Chapter 32
It was now 6:30 p.m. and Double Dee was feeling much better after his cold shower. Nevertheless, his stomach was filled with butterflies. He was about to voluntarily enter the Kanker residence with all three girls home, a feat which was not dared to be tried by anyone in the cul-de-sac. Even though Marie had spent the most time harassing him, Lee was the sister that intimidated him the most, and he was still quite intimidated even though Marie had promised that Lee accepted the relationship.
Double Dee fixed the black turtle neck sweater he was wearing before adjusting his ski hat. He brushed off the blue jeans he was wearing, and inspected himself once again before grabbing his coat.
Double Dee made his way down the stairs, and towards the front door. His heart raced as he once again walked down the gravel path through his lawn and across the street toward the construction site. As he approached the trailer, he could hear the sisters yelling from the upstairs window, arguing over makeup and hairspray.
Double Dee walked up to the trailer door. He opened the screen door and knocked on the inner door. As soon as he knocked on the door, the yelling was silenced, and was replaced by whispering and girlish giggles. Double Dee then heard the sisters arguing over who would answer the door first. The sound of footsteps moving quickly down the stairs filled the air, and before Double Dee knew it, the inner door had begun to open, revealing Lee standing behind it.
"Damn it." said Lee, "I thought it was the electric man." she said while chuckling, Double Dee appeared extremely nervous, letting out a strong gulp while sweating.
"Loosen up stiff, I'm just jackin' ya!" said Lee as she smiled, "Get in here your woman's waitin' for ya!"
Lee grabbed Double Dee by the hand and pulled him into the trailer. As the two entered the trailer, May had just finished descending the staircase.
"Hi Double Dee!" said May as she waved her fingers at him.
"Hello again May." said Double Dee smiling, as he had become quite comfortable around May.
Lee walked Double Dee over to the couch and shoved him down into a sitting position
. "Don't be shy, make yourself at home, take off your shoes, stay awhile!" said Lee. She turned her attention to May and snapped her fingers.
"May, get our guest something to drink!" yelled Lee.
"You're lucky I'm doing this for Double Dee, or I'd tell you to get off your ass and do something for once." said May as she walked into the kitchen.
"Yeah up yours May." said Lee under her breath as she collapsed onto the couch next to Double Dee, watching television.
Double Dee couldn't help but notice that the same bag of popcorn he, Marie, and May were eating a few nights prior was still sitting on the coffee table. To make matters worse, Lee was pulling kernels out of it and stuffing them in her mouth.
"MARIE!" Lee yelled up the stairs, "What's takin' ya Double Dee's here to see ya!"
"Hold your horses Lee!" snarled Marie as she descended the stairs, still attempting to place an earring in her right ear on the way down. Her irritated face soon turned to beautiful smile as soon as she laid eyes on Double Dee.
Marie was wearing a form fitting red shirt that slightly exposed her midsection above her black jeans. She was not wearing any shoes, but had black socks with yellow coloring on the section where her toes would be.
"Hello Double Dee," said Marie in calm gentle voice. Double Dee rose off of the couch as Marie walked over toward him.
"Hello Marie, I have missed your dearly." said Double Dee. Marie placed her arms around him and hugged him tightly. Double Dee placed his arms around her waist and slightly lifted her off of the floor. Even the tough Lee Kanker couldn't help but crack a smile at the couple sharing a genuine embrace.
"I hope your hungry Double Dee." said May, "Cause we're making our Kanker burgers again."
"I know I am." said Lee as she got up from the couch, walking toward the kitchen.
"Let's go May, the love birds need their time alone."
Lee and May walked into the kitchen to begin making supper. As the girls argued in the kitchen about who would handle making which part of the meal, Marie turned to Double Dee and put her arms around him.
"So," she said smiling, "How was my Double Dees day without me? Lee and May said that they saw you coming from a hockey game on their way home from the supermarket, how'd that go?"
"Let's just say that I'm not the best athlete in the world Marie." said Double Dee as he and Marie chuckled slightly.
"Marie!" yelled May, "You want powdered milk?"
"Sure!" yelled Marie.
"How about you Double Dee." yelled May.
"Sure I'll take a glass of milk, if you'd be so kind." said Double Dee.
It didn't take long for the sisters to finish cooking the burgers. Lee called everyone out to the kitchen to claim their food, after which everyone returned to the living room. Lee sat on a chair that she had dragged out from the kitchen, while May joined Marie and Double Dee on the couch.
Double Dee watched in awe as Lee and May inhaled their food as if they had never eaten before. Marie, would have most likely eaten this way as well, but showed restraint in front of her boyfriend out of politeness. Double Dee ate slowly, being as careful as he usually did as to not get messy.
Before they knew it, everyone was finished eating. After a few minutes of watching television, Lee remembered something.
"Oh yeah Marie." said Lee, "Wait till you see what we found while you were at work."
Lee ran upstairs snickering.
"I hope you know that she found the old video cassettes Marie." said May.
Marie turned as red as a beet.
"I'm back!" yelled Lee as she walked down the stairs holding several VHS cassettes.
"Lee, don't you dare put those tapes on!" said Marie as she ran over to her sister. Lee reached her hand out and pressed it to her forehead, stopping her in her tracks. Marie began trying to wrestle the tapes out of Lee's hands.
"What's the matter Marie, afraid of being embarrassed, it's just you as a baby." said Lee chuckling,
"I said shut up Lee!" yelled Marie as she punched her sister in the arm. Lee simply continued laughing.
"May catch!" yelled Lee as she tossed one of the VHS tapes to her sister. May stood up and ran to the VCR, placing the tape into the machine.
"I will never forgive you for doing this." said Marie in a gravely tone, although she was joking for the most part.
"Oh relax Marie, Double Dees gonna love it." said Lee.
Although May had inserted the tape, the television displayed a black screen.
"May, what the hell did you break the tape." yelled Lee.
"No it's the stupid VCR!" yelled May back as she fumbled with the tape. "It eats any tape when we first put it in."
May finished rewinding the tape back into its case. She reinserted the tape back into the VCR, and allowed it to play.
Double Dee watched as a poor quality video played on the screen. There was a little girl about 4 years old with red hair sitting on an old chair, smiling and squeezing her hands together as if she was excited. A pair of relatively large black-framed glasses adorned her face, the nose piece taped together by a few rolls of masking tape due to an apparent earlier accident. Next to her was a little black haired girl in a pink dress that was smiling as well. Next to the chair was a high chair, in which a toddler with short blonde hair was sitting covered in red spaghetti sauce.
"My goodness," said Double Dee, "I had no idea that you once required correctve lenses for nearsightness Lee."
Lee remained silent, fixated on the television screen with a neutral expression. After a few moments, Marie decided to respond in her place.
"She still does," said Marie, "Ms. Stubborn over here just refuses to get a new pair. She's as blind as a bat without them, I dont know how she even sees two feet in front of her."
"Yeah," said May, "With our insurance we cant even afford a new pair right now anyway. It's a shame, even though her old pair needed tape to hold the nose together, they still worked...well until Lee got upset and..."
"Annamae Lynn," yelled Lee in a stern manner as she pointed towards her little sister. In an instant, May clammed up as if she were a small child scolded by a parent. after a few moments, she decided to apologize.
"Whoops," said May, "Sorry Lee."
A few seconds passed,mat which point a deep voice of a man came from behind the camera, asking the little girls what they were doing as if pretending to interview them.
"That's my grandpa behind the camera talking to us." said Marie to Double Dee.
Double Dee smiled as he listened to the dialogue in the video.
"Annalee, what's your favorite thing to do?" said Poppy .
"Umm…" said the young Lee in a high pitched voice. Lee stumbled, "I dunno."
Lee was acting as if she was shy.
"Come on you have to have something you like." said Poppy in a child friendly voice.
"I like playing with my little sister." said the young Lee, smiling.
Double Dee could not believe that the little girl on the television was the same, gruff and domineering red headed girl that he had come to know.
"Awww" said Mr. Kanker, "Why don't you give Annemarie a hug?"
Lee paused while staring at the camera, before grabbing Marie, and pulling her into a hug while smiling. Young Marie seemed very confused as she stared at the camera and tried to make sense of what was going on.
"What about Annamae?" asked Poppy, "I think she wants a hug too!"
Young Lee took one look at the 2 year old May sitting in her high chair and turned back to the camera.
"She'll get me messy Poppy!" yelled Lee, causing their grandfather to laugh.
May was quite embarrassed as her face was turning red. The camera panned to the left. There was another man leaning down over the high chair, wiping the sauce off of May's face. He had blonde hair and a slight five-o-clock shadow on his face. Young May looked up into the man's face as he cleaned her off.
"That's my Dad." said Marie, as Double Dee continued to watch the home movies with the girls.
The video displayed visual snow before abruptly changing to a rather embarrassing scene; bath time for Marie and May.
"What the hell Lee!" yelled Marie as she ran to the VCR and ejected the tape. Both May and Marie were embarrassed beyond belief as Lee laughed maniacally.
"I guess I chose the right one!" she said as she laughed. Double Dee couldn't help but chuckle as he sat on the couch. Marie was infuriated and embarrassed at the same time.
"C'mon Marie, lighten up we gotta show your man a good time, he's our guest!" said a chuckling Lee.
"Easy for you to say!" yelled May, "Let's watch one that will embarrass you!"
May wrestled a random tape out of Lee's hand and placed it in the VCR. The tape displayed snow.
"Ha nice try May, there ain't nothing on this tape!" said Lee .
Just then the snow broke and the video displayed the wall of the trailer, as the voices of May and Marie argued about how to operate the camera. The video flickered for a second before displaying the door to the trailer.
"I'm a movie star!" said May, as she entered the trailer door, wearing large sunglasses, as well as a trucker's hat with the brim facing backwards. May then displayed bags that she was holding to the camera. Lee appeared from outside the trailer and shoved May down.
"Marie, get that camera out of my face!" yelled Lee as she moved her hand toward the camera, causing the picture to return to visual snow once again.
"Ha!" yelled Lee, "I remember this, this was last summer! Hey Double Dee, you and your boys are on this tape too, watch!"
Double Dee searched his memories before he finally remembered the day the Kanker sisters had pretended to be on vacation to annoy he and his friends. His memories were interrupted by hearing Marie's voice on the television. He turned his attention back to the screen to see himself on the video. He was attempting to pull what appeared to be the brim of a large hat that was stuck around his waist off of his body. The brim made him look like he was wearing a tutu.
All three girls laughed as Double Dee turned red out of embarrassment.
"Cute." said Marie's voice from behind the camera. "How bout a little hula hula?" Double Dee struggled to remove the brim, which made him look as if he was hula dancing.
"Hey Marie, get me with Eddy!", yelled Lee's voice off camera.
"HELLO! MARIE FILM M.." At that point the film once again ended.
The three sisters sat on the couch laughing as Double Dee was filled with embarrassment.
"Come on Double Dee." said Marie as she put her arm around him, "You know it was funny."
Marie smiled at Double Dee. Double Dee couldn't help but start chuckling, and before he knew it he was sharing full out laughter with his girlfriend and her sisters.
The video came to life once again, this time displaying all three sisters sitting in a fish tank. Eddy jumped in front of the camera, yelling for the girls to get out of his fish tank before Double Dee asked Eddy to step out of the shot from behind the camera. The video then blacked out.
After the video had finished, the three girls sat laughing, enjoying their memories of the previous summer torturing the Ed's, as Double Dee sat and listened, chuckling at the sisters little arguments.
After a few minutes, Lee interrupted.
"Ooh let's put this one on," yelled Lee, "It says 'Annemarie Eve's First Birthday"
"Why can't we watch something that embarrasses you, lug head?" yelled Marie as she got into her sisters face, trying to steal the video
"Marie, it's our sworn duty as your sisters to embarrass you in front of your boyfriend," said Lee.
"Wait till you see this Double Dee!" yelled May.
"He's not gonna see it." said Marie, "We're going upstairs, come on Double Dee!"
"OOOOOOOHHHHH" said both sisters as Marie began pulling Double Dee up the stairs.
"Hey after you're done, you better change those bed sheets." yelled Lee laughing.
"Can it Lee!" yelled Marie down the stairs. "
Have fun you two!" yelled May.
Marie couldn't help but crack a smile at that last comment as she and Double Dee disappeared up the stairs.
Marie opened the door to the bedroom and flipped the light switch, illuminating the room. Marie closed the door behind her and walked over to the bed. She collapsed onto the bed, leaning backwards onto one of the pillows that were sitting near the top. Double Dee remained standing by the door for a few seconds before joining Marie on the bed.
"I am so sorry for all of that Double Dee." said Marie, quite embarrassed, "I didn't expect them to show you those movies."
"Don't be sorry Marie," said Double Dee, "I quite enjoyed finally being able to see you as a little girl, and I especially enjoyed re-experiencing our 'vacation' we had together last summer." Double Dee snickered.
Marie paused before continuing.
"It really was funny seeing you dance like that," said Marie as she chuckled, Double Dee joined her in her merriment.
"Since we're in the mood for some reminiscing," said Marie as she smiled and got up off of the bed, "How about we look at some pictures I found last night."
Marie reached into the drawer of the night stand and pulled out around 4 small photographs that appeared to have come from an instant film camera.
"We confiscated these from you last summer!" said Marie giggling as she showed Double Dee the pictures. The first few pictures were of Double Dee and his friends clowning around and consisted of Eddy's shoes, Double Dee and Ed's midsections, and a picture of all three friends standing together.
"Oh yes,I do remember these." said Double Dee, "These were part of Eddy's calendar scam."
"Calendar scam?" asked Marie chuckling. "Eddy planned to use an instant camera we found in his attic to take photographs of all of the children of the cul-de-sac. His objective was to utilize the photographs to make a calendar that he could sell back to the kids for a profit." said Double Dee.
"So I guess we were responsible for causing that scam to fail too?" said Marie playfully as she repositioned herself to sit on his lap.
"It was doomed to fail from the start." Said Double Dee, "But your interference in our endeavour did play a large role in the collapse of Eddy's plan."
"Excuse me Oven Mitt!" said Marie as she playfully slapped Double Dee, "You guys came to our trailer looking for trouble. We didn't come to you, so if you ask me our 'interference' was totally justified."
Double Dee was speechless as he stared into Marie's smiling face.
"You do have an excellent point Marie." said Double Dee.
Marie smiled back into her Double Dee's eyes. Marie leaned into him and kissed him on the lips while embracing him in her arms. Double Dee returned the embrace, as Marie held him tighter. Just as they were beginning their passionate kiss, Marie heard the familiar sound of floor boards creaking. She quickly pulled away from Double Dee and stared at the door.
"They're listening outside the door." whispered Marie to Double Dee.
Double Dee looked into Marie's eyes confused as to what to do. After a few seconds, Marie's face lit up and a familiar grin adorned her face. Double Dee knew that Marie had an adventurous idea judging by her facial expressions. He could only hope that her plan lied within his comfort zone.
"They won't know what to do." said Marie as she stepped onto the floor and off of Double Dees lap.
"What are you doing Marie?" asked Double Dee.
"Playing into their little game." said Marie as she sat on the bed next to Double Dee.
Marie began shaking the bed, in a rhythm causing it to hit up against the wall in an audible thud each time it hit the wall. Double Dee was embarrassed as Marie began making suggestive noises while she did so.
"Keep shaking the bed." whispered Marie as she walked over to the door.
Although Marie's sense of humor had caused him to step out of his comfort zone, he couldn't help but continue the charade to satisfy his her. Marie walked over to the door and flung it open quickly. Lee and May, who had their ears pressed to the door, fell inward, not expecting the door to be suddenly taken out from under them. They both fell on the floor with a thud.
"And what are you two doing?" asked Marie as she looked down at her sisters.
Lee and May looked up to see both Marie and Double Dee as they were downstairs, with no evidence of any kind of passionate encounter
"Hey, we're just checking to make sure ya use the proper precautions before your begin your adventure." said Lee, she winked "If ya know what I mean?"
"It sounded like they were already having their adventure." said May giggling.
"I heard the floorboards creek stupid!" yelled Marie, "We were just screwin' around with ya.. Now get back downstairs."
"Geez that's the thanks we get for tryin to help a sister out," said Lee jokingly as she descended the stairs grinning back up at Marie.
"Whatever Lee!" said Marie as she closed the door to the bedroom once again. She walked back over towards Double Dee.
"Just the joys of having sisters Double Dee." said Marie as she chuckled.
Marie began going through her box of pictures she had in the closet. She stopped when she came to one particular picture.
In the photograph was an older man with a white beard. He appeared to be on a large fishing boat, as the sea was behind him over the blue rails that lined the boat. To his right, hanging from a rack was a giant swordfish. On the other side of the swordfish, the man that Double Dee recognized as Rod stood with his right thumb up toward the camera. Cradled in his other arm was a toddler May, only about 3 years old. She was wearing an orange life vest that looked as if it were too large for her due to her small size. Small versions of Marie and Lee, both wearing oversized life vests of their own and smiling, stood in front of the bearded man, who had his arms on both of their shoulders.
"This is my Poppy." said Marie as she pointed to the older man. "This was the day he took my Dad and us fishing out on the ocean. I can barely remember anything about the day, but I do remember him and my Dad fighting to reel that fish in together."
Double Dee observed the fish in the photograph and remembered seeing the exact same fish hanging on the wall above the stairs.
"So that is how that unusually large specimen of swordfish found its way into your living room." said Double Dee.
"Yep," said Marie, "My Poppy loved fishing. He used to take my mom on the boat with him all of the time when she was little."
Marie glanced at the picture once again.
"This was taken before my mom and dad broke up." said Marie.
"Believe it or not, my mom and Rod were actually going to get married. Of course, that ended after the incident I already told you about. Needless to say my Poppy never took him fishing with him again as I would assume he lost respect for him due to what he did to my mom. He still took us fishing, and I can remember going out on the boat with him every summer up until I was eight years old. We were lucky to have enough money to even be able to go fishing as much as we did. If my grandpa could have afforded it, he would have went out on the boat every week."
Marie chuckled and then paused as she looked into Double Dee's eyes.
"The summer of my eighth birthday was the last time we ever went fishing with him. During the winter of that year, he had a heart attack while working on his loading dock, lifting the boxes off of the trucks at the plant. He passed away shortly after."
"Your grandfather sounded like a great man Marie." said Double Dee.
"He was a very nice man." said Marie, "He was always making us dollhouses and other toys out of spare wood he found. He was very much like you, always doing the right thing, courteous, kind and gentlemanly. And to top it off he was really smart too. He always had the answer to anything we were curious about."
Marie paused once again.
"He had to be a strong man in order to handle a lot of the situations he was presented with in his life. He lost his land, his assets and most importantly, lost his pride and joy daughter to the neighborhood and was forced to deal with her becoming pregnant with her first child not long after her 21st birthday."
Marie paused as Double Dee put his arm around her, pulling her closer to him.
"Nevertheless, he did the best he could to try to give us the love and attention we needed as young girls."
Marie placed the picture back into the box before she continued.
"All of those knick knacks we have hanging on the walls downstairs were his." said Marie, "One of his favorite hobbies was building ships in bottles. I can remember him sitting for hours while he watched us, working on his creations."
"That's quite an arduous task." said Double Dee.
"Tell me about it." said Marie, "His favorite model was sail boat in a bottle that is hanging above the entrance the kitchen. That boat is actually a scale model of the boat that he would take us out in to go fishing. I guess that's why it meant so much to him."
Marie looked at Double Dee in the face while she grinned.
"To think we almost lost it when your friend Ed stole it right out from under our noses." said Marie, smiling.
Double Dee thought about Maries statement for a few seconds before remembering the day that the Kanker sisters had gone on a rampage through the cul-de-sac, beating everyone up in their path in search of a certain ship in a bottle that Ed had had stuck on his finger. It all became very clear as to why the heirloom meant so much to the sisters
"Marie, I never knew, I had no idea that that heirloom was so important to your family. And to think that Ed's antics could have possibly led to its ultimate untim…."
Marie silenced Double Dee with her finger.
"Cutie, it's okay, we got it back. That's all that's counts." said Marie as she giggled, "Besides, it wasn't your fault, it was Ed's."
Marie and Double Dee chuckled.
"Why the hell did Ed decide to break into our trailer that night anyway?" asked Marie.
"You probably won't believe me Marie, but he most likely had no idea that he even had infiltrated your private quarters." said Double Dee, "Every so often, Ed has sleepwalking episodes. His dreams about the consumption of food cause him to seek out anything edible within a five block radius of his house. He probably was there merely to obtain the food from your refrigerator, and inadvertently grabbed your grandfather's model by mistake."
"I'll say, he ransacked the entire fridge, and even downed all of the condiments." said Marie chuckling.
"Thankfully, Eddy and I have learned his sleep walking patterns and do our best to prevent incidents such the theft of your heirloom, from happening again" said Double Dee.
The couple shared another laugh before there was a pause once again.
"Marie," said Double Dee, "When you spoke earlier about your birthday, I couldn't help but realize that we have been together for awhile now and we still never learned the dates of each other's birthdays. So may I ask when yours is?"
"July 23," said Marie, "Nothing like a summer birthday!"
"Yes" said Double Dee, "The warm weather certainly does lift ones spirits."
"Your birthday is November 12." said Marie chuckling. Double Dee was astounded that Marie had correctly told him the day of his birthday. He began to feel awkward that he had not known Marie's yet she had somehow figured his out.
"Yes Marie, that is correct," said Double Dee, "How did you know?"
"Well, when you took me to James' grave, I couldn't help but notice that his birthday on the stone was November 12." said Marie, "And since you two were twins, I would say that it is highly likely that you two share the same birthday."
Double Dee smiled at Marie as she gave him a sly grin.
"Very clever Marie." said Double Dee.
"I'm just too smart for my own good!" said Marie playfully. The couple shared a laugh and then paused before Marie broke the silence.
"Alright that's enough of that." said Marie, as she re sat on Double Dee's lap grinning amorously, "Let's make out."
Double Dee was stunned as Marie touched her lips to his and once again shared a passionate kiss on the bed for around twenty minutes. After the couple was done sharing their kiss, they shared some more laughs and reminisced on more of the crazy times that they had had together since Marie moved to Peach Creek.
Before they knew it, it was 11:00 p.m., and it was once again time to say goodbye.
"It's getting pretty late." said Double Dee, "Although I don't want to leave, I must be getting home now."
"Yeah it is getting late, and the girls are gonna want to go to bed soon anyway." said Marie, "My mom's coming home at around 1:00 tonight and we're all getting up tomorrow to do some chores around the trailer. I'm sorry I probably won't be able to see you tomorrow sweetie."
"Don't be sorry about something like that Marie," said Double Dee, as he smiled.
"Although it's not set in stone." said Marie grinning, "Who knows I could drop by when you least expect it."
Double Dee could do nothing but grin as he stood up off of the bed. He and his girlfriend embraced after which they began walking towards the bedroom door.
"Oh wait, I almost forgot" said Marie as she ran over to the dresser on the far side of the bedroom. She pulled a rather large brown envelope out of the drawer and handed it to Double Dee.
"Okay here's the deal Oven Mitt." said Marie as she wrapped her arms around Double Dee,
"You can't open this until you get into your room okay, it's just another little surprise for you."
Double Dee stared at the envelope for a few seconds, wondering what could possibly be contained within it.
"Okay Marie, you have my word." said Double Dee.
"Great!" said Marie as she leaned in, and kissed her boyfriend on the lips.
The couple exited the bedroom and began descending the stairs. They found Lee and May on the couch, Lee was sitting on the middle cushion, sleeping with her head lying backward; her mouth was wide open. May was sleeping as well, only she was leaning on the arm rest of the sofa, with her hand in a bag of Doritos.
"I guess the excitement of listening to us upstairs tired them out." said Marie as she opened the front door of the trailer for Double Dee. Double Dee chuckled.
The cold winter air hit Double Dees face as he stepped outside onto the metal step leading up to the door.
"I believe this is the first time I am actually exiting the way I came in." said Double Dee chuckling.
"Yes it is," said Marie, "At least now I can take all of the time I want to when I do this."
Marie grabbed Double Dee and pulled him in, giving him his goodnight kiss. Double Dee kissed her back, and placed his arms around her waist, hugging her. After the couple had once again exchanged their "Goodnights", Double Dee began his trek away from the trailer park a happy young man. He had the girl of his dreams, and their relationship seemed impeccable. On top of all of that, everyone seemed to be accepting the relationship with open arms.