Good N' Plenty
A Fictional Short Story by Anthony Presti
After
the funeral I felt empty. I suppose that's normal after experiencing such a
tragic event. Death is exhausting. The only person who gets any rest is the
deceased. Many times, especially after mother's shrieks, I envied father. I
wanted inside his coffin and to be buried ten feet underground with him. I was
even willing to be buried alive just for the sake of some peace and quiet. With
dirt in my ears I wouldn't hear the soft mumblings through the crowd of
curious, gossiping hounds. "I heard he asphyxiated himself?" One
gluttonous woman said to a tall, pale man. They were my aunt and uncle.
"He tied a telephone chord around his throat while masturbating. Can you
believe that?" No, I can't because we didn't have a phone with a chord.
The nineties, along with phone chords, are long in the past. It was a tie.
I looked
back over my shoulder, after stealthily sneaking off to the line of Oak trees
that towered above cracked tombs and bronze headstones. Mother blew her nose on
a white handkerchief and shrieked again as the first shovel of dirt hit the
rosewood coffin. Father's best friend, Gordie, barely flinched. He just kept
filling the rectangular hole designated for death like he was hypnotized. I
commended his lack of emotion. It was really astounding, especially after
achieving so many bowling titles and fishing competitions together. Two people
can only go through so much before their relationship elevates beyond friendship,
even if they're the same gender. I always envied their friendship because they
maintained it for years and never argued, usually when a relationship escalates
people sabotage it. Guys find a girl to fight over, or girls don't return
borrowed clothing, or a man and a woman get married, divorced, and make each
other's lives hell for the rest of eternity. Petty arguments can ruin even the
strongest relationships.
Father
and Gordie always agreed on everything without discussion. They just gave each
other the nod and it always worked out. That's why they were the reigning
bowling champions for ten years, and had caught the biggest fish on the coast
of Rhode Island in the past twenty. I observed Gordie intently. Not a tear shed
from his eye. Mother was now sprawled out over my two sisters, my obese Aunt,
and my freakishly tall uncle. I slipped into the cracks of the giant Connecticut
Oak trees and into the shade where the darkness swallowed me.
"What are you doing?" I heard a soft voice from
a small opening between trees. A ray of sunlight illuminated a petit shadow. I
thought I was alone.
"I'm grieving," was my reply.
"With your pants around your ankles?"
"Yes. I hate these pants, too formal for my
taste." That was a lie.
"You have no taste. You're just like your
father." I couldn't help but wonder who this voice belonged to. I slowly
swallowed my pride and lifted my pants to my waist. "You don't have to
stop because of me. This is your funeral. If this is how you honor the life of
your father, then that's your decision."
"I'm not honoring him. I mean, not now. I just got
overwhelmed."
"Funerals are supposed to be overwhelming, and
people cry to let out their emotions. They don't usually masturbate in between
trees and graves." It seemed she wasn't just a stranger anymore, but a
formidable enemy, and possibly even a worse, a potential lover.
"Shhh, keep your voice down. Who are you
anyways?"
"I guess I'm your best friend. You better hope you
can trust me." The shadow turned and raced towards the chaos. I took two
steps until my pants found themselves back down around my ankles. The sunlight
flirted with exposing me but I pulled my pants up in time. Another scowl from
my mother pierced the air and a loud roar from my sister blew with the wind
into my ears like a horn.
"Get your ass over here, mother needs you!"
Mother didn't really need me, they were just sick of tending to her. It was my
turn anyway, they put in their dues. No one was particularly close with mother.
Everyone loved father and his death was crushing to us all, but taking care of
mother was even more devastating. If I wasn't curious to who this phantom girl
was, I probably never would have adhered to my sister's orders. I very slowly
made my way over to the gathering that was depleting with every scoop of the
shovel. There were a lot of unfamiliar faces, people that my father apparently
worked with. I thought maybe this girl was one of their daughters, but she was
nowhere in sight. I decided to take a small detour to my mother and circle
around the grave. There was still nothing but subtle whispers of incorrect
rumors, "I heard he strangled himself with a seatbelt while he was driving
and jerking off," said a short bald man to another short bald man, whom
had no relation to me. I had no idea who they were, but their information was
all wrong. It wasn't a seatbelt, it was a tie; and he was in the back seat.
"Mother needs you!" My sister somehow projected
quite loudly between her grinding teeth. It was as if they were attempting to
tame a drunken Chimpanzee. Mother's arms were now swaying from side to side,
her body stiffening and crumbling with no apparent pattern, drool spewed from
both sides of her mouth and her eyes were bolting from side to side. While it
took four people to restrain her, I somehow had the power to manage her on my
own. Her demeanor straightened as though I was her savior. She put an arm
around my neck and balanced herself against my shoulder.
"Thank you," mother spoke in my ear.
"These people have no clue what they're doing." Her breath smelled
heavily of black licorice.
"Are you eating Good N' Plenty's again?" My
mother had a strange addiction to those candies. She actually attended FA
meetings for it.
"Son, your father is dead. My food habits are the
least of our worries." At that moment the girl appeared with a box of
candy, she threw it on the ground and smiled.
"Mother, can you please stand up on your own?"
"But, I need support right now. You were doing such
a great job." Mother didn't need support; she just wanted to steal the
spotlight of Father's funeral. The support she needed and desired would never
end. If we gave her a little, she demanded a lot. And if we gave her a lot,
there was no end.
"You have lots of support, but you also have two
legs. Use them please, Mother." I pushed her off and she stood stunned.
"What's the reason for your absurd behavior?"
She barked. I pointed to the empty pack of Good N' Plenty. "You must
believe me, that wasn't from me."
"I know," I said, with my hand to my forehead
like a visor, "and I must find who it belonged to."
"Oh, well, if it brings me more Good N' Plenty, and
makes you happy, then carry on." This was one of the first times my mother
supported me in something. I started jogging after this phantom girl and heard
mother's sobs start blaring like a siren, followed by my sister's exasperated
groans as mother toppled herself onto them.
My
sisters are twins, Magdelena and Minerva. Odd names compared to mine.
I ran up
a grassy hill in hopes that this girl walked slowly. There were a long line of
cars parked in a narrow lot which I headed towards, looking in the windows of
each and every car. I was again startled by a voice.
"Are you looking for a car to masturbate in?" I
turned around to face the girl.
"Why on Earth would you ask me that?"
"Because you're just like your father." My
father was found in the back seat of a car after asphyxiating himself with a
tie while masturbating.
"I am not."
"I saw you in the trees earlier. I know about your
father. The whole town knows, and you're just like him."
"I am not. I told you, I'm just grieving. I'm sure
you have weird tendencies too."
"Masturbating in public is more than a weird tendency.
It's a freakish obsession."
"So are Good N' Plenty's." The girl stood
silent. "Who are you and why are you here?"
"I'm your best friend, remember?"
"No, you aren't. You don't even know me. I demand
you reveal your identity."
"Ooh, I like demands, but I don't follow orders from
strangers. I might be your best friend, but you are hardly mine. If you want
your secret kept safe then you will listen to me. I can't tell you who I am, at
least not now, but you can meet me at your father's grave tomorrow night, under
the full moon. Bring yourself and tell nobody." Before any other words
could escape my mouth the girl turned and ran down the narrow strip of pavement.
She didn't enter a car or leave with a family. She just ran.
I walked
back to the scene. Mother was now restrained and occupied, talking to another
couple. My sisters were both standing impatiently and bored. My obese aunt and tall
uncle were nowhere in sight and surely left the first moment available. Gordie
was still piling on the dirt, which now covered his face and was still
phlegmatic and calm. The sun was going down and the clouds were rolling in.
"Can we go now," Minerva interrupted Mother.
"Yes, we will go when Gordie is finished."
"I'm finished," Gordie stood on top of the
mound of dirt, proud that he alone buried his best friend. "And I'm going
home." We all knew there was nothing else to accomplish here. Gordie stuck
the shovel into the dirt and walked away in silence. Two Hispanic men grabbed
the shovel and flattened out the surface. Smiles formed on their faces as
Gordie had done their job quite adequately.
"Do you still have the keys?" Mother asked. I
jingled my pockets and heard my keys clash.
"Yes."
"Great, I'm in no condition to drive," she
mumbled through a stuffy nose. My sisters, on each side of her, embraced her.
We were all exhausted. Death can really take its toll on a person and a family.
Two days
were going to be tough. All I could think about was that girl. Her eyes seemed
to glare at me through stop lights. Her face appeared in reflections of shop
windows; horns tantalized me, reminiscent of her taunting voice. I pulled into
the driveway and we all let out a sigh of relief.
"Thanks for driving," Mother said as she calmly
placed her hand on my knee. "I could tell it wasn't easy." It wasn't,
and not because of father but of the girl. I started thinking that maybe she
was a blessing, a distraction from father's death? I opened the door to the
house and we all nearly ran to our respective rooms. When I entered mine, I
locked the door and sat on my bed. A bulge had formed in my pants. The tip of
my penis was rubbing against my cold zipper. I lost consciousness for a minute
and came back to reality with my pants down and my hand moving at rapid speed.
Within seconds I was covered in a warm secretion. I sat, panting for a few,
thinking of why I formed this new tendency. It must have been a form of
grieving, that's the only explanation I could come up with. In my seventeen
years of life I've never experienced this, on this sort of level. It's never
been so frequent. A knock at my door interrupted my thoughts. It was mother.
"Are you busy?" She asked, looking behind me
like some sort of private investigator.
"No. I was just reading."
"I don't see a book."
"It's under my pillow." That was the only
response I could muster.
"Okay. May I talk with you downstairs, please?"
Her voice carried a tone of sincerity, one I couldn't deny.
"Yes, of course. I'll be down there in a few."
"I'll be in my chair." Her chair was situated
next to father's chair. This was a huge step for mother, who hadn't stepped
foot near her chair since his death. Nobody was very close to mother. For some
reason the tone in her voice compelled me to sit with her. I walked down the
steps and through the dining area to the living room where she sat complacent,
gazing out the window into darkness.
"Please, have a seat in Father's chair." She
said, still staring out the window.
"Are you sure, Mother?"
"I insist." I timidly sat in his chair,
adjusting positions to find an appropriate level of comfort. After three or
four awkward tries, I finally found my niche. I noticed there was two cups on
the table in between the chairs. One was filled with tea and the other with
cocoa. Father always drank cocoa in his chair.
"Is this cocoa for me?"
"Only if you'll drink it, but that's your
decision." I took the cup and slowly raised it to my face. The steam
heated me instantly and the sweet smell of chocolate tattooed my nostrils. I
wanted to savor these sensations without disruption, so without taking a sip I
set the mug back down. "Your father used to do the same."
"Excuse me?"
"Before drinking, he would raise it to his face and
absorb it. You just did the same thing. You're much like your father." I
never knew this. When mother and father would drink from their mugs, we stayed
out of the living room. They always seemed so peaceful and we never wanted to
ruin their moment. They never asked us for privacy, we just felt it necessary
to grant it to them. "How come you never joined us?"
"We just felt-"
"We?"
"The twins and I-"
"I didn't ask about the twins. I asked about
you." Mother still gazed out the window.
"Ok. Well, because I was afraid to bother you. You guys
always seemed so peaceful and I never wanted to burden or interrupt your
privacy."
"You never would have. We were always at peace, but
you never would have burdened us."
"Thank you. Why didn't you ever ask me to
join?"
"Because we didn't want you to feel pressured."
"I wouldn't have."
"Thank you. Do you know how your father and I
met?"
"Not exactly." I really didn't. They had both
subtly mentioned a place in New Jersey, but never divulged any details. And of
course, we never took it upon ourselves to ask.
"One day, before I pass, I will tell you."
"Ok." We sat in silence. I raised my mug to my
face and consumed the cocoa. It was delicious. Mother looked at me and smiled.
"Are you feeling ok, mother?"
"I'm feeling like I should. Like a woman who has
lost the love of her life. Who is now the laughing stock of the town, the town
she once garnered respect and loyalty. But a town that also consumed and tore
her apart from a family she worked so hard to create. I feel like a woman who
lost her husband- a man that filled a void in her heart. And now the void is
back and larger than before. Nothing can fill that void. I feel like a woman who
regrets not knowing her kids and doesn't have the time to make up for it. Like
a woman who isn't strong enough to stand on her own two feet anymore, a woman
who for the first time looked into a mirror and noticed she lived her whole
life not for herself, but for others. When the face is devoid of emotion and
cannot even pretend to smile, life doesn't seem worth living anymore."
I looked at mother, my hand was now trembling. She sat
calm, still staring out the window.
"Mother, I'm sorry."
"No. Don't be. I'm sorry. Sorry for not trying harder and sorry for making a scene earlier." Mother reached into a bag beside her and took out a box of Good N' Plenty. "But I'm not sorry for this." She looked at me while sticking a few pieces of candy in her mouth, chewing slowly and contently. Her eyes brightened and I could see happiness start to form. "This is the closest thing that fills the void." I couldn't retort. I couldn't say, 'well, what about your children?' because it was no secret that none of us were close. This meeting was a feeble attempt, but we both knew it was too late, all she had left were those black licorice flavored candy and all I had was a dark secret.
"No. Don't be. I'm sorry. Sorry for not trying harder and sorry for making a scene earlier." Mother reached into a bag beside her and took out a box of Good N' Plenty. "But I'm not sorry for this." She looked at me while sticking a few pieces of candy in her mouth, chewing slowly and contently. Her eyes brightened and I could see happiness start to form. "This is the closest thing that fills the void." I couldn't retort. I couldn't say, 'well, what about your children?' because it was no secret that none of us were close. This meeting was a feeble attempt, but we both knew it was too late, all she had left were those black licorice flavored candy and all I had was a dark secret.
"You know the twins aren't capable of taking
over." She spoke seriously, taking small sips of her tea.
"I know."
"They could barely hold me up today."
"Mother, you were in bad shape."
"Yes, but you held me on your own."
"I know. I did."
"And that's how I knew." Mother smiled big and
rose from her chair. She kissed me on the cheek and turned towards the dining
room.
"Goodnight, sweetheart." That was the first time
she called me that.
"Goodnight, mother." She retired to her room. I
sat in father's chair and drank my cocoa. I sat in his chair until I was
positive everyone had gone to sleep, and then, like it was a disease, I grieved.
I grieved in father's chair and it had never felt so comfortable or so
right.
I awoke
in my bed unsure of how I got there. The room was very still, circulating an
abnormal quietness. Something wasn’t right. I felt uneasy. Usually mother would
have woken me up for breakfast, shouting at me to take a shower or I’d smell
like scum, “Like the scum underneath the sink!” She would repeat in the morning
like it was written on a queue card. But today she wasn’t my alarm. I glanced
at the clock and it was noon. Was it a weekend? No, it was Friday. I plopped my
head back down on the pillow, scared to leave my room. I almost didn’t want to
know why she hadn’t awoken me for fear of the worst; another funeral. As I
stared up at the ceiling, subtly glancing at the “Don’t Cheetah Test” poster
that hung just above my bed, a startling knock broke my concentration. It
wasn’t mother’s knock.
The door
opened and there stood my sister. “Yeah, come on in Minerva.”
“It’s Magdalena.”
“Oh,
sorry. What’s going on?”
“Something
is wrong.”
“I know.
Well, I don’t know for sure, but I guessed that it was.”
“Ew!” Magdalena
suddenly looked away.
“What?”
“Your…your
thing! Put it away!” I looked down to see my penis fully erect under my
blanket. The blankets now formed a pyramid that covered my junk. Embarrassed, I
quickly turned on my side.
“Sorry,
I just can’t help it these days.”
“Whatever,
I don’t need to know, just put some clothes on and come to the kitchen. We’re
all there. Mother needs our help.” She slammed the door but not before she let
out one more groan of disgust. I positioned myself upright. Before I got out of
bed I noticed my hands once again on my penis. Could this be adolescence? Yes,
I tried convincing myself. But that already came when I was fourteen and I
hadn’t ever masturbated as much since then, until now. I stroked for a minute
but my penis became soft and cowered away. I shrugged it off and got dressed.
I was
startled by the sight at the kitchen table. Magdelena and Minerva were staring
at mother who was eating a large bowl of Good N’ Plenty. She didn’t even notice
my presence and just kept eating, slowly crunching the licorice candy between
her teeth. Her eyes were heavy with dark circles underneath and fixated on the
spoon. Every bite seemed like therapy. I sat down and joined my sisters in the
staring match. I grabbed a box of cereal on the table and started eating from
the box. This used to drive my mother mad, but now had no effect. She was so
complacent, like she wasn’t even there. My sisters started to cry. Mother still
didn’t flinch.
“Ok,
this has gone too far,” I screeched, pushing the chair out from behind me.
“Mother, what is going on? You have to give up the Good N’ Plenty. You didn’t
wake us up today for the first time in forever!” Mother sharpened her gaze at
me as if she was zoning in on a pimple. Time seemed to stop in that moment.
Then she looked back down at her bowl and shoved the spoon back in her mouth, crunching
more vigorous and determined than before.
“Mother,” I shouted, startling everyone including myself,
except for mother. I grabbed her bowl and threw it across the room. The porcelain
shattered and the candy scattered across the floor. My sisters put their hands
over their eyes, afraid of what was to come. Mother just stared at the table
cloth and a lonely tear fell from her eye.
“Get ready and meet me back here. We’re all going for a
drive today.” Mother spoke void of emotion.
“What about school?” Magdelena pleaded, being an overachieving
bookworm.
“School can wait. Now go.”
We all dispersed. I couldn’t help wonder where we were
going. Another thought loomed in the back of my mind. It was about the girl. I
didn’t want to miss my meeting with her, but mother needed us more than
anything. I had the feeling she wouldn’t be around much longer.
We
dressed and found mother still in the same spot. The keys rested on the table
and she looked at me. I knew this meant I was going to drive. She nodded and I
grabbed the keys. We formed a single file line and silently left the house in
shambles. I was first, mother behind me, and the twins nervously followed. Our
heads hung low, all that was missing were shackles to keep us from running. No
matter how much we all wanted to escape the moment, we knew it would end up
haunting us either way. We piled in the station wagon. I started the engine
when all the heavy metal doors slammed against its frame.
“Where to?” I asked, awaiting directions.
“Drive to the highway,” she spoke, “We’re going to New
Jersey.” I looked in the rear view mirror and noticed a perplexed look on my
sister’s faces. They had no idea that our history lie there.
There
was silence for the first ten minutes, and then mother rolled down her window
and inhaled a large breath of the musty air. She rolled her window back up and
prepared as though she was giving a speech. “I’m going to tell you all a story.
It may or may not make sense, either way it’s your duties to make sense of it.”
She paused. I glanced in the rear view mirror and again noticed my sister’s
perplexed facial expressions. My mother continued on with her story. “When I
was eighteen, my life was stagnant. I was always the good girl, the quiet one
who went unnoticed. I, like you, had two sisters who were the pride of the
family.” Mother looked at me and our eyes met. It was as if she was relaying an
underlying message through our stare. “I was sick of being forgotten, of being
avoided. My parents didn’t give enough attention to kick me out at eighteen, or
make sure I was going to the appropriate college. They never even asked what my
future plans were. They just let me be. From the time I was six years old I was
eating heavy doses of candy. Good N Plenty were my favorite because they were
hard to chew, and with every crunch between my teeth it felt therapeutic; like
all my aggressions were assaulted on these little licorice candies. My parents
never noticed until my teeth started falling out and then they had no choice
but take me to the dentist. They replaced my teeth, but never gave attention to
the problem; the addiction. By eighteen I had a full set of fake teeth. It was
their remedy, instead of fixing things, they just replaced them. That’s how I
felt about my two younger sisters. They were replacements.”
By this
point we were on the highway headed towards New Jersey. It was a pretty
straight drive so I didn’t inquire directions. “Something happened, however,
when I was eighteen. This much you all know; my father passed away from a heart
attack.” We did all know this. We heard subtle stories about grandfather, a war
veteran who was mostly quiet due to our grandmother’s flamboyant nature. “I
know you all don’t know much about your grandfather, but he was a very generous
and patient man. While he may have neglected me, he really had no choice. It
was my mother who held the power, the one who neglected and shunned me. This
may give you a bit of insight into the way I’ve parented, or tried and failed.
I never had an ideal role model, but that’s neither here nor there. If there’s
one thing we’ve all learned over the past month is that we can’t make excuses for
our behavior, now can we?” I felt mother’s peripherals looking at me. I slowly
shook my head and looked out the window. “My father may have committed suicide.
There was a short investigation but they ruled it a heart attack. Not only was
I miserable, but my father was too. I was the only one who saw it. At night he
would disappear into his office and wouldn’t return. I never put two and two
together and my mother was always great at hiding his flaws. Her image had to be
flawless. So instead of getting him help, she let him waste away in his tiny
room. I think it was drugs, pills maybe. No one really knows, but his heart
stopped and he died too soon. He was my only hope. My savior had killed
himself, and that’s when I knew it was time to flee.” I looked back to my
sisters, not ever having to deal with much adversity, they were shocked.
“Take
this exit,” mother said sternly. I drifted off the seemingly empty highway into
a commercial zone where construction had been put on hold. It seemed as time
was on hold. Like the world abandoned itself just for us. “My father’s funeral
would be my final good riddance. I never wanted to see my family again, but I
felt it necessary to pay my absent father that much respect. I was eating good
and plenty’s and keeping to myself. No one really noticed me anyway except for
a mysterious fellow. He was actually at another funeral but wondered off. He
thought he was pretty sly, I could tell by his confidence. I followed him into
the trees where I caught him undressing.” My face started to blush and the heat
from my sister’s embarrassment rose. I rolled down the window and mother
screamed, “Roll it up! I’m telling a story.” The window quickly came back up.
“This mysterious man was your father. I met him at a funeral, one of which my
father and his father were both being buried. This was the start of our trust
for each other. We told dark secret after secret and quickly fell in love. I
knew that I’d be running away and wasn’t sure where, so I had him meet me at
the graveyard the next night.” This story seemed all too familiar. Before I
could make any correlation we drove up to a graveyard. “This is where your
father and I met. There is where my life started.” We parked and all exited the
car. My sisters were trembling with fear and anxiousness. We were all uneasy.
We weren’t sure what was coming next, but we knew it wasn’t good.
“How
come father wasn’t buried here?” I hesitantly asked.
“Because
he hated his father more than I did mine.” I didn’t ask why. There was no reason.
Father was dead and buried his secrets with him for a reason.
“When
you met, why was he undressing?” My sisters gawked at the question and hit my
shoulder, pleading me to stop prying. Mother had no problem with the question.
“He was
going to masturbate.” My face turned slightly pale. In that moment I realized I
was more like my father than I ever knew. We walked to a burrow of trees and a
light led us to complete darkness. Mother’s words, ‘This is where my life began,’
kept replaying in my head. Something about that conundrum was really intriguing
and compelling; the fact that life could begin with death. We entered the
darkness into a very small space meant for two people at the most. Mother waved
my sisters off and it was the two of us.
“I know
that you’re going to flee and I don’t blame you. You don’t have to take care of
your sisters. I never did with mine.” I had met my aunts before, but there
wasn’t a real family connection. “They will lead their own lives and be
perfectly fine. You on the other hand must carry on our legacy.”
“Legacy
of what?” Just then mother took out a box of Good N’ Plenty. She put one in her
mouth, the cracking between her teeth echoed in the burrow of whiskery
branches. I noticed the candies looked different. It could have been the light,
or lack thereof, but they were only one color, not the normal black and pink.
“You will see. You already have. I know I haven’t said this much, but I love
you.” Just then mother collapsed. Her body was lifeless and I knew that she was
dead. I stood there for a moment starring at her corpse. For some reason all I
could think about was the girl. I looked at my watch and realized I had to meet
her soon, time was running out. I walked out of the burrow and my sisters were
looking at me inquisitively. I looked down to the ground hoping that what
mother said was right. I didn’t want the burden of taking care of my sisters,
but I entrusted mother’s plan. I was convinced that this plan wasn’t just a
selfish act of suicide, but thoroughly devised.
“Where’s
mother?” Magdalena barked.
“She’s
still in there.” I replied, still not able to make eye contact.
“Well,
is she coming out?” Minerva, clearly irritated, asked.
“No. She
wants us to leave her here.” My two sisters were dumbfounded, and as smart as
they were, didn’t think to question me. “She wants me to drive you two home.
She’ll take a bus, she just needs to grieve.” I figured mother would appreciate
this gesture. She needed peace and my sisters offered nothing of that nature.
We got in the car and drove home in silence. When we entered the house it felt
like this would be my last. This wasn’t my home anymore. I called the police
and gave them an anonymous tip. The sisters would hear about when I was gone,
but they wouldn’t know the circumstances. It was better for everyone this way.
I ran to
the cemetery hoping not to miss the girl, the full moon shone bright. I sat at my father’s grave appreciating his tombstone for the
first time since his death. I never felt so close to my father until now, until
he actually passed away. Sometimes we reveal the most about ourselves when
we’re dead, there’s no more disguise. A tear fell from eye and made its way
slowly down my cheek and then I heard her.
“You’re that happy to see me, huh?” I looked up and there
she stood about five feet from the grave eating a box of Good N Plenty.
“Here I
am. So are you going to tell me your name now?”
“Yeah
sure, but first I have something to show you.” She offered her hand and I took
it without hesitation. It felt perfect. We walked across the yard to a burrow
of Oak trees, the same ones I had previously masturbated in.
“Is this
a joke? I’ve already been here.”
“I know.
This is where we first met.” This began to seem eerily familiar. She led me
into the darkness and began to unbutton my pants. She kissed me neck and I
stood in shock.
“Are you
sure this is right?”
“I’m
positive. And by the way, my name is Penny.” My jaw dropped along with my pants.
Penny is what everyone called my mother.
“My name
is Nick. Nick Jr.”
“I
know,” she exclaimed. I could feel a smile form as she kissed my neck. Everything
in that moment felt perfect. This was how my mother and father met, two souls
who were indelibly in love. Their sacrifice led me to this, it was all making
sense.
"So your father died, too?" I felt her head lower towards my chest. She sheepishly nodded her head. "But it's ok," she continued, raising her head back up to my neck. “And don’t worry your secret is safe with me.” A box of Good N Plenty
fell to the ground and I ejaculated in her hand.
We
exited the burrow of Oak trees and held hands under the neon moon. The sound of
silence was broken by a frenzy of sirens, undoubtedly headed to my house where
my two sisters were probably shattered by the news. My mother’s words offered
condolence and I knew that they’d eventually be fine. I was never very close to
the twins, but that doesn’t completely expel my love or concern for them. I
buried my head in Penny’s ragged, curly blonde hair and inhaled a deep breath.
Her scent filled me with wild illusions of my future, one that would be spent with
her for a long time. We stood there in each other’s arms waiting for the world
to catch up with us. In this moment I fully understood my parents. There was no
more resentment towards my dramatic mother, or my secretive father. I glanced over at his grave and noticed a
sign next to it reading ‘reserved.’ I knew what it was for, it was for our
legacy.