Right then there was a knock at our hotel door, which scared me so bad I squealed like a girl and jumped about three feet away from the door. I then pointed at Meek and forcefully demanded, “And you cannot tell anyone about that either!”
Meek chuckled as he climbed out of bed to see who was at the door. As he walked past me he gave me a shove onto the bed while hissing through his teeth, “You’re just lucky I didn’t have a camera right then!” then mumbled, “And people say I act gay!”
“I heard that!” Laughing I rolled off the bed as Meek opened the door. It turned out to be Jenny.
“How’d you know we were here?” I asked her.
“I followed you.” She said like I should have already known that. That is one of the things I always loved about Jenny, she is totally real about everything. What you see is what you get with her. She also doesn’t pull her punches.
“You need to go to your mom.” She said flatly.
Shaking my head I came back with, “You know I can’t do that until after the competition is over.”
That set off an argument that only ended when Jenny stormed out of the room after threatening to tell where we were.
“What are we going to do now?” I asked Meek.
He ran all his fingers through his bleach blonde hair.
“I’m assuming you intend to compete still?” he asked.
“You better believe it!” I announced with conviction, “What about you?”
He nodded, looked around the room, and declared, “Then we can’t stay here.”
With that, we both began to scramble to get our stuff together and within five minutes of Jenny leaving, we were walking out of our room.
“Where are we going to stay?” Meek asked.
“I know some places up and down the coast that we can sleep under the stars.” I said.
Meek was right on my heals as I led us to a cave I knew about that, during the school year, is popular at night with High School kids for drinking and making out. However, in the summer it was virtually forgotten about.
“Smells in here.” Meek commented off handedly.
I let out a silent chuckle, “Better get used to that, because this is home for the time being.”
We set up our home away from home, and made it as homey as possible but it soon became apparent that we hadn’t thought about one thing…bedding.
“Aah-man!” Meek groaned, “Will it get cold tonight?”
“Nah, we can sleep on our towels and use our extra clothes as pillows.”
Long before the sun was completely lost over the ocean’s horizon; it began to get too dark to see inside the cave. That’s when I surprised Meek with a stash of candles from deeper inside the cave. The candles were stuffed into the necks of sand filled beer bottles that had years’ worth of wax built up on the outside. However, what I wasn’t able to provide was a way to light them.
Since I knew my way around town, Meek stayed behind to keep an eye on our few belongings as I went in search of matches or a lighter.
I was at the 7-Eleven gas station; buying a lighter, a couple Cokes and munchies when something happened that absolutely blew my mind.
There I was standing in line waiting to pay when behind me I hear the unmistakable voice of my grandfather talking with another man. God help me I turned to see who he was talking to and instantly panicked when I saw MY FATHER standing there with his back partly towards me.
I was shocked, scared, panicked, confused and probably would have given myself away had I not smelt myself. The shock of seeing John standing there talking with Grandfather had caused me to soiled myself. The stench was powerful enough to wake me up just in time to hear Grandfather say, “You do know Melody would be overjoyed to see you again? What-What!”
My father then spoke and I would know that voice anywhere. “No, I don’t think after everything she’s been through… She’d never forgive me.”
I was about to run to my father when I heard Grandfather say, “I understand. Well Gil, if you see your son, or that other boy again, please give us a call. We’re staying at…”
I didn’t hear the rest of what Grandfather had said because all my emotions had fussed into one big black mass, which clogged my ears and squeezed my heart to near bursting. With tears rolling down my face, I looked around hoping to find somewhere to hide.
I nearly passed out when Grandfather looked right at me, but I guess with my bleached hair, eyebrows and eyelashes, he didn’t recognize me. His ice-covered heart didn’t even seem the slightest bit phased by my flood of tears, which I was sure he could see.
He turned away again and I didn’t wait around for him to figure out who I was. I literally ran out of the store while screaming in my head.
I didn’t stop running until I was about five blocks away. Only then, did I slow down and look behind me to see if I was being followed.
“Oh crap!” I said as I bent over and placed my hands on my knees while gasping for air.
I huffed and huffed until I managed to catch my breath.
“What the hell?!” I said aloud.
Only then did I realize I was holding the lighter, the Cokes, two packages of mini-donuts, a bag of chips, and two Snickers Bars. I hadn’t paid for any of it.
“Now I really am a criminal!” I howled while wiping away my tears with the backs of my arms.
“HEY YOU!” Someone yelled from the direction I’d come from.
I didn’t wait to see if they meant me. As soon as I heard the “HEY YOU!” I took off running again and this time I didn’t stop until I was back with Meek.
I arrived at the cave only to find Meek already asleep outside the cave opening. I deposited the stolen items in the cave, but did not stay inside. That night I didn’t sleep much at all. Instead stood near the water’s edge and thought. When sleep finally did take me, I dreamt about John and my mother.