Sour Grapes
Chapter 2— Lamenting
Why? Why in the name of all that was supposed to be holy on this earth did he get stuck in this position? This was ludicrous, and an insult to the legacy that lived in his veins! Why his great-grandfather had been the one to pull NBE-1 out of the ice! His grandfather and father had molded Sector Seven with their own two hands. He was supposed to follow in their footsteps, making earth shaking discoveries and protecting the earth from those troublesome giant trashcans. His whole life had revolved around keeping the NBE's away…now he was supposed to babysit them?! The well-oiled machine that was supposed to be the U.S governmental system had lost a few gears as far as he was concerned.
It was Reginald Simmons' opinion that any and all NBE's were threats to the nation and should be incarcerated immediately. After all look at the destruction that had been left in the wake of Mission City. How many people had seen something they shouldn't have and were now freely walking about blabbing to anyone who would listen? Given, a battle between large robots was a hard story to swallow and the cover up designed to explain away Mission City had been rather convincing, but still, there was a risk out there. Simmons detested risks. They caused unnecessary panic and chaos and made his life ten times harder than it needed to be. And supposedly friendly or not, those metal freaks were a high security risk.
From a less businesslike angle he had other reasons why he wasn't too keen on this job. He liked his lifestyle where it was, and moving everything he had worked for to a hot and sweaty cesspool like Tranquillity hadn't exactly been number one on his list of goals. And now he had to go home and tell the wife, who he was positive would not been on board for this move either. Since he couldn't tell her that he was moving there to babysit a bunch of delinquent aliens, he was going to have to pretend it was all his idea, thus setting himself up to be the bad guy.
Simmons didn't mind playing the bad guy most of the time. He did what he had too; lied, manipulated, threatened; whatever it took to get him what he needed. But Helen Simmons was smart, and relentless in battle, and he knew she was going to give him a ridiculously hard time. He would never have told any of his superiors, or any one he worked with for that matter, that Helen suspected much more than he would have liked her too. They had never conversed about the matter openly, but there was an unspoken understanding between them. He had told her that he repaired and installed software for the military, which was a good front to explain all of his traveling. But she didn't buy the cover, and he knew it. The unwritten rule between them had always been she wouldn't ask, so that he wouldn't have to tell a lie she wouldn't believe. In the end it was his fault for a marrying a woman with too much brainpower on her side.
Simmons released a sigh of escalating anxiety as he pulled into the driveway of his impressive residence. He was home three days early so Helen would know immediately that something was up. Maybe he could tell her a half truth. His job had been dissolved after all, and he was being relocated to a new position. It left a lot of the facts out, but it wasn't an outright lie. And after all, if he was supposed to choose between Nevada and unemployment he was pretty sure she would agree that Nevada was the best plan.
The sound of the key clicking into the lock seemed like a bell tolling his imminent doom. As he stepped over the threshold he tried to speak in an upbeat manner. "Honey?"
"Reggie, is that you?"
A soft soprano voice called to him from the kitchen. A pale heart-shaped face surrounded by chin length curls greeted him with a smile. Helen may not have been a model but she was the most beautiful thing in the world to him. It was those green eyes; they were the one thing in the whole world that made him feel calm and grounded. He embraced her and took in the smell of her shampoo as he buried his face in her hair. The moment was over quickly however, as Helen pushed away from him looking at him with a scrutinizing glare. "Why are you home early," she asked in a voice that dared him to try and tell her a lie.
"Uh…well…I…that is…the summarized version is that I lost my job." Simmons quickly jumped into the next sentence as he saw his wife's face start to twist into panic and dismay. "But it's ok. You know I've been loyal to this company for a long time Helen, so they took care of me. I've been offered a new position which I've accepted."
Helen didn't look relieved. "But? I know that there's a but coming Reggie, I hear it in your voice."
"Well…the new job requires a bit of sacrifice dear. We'll have to move."
Simmons flinched as his wife's eyes narrowed. "To where exactly?" she asked in a voice that was seething with venom in its quietness.
"Well it's not…um…it's a little town in Nevada."
There was a pregnant pause in which Reginald Simmons saw his life flash before his eyes.
"Nevada. NEVADA. YOU opted to send us to NEVADA; without asking me, without consulting me or thinking about what that would mean for US?"
"Well it was either that or unemployment Helen. What did you want me to do!?"
"I wanted you to say you'd think about it. I wanted you to at least mime the act of giving a thought to your daughter and wife and what their thoughts on a move to Nevada were!"
"It was kind of a red light green light thing hon. I was put on the spot…"
Helen stopped him in his tracks, holding her hand up and practically growling out the words. "ENOUGH. I'm really angry with you right now Reggie, so I'm going to walk away and go cool down before I say something I really regret. We'll finish this conversation later."
Simmons was frozen still awaiting death by angry female as she swooped past him and headed for the stairs.
"Oh and Reggie?"
"Y..Yeah?"
"You get to tell Allison."
It dawned on him what a headache that was going to be and he let out a whine like a wounded animal. "Why me, why?" he repeated as he headed back outside to get his bags from the car. Whatever deity had decided to make his life a consistent and persistent pain in the ass was probably laughing right now.
As the school bus pulled to a stop outside the Simmons home a girl with shoulder length brown hair stepped out of the obnoxious yellow vehicle and onto the street. Her head was held down and her face bore a sullen expression. When the bus took off down the street her head lifted a little only to droop again when she spotted the familiar vehicle in the driveway. "Great," she mumbled, "just what I needed today."
Most kids would be happy to see their father again after three weeks of his absence. Ally did not fit into that category at all. It wasn't her fault really. Her father didn't illicit warm fuzzy feelings from anyone, except her mother. She'd been trying for 17 years to figure out what her mom had seen in her father and was still coming up with nothing. She was half joking when she considered that maybe her mother had been drunk when she'd married him.
Ally loved her father, she kinda had to, but like him as a person she did not. He was controlling, chaotic, and a bit neurotic. He thought he had the answer to everything in the world and most of the time he was very wrong. Work took him away from home often, but when he was around he insisted on treating her as if she was five. She'd had her permit for a year now, and only got to drive when her father was away and her mother was feeling gracious. She was the only one out of her group of friends that didn't have a license and it was utterly humiliating. None of her peers were even allowed over her house because her father insisted that she keep her bedroom walls the same Pepto-Bismol color it had been painted when she was born. Wall colors like that a wise teenager does not let her friends see.
And so with expectations of a night of annoyances did Ally turn the handle of the front door and enter her house. Her father was seated in the living room watching some action flick with too much testosterone for her taste. She let her backpack slide down her shoulder and slump onto the floor. "Hey Dad."
"Hey kiddo, how was school?"
Ally sighed. "Fine. You're home early aren't you?"
Her father stood, brushing invisible lint or something off of his clothes and looking like he was stalling. "Yeah I'm back early. There have been some rearrangements with my job."
"What kind of rearrangements?"
"Well it's all very complicated and I won't bore you with the small details but I've lost my old job and gained a new job."
Ally headed to the fridge and grabbed a soda. Coming back to the living room she said, "Well that's good then right?"
"Well there is one small downside. Just a little…hiccup. See, the job isn't here, and well the job can't come to me, so I have to go to the job."
"Dad, I'm 17, you can use big-kid terminology."
"We'removingtoNevada," he blurted at hyper speed.
Ally paused, not quite certain she'd heard right. "I'm sorry…did you…did you just say we're moving to Nevada?" She watched as her father slowly nodded his head in confirmation. Ally's face turned white, then slowly turned pink, then darkened to a rage induced red as the words burst from her vehemently. "I'm not even going to bother arguing with you because you're a STUBBORN JERK, but I just want you to know that YOU'RE RUINING MY LIFE!!! When I grow up to have a complete lack of self-help skills, no social life, and anger issues, I'm going to tell my therapist that it's ALL YOUR FAULT!!!!!" With a final growl of livid proportions, she stomped up the stairs and slammed her door with all the force a pissed off 17 year old could muster.
Simmons contemplated his shortening lifespan as he ate his dinner of reheated meatloaf alone. He did not dare journey up the stairs, as the silence above him persevered. He wondered if the two females above were contemplating his death and shivered.
When dinner was done he settled back on the couch, assuming that was where he'd be spending the night, and stared blankly at the images on the tv screen. He didn't keep track of the time, but regained awareness when he heard footsteps on the stairs. Helen came around the corner and they looked at each other in silence for a long moment.
"Come to bed Reggie."
Heart filled with joy at the realization that he was going to make it to tomorrow Simmons followed his wife up the stairs. Passing Allison's bedroom he heard her lamenting to someone over the phone. He heard something about 'The injustice of the world and that her life was over.' He shook his head. "So dramatic," he muttered as he entered the bedroom. Helen turned to look at him with a slight smirk gracing her lips. "Reggie, honey, Ally is a teenager. She's supposed to be dramatic. You're almost fifty, what's your excuse?"
It took him a long time to fall asleep that night as he tried to figure out the cryptic undercurrent of meaning in that comment.
(AN)- Thanks for all the reviews so far! I hope you all enjoyed chapter 2. I know it's kinda short, but don't worry chapter three will be much longer. Leave your thoughts.