Chapter 6 and Chapter 7

CHAPTER 6

BEEDLE-DEEDLE-BEEDLE-DEEDLE-BEEDLE-DEEDLE!!!

That’s the sound of the phone ringing, pulling me out of a sound sleep on a Sunday morning. Well, ok, afternoon. I shuffle my way out to the kitchen, rubbing my eyes, and let out one final yawn before I pick up the receiver.

“Hello? Oh, hey Mom. No, that’s all right, I was gonna get up soon anyway. Sorry I didn’t call you this weekend, but with the party and everything… I got the message right before I went to work and deleted it. I forgot all about it when I got home. So what’s up?…Yeah….Yeah, I just saw him…what day was it? Thursday. He stopped by Thursday night. Yeah, he told me that’s why he couldn’t come to the party cuz he was going to Vermont for the weekend…why? WHAT!? HOW!? WHAT THE…Oh my God…When’s the wake? I’ve got classes that day but I can skip ’em. I’ll go to the earlier one and while I’m in Woonsocket, I’ll stop at home. Yeah, see you then. Love you, too. Bye.”

I slowly hang up the phone and go back to bed. I don’t sleep. I just lie there.


CHAPTER 7


The wake was…well, it was a wake. Stand in line, everyone’s crying, sorry for your loss. It’s weird, because no matter how sad you are, or how much you’re hurting because of the loss of friend, the assembly-line nature of the wake seems to desensitize you to it. Maybe that’s part of its purpose - to numb you. You spend so much time in this line, waiting for your turn to say this generic phrase (because what else can you say, really?). Then you stand around shooting the shit, either with people you don’t know, or people you haven’t seen since high school, the whole time wondering what the appropriate amount of time is to stick around afterwards.

I went home to my parents’ house after, and was greeted first by my Mom. As I walked in the door, she was getting up from the kitchen table where she was reading a book and having a cup of tea.

“Hey, Tim, how’s it going.” It was that not-quite-sure-how-to-greet-you kind of thing. “How’d the wake go?” she asks as she gives me a hug.
“OK.”
“His parents doing OK?”
“Yeah. As well as they can be.”
“You want some coffee?”
“Um…yeah. I’m just gonna go to the bathroom real quick.”
“Dad’s in there now. You almost done in there?”

By this point, my youngest sister is aware that I’m home and comes out to say “hi”.

“Hey, Tim.” She gives me a hug.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Nothin’”
“I’ll be in in a minute to see you, alright?”
“Alright.”

As I was taking my jacket off and putting it on the back of a chair at the kitchen table, my Dad came out of the bathroom.

“Hey,” I say, as I give him a hug.
“How’s it goin’?”
“Good.”

I finally get to the bathroom and as I go in and shut the door, I hear my Mom ask my Dad if he wants any coffee, but he says he’s all set.

I find my way to the sink without turning on the light, and stand there in the darkness. After a moment, I turn on the light over the sink, and stare at myself in the mirror. I take my glasses and watch off, and turn the cold water on. As the water is running, I continue to stare at myself in the mirror, only now I look blurry because my glasses are off. When the water is cold enough, I scoop some up and splash it on my face. I do this a couple more times, trying to wash away…I don’t know what. On the last time, I run my wet fingers through my hair, before shaking the excess water off of them, and turn the faucet off. I dry my hands and face before putting my glasses and watch back on. Now that I can see again, for some reason, I am unable to raise my eyes and look at myself in the mirror. I reach over and flip the light switch off.

I leave the bathroom, putting on a little smile so I don’t show how upset I am.

“You want a muffin? I just made some,” my Mom asks.
“Yeah, sure.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Have a seat, you’re coffee’s ready.”

I sit down at the table, and as I begin to pour a ridiculous amount of cream into my coffee, my Mom puts a muffin down on a napkin in front of me.

“Here you go.”
“Thank you.”

We start to talk, me reluctantly at first, but as I make my way through my coffee and muffin, I loosen up, and eventually end up trying to explain the Spider-Man clone saga to her.

“So…now it turns out, that the one that they thought was the clone, was actually the original one.”
“Jeez.“
“And now the one who really is the clone..is…like decides, he’s like, “OK I’m, Ya know, I’m just gonna go away,” and but then it turns…it’s…you’re gonna find out later on that he REALLY was the original one…and…”
“Now you lost me.”
“Yeah it’s…I lost myself.”
“Ha ha ha ha.”
“But, anyway..”
“Well, it makes it interesting.”
“Yeah.”
“We rented a movie, you wanna watch it?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah? O.K. I think you’ll like it.”

As we’re getting up to put our cups in the sink, one of my other sisters, the middle of the three, comes out of her room on the phone.

“OH! Um yeah, my brother’s here.”
“Well look who’s here.”
"Yeah, so I’m gonna see you tonight? Alright. Bye,” she says wrapping up her phone conversation. “Hey!” to me.
“How ya doin’?”
“Not too bad. How are you?”
“Good.”
“That’s good.”
“So, you gonna stick around for the movie, or are you cutting out?”
“Um, kinda got plans.”
“All right.”
“Later though.”
“O.K.” I tell my sister. “You can start the movie if you want, I’ll be in in a minute,” I tell my Mom.
“O.K.”

I go through the curtain into my youngest sister’s room (she doesn’t have a door), and greet her with a “Hey.”

“Hey.”
I give her another hug. “Wanna come watch a movie with us?”
“Sure, I’m just putting my pajamas on first.”
“Oh, O.K. Hurry up though, cuz Mom started it already.”
“O.K.”

I leave her room and walk back through the kitchen, heading for the parlor. I catch my sister as she’s leaving, so I stop to say bye to her.

“You leaving now?” I ask her.
“Yeah.”
“You’re goin’ to my concert though, right?”
“Yeah!”
“All right, I’ll see ya then.”
“All right.”
“Have fun tonight.”
“I will.”
“Be good.”
Reluctantly, “I will.”
“Ha ha…bye.”
“Bye.”

Once I make it into the parlor, I see the oldest of my sisters asleep on the couch.

“Ha ha. Look who’s here.” I sit on the arm of the couch so I can lean over her. “Hey”
“Mmm?”
“You sleepin’? Hm? You out partyin’ last night?”
“No, why do you keep asking me that?” She must have been having déjà vu.
“I didn’t ask you nothin’.
“Uuuugggghhh.,” she groans, then all of a sudden, turns her head to look up at me in a freaky sort of you-just-woke-me-from-sleep-walking kind of way. You know, when they’re awake, but they don’t know it and they won’t remember talking to you when they actually wake up.
“Ha ha ha, alright, go back to sleep.”
“Yeah,” she says sternly as she puts her head back down.

I get up off of the arm of the couch and head over to where my parents are in front of the TV. They are each sitting in their rocking chairs, and I go over to sit down in this mini futon, cushion thing in between them.

“All set?” my Mom asks.
“Yeah, let’s wait for…” I trail off and then yell for my youngest sister. “You comin’?”
“Yep!” she yells, and then a few seconds comes in, wearing her pajamas like she said.
“Ok, Dad, you can start it,” my Mom says.

My Dad hits play on the remote, and as the movie starts, my sister comes over and I let her sit on my lap, because she is still small enough to. However, she is big enough to almost tip over the seat.

“Whoa,” I say as I catch us from going completely over. We all have a little laugh, then get settled in and watch the movie.

When it’s done and we all come out of the zombie state, I yawn, stretch my arms and check my watch.

“Ugh, what time is it? Oh, that was longer than I thought. I gotta get goin’.” I still had about an hour drive ahead of me to get back to my house at school.
“Oh!” my Mom says as she checks her watch too.
“Alright. Uuuuhh,” I groan as I stand up and stretch my back. I turn to my Dad to give him a hug. “I’ll see you at the concert.”
“Ok.”
“Bye.”
“See ya later, take care.”
“You too. You coming out?” I ask my Mom.
“Yeah, I’ll go out.”

My Dad stays in his chair and changes the channel on the TV, putting one of his shows on. My Mom gets up and she and my sister follow me out to the kitchen. I get my coat off the back of the chair and as I put it on, my Mom asks,

“So, you all set for food and everything?”
“Yeah, I’m all set, I’ve got stuff that’ll last for a while.”
“Yeah? Ok. Alright, well, be careful driving back.”
“I will.”
“Take it easy,” she says as I give her a hug.
“You too. Love you.”
“Love you. Bye.”
“Bye.”
“When’s the next time I’m gonna see you?” my youngest sister asks as I give her a hug.
“Um, you’ll see me at the concert, right?”
“Yeah,” my Mom says.
My sister nods with a little smile on her face
“Ok, so not too long,” I reassure her. “Alright?”
“Alright,” she agrees.
“I’ll see you then.”
“Alright, take care,” my Mom says.
“Bye,” my sister says.
“Bye,” I say as I open the kitchen door and walk through it, shutting it behind me. I take a step, but then stop. Everything that I was able to put out of my mind in the last couple of hours comes rushing back in. My friend is gone. My head hangs as I make my way through the hall and out the door. I am not looking forward to the hour long drive, where I will be alone with my thoughts.