Tanked: TANKED

by Cheri Lewis

  I walk into the bedroom and drop my towel on the floor; I pull on some yoga pants and a tank top, and go and sprawl out on the couch in the living room.

  “What do you want to do tonight?” I shout.

  “Hold on I can’t hear you over the water running.”

  He walks into the living room with Prima following right behind him. When she spots me on the couch she heads straight for me.

  “I said what do you want to do tonight?”

  “Let’s order pizza and watch movies. I know it sounds completely ridiculous, but I’m exhausted from lying around all day.”

  I smile at him. “I was thinking the same thing, you order the pizza and I will find some movies.”

  “Something with Julia Roberts please!”

  No problem there. I pull the app up on my phone and do a search by her name and send a bunch of movies to the queue while I wait for Jessie to get back. He has changed into shorts and a t-shirt and must have taken his contacts out because he’s now wearing his black nerd framed glasses.

  “What?” he asks curiously.

  “Nothing, I just love it when you wear your glasses.”

  “I know right? We totally could be twins.”

  We spent the rest of the evening vegging out on the couch watching movies. When I look at my phone and see it is after two in the morning, I push on Jessie and say, “Holy smokes! It’s after 2 in the morning! I can’t miss church tomorrow. Momma and Daddy will kill me.” I untangle my legs from his and start to get up, then look back at him, “And you’re going too. Momma will be mad with me if you're home and don’t come. Which, I still can’t figure out why I get in trouble when it’s you that doesn’t come with me.”

  “I had already planned on going. I brought my suit over with me.”

  “Good, you can do my hair in the morning, too.”

  As he sits up and starts picking up the pizza box, glasses, and ice cream containers, I say, “Just leave it, we will worry with all that tomorrow.”

  He shakes his head. “It’s a wonder you don’t have cockroaches yet. You kill me.” He continues picking up the items and heads in the direction of the kitchen. I shrug my shoulders and start to my bedroom. I notice Prima asleep on the chair as I leave the living room. I better leave my bedroom door cracked so she can come in when she decides to get up, which she will and if I don’t leave the door open she will claw and paw the door until I get up and let her in. I lay in bed thinking about today and how much fun it was until sleep finally overtakes me.

  ****

  “Well, Jessie, don’t you look sharp,” my mother says as we are walking toward her, meeting her on the sidewalk in front of the church.

  “Mom, he always looks good.”

  “I know Kinsey. I was just paying him a compliment, and somebody must have not gotten much sleep last night. You’re a little ill this morning, dear.”

  “I risked my life getting her out of bed this morning. It was pretty rough,” Jessie jokes.

  “Your hair looks great McKinsey. Did you do that Jessie?”

  “Yes ma’am, I sure did.” He smiles then pats himself on the back.

  I turn around when I hear my father’s voice and smile when I see he has my favorite black suit on, it makes his blue eyes shine bright. “Doodlebug, you made it.”

  He reaches around and hugs me tightly. He then turns and puts his hand out to shake Jessie’s hand as he says, “I ought to have known you were home. She doesn’t believe it, but she still needs somebody to look out for her and wake her up on time.”

  I roll my eyes as Jessie joins in on the McKinsey bashing. “Oh, I believe it. She wouldn’t have gotten out of bed all weekend if it wasn’t for me.”

  I interrupt them, “Ok we’re at church remember, and it’s not nice to pick on somebody at church, let’s go in and get a seat.”

  All three look at me and Jessie grabs my hand to hold it and I pull it away pretending to be mad. He smiles and bumps my arm. I follow my mother into the church down the center aisle. Jessie and Daddy follow behind us, until we reached our pew which is the same place we sit every Sunday. Like it’s the only place we’re allowed to sit and nobody better sit in our place either since it will cause us to have unholy thoughts throughout the entire service.

  Once church is over, we go back to my parent’s house, have lunch and spend the afternoon hanging out. Sadly, before I know it, it’s time for Jessie to leave. We have to go back to my house to get his suitcase and I help him get packed and loaded in the car. I give him a long hug, “Still no phone contact all week?”

  “Yep, from Sunday evening till Friday whenever we are released.”

  “That’s the dumbest rule I have ever heard of.”

  “I won’t argue with that, but I do have to go. I'll see you in a week, sunshine.”

  “Ok, I guess I’ll get ready for work tomorrow to fight the boredom.”

  “You could always clean your room.”

  I pretend to glare at him. “Ok, now it is time for you to go.”

  I hug him one last time and watch him pull out of the driveway until he is completely out of sight. I know in the world of therapists and psychologists, it’s probably wrong to only have one friend that you do everything, with but since the day he dumped baked beans on me in kindergarten we’ve been inseparable. I don’t remember much from kindergarten but I do remember that day. We were at lunch and I wouldn’t leave him alone. I would do things like tug his hair, thump him, or touch his ear. He was always so quiet and shy, the exact opposite from the way he is now. Anyway, he told me that if I messed with him one more time, I was going to regret it, and boy did I. He grabbed a handful of his baked beans off his lunchroom tray and smeared them right down the front of my beautiful pink dress. I remember crying and having to sit in the office waiting for my mother to pick me up. Jessie came out of the principal’s office a few minutes later and sat down right beside me even though there were several empty chairs. My mother arrived shortly. We went to the bathroom to change. Then we went back to the front office so she could check me out of school. I pointed at Jessie and told her that he was the one who did it. My mother went to Jessie and squatted down in front of him and said a few words that I couldn’t hear, and then she asked to see the principal. Once again I found myself sitting next to the boy who traumatized me. Years later my mother admitted to going to the principal and asking that he not be suspended and I realized then, she probably saved his life. He doesn’t talk about it much but before his father died, he used to get knocked around a lot. He always had bruises on him. My parents recognized this and let him stay with us as much as his parents would allow him to, even on school nights, and that was a big deal. When we were in the third grade Jessie’s dad died. I don’t know how Jessie’s mom landed her next husband but she did, and she hit the jackpot. He is rich and treats her and Jessie well, too well sometimes. But in a sad way, he has earned every nice thing that has come his way.

  I walk back inside and go straight to the laundry room that is attached to the kitchen. I smile when I see the hamper from my room was sitting in front of the washer full of my dirty clothes. He is such a neat freak. I program the coffee maker so it will be ready to brew in the morning and decide to do a little straightening in my bedroom. I work most of the evening, getting two garbage bags full of junk thrown away. Prima is happy as I rescue sixteen cat toys that have been lost forever under my bed and dressers. I have two more hampers full of clothes out of the bottom of my closet and I throw them in the laundry room floor. I quickly make myself a sandwich for supper and one to take to work the next day. I grab the green food coloring out of the cabinet and dropped a few drops in different spots onto the sandwich bread. HA! I bet that will stop them from stealing my sandwich.

  Work is work but I stay busy and Friday is here before I know it. “Oh my lord! You cleaned your room!” Jessie exclaims when he walks in my room still wearing his airline training uniform.

  “Yeah, and speaking of cleaning, what in t
he world did you do with some of my stuff as I still can’t find it anywhere.”

  “I didn’t do anything with your stuff,” he says as he put his hands on his hips.

  I frown as I argue. “Well you moved some of my stuff. You picked up my clothes and put the hamper in front of the washer before you left last week.”

  He shakes his head. “Girl, I didn’t do anything with your stuff and I didn’t have time to put stuff in a hamper so I don't know what are you talking about.”

  Worry fills my chest. “Don’t joke like that, please,” I beg.

  When he says, “I’m not joking,” I stare at him waiting for him to smile but he never does.

  Tears start to fill my eyes and I feel sick on my stomach. “Swear to me, because I’m starting to freak out.”

  He sits on the bed beside me, staring at me like I am crazy. “What in the world are you talking about?”

  “Jessie, all week things have been moved around and I can’t find stuff like my hairdryer or my earrings granny gave me, and I swear to you, it seems like somebody has used my coffee maker.”

  Now he’s looking at me like I’m trying to play a joke. When I don’t smile his face changes and I know he finally believes me. “Are you sure you didn’t forget you moved any of that like when sometimes you drive and don’t remember ending up where you did because you were in deep thought?”

  “Maybe on moving some items but, seriously, I wouldn’t remember picking up my clothes?”

  “Yeah you have a point there,” he nods then asks, “Have you told your parents?”

  “No, and you’re not going to either. They’ll insist I stay with them or have me committed.”

  “Do you think someone is playing a prank on you?”

  “I thought the exact same thing but how would they get in the house? You’re the only one besides my parents who have a key.”

  “Good point. Are you sure you're locking your doors?”

  “Yeah, I’m even locking the dead bolts now.”

  “Yeah, it took me five minutes to figure out to try unlocking the dead bolt. I kept locking and unlocking the door and pushing on it.” I burst out laughing imagining him standing at the door pushing on it. He laughs, too, then says, “How about this, let’s look for your stuff. Maybe it got moved or fell behind something, you never know, and while we’re at it we can clean.”

  I pout at the thought of cleaning. “Don’t you think you should save yourself for cleaning up after all those passengers?”

  “I have several more weeks to rest before I have to do that, now get up and let’s find your stuff,” he orders playfully.

  We get up and start looking for my missing items. “I found my hairdryer under the sink behind the towels,” I yell out. He walks into my bedroom, and holds his arm out with his hand in a fist. I reach out and he drops my earrings into my hand. “OH! You found them! Where were they?”

  “In the kitchen behind the microwave. Did you take them off when you were doing dishes or something? Prima could have knocked them back there.”

  I thought a minute. “I might have, these always pinch my ears. We’ve found everything but that doesn’t explain about my laundry basket or the coffee,” I say, still worried.

  “I don’t know what to tell you on that one. That is weird. Maybe your granny’s ghost is tired of you living like a pig.”

  I roll my eyes. “That’s not funny and I don’t believe in ghosts. Besides, if it is my granny why’d she wait till now? I’ve been living in her old house for almost four years now.”

  He shrugs his shoulders and we both stand in silence a few moments when Jessie finally speaks. “Now what are we going to do?”

  I shrug my shoulders as I say, “Let’s get out of here, I don’t care where we go or what we do but I am tired of being in this house thinking crazy stuff.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Scared Shitless

  After Jessie left yesterday I notice little things being moved again. My dish soap was under the counter, the top drawer of the dresser was pulled all the way out almost to where it would fall out if it got bumped, and this time a pair of my pink bikini panties were laid out in the middle of my made up bed. Firstly, I know for a fact I didn’t make up my bed and secondly, it would almost be impossible for my panties to land perfectly flat in the middle of my bed. Maybe I can ask the police to help me figure out what’s going on.

  ****

  When I walk into the police station I’m nervous. I’ve never been to a police station except on a field trip in the 6th grade, but I have hope they’ll be able to help me resolve whatever is going on in my house. A short while later my shoulders hang in defeat as I walk out the front door of the police station. I don’t know how to bring them proof. That’s why I went to them for help! I have an eerie feeling I am being watched so I pull the strap of my purse high up on my shoulder and hug it close to my side. I walk quickly toward my car that I parked across the street, constantly checking my surroundings. I hit the unlock button to my car and jump inside, immediately slamming my door shut and locking it. As I reach to stick the key in the ignition, my hand shakes so badly I drop them in the floor. “Damn it!” I look at myself in the rear view mirror and speak out loud to the empty car, “Ok McKinsey, get yourself together, and breathe.” I take several deep breaths and bend down to fish my keys off of the floorboard. When I sit up I see a dark figure of a man leaning against a building hiding in the shadows, his cigarette smoldering bright every time he takes a puff. I’m a thousand percent sure he wasn’t there thirty seconds ago. I crank my car and watch the man who seems to be watching me as I drive quickly away toward home.

  As I lay in bed my mind races with various ideas of what I can do to get proof that someone is breaking into my home. I remembered when we went on our youth trips the adults would always tape our doors to make sure nobody left after curfew. So I jump out of bed and found the first roll of tape I could find, which happens to be my fashionable zebra print duct tape. I cut little strips and start placing them over the bottom of the windows, and then I attach a little strip at the top of the back door. There’s no sense in putting it over the front door since I go in and out it all the time, but what if they’re coming in the front door while I sleep? Surely not. I quickly rip off another small piece and apply it on the top of the front door. I’m not sure why putting the tape over the windows and doors makes me feel better, but it does. Maybe because it feels like I’m doing something. I crawl back into bed and lie there willing myself to go to sleep. The last time I remember looking at the clock it read 2:46 in the morning.

  The next day at work, the clock seems to be moving backwards. I try to find busy work to make the day pass by quicker. My mother sent me a text asking if I wanted to come to dinner tomorrow night. She says she is making my favorite meal. When I sent her a text back asking who all was coming for dinner she ended up calling me, but since I’m at work I let it go to voice mail and boy was I glad. After work I listen to her voicemail. She fusses why I always think she is up to something and then smile to myself, relieved, when she says it would only be me, my father and her. You can never be too careful with June Morrow. She’s sneaky when it comes to “accidental meetings.” I might think I’m going to dinner and I will end up on a dating game show with two of the old choir boys from church and a bum she picks up from somewhere because he seems nice enough and he will give her grandchildren. No way, no thank you.

  When I get home I check all my zebra protection duct tape and thankfully they are all still in place. I grab a quick bowl of cereal and Prima and I watch a little T.V. before we decide to go to bed early. Hopefully I can sleep tonight. Of course thinking that I jinx myself and I don’t.

  As I lay in bed with my eyes closed trying to force myself to sleep, I think I hear something and my eyes pop open. I look around the dark room, listening. I can feel my heart beating in my chest. My eyes try to focus as they follow the sound toward my window. I could see a large dark shadow moving slowly across my
bedroom window. I shakily grab my glasses and then a high pitched screeching noise starts slowly moving across the window. I sit up and grab my cell phone and dial 911. The noise stops but then immediately begins again but this time it’s at the window above my head. Whoever it was is at the window above my bed.

  “9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”

  My voice comes out shaky and in a barely audible whisper, “Please come quick, somebody is outside my window.”

  “Ma’am, I’m having a hard time hearing you. Can you speak up?”

  I clear my throat and speak louder, “Somebody is outside my window!”

  Bam—bam— bam— bam— bam echoes through my dark room, I scream! They hit the window so hard it might break and I shout to the dispatcher, “Somebody’s trying to break in through my window! Please come now!” Prima who is curled up in a little ball with her eyes wide open and alert, bails out, deserting me. I’m fully aware a cat would do me no good if someone broke into the house but, I won’t lie I feel more alone now that she’s gone.

  “What is your address?” The lady on the other end of the phone asks.

  “1704 Cherry Lane.”

  I can hear typing and talking in the background when she says, “We have officers on the way now.”

  “Stay on the line with me till they get here please,” I beg.

  “Yes ma’am, I’m not going anywhere. Do you hear anything else?”

  I flip the bedside table light on and look around the room.

  I listen quietly then stammer out, “I—I don’t hear anything now.”

  “Ma’am the police are close. Are you able to unlock your door when they get there?”

  “Yes, that won’t be a problem.” I jump out of bed and grab my purple terrycloth robe and tie it tightly around me. I tip-toe down the hallway. Why, I sneak down the hallway I don’t know but it makes me feel better. I jump when I hear a light knock at the front door, then a scratching sound, like I am being taunted.