Mr. Tan

Chapter 15: A Brand New Life

It's been months since Earl took me in. He had to handle a ton of legal stuff so he could become my legal guardian until I was 18. This meant that I could no longer work at his juke joint and yeah, he had to enroll me in school. That also meant that we had to deal with a social worker coming by every few months to check up on things. I haven't heard a thing about my mom and Clyde since our ungodly encounter at the hospital months ago. I finished my freshman year at a school that was a mile and a half from here, Nigel Compton High. A school bus picked me up and dropped me off every day in front of the trailer home. Sometimes Earl got up before I left to go to school but most of the time he was still asleep when I left. Every time he went grocery shopping he made sure to bring home plenty of cold cuts, sliced cheese and bread just so I could have something to pack for my lunch the night before. During school days, I stayed in the trailer by myself which wasn't a big deal cause it was something I was use to. At least Earl called to check up on me from his office whenever he could. I did my homework, listened to music, watched TV and when it came time for dinner, I managed to cook my own meal. Monday thru Thursday, Earl usually came in close to 1:00. By the time he came home I would be curled up underneath the blanket on the fold out couch asleep. Things at my new school were cool cause I made three new friends who often came home with me after school, usually on Fridays. Benjamin "Benny" Foley and his twin sister Kelly, they were freshman, too and we shared the same homeroom period. They both lived in the same trailer park, only a street away. They were both white with pale skin, raven black hair and blue eyes. Benjamin dressed kinda punk and was into heavy metal while his sister Kelly was geeky and into comic books and computers. My third new friend was a girl who was a sophomore named Adrian Rogers. Adrian was black with coffee brown skin and she always wore her hair straight and combed back into a ponytail. She played the trumpet in the school band and had after school band practice on Wednesdays. One Sunday afternoon Earl came home with a Nintendo game consule and three controllers that he bought at a garage sale along with four games. He figured I needed something to occupy my time with while he worked. So whenever my friends came over after school on Fridays, they had something to do besides raid Earl's fridge and flip through TV channels. I wasn't into video games but I let my friends hook it up to the TV and would watch them play video games. Anyway, its summer and the school year is over. It was summer of '98 and it was getting close to my 15th birthday. Ever since my miscarriage, I struggled with bouts of depression. Some days I felt optimistic and relaxed, other days I couldn't stand the thought of getting out of bed to get my day started.  Earl woke me up on the 4th of July at 10 o'clock in the morning, which wasn't fair cause I stayed up till 3:00 binge watching VHS movies in my nightgown. 

  "You gon' getcha ass outta that there sofa bed, lil girl!", he snapped.

  I looked back at him then put my head back under the covers.

  "What's the point", I mumbled.

  "Point is you ain't gonna sit up in here up under me bein' depressed", he said. Now, yesterday I left ya alone and gave ya all da time ya needed to yo'self. Now get up!

 "I don't feel like it", I remarked.