Chapter 63
Back in the Park n' Flush trailer park, Tabby had finally taken the popcorn out of the microwave and placed it in a large, red plastic bowl. She carried the bowl out into the living room and placed it on the coffee table, after which she retook her place on the couch next to Rod. Tabby was sure to leave the full space of the middle cushion between her and her ex-boyfriend to avoid awkward tensions.
The two adults sat in silence for around ten minutes, still watching the television movie until it was time for a commercial break. Tabby began to feel a craving coming along and pulled out her pack of cigarettes and a lighter.
"Do you mind?" asked Tabby as she held the cigarette as if asking Rod if it was okay if she smoked in front of him.
"No, of course not it's your trailer Tab," said Rod, after which he smiled, "Although I did wish that you would quit."
Rod grinned at Tabby after which she smiled back at him.
"I really want to quit," said Tabby as she began putting her lighter and her cigarette away, "But it's just so hard of a habit to break, even though it really is a bad one."
In the seconds that followed, Tabby's cravings got the best of her, forcing her to attempt to light up once again.
"Case in point," said Tabby jokingly as she used her lighter to ignite her cigarette. She took a draw of her cigarette, causing the tip to glow with an orange hue, after which she blew the exhaust in the opposite direction of Rod. She looked towards Rod with a smile, which he returned.
"I didn't think it would be that easy for you," said Rod after which he snickered, "It took me until Annamae was 6 years old to give up. Glad I did, cause it saved me a ton of money."
Rod and Tabby giggled.
"I gotta agree with that," said Tabby as she smiled, "That's definitely an incentive to quit."
Rod and Tabby sat in silence as they watched their movie for a few minutes, after which Tabby once again interjected.
"So Rod," asked Tabby, "Did the girls ever tell you the story of how Annemarie and Double Dee met?"
"Yes and no," said Rod as he smiled, "They told me a few different stories on the way to the ice rink on Tuesday that didn't seem to line up. It was mostly Annalee and Annamae talking, so I assume they were just trying to embarrass Annemarie. I'm almost certain I didn't hear the real story."
Tabby and Rod shared a laugh.
"Why," said Rod, "Did you hear the real story?"
"As a matter of fact I did," said Tabby as she looked towards Rod. She took another puff of her cigarette before she continued speaking, "And it's actually quite interesting."
Tabby took a draw from her cigarette,
"Let's just say it explains why the old maroon shower curtain was suddenly missing, how my purple bed sheets mysteriously got ripped, and why your weed whacker wound up hidden under the trailer clogged up with water." said Tabby.
"Go on," said Rod with a smile on his face.
Tabby told Rod the entire story about how his daughters first met the three Ed's of the cul-de-sac. She told how the girls chased after them with girl-hood crushes, torturing them all along the way, and of their behavior towards the other kids in the cul-de-sac and how their intimidating methods caused the entire neighborhood to scatter upon the mere sight of the three girls. She told Rod of the girls adventures chasing the Ed's down the creek on a makeshift boat, using her bed sheets as a sail, and Rod's weed whacker as a motor. She of course, ended the story with the mock Ed-Kanker wedding in the basement of her old house.
"Jesus," said Rod jokingly as he smiled, "I would have ran like hell too if were the Ed's. I wonder what was going through the girls heads when they were torturing those poor guys."
"I don't know Rod," said Tabby jokingly as she puffed her cigarette, "I just don't know."
Tabby and Rod shared a laugh at the girl's wild displays of affections towards the Eds.
"Our girls are growing up Tab," said Rod as he looked at Tabby, "I can't believe they are already old enough to start liking boys."
"Yeah, I know," said Tabby, "It sure did happen pretty quick."
The two adults shared a moment of silence as they became immersed in their movie for another five minutes. As Tabby watched the movie, Rod happened to glance around the trailer taking notice of all of the knick knacks that once belonged to Mr. Kanker hanging around the room. It didn't take long for him to set his eyes on the giant swordfish that he and Mr. Kanker had caught a few years back.
"Big Chester is still hangin in there huh?" asked Rod jokingly as he pointed towards the large swordfish.
"Yep," said Tabby, "What has it been, ten years now?"
"I don't think it is ten quite yet," said Rod, "Annamae was only 2, and we were still togeth….."
Rod once again caught himself mentioning he and Tabby's relationship. He quickly shook off his feelings and bought time for himself by eating a handful of popcorn kernels and sipping his soda.
"Yeah," said Rod, "I can remember it was the summer of 2001. Annemarie had just turned 3, and it was the weekend after her party."
"It sucks that I didn't go with you guys on that one," said Tabby, "I would have loved watching you two tough military men struggling to catch a single damn fish!"
Tabby laughed at her own joke rather loudly with the same cackle that was shared by her daughter Marie when she laughed. Rod smiled into her eyes before beginning to joke back.
"Hey!" said Rod with wide eyes, "Don't you doubt Big Chester for a minute! That sucker took us ten minutes to reel in."
"Who's rod snagged it?" asked Tabby.
"Dad's." said Rod, "I can remember it wasn't too long into the trip. Dad took a seat in his chair where he always did at the stern while I set Annalee and Annamarie up with little rods of their own next to my chair. Annamae was too little to fish, so I strapped her into her life vest and let her play with her dolls. We were sitting there for about a half hour when I heard Dad's rod engage, and I turned around to see what was happening. You should have seen it, the rod was bent, and the fish was practically pulling him out of the chair."
Tabby giggled.
"I got up as fast as I could and ran over to him. I grabbed the rod and helped him hold it while he began reeling it. It felt like my arms were getting ripped off. The captain heard the commotion from the deck and decided to help us too. He ran down the stairs and helped me brace the rod while Dad reeled him in."
"So you're telling me it took three grown men just to reel in a fish?" said Tabby jokingly.
"Well at least I didn't drop a hundred dollar rod overboard the summer before that, did I Tib?" said Rod playfully, alluding to one of Tabby's nautical mishaps.
Tabby playfully slapped Rod in the arm without realizing she had done so, just as she used to do when they were still dating. Tabby finally realized what she had done and blushed slightly, as did Rod. After a few moments, Tabby spoke.
"So Ishmael," said Tabby, "Wanna finish your sea story?"
Rod snickered before he continued.
"It didn't take long for us to finally reel him in and rack him." said Rod, "We took a picture with it on the boat before we took it home. I don't know what happened to it though."
"It's upstairs," said Tabby, "I'll go get the box."
Tabby wasted no time and rose off of the couch. She ran as quickly as she could up the stairs, her high heeled boots causing a "click" with each step. Tabby burst through the bedroom door with a smile on her face an opened the bedroom closet. Luckily for Lee, Tabby was currently too enamored by the night she was sharing with Rod to take notice that Eddy's "girlie magazines" that Lee had confiscated were sitting on the closet floor. Even more fortunate was that the magazine with the missing cover was still sitting at the top of the pile, making the pile to appear as if it consisted of run of the mill magazines. She quickly grabbed the box full of pictures that Marie had searched through with Double Dee at the beginning of the week and pulled it out of the closet. She walked out of the bedroom door and proceeded down the stairs with the box in hand.
"Here we are," said Tabby as she descended the stairs. Rod stood up and grabbed the heavy box off of Tabby as she moved the coffee table forward to create space for the picture box in front of the couch. Rod placed the box down directly in front of them and opened it to begin going through the photographs.
"What luck," said Tabby as she reached into the box and pulled out one of the first pictures she saw. The fishing picture as well as Marie's communion picture was relatively accessible due to Marie handling them earlier that week.
Tabby looked down at the photograph of Rod holding a small May, who was wearing an oversized orange life vest and looking towards the camera confused. Rod was wearing sunglasses and was smiling as he gave the camera a thumbs up. To his left was the fish that he named "Big Chester," hanging from a rack. Directly to the fishes left was a white bearded man, Mr. Kanker. Young versions of Marie and Lee stood in front of their grandfather wearing orange life vests of their own. Both girls were smiling, as was Mr. Kanker who had his hands resting on their shoulders.
"Look at you," said Tabby as she giggled, "Tryin to act all cool!"
"Hey," said Rod playfully, "I was hot back then, and I'm still hot now!"
Both adults giggled.
Tabby looked down towards the photograph as she blushed. Rod had in fact made out Tabby's words and was blushing himself. The adults regained their composure and began conversing once again.
"The captain took the picture for us," said Rod, "He said in all the years that he had been taking people out on that boat, he never saw a fish that big. He took two pictures. He gave one to us, while he kept the other one to hang in the "hall of fame" in the tackle shop."
Tabby looked at the picture intently, gazing at her girls, her father and her ex fiancé, all sharing smiles together.
"You all looked so happy," said Tabby.
"Yeah," said Rod, "That was the best fishing day we ever had."
Tabby paused for a few seconds before she placed the picture back into the box and began going through even more photographs. It had been ages since she had looked through the pictures and really had no idea what she would find.
"Let's see what else we got in here?" said Tabby as she pulled out a large pile of pictures and began shuffling through them.
Tabby passed through pictures of Marie's communion, with her and Rod smiling as they saw pictures of their little girls all dressed up, smiling from ear to ear. Eventually, she came across several photographs of the girls when they still lived in Rods house. In each and every picture, all three girl's faces were adorned with cute smiles. There were pictures of Lee hugging Marie, with her giving her own hug in return, as well as the sisters sitting together on the couch, smiling. There were even pictures of the girls happily playing dolls with each other on Rod's family room floor.
After while, Tabby stumbled upon photographs of the girls when they were school aged. In the photographs, Lee was around 8, Marie was around 7 and May was 6. The most noticeable change in the girls was not their appearance; it was their emotions. As Tabby shifted through the photographs, a tear came to her eye. She noticed that the girls appeared to be forcing themselves to smile, not longer able to smile as the genuinely did when they were toddlers. Tabby then noticed that Lee was not smiling in any of the pictures she passed, and appeared as if she was in a perpetual state of depression. Tabby placed her hand over her mouth as tears began to drizzle from her eyes. Rod took notice and glanced toward Tabby with an expression of concern.
"What's the matter Tab?" asked Rod.
Tabby held one of the photographs of Lee and Marie out for Rod to view.
"Look it her," said Tabby, "Compare this to these pictures of her as a toddler. You can tell this was taken during the time that it was happening."
With those words Tabby let out tears from her eyes and looked away from Rod.
"Tab," said Rod gently, "It wasn't your fault."
"Yes it was!" yelled Tabby, "I let that freak into my house! I can't believe that I sat back thinking all was well and dandy while my baby was being hurt and traumatized every single night of her life."
Tabby paused.
"Annalee told me the whole story of what happened to her the other night when we talked about the retreat." said Tabby, "It makes me freaking sick to even think that someone could be so low in the world."
Tabby looked up into Rods eyes in tears.
"Do you know how he manipulated her into not telling us about it?" asked Tabby.
Rod simply stared with a somber facial expression at Tabby waiting for an answer.
"He told her that if she didn't keep doing what she was doing, or if she ever told us about it, he was going to start getting Annemarie and Annamae." said Tabby.
Rods face filled with anger, but at the same time filled with sadness.
"We were powerless to do anything about it," said Tabby, "The detectives said that they couldn't lock him up unless Annalee was willing to testify."
Tabby looked into Rods eyes.
"I tested her to see if she remembered any of the interrogations from the detectives when I talked to her the other night," said Tabby, "She never alluded to any of it. I think she is repressing a lot of the memories from that point in her life."
Tabby paused and sniffled.
"She wouldn't say a word to the cops." said Tabby, "That drunk had her terrified to wits end to say anything, even though the detectives told her nicely that he was locked up and wouldn't be able to find her ever again. I know what she was thinking, she was too scared that he would come back and get her again, or even worse in her mind, her little sisters. Annalee always had this natural mindset to look out for Annemarie and Annamae for some reason. It's like she had a natural motherly drive."
Tabby paused.
"It's terrible," said Tabby, "They couldn't make a case, so the charges were dropped. But thankfully the freak was locked up on a burglary and went away for a pretty long time."
Tabby shifted through the pictures and found one of Lee as a small girl in a pink frilly dress. Her red curls hung to her shoulder, and her blue eyes glistened under light shining from above.
"Look at that," said Tabby, "Look at that little girl, with those pretty red curls. Now she's filled with so much anger, I barely even recognize her as the same little girl."
Tabby paused as tears ran down her face once again.
"I failed the girls Rod," said Tabby as she began crying profusely, "I failed them by not giving them the emotional support that they needed growing up. They needed me for guidance, and I was too busy dealing with my own emotional problems, leaving them behind just like I left my family behind...just like I left her behind."
Tabby looked up into Rods eyes.
"And I especially failed Annalee," said Tabby, "I should have put her in therapy. I never talked to her about her abuse, even though she needed someone to be there for her. I denied her the help that she truly deserved."
Tabby looked towards her feet.
"I should have not been a fool and left all three of the girls with you," said Tabby, "You would have done a much better job than I did.
"Tab!" yelled Rod, "Don't beat yourself up over the past. It aint nobody's fault that all of this had to happen, even though I wish it didn't from the bottom of my heart."
Tabby continued sobbing for a few seconds after which Rod touched his hand to her face, guiding it to look into his eyes.
"As much as I would like to," said Rod, "We can't change what happened in their past or my own. But we can set a new future for the girls."
Tabby looked into Rods eyes and noticed that they were filled with sadness.
"We're gonna help Annalee Tab," said Rod, "This trip will be good for her. It's something that she really needs, and her willingness to actually do it is the first step towards building her a better future."
Rod grabbed tissues from the coffee table and handed them to two adults spent a few moments together in silence as Tabby began to regain her composure, staring down at a photograph of all three of her girls as toddlers.
"She wants to grow her hair back out again," said Tabby as she smiled.
"Really?" asked Rod as he stared at the photograph. "I think she should. She was so pretty Tab, like a china doll."
"I know," said Tabby, "Wait till you see her later tonight. She had Brandy put extensions in her hair so that she could see how she was eventually going to look. When I saw her step out of that chair, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was like I was finally seeing the pretty little girl in this picture become a beautiful young woman."
Tabby took a sip of soda.
"It's funny," said Tabby, "Even before I sat down and actually bonded with the girls last night, I was beginning to notice something changing inside them."
"What do you mean?" asked Rod.
"It's weird," said Tabby, "But it seems like after Marie started dating Edd, the girls have been much less angry than they usually are and seem to not fight as much as they used to. They have been behaving in school too. I had a phone call about a week ago for Annalee for cutting an afternoon class, but I have not gotten any phone calls or letters from the school telling me that one of them has been suspended for the past two months."
Tabby took a breath.
"Something wonderful is happening," said Tabby, "It's like they suddenly broke the emotional walls they formed, and started talking to each other about their problems. They're acting like sisters Rod, it's amazing. And on top of that, they are starting to actually gain friends and be invited to things. You don't know how happy that makes me."
"Trust me," said Rod, "I definitely saw a change in the girls when I took them ice skating. There's usually always a fight about who sits where and other stupid things like that, but this time, they all filed into the truck calmly and politely. I was starting to wonder if they were sick or something."
Rod paused after which he returned his attention to the photograph.
"Look at Marie," said Rod, "You don't know how happy I was when I saw that she dyed her hair back to black on Tuesday. They probably would have had a heart attack if she saw her like that..."
Tabby emitted a slight sigh.
"They definitely would have," said Tabby, "I hated that whole rebellious punk stage that she went through. She was so hard to handle, sometimes even harder than Annalee. I knew the blue hair, black clothes, rusty fingernails and the horrible attitude was just one big cry for help and attention.
Tabby paused as she stared at the photograph. Marie's black wavy hair hung to her shoulders exposing her full face, including her affected right eye.
"It's a shame," said Tabby, "I really wished I could have gotten her eye fixed when she was little. But her being here with us at all is a blessing, and the eye problem is nothing compared to what could have been."
Tabby paused.
"The kids always teased her about it in school." said Tabby, "That really broke my heart."
Tabby and Rod sat in silence for a few seconds. Rod finally decided to break it.
"How bout we have a look see at what else is in here?" said Rod as he smiled. Tabby smiled back at him and began scanning through the photographs once again.
The couple shared laughs and giggles as they reminisced about memories past. They scrolled through countless fishing pictures, as well as pictures of Mr. Kanker dressed as Frankenstein to take his granddaughters out trick-or-treating.
All of the merriment came to a complete halt when Tabby happened to stumble upon a certain photograph. Rod and Tabby were no longer laughing, and both had serious stares on their faces as they gazed at the photograph sitting on Tabby's lap.
The photograph appeared to have been taken at a hall, as there was a wooden dance floor. On the back wall, was a sign that read "United States Armed Forces Veterans Hall." In the background of the photograph stood several people, including several members of Rods family, as well as Mr. Kanker, and an unidentified auburn-haired woman holding infant versions of Lee and Marie, respectively. All were smiling happily at the event that was occurring in the foreground.
A younger version of Tabby stood in the middle of the dance floor, wearing formfitting blue jeans and a blue pleated blouse. Her pregnant belly protruded noticeably out of her body. Her eyes appeared as if they were tearing up from pure joy. Her hand was covering her mouth out of surprise as she looked down towards Rod, who was kneeling on one knee in front of her. As he looked into Tabby's eyes smiling, he held a small black box open in his hand. There was no doubt about it, Tabby and Rod had stumbled upon a photograph of their engagement.
Tabby's eyes began shedding tears once again as she stared into the photograph. Rod stared at the photograph with an expression of melancholy. He was hurting just as much inside as Tabby was.
Tabby quickly took the picture and placed it into the bottom of the pile, revealing the next photograph. To both Rod and Tabby's dismay, the photograph was taken the same day, only a few moments after the first one. In this photograph, Tabby had her legs wrapped around Rods waist, as well as her arms wrapped around his neck. The ring that was once contained in the black box was now on Tabby's left ring finger. As the newly engaged couple embraced, they shared a passionate kiss in front of everyone.
Tabby now could not control her tears. As tears began streaming down her face, she once again shuffled to the next picture, hoping to escape from the topic of their relationship. Her efforts were to no avail however, as the next photograph was perhaps the most heartbreaking.
The photograph was taken later that night. Rod and Tabby happened to be sharing a slow dance together at the hall to celebrate their engagement. The photograph showed Tabby from the neck up, and Rod from the chest up, due to their height difference. Tabby's arms were wrapped around Rods neck, as she stared up into his eyes dreamily, appearing as if she was lost in his gaze. It was no surprise that Rod was returning the favor, staring down into his loves beautiful blue eyes as they danced the night away in each other's arms.
Tabby sat staring at the photograph for a few seconds, tears rolling down her cheeks until she finally brought herself to speak.
"Look at us," said Tabby, openly talking about their relationship for the first time, "We looked so happy."
"Yeah," said Rod, "I can remember that day. That day, and the day Annamae was born were the two happiest days of my life."
Tabby and Rod sat staring at the photograph in silence for around five minutes. Both were holding back intense emotions, and were afraid to let them go. her face. Rod sat in silence for a few seconds before turning towards Tabby. To his surprise, his eyes met hers as she had also turned away from the photograph.
The two adults glanced at each other for a few seconds, after which. Rod finally began speaking softly,
"Listen Tab," said Rod, "I just want to say tha….."
Rod could not finish his sentence as Tabby had leaned forward and touched her lips to his. Rod was slightly taken aback but did not hesitate to comply with Tabby's wishes. Rod had something important to say and pulled away.
"Tab, I really want to…."
Tabby now demonstrated behavior that Double Dee had come to know and love with Marie, and it was obvious that Marie's way of handling men was inherited from Tabby. Tabby stood up off of the couch, and sat back down on top of Rods groin straddling him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned close to his face.
"Don't ruin the moment, Roddy!" said Tabby playfully after which she touched her lips to his once again.