TACENDA // Sodapop Curtis

Parents

Two years later

It's funny what can happen in just two years.

For starters, my mother and father are divorced. She was cheating on him for a year and a half with a rich man while she was with my father. Vivian knew, she approved of it. She said dad wasn't wealthy enough for four people. Whatever that meant.

The horse business was doing well, but we lost some business due to mom are her mouthin off all the time. But we were moving to a new ranch in Tulsa Oklahoma. Dad said he wanted a 'fresh start' but those were basically code words for 'Home reminds me too much of your mother.' and it did.

My life became a complete mess in those two years. Started off with a boy, then other. Throw in some sexual assault, assult, some unwanted sex, lying, manipulation, gasslighting from my mother and so much more. Dad even chimed in on some hitting and cursing at me. But not that often.

I took up yelling, screaming, and cursing like my father. It also consisted of smoking a pack a day, not being able to live without the drug. Dad took up drinking, same as me, he couldnt function without it. It was like without mom, life was hell.

Vivian and Mom went back to New York while dad and I went to Tulsa. They wanted different lifestyles, I get it. Dad and I got double the work. Night and day, staying up with cows to have their calves, horses breaking stalls and getting loose, but we lived on a ranch. You have to expect that.

Sodapop came into my mind every once in a while, thinking of that night he kissed me. I hadn't really been connected to anyone like I was with him, even if I had a boyfriend, which I had only had two. They cut me off mostly because of what I looked like, it didn't make much sense.

I was 5' 10" with straight, muscular shoulders and arms, along with big hands, normal sized thighs and a small muscled waist. People back in Kansas made the name 'twig' up for me. I got the joke fine, but I didn't exactly like it. I don't think anyone would like it.

My face had gotten slightly different also. I still had that light, blonde hair that goes to the middle of my back, which I absolutely hate. My eyes had gotten a darker shade of green, not the happy emerald green they used to be. The cheekbones on my face became more noticeable and my cheeks more hollow. I looked older. I was older.

The once happy, enlightening voice I had when I was a kid was gone. It was now a lower tone that came out harsh. It was like my vocal cords got ruined over the past two years and they couldn't be recovered. Which was probably true.

—-

"Could you put that cigarette out while im drivin' please?" My dad asked me, I did what he said. "This is gonna be the last trip we make down here, right?" I asked, he nodded. I straightened my posture and crossed my knees, my spurs clanking as I did so. I hadn't taken those things off in forever.

Maverick jumped into my lap and put his face out the window like any dog would. I just left my elbow against the window and had my chin in my palm, admiring the countryside of eastern Tulsa Oklahoma. This was where I would most likely be spending the rest of my life.

The truck pulled into the new home we had, the 85 acre prairie land and two barns. We could both agree that this was a much nicer place than in Kansas, but it would never feel the same. It wouldnt be the same without a strict mom and an asshole sister. It wasn't a home.

"Oh goddamn it." My dad shut the engine off and looked at the fenced in pasture, where nothing was supposed to be. Except there was a singular steer out there, great. "Ill get it, you just get the shit out and do whatever you need to do." I sighed, grabbing my rope out of the back and walking into the pasture.