Me and Charley

8. The Storm

"The time is seven-eighteen. The time is seven-eighteen. The time is seven-nineteen."

"What the hell..." I muttered. I reached over to the alarm clock and found someone's hand. I grabbed it by the wrist and said, "Who's that?"

"It's just me – Jack."

"What are you doing?" I asked, none too happy.

"Just seein' how your clock works."

"OK, now you know, so leave it alone."

"Sorry, Trey."

"It's OK," I said. But lonely as I often felt, I still wasn't sure how I was with living with other kids, even my cousins. Jack and Jimmy were offered the room Uncle Bob and Aunt Letty and Robbie and Doug had vacated, but they wanted to stay with me, as did Paul.

I felt bad because I had thought that I'd wake early enough to see Mom before she left for work. I got up, did my bathroom business, got dressed and headed for the kitchen. I found Paul working on a bowl of cold cereal. He said, "I guess we're on our own for breakfast this morning."

I poured myself a glass of orange juice and fixed a bowl of cereal and sat down across the table from Paul. He said, "I been thinking, maybe I need to talk some more with the Reverend, just him and me."

"Uh-huh," I said, waiting for the details. But that was all he said. Soon Aunt Laura came in her nightgown, trailed by Jack and Jimmy, and said, "Good morning, boys. Did you see the sweet rolls in the bread box?"

"No ma'am," I said, "we sure didn't." So we munched on them while Jack and Jimmy had their orange juice and cereal. Pretty soon Jimmy asked his mom, "When can we go to the cemetery?"

"Any time, I suppose. Go see when your father might want to take you. He needs to get moving anyhow." Just then Uncle Mack walked into the kitchen, gave Aunt Laura a kiss on the cheek and said, "Good morning, darling, what's for breakfast?"

Aunt Laura said, "How about roast boy, one for you and one for me?"

"Mo-o-om!" protested Jack and Jimmy.

"Nah, they're too tough," said Uncle Mack. "I'll just have cereal and a cup of coffee, and one of those sweet rolls." He sat down at the table with us and Aunt Laura joined us.

"So," Uncle Mack asked, "what have you guys got planned for today?"

Jimmy piped up, "Aren't we going to the cemetery?"

Uncle Mack asked, "Why do you want to do that, Jimmy?"

"I dunno, Dad. Just seems like a way of being with Grandma somehow."

"All right, son.  I'll take you in when we're done breakfast. Does anyone else want to go?" We all raised our hands.

Aunt Laura said, "Make your beds and tidy up your room after you're done eating, and be sure all your dirty clothes are in the hamper. I plan to do some laundry while you're gone."

Uncle Mack asked, "Aren't you coming with us, dear?"

Aunt Laura said, "Mack, I've got a lot to get done here." But when she saw the sadness that overshadowed Uncle Mack's face she added, "It'll keep. I'll come." Through all this I really felt the pain of having no father. Mom and my grandparents did their very best by me, but it just wasn't the same.

It wasn't long before we piled into the station wagon. Paul asked, "Do you think Charley would want to come?"

Uncle Mack said, "Don't you think this is more of a family thing?"