The Family: Long Road Home (VOL. 3)

Chapter 3

"You know patience is a virtue, right Bubs?"

Bubba fiddles with the knob of an old gumball machine, looking longingly inside at a sea of candy spheres in every shade of the rainbow. He turns his attention onto me long enough to tap his index finger to his chin, then points in my direction. "I missed you..."

"I was in the bathroom for all of five minutes, you didn't have enough time to miss me."

A breathy groan leaves his lips. "Too long," he signs then goes back to rattling the glass dome encapsulating the sugary treats that have enraptured his attention. That's just one more cavity waiting to happen. His mouth has to be full of them by now. I get the impression the Sawyers aren't the biggest fans of the dentist. 

If it weren't for those colorful balls of sugar he definitely doesn't need, Bubba would have dragged me back to the car and stuffed me inside by now. Standing outside in the open where anyone can see him is murder on his nerves. It's safe to say he has more than a touch of social anxiety. The world is too big, too wide, and he craves the security of the van's four metal walls. Or better yet, his home and the little world his family have crafted for themselves within the boundaries of the farm. 

"You want some change for that? I might have a couple coins," I say as I cram my hand into my pocket and grab the handful of change I got back from the pay phone. "Twenty-five, fifty, fifty-five, six, seven, eight..." I count aloud the total. He shoots his hand out and I drop the clanging coins into his cupped palm. "Here's sixty cents. You should be able to buy a couple of gumballs with that."

He beams down at the handful of copper and nickel pieces and his lips spread into an elated grin. It's been a while since I've seen him smile. I guess the idea of a special treat after all we've been through these past few days is a small ray of sunshine in the darkening sky that is our life as of late. 

His movements are quick with excitement as he gestures. "Thank you." 

"Thank your brother," I respond, finding a smirk creeping over my face. "I stole all this money from the floorboard of his car."

Bubba's eyes leave my face and set their gaze upon something else. Something at my back. The fine hairs on the nape of my neck prickle to attention as a gust of hot, damp, air sweeps across my skin. He signs the same message of gratitude to whatever caught his eye and is now breathing down my neck. My body makes the spontaneous decision to face the presence at my back without even consulting me first and I find myself jerking around hard enough to make myself dizzy. Towering over me in a pair of Barbie pink sunglasses stands something unnerving enough to siphon a yelp from my core. 

My body reacts as it should when seeing something so unsettling up close and personal. I stagger back a step, clutching my heart and inhaling a sharp gust of air. "Jesus! Chop, you scared the crap out of me. How long have you been standing there for?"

The dirty hippy looks down at his wrist even though he's not wearing a watch. His overgrown eyebrows jump at the absence of a clock. Woven bracelets strung with beads or maybe tiny shards of bone dangle from his thin arm where I'm assuming his watch should have been."Oh, well, uh...time is just a social construct anyway, bunny."

...Will somebody tell me what that's even supposed to mean? Actually don't. I don't really care.

"Where'd you even come from?" I shift my eyes around the parking lot that was Chop-Top free moments ago.

He shrugs. "My guess is space. Ma says different but ah-ahh I dunno if I believe 'er." He tips his head and looks toward the clouds hanging in the vibrant blue canopy above our heads. The Beatles-inspired wig resting on his cranium slides back an inch or two once gravity gets a hold of it. "You believe in them lil' green men in the sky, dontcha? Ya know, them lizard-looking space bugs ridin' round in a tin can, abductin' cows an' probin' assholes? I dream 'bout 'em sometimes. Zappin me up in their spaceship...think they tryin'a call me home?"