Tennessee Waltz

CHAPTER THREE

The rooster sang its morning song echoing throughout the farm and the sun weakly shined in through the thin curtains I made out of old t shirts. I opened the curtain of my window besides my bed. The sun was peeping over the hills making them look like they were made of gold and the rooster stood on the wooden fence surrounding the house. The smell of hay and cow manure filled the house. It was six am and I had to get ready for school. I hopped into the shower and put on a white shirt, blue jeans, and my lucky boots. By the time it turned seven and I was already starting on breakfast. Charlie was the first one of the bunch to wake up. He was the second oldest after Joe.

It was the day Joe was finally going to come back from military training. He wanted to be just like our uncle john, who fought in both of the world wars. He died last year and Joe was the one who took it the hardest. You see Uncle Joe was like a second father to Joe and since Uncle Joe was never able to have children with my Aunt Debbie, Joe was like the son he never had.

By the time I finished breakfast I realized it was 7:43 and the bus was going to arrive at the bus stop in two minutes. I sprinted out the door quickly grabbing my stuff. I might of made a mess in the process since I heard two plates crash as the door closed behind me. The bus stop was near Mrs. Hickleburg's house. Mrs. Hickleburg was a 65 year old widow. Her husband, Mr. Hickleburg, died fighting in the first great War. She was like a grandmother to me and my sibilings. The only blood family we had in our life's were my Uncle John and Aunt Myrtle who were my Father's sibilings. We would spend every holiday over at Mrs. Hickleburg's home and she would always make her famous apple pie when we'd come over because she knew how much we loved it. She was the one who taught me half of the stuff I know and was always there for me.

She sat in her rocking chair on the front porch knitting a scarf. The bus was already a couple of blocks away heading back to the school. I kicked the dirt around stressing over how I was going to get to school. Mrs. Hickleburg called out to me and invited me in for a glass of water. She was blabbing about how her granddaughter was Turing three that weekend.

"Dion darling take the bug out for a spin." She suddenly said handing me a pair of keys.

"Oh Mrs. Hickleburg. I cant-" I quickly blurted.

"It's okay Dion. I trust you boy," she insisted," Be sure it's spotless when it gets back." I grabbed the pair of keys and jumped into the car she had in her garage. I was able to make it to school on time.

Middleton High was small. Only 500 kids went there and by graduating year about 40% of people in that class dropped out. As I drove up to the school I saw Tony and Sam arguing about last night's football game

"We wouldn't of lost if you'd just do you job right and defend my right side." Tony yelled pushing Sam to the ground. Tony jumped ontop of him and began punching him like if he were a sack of flour. I hopped out of the car and ran towards them. Me and two other guys were quick to pull Tony off of Sam before Tony beat him to death. There was blood everywhere. Tonys knuckles were dripping with blood and his eyes were filled with fury. Sams face was horrible and he ran towards the bathroom.

The bell rung and everyone walked off to class. Tony stopped by the bathroom on the way to class to clean off the blood on his hands. I had math with him first period. When we walked in everyone ran up to Tony and attacked him with questions. It was like he was a celebrity. The girls surrounded him and cooed him as if it were sam who punched Tony, not the other way around. I walked to the back of the class where Donna's seat was. She was reading a book sitting quietly. Donna was dressed in all white showing no skin other than her arms and face. Her favorite crucifix necklace was dangling on her neck and the sun shinning through the window made her glow giving her an Aurora of an angel.