Pick-me-up (20 page)

A strange rubbing noise clashed with the soft
music coming from the store’s speakers.  Looking around,
Katelyn couldn’t see anything.  She checked to make sure her
phone wasn’t on vibrate.  It came again, almost rhythmical.
 She leaned her head around the counter toward the piano area.
 Tim and the kids were gone.  She’d find them.  They
couldn’t have gone far.  The sound came again, but louder now.
 

Katelyn stepped around the isle and found the
source.  At the top of the escalator, Colton stood at one side
of the rubber hand grip as it rotated down into the ground on its
cycle.  His hips made slow motions forward and back so that
his belly met the rubbing rubber.  The sound of his coat
brushing with the rubber warbled through the air.  Colton’s
whole body vibrated for a few seconds.  Then he pulled back.
 

Katelyn tried not to laugh, but had to cover
her mouth.  She looked around to see that no one was watching
her nephew’s misbehavior.  Then she watched Colton wrestle the
escalator once again.  Katelyn stored the image in her head to
tell as an embarrassing story someday when Colton was older.
 She had a feeling she’d get many more before that time.
 

“Colton,” she crept up behind him and his
experiment was instantly forgotten.  “Where’s Tim and the
girls.”

He pointed toward the store’s exit into the
mall area.  She grabbed his hand, but he tore it from hers and
ran toward the door.  Katelyn was done with running for the
night.  By the time she reached the store’s exit, Colton was
already into mischief with the girls by the balcony railing.
 He grabbed rocks from a fake potted plant and dropped them to
shoppers on the bottom floor.  Katelyn was about to yell, but
then caught sight of Tim ten feet away.  Tim was standing with
Angel.  

“You should totally come back, man.
 Like, so what that you didn’t pass that test.  You get
to take it as many times as you want.”  Angel was finishing
her conversation as Katleyn walked up to them.

Colton was about to launch another handful of
rocks.  “Colton, put it down.  Come here.”  Katelyn
dug out a few quarters from her pocket and all three kids quickly
ran to the rack of candy machines at the corner.  

“Katelyn!  Like, oh my God, I haven’t
seen you in forever.”  Angel gave her a one arm hug and
Katelyn smelled pot smoke in her hair.

“Hey, Angel,” Katelyn tried to sound happy to
see her.  She liked Angel, she just worried about her link to
Christian.  Tim had stopped hanging out with Christian as
promised.  It was part of his effort to never do meth again.
  

“So, wow, it’s such a trip to see you guys
together.  That’s great, you guys, together still.” Angel
looked between the two of them with genuine affection.  

Katelyn couldn’t help looking around.
 “So, is Christian here?”  

Angel’s face dropped a fraction.  “No,
man, we broke up.  He’s an asshole that doesn’t know what’s
good for him.  No, I’ve got a new man.”  She cheered up a
bit.  “He works over at Sears in the appliance section.
 We’re going out after he gets off.  You guys should
totally come.”

Tim had been keeping quiet against the rail.
 “Want three kids to come along?”  He nodded in the
direction of the kids stuffing their face with the small handful of
candy they bought.  Colton was busy turning the knobs of all
the machines to see if he could get more candy to fall out.
 

Angel turned back laughing, “Shit, no.
 That’s pure birth control right there.  Thank God I
didn’t keep Christian’s.”

Both Tim and Katelyn were quiet in an awkward
moment.  Katelyn had never heard anyone openly announce an
abortion, but she didn’t put it past Angel to do so.  Angel
didn’t hold back much, which was sometimes cool and sometimes not.
 

Angel broke the gap.  “What you been up
to, Katelyn?”  

“Nothing much.  Oh,” she remembered, “I
just got a new job.”

“Yeah, Tim told me.  Fast food.
 Rough.  But everyone does it.”

Katelyn didn’t hide her confusion.  “Tim
told you?”  She looked to Tim who was busy looking at his
shoes.  

“Yeah, man.  Didn’t he tell you?”
 Angel looked at Tim and swung an arm out to slap his arm.
 “We be at the Academy together.  I totally decided to
try this school stuff out.  So, I’m shacking with my cousin
here in Ames and takin’ classes at the learning center.”  She
laughed like school was a joke for her.  “It ain’t bad.
 It’s all on the computer and I make my own hours.  You
can retake all the tests until you pass.  That’s why Tim needs
to come back.  For real, it’s easy shit.”

Katelyn couldn’t act happy for Angel.
 Anger was rushing into her face.  “Come back?”
 Katelyn’s question almost came out as a yell.  

Angel caught on that she was the bearer of
unwelcome news.  “Hey, uh, shoot.  I did this.
 Sorry.”  She looked momentarily lost and stepped back as
if to escape.  Then she changed her mind.  “Look, I gotta
go, but, seriously, Katelyn, call me.  I really want to hang
out again.”

Katelyn nodded.  She really did like
Angel, and she needed a girlfriend.  “Yeah, Angel, give me a
call.  I have the same number.”

Angel was already writing out her own number
on a receipt.  “It was in my other phone, and that’s missing
in action.”  She laughed at a situation only she knew.
 “Here’s mine.”  She handed the receipt to Katelyn and a
look of concern crossed her face.  “Um, is that your
nephew?”

Katelyn turned to follow her gaze.
 Colton had made it to the other side of the upper level to a
display of overly decorated trees.  One tree had a candy cane
theme with red and white ribbons on an enormous frosted tree.
 The top half still held the candy cane treats, but the bottom
had been cleared off, apparently by Colton.  Colton was now
standing on a giant wrapped box he had pushed up against the tree
to act as a stepstool.  He was grabbing the candies from
higher up and throwing them down to Kayla and Sierra, who were
running out of hands to hold it all.

“Oh my God!” Katelyn yelled and grabbed Tim’s
arm.  

Tim was laughing, but tried to get serious
when he saw Katelyn’s embarassment.  Tim broke into a run
toward the kids, still laughing.  “Save some for me, little
man.  Save some for me.”

Chapter 19:
Secrets

“So
when were you going to tell me about school?”  Katelyn finally
said to Tim during the car ride home.  Colton was quiet in the
backseat except for the slurping noises from a candy cane he must
have hidden.  His hair had fake frost in it from landing in
the tree when he tried to escape Tim’s grasp.  Katelyn thought
they had put all the canes back, but Colton was resourceful.
 She had to hand it to him.  

Kayla stared out the window trying to catch
more sights of Christmas lights, but they were at the outskirts of
Ames, and only farm houses lined the highway.  Sierra’s head
was already drooping with early sleep.  

Not one gift had been purchased.
 Katelyn decided against taking the kids to Wal-Mart.
 She’d had enough for the night.  And, she didn’t quite
feel the Christmas spirit at the moment.  Tim’s secrecy
tainted every thought.  

“So?” she asked again.  “And why didn’t
you tell me about Angel?”

Tim sat in the passenger seat, and Katelyn
couldn’t see his face directly since he was looking out his window.
 She heard him sigh.

“I didn’t want you to do this,” he finally
said.

“Do what?  Care?  Make you face up
to what you’re really doing?”  She realized she sounded like
her mom when she fought with her dad.  How could Tim actually
respond with an answer to those questions.  Katelyn tried
again.  “How long have you not been going to school?”

She saw him shrug out of her side vision.
 “A couple weeks.”  

“Why not go, Tim?  What made you stop?”
 Real concern dripped with each question.  

Katelyn turned to see him, his outline
distinct in the low light.  He rubbed his chin with one hand.
 She waited.

“School’s not for me.  Yeah, it may be
easier, Kate.  But, it’s still crap.  It’s still stuff
I’m never gonna use.”

She stayed silent.  Everything Katelyn
wanted to say sounded too much like what her parents would say.
 

He started talking before she could come up
with a decent reply.  “I mean, at least when I was in regular
school I could take shop and stuff.  Hell, they had a whole
automotive program that fed right into the community college down
in Des Moines.  This shit, this computer stuff, it’s all
know-the-answer-to-facts bullshit I’ll never need.”

Katelyn wanted to come up with an argument
about needing a diploma or GED in order to go on.  That’s what
her teachers and parents were always telling her.  Never mind
that none of her sisters were made to get their diploma or go back
to school.  

“A couple weeks ago a guy in class got an old
Chevy GT, real bad shape, but we ditched school and worked on it
all day.  We did it again the next day.  We had that
thing running by the end of the week, Kate.  It was mad
perfect.”  Tim’s voice was full of pride, but he barely talked
louder than a whisper.  “Anyway, his cousin has a shop in Ames
and can get me some hours.  I’ve gone over a couple times.
 I didn’t want to tell you ‘cause I was gonna surprise you
with your Christmas gift.”

She turned his way, but quickly turned back
since the car veered with her.  She steadied it out and looked
over to him.  Tim wouldn’t look at her.  She softened.
 “What is it?”

His voice took on a tease then.  “You’ll
just have to wait.  Christmas is five days away.”

“Come on,” she begged.  But, he didn’t
answer.  

They drove into the outskirts of Northrup.
 Katelyn slowed instinctively, knowing just where the cops hid
at the bottom of the hill.  The back seat was quiet.  The
girls were asleep.  Colton was awake, curled up in the seat.
 His hands had disappeared into his pants.  

In the driveway, before she turned off the
car, she turned to Tim and grabbed his hand.  “I won’t nag
you, okay.  But, you can still go back to school.”  His
eighteenth birthday was a month away.  Katelyn wasn’t even
sure what the age limits were on attending the alternative school,
but there was always the GED.  

Tim squeezed her hand.  “I know.
 Let me see how this works out.  I could make some good
money at the shop.  You’ll see.”  He leaned over and gave
her a kiss.  They drove in silence.  The car’s engine
lulled the kids to sleep in the back seat.

“I wasn’t trying to keep Angel a secret,” Tim
said out of the blue.  “I didn’t want you to worry.
 She’s alright, ya know.  You two should hang out.”

Katelyn laughed.  “Yeah, maybe.”

Chapter 20: Hanging
Out

The
bathroom in McDonald’s had one sink, and Katelyn leaned over it to
look into the smudged mirror.  The bad cleaning job wasn’t her
poor handiwork.  Katelyn was working behind the counter now—in
the kitchen actually.  When she wasn’t working the drive thru,
she was filling in as a line cook on busy days.  Bathrooms
belonged to some other loser lower on the fast food seniority
chain.  

Katelyn finished adding a dark line of
eyeliner and backed up to inspect it.  She turned to each side
to check her outfit.  She pulled the back of her shirt down.
 Working at a fast food chain wasn’t helping her figure.
 I’ll have to stop eating the fries, she thought.  She
turned back for a front view.  The black shirt fit tighter
than she normally wore her clothes, but Angel had encouraged her to
buy it.  It also dipped low on her chest.  Another half
inch and the top of her bra would be showing.  It was a good
thing Katelyn was going to the party straight from work.  Her
mom wouldn’t like this shirt, and Katelyn really didn’t need to get
into a fight with her dad, either.  Lately, finding any reason
to start a fight seemed to be his main form of entertainment.

Katelyn stuffed her uniform into the bag and
leaned back into the mirror a final time.  She stuck out her
tongue and cringed.  A silver ball sat on a mound of raised
and flaring red flesh.  Even the strain of pushing her tongue
out made the piercing sear with pain.  Katelyn moaned.
 Another good reason she wasn’t going home first.  There
was no way she’d be able to utter any words in her defense.
 

Katelyn left the bathroom and went out the
side door of the restaurant.  She spotted Angel’s enormous car
at the back of the lot.  A tinted window was cracked and smoke
trickled out.  It was Saturday night and they were headed to a
college dance club in Des Moines.  Valentine’s Day wasn’t
actually until Monday, but the club was hosting some rock bands in
a “Rock n’ Riot Valentine” party.  Angel’s newest boyfriend
ran lights for one of the bands, so she wanted Katelyn and Tim to
keep her company while he was working.     

Katelyn couldn’t help feel a little worried
about the trip.  Tim’s disappearing act from the last time
they went to Des Moines was still clear in her mind.  But, Tim
said he wanted to go hear these bands.  Besides, he hadn’t
left her alone anywhere since they had been back together.
 Second chances, she reminded herself.  

Tim was working at a garage in Ames four days
a week.  He was mostly doing oil changes, but the manager was
starting to let him do some brake work.  Tim now talked about
taking automotive classes to get a certification he wanted.
 

“It’s about time, Girl,” Angel yelled at her
in mock anger as she threw her cigarette butt out onto the icy
parking lot.  

Since Tim was in the front passenger seat,
Katelyn opened the back seat and climbed in.  “Thut up,” she
managed over her swollen tongue.  Angel and Tim both broke
into a laugh.  She ran red with a small temper, but stayed
quiet.

“How’s it feel?” Angel asked as she drove out
of the parking lot.  “Did it go down any?  It should be
better today.”