Chapter 13
Double Dee never returned to the court. Instead, he spent the next few hours bathing extensively, applied cologne, and preparing himself for his time with Marie. Time had flown, and it was already quarter to seven. He was extremely surprised that Eddy and the rest of the crew had not tried to come over his house to pester him. After making sure that he looked presentable, he proceeded to grab his coat off of his rack and head downstairs.
Double Dee was very cautious not to let anyone see him. His heart continued racing as he made his way down the cross street, and into the trailer park. He could only hope that Marie had been right about no one else being home at this time.
Double Dee had finally reached the trailer. He stood in front of the door for a few seconds, before nervously knocking on it three times. It seemed like an eternity before the inner door finally unlatched and began to open. Double Dees heart raced as he saw the face of Marie emerge from behind the door. She was smiling, more so than Edd had ever seen before. She was wearing a blue form fitting shirt and a pair of jeans, rather than her usual black and green attire.
"Hey cutie!" said Marie. "Come on in." she said as she smiled and held the door open for him.
"Hello Marie, how are you this evening?" Double Dee asked as he entered the trailer, nervous as usual.
The trailer was dark, except for the intermittent glow caused by the television. There were no over head lights in the dropped ceiling, and the two lamps resting on the tables did not appear to have bulbs in them. There was a slight smell of cigarette smoke throughout the trailer, due to the sisters mothers habit of smoking indoors.
"Don't just stand there, have a seat, stay awhile!" said Marie as she pushed him playfully onto the couch. "I'll go get you some water." Marie said as she winked at him and began walking into the kitchen. She returned with a bottle of water.
"Thank you Marie, I am quite parched." said Double Dee as he unscrewed the cap to the bottle and took a sip. Marie sat down on the couch next to Double Dee.
The couple sat watching the television for a few seconds before Double Dee broke the ice. "We may have a situation." Said Double Dee
"What do you mean?" replied Marie, as she looked over towards Double Dee.
"Well, see last night after you left, Ed and Eddy surprised me at my house on their way home from the carnival. The problem is that after you kissed me on the cheek, you seemed to have inadvertantly left a lipstick stain and they saw it. Now Eddy won't stop tormenting me about having a girlfriend."
"So what did you say?" said Marie.
"I couldn't think of any other possible way to get out of it, so I confessed that I had a girlfriend named Maryanne, and that she lived in Lemon Brook." said Double Dee.
"Maryanne?" Marie chuckled. She moved closer to Double Dee on the couch. "Is she attractive?" she said playfully, while she leaned into Double Dee, who began sweating.
"Funny you should ask that, that was Eddys first question?" he said while smiling.
"Well" said Marie as she smiled and put both of her arms around Double Dee. "If Maryanne thinks that she can steal my man." she leaned even closer to his ear so that her lips were practically brushing against it "I'll just have to let him know that he's way better off with me in all aspects."
Double Dee was on fire inside. He felt a wave of warmth come over his cheeks and the rest of his body. Marie took notice.
"Oh relax cutie, I'm just joking with you." she said while she laughed. Double Dee chuckled back.
There were a few more seconds of silence before Marie chimed in once again.
"So Oven Mitt," said Marie as she leaned her head on Double Dees shoulder. Double Dee tensed up slightly. "I don't think that you ever got around to telling me why you never take that hat of yours off."
Double Dee tensed up even more so than before. "Why did the conversation have to turn to this so soon?", he thought to himself.
"I bet you have some really nice hair underneath, can I see it." said Marie in a playful tone.
Marie reached for his hat and began tugging on it, at which point it began to slip off.
"STOP!" Double Dee yelled as he jumped off of the couch, startling Marie.
"I'm sorry Double Dee." said Marie. "I didn't mean to make you that upset."
"No Marie I'm sorry for yelling as I did." said Double Dee as he gripped his hat.
Double Dee had never removed his hat voluntarily while in public and the only people who knew what he looked like without it were his two best friends Ed and Eddy. He had decided that it was time to let Marie in on his secret.
"Marie." said Double Dee as he sat down on the couch next to her once again. He put his hand on hers. He looked down at his hand, and saw her rusty red nails curling around his hand embracing it.
"Yes, Double Dee?" she said with a serious look on her face.
"I have something that I would really like to share with you." Double Dee said while staring down at their interlocked hands. He then looked at Marie in her eyes. "Even though it is very hard for me to talk about it."
Marie now stared at Double Dee with a serious look on her face.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to Double Dee." she said, squeezing his hand in hers.
"I need to tell you Marie." said Double Dee. "After all of this time, I need someone with whom I can converse about it."
"I am all ears Double Dee." said Marie.
Double Dee sighed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He opened it and pulled out a small 2x3 inch photograph. He held it between him and Marie.
"Do you recognize anyone in this picture?" said Double Dee.
Marie stared at the picture. There were two small boys, no more than 6 years old, that looked exactly alike, sitting in what appeared to be an armchair. The two boys both had thick black hair parted on the side on their head and were both smiling, as if they were laughing at something that was happening behind the camera. Marie took notice that each of the boys looked exactly like younger versions of Double Dee.
"Double Dee, they look like you." said Marie .
"Correct assumption Marie." said Double Dee. He pointed at the boy on the left. "This is me." Double Dee sat for a few seconds before pointing to the little boy on the right. "This is my identical twin, James." he said with a sorrowful look on his face.
Marie sat speechless, staring seriously at Double Dee.
"My family lived in New Hope for the first few years of our life. We had a big house, with a huge playroom. James and I would spend every day and night in it, using our Tinker toys and Legos, to build anything we could possibly imagine. We did everything together."
Double Dee choked as if holding back tears. Marie squeezed his hand.
"Then one particular night I remember all too well, we were sleeping when I was awoken by the sound of a smoke detector. I arose out of bed and saw black smoke filling my room. I could hear the sound of the fire engines sirens approaching from the distance."
Double paused for a second.
"Then, I remember seeing my father burst through the door. More smoke began to fill the room as my father ran over to me and briskly scooped me up before running back out of the room with me to get James from his room. And can remember hearing James screaming for help. When we reached James' door, my father…"
Double Dee struggled to get the words out of his mouth.
"My father attempted to open the door, but it was obstructed by debris on the other side. Then it happened. My father used all of his weight to bust the door down, and in doing so inadvertently caused a backdraft. The air from the outside of the room rushed in and…"
Double Dee was now attempting to hold back tears, which were already running down his face.
"The air rushed in and gave the smoldering substances in James' room enough oxygen to combust. The explosion blew the whole wall of the room away, and sent my father and I careening backwards. The hot gases that poured out of the room during the explosion caused irreversible damage to me and my father. My father suffered a rather large third degree burn on his arm. He still has the scar from the incident. As for me…"
Double Dee paused for a minute and looked into Marie's eyes.
"This is what I am left with after that horrible night." said Double Dee as he placed his hands on the side of his hat. He carefully, but slowly lifted it off of his head. Underneath his hat he still retained his thick black hair on the right side of his head. However, on the left side of the crown of his head, there was an irregularly shaped scar that passed over the top of his head, and turned down slightly towards his ear around his temple. The area around the scar was punctuated by many third degree burn scars.
Marie stared sadly at Double Dee.
"I flew out my father's arms during the explosion. Whatever object it may be that I hit split my head open and caused this scar that you see on my head. The burns were caused by the sheer heat of the flames."
Marie sat silently listening closely to Double Dees story.
"And James." said Double Dee, as he couldn't hold back the tears any longer. "While my father and I are cursed with living with these reminders of that night, that is nothing in comparison to the fate that James suffered."
"Double Dee…." whispered Marie, she had her hand over her mouth and was trying to hold back tears of her own.
"After James passed and we lost everything we owned in the fire, we moved into the house that we live in now. After the tragedy, my family has not spoken of it since. My father and mother deal with it by spending hours immersed in work, so much so that I hardly ever see them."
Double Dee held up his hat.
"This was James' hat. He would wear it all of the time in the winter when we used to go outside and play in the snow." said Double Dee.
"Double Dee, I am so sorry, I really had no idea." said Marie.
"Marie, don't be sorry, I am glad I was able to tell you. I have never spoken of the incident since, and it feels great to get it off of my chest."
Double Dee looked at Marie.
"I know I look like a monster without my hat on, I am so sorry for exposing that part of myself to you. You must be repulsed." said Double Dee.
"Double Dee." said Marie, as she grabbed his face and looking into his eyes. "You have to be the biggest moron in the world if you think I care about those scars. I like you because you're Double Dee. I am absolutely not repulsed."
Double Dee smiled and placed the hat back onto his head. The couple stared at the television screen for a few seconds. Marie leaned over towards Double Dee and wound up leaning her head on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry for darkening the night up with my questioning." said Marie.
"Do not be sorry Marie. I am glad I was able to tell you about James, I have not even told Ed or Eddy about the tragedy."
Marie waited a few seconds and then leaned up and kissed Double Dee on the cheek.
"I am glad you did Double Dee." said Marie.
The two sat in silence for a few minutes, until something hanging on the wall caught Double Dees eye. It was a highly detailed sketch drawing of a dog. The dog looked as if it was a German Shepherd or a similar looking breed. The dog was drawn as if it were looking slightly to the left of the portrait and looked as if it was panting.
"That is a fantastic drawing." said Double Dee pointing to the drawing on the wall. "Who is the artist?"
"You probably won't believe me." said Marie. "But I drew it."
Double Dee had seen the drawings that Marie had produced in her sketchbook, but decided to act as if he was surprised at Marie's talent to cover up the fact that he had viewed her book without her permission
"You did!" said Double Dee. "Marie, I never knew you to be an artist!"
Marie snickered as she looked into Double Dee's face.
"Come on cutie," said Marie, "You think I'm dumb? I know you couldn't resist looking at my sketchbook."
Marie giggled as Double Dee's face turned bright red out of embarrassment.
"It's okay, I forgive you!" said Marie playfully. She snickered for a few moments before continuing her conversation.
"Art is one of my favorite hobbies." said Marie.
Double Dee rose off of the couch to observe the sketch more closely. On the bottom edge of the painting, Marie had signed her name, Annemarie E. Kanker, and had written the word "Dougie" directly next to her signature.
"Dougie?" said Double Dee. "Is that the title?"
"Yes." said Marie, "Dougie was our dog when we lived back in the city. I loved him so much. Me and my sisters used to run and play with him out in the park for hours. He would even sleep with me in my bed at night. When I was about 8 we ran into serious trouble with money, even more so than we already were, and my mother couldn't support a dog as well as three kids. We had to give him away."
"That must have been really hard to have to do." said Double Dee.
"Yes it was." said Marie. "It was hard on all of us."
Marie stood up off of the couch.
"Would you like to see a real picture of Dougie?"Asked Marie
"I would be honored." said Double Dee.
"Come on up to the bedroom." said Marie as she began walking up the stairs, motioning him to follow her. She quickly turned around and leaned into his face as if she was angry.
"And don't try putting any of those sweet moves on me up there!" she yelled right into his face with a seemingly angry expression. Double Dee was taken a back for a second until Marie smiled and kissed him on the cheek before running up the stairs. He definitely had to get used to her sense of humor.
When they reached the Kankers room, Marie flipped on the light switch, which caused two table lamps to illuminate in the corners of the room. Double Dee sat down on the bed, as Marie began going through boxes that were in the closet. She eventually pulled out a small, ordinarily sized picture and showed it to Double Dee.
In the picture there were three little girls. One of the girls, who appeared to be around 6 years old, stood on the right, smiling. Her ginger curls that hung to about shoulder length, complimenting a green dress that matched her white leggings and maryjane shoes. Her smiling eyes seemed to twinkle from behind a pair of black rimmed glasses, held together by tape on the nose piece, as she smiled brilliantly. To her right, an even smaller girl sat, appearing as if she was laughing. This particular little girl had straight blue hair that was around shoulder length and was wearing a pink frilly dress. Next to her laying on the floor, was a brown German Sheppard. The little girl had her arms around the dog's body as if she was hugging it. Lastly, to the dogs right was an even smaller girl, with short thin blond hair that was quite curly. The toddler had a prominent overbite, and wore a green dress. She did not appear to be too happy to have her picture taken, as she was crying her little eyes out. In her right hand, she cradled a small doll that Double Dee noticed was very similar to Sarah's doll.
"A family photo." said Marie as she pointed to the dog.
"That's Dougie." she said. She then pointed to the little girl that was hugging the dog.
"This is me." said Marie after which she glided her finger over the page to the girl with the red hair.
"This is Lee."
Lastly she pointed at the smallest girl of the bunch.
"And this is May, crying as usual."
Double Dee paused, staring at the photograph with wide eyes. He soon decided to continue the conversation.
"What happy children," said Double Dee.
"Yes we were," said Marie, "Until we realized we were ugly and worthless, especially me. Thats why I started with this whole stupid dressing in black thing, I needed something to make me stand out."
"Marie," said Double Dee as he put his hand on her leg. He grabbed a makeup mirror that happened to be sitting on the table next to the bed.
"Look at yourself." he said as Marie looked into the mirror. "Do you know what I see?" said Double Dee.
"The wicked witch of the west." said Marie sarcastically.
"No, I see Annemarie Kanker, the most beautiful girl on planet earth inside and out. Don't you ever question your ability to stand out." replied Double Dee.
Marie looked at Double Dee and began smiling.
"For being such a nervous nelly around girls, you sure know how to be sweet." said Marie as she chuckled and kissed him on the cheek. She embraced Double Dee afterwards with a tight hug. Double Dee put his arms around her and returned the embrace.
"I guess it's just a talent." He said jokingly as he blushed "like your art."
"Hey!" yelled Marie a she pulled away. "That reminds me, hold on a second."
Marie went into the closet and grabbed a large canvas. She placed it down on the bed, and then opened a drawer on the night stand and pulled out a pencil.
"Okay she said, now just stay still for about an hour. You can still talk if you want." She said while smiling. She began using the pencil to draw on the canvas
"What are you going to draw?" asked Double Dee. "Hmm something for you, just stay still." said Marie.
"Okay," said Double Dee as he chuckled.
"Oh I almost forgot. Stand up and take off all of your clothes." said Marie. "What!" yelled Double Dee. "Didn't you ever see the Titanic? I have to draw you naked for the moment to be romantic." said Marie giggling.
Double Dee, being as naïve as he was, began nervously taking off his shirt.
"Double Dee, put your shirt back on, I was just messing." She said as she giggled once more. Double Dee, embarrassed, quickly put his shirt back down.
"Silly me." He said while blushing and laughing.
Double Dee and Marie sat for around and hour conversing while Marie continued working on her drawing, never letting Double Dee see what it was that she was drawing. When she had finally finished, she dug once more through her closet and found wrapping paper that appeared to have already been torn off of a gift. She used the remaining pieces in addition to tape to cover up the drawing.
"Okay Double Dee." said Marie. "This is for you to keep, but you can't open it until you get home, okay."
Marie handed Double Dee the canvas, wrapped in the red wrapping paper.
"I hope you like it" said Marie.
"I am very sure I will, Marie" said Double Dee as he looked into Marie's eyes, which were directly across from his face.
At that moment, he made a realization; he had never seen Marie's right eye as it had always been covered up by her hair. Marie sensed Double Dee staring at the point where he other eye would be and chimed in.
"I know what you're thinking." said Marie. "You're wondering why I keep this eye covered aren't you?"
Double Dee was shocked. It was as if Marie was psychic and knew exactly what he was thinking at the moment.
"It is really embarrassing." said Marie.
Before Double Dee had a chance to reply, Marie, closed her eyes and brushed the blue bangs away from her right eye. When she reopened them, Double Dee saw her emerald green left eye looking directly at him, but her equally green right eye was pointing in the direction of the wall.
"My mom could have gotten it fixed when I was little if we had insurance, before it got this bad." She said. "It's called exotropia, but most people call it a lazy eye. I can't move my right eye at all and because it is stuck in that position, it causes me to have double vision if I don't close it or cover it up. So basically, I use my hair to hide the eye itself, and to help me out with my vision."
Double Dee continued staring at Marie's eyes .
"Still think I'm the most beautiful girl in the world?" said Marie in a sarcastic tone as she looked down and away from Double Dee. Double Dee grabbed her face and guided it so that she was looking back at him, her hair still brushed out of the way of her right eye.
"Marie, I without a doubt still think you are the most beautiful girl in the world." said Double Dee.
Marie smiled at him. She began moving her face closer to his, while staring into his eyes. Double Dee began to blush. Marie came closer and closer to him, until her lips were an inch away from his. Double Dee took action, and decided to be brave and go for it. He inched further in and touched his lips to Maries. He felt as if a bolt of lightning flew from his lips throughout his whole body.
After a few minutes of kissing, there was a sound from downstairs as if the front door to the trailer had opened. The two froze where they were at the sound. Marie quickly got up off of Double Dees lap and looked out the window of the trailer. A large red Ford F-250 pickup truck was driving briskly out of the trailer park. Marie recognized it as Rod's truck.
"Oh shit May's home." said Marie, as she quickly ran over to Double Dee.
Double Dee was panicking
. "Marie! Are you home!" yelled May from downstairs.
"I'll be down in a minute May!" she yelled downstairs. She turned to Double Dee.
"You can go out the window." She said.
"Out the window?" he said.
"Yeah, just hang out and drop, it's not that far I promise sweety." Marie said, as she was forcing the canvas that she had drawn on earlier into Double Dees hand. Double Dee made his way to the window and began climbing out feet first. Marie ran over before Double Dee hung down and kissed him on the lips for about 10 seconds.
"I'm sorry about this, we can hang out again Tuesday night, I have a great spot to meet, I'll tell you about it later." Marie said after she was done.
"Okay Marie, good night." said Double Dee. "Good night Double Dee." said Marie, before she kissed him one last time.
After the kiss, Double Dee dropped down from the window and began sneaking around the trailer to begin his walk home. The walk home seemed to go rather quickly, as Double Dee was flying as high as a kite on the drug known as love. He was glad that he could finally confide in someone and get the demons he had had from the past off of his chest. As he walked home, he realized that Marie was a girl who too had had a rough past, and needed a trusting person to express her feelings to as well. Double Dee was glad that he could be that person. On a brighter note, he had an amazing time talking to Marie about the brighter things in life while she was drawing her secret picture that he couldn't wait to see. Last but not least, he had had his first "real deal" kiss with a girl, and enjoyed every minute of it.
When Double Dee had finally made it home, he opened the front door to his house, and walked up the stairs to his bedroom. After reaching his bedroom, he placed the still wrapped canvas on his nightstand, and proceeded to get changed into his pajamas. Before making his bed, he decided it was time to finally remove the wrapping paper from the canvas. He did so, and was amazed by what was underneath. On the canvas was a picture of Double Dee, highly detailed at that, from his shoulders up. He was staring down to his left at Maries face, who was leaning on his shoulder staring dreamily up at him. Double Dee was astonished that Marie could draw her own self portrait in such detail without even looking at a reference photo or a mirror. He could not stop staring at the drawing, and the more and more he looked at it, the more and more he wanted to actually be sitting next to Marie, staring into her eyes.