Next Door Neighbor (Part One - 1966)

5. Do's and Donuts

Week 5

Dear Journal, perfect Pansy has left me
alone. So that part is good I guess, but I can't help but feel that our principle just doesn't care. Mom and Dad seem to be getting sadder and sadder as each day goes by. I don't know how much more we can take. 

February 4, 1966

Michael

Gary, Indiana

Jackson House

Have you ever had those days? The sun is shining, the birds are singing. A soft and neat breeze wisps through the green trees. Well... Gary Indiana ain't had any of those days! Now, I love snow every now and then. But it's like all we've had for the past month has been snow, snow and even more snow! I laid on my tummy, using my arms to support my 'big ol' noggin', as dear brother Merlin put. 

My head's not big! I don't stand for that. It's definitely not so big I can't stand, bro. It was a boring, early winter morning. I looked out our little window and saw snow still piling up on the grass and road below it. I wonder how all the bugs feel getting squished by a bunch of white, cold powder. That thought made me shimmer, I mean... shudder, real hard. 

That caused a certain brother o' mine to turn and whine a little in his sleep. As a consequence, his mouth popped open a little as a snore came out. Huh, if only I had a feather. A glorious image of me with a feather and Marlon's big mouth came into view. An amazing prank by the prank king. Yeah 'Maine, I said what I said. 

But before I could exact my perfect plan, Marlon turned over onto his side. Gah, pushed up against a wall and rejected the opportunity to prank my unexpecting brother. So not fair. Well, if I can't prank my brother, I might as well go see what delectable treats we have stuffed away in the kitchen. This got me into another problem. How were I to sneak out of bed without waking Marlon up? 

Days like this I wish I were a snake. I could slither out with no problem. But then I'd have to eat rats. I wouldn't want to hurt an innocent animal, especially a rat. Even if I was a snake. But I'm not so I got to figure out something. Maybe, I could... no I don't have a jetpack. Or maybe, no I don't have any ear plug thingies. Well, I guess I'm scooting to the end, then.

Carefully, I slithered my body, and totally not pretending to be a snake. I was about halfway through my mission when I heard a tired and annoyed voice speak. "Mike, just use the dang ladder and quit moving. Some of us are trying to get some shut-eye."

I turned my head to see Marlon glaring at me from underneath his mountain of blankets. "I was just going pee, man. You don't need to get all gripey with me." I spoke. Okay, maybe that wasn't the full truth. But I'm not telling Martin about the possibility of there being yummy donuts in the kitchen. Maybe Joseph decided to be nice today and buy us some. Erm - buy me some! 

"Michael. Marlon. Shut your pie-holes." came Jermaine's gruff and squeaky whine. 

"Go back to sleep, all of you!" came Jackie's call from down below.

Only Tito's deep snoring kept the room from being real quiet. I rolled my eyes and continued down the bed, over Marlon and towards the ladder at the end. I carefully positioned my body so I would slip and fall. I hung on to the rail just in case Marlon had any weird ideas.  Thankfully he flopped like a fish onto his stomach and started drooling again. Gross!

I snuck out of the room real soft, thanking Jehovah we had carpet. I didn't wanna wake up the girls or the great big Buckethead. I tip-toed through the living room, and into the kitchen. I softly moved from the entrance to the dining table. It was a real long circular table that somehow fit all of us. All ten of us kids. Well, soon to be eleven. Mother's belly had grown real big the last few months. I was really little whenever Randy was born, but I knew that Mother's belly had blown up like a balloon. 

I was excited to become a big brother again. As long as they didn't drool on me like Randy did, that was totally gross. Well, as long as it's on Jermaine and not me, we'll be fine. Okay, focus Michael, focus. Sniff out the donuts, put your nose to its full capacity. I searched through the table, nothing. I searched through the oven and on top of the stove. Nothing. One last hope was the fridge.  

I shuffled over to the fridge. I played with the little latch for a second before the glorious magnificence of... nothing. No precious donuts were there. I felt a little misty eyed. I reeaaallly wanted a donut. Maybe tomorrow, I guess.

---

Aurora 

Phoenix, Arizona

Another night of fluffing my pillow and throwing my blanket over my head. I wanted to bury myself into my pillow and block out the voices. My mother and father, arguing again. It was a never-ending cycle. My father screamed something incoherently which my mom returned in a half shout half whimper, "I told you I quit! Leave me the hell alone!" I couldn't hear my dad's response, and I honestly didn't want to. I wish that my parents would at least have the gall to fight a little softer, and not keep their child up at all hours of the night.

For a moment, the noises seemed to get louder. I peeked out from underneath the covers to see my door has cracked open. I almost yelled at the door, when I saw the tear-stained face of my little brother. The bit of his body that was visible to me was trembling horribly. He remained there for a moment until I sent him a soft 'come in, Jamie'.  He rushed over to my bed and climbed up immediately. 

"Why are Mommy and Daddy fighting, Rora?" He questioned, sticking his thumb in his mouth. I wanted to tell him to quit that, but I couldn't. The struggle that's going through my mind, part of me wants to stick my thumb into my mouth and waterlog it. "Daddy is yellin' real loud!" He buried his face into my shoulder and drew a heaving breath that ended in a sob. I rubbed small circles into his back.

What can I say to make him feel better? How do I dry those tears and bring a smile on his face again? All I could do was hold him and place my head atop his. "It's okay, Jamie. They're just having a disagreement, everything will be okay."

"How you know?" came his sniveled response. 

"I - uh - I don't, James. But I think we have to pretend everything will be okay until it is. Mommy is ... well," James lifted his head to look at me. His big brown eyes were full of tears and sadness. "I - you know how you like candy, Jamie?"

He nodded. A look of confusion came across his face.

"Well, you like candy and that's okay. That's good. But whenever you eat too much candy, you get a tummy ache and you don't feel good..." I peered down at my little brother to see him nodding slowly, cuddling closer to me.

"What Mom has is kind of like that. Mom has something called an addiction."

"A-dicc-cion." James supplied, looking to me for confirmation that he said it correctly. 

"That's pretty much it." I said, rather letting him have his moment. "Well, an addiction means that she can't live without 'eating candy' but it's not the candy you like. It's a kind of candy that could hurt you really, really bad."

"Like it'll make you throw up?"

"Not really. It's a little more bad than that, Jamie. Someone who has an addiction could get really hurt, and they could ... it's really bad to have an addiction to something."

"Why would Mommy do that? Doesn't she love us?"

"Yeah, I'm sure she does. I'm sure it's really hard to get over one, but no matter what, you and I have each other."

A sniffle. "Promise?"

"Of course, Jamie. Of course." I helped him underneath the covers, since I knew that he would likely not want to go back to his room. With James as a distraction, I eventually fell into a semi-peaceful sleep. If all else fails, at least I knew I had a little brother who depended on me. That alone would keep me strong, and I'd do anything - anything - to keep him safe. 

Time will only tell if I could do that.

---

Surprise double update! Kinda my apology for not updating in several months. I've started community college and boy, that's so much more work than high school was. Your girl here is going to be an accountant. Run of the mill job for a run of the mill girl, ha. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Here's to the next one, hopefully soon. :)