Perchance Read online

  I turned on some Steppenwolf and unpacked my stuff.

  “Crap, I forgot to call Mom” I yelled at myself.

  I quickly dialed the number and after only a half of a ring she picked up. I walked outside on the front stoop of my new digs to get a better signal.

  “You had one more hour before I called Eric.” She said softly. When she wasn’t yelling you knew that you were really in trouble.

  “Mom, I’m sorry, again, we were out all day at the flea market and then we stopped for dinner. Then Eric went to work and I started unpacking.”

  “Ok, ok, ok, so how is he? What’s he look like? Tell me everything.”

  “He looks, well, he looks like me. He’s fine I guess. He doesn’t talk a lot and he said I could drive his car.”

  “Shut up. He’s going to let you drive the Cuda? I have some good memories in that car.”

  “Mom, gross, not cool.”

  She laughed at me and sighed.

  We talked more about how her work was and I told her everything I could about the day. She yawned and I told her to get to bed and it was more for me than her because I was spent.

  I hung up the phone and let ‘Magic Carpet Ride’ wind me down enough to go to sleep. But as I entered that phase between sleep and awake I pictured her and she took my breath away.

  Remi

  She hadn’t noticed me yet. Aunt Brenda gave her a hug and walked into the room. Aunt Brenda was telling her that her niece was here too and she turned to greet me. She laughed loudly and clapped her hands together lightly and said before Aunt Brenda, “It’s Remi.”

  Aunt Brenda spun around with a surprised look on her face. “How do you know her? She just got here yesterday.”

  Edith was laughing still and hugging me while she explained, “Remi and I became friends on the bus didn’t we darlin’?” I was so embarrassed. The reason that I bared my soul to her on the bus was because I thought I would never see her again. And here she was in front of me. Just my luck.

  “Yes Ma’am.” Those were the only words I could choke out.

  “I was on a trip to see my son Deacon and on the bus back I met Remi.”

  We walked into the tiny apartment and sat in her living room. She talked about her family. Aunt Brenda mentioned that she had seen Eric at the flea market. Edith said that she wished Eric would visit more but he worked weird hours. I wondered why Aunt Brenda didn’t mention Eric’s son to her, but kept my mouth shut. Edith would look at me every once in a while and wink. She knew all of my secrets and my past. I was going to have to make this woman cookies or something; she needed to be bribed. We stayed and visited with Edith for about an hour and then made our way home. Before we left I picked up an application. That way I could work and keep an eye on Mrs. Knows All My Skeletons.

  When we arrived at her house, I asked Aunt Brenda if there was anything I could do for her. She said that I could help her in the flower beds pulling weeds. I wanted to help out so that I didn’t feel like a burden until I could get a job. I didn’t want to be peddled off again. I changed my clothes and she changed hers and we spent the afternoon pulling weeds and talking. She told me that she was a teacher at the high school that I was to attend, but she taught Senior English and I had already taken enough English language credits so I wouldn’t be in her class. She also volunteered at the retirement home and Edith was one of her favorite residents there.

  We sat back on our haunches and smiled at our handy work.

  “Whew” She wiped her forehead with the back of her gloved hand. “That usually takes me all day by myself. It’s pretty nice to have some help for a change.”

  I smiled at her. It was nice. Mom was never home, not because she didn’t want to, but because she was stuck with two full-time, but low-paying jobs. She had never gotten an education because my Dad told her she didn’t need to work. He would take care of her and us. And she fell for it. She never went to school and didn’t even finish high school that I know of. It was a mistake I would not be making.

  “So Remi, would you mind walking down to the grocery store and picking up some tomatoes? I’m gonna make us some BLTs and I think I’m fresh out. It’s just a couple of blocks up the street. I’ll give you directions.”

  I started to take my gloves off. They were glued to my hands with sweat.

  “Yeah, sure. Just point me in the right direction. Can I change first?” I hoped so since I was covered in dirt.

  She laughed. “Of course Remi, you wouldn’t want to go out like that. What if you see a cute boy, huh?”

  I rolled my eyes at her. “I’m not really a boy magnet Aunt Brenda, and I don’t want to be. But thanks.”

  We walked back into the house and I changed and walked where she pointed me to. It was dusk and the mosquitoes here were ridiculous. There were clouds of them. I turned the corner at Cypress Street like she told me to and spotted the small grocery store at the end of the street. As I got closer, I heard a voice, but only one coming from the left somewhere. I looked up and saw Cooper. He was right outside the door of what looked like an above the garage apartment. Even his silhouette in the moonlight amongst swarming mosquitoes was a sight to behold. Screw the regular rendition of Romeo and Juliet. I was the girl here staring up at the boy in the tower. He was talking on the phone to someone and laughing. I had to admit that the boy was really drop dead handsome. Then he started swatting with his free hand and before I knew it he went inside the door and shut it behind him. I was kinda sad that he didn’t see me. And the night was suddenly darker without his presence.

  A boy like that will only see the shell Remi, not the substance. That’s what my Mom always said about any guy that I thought was cute or nice or any male of the species who talked to me. But there had to be a good one out there somewhere right? Right?

  I got to the small grocery store and the pudgy man behind the counter smiled at me as I checked out my two tomatoes. I walked back to the house and made myself not look to the apartment where I knew he was. I made myself not wonder what he was doing or who he was talking to. Made myself not think about when he was looking at me earlier in the day. Nope, not thinking about him at all. Yeah…right.

  Aunt Brenda and I chatted over our BLTs and she said that school started in six days. I was nervous about starting a new school, but it wasn’t anything that I wasn’t used to.

  We had moved several times with my Mom to new jobs or new apartments or just a new start. Plus there was Tuesday’s little clepto problem that kept my Mom moving us from the local law enforcement throwing her into Juvi. I told Aunt Brenda how once she stole some clothes from the mall and came out the next day wearing them to school and didn’t think that Mom would notice. And she was so tired that she probably wouldn’t have noticed but Tuesday forgot to take the tags off of the shirt and Mom spotted it over breakfast. Dummy.

  Aunt Brenda cleared her throat and said “Remi, I..um…I wanted to take you clothes shopping before school starts, if that’s ok.”

  “Oh, that’s not necessary, really but thank you. I mean you did enough just paying for me to get here. I don’t want you to spend any more money.”

  “Look, I took some money out of savings yesterday at the bank and I really want to. We can go into Baton Rouge and go to the mall or wherever you want. I mean, I would really love to do this for you. I never got to see you much as a kid. So think of it as me catching up on being that aunt that spoils you.”

  I let out a sigh. I did need some new clothes, but I felt bad taking money or stuff from her.

  “Don’t over think it Remi. Let me do this. Please, I want to.”

  I smiled, “Ok, ok, you don’t have to beg.” I gave her my best exasperated groan and she laughed at me.

  “Ok, good. So how about tomorrow after church?”

  “Church?”

  “Yes Remi, you know the place where people go to worship God. Church.”

  “I think I know now where I got my sarcasm from and yes, I know what church is. But we almost never we
nt as kids. I think we went once for Christmas when I was ten or something.”

  “Do you have a dress or something to wear?” She asked.

  “I have some dresses. What time?”

  “We will leave here for church about eight and then we will go from church to Baton Rouge if that’s ok.”

  “Sure, sounds great,” She hit her hands on the table and declared, “Great. We’re gonna have a shopping day!”

  We cleaned up and turned the lights out in the kitchen and the living room. I was happy that she was this great person and not the hag I had dreamed her up to be. It was then that I did something very uncharacteristic. I reached out to her, halfway down the hall and hugged her. She stood stunned for a few moments and then hugged me back. I turned and went straight into my room and shut my door.

  Maybe this was going to turn out ok after all.

  Cooper

  I woke up to the sound of a truck pulling into the driveway. But I was still laying there when there was a rapping at the door.

  “Come in” I managed to wrangle out of my throat.

  Eric walked in, still in his uniform. He looked around once and said. “Round here we go to church on Sunday mornings. I know your mother made you go to church, right?”

  I nodded and said, “Ok, what time?” I started to roll myself out of bed.

  “We leave in about forty five minutes. Here, I got you some breakfast.”

  He put a white paper bag on the small table and walked out.

  I took a shower and got dressed in some jeans and a green button down and rolled my sleeves up because again it was hotter than Hades outside. I threw on some Chucks, ate my bagel that Eric brought me and headed down the stairs. Before I left the apartment, I put the keys to the Cuda in my front pocket. I had a plan.

  I got to the bottom stair and Eric was coming out of the house’s front door. He was changed into black slacks and a white button down shirt. He was heading towards his truck. Here was my chance.

  “Hey Eric. Can we take the car?” I tried to make the idea sound like a good one.

  He smiled before saying, “Well, yeah, we can. But you’ve got to park a little ways from the church. She’s a loud one.”

  “Ok, yeah, thanks!” We hopped in the car. He asked me if I had talked to my Mom and I looked at him like he was ridiculous.

  “Yeah, I figured that I would be getting a phone call from her if you didn’t.” He chuckled as he said it and it was weird to think that he knew my mom like I did.

  He directed me with his pointer finger to the church and made me park on the street a ways down from it. We walked to the church and people were still filing in. It was a huge white church with a steeple and a cross at the top. It was complete with stained glass windows and fit the bill of the small town church to a T. We sat near the back as the congregation was starting to play. After the first song, the pastor made some announcements. He said we all had to get up and shake hands with someone we didn’t know. That was easy. I only knew one person in this whole freakin’ place.

  I stood up and was tapped on the shoulder by an older lady who shook my hand and so did her husband. Everyone was out of their pews and walking around.

  When I saw her, she was smiling and shaking a lady’s hand who had a huge hat on but I could see her if I leaned to the right a bit. It was Remi and she was wearing a pale pink dress that had pearl buttons down the front. It swished against her knees as she moved. Her hair was down and curly and she was even more stunning than the day before. All of the sudden I was very eager to ‘meet and greet’. I needed to redeem myself for yesterday.

  I got up my nerve and started to walk her way. Just as I moved my feet that way, the pastor tapped the microphone and called for everyone to sit down and open their hymnals. I sighed a little too loudly and Eric gave me a sideways glare.

  The rest of the sermon was short. Probably because I had my eyes fixed to the back of Remi’s hair but she was paying attention like she’d never seen a church service before. All I knew was that I couldn’t take my eyes off of her and the very sight of her made me want to stand on top of the pew and declare my feelings. Maybe she went to a different kind of church. Maybe she had never been to a church. These are things that I wanted to find out, like now. There were so many things I wanted to know about this girl and I had only known her for twenty four hours. It was killing me.

  Remi

  We sat in the middle of the church on the right side. It was such a beautiful church. I felt a little uncomfortable because I didn’t know what to expect but I was comforted by the song Amazing Grace as it filled the air. I had always loved that song even though we were never a regular church going family.

  Aunt Brenda kept looking over to me and smiling like she was gauging my reaction to the place. After some announcements about baby showers and Sunday school lessons, we were asked to get up and shake hands with someone we didn’t know. Easy task for me. I got up and was bombarded with hands and welcomes. I turned around in the pew at the prompting of my aunt and was again confronted with a wall of hands. I smiled and shook them all but there was no way I could remember all of the names that were cooed at me.

  It was then when I was shaking hands with an older man in overalls that I saw him in the back on the other side of the church. Cooper looked awkward and he had both of his hands in his front pockets as almost a show of rebellion against shaking hands. He looked a little out of place. I giggled a tiny amount and Aunt Brenda didn’t miss it. She looked in the direction I was looking and tipped her chin and waggled her eyebrows. Before she knew it she was pushed aside by a woman, I think her name was Sharon, in a hat that was bigger than anything I’ve ever seen. The edge of her hat clipped Aunt Brenda in the forehead and it made me smile at her. She was too sweet to say anything to the hat lady. We shook hands and then we were told that it was time to sit down again.

  I sat and listened to the pastor as he spoke. It wasn’t the speaker or the way he spoke that captivated me. I think it was just the experience as a whole. I felt eyes on my back during the sermon and I almost had to hold my chin in place in an effort not to turn around and see if Cooper was looking at me. I wanted him to be looking at me.

  We sang an ending hymn and a man got up from his pew and stood in place to say the departing prayer. Aunt Brenda looked at me and smiled excitedly as we left the church. I think she was more excited than me to go shopping. We got into her car and pulled out of the parking lot. She turned right onto the main street and I spotted Cooper and his Dad getting into the greatest car. I have no idea what kind it was or anything about it, but it was cool. It was navy blue on top and silver on the sides. Cooper started it up as we passed him and I could feel the rumble of it in my chest. I smiled and Aunt Brenda giggled at me.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Nothing, nothing at all.” She kept driving without another word about it.

  Cooper

  I saw her looking at the car. I knew it. She wasn’t looking at me, unfortunately, but she was checking out the car. That I could work with. I caressed the steering wheel trying to thank it for the opportunity to see Remi again. If I could get away with talking to the car and telling her thank you and kissing it without being thrown onto an episode of Taboo, I would do it in a heartbeat.

  We drove home and Eric said that he had cooked so we went inside his part of the house. I walked inside and I smelled something fantastic, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. He opened a huge crockpot and said that the content was gumbo. I didn’t know what gumbo was but I was starving and it smelled like heaven. We ate and I fully intended to go take a nap. Over lunch Eric told me that school started soon and asked me if I needed clothes or anything. I did need some stuff but I hated shopping.

  Eric said that his friend had a son named Troy who was my age and could show me around Baton Rouge and point me towards the mall. He got on the phone and made arrangements for Troy to be at the house at four. It was twelve and that gave me a couple hours to myself. I decided
to finish unpacking and clean up my place a little bit.

  “Do you need money to go shopping Cooper?” He asked.

  It took everything in me not to say ‘What after all this time you want to give me money?’ but I restrained myself, barely.

  “Nah, I’m good. I have money that I saved from working and Mom gave me some money too.”

  He looked upset at that, but I was pissed. He should be glad I didn’t say anything worse.

  “I’m going to bed then. Be careful. I will be leaving at seven again so if I’m not home by the time you get home I will see you tomorrow, Ok?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Ok.” He went down the hall and I cleaned up the kitchen, because now I felt guilty for being pissed. Mom would be pissed at me for acting like that.

  I walked out and to my apartment and called my Mom. I almost immediately confessed what I had done to Eric. She didn’t say anything other than to remind me that I’m only responsible for my own actions and words and how I react to people. She had drilled that into me since I was little. I told her that I was going shopping with Troy. She laughed because she knew that I hated shopping, but it had to be done.

  After talking to Mom, I slept for a while. I woke up about three fifty five and jumped up to get ready. I looked outside and sure enough there was a guy who looked my age sitting on the hood of my car. I grabbed the keys and my wallet and my sunglasses and headed out. This was not going to be fun.

  We drove for about an hour. Troy asked me questions about where I was from and why I was here. He told me that the high school was small, maybe only four hundred students, so everyone knew each other. He played football and it was a very big deal around here. I didn’t play sports. I tried to play baseball when I was in elementary but I sucked so bad that I begged my Mom to quit. She wouldn’t let me quit, but never made me go back after the season was over.

  We parked and the place was packed. Troy convinced me that the best place to park was by the food court. I couldn’t have agreed more. And that was our first stop. Troy got this enormous Philly cheese steak and after I saw it, I had to have one too.