Chapter Three

Marietta was the last to get out of the car, watching Sydney run in circles around Andre on their way towards the garage. Her dad followed behind them responding to whatever questions her little sister threw at him. Bringing up the rear, she held the supply box for the office area.

Papa had let her plan a lot of this weekend's camping trip so she couldn't wait to get out of here and out to the lake. The family's excitement hyped her up—and it made her nervous because she wanted them to have a good time. She liked being outside and liked hanging out with her dad when they went fishing and hiking and stuff; she hoped Dre and Syd would have fun doing those things too. If not, she figured Mama would make sure no one got too upset and then she'd fix things like she always does.

As Etta shuffled along after her family, she sighed and kicked at the dusty walkway. Before they could get to the good part of the weekend, they just had to spend a boring afternoon at the garage first. Yuck.

The garage was more of an Andre thing since he liked working on cars with Papa and Uncle Merle. She usually just hung out inside and read her books or watched the TV. Sometimes if Papa wasn't busy, they'd practice on the crossbow, or if he was busy, she'd go exploring the area close by with Sydney to get some of the energy out of her little sister. But Sydney had been getting on her nerves today so she didn't want to end up babysitting her for the next few hours.

Now that she was here at the garage, she wished she'd gone with Mama to run errands. She might have even gotten to hang out with Judith for a little bit if Mama stopped off to visit Uncle Rick. Etta hadn't seen any of the Grimes in a few weeks; Mama said that Judith and Carl had wanted to go camping with them too but they had already planned a trip to spend the weekend with their grandparents. Judith—or Lil Asskicker as Papa called her—was Etta's favorite god-sister, and Etta didn't mind Carl so much. He could be as annoying as Andre though when he bossed her around.

Taking in the quiet around the garage and the office, she could already tell that the afternoon would drag until they left for their trip.

Approaching the open workspace, she saw an older man come walking out to meet them, dirty rag in hand and his face all beardy. Etta smiled. At least Uncle Merle was here to stir things up.

Her little sister did one last twirl around Andre and then ran to her uncle. He didn't pick her up—he said his back was too old for any more of that nonsense—but he let her grab onto his leg and continued trying to walk as he dragged her along. Sydney had been playing that game with him since she was old enough to crawl and she loved it.

Papa frowned. "Squirrel, stop hangin' off your uncle like that, please." The little girl loosened her grip but didn't let go.

"Aww, she aint hurtin nothin', Little Brother. Let her be." Sydney didn't reattach herself, though, since she didn't want to cross their Papa, even if Uncle Merle said it was ok.

"You aint gon' be singin' that tune when your hip starts actin' up. And then watch you try to to get outta work 'cause of it."

Uncle Merle laughed. "I wouldn't dream 'a usin' my niece here to get outta work, now would I, Squirrel?" Sydney shook her head, probably having no idea what they were even talking about. It made Etta laugh.

"And what you laughin' at, Cookie?" he asked when she got closer.

She smiled wider at her uncle. Yes, he was getting older and her dad worried more about him hurting himself at the garage. But his eyes still twinkled and he never lost his smart mouth, as Mama always complained. Mama and Uncle Merle bickered like she sometimes did with her brother and sister.

And he was the only one who called her Cookie. Apparently, when she was a baby, she used to get the giggles whenever he'd pretend to gobble her up like the Cookie Monster and the nickname stuck.

"I'm laughing at you, Uncle Merle," she threw back. "Papa got you good 'cause you tried that excuse last month after we went hunting for those rabbits."

He stared her down. "Did I?" She nodded. "Well, if you say so then." But she could tell from his expression that he remembered too and enjoyed yanking her dad's chain. As she reached him, he tugged at her hair and pinched her cheek. "You must get all them smarts from your Mama, since I know my brother aint that damn clever."

"Oooh," Sydney bellowed. She and Dre laughed.

"Uncle Merle Rules in effect," Dre said.

"Uncle Merle Rules," she and Sydney shouted together.

Sydney giggled. "Uncle Merle is gonna get it from Mama."

Etta laughed. "Nuh-uh. As long as we call Uncle Merle Rules, she won't get too mad."

Throughout their conversation, Uncle Merle looked at all of them like they'd grown extra sets of heads. Her Papa snickered from where he stood at his workbench going through some mail.

"What's all this 'Uncle Merle Rules' business? I aint heard 'a none 'a these rules. Who the hell gets to make rules about me?"

They all started laughing again. Andre patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Merle." He wandered over to Papa's workbench and started digging in his toolbox.

"Cookie? You gon' tell me what y'all talkin' 'bout? 'Cause I aint gon' stand for no children making rules about me."

Daryl laughed and walked over to him on his way to the office area. "Chill out, Merle. It's just something Michonne told the kids last month to keep them from repeatin' the dumb things that come outta your mouth. They don't need to be talkin' like you do when they're around other folks."

"Hmph. Your Michonne made it up? Figures." Papa rolled his eyes.

Etta went over to grab his arm; Sydney had stayed close too, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Don't worry. We think Uncle Merle Rules are amazing." Sydney nodded at that too.

He let her and her sister lead him back into the office where he'd been sitting around watching TV as he waited for them. "Well, alright then. If you say so, Cookie." He plopped down in his chair and let Sydney crawl on his lap. Etta sat in the chair next to him and pulled out her tablet to check her email. It sounded like her little sister had saved up a million questions to ask their uncle, and every time he responded to her, his answers got more and more ridiculous, which made Sydney laugh.

She realized her Uncle Merle didn't exactly fit in with the rest of her family and friends, but she'd always really liked him. He treated her a little differently than everyone else. It's not like she was his favorite, but he was nicer to her and talked to her more. Even when she was little, she'd keep her Uncle Merle company and follow after him all the time. He'd be the first to hoist her on his shoulders and carry her around or take her for walks in the woods that surrounded the garage.

Dre says he made an effort to be nice to her because she was his first real family besides Papa. He said that when she was born, he stopped being so mean to Mama and didn't fight with Papa as much—he knew that if he didn't act better, they wouldn't let him be included in family things or get to play with her or watch her grow up. She didn't know if she really believed him since he and Uncle Merle got on okay now. They worked on their motorcycles together and Uncle Merle would take him on errands and stuff. He never called Uncle Merle "uncle", though, because Papa wasn't his real dad like her and Sydney; he had another dad who he stayed with sometimes.

A lot of her friends had stepparents like Papa was to Dre but she didn't see how it was any different since Mama and Papa loved all of them the same—they told them so all the time. The only thing different was that Dre still called Papa by his first name—or sometimes he called him "Pops" if he was being funny. Dre treated her and Sydney like real sisters too. Sometimes he got really grumpy, especially when he was with his stupid girlfriend. He'd always tell her what a brat she used to be when they were younger, before she turned into a nerd. But he wouldn't say it in a mean way, and Etta didn't mind being seen as a nerd. And ever since she could remember, her big brother made an effort to play with her. Now they'd hang out and watch TV or go to the movies sometimes. He always protected her and made sure no one ever picked on her or Sydney.

"Cookie, what you workin' on over there got you all quiet?" Sydney had finished her list of questions and crawled down to dig in her "activities box" in the corner.

She looked down at the notes she had been taking. "Nothing really. Just writing stuff." Dre had his cars and Syd had her games. But Etta liked to write little stories and read books in her free time.

Her uncle grumbled and sipped at his glass of iced tea. "What kind 'a nothin' you writin'? 'Cause Ole Merle could tell ya a story or two, better than what you got over there. Did I ever tell ya 'bout the time I took your ole man out to the creek to teach him to swim?"

Etta put her tablet down and stared at him with wide eyes. "No, you didn't tell me that story." She loved when he'd tell her funny stories from when he and Papa were little. Papa didn't have a lot of stories, and he'd get sad if she asked sometimes. But Uncle Merle would tell her things that always sounded good.

He settled back in his chair. "Well, I weren't no older 'an you, and your dad was younger than Squirrel over there. He kept beggin' me to take him out and learn him how to swim. I got tired 'a hearing him whine about it so I finally took him out to do it. 'Cept when we got there, there was a whole gang 'a frogs in the water just hoppin' around. Must have been matin' season or some, hell if I know. But we didn't know them frogs was there until we got in. I threw your dad out into the water and he stands up and there's all these frogs jumping and flying around."

Uncle Merle starts laughing until he can't even get the words out. She's laughing too thinking about her dad standing in a bunch of creek-water with frogs flying around. Sydney is listening too from her corner and giggling.

"Well, your dad learned real quick how to swim tryin' to get away from them frogs. But everywhere he turned, there'd just be more frogs. And he's hollerin' and splashin' and goin' on, and I'm just standing off to the side laughing my ass off."

Sydney chuckles extra loudly at Uncle Merle's bad word. "How'd he get away," Etta asked him, laughing along with them.

Uncle Merle again started gasping, he was cracking up so hard. "He kept on kickin' and goin' on till he got to the other side 'a the creek and he just runs outta the water, shakin' out his clothes thinkin' some of 'em had crawled into his shorts." There were now tears in his eyes from his amusement. "And he finally gets calmed down and I had to yell at him across the way, 'how you gon' get home from over there?' Wadn't no way to get back to the house without swimmin' back 'cross the creek. 'Course your dad is a stubborn sum'bitch so he spent half the damn day walkin' along the creek tryin' to outrun them frogs. Oh man, that day was funny."

"Oh yeah? I didn't see you in that water with them frogs," her dad said from the doorway. Etta turned her head towards him hoping he wasn't mad at Uncle Merle for telling his story. He didn't always like for him to talk about when they were kids. This time, though, he had a smile on his face. It must have been one of the good memories.

"You sure as hell didn't. I aint no fool." Her dad grinned. She and Papa had the same smile and she liked getting to see his.

Sydney dropped the puzzle she'd been playing with and approached her uncle again. "Let's go find some frogs, Uncle Merle." Etta thought it so funny how much her little sister loved an adventure, while she preferred to spend her down time being quiet. Mama said that Etta looked and acted so much like her Papa; maybe that's why she liked hanging out with him and Uncle Merle. Sydney looked more like their mom in the face and liked to be out doing stuff like their Mama too. Andre was like both Mama and Papa, even though he and Papa didn't have the same DNA that she learned about in science class.

Uncle Merle raised himself up slowly and took Syd's hand. "I think that's a good idea, Squirrel. Let's go over by the pond and see if we can spot us some frogs." The pond off by the short trail was only a few minutes away and it was so tiny. But it was the best place for finding critters for when they went fishing and for spotting fireflies too in the summer.

"You mind your uncle, Sydney. And no runnin' off." Sydney nodded at her father's serious tone. "And you," he said, pointing at his brother. "No crazy stories in front 'a her. She's only seven."

"Seven and a half," Syd insisted. Papa offered an apology for forgetting the "half" and smoothed her wild curls down before heading back out to the garage.

"I'll be a good boy, Little Brother." He turned to Etta still sitting with her tablet. "You comin', Cookie?" he asked.

"No thanks, Uncle Merle. Mama will be here soon, and I told her I'd help her with the camping stuff. And Papa said he'd let me practice my crossbow if he had time.

Shrugging, he walked through the doorway with Sydney. "Suit yourself, Ms. Goody-Two-Shoes. Me and Squirrel gon' find us some good fun. Come on little lady." From the window, she saw them head off down the trail chatting as they went.

After they left, she tinkered for a while on her stories, glad to have the quiet. They'd left the TV on some talk show and she'd cut the volume down. From out in the garage, she could hear Papa and Andre banging on something every now and then. She took a few sips from her Uncle Merle's forgotten iced tea and then looked in her bag for the headband she'd stolen from her parents' bathroom to keep her hair from falling in her face as she worked. A year ago, her Mama had finally let her start locking her hair so it would look like hers. She'd wanted to do it since forever because she loved her mom's hair. But Mama had been reluctant since it took a lot of care and she wanted to make sure Etta really wanted to do it before they went through the trouble of it. It had been rough going at first but now it was starting to look really cool. And she liked those evenings she'd sit with her mom while they both did their hair.

Before she could start typing on her tablet again, she heard the sound of an engine as a car pulled into the shop. Figuring it was probably her mom, she poked her head into the front of the office area to check it out. Instead of her mom's SUV, another car had driven up and it looked pretty nice. Dre mentioned he might get to work on something today so maybe this is what he meant.

Her Papa was talking to someone through the window and then he backed up and let her move closer to the open garage. The door opened and a woman stepped out of the car, smiling really brightly at her dad. She touched his arm briefly and barely turned away when Papa pointed at Dre. Papa just looked kind of uncomfortable, like when Mama would make him go to some fancy dinner with her and he had to wear a suit.

She might only be 11 years old but she knew enough to keep an eye on this lady while her Mama wasn't there.

Etta looked into the side-door to the garage and saw that Dre had noticed her looking out at them. He cut his eyes to the lady and smirked. Etta smiled back and covered her hand to laugh.

With almost the entire family here, this lady was about to get a really confusing crash course on the Dixon clan.

TBC...