Untamed
Page 4
As night falls, the three of us settle into the living area of the house. We're chitchatting about various things while sipping on a freshly brewed cup of tea. The inside of the house is very spacious. I do admire the high ceilings, but I don't favor the décor. Everything looks neat and clean, but the house is furnished with lots of outdated furniture. It was my grandparents' house.
I guess Uncle Frank left it the same way since their death, which was over a decade ago. I barely knew them because they died when I so young. They died from natural causes. My grandmother was the first to pass away.
"So, when do you start the new job?” Uncle Frank asks from a recliner.
"In a couple of days," she replies with a sigh.
“It's good to hear someone is willing to pay you a fair salary. You're a hard worker Julie. You deserve it.”
“Thanks,” she says and smiles humbly at her brother.
“Mom and dad would be proud of you,” he admits.
She nods humbly in agreement with him.
“I know,” she replies.
She then releases a long sigh and glances around the room at the pictures on the walls. All of them are old photographs from their childhood years together. Her eyes then shifts towards the fireplace, where a clutter of trophies rest on top of the mantel.
"I can't believe this house is still the same after all these years," my mom says while surveying the room.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Uncle Frank replies.
Suddenly, I see my Uncle’s inner conscience snapping alert.
“I forgot to tell you who I ran into the other day,” Uncle Frank mentions.
“Who?”
“Matt Thompson.”
She gasps out loud, nearly laughing.
“You didn’t,” she says with disbelief.
“Yup. He was asking about you too,” he informs her while laughing.
I feel left out of a joke, so it’s only natural for me to ask them about this Matt character.
“Who is this Matt Thomas guy?”
“Just your mom’s old crush in high school.”
My mom is laughing and blushing uncontrollably. She’s trying her best to conceal her red face with her hands. She takes a quick break from laughing to respond.
“First and foremost, it was not a crush. I liked him and that’s it,” she sets the record straight.
Uncle Frank shakes his head in disagreement as he tries to hold back a laugh.
“You were obsessed with the guy,” he gives his side of the story. “You wore a shirt that said ‘I love Matt’ with hearts all around it.”
“That's obsessive?” she says with burning-red cheeks.
“Julie, what planet do you live on?”
“I was not obsessed,” she backfires. “Every teenage girl has their little fling.”
“You were a stalker,” he says with sincerity.
Eventually, my mom stops laughing. She then rests her head back onto the soft couch pillow, gazing at the ceiling in deep thought.
“I forgot all about Matt. I thought he went to New York City for acting. How is he?” she asks while in deep thought.
Uncle Frank takes a sip of his tea and begins to speak, but he is having difficulty putting words together in a sentence.
“He’s good. He’s a pretty big deal now. The guy is huge,” he says in a halfhearted way.
“I guess everything went well for him. That's good.”
“Not career wise. He’s huge, meaning fat. I barely recognized the guy.”
The shock hits my mother so hard that it causes her lower jaw to give out.
“Shut-up,” she says to her brother.
“I’m serious. He went to New York and he obviously took one too many bites from the big apple.”
Once again, she begins to laugh loudly. I’ve never seen my mother laugh so hard. Seeing her exhausted and dragging her feet into the house from working long hours at the publishing firm has been branded into my mind. This woman I see now…I haven't seen her in a very long time. I can’t help but add in a giggle or two of my own.
“He asked about you,” he adds while laughing. “I’m going to call him and see if he wants to pick up where you left off.”
“You better not. I will strangle you,” she says as her laughter dies down.
Slowly but surely, they stop giggling. Frank looks around the room as his laughter fades, and then he falls into a subtle daydream. I can see his bright eyes dimming. Maybe he’s thinking about a sentimental moment that happened in this very room.
"I couldn't sell it Julie. I thought about it but," he pauses to reflect on distant recollections. "It’s just too many memories in here. Man oh man...where did those years go?"
My mom smiles at his remark.
“I must say it feels good to be back," she tells him.
"It’s good to have you back," Uncle Frank replies.
He turns all of his attention onto me; his bright smile returning.
"Well, Iva, what are your plans for the summer?" he asks.
“I’m not sure,” I reply while shrugging my shoulders.
“Do you still write?” he continues.
“Not much anymore. I do read a lot.”
“Have you ever thought about picking up classes?”
I shrug my shoulders.
“I didn’t really plan on it,” I reply weakly.
“Frank, trust me, I’ve been trying to get her to take courses. She just doesn’t want to,” my mom joins in.
I sigh and try my best not to appear annoyed by her comment.
“That's not the case,” I say with frustration. “It’s just...I don’t think I would fit in.”
“How do you know? Have you ever tried going?” Uncle Frank moves the conversation along.
“Of course not…”
“There’s a reason for you being alive today. You are about to be twenty years old. Time waits for nobody. Get out the house and have some fun. Who cares what people think? You shouldn’t let that stop you from being happy.”
“Frank, come in,” a voice calls out from a radio frequency.
“Hold on kiddo,” he says while lifting a handheld device to his mouth. “What’s up?” he replies into the device.
“We’ve got a situation out here,” the voice responds.
Uncle Frank’s eyes roll in his head.
“Can it wait?” he asks the voice.
“I’m afraid not.”
Uncle Frank sighs.
“On my way,” he responds halfheartedly.
He then stands and grabs his black blazer off the top of the recliner.
“Leaving so soon?” my mom asks.
“Duty calls.”
“Be safe.”
“Always,” he replies. “Call me if you need anything Julie.”
He turns to me and winks.
“See you later, kiddo.”
“See you later.”
In no time, he’s out of the house and into the night…