Freak

Chapter 10

The movie we eventually settled on (after much debate in which I jokingly suggested we watch Little Shop of Horrors and was subjected to a long rant from Eddie about how musicals are a crime against nature) was The Return of the Living Dead.
Our favorite scene was where this wet ass zombie strolled into the basement where some of the characters were hiding and one of the main characters grabbed a bat out of nowhere and knocked the zombie's head off. The second ole boy's cranium hurdled into the other characters like a bowling ball knocking pins over we all started cracking up.

"Bro really stop, drop, and rolled away from that flying head," I laughed after we replayed the scene for the third time. Wiping a tear from his eye Gareth opened his mouth to say something but then made eye contact with us and burst into another fit of laughter.
"That was incredible stuff man. Comedy gold," Eddie smirked.
I nodded and wiped a tear from my own eye.
"Truly. I'm glad we picked this one over Little Shop cuz I doubt there was this much decapitation."
Eddie bristled at the mention of the musical and turned to me with a deathly serious expression.
"So am I."
We all cracked grins at one another and began deciding what kind of movie we wanted to watch next when we heard the garage door open and close a few moments later. After a few seconds the door swung open and I could see a short woman clutching brown paper grocery bags piled up in her arms so high they covered her face. She closed the door with her hip and dropped the keys on a small table next to the door before readjusting her grip on the bags.

"Abby! Gare Bear! I brought dinner," she called out. I turned to Gareth and grinned mischievously when she called him Gare Bear and he glared at me.
"Alright Mom that's enough of that nickname. Thanks though," he answered.
"Oh you're in there! I don't know why I thought you might have been downstairs jamming or something," she laughed, shuffling over to the kitchen with the bags still piled high. Eddie smirked and waved to Gareth's mom even though she couldn't see him.
"How's it going, Cherri?"
She set the bags down on the counter with her back facing us and began taking food out of the bags and arranging them on the counter as she spoke over her shoulder.
"Oh I'm doing just fine, Eddie. How've you been lately hun? It's been a little while since I've seen you around here."
"Ah that it has. Not to worry though, all is well at the Munson house. Just busy," Eddie assured her.
"Well that's good to hear, honey. How's Wayne doing? He still workin off Linberg at that mechanic shop with Larry?"
"Yup. He said it pays decent and the guys are nice so overall I'd say he's doing pretty good too. You know," Eddie continued, walking over to help her unload bags,
"I think whatever you said to him about the smoking worked. He hasn't blown through a pack yet and it's been two weeks."

I could tell by Cherri's posture that she was relieved to hear Eddie's words and stored this interaction in my memory bank.
Learning a lot in one sitting but I like it.
"Yeah? Well that's great news. Tell him I'm proud of him next time you see him, won't you hun?"
"Will do, Cherri."
She nodded and after a calm moment of silence Cherri piped up again.
"Hey Abs? Come out here and help your mama please. Poor Eddie's over here helping me all by himself."
Abby scrambled out of her mom's bedroom a few moments later and slid on her socks into her mom's leg.
"Hi Mom!"
"Hi back. What've you been up to today?"
Abby launched into a description of all the fun things they did at daycare and how much she liked getting a ride home with Mrs. Munich today (who I later found out was their neighbor that happened to work at the daycare).
"It's nice riding in her car...even though sometimes the seats smell like fries," Abby said matter-of-factly.
Cherri and Eddie both laughed though Cherri's tone grew serious almost immediately after hearing that.
"Hold on a second honey. Did you say Mrs. Munich drove you home today? That wasn't the plan."
"Is that bad?" Abby asked.
"Not bad honey, just...I wasn't expecting it."
Cherri finally turned all the way around and looked over at the couch searching for Gareth.
Her eyes then settled on me and her eyebrows raised so high they disappeared behind her bangs.
"Oh? It seems like today is full of things I definitely did not expect."