Sunday, July 11, 2010

Orange Part 3

"This entire story starts from my very birth. Both of my parents have a complete addiction to several drugs, none of them even close to legal. My mother's drug of choice during her nine months carrying me was heroin, due to this I was born addicted to heroin. It took a while for me to get healthy after my birth and my parents came very close to not keeping me. By some fluke of the justice system I stayed in their care. They both moved from the small town in North Carolina I was born in to Miami. We stayed there until I was about six when child services finally found them. After that run in, we moved to Orlando. We lived close enough to my aunt that I could walk over to house; I spent as much time there as possible. It was thanks to my aunt Rena that I actually knew what normal people were supposed to be like. One day while I was at my aunt Rena's house my parents came and said that we had to move again. My aunt Rena went up to my mom, smacked her and said 'Get out, now. Goddammit Julie you and that lump of a husband are not making this child suffer any more. I'm not letting my little brat of a sister get away with her idiocy anymore. Go, NOW, before I call the cops on you'. I will never be able to thank my aunt Rena enough for that. I was about fourteen when she set me free from my parents. I have not seen them again and I don't plan to. My aunt Rena treated me just like one of her kids, yet I never felt quite at home. This year when I turned sixteen she asked me if I wanted to get emancipated. By this time I had already gotten a job and I was making some money. She told me about Daniel, the landlord who lets me stay here at the house, and how he needed someone to look after this house. He had decided to stop trying to sell it because of something along the lines of not turning a profit. My aunt Rena comes to check in on me every day, and when she can't come in person she calls. Due to my emancipation and an agreement I have with my employer at the restaurant I wait tables at, I am able to work hours like that of an adult. The customers usually tip very well so on top of my pay, which is also quite nice, I make a good amount of money from tips. It is enough to feed me, pay my few bills, and occasionally get me things like Guitar Hero. But yeah, I've been semi-independent for about seven months now. I kind of miss living with my aunt Rena, but I know this is a better option for me. I still get to see Rena very often, especially during the school year when she helps me with my math and other schoolwork; she's really smart. Anyhow, my whole experience with life itself has made me in to who I am today...and yeah." Rick said. He tripped a lot while he was telling me this. It was clear he was not used to telling his story.

I understood him a lot better now.

He had been deeply hurt and had seen the darker sides of the world, so that is why he was so sunny all the time. Rick wanted to be that change we all strive to see in the world.

I did not know how to respond so I just hugged him, and surprisingly it was not awkward.

I was not used to hugging guys, or getting close with them.

All me and my guy friends back at home talked about was sports, music, or girls. Also we never dared hug each other; my friends were the kind of guys who would not hesitate to call you a fag just for even mentioning emotion.

All this went through my mind as I was hugging him.


"Alright, I'm OK. I'll be fine. I guess talking about it just brings back very bad memories for me. Can we just play Guitar Hero or something? It always gets my mind off of things." Rick said rubbing the back of his head, almost looking embarrassed for being sad.


"Sure man, but first I just want you to know you can talk about this any time you want with me. You listened to me gripe about my stupid problems. Not saying what you just told is stupid, or that they're problems or-...let's just rock our faces off." I said, ever so slightly failing at trying to be helpful. Rick grinned, so I knew he understood what I was trying to say.


We played for about three straight hours. I did not want to have to leave for the day so I went quickly over to my house to ask my mom if I could sleepover at Rick's. She said yes but gave me a look that sort of said 'Since when do you have sleepovers?'. I just hugged her, said thank you and that I loved her, grabbed my stuff for the night and headed back over to Rick's.


I had the best night of my life. We talked for hours about the most random things. That is pretty much all we did, we just talked, for hours upon hours. It was great. Eventually we both agreed that although we most likely could keep talking, we definitely needed to get to sleep; Rick did have work in the morning after all.


When I awoke the sun had just peered out from the horizon. Rick was already up cooking an omelet.


"Dude, how are you already cooking breakfast?" I asked, almost jumping at the resurgence of my use of the word 'dude'.


"I'm an early riser plus I gotta get to work at seven. I work seven to three as opposed to the usual nine to five. Not sure why that is, I guess it was the only shift open when I first asked for a job, and now I've just sort of stuck to it." Rick said as he expertly flipped the omelet.


I was not sure how to respond to Rick, he just continued to show me how great people could be. Despite everything he had been through he had become this completely amazing individual who worked hard, was the sunniest person I had ever met, and apparently an excellent cook.


"What's up man? You look like you have something on your mind." Rick said as he divided the omelet in to two and put them on two plates that already had toast and home fries ready.


"Oh never-mind, it's nothing; let's eat!" I said politely brushing off Rick's well intended curiosity. I'm not sure why I felt the need to hide that thought from Rick.


"So when I get back from work later we have to go on an adventure." Rick said through a mouthful of potatoes.


"An adventure? How do you mean?" I asked raising an eyebrow.


"Oh you'll find out later; for now just eat and I shall explain what I am talking about when I get back from work. My aunt Rena should be here soon to bring me to work so I'm gonna go out to the road and wait for her, but you can stay here and finish up. Please just make sure you lock up when you leave and turn any lights off or whatever else is on. See ya later, Tom!" Rick said as he grabbed a pair of sunglasses and went out the door.
Once again Rick perplexed me.
I could not wait to see what our 'adventure' would be.

2 comments:

  1. ""Dude, how are you already cooking breakfast?" I asked, almost jumping at the resurgence of my use of the word 'dude'."

    DUDE, CAN WE PLEASE TALK ABOUT MY 'DUDE' PHASE THAT NEVER REALLY ENDED.

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  2. I totally forgot what I was reading was fictional at the start. Excellent job so far, keep it up!

    (also, 9-5 is a white-collar shift. "a" "b" and "c" [or 1,2,3; morning, night, graveyard; whatever you will] shifts are 7-3, 3-11, 11-7. Good job on the accuracy!)

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