Bloody Story 1987

Page 16

"Whatcha doin' over here?" I watch as the fridge finally closes, pop's looking between us before reaching over to me and handing me a few of his double stuffed oreos with a comical wink. "Oh... I was just... having a look at your truck. What's all that wood in there for?" He was slightly annoyed that I got the oreos but I smiled, thanking the older man happily taking the cookies, "Been fixin' to build me fence one of these days. Bought all the materials, then put it off... for about ten years." He sighs, "Well, one more day won't hurt. Wanna go into town with me?"

I notice the slightly brightened look of hopeful excitement on Sam's face, "Great. I wanna get some new comics." I split my oreos eating the center first before munching down the cookies as we follow the hippy outside, Sam tosses the leaf in his hand quickly into the bush it sprouted from, I shook my head as we ventured over to the large barn/garage, "Oh my... woah pop's this is insane," I heard him laugh, "hah, that's my girl, can recognize a beauty anywhere huh?" He walked towards the beautiful, 1957 Ford in perfect mint colored condition. Grandpa takes down an old coffee can from the tool bench and fishes out the car keys from inside after latching the garage door to stay open. "Get in." Sam slides into the car's back seat before I flip the seat back in its place to sit down in the front. Grandpa climbs in behind the wheel and puts the key into the ignition turning over the engine. It starts and the sound of it firing up makes my smile brighten, "runs really smooth pop's."

He nods with a smile of his own, "Got to let her warm up a bit. Hear that, Sam? Just like a baby pussycat." I huff a laugh glancing back at my excited little brother, "Okay?! Let's go to town!" He turns the key, turning the engine off and we look at him, Sam looks more concerned than I do as our Grandpa climbs from the car and puts the keys back into the coffee can. Then he turns to Sam who is still seated inside the car after I hop out and pull the seat forward and down. "Are we havin' fun or what?"

"I thought we were goin' into town." The older man shrugged, turning around to leave, "I hate goin' into town. That's about as close to town as I like to get."

Walking back inside as Pop disappears into thin air, seemingly we come upon Michael, looking very tired and stressed while wearing sunglasses in the kitchen. He's standing before his barbells, picking them up and pumping them once, but can't complete a second rep. Exhausted, he drops them down and they smack against the wooden floor, I watch with a wince.

Sam is there beside him in the next minute, looking through the refrigerator. Michael walks over and plops down in a chair. "What did you do last night? You look wasted." Sam just pulls out a container of leftovers, "I can't remember much after the Chinese food that looked like maggots." That takes care of Sam's appetite and he makes a face as he drops the food back onto the shelf he pulled it from, "You don't suppose Grandpa's an alien, do you?" I walk past the sandy blonde and poke his side, "no way, Sammy boy."

"What would that make Mom?" Sam pondered the question as I grabbed a water bottle off the counter popping it open, the small almost unnoticeable tabs snapping as it opens, "You're right... not even to mention you and me." Nanook sashays up to Michael and begins to lick the bottom of his bare foot, I watch from over the counter as Michael yanks his foot back, "Beat it, Nanook." Nanook simply continues to lick. "Sam. Make him stop." Sam pulls Nanook away and he takes a closer look at Michael's feet by accident, "Did you spill something?"

"No. Why?" I walked over with my brows raised, "The bottoms of your feet are covered with salt." Michael gets up from the chair and starts to leave the room. "I told you it was pretty weird Chinese food." I gave a grimacing look as Sam followed him for a second, "Wanna go to the comic book store?" Our brother's answer is plain and direct, "No." I gave a sigh as he stopped following Michael, "come on Sammy, I'll take you."