by R.A Cullison
Chapter Twelve
Oh Brother!
It was Graduation weekend, I wasn’t feeling the greatest. I went to my commencements feeling like I got hit by a truck. Matt looked at me weird the whole time in the gym. He knew something was up. Since we were sexually active, he wanted to get me pregnant, but I wasn’t ready. So this time when I got sick, he made his concerns well known. He thought I was pregnant, I thought he was insane.
We got back to his apartment and I laid on the couch, feeling like I was gonna die.
“I think your pregnant.” he had to say it again, “I am gonna go get a pregnancy test and your gonna take it.” I waved him on.
“Fine do what you want, I am not gonna move.” I began to doze off.
Hour later I was up and throwing up. Matt knocked on the bathroom door. “Hey, got the test, lets take it.” I rinsed my mouth out.
“Does it have to be morning pee?” I asked as I took the test from him and started to read the instructions.
“No, anytime, take it.” he ordered.
“Ok Mr. Bossy.” I joked, “Now leave or are you gonna watch.” I raised an eyebrow, he shook his head and smiled.
“I’m going.” he closed the door behind him. I could hear his footsteps pacing the floor. I knew I wasn’t pregnant. But to soothe Matt’s worried mind, I took it.
I placed it on the sink and walked out of the room. Matt was right there with big eyes, he must be prepared for the worse.
“Well?” he was big and tall, it was like standing in front of the Umpire State Building.
“We have to wait 3 minutes.” pushing him to the side. The longest 3 minutes in my life. We headed into the living room, trying to forget about test. Matt picked up his watch off the coffee table and began pressing some buttons.
“Ok, I have the timer set, so its 3 minutes.“ He sat on the couch and picked up is controller for his game system. I just watched him racing, it kind of made me dizzy watching him spin around the curves. His watch started beeping cutting off the sound the of revving engines from his game.
“It’s time.” we looked at each other. He was nervous I was sure, I wasn’t pregnant.
I walked into the bathroom straight to the sink and looked down at the test. A big fat NOT PREGNANT, I smiled I knew it.
“Well?” he asked from the living room.
“That would be a no, I am not pregnant. I told you I think it’s the flu.” I handed him the test and laid on his bed. He looked at it and tossed it in the trash.
“That’s good news, at least we know the birth control pills are working.” he climbed in behind me. I scooted back and he wrapped his arms around me. “Too sick to make love?” I rolled over and kissed him.
“Never!” I got on top of him and we kissed. I took off my shirt. He rose up and began kissing on my chest. I was really turning me on; so was he. He rolled me over and he took off his pants, I took off mine. He laid back down and I got back on top of him, both naked, my hair covered my chest. I leaned down and began kissing him; his hands were on my thighs.
We woke up to someone beating on the door. Matt rolled over and looked at the clock it was 3 am.
“What the hell? Who is it?” he yelled at the door.
“It’s your brother. Open the damn door Matthew.” I slid on a long shirt.
“Brother?” that shocked me. He pulled his shorts on and ran to the door. He looked out the peephole.
“Ken!” he opened the door and they could have been twins. Matt was the younger one obviously. “How the hell did you find me?” Matt’s brother and the woman with him came in.
“Inheritance checks….” he seen me, “OH sorry, baby brother, didn’t wanna cock block.” he smiled when he looked at me.
“It’s ok we were just sleeping, Oh yeah, uh this is my girlfriend, Nora, Babe this is my big brother Ken.” I stood up and shook his hand.
“Hi Ken, nice to meet you.” I looked at the woman, who was standing in the door, their head turned to where I was looking.
“OH shit sorry, Con, uh this is my wife Connie.” I shook her hand and so did Matt.
“Married? Well your doing good for yourself.” he looked at me and smiled.
“Your not doing too bad yourself, little brother.” nudge, nudge. Like that’s not obvious.
I cleared my throat, “Hungry or thirsty?” I asked them, they looked at each other.
“Got a beer?” Ken asked politely, Matt smiled.
“Yes.” he went to go get it.
“No hon, you go catch up with your brother, I‘ll go get it” he smiled and kissed me. I could hear them whispering.
“So Mattie, you sleeping with her?” Matt glanced back at me.
“I been with her for awhile, what do you think?” good answer I thought
“Alright, she looks like she comes from money too.” Matt sighed,
I pretended I didn’t hear them, “So how long you in town for?” I blurted out to change the subject, I handed them beers.
“Oh don’t know, looking for work and a place to stay. You know how it is?” pulled the beer tab and took a sip.
“What about the inheritance? You spent it all?” Matt looked annoyed.
“Yeah, bills, you know life. It’s hard to support 2 people off that tiny bit.” he sat his beer down. I sat on Matt’s lap. “So Nora, be honest, your family is rich?” Matt gave me a weird look, kind of like don’t say anything.
Matt interrupted, “Hey, Kenny, come on, leave my girl alone ok?” Matt pulled me down so he could whisper something to me.
“Go get dressed, we are gonna go to your place tonight.”
He cleared his throat, “I tell you what, Nora just got an apartment down the block, you two can stay here and we will go stay at her place.” I went and grabbed my clothes.
“Nah, Mattie, I can’t kick you out of your home man.” Matt stood up.
“Your not, seriously, I will be back tomorrow, we can go have breakfast and talk about…. options tomorrow.” Matt slipped on his jeans and shoes. I came out of the bathroom dressed. Made sure I had my keys and important stuff.
We walked down the three blocks to my new place. It was newer then Matt’s place. I had cable tv, computer, and internet all the bells and whistles; Matt was going to move in with me at the end of the week anyways.
We walked into the heated lobby. I grabbed my mail and headed upstairs. I handed Matt the keys to unlocked the door while I read the mail.
The place still had many boxes but it was clean and ours. Matt locked the door and we went straight to bed.
Next morning, 7am we were up. I looked at Matt, “You never told me about a brother.” he kissed me,
“Good Morning babe…” he sighed, “I never told you because he is bad news, always causing some kind of problem.” Matt started digging through his box of clothes; I did the same.
“I wish you could be more open with me.” he looked at me.
“I know babe, but some things about my pass are not worth knowing.” He found a clean shirt and jean. I found a dress but it was gonna be too cold for dress, so I enlisted Matt to help me find clothes, which he did.
We walked down to Matt’s apartment. He stopped just outside.
“Babe, don’t tell him anything about your family, ok? He wants to know something like that to cause problems.” he grabbed my hand and we headed inside. The door was open, Matt let go of my hand and ran inside.
“Ken!” he yelled. He came out of the bathroom, “Shit man, why was the door open?” Ken was coughing,
“Cause your toaster is a piece of crap, it burnt my toast, I mean chard it.” he held up a piece of black toast.
Matt laughed, “So I guess you want breakfast?” Matt sat on the arm of the couch.
“Yeah, just have to wait for Connie to get out of the bathroom, she is doing her early morning ritual of plaster work.” we all kind of chuckled at that one.
After 45 minutes, she finally emerged out of the bathroom with layers of
make up on her face.
“Hell woman we could of ate, watched a movie and banged a harem of hookers before you even got done.” He lit up a cigarette.
“So you both ready now?” Matt was getting alittle antsy and hungry I could hear his stomach growling.
“Yep, we are ready to eat, Uh, babe?” Ken looked over at his wife, she just smiled.
We walked into the diner, maybe three other people where there. We took a seat closest to the kitchen. I sat next to Matt, Ken and his wife sat next to each other. The waitress handed us menus.
“Do you know what you like to drink?’ she asked.
I was the first to answer, “Orange juice please.” I opened the menu and looked. Matt ordered coffee, Ken and Connie ordered Cokes.
I knew what I wanted and I guess Matt did too cause we both didn’t really look at the menu. Ken and his wife studied it. The waitress came back,
“Do you know what you want?” I smiled at her and handed her my menu.
“Yes I would like the early bird special.” she jotted it down on her order tablet.
Matt went next, since we were already. “I would like the same plus an order of waffles please with blueberry syrup.” he handed her his menu too. She then looked at the other two. They looked at her;
“Ah yeah we will both have the early bird specials.” they handed her the menus. She jotted that down as well. We sat there sipping our drinks in silence. Matt cleared his throat.
“So, what’s your plan, Ken?” I could tell Matt wanted to make it clear to his brother he was interested in what he wanted to do while he was here.
“Well, Mattie, I know I need a job and a place to stay.” Matt kept looking at him, I guess he was waiting for him to say and.
“Ok, so what kind of job do you want?” Matt leaned back and put his arm around me.
“I don’t know, I can drive a forklift and do some heavy lifting.” Matt slowly turned his head to me, I knew what he was gonna say.
“Well, there is one warehouse around here, but the boss is pretty strict.” I choked alittle on my orange juice.
Matt patted my back, “you ok?” I took one big cough.
“Yeah I am good.” gave him a thumbs up. I stared at him, he tells me not to give any info out about my family but he just sent him to my grandfather.
“Oh yeah? that’s sounds promising, where is it?” Ken straightened up.
“Well.” Matt took a deep breath and squeezed my leg. “It’s actually where Nora works too, see her grandfather is sort of the foreman/ boss.” All eyes where on me, “Nora, think you could get him a job?” I looked at Matt with a weird look, the confused look.
“I guess, I know Grandpa said he was pretty short handed since Kyle and the guys quit. I could give him a call.” it got quiet again.
Our food arrived, we all chewed quietly and no one attempted to talked. I could tell it was bothering Ken and his wife that I was paying for the food.
I wiped my mouth with a napkin, “I am really glad to finally meet some of Matt’s family, So this can be the first of hopefully many family meals together. This will be our gift to you to say.. Welcome to Portland.” I held up my glass and we all clinked our glasses together.
Connie looked at me, “Nora, I feel funny asking you about this but, do you know where I can get some size 4 clothes?”
“I am a size 4 as well, So I can give you a few things to wear.” Connie smiled at me.
“Thank you.” we went back to eating.
We decided to go to my place so I could get some clothes for Connie. Ken and Connie sat on the couch watching some odd show while Matt and I dug out some clothes for them. Matt went into the living room and in a second he was back.
“They are passed out on the couch.” he sat on the bed, “Nora. Baby” I knew that tone.
“What?” I folded up the stuff I found.
“We are sort of alone and we could you know fool around alittle before they wake up,” I put the clothes in a plastic bag.
“Oh yeah.” I sat the bag down and threw myself on him.
We fell asleep as well, until my phone rang out in the kitchen. I got dressed and ran to get it. Ken was stretching, it woke them up too. I grabbed it off the wall.
“Hello?” I answered
“Hey Nora, I need you to come in, think you can do that?”
I rubbed my eyes.
“Grandpa, ah sure, Oh do you need extra hands?” I looked at Ken who was staring and smiling at me.
“OH yeah, you can bring Matt with you too.” I grabbed a granola bar out of my basket on my counter.
“Well, Matt’s brother is here too and he needs a job.” I opened the package and took a big bite out of it.
“Sure, bring him along, see you in 20, love ya.” I smiled
“Love you too Grandpa.” I hung up, “Looks like we all have a job, so get ready we have to leave right away.
I got Matt up, waking him up was like waking a big bear up, crabby and mean, for a few minutes.
We got to the warehouse; four big trucks were waiting to be unloaded. Grandpa was waiting with a clipboard.
“Hi Grandpa.” I greeted him; he hugged me and kissed my cheek.
“Hey Nora, here is the clipboard, You know what to do, I will be in the office.” He handed me the clipboard with a stack of papers on it, then disappeared into his office.
I read the first couple of papers. I looked around; there were 11 people there including Matt, Ken and Connie. I knew Connie couldn’t lift the heavy stuff, So I had her stand next tome.
“OK, Truck number 1 is furniture, So that goes in aisle 8 and 9, which means, Kyle, Ken and Matt that’s your job. Truck 2 and 3 are floor tile and molding, which goes in aisle five and six, which means Fred, Steve and Joe. Truck 4 is carpet, which means Rob, Derek, Tony and Tim. Connie come with me. Get to work guys.
We went into my grandpa’s office and I got the inventory sheets. We went to aisle 1 and 2.
“Ok Connie, this is easy, it’s just counting, see this one says Bed-in-a-Bag, that means you count how many there are on the shelve.” she started to count.
“There are 15.” she said and wrote down the number in the correct column.
“Very good, here you go,” I handed her the clipboard and pencil, “When your done bring it to me I have to put them on the computer when they are done.” she went right to work.
I went into my Grandpas’ office. “Grandpa, can I talk to you?” he looked out from behind the computer monitor.
“Sure Sweetie, what’s up?” he took his glasses off.
“I really appreciate this especially for Matt’s brother, do you think you could use him full time, him and his wife?” he leaned back on his chair and folded his arms.
“Hell yeah, I am so short handed, its great to have any help, I tell you what. Go get him and bring him in, and I will let you start him on the pay roll. I have to go get Grandma and take her to her doctors appointment, I trust you doll.” he smiled, kissed my head as he walked by me to leave the room. I got behind his computer and got out the necessary spreadsheet. I got on the PA and called Ken to the office.
5 minutes later, he knocked on the door. “Come in!” he slowly walked into the room. Looking nervous.
“You wanted to see me” he shut the door behind him,
“Yeah, have a seat. “ I could tell he was nervous, “I must be honest, this is owned by my family, my grandfather Travis Treeman, So he wants me to put you on the pay roll, don’t worry today is gonna be paid cash, but starting tomorrow you and Connie will be earning a check.” He had a huge smile and a look of relief.
“Also, some employees who don’t have a place to stay can live in the Treeman Apartments. Its part of my Grandfathers employment policy, he wants his employees happy. So,” I handed him a clipboard. “Fill this out and I will get you in the data base. So, what is your full name?” he looked at me,
“Kenneth J. Hanson.” I typed it in.
“Date of birth?” I
waited.
“September 12,1985.” I typed that in and asked him the rest of the questions.
He filled out the form. I put the date of hire for tomorrow, filed it, and entered the spreadsheet.
I showed him where the time cards were and the break room. Then he went back to work. Trucks two and three where done, so I had to do the inventory.
I went and told Dolly that I would be back, I ran across the street and grabbed some subs, sodas and some lunch stuff for everyone. I went into the break room and sat the food out on the table. I ran the break whistle. In walks all the workers, they were happy to see the food and cold drinks. We ate and talked; Connie handed me her inventory sheet, it was complete and neat.
“Good job, Connie, I will need to speak to you after lunch ok?” she smiled.
“Sure.” she sat next to me and we started talking about movies. She was really funny and nice. She finally opened up to me. I could see Matt and Ken looking at us from the corner of my eye, they were smiling at us. I kept an eye on the time. 1pm, I got up and ran the back to work whistle. Connie waited for me,
“Ok, Connie, follow me.” we went into the office area, “How good at you at office work?” she smiled
“I worked as a secretary for years.” I felt a big relief,
“Good because that’s what your gonna be doing, answering phones and filing.” I pointed to her desk.
“Filing? What do I file?” she looked at the big filing cabinets.
“Mostly order forms and such, the good thing about this job is you have some free time and you can go on the net, but don’t let grandpa catch you, always pretend your working, but do your job first…” I showed her the to-be-filed papers,
“First file the papers, second scan the inventory sheets into the data base. Answer the phones and do whatever my grandpa wants and do it fast.” she smiled and shook her head. The phone rang, “when you answer say, Treeman Warehouse. Ok?” she picked up the phone,
“Treeman Warehouse, May I help you? One moment please.” she looked at the phone, “Let me transfer you.” she pressed a button.
“Great, I will leave you to get use to the room and stuff.” I left the room; the guys were done with the trucks. I had to put them back to work so it was cleaning time and some repair work.
“Nora Treeman, please come to the front desk.” It was Dolly. I headed to the front. Two people where standing there,
“Yes, may I help you?” I asked them,
“Yes, I am looking for some carpet.” I smiled,
“I think I can help you. What color?” he handed me a swatch we had out front.
“Ok, how much would you like?” he handed me a piece of paper, “Ok, please wait here.” I excused myself and went back to the carpet aisle, and found the color. I got on the PA and called for Matt and Ken, they showed up; Ken on the forklift and Matt was there for the muscles. They got the carpet down and took it to the front. The guys paid for it and they loaded it into the truck.
I was time to quit for the day so I sent everyone home. Ken, Matt and Connie waiting on me of course, I had to lock up and grab the cash to pay everyone. I also go the keys to the apartment building.
We pulled up in front of the apartment building. Which made 100 of old memories come back to me. Matt looked at me,
“Are you ok?” I smiled and kissed him, “I’ll take that as a yes.” We went inside the building. There were two other tenants in the building.
“Apartment 3b is the only one empty and ready to be lived in.” I opened the door they went in.
It was clean and nicely furnished, “Wow, this is it?” Ken asked while looking around.
“Yep, so want it?” I asked, Connie searched around.
“Hell yeah we will take it.” he said shaking my hand.
“Ok, here is your keys, let me go ask the super to turn your power, gas and water on, be right back.” I went out and down the hall. Knocked on the supers’ door. He opened the door, looking pissed until he seen it was me.
“Miss. Treeman, how can I help you?” he looked greasy.
“Turn the utilities on in 3b please.” he smiled,
“Right away, he headed toward the basement stairs, in 3 minutes he went in and lit the water heater and pilots. “All set.” “Thanks, Mr. Palmer.” he disappeared back into his apartment. “Ok we need to get you some towels and sheet.” Ken and Connie searched all the cabinets.
“Yeah, but I don’t think anything is opened at this time.” Connie looked at me disappointed.
“Oh yeah there is, the warehouse, you all wait here and I will be right back.” I ran out of the building, jumped in the car and headed to the warehouse, my grandpa was there. I snuck in the back to avoid the alarm system. I heard something strange, I heard Dolly talking.
I tip toed to my grandpa’s office, I seen my grandpa all over Dolly, it was shocking. I thought of my grandma, I knew she was sick and didn’t look like Dolly. My grandpa always looked years younger. But I would never think he would do this to her.
I went to each aisle and got what I needed to get for Ken and Connie. I passed the office again and heard love making sounds, which was like a punch in the stomach.
I stopped at the grocery store and got them some food and coffee for their new coffee maker. I called Matt’s cell and had him meet me out front. As soon as he seen me he could tell that something wrong.
“Babe?” he tried to stop me. “Hey, what’s going on?” I shrugged.
“I will tell ya later, ok?” I handed him a few plastic bag, he ended up carrying them all and I carried the bed in a bag and light bulbs.
We walked into the apartment; their mouth dropped at all the stuff I had. Connie hugged me, “Thank you so, so much Nora.” They unpacked the bags, and were just in awe at all the stuff I got them.
“Well Matt let them get settled into their new place.” I headed towards the door.
“Yeah, see ya tomorrow, Bro.” Matt hugged his brother. Ken came over to me and hugged me.
“Thanks Nora, so much.” I smiled.
“No problem. Good night.” I opened the door and went out to the hallway. I slid in the passenger seat and just sat there with my head down.
“What’s going on?” he asked while getting in the car.
“I caught my grandpa with Dolly at the warehouse in his office.” Matt’s mouth dropped.
“You sure, maybe they were just having a meeting.” he started up the car.
“Oh no, there where having sex, I heard them and seen them kissing.” the thought was another punch in the gut.
“Holy Shit, hun? What are you going to do?” I looked at him,
“We are going to go to my grandparents house and I am gonna talk to him, Tonight.” Matt put the car in gear and we headed to confront my grandpa.