The Summer that Changed Everything

Chapter 3: Unraveled

       It was a summer like any other summer but also it was completely different. There are moments so trivial that to seem to vanish faster than any thoughts I've ever been disenchanted with. There are moments like these that I wish I could just rewind and stop it from happening. I cannot explain why things happen the way they do... and I can never quite pinpoint when it's going to happen. All I can see are the images, being modified on the screen, being shown to the world just how everything is messed up and made no sense at all. And there is no way to make sense of it but just watch it over and over again. I tell you this story now, because the memories that I want to be shared, the ones that are inside of me so close seem to fade away. Just like images that passed through me—like a forgotten photograph. Snap shots that are taken and begin to yellow or start to deteriorate and fade away. The illusion of a smile and dark set eyes. The dream that you will wake up one day in a better place. It's a place that you heard about, read about, you know it's preached about, but you haven't found it just yet. And you wonder if it is really there or it's just a made up story to get you through the day. Maybe it is. Maybe it was. Maybe I'll never have the chance to know.

Lennie had been living at her new house for a few days now. We'd always hang out over there. She had a swing set in the front yard. We'd sit in it sometimes and bullshit or play cards. Uncle Bob got a job down at the power mills and was making a lot more money now. We sat outside Lennie's house. Chris brought his playing cards.
"Make your move, shitty." Chris said to Teddy.
"Bite me." Teddy told him.
"I think I want to be an acrobatic when I get older." Lennie said as she swung across her monkey bars.
"Big fucking deal." Teddy told her. "I can do that too."
"I'd like to do that." Vern said.
"You're too fat." Teddy told him.
Vern didn't seem to care. He knew that one was coming. Teddy was always making fun of him because of his weight.
"You can do anything you want." Lennie told Vern.

I looked over at Chris for a second remembering last summer when Chris told me that he felt that he was never going to get out of this town. And I told him that he could do anything he wanted. And he went on to say something along the lines of, "Yeah, sure." Maybe he couldn't believe it was possible or maybe he really didn't want to get out. I wondered if it's the same for Vern. If he thinks he'll ever be thin or he doesn't care if stays fat for the rest of his life.

I always wondered what Chris was thinking. He wasn't as easy figuring out like an open book. There were many aspects to his personality. Last summer was really the one time he opened up to me and really the first time I saw him cry. It wasn't hard for me to cry over things, especially when it was over Denny. But Chris never seemed to cry about anything. His old man beat up him a lot and he took it. His older brother Eyeball treated him like shit but he took it. It was things like that that made me feel ashamed to bitch about anything that is going on in my life. Teddy's father burnt his ear off. Chris's life revolved around his father and how drunk he was.

Lennie knew nothing about the outside world except taking care of her sick mother and listening to her father bark orders to her day and night. I liked my uncle a lot but I know that he has hit Lennie on numerous occasions.
My parents may complain about who I hang out with or pretend that I am the invisible boy ever since Denny passed away, but they always treated me well, never really laid a hand on me.
​​​​
Later that night my parents told me that we were having dinner at Lennie's house. Uncle Bob wanted to introduce us to his soon to be new wife. Neither of any of us knew who this woman was except that her name was Alice and she had an older son. I didn't even know that he was dating anyone.
I saw Lennie sitting out on her stoop. She seemed bored, or annoyed or something. She didn't look like she wanted to be there.
"How are things, Lennie?" My mother asked her.
"As good as it could get." She sighed.

I could tell that something was seriously bothering her. Before I could ask or before she could utter another word—I heard a recognizable voice. It was the kind of voice like scratching nails across a chalk board at school. It made me cringe. I didn't have to turn around. I close my eyes and I imagined holding Chris's gun in my hand—it shot off, but this time it wasn't by the trash can and I was telling Chris that his mother was going to hell for him lying. This was me. I was holding it as I faced, Ace Merrill. I was going to kill him.

"You're not taking him. An' nobody is taking him." I replied.
"Come on kid, just give me the gun before you take your foot off. You ain't got the sack to shoot a woodchuck." Ace said.
"Move, Ace. I'll kill you I swear to God." I said.
"Come on, Lachance, gimme the gun. You must have at least some of your brother's good sense." Ace Merrill spoke up.
"Suck my fat one you cheap dime-store hood." I told him.
"Are you going to shoot us all?" Ace asked me.
"No Ace, just you." I said.

"We're gonna getcha for this ...we're not gonna forget this if that's what you think. This is big time, baby." Ace said.
It was always big time baby when it came to, Ace. Ace and his pile of low life hoods:
Billy Tessio, Charlie Hogan, Eyeball Chambers, and Vince Desjardins. They thought they owned the world. But they didn't own us or Ray Brower. And they weren't taking him. We found him first.
I turned around and there was Ace standing in front of me. I almost muttered the words, "we found him first," but I stopped myself.

"Lachance, what the hell are you doing here?" Ace asked me.
"I should ask you the same question. What the hell you doing in my cousin's house?" I asked him.
Ace almost looked like he was about to throw up.
"You're..., cousin?" He stuttered on his words.
"Is there something that you don't understand?" I asked him. "Or has all the drugs finally fried your brain?"
"This can't be. It can't be. This isn't good." Ace muttered.
Then I finally realized why Ace was strangling so much on his words. Lennie's new step mom welcomed us in and told us to make ourselves at home and introduced us to her son, her son Ace Merrill.
"Jesus." I muttered almost incoherently.
"Oh do you guys know each other?" My uncle asked.
"We're old pals." Ace said.
"Try like very distant acquaintances." I said.

Dinner was extremely awkward. I'd really hate how Christmas would be like here. Uncle Bob was talking about his soon to be son— and all the things he wanted to do for him. Lennie was picking at her food, barely even eating any of it. Ace was putting on a show—talking about me and the gang as if we were pals from way back.
"Dinner is really delicious, mom. You are the best cook." Ace said to his mother.
"Yeah and don't forget to choke." I replied back to him.

"Your son's not very polite, Mrs. Lachance. Perhaps he really shouldn't hang out with Chris Chambers anymore. I could see where he gets the influence." Ace told her.
"You are real asshole you know that, Ace?" I replied back.
"Now, Gordon. Don't use that language at the table. Apologize." My mother said.
"Gordon." Ace chuckled at the sound of my full name. "I know he didn't mean to insult me, Mrs. Lachance. That's why 'm gonna give him the opportunity of taking it back."
"Say your sorry." My mom said.
"Sorry." I gritted my teeth.
"There. Now I feel a whole lot better about this." Ace smiled back at me. "Hey maybe Lennie could get some cooking tips from my mom and make us some good home cooked meals." Ace suggested. "I'll be looking forward to it." He winked at her, Lennie.
Lennie made a face back at him in disgust.
"The only food I'd be looking forward in making you is a steamed plate of horse shit." Lennie said.
I laughed.
"Lennie," her father said. "Be polite."
Lennie kicked me in the shin, lightly from under the table. I leaned over to her. She whispered something to me in my ear. Ace got up from his seat to help his mom straighten up after dinner. There was chocolate shit all over his seat.
We slapped each other five. Teddy came over later on to walk with me to the tree house. He said that Chris and Vern were already waiting there for us.
"Hey Gloria and Theodora." Ace walked over and mocked us before we left. "You better watch what you say around here. I can hear everything. I am like a hawk. And I'd won't be afraid to pounce on you two. Remember..." He winked. "It's big time baby."
"Yeah go piss on a fire hydrant." I told him.
"Likewise." Teddy said.
"And Lenore. I'd be more careful with who you hang around with and what you say...I am not here to make your life miserable but if you push my buttons I just might have to." Ace told her.
She turned away abruptly.
"Ace... if I am going to welcome you into this family you have to learn to call me, Lennie."
"Whatever you say, sweetcakes." Ace said and turned to walk up the stairs. Teddy, Lennie and I all laughed at the chocolate syrup stain all on the back of Ace's pants that Lennie put there before on purpose.
Teddy watched Ace walked up the steps. "See you later, shit stain."