by Rich Garon
“Mrs. Plennington, I did not know if I would see you. I do not know what you mean about type.”
“Oh, you know very well what I mean,” she said in a tone designed to make Lee as uncomfortable as possible. “When were you going to tell me?”
Christie reappeared to the window. “Do you mean about asking Christie out on a second date?”
“Oh, I knew it. You’ll never know how much better you could have had it with me. No, I was wondering when you were going to tell me about what you did with the Calvert campaign. Lee don’t you understand anything? Do you realize the position you’ve put me in? I got you the damn job. You know that.”
Lee had been hit by both barrels: Mrs. Pennington’s “type” statement and then the “hurt look” of one “whose act of kindness” is completely unappreciated. He wondered if he would be safe if he ran all the way to 170 B at Hickory Hollow Luxury Apartments.
“Audrey, I’ve got to take Lee home,” Christie said as she appeared at his side and guided Lee’s shaking arm.
“I bet you do,” Audrey said.
“I was trying to wave you away, I didn’t think you saw her coming,” Christie said as she started her car.
“I did not see her coming because I was looking only at you. And then Mrs. Plennington started raising her voice and looking at me as if I had done something very wrong. I could not get my breath when I opened my mouth to speak and then I did not know which of her questions to answer. My head is still tingling.”
“Lee, it will be all right. Don’t think about it anymore,” Christie said as she turned into the Hickory Hollow Luxury Garden parking lot. She placed her hand on Lee’s and he relaxed his grip on his thigh.
“Christie, what do I do about Mrs. Plennington? I do not want her to be mad at me. And she said I didn’t think she was my type and I did not understand.”
“She said that?”
“Yes, she did say that.”
Christie turned off the engine and looked at Lee. “Lee, I would stay away from Audrey for a while. I’ve seen the way she looks at you. She wants to be more than just a friend.”
“Mrs. Plennington was my mother’s friend and she used to stay with me so my mother could go out for a while by herself when she got very upset.”
“I know she was your mother’s friend. And I’m sure your mother appreciated having Audrey there to watch you. We can talk about all this some other time when you’re not so upset. I just think it’s better that you leave her alone for now. Come on, let’s go see Reid’s new apartment.”
The warmth of her hand as it grasped his reminded Lee that he and Christie were on a date. If there were types, his boyhood heart told him that Christie and he were the same. She swung their hands in small back and forth motions as they walked.
“Here is Reid’s apartment, 170 B,” Lee said as he rang the bell.
Reid Fletcher opened the door. Cracked motorcycle boots with heels worn well past hope for repair lay to the side of the door. Reid’s Calhoun Community College Volleyball Club shirt was caked with what had to be more than one day’s worth of dirt and sweat stains. “Damn, I forgot all about asking you to come over today. I meant to get cleaned up, I just forgot. I’m still trying to get the TV hooked up. Come in, come in.”
“This is a very big apartment,” Lee said as he looked at the freshly-painted walls and the wood-patterned linoleum. “It is much bigger than your old apartment.”
Christie’s gaze darted from cardboard boxes to lawn chairs in front of the TV to an old bedspread hanging in the front of the window to a kitchen counter with an open chips bag and a half-empty package of bologna.
“Much bigger? Of course it’s bigger. That old place was much too small for my TV. And when I bought the theater sound system, well, it was like the guy at the store told me, the acoustics were crap. That’s why I had to move. And know what, I get cable free here with my rent, premium channels too. It’s a bit more than I was paying, but you’re either going to have cable TV the right way or you might as well forget about it. And two bedrooms, can you dig that? Luis is living here for a while and will help with the rent. Lope left, went back home to Ecuador or Bolivia, I keep forgetting. His mother was sick or something. He said he was coming back. Who knows?”
Reid’s new apartment had to be very expensive Lee thought to himself. Christie wondered how substantial the lottery winnings were.
“I got these speaker wires all messed up last night and only get this tinny sound. This home theater system is supposed to make it sound like the explosion is going right through your body. The guy at the store said they’re coming out with a new system that’s like a punch right in the gut. I know I’m going to have to get that one soon as I can. I don’t know how I’m going to keep up with all this new stuff. I think I almost got it, just another minute or so. You guys get some chips and soda from the kitchen then come sit in the chairs. They’re exactly where they need to be to get all the special effects.”
“I’ll get the things from the kitchen,” Christie said.
“Hey Lee, my man,” Reid whispered as Christie walked into the kitchen, how you two getting on?”
“Well, we are on our second date.”
“Second date. That’s good, Lee, real good. She’s a nice-looking chick and I think she really likes you.”
“I like her too.”
“Chips, soda, guess we’re ready for the big show,” Christie said as she placed the bag, a soda bottle and three tea cups on a snack tray between the lawn chairs.
“Go on, go on, you and Lee sit in the chairs, this will just take a second to get these last wires figured out,” Reid said.
Christie flinched as the first swoosh punched from one speaker to the other in a fast-paced cascade of sound too loud even for Reid.
“Sorry,” Reid fidgeted with his control panel. “Okay, damn, feels just like that Tyrannosaurus is about to squash you like a bug doesn’t it, Lee?”
“Yes, that looks and sounds very real to me. This whole apartment is shaking.”
“That’s the whole point. You get the cable TV, then you get that big screen TV, and this sound system. And you wait till your brains get blown out.”
“Reid!” Christie admonished. Do you need to be so graphic?”
“What did I say?”
Christie shook her head as Lee wondered if it were wrong that he was enjoying Reid’s TV system so much.
Lee had no idea an hour had passed. Christie’s tap on his shoulder went unnoticed amidst the pulsating sounds of screaming dinosaurs. A second, harder tap got Lee’s attention and she pointed to her watch. Reid was only physically in the room. The rest of him was on the screen running with the others from a diving Pterodactyl.
“I think we have to go at this point, Reid,” Lee said. “Reid, I think we have to go at this point,” Lee said louder.
“What? Yeah, okay. Guys, mind if I finish this?”
Lee and Christie waved as they left. Reid stuck up his hand, but he was already back in the chase.
As he approached the door, Lee saw a small cardboard box containing papers, bills, tattered envelopes and other items that were probably important to Reid. That is, if he even knew they were there. There was one green envelope that caught Lee’s eyes. The envelope was more dog-eared then he remembered but it had the same LF that Lee had written on it before he started putting into it the money his mother would send him.
Christie tugged at his arm. “Lee, is there something wrong?”
He looked at her and then turned to look at Reid who was now entirely at the mercy of his big screen, cable TV home theater system.
Christie Veit’s brother, Sam, was one of the strongest sixth-graders in the school. He was fast, and had exceptionally good hands. As a starter on the football team, he seemed always able to pull the football out of the air. He had dark brown eyes notched under mischievous Peter Pan eyebrows. His light brown hair had blonde streaks in the sunlight. Christie had the same features, but her long hair accen
ted soft curved angles in her face while her younger brother had already begun to develop the clipped angles of a maturing natural athlete. The day before the accident, Christie had called Sam over to the sidelines and whispered something in his ear. He turned and pointed to Lee. She quickly pulled her brother’s hand down, and Lee didn’t see her again until the bus. That was the bus ride home where Lee got the smile he still carried with him. Christie was sick the next day and wasn’t on the bus, but she was occupying Lee’s thoughts. It happened so quickly. Lee saw Sam thrown back, but thought if there was anyone who could squirm free, it was Sam. The fierce rush of colliding steel and collapsing seats, however, was too much even for Sam. His skull had been shattered and the light brown hair was wet with blood. It was one of the last things Lee saw.
As they rode in Christie’s car, he wondered if they would ever talk about that day. He wondered if he could tell Christie or anyone about the green envelope he saw in Reid’s apartment.
“Where would you like to go Lee?” Christie asked as she turned on the wipers. “I guess we don’t want to be out walking around too much in this. Starting to come down pretty hard.”
“No, we do not. We will get all wet and I do not have my umbrella. But I do have money for burgers.”
“Lee. You paid last time. I’ll get the burgers tonight. We’ll order at the drive thru and we can go to my apartment to eat.”
Lee had only been alone with a woman at her home once before. Christie’s suggestion was like a package that he hadn’t ordered arriving at his door. Was it a gift from someone or something bad? “Okay, we can eat our burgers at your apartment.”
They took short, choppy steps on the sidewalk watching not to slip on the wet stone being pounded by rain. Christie held on to Lee’s arm as they turned the corner leading to a small awning over a door at the bottom of a half-dozen steps. The rain pelted the metal awning as Christie shook the wet key chain before opening the lock. Lee huddled over Christie and a wrinkled wet bag not designed to shield burgers and fries from such a storm.
Christie turned on the light. At once, an apartment as warm and comforting as its occupant offered Lee refuge from the storm. Nowhere near the size of Reid’s living room and with none of the modern fixtures of a luxury apartment, Christie’s home bore the trappings of a basement finished well before she was born. On one side, a crude stone wall was painted a faded yellow, while the rest of the walls were adorned in a tired wallpaper. A half-dozen posters in thin, bright blue frames hung above a loveseat upon which was spread a multicolored Afghan. Christie turned on a portable stereo console that shared a table with a small-screen TV. She lit a candle and the scent of cinnamon and apple wafted over Lee. As he turned his gaze to Christie, Lee realized there was nowhere else he’d rather be.
“Diet Coke good for you?” Christie asked as she looked into the refrigerator.
Yes, Diet Coke is good for me,” Lee said as he dabbed at his wet hair with the small towel Christie had handed him.
They sat at a small kitchen table of unfinished pine and ate a dinner of rubbery burgers and crusted French fries. Lee looked down as he ate. He was not sure what he should say to Christie; he never thought he would be in her apartment. He had never even pictured where she lived. If he had a map, he would mark where she lived so it was clear to him where the center of his world was.
“You’re awfully quiet, Lee.”
“I did not want to disturb you while you were eating.”
“I don’t know that I would call this eating,” she said as she pushed away a carton still almost full with fries.
“I am sorry that the burgers and fries are cold. I can eat them cold, but I know they taste better when they are hot.”
“I am not really that hungry. I had a large salad for lunch and I usually pack a piece of fruit and a bag of nuts so I have a snack before I leave work.”
“That sounds like a very healthy diet Christie. I am sorry I suggested burgers.”
“Oh, I thought when you said it that it sounded like fun. It’s no big deal, Lee. Know what? Saturday night, I’m inviting you over for a nice home-cooked dinner. That is, if you’re free on Saturday night.”
Lee wondered why Christie would think he wouldn’t be free on Saturday night. “I am free on Saturday night and I would like to come here for a nice home-cooked dinner.”
“Very well, we’re on for Saturday night,” she said as she cleared the table. “Lee, I hate to shift gears so quickly, but would you mind if I took you home now, I have class tomorrow night and a paper to finish.”
“Are you going to school, Christie?”
“Yup, one more semester of community college and then I have my associate degree. My adviser says that with my grades, I should be able to get some good financial aid to go to state.”
“Go to the state university? Isn’t that far away?”
“I guess about three hours.”
Lee knew that was taking the interstate. If he walked there he would have to use all those streets that went through towns. If he walked nonstop, it might take him as long as a day to get to the state university. Maybe he could hitchhike, or go by bus; there had to be a bus. “Christie, I can walk home, the rain has stopped and I do not want you to waste time if you have homework.”
“No, Lee it’s not a problem, come on let’s go.”
“No, I am walking and I do not want to say another word about this thing.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I am very sure.”
“Okay Lee. You remember, dinner Saturday night, okay? Say about seven. Do you want me to pick you up?”
“No, that is very nice that you offer, but I would like to walk to your house for dinner.”
“Okay, Lee. I’m looking forward to seeing you on Saturday.”
Lee smiled as he looked down. He saw it when he turned toward the door. There on a small table in the corner was a photo of Christie and Sam. He stopped.
Christie put her hand on his shoulder. “Good night Lee,” she said realizing how they were bound by that photo.
“Good night Christie.”
A flutter of leaves blew across Christie’s windshield as she waited at the light only several blocks from Audrey Plennington’s spa. She closed her window and turned up the heat. Most Halloween decorations were gone, but over-ripe pumpkins remained in front of several of the houses she had passed. Inviting targets those pumpkins. She remembered how much trouble Sam had gotten into when he and two of his friends were caught smashing a neighbor’s pumpkin. The neighbor wasn’t angry; his was a “boys will be boys” attitude. So long as they cleaned up the mess, that was the end of it for him. That was not the case with Christie’s parents. Sam was grounded for two weeks and lectured to every night about how wrong it was to smash that pumpkin. Was someone else’s property, have to respect other people’s property. You can’t do things like that. If you get away with this, next thing you know, you’ll try something worse. We have to punish you. It’s because we care. Because we love you. You’ll thank us one day when you grow up. You’ll remember this so you can teach the same lesson to your children when they do something wrong and they will do something wrong. It will be your job to teach them right from wrong. That’s what Christie’s parents said. That was Sam’s last Halloween.
Christie used to resent those that had been spared in the accident. But she had come to recognize that it was not the survivors’ fault. Christie had no answer for why Sam’s ever-challenging voice was one that had fallen into eternal silence. Lee had been spared, and it was her purpose now to rescue the broken survivor still held prisoner by the monster that had risen that day and killed her brother. Her two dates with Lee were her opening gambit.
The tiny, ornate bells Audrey Plennington had installed on the front door sang a tinny harmony as Christie walked toward the back room where she and the other two spa employees had small lockers. Thoughts of her recently completed school paper gave way to a mental list of the things she needed from the store
for her dinner with Lee. She looked forward to the weekend’s special sense of release that some students felt was a God-given right. When she turned on the light switch in the back room it was as if Audrey’s voice was also connected to that switch.
“Good morning, Christie,” she said. “I meant to speak to you yesterday, but I guess you and Lee Fitts were in a hurry to get somewhere.” She paused. “I’ve been considering several program changes at the spa; I’m always looking to improve the quality of service. Well, as you may know, and I knew they’d never make it in this area, that franchise fitness club is closing and two trainers from there approached me recently. They’ve been working together for years and outlined a program that I think our clients will just love. Even better, when word gets out about the kind of things these two gals have to offer, I think the sky’s the limit for new clients. But, Christie dear, and here’s the rub, I can’t hire these two trainers without letting someone on our current staff go. I’ve tried to look at it from all angles, but it keeps coming back to that same premise. I’m afraid I’m going to have to let you go and that’s only because our other gals have been here longer than you. And Christie, please don’t think this is any reflection on you. The senior citizens’ programs you’ve been working on have been a real hit, but I think I’m going to try to take the spa in a new direction, exercise with a bit more edge and slinkiness to it. But Christie, once we get these new programs up and running, and I’m confident, very confident they’ll be a big hit, we’ll be able to bring you back, you have my word,” Audrey Plennington said in a manner that evoked the misplaced piety of medieval clergy sentencing heretics to a fate from which everyone knew there was no appeal.
“So, I’m to leave?” Christie asked calmly
“I am so sorry my dear, I wish there were some other way.”
“When do you want me to leave?”
“Oh now, don’t you worry about having to rush, we’ll be able to keep you on for another two weeks. And don’t you hesitate to let me know if there is anything I can do to help you find something.”