Chapter 2: Guess who's home!
The next morning I had to get up at 8 to be there for my 8:30 class. I rushed to get my clothes on, put on my deoderant, and apply my mascara. I practically ran to the bathroom, but stopped in my tracks when I saw my little sister sitting at the kitchen table.
"Pats?"
I was speechless. What do you say to a person you haven't seen in almost two years? Especially considering the way things left off...
My younger sister, Virginia, ran away just about two years ago. She was seventeen years old. She left a note pretty much saying that she was leaving and had no plans of coming back. She said she was pregnant, and she needed to find her way on her own.
Now here she sat, with the only memory of her in mind being that chicken-scratch note that caused so much pain on top of the pain I was already feeling. My long time boyfriend had just packed up and left in almost the same manner just months before then.
She got up, "Yeah, hi." She took me into her arms. I placed my arms softly around her, my head spinning.
She moved back and looked me in the eyes, "Say something? I don't even remember your voice."
These years without her were the longest of my life. I looked at this woman standing in front of me with a trace of memory, and then in seconds seeing her ginger hair and crooked smile and sparkling blue eyes I was flooded with memories. Childhood memories of talking in our beds into the late hours of the night, first when we were children about our dreams of living in castles in the city, then teenage memories of venting about our stresses and the last memories of her holding me in her arms as I cried about the sudden absence of my boyfriend, Bobby.
I grabbed her back and held her tight. I couldn't even cry, I was so shocked.
"I just...just have no idea what to say."
"God, me neither. I just had to come here and see y'all. I've really composed myself and my life over these past couple years and I'm ready to come back here and start a new life with y'all in it."
I smiled so wide. My eyes glanced at the clock that read 8:15.
"I gotta go, I have to go to class!"
"You didn't graduate?" She said in disbelief.
"I go to college now. I'm in nursing."
She smiled big, "I'm so proud of you."
I thanked her and hugged her again before I ran to brush my teeth and grab my backpack and a snack bar for breakfast.
As I walked I thought about all the anger way deep down inside of me.
After her and Bobby were out of my life I did a lot of soul searching and decided to make a plan for the rest of my life since I was counting on working odd jobs in Camden for the rest of my life. Before then I thought I'd just marry Bobby and stick around here. So, I decided to enroll in community college and erase all negativity from my life. I decided from that moment on I was only going to be positive, but also not beat myself up for being realistic some of the time. And I was going to be flexible, not depend on other people to decide the course of my life. I had to do that.
I thought about that pain, and I thought about all the unanswered questions they left me with. But, I took a deep breath and thanked God for bringing my little sister home.
I sat down in my spot way up front in the little community college. I put out my case of pens and my big binder and waited for the usually late Professor. I pulled out my cellphone and looked at the picture of Earl, Crab man and I awaiting me on the home screen. I smiled as I remembered my first time in a bar as a legal drinker. Ninny being home reminded me we always said we'd do that together and she'd drink virgin. But, I appreciated the good time I had, and the possible new friends and hang out.
The Professor walked in at about 9:00, and I received a call at quarter after.
I raised my hand as I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket, "Sir, may I go to the bathroom?"
"Hurry up!" He said.
I bolted out of the class room and parked myself in the lobby. "Hello?" I answered.
"Hi, uh, is this Patsy?"
"Yes, this is."
"Hi! This is Earl. I just wanted to let you know that I got your note, and I do remember you. Thank you for taking me home last night, I appreciate it."
"Oh, it was no problem. I just didn't want you drivin' in your condition." I smiled.
"Well, if you're up to it, I wanna meet you again. Not when I'm drunk out of my mind."
I took a deep breath, "Yeah! Sure."
"Well, are you busy today?"
"I'm in class right now, but I get out at 11."
"Are you in high school?" He said, cautiously.
"God, no. College. You know the little community college on Tate Street?"
"Oh yeah! Well, I'll let ya go then so you can get back and learn. I could pick you up there when you get out?"
I beamed, "Sounds great! See ya soon."
"Ok, see ya!"
I hung up and skipped back to class.
It seemed like that class couldn't go by any slower. I looked up at the clock, it was 9:30. I looked back again at what seemed like a long time later, but the clock read 9:31. I kept thinking how differently I would've dressed and done my hair if I knew I was getting picked up after. I walked to school today because I thought it was a nice day, but it ended up being scorching hot and my hair frizzed like crazy.
All that thinking at least passed some time.
By the time we were dismissed, which was quarter after. I walked as slowly, yet fast paced as I could. I had to admit, I was nervous! Earl just seemed like a really nice guy. When I exited the school I saw the El Camino with one blue door parked right in front. When I saw Earl in the drivers seat, he got out.
"Hey!"
He greeted me and walked around the front of the car.
He stuck out his hand, "I'm Earl."
I shook his hand then hugged him lightly, in a friendly way. "I'm Patsy," I turned back to him, "Nice to meet ya, again."
He had a smile on his face with his eyebrow cocked. He opened the passenger door for me.
"Thank you!" I said, getting in.
He sat down in the drivers seat and started the car, "Now I get to drive you around."
"No kiddin'. You sleep ok last night?"
"Better than I would've on the Crab Shack floor. Thanks to you."
"It was nothing! I've just got your best interest at heart."
He smiled, "Well, thanks. Did you wanna go get a Chubby burger? Its pretty well lunch time."
I nodded, "Yeah! I haven't had fast food in forever."
"It's probably not much better than the last time you had it."
I chuckled, "I didn't think it would be, but you can't go wrong with a greasy burger. They're always good."
"I agree."
We drove in silence for a couple minutes. It was better than petty conversation.
"So, tell me about yourself." Earl said awkwardly.
I laughed a little to break the awkwardness, "Ok. There ain't much to tell. I'm twenty one, I work at Howdy's grocery and I go to college for nursing. That is about it What about you?"
He looked at me with a nervous expression on his face, "Well, I'm a little older then you."
"How much older?"
"I'm 32."
"Wow, ok. That's...ok. I mean, you have the same maturity level as me as far as I can tell."
"If not less mature."
I laughed and processed this information. It couldn't be that bad that he was a little over a decade older than me.
"Anyway, I live with my younger brother in a motel and..."
As we pulled into Chubby Burger, he paused. "Son of a bitch," he said under his breath.
"What?"
"There's the other half of what I was gonna tell you," he jutted his head towards a thin blond woman with two children, one of which was black, walking towards the building "I have a crazy ex wife named Joy."
I looked at him with wide eyes, What the HELL did I get myself into last night? Shit. You think you're doin' something nice for someone, and THIS happens.
"Please don't get freaked out right away. I'm your average Joe, except for this. It's a long story that I'll tell you as soon as we grab our burgers. Ok?"
"Ok..."
I had to say, I was a little freaked out. But, I had this trust for him already that made me stick around and want to hear him out about the situation.
He pulled into the drive thru, which was almost empty. We ordered our food right away and waited for a couple minutes at each window.
As we were driving towards the exit I heard in a high pitched voice, "Hey dummy! Dummy!" Earl stepped on the gas.
"Wanna go sit outside the motel?"
"Sure."
He handed my burger and I thanked him. He started to explain the situation, "Six years ago, I met Joy at a bar. She waited til I was super drunk, then drove us somewhere to get married. She was six months pregnant at the time. I'm a strong believer in the sacraity of marriage. Given the situation. Anyway, we stayed married. She had the kid. In no time, she was pregnant again. Thinking it was my kid I stuck around, but little did I know she was screwin' around with Darnell, you know the bartender, and the kid came out black. I stuck around a little while longer until I ended up in a coma and Joy took the opportunity to leave me for Darnell. So, that's where I'm at now. I was homeless after that, but I..uh.. won $100, 000 through the lottery and now my brother and I are staying here." He took a break and a couple of fries, he continued while chewing, "We're all on good terms though, I'm still good friends with both Joy and Darnell, although Joy still kinda hates me since I won the lottery. Anyway, I can take you home or.." He looked at me now, and I smiled and took his hand. My heart started to pound.
"It's pretty crazy, but I can accept it. I have a pretty complicated past too. Let's go eat."
He smiled with such understanding and opened his car door as I opened mine.
He walked beside me to what looked like a pool area, "I actually have three crazy ex wives."
I stopped and looked at him, "You're kidding."
He shook his head, "I wish I was." He opened the gate and we as we sat down I said, "Tell me about it."
"Ok.. Well first it was Joy. And then I have this list, its of all the bad things I've done and wanna make up for. Karma, you know, do good things and good things happen. Do bad things, and it'll come back to haunt you. Anyway, so when we were getting a band back together, one of the members, a good friend of mine named Ralph."
"Ralph Mariano?"
"Yeah! How do you know him?"
"I used to have a boyfriend who would hang around with him. Anyway, continue. I wanna listen to this first."
"Ok, so anyway he saw that on my list it said that I had slept with his mom, and he decided he was gonna have to kill me. Anyway after sometime he decided that I could marry his mom instead of kill me. You know how I was saying earlier that I believe in the sacrity of marriage, given the situation," He bit into his burger, "Well, that's the situation."
"I always thought Ralph was a little crazy. He only came around a couple of times. And the third?"
"I really thought I loved her. Her name was Billy, and she started to get into the karma stuff like me. Then she just went crazy and started reversing all the good things I had done. And anyway, she ended up becoming a Camdenite."
"No shit!"
"Yeah, I've had a pretty crazy ride."
"Well, my past ain't as complicated as that, I can tell you that for sure."
I couldn't believe how much had come out in this one short half hour of time we had spent together.
I continued to eat my burger, " Only things I have in my past are the boyfriend I mentioned. We went together for years, like all throughout highschool and a couple years after. Then one day, I went to go get him and his parents said he was gone. They had no idea where he went and all his stuff was gone. Then awhile after that my younger sister packed up and left home, and she was pregnant, and only seventeen years old at the time. So, yeah. I definitely don't have that much craziness behind me. Just some kinda sad stuff, but I'm ok with it. Actually, my sister just came home today, I just saw her this morning."
"Wow, I'm sorry to hear that. I'd rather have the three crazy wives then people walking out of my life like that."
I nodded and smiled to show him it didn't bring me down.
Out of nowhere, a nig guy started bouncing up and down on the balcony and shouting, "Earl, Earl, Earl,"
"That's my brother Randy," Earl said to me before shouting up, "Randy, come down here, I got you a burger."
Immediately Randy started running full force down the stairs, I was afraid he was gonna fall.
"Thanks, Earl!" Randy said loudly as he came up to the gate.
He looked at me as he sat down beside Earl and his eyes went wide. He got this dumb look on his face as he whispered, "Dibs,"
I looked at Earl in confusion, my face flushed as I thought about the meaning of this.
Earl made a face at Randy and lifted his eyebrows, "I got dibs last night," he whispered.
"Hi Randy, I'm Patsy. It's nice to meet ya."
"Nice to meet you, too." He unwrapped his burger and said, "You the one who left the note for Earl?"
I nodded, "Mhm."
"Well, Earl really likes you, he even put the note in his wallet.."
"Randy!" Earl almost cut him off.
I smiled, "It's ok, I like Earl too."
Randy smiled and lifted his eyebrows as he bit into his burger. We spent a long time at the pool just talking some more, about our past, and Earl spoke about karma. Earl tried convincing me he was actually normal, just the people around him were crazy. Then he decided that made him crazy too. Hearing Earl talk made me excited to hear more about his adventures with the List and to potentially be a part of those adventures in the future.
I ended the little date by saying, "I'd better get going, I have to eat dinner then head out for a shift at the store."
Earl and I collected the garbage and exited the pool area.
"I'll drive you home if you want."
"Ou! Ou! Earl can I come? Can I?" Randy pleaded.
Earl rolled his eyes, "Ok, Randy. But you have to sit in the back." Randy nodded and ran to the El Camino.
"Ok, that would be good. I probably live a mile from here. You know where Newark Terrace is?"
"Yup."
He opened my door, and I thanked him.
I thought about how if anyone else had heard Earl's crazy past and seen his living conditions with his brother, they would probably run to safety. But it intrigued me, and he seemed like a geniune person. That he wasn't gonna bullshit me, he was straight forward right from the start.
It was a short drive to my house, and after a couple of songs and a little bit of chatting, he was pulling into my drive way. Neither of my parents were home, they were at work. And I would have no idea where my sister was.
"I'd do this again, if you wanted to."
He smiled at me, "Yeah, I would." He started up again after a pause, "Do you have a shift tomorrow?"
I nodded, "It ends at 11 PM."
"Want me to pick you up for drinks at the Crab Shack? I won't get wasted this time." He chuckled.
I got butterflies in my stomach and I said, "Sounds good. It's a date."
"A date," he grinned. My heart started to beat and my mind went blurry as I leaned over towards him. He looked into my eyes before leaning into me. I opened my mouth a very little bit and kissed his lips as softly as I could. He kissed me back. And it was perfect. We broke apart and I gave him one last, quick peck on the lips before getting out of the car.
"Thanks for the drive."
"See ya tomorrow," He called as I walked toward the door.
I smiled and waved as he pulled out, and then went inside.