"It's clean, I checked that out yesterday. It'll be fine."
As they were walking toward the door, she noticed that there were no extra vehicles in sight, nobody around. "They're not here yet?"
"No, they'll probably be here in a little bit."
"Are they going to arrive in a limo or something?"
Kenneth laughed. "No, they're supposed to be driving a green Durango with tinted windows. Remember? No-one knows they're here, Angela, which is why I can't emphasize to you enough not to tell anyone about this. It's a big trust issue here."
"Okay, okay. Who would I tell anyway? Sandra's at school." He knew she didn't have any friends around here. She didn't want to move here from Ft. Wayne. There was NOTHING in this dead town. Nothing. Which reminded her. "So, where are they going to stay?"
"I didn't tell you?" He stopped and looked at her, surprised that he'd forgotten such an important detail.
"They'll be staying with us. Ann's going to come home early and setup the extra rooms for them."
"With US? Are you SERIOUS? That is too weird. I don'tknow......what are they going to do? I mean, I don't know how to entertain people. And what about showers and stuff like that? I have to have time to get around in the morning. I don't know......I don't want a bunch of guys staying at the house." She stopped and rubbed her hand across her face in nervousness, thinking about all the scenarios.
Kenneth unlocked and opened the door to the shelter and turned to her. "You coming? Or are you still freaking out on me?"
"I'm okay. I just....I just.....I'm okay." She walked in behind him and felt her back pocket for her notes. She stood looking around as Kenneth walked around turning on all the lights, listening to his footsteps echoing through the empty rooms. It made her feel incredibly small in the big, empty house, and she swiped her hair nervously while letting out a deep sigh.
Kenneth heard her and came back into the room. "Angela, you're really making a big deal out of nothing. I would've been better off not telling you who they were. I didn't think it would affect you this way. Now, just calm down, and take a walk around to see what you want them to work on first. You don't even have to work around them if you feel that odd about it."
She sighed again, pulled out her notes and read them over, then folded them in half and sat them on the only stool in the room. "I'm okay. I'm just nervous. I think I WILL take a walk." As she walked out of the room and up the stairs, she couldn't help thinking how much she hated confiding in Kenneth about her nerves. Anything was too personal to share with him. Anything.
Brian pointed out the window to the small sign on the side of the road and broadcasted to everyone in the vehicle, "Welcome to Edgell, Indiana. And hey, guys, it's got a Wal-mart. We're doin' good." It was one of those sentences that really drew out his Southern accent. Sometimes you could notice it and sometimes you couldn't.
"Brian," Kevin cut in, "tell me where to turn. Isn't it the second street?" Although Kevin was from Kentucky, too, there was no trace of the southern drawl in his words.
Brian studied the map. "I think it's up here, past the light."
As they pulled up to the light and waited for it to turn green, Nick noticed the McDonald's across the street. "Hey! There's a McDonald's! Now we're REALLY doing good....Hey, Kev, can you pull in there? I have to relieve myself."
Kevin glanced back at Nick. "You'll have to wait 'til we get there, little bro, cos nobody's supposed to know we're here." He was relieved that Nick had slept most of the drive because he tended to get on his nerves, being the youngest of the group.
Nick leaned forward into the front seat, until he was practically in it. "Hey, man, I've put up with being crammed back here in between AJ & Howie for four hours, I think you can allow me the luxury of NOT pissing my pants. Besides, I need to stretch, too."
"Will you GET OUT of my face? I'm trying to find the place!" Kevin growled. He just wanted to get there and get out of the Durango. His back hurt from sitting so long and he wasn't in the mood to deal with Nick right now.
"Yeah, and get your fat ASS out of MY face," AJ said, giving it a shove.
"You can KISS my fat ass, AJ," Nick said as he fell back into the back seat from the shove. Then he started slapping his hands on his legs in rhythm. "So, it's not too far, right?"
Simultaneously, Brian and Kevin turned their heads towards him and shouted "Shut up!"
Half-pouting, he leaned toward Howie and whispered, pleadingly, "I've gotta piss, man."
Without saying a word, Howie handed him an empty cup. He knew there was no arguing with Kevin at this point, so Nick wasn't going to get much sympathy.
"Very funny," Nick said as he sat up straight and started twisting his back until it cracked. He then sat forward, leaning on his knees, and cleared his throat, trying to sound as if he were bringing up an entirely new subject. "Seriously, how far away are we, Brian?"
Brian noticed he'd intentionally asked him instead of Kevin and didn't have the heart to yell at him again. "Five minutes, tops." He smiled at Nick apologetically to let him know he was sorry for yelling before.
"Thank GOD." Nick said loudly and slumped back once more into the seat. It was too quiet and he was getting anxious. Long drives in a cramped vehicle were too much for him, as tall as he was. He sighed and started slapping his legs again, humming with the rhythm of each slap.
AJ pulled his sunglasses down so he could look over the top of them at Nick. "Nick, will you quit with the leg crap? You're driving me fuckin' nuts."
"Such language," Nick replied in mock horror, slapping and humming a little louder than before just to aggravate AJ.
"That's it!" AJ said and cracked the window. "I need a cig." He pulled out a cigarette and started looking around for his lighter.
Kevin looked into the rearview mirror at AJ. "You're NOT smoking in the Durango. Just wait a couple more minutes. We're almost there."
AJ continued searching for his lighter and started bitching at Kevin. "You've been sayin' that for an hour now, Kev. I'm not waitin' any longer. Nick is driving me NUTS." He put the cigarette in his mouth and flicked his lighter.
Kevin slammed on the brakes and everyone in the back seat lunged forward from the quick stop. "You're NOT smoking in the DURANGO, AJ If you don't like it, your ass can get out NOW."
Silence filled the air and Nick raised his eyebrows and looked at AJ out of the corner of his eye, wondering what his response would be to that one. He noticed that the cigarette in AJ's mouth was broken from the impact into the front seat and started snickering. AJ took the cigarette out of his mouth, looked at it and rolled his eyes, but then smiled because of Nick's amusement. He never understood how someone could drive him so crazy and yet make him laugh at the most inopportune moments, too.
"Damn, Kevin, I take it you didn't sleep well last night?" Howie was making a blatant attempt to lighten up a tense situation. He knew it was a no-win situation when Kevin and AJ argued.
"No." He started driving again after glancing at Brian's map. He felt bad for having overreacted. Nick was the one who was driving everybody insane, not AJ. "And as I laid there, I kept asking myself, 'Who's bright idea was this?' "
They all looked at Nick expectantly. "Hey, man, you guys agreed to it." Nick started squirming. "I thought it would be cool to help the kids out and to get away......and to...."
"Have some fun?" Brian turned to Nick with a dead expression on his face to emphasize that so far, it had been anything BUT.
"Yeah, have some fun." He looked at Brian with a desperate 'help me' look then sat up straight and squeezed his thighs together. "But I'm telling you Kevin, I've GOT to PISS! I swear, I'm going to piss my pants if we don't get there NOW."
Kevin pulled onto the street they were looking for and almost considered keeping going just to pay Nick back for torturing AJ. Nick was lucky his back hurt so bad. "We're here," he said. "That's it right there." He pointed to the large brick house on the corner. "224 W. Lincoln St., right Brian?"
"Yup. I think we're supposed to park in the back, right Nick?"
"Yeah."
As he pulled around back, Kevin noticed one vehicle and a port-a-pot in the parking area. "There ya go, Nick. Bathroom heaven."
"Whaaaa..?" Nick crinkled his nose. "I'M not goin' in there. That's disgusting. I'll wait until we get inside."
They got out of the Durango and stretched a little while studying the house. AJ immediately lit up a cigarette and took a puff. "You know," he said before exhaling. "This place looks pretty run down. I hope it looks better on the inside." As he talked, the smoke came out in short bursts. When he finished speaking, he exhaled the rest of it.
Kevin laughed and shook his head. "Man, AJ, you look like Satan when you do that with the smoke." It was his way of letting AJ know that he was sorry.
AJ took another puff and blew it right into Kevin's face this time. "Thanks....you gonna be a moody prick all day or was it just for the ride here?" And that was AJ's way of letting him know he accepted his apology.
Kevin sighed loudly. "Man, I'm tired. I think I'll be okay if I can just get some coffee, soda, anything - as long as it's got some caffeine in it."
Nick butted in to the conversation. "And I need to pee. Let's go inside."
Chapter Five
Chapter Three
Story Index
