Pick-me-up (22 page)

“It will feel better, eventually.”  He
rubbed her arm as he held his around her shoulder.  “I think
it will look great.”  He moved in real close for his next
comment.  “Can’t wait to find out how it feels.”  His
breath was warm in her ear.  “Sexy.”

Katelyn would normally blush, but she was too
tired and couldn’t act on a feeling at the moment.
   

Tim noticed her lack of energy.  “Hey,”
he lifted her chin up.  His concern was real.  “Hey, I
have something that might make you feel better.”

Katelyn sighed and prepared herself for a
perverted suggestion.  Instead, he dug into his back pocket.
 “I was thinking to wait till Valentine’s Day, but thought I
might find a time tonight.”  He found what he was looking for
and brought out his closed hand in front of her.  After he
knew he had her attention, her eyes waiting in question, he opened
it.  Katelyn saw a silver chain necklace and a pendant.
 She softened.  She was expecting a joke, another one of
his pranks to get a laugh.  She wasn’t expecting this, and she
wasn’t sure what to do.  Katelyn’s face warmed.  She
looked up at him as if asking permission to pick it up.  He
smiled and gave a slight nod.

She gently lifted the chain up to study the
silver twisted circle that hung freely around the chain.  The
design was simple, a silver strip turned once before it banded in a
circle.  The effect was an ever turning path, a slow, single
spiral that led into itself, never truly ending.  Katelyn’s
day had been so crummy, full of work and a sore mouth.  And,
she had just been worrying and doubting Tim when he didn’t come
back right away.  This kind gesture was a true surprise.

No guy had ever given her a gift of love.
 The CDs Tim gave her at Christmas were hardly a romantic
gift.  This gift meant so much more than the beauty in front
of her.

Katelyn turned to Tim and melted into his
eyes.  “I love it, Tim.”  It didn’t matter how the
pronunciation sounded because he couldn’t hear her clearly.
 Katelyn knew he heard her anyways.  

Two hours later, Katelyn leaned heavily on
Tim as he led her to Angel’s rusty Caprice Classic.  The
bitter chill revived Katelyn a little, but she was content to be
led and let her tired eyes shut.  Angel had handed them the
keys and said she’d be out soon.  Anyone who knew Angel knew
her version of “soon” meant anywhere from a few minutes up to an
hour.  Tim slid her into the backseat, went to the front to
start the car and then joined her again in the backseat.  The
old car’s heater was blowing cold air, but soon warmed.
 Katelyn had leaned into Tim and shut her eyes.  She
opened them slightly as he moved and she fell into his lap.
 She repositioned her head on his leg, tucking her legs up to
curl on the remaining seat beside her.  She shut her eyes
again.  

“Hey, while you’re down there,” Tim joked.
 Katelyn couldn’t even raise the energy to slap his leg at the
perverted comment.  She felt his hand working at getting under
her shirt.  She didn’t protest, but just ignored him.
 After getting no reaction from her, he gave up.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you?”  Tim
sounded suspicious now.  

An alert went off in her brain and she tried
to focus in on it.  The pills.  She didn’t want to tell
him.  What if I tell him I took something from Angel and he
gets mad?  Will he use this as an excuse for him to get high?
 

“Don’t feel good,” she mumbled.  She
didn’t feel the sting of her sore tongue anymore, even though it
still felt like a rubber ball in her mouth.  

“Alright, little girl, you just go to sleep.”
 He sounded satisfied.  

Katelyn nodded off, only vaguely aware of his
movements and the radio.  Sometime later, she was pulled into
consciousness when the car began moving.  Angel’s voice
sounded angry.

Katelyn was semi-awake, but couldn’t quite
bring herself to sit up.  She caught bits and pieces of
conversation.

Angel: “Damn asshole, I could see what he was
doing.  Who the hell does he think I am?  Like I owe him
or something?  Hell no.”

Tim: “What did he do?”

Angel: lower talking and then “and that
carpet whore was there when I got back.”  

Tim: “Maybe it wasn’t his fault.”

Angel: a lot of cussing and “I didn’t see him
making a point to get her out of my chair, even after I told her
where to go.  Hell, he probably asked her to be there tonight
for all I know.”

Angel continued to curse Oli, but Katelyn
found she could easily block it out until she heard a car door
slam.  The car had stopped and was turned off.  She
opened her eyes and quickly shielded them against the rows of
lighting beaming down from a gas station canopy.  She heard
the identifiable sounds of metallic bumping of a pump nozzle being
placed in the tank and then the rush of liquid pouring into the
tank below her.  A few minutes later the pump stopped.
 Katelyn waited for the expected sounds of a nozzle being
removed.  Nothing happened.

She lifted her head, which was foggy and
heavy.  She blinked several times and rubbed her eyes.
 Her vision cleared and Katelyn looked ahead at the gas
station.  They were still in Des Moines.  There were a
couple of cars at the rows of pumps beside her, but more cars were
in the parking lot just in front of the store.  It looked like
a hangout.

Outside the store, a few bums stood around,
and the rest of the people coming in or out of the store looked
rough.  Katelyn suddenly didn’t feel safe.  Then, two men
with pants sagging farther than she thought possible made a show of
walking up to the store from the side parking lot.  Katelyn
looked closer at the cars parked in the lot and saw most were
running, the exhaust causing a steam effect as the hot air hit the
cold.  There were people in all of them.

One of the thugs detoured and went to the
back window of one of the cars.  A tinted window rolled down,
and a brief conversation ended with a loaded hand shake just
outside the window.  Katelyn saw the exchange.  The
thug’s hand quickly sank into his pocket and came out empty.
 He glanced around, and Katelyn ducked.  

Katelyn locked the doors.  She peeked up
to look at the store again.  Angel came out the front.
  Katelyn relaxed.  Angel had a pissed off
expression on her face and took long strides toward the car.
 She halted midway and looked back at the same tinted window
just vacated by the thug with the saggin’ pants.  Katelyn saw
Angel’s expression turn from slightly cautious to one of
recognition.  Angel talked with elaborate hand motions.
 Angel pointed toward the car and then past the parking lot.
 She nodded her head a few times slowly in agreement or in
response to whatever was being said by the mysterious backseat
stranger.  

The glass door to the gas station opened, and
Katelyn saw Tim walking out.  He had a Sprite and a packaged
burrito in his hands.  He walked up to Angel and his face also
registered recognition of the backseat stranger.  Katelyn’s
curiosity peaked and she decided she would go see the mystery
person.  Before she could get up the strength to check her
hair in Angel’s rearview mirror, the mystery man came out of the
car to greet Tim.  

Tim switched his food to one hand in order to
complete a hand grip greeting with an incredibly tall man decked
out in street wear.  His pants competed with the earlier guys
in sag level.  He held himself in front of his groin while he
walked bull-legged to keep the pants up in the back.  He had a
blue handkerchief hanging from his back pocket.  

Angel seemed to take Tim’s presence as a
chance to get away.  She headed toward the car again, her face
sinking back to a frown.  Katelyn leaned back in the seat and
tried not to appear concerned.

Angel saw her through the window as she came
up beside the car.  She vented loud enough so Katelyn could
hear through the window.  “Mother Fucker says I can’t pay
until the damn pump’s put back.”  Angel completed the act with
more force than necessary.

Katelyn rolled down her window.  Even
the task of turning the handle seemed too much.  “Who is
thah?”  Her tongue still got in the way of her words.

Angel caught her glance at Tim’s direction.
 “Oh, Manny.  He’s from East.”  She seemed to regret
what she said next.  “He’s friends with Christian,” the
distaste dripped from her words.  “Let me go pay so we can
ditch this place.”

Katelyn watched her pass Tim and say
something to him briefly on the way in.  The exchange
triggered Manny to dig out his phone.  Tim did the same, but
he momentarily looked towards Katelyn in the car.  Katelyn was
sure he couldn’t see her clearly.  She hid behind the headrest
just in case.  

He promised.  Tim promised he wouldn’t
have anything to do with Christian and his crowd.  He promised
he wouldn’t use again.  Katelyn lowered her eyes as Tim and
Angel made it back to the car.

“Hey, look who’s joined the living.”
 Tim slid in beside her.  “Balls Cold!” he yelled and put
his cold hands on Katelyn’s neck to prove his point.  She
cringed at his touch and shrugged him off.  The feeling of the
necklace chain around her neck remained.  She reached up and
found the pendant slightly off center after her nap.  

The ride back to Northrup was relatively
quiet as they listened to a CD.  Angel kept cracking the
window to vent the car while she smoked.  Katelyn silently ran
her finger around and around the pendant’s circle as she stared out
at the black fields dotted by occasional county road streetlights.
 She lost her thoughts in wondering where each of the roads
went.  She’d worry about the other stuff another day.
 

Chapter 21:  Another
Day

Katelyn trudged around the sidewalk corner to turn up her street.
 Her feet hurt.  She hadn’t had to walk home from school
since her dad had bought the used car.  Luckily, the sunny
March day wasn’t too cold.  Looking at her house, Katelyn saw
the rusty, green Neon right where her dad had it towed the night
before.  

“Piece of shit,” she muttered.  The car
left Katelyn stranded at work the previous night.  The
ignition would turn over, but the motor refused to catch.  She
tried so many times, the car didn’t turn over any more.  When
she called home, her dad yelled at her for not taking better care
of the car.

“I give you a car and this is how you treat
it.  You got to take care of a car.  It takes care of
you, right?  You got to take care of it.”  Her dad
continued to rant about oil changes and other car maintenance she
knew nothing about.  Suddenly it was her car instead of the
one he received rides in every time she was home from work.
 Katelyn had wanted to hang up on him, but she needed him.
 Tim was working on a friend’s car in Ames.  Angel wasn’t
answering her phone.  And, Jen was without a car again since
she broke up with the trailer park boyfriend.  Besides, Jen
was in Ames crashing on Jodi’s couch while she waited on an opening
at a new subsidized apartment complex.  So, Kayla and Jacob
were back sharing Brianna and her mom’s rooms again.  

At nearly 11 p.m. her dad drove out in her
mom’s car after she had come home from work.  Katelyn listened
to him complain while he failed to start the Neon, too.  

“Dad, just call a tow truck,” she had whined
impatiently.  And, eventually, he did, after making it quite
clear she’d be paying for the tow.  When she finally made it
home, Katelyn was too tired to do her homework.  She escaped
to her room exhausted.  

Sleep didn’t come until her mom and dad’s
arguing ended with him leaving.  “Thank God,” Katelyn sighed
to herself.  Her dad was making home miserable.  The
small amount of guilt she felt at wishing him gone was overruled by
her lack of patience.  She was sick of her dad.  All he
did was find something to argue about.  With everyone.
 It wasn’t just her mom anymore.  Even Brianna, who
managed to escape every punishment, was getting a share of her
dad’s mouth.

Katelyn knew her mom thought he was off his
meds and back doing drugs.  The visits to the Des Moines were
completed, but he was supposed to be taking a medication they had
prescribed.  

Warning signs were popping up all over.
 Her dad was home sometimes when he shouldn’t be.  He
claimed his construction job was wrapping up and he would be back
to full time when a new site opened.  His story didn’t add up.
 But, he’d argue for hours to make anyone who dared question
him believe him.

Katelyn came closer to the house and did her
usual survey of the parked cars outside her house.  Her
uncle’s Mazda was in the driveway.  He was probably over to
borrow a tool or something.  Katelyn hoped her cousin Ryan was
with him.  She used to be pretty close to her cousin when they
were younger even though he was a few years older than her.
 

As she came up on the yard, her jaw dropped.
 “What the hell?” she mumbled to herself.  Spread out on
the edge of the driveway, tools and machinery dotted the soggy cold
grass.  Her dad’s tools.  Saws and other power tools,
sets of wrenches, and some left over construction pieces—pipes and
duct work--made her lawn look like a construction site.  She
slowly walked by each piece.  Her dad came out of the shed in
front of her with a cardboard box that clinked with metal noise as
he passed her.  Uncle Russ, with a beer in one hand and a
smoke in the other, made only a few steps in attempt to follow.
 

“You ever used a laser-guided saw
before?”

Russ gave a grunt reply, “Naw.”

“I tell you what, it’s a hell of a lot
better.  It’s night and day.  You’ll never go back.”
 Her dad dropped the box onto the lawn and turned to Russ to
finish his pitch.  “I’d give you a good deal on that one.
 It’s in great shape.”

Russ didn’t answer but occupied himself with
a drag on his cigarette followed with a drink of his beer, enough
time for her dad to turn his attention on her.  “Where you
been?”  Katelyn gave him a look like he should be able to
figure it out on his own and even pointed at the curb-parked Neon.
 “Well, make yourself useful.  Get those kids out here to
pick up their bikes and those toys.  Not unless they want them
sold, too.”  He laughed.