Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Home Alone

home alone




He hadn't exactly, set down in his underwear to watch Netflix. Almost.

The popcorn was still steaming in the microwaved bag. Omaha almost burned himself, as he tip-toed around in the kitchen in his flannel pants, without his shirt.

Maybe he'd eat popcorn, the entire time Taylor was gone.

And then somebody knocked on the door. It was Taylor's friend Ben.

Omaha couldn't say no. He went looking for a ribbed tank and went to see if there was any root beers in the fridge. The last two.

Omaha hoped this wasn't a long visit. Sometimes, Ben could stay four hours in the evening. Usually, Omaha just let them visit. He blocked him out, by watching one TV show after another. Lately, he'd been reading subtitles. He liked Spanish shows. Of courses, he hadn't picked up any Spanish, as of yet. Still, the subtitles helped him focus on his reading.

"What's going on?" Omaha looked at Ben as if he was in a sour mood. "Did something go wrong with the house, you guys are buying?"

Ben shook his head, no. He took a long sip of the rootbeer bottle and almost finished it off.

"How long have you lived around here?" Ben wanted to know.

"Most of my life." He guessed. Sure, his parents would take off and move to Iowa from time to time, but they always came back to the GOOD LIFE, or so he remembered his mom saying. Of course, everyone in his family was pretty cynical, to that phrase.

Ben nodded and slapped down some photos on the kitchen table.

"Do you know these guys?"

Omaha took a hard look at both photos.  He'd never seen them before. He didn't think.

"Those are my friends. I guess." He sighed.

"From high school?" Omaha winced.

"I guess." Ben sounded so doubtful. "Well, this one was from middle school. I don't even know his last name. What kind of friend was I?"

Omaha nodded.

"Well, people come and go." Omaha shrugged and got into the buttery popcorn to eat, he pushed the bag over to Ben.

Of course, Omaha immediately thought of Sheena. He was certain she wouldn't know him on the street. He didn't know why she was being so nice to him, at work. He wanted to forget her smile. What he'd give, if he had a picture of Carmen, but he didn't. She wasn't much for photographs, but then he didn't want his picture taken with anybody.

Just then another knock came to the apartment door. He sure hoped they weren't being too loud.

Omaha went to get it. There was Sheena, at the door.

2 comments:

  1. Maybe Sheena would be good for Omaha.

    xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. How sweet that Omaha thought of Sheena... and there she was ...

    ReplyDelete