Mind Games

Chapter 02

MYOB. Mind your own beeswax.

That was what popped in my head, that described Pennsylvania.

The airport was bustling with activity. Men, women, children strewn all over the place, and of course, minding their own business. It kind of reminded me of when I'd spilled white uncooked rice on Mom's favorite cream colored carpet. There had been individual rice everywhere.

As Mom hauled our many suitcases over to where I stood, I watched a little boy, about eight years old, grin mischievously from ear to ear at a peacefully sleeping man nearby.

He was totally about to do something bad. I just knew it. And to confirm my suspicions, he removed a can of whipped cream from under his armpit and positioned it over the man's open mouth. No doubt he was snoring out loud.

I wondered why nobody was interfering as the boy, smiling wickedly, sprayed the delicious white stuff into the man's open mouth. He continued doing so until the man started coughing, his closed eyes flying open in alarm. Whipped cream lined the man's lips and dropped onto his crisp white button up shirt.

The man continued coughing, though I was pretty sure he'd seen the little boy running the opposite direction from him.

Getting up, the man ran after the boy, furiously yelling, "I'm gonna get you for that, you little monkey-faced buffoon! Get back here!"

I almost laughed as the man skidded to a stop at the far end of the airport entrance, turning in circles, in search of the boy.

An amused laugh next to me had me turning around in alarm. Mom and some unknown guy were talking, and she was laughing at something he had said.

I walked over to them warily.

"Mom?"

She turned around and smiled at me.

"Can-Can! Come, lemme' introduce you. This is Mic. And Mic, that's my girl, Candy", she said enthusiastically.

Mic, a rather tall, but quite handsome for a middle-aged man, stared back at me with warm hazel eyes. He smiled at me as I nodded towards his direction with a tight smile of my own. What the hell was Mom thinking, cozying up to a man the minute we land on foreign territory?

"Hello, Candy. It's nice to finally meet you", he said. I blinked.

Finally? What was he talking about?

Mom was ogling him. She looked like a lovesick teen who'd just found 'the one'. And trust me, it's really awkward, watching your parent get all lovey-dovey with someone.

"Uh, you guys already know each other?"

"Of course we do. He's the previous owner of the new house we bought", Mom answered.

"Oh", I said, more relieved than expected.

With Mom and Mic talking animatedly to each other without bothering me, I found the car ride to our new house on Mic's SUV quite relaxing. Except for the fact that I had to demand Mic wash the car at a nearby car washing place first. Reluctantly, he went. Though Mom and I had to wait at the airport for thirty minutes before he came back with a more decent and clean SUV. 

Sweet mama, the guy's car had been as dirty as Ashe!

There had been garbage every where you looked. And I mean it when I say everywhere. To top it off, he'd embarrassingly admitted that he hadn't cleaned it for a whole month. I swear, I thought I was going to collapse right then and there from a heart attack.

Like grandmother, like granddaughter.

What kind of ape doesn't clean their car for over a month?