Fiction Friday - Contemporaries - Chapter Six
Karen sat on the front porch,
discussing the news with Justin. “Do you think his father is still alive?” She
asked.
“Something else to ask the old man,
I guess. Hopefully you didn’t kill him off yet.”
Karen elbowed him in the arm.
“Whatever. You are such a child. How are those college applications coming
along?”
“Whatever.” He muttered back. “I’m
no dummy, I just haven’t figured out what to do with my life yet.”
“Me either.” Karen shrugged.
“Sometimes it’s not what you do with your job, but what you do with everything
else that matters. Of course, I haven’t done much of that either. I’m
officially in my late twenties now, and I wanted to be married and have kids,
or be out saving the world in some poverty stricken area.”
“Really? I never would have guessed
you were the do-gooder type. I thought you were just a know-it-all.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? I
care about a lot of people, especially kids.”
“Yeah, but you never do anything
about it. You’re always too busy. Christine says she hardly sees you, but it’s
not because you’re off doing anything important, you’re just filling up the
space.”
“There’s nothing wrong with
enjoying life, Justin. Isn’t that what you always say?”
“Maybe so, but at least I do some
important things with my free time.”
“Hey, I got that high score when I
was teaching my little brother the game.”
“What little brother?” Karen asked,
“I thought it was just you and Christine?”
“Like, the Big Brother program, you
know?” Justin shrugged. “It doesn’t matter what your background is, every kid
needs a friend, somebody they can trust.”
Karen went silent for a few
minutes. She thought about what she had truly done with her life until now.
Here was someone that she had written off as a net negative on society, and yet
she was the person who hadn’t done a thing for the kids she claimed to care
about. “Maybe I’ll look into that tutoring program Christine mentioned that her
friend started last year.” She finally said.
“Whatever,” Justin grinned. “School
is for losers.”
Apparently the conversation had
gotten too serious for him.
The screen door behind them
squeaked open.
“He’s fine and resting. He forgot
to take his blood pressure medicine. I can answer any other questions you
have.” Marybelle spoke clearly and firmly and seemed lucid, so Karen waved at
Justin and followed the older woman inside to the kitchen.
Marybelle put two cups of steaming
hot water on the table and motioned to the box of assorted tea bags. “Help
yourself, dear. I’m sorry for the experience with my husband. I’m sure you
understand that he and I are both dealing with the unexpected news that you
brought. I’m not sure how far Eli got in the story, but did you have any
questions about anything he told you?”
“He said that Miles hadn’t seen his
father in awhile, do you know if his father may still be alive?”
“No dear. We didn’t see the body
ourselves, but we were sent a copy of the death certificate, and the property
deed was changed to Miles’ name. I’m sure it’s in the file cabinets in that
corner of the kitchen over there. It’s probably filed under H for house.”
After thinking for a moment of the
next best question to ask, Karen said, “What do you think was different the
last time Miles was here? That’s probably something a woman’s intuition can
answer better anyway.” Karen smiled as Marybelle’s eyes sparkled.
“Sure, now just let me think a
moment.” Marybelle gazed up at the barnyard chicken wallpaper border for a
worrying amount of time before answering.
“I think the biggest difference was
his smile was off. He smiled and hugged us like he usually did, but it didn’t
reach his eyes, if you know what I mean. I thought it was girl trouble at the
time. He had mentioned he was going out with someone new, someone he’d met at a
bar, which I thought was very unusual. He rarely drinks, you see, it was a
drunk-driving accident that killed his mother.”
“Oh my goodness, I hadn’t heard
that part. All I heard was that she disappeared when he was 3.”
“Well, we don’t like to talk about
it too much to strangers, but it was a one-car accident, if you know what I
mean. Happened when he was about 10 or so, though I’m not sure we told him
until he was older. It was enough that he knew she was gone. When we did tell
him, he vowed never to drink and drive. Of course, we’d never seen her drink,
but that’s the story we heard of how she died.”
“Wow, I’m so sorry about that. Do
you know how his father died?” Karen thought it would be a bit strange if every
member of the family died a violent death at a relatively young age.
“I think it was his heart.”
Marybelle’s eyes went suddenly vacant for a moment, “So sorry to interrupt our
conversation dear, but I do need to check on my husband. When I return I hope
you can tell me a little something in exchange. Like how you happen to fit into
the whole story. Are you the girl he met at the bar?” She bustled off quickly,
and Karen sat sipping her tea for a few moments, thinking of how best to answer
the question.
When Marybelle returned, she sat
and waited for Karen to start talking.
“I guess the best you could say is
that we were only acquaintances. We worked for the same company, but so did a
lot of other people. I don’t remember him specifically talking to me at parties
or events, we walked in different circles for the most part. There was a
moment, at least I thought so, a few years back, but nothing romantic every
happened between us. I had thought about him off and on over the years, but I
can’t remember having much conversation with him. I certainly would have liked
to, but honestly, I know little to nothing about him, other than a pretty
decent idea of what he looks like. I mean, looked like.”
“I had a lot of plans and I stayed
busy, but we never crossed paths outside of work. I certainly didn’t meet him
in a bar. I guess I wasn’t much into that scene either. I went out with a few
friends once or twice in college, but after watching them stumbling around
drunk and acting stupid, I decided I didn’t want people looking at me the way I
looked at my friends. I mean, I loved my friends, but I didn’t love them when
they were peeing in the bushes. Sorry to be crude.” Karen blushed a bit talking
about public urination with the older woman.
“No worries dear, I may seem like a
sweet old woman, but I had my fun back in my day too. There is certainly a
wisdom that comes with age, however.” Marybelle paused, “Were you the one to
identify the body then? Or who did they call for that?”
“You know, I honestly have no idea,
and the coroner hasn’t even released the official cause of death. Or at least
the police haven’t, I’m not sure which.” Karen made a mental note to compile a
list of questions for the detectives in charge of the case, once she figured
out who they were.
“Well, I’m not sure that we can
help you anymore than we already have.” Marybelle gave a stern look of
dismissal, seemingly out of nowhere.
“Well,” Karen felt a bit
uncomfortable with the sudden end of help, but she had already decided to let
the older couple keep managing the farm, it wasn’t like she had much choice,
she had to get back to North Carolina to deal with the funeral and house. “I
suppose I’ll just head back a few days earlier than I had planned. What’s the
best phone number to reach you all at, while I’m gone?”
Karen put the number in her phone,
and went to notify Justin. As they were packing, she did take a moment to test
out the number on Justin’s phone, just to make sure they hadn’t given her a
phony number. While they had seemed like a sweet old couple, who loved the man
she barely knew, she was upset with the abrupt ending to their conversation.
She still didn’t feel that she knew much about Miles, other than to confirm
that his parents were, in fact, deceased. She hung up quickly, when she heard
the home phone ring. Whether they would answer it when she was back in Charlotte or not was another
question.
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