The Politics of Being Eddie Munson

Chapter Ten: Hands Are The Window To A Man's Soul

"You're really not going to come over for dinner tonight?" Gareth whined as he followed Eddie to his van once the final school bell rang.

"No. I'm sorry, Gareth, but I have to close the store tonight." Eddie apologized as he fished his keys out of his leather jacket.

"You're always working! Where's the old Eddie Munson? I miss that guy." the curly-haired boy whined like a child. He most likely would have stomped his foot if he wasn't walking.

"That guy is trying to get out of this simpleton town as fast as possible by trying to graduate high school and save money from an actual job."

Gareth bit his lip.

"Yeah- you know damn well that I should go to work tonight."

"Okay fine- but you still owe me for completely ditching me at my kickback. That really sucked, man. I told everyone that Steve Harrington was coming, and both of you didn't show. It was humiliating."

Eddie sighed as he reached his van. As he put his key into the lock on the side of the door, he responded with, "I know it was a shitty thing to do- ditch you at the last minute. I just wasn't feeling well, you know that. Plus, Steve only wanted to come if I was going to be there. He's a shy person around people he doesn't know."

"That's bullshit." Gareth pointed. "Steve doesn't have a shy bone in his body."

"He's changed." Eddie shrugged as he opened up his driver's side door. He threw his backpack into the car, landing on the passenger side floor.

"People don't change that much." Gareth scoffed.

"Gar-" Eddie huffed. "-leave it alone, alright? I'll make it up to you sometime, okay?"

"Fine." the boy rolled his eyes. "My mom's going to miss you tonight, though. She was making your favorite."

"She's making her stew?" Eddie asked, mouth-watering. "She makes some good fucking stew."

"I know! That's why we wanted you over tonight, you putz!" Gareth's arm motioned to Eddie as he said this, making the metalhead laugh.

"Tell mama, I'm sorry, Gareth! Her other baby needs a diploma and a check. I will eat her stew in June, once I'm out of high school forever and have normal hours at Family Video." Eddie laughed, head flinging back a little as he did so.

"Alright, alright." Gareth sighed with a soft smile spreading across his face. "Drive safe, you big lug."

"I'll try my best."

Gareth turned around and began walking to the bus. Before he could get too far, he shouted, "Have fun working, you loser!"

Eddie just flipped him off and hopped into his van to head home so he could get ready for his closing shift tonight at the video store.

When Eddie finally pulled into his lawn, he turned off his van, grabbed his bag, and then made his way into his trailer. He threw his book bag onto the sofa and headed to the fridge to grab a soda. He would drink a beer, but he couldn't because he was working later. Before he sat down on his stained-covered sofa to do his homework for the night before his shift, he also grabbed a bowl of grapes.

"Alright, let's do this shit." Eddie hyped himself up as he popped a grape into his mouth. The metalhead got out his Human Anatomy book and started to write down the definitions he couldn't remember for his upcoming exam on Wednesday. After he did this, he quizzed himself for a good twenty minutes. When he was done, he moved on to his history homework, studying the dates of the amendments. Next, he drew a landscape of the trailer park for his art homework, and last, he did his math homework, struggling with only a few questions. "Shit." he sighed as he looked down at the paper. Mrs. O'Donnell was killing him- but he finished the homework the best that he could.