Chapter Three
I was lucky. The sun came up and everything was like it ever was. I jumped out of bed, took a quick shower and dressed. I picked up my little bag and went over to the kitchen. This was going to be our last breakfast together for a long time.
The last time my Dad would be screaming: “Lucyyyyyyyyy, open up the fucking door, I need a shave, Mama Mia!” rattling at the bathroom door while inside Lucy was still waiting for the sun to peek around the corner, a few rays strifing her breasts. Mom’s great pancakes with a melting scoop of yesterday’s ice cream in the middle, some opera singer yelling his lungs out over one of Verdi’s masterpieces on the radio ….
And that’s how it was; exactly like all those hundreds of mornings before, like watching the Italian version of the Waltons for the upteenth time. Dad yelling, Lucy taking even longer, Mom’s pancakes better than ever. Maybe deep inside she knew. It was almost as if she was giving it all just to keep us from leaving her and Dad behind in Nutville.
After we finished I helped Mom wash the dishes and clean things up. I noticed her staring at me, waiting for me to look her in the face and confess. I didn’t. I felt like a traitor. There was no turning back. The decisions had been made. Lucy had already gone over to her room to get her things.
As I put the wet towel back onto its plastic hook, Mom took my right hand and just held it for a moment. She knew. I embraced her and wiped away the tears rolling down her soft cheeks.
“I’ll be back, I’ll promise,” I said.
“Take care my love. And don’t you worry about me, I’ll manage.”
Must have been the tiny amount of her Belgian blood that kept her misery from exploding.
“Would you say goodbye to Dad for me please? It’s not that I forgot, but …”
“It’s o.k. He’ll get over it.”
“Bye Mom. I love you. Thank you for letting us go.”
“I love you too, Damon. Take care of Lucy, please. She’s always so impulsive, you know. Don’t let her stumble into some mess.“
“I’ll watch over her Mom, I promise I will.”
“Now go, do what you have to do, before I change my mind.”
She smiled and wept at the same time. Then she took the towel and hid her eyes – the Italian part taking over.
I picked up my little sack, turned around and for the first time in my life left home without knowing when I’d be back.
The sun was burning. In the distance I could make out a small cloud of dust: Lucy heading for the bus stop. I tried a slow jog to catch up with her but after some fifty meters changed back into a walk because I’d started sweating like a pig. It would have to do.
As I was getting closer I could recognize her wiggling butt in the dust. Just some more two hundred meters to the stop.
As she heard me approaching, she turned.
“What are you carrying that for, huh? You’re not planning to join me, are you, you little scum?” she said, suspiciously scanning my bag.
She wore the nicest top: just a brassiere with two cords tied around her neck, a small backpack.
“Or did you just want to ask me for some small change? A sudden change of mind? Well, forget about that. It’s all old money worth SHIT, NADA, nothing. Dust in the friggin’ wind!”
Man, she was angry.
“Damon, those freaks at the bank, they laughed at me. The man behind the counter just pointed at the trashcan. Mrs. Bracket set up a false smile. “Poor girl,“ she said. “All those hopes turned to dust again.“ Oh how I hate all their stupid grinning guts. But let me tell you, I’ve had it this time. You know I planned to leave this shit hole behind. The scene at the bank just gave me the rest. They can’t break me. I’ll go, even without money. Nothing’s holding me. And I swear I’ll never come back, never ever in my entire life.”
“But Lucy, it looked real to me, the money I mean.”
“Yeah, it was real all right, once, way back in time. Now it’s worthless, too old. The dope at the counter said I should donate some to a museum. Then he grinned. Oh, I got so ANGRY I wanted to push his ugly glasses into his stupid brains.”
“But something held you back?”
“My dreams, I want to finally start living them. I just can’t wait any longer, I got to move!”
“You know I feel the same. I’m here to tell you that I decided to come along and …..”
She probably didn’t hear a word I said. I didn’t even get to finish my sentence. Suddenly her eyes suddenly from their sockets.
“There it comes, the bus! My chance for the big world!” she screamed and opened her arms wide embracing the whole hot sweaty universe including our parents’ ice-cream parlor and rotting George’s statue.
“Never forget you knew me, little brother, before I was famous, before I bathed in Hollywood’s golden bathrooms and the Studios’ spotlights.”
My sister never was one for modesty …
“Here it is, my spaceship escorting me to planet Utopia, Oh yessss.”
Apparently the wind had carried her anger away ….
In the distance, amidst a huge cloud of dust and sand, Louis’ bus appeared out of the smoking desert. The harsh sunlight reflecting on the chrome made it look like a lone star racing through empty space - an aging guineapig in fifth gear.
We were soaked. I could have used Lucy’s chest for a mirror. A line of sweat ran from her neck down to her belly button. Her breasts stuck to the cotton ….
The bus stopped right in front of our faces as we took in the dust. We had to wait for it to settle before we could recognize a shadow in the back slowly moving towards the window.
“It’s a guy!!!”
Obviously Lucy mistook me for one of her squeezies, the way she pressed her nails into my skin.
We were staring at each other like aliens. Lucy and me on the outside, wiping our eyes, the sun almost burning holes into our skulls. This guy on the inside, in the bus’ boiling heat. He rolled down a window - dust fell of the chrome. I’m not a queer or something, but if ever I met a hunk, this was the one. You know, the surfer type, blond curls, blue eyes, golden skin … He flashed a smile. Probably checking Lucy’s rack …
Her cheeks were burning. She had her dreams come true put right in front of her face. Some people get so lucky.
“Hi,” he said, lifting his left hand.
“Welcome to Midville! Where we have a lot for you to see!” my sister yelled back.
She was so confused she turned into her old routine of showing people around town. Judging from the guy’s smile he was looking at all he needed to see in Midville. Lucy turned to me, overfilled with joy.
“Oh my, little brother, isn’t he great? And that sexy smile of his, accompanying me wherever I go!”
Louis smiled at her. He must have known about her plans - or read her thoughts, which wasn’t that difficult, I have to say.
“Common out, I’ll show you around. What’s your name?”
“Mark, and yours?”
Oh my God, do I really want to be with these two over the coming days?
“We got no time for any of that, Lucy. You can jump on in if you want a ride. I need to get Mark to the airport in Sproutsville,” Louis said. “Come on y’all, hop in!”
Things do not always come as planned …. Maybe that’s why Lucy didn’t resist as I got in behind her, or maybe by then she’d already left reality behind and was living her dream with Mark.