A Condemned Haven

Chapter 5

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Jack couldn't focus at work for the rest of the night, it was like Clarke had thrown him off his game by asking about his dad. He hadn't known how to respond to her because no one ever asked. Sammy and James asked him about it once and all he could say to them was the same two words 'not around', as if that's some magical explanation. They knew not to ask about him again by the way he had responded. Thankfully, they had never pushed the issue either. His mom and him didn't really talk about it either, she knew what happened, but both felt too awkward to talk about it.

Growing up without a father was a little crappy, but his mom gave him everything he needed. She supported him in everything he did. He didn't need a father. He had his mom and she was enough. Asking about him was never really on his mind. There were still things that he wished he could have experienced with a father though. Like shaving for the first time or taking a girl out on a first date and getting the dad talk. Those things he would never have. He didn't necessarily miss them, but it was like a rite of passage. Jack had thought about finding him when he became a freshman, but he had never been able to find anything out about him. There were 211 Fred North's just in his state. Not to mention if he didn't even live in the state anymore.

"Hey kid you look more distracted than me that one time I saw James Dean and he was shirtless, so you can imagine." Jack turned to see Edna working on some dough for the new cookies. Edna was the owner of the Gash. She was an old black woman in her sixties and was kind of like a grandma to him. She gave him good advice anytime he needed it.

"Yeah someone asked me something I wasn't really expecting."

"Nothing could be worse than when he asked me what I was doing in his dressing room."

"About my dad." Edna stopped mixing the cookie dough and turned to look Jack in the face. He never really talked about his dad even though he was the last one to see him.

"Oh, I see. What did you say?" She continued mixing, trying to act like this wasn't a big deal.

"The truth. I didn't really know what else to say. When she asked me, I was too surprised to come up with a good answer."

"You got a special lady now huh?" Edna cracked a smile and bumped his shoulder with hers.

"Clarke, she goes to school with me." A blush tinged Jack's cheeks and Edna was not one to let something like that go.

"Clarke. Do we know her?"

"No, she just recently came back to school here. She was in here earlier sitting with me working on a project, so you might have seen her then."

"Where was she before that? She a little troublemaker? I can get behind that.
You need a little excitement." Edna cracked a grin as she took her finger and slapped a piece of cookie dough on his face. Jack just laughed, swatting her away.

"A uh different school." Edna had noticed the pause between his answer, she knew he was lying, but decided not to press it.

"Well okay then, now get to work before I kick your keister. I don't pay you to do nothing." Edna always knew how to cheer Jack up. He wiped the cookie dough off of his face and ate it, making an exaggerated noise of content.

"Yeah okay," he chuckled as he walked away.

He was distracted for the rest of the night, but he didn't let it stop him from getting his work done. He hadn't thought about his dad in a while. The book he gave him was still sitting on his dresser and while he looked at it every day, he tried not to think about it. He tried to think about it as any other book. He hated it for being there, but he never had the heart to throw it away. After all, it was the last thing his dad ever gave him. There was only one photo of his dad in the entire house and it was in his room. His mom had gotten rid of all the pictures, but he didn't have the heart to throw that out either. It was of the day they went to the local carnival and his parents rode the Ferris wheel. The picture was them at the top, all smiling. It was one of the happiest days of his childhood with both his mom and dad. He just couldn't let it go.