopping. All he wanted to do was crawl in his
sofa bed and fall asleep for three weeks. Ed and Gary better not be having any skanks
spending the night. The last thing he wanted was to do deal with an eager-to-please
woman who would only suck his dick and go home to tell their "one million best-est
girlfriends" about it in their hedonistic Live Journals and secret back door message
boards.
He had to drive an ugly car, a beige, two-door, early eighties model Chevy Impala which
was parked two blocks away. The rain was coming down in small droplets. It felt good
on his neck.
"What's the matter, SISSYGIRL?" Came a macho voice from the back alley.
"Leave me alone!" replied a male voice.
Drake stopped in his tracks wondering for a brief second if he should turn around and
get involved.
Los Angeles, CA
"Megan! You're all wet!" Audrey said when she returned fifteen minutes later with a
chocolate bar and a box of Boo Boo Bees that would go unshared.
"Sorry, Mommy."
They were in the parents/friends support room. They were the only ones there at the
moment. Audrey met a nice mother named Julia who was the only one in her family to
support Bob becoming Bobbie.
"Well go up to our room and change into dry clothes before you get pneumonia."
"I lost the card key." Which was unlike Megan
Audrey sighed and opened up her purse to give her daughter her card key that was in
her wallet.
"Don't lose this, Megan."
"I won't. Where's Grammy?"
"She went to Lauren's Boutique a few blocks away to get Dina a present."
Megan was starting to get sick of all the gifts and constant rewarding that Dina was
receiving.
"We're never going to see him again." And Audrey knew she wasn't referring to Walter.
Megan ran away before she would be caught crying.
Audrey took the plastic picture insert out of the flap. There was no word about Drake
since he left Uncle Richard's. There was a rumor that he was spotted around Burien.
What could she do? It was his legal right to never see them again if he chose to do so.
She put her hand on the photo of her first born child who at ten years old was on the
youth soccer team before he got into music and girls.
"I love you." The worn mother said to the empty air as she tenderly kissed the plastic
covered photo.
Burien, WA
"STOP IT!" Drake pushed the tough guy off the victim. Guy? Girl? Whatever. Her curly
blonde wig was by the dumpster and her pantyhose torn. Not to mention the cuts and
bruises.
The tough guy who looked like the typical football defensive end with "no neck"
"Are you a Queer lover?"
Drake was convinced this guy had some weapon on him.
"Just leave him alone!"
This could get ugly and Drake Parker was happy that the tough guy who smelled like a
Milwaukee brewery lunged forward only to run a few feet away by the side of the road to
puke and pass out by a tree.
"Thank you."
"Uh-huh. Do you need a ride somewhere?"
"Yeah." Came the reply.
One heel was torn off the forties style pink pump.
Drake did his best by keeping his distance. It's not like he approved. It was just the right
thing to do. He didn't need to be charged with something because he didn't stop the
attack on this—this—person.
It's not like he gave a shit or anything.
Los Angeles, CA
Mindy picked up the remote control off the table and turned off the Dr. Phil/Oprah two
hour block. While Dina slept in the bed that was in the upright position. Her face was
bandaged and swollen and the only things she wanted were drugs to relieve the pain
and that insufferable moron.
Mindy put her finger on the bed control to put the bed down in the flat position. Her life
was changing too, but you didn't hear her complain. She had to put off college and deny
her full scholarship to Princeton to get a job at the Quiggly Mart just to help out. Her
family disowned her too, but that wasn't the family that mattered to anyone else.
She pulled her chair back to the side of the bed to hold Dina's hand. Mindy wished they
could just start living their lives already and that Dina would stop wishing for a
reconciliation that would never come.
He was scum.
Burien, WA
Drake never gripped the steering wheel tighter in all of his life. He was trying to bite his
tongue. Literally. To stop himself from saying something, but he just couldn't let this
moment pass.
"You know," He kept his eyes on the road, "Maybe this wouldn't have happened to you—
if you didn't DRESS like that."
The man with the smeared make up and one drooping false eyelash sighed. Great. "So
a bigot with a conscience came to my aid? How nice."
"I am not a bigot."
Drake almost thought of stopping the car and let this freak of nature walk out in the
storm.
"Right. Tell that to yourself in the mirror."
"I don't understand why YOU PEOPLE don't wait until after your surgery. I swear you
people enjoy being taunted."
"You people? What a jerk you are. At least I know where I stood from that creep that
beat me up. And for your information I am not transgendered. I am a cross dresser.
Formerly crudely known as being a transvestite and I suggest you find out what the
difference is. You can drop me off at the next light."
"Fine."
"I do feel sorry for the obvious person in your life that has gender issues. You probably
pushed them away, when all they wanted was your love and acceptance."
Fuck the next light.
Drake slammed on the brakes.
"Get OUT of my CAR!"
This drag idiot had no clue what he was talking about. None at all. Drake didn't know
where to go when he kicked Missy Daisy out of the car. Whose last words to him were,
"You are the one with the problem."
He didn't want to go out and get drunk, he didn't want to go back to the apartment, and
he didn't want to have sex with any willing whores.
All he could do was drive around aimlessly and hope that the rain would stop.
Josh?
"Can I keep my thumbs?"
"Yeah."
"I'd do it."
"Drake Parker you know what you are?"
"What?"
"Number One."
"You better get off that foot."
"No doubt."
"I love you."
"I know."
"Hug me, Brother……."