Dinner with Momma and Daddy:

Ashleen caught up to me just as I was about to go into town after school.

“Faye!” she yelled. “Wait up!” I stopped at the gate and glanced over at her, running towards me. I turned around to her when she was just inches away.

“What?” I asked. Ashleen took a moment to catch her breath before speaking.

“Doing you anything for dinner tonight?” she asked. I looked at her oddly.

“Why?” I asked. Ashleen shrugged at me.

“I want to eat dinner over at your place today,” she answered. I looked at her with big eyes.

“Wait, what?!?” I asked.

“I asked my parents already,” she said. “They said it was okay.” I knew she was lying. But, how do I try to get out of this one without sounding mean or anything?

“Uh… well…” I tried to say. “They might be busy.” Ashleen looked at me puzzled.

“Doing what?”

“Uh… they might be having friends over or something.” Ashleen didn’t seem to believe me. I can see it in her eyes.

“Who?” she asked. I froze up for a moment. Oh crap. What should I do now? I didn’t have time to find out, however. Ashleen gave me a little smile.

“It’s okay if you don’t want me there…” she said. Now, I was stuck. If I invite her, she’ll have to encounter my parents again. If I turn her away, I’ll end up pushing her away. I looked down at my feet.

“Fine,” I mumbled. “You can come over if you want…”

“Thanks Faye,” she said. I glanced up at her in discomfort. Something told me that tonight was going to be awful.

“Well, I’m not going home yet…” I said. Ashleen shrugged at me.

“Okay,” she said. “That’s just how it is.” I looked at her in a nearly-sick way. I see what’s going on right now. She just doesn’t want to go home and do her homework. Ashleen uses me sometimes. I can’t really point this out to her; I use her sometimes as well. We pretty much just use each other to get away from our families and school. I sighed aloud.

“Fine,” I said. “But don’t start complaining when it’s dark before we get to my house. It was your choice to come over.” Ashleen just nodded.

“Okay,” she replied. I looked at her oddly. I don’t think she understands that I won’t be home until sundown at the earliest. Oh well, I just keep on and humor her until we get to my house…

I dragged Ashleen all through town just as I had planned it. I usually stall in town when I don’t want to go home right away. As we walked into town, I planned where I wanted to stop today. The first place is always Willy’s Records. This was the town’s oldest music store. They still sold LP records and vinyl. Every Saturday, I would gather up my pennies, nickels, and dimes and buy music from the WWII era to the 60’s. Most of the people in this town shopped in the newer music stores. Daddy and I shopped in Willy’s Records. Mr. Willy just has the coolest stuff. I looked around the store in excitement. Ashleen didn’t on the other hand, didn’t seem too keen to be here.

“Why are we here?” she asked.

“I just want to look at what they have,” I said as I looked at the Chuck Berry records. Ashleen snorted.

“But it’s full of old people music!”

“I know.”

“Nobody uses LPs anymore more! We have CDs now!”

“So? Nothing beats vinyl.”

“That is so right, Faye!” a voice boomed from the back. We looked up to see Mr. Willy himself coming from the back with new records in his hands. I smiled and waved at him.

“Hi Mr. Willy!” I greeted.

“Hello Faye,” he said as he set the box of records on the counter. He looked over at me “friend.”

“And who’s this little lady?” he asked.

“Oh, this Ashleen,” I said. “She’s a friend from school.”

“Hi,” she mumbled to him. Mr. Willy looked Ashleen up and down for a moment.

“Oh, is that so?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said. “In fact, she’s having dinner over at my house tonight.” Mr. Willy made a face at me. I could tell that he agreed with me that was a bad idea, but he didn’t say that. I guess because he didn’t want to make Ashleen feel bad about the whole idea. Mr. Willy’s face lightened up some.

“So, do you see anything you would like for Saturday?” he asked. I pricked right up at that question.

“Yes I have,” I answered. “I want…” I swung my finger around at the old LP treasures in the store. I settled on one with a bright yellow and purple cover. A smile came onto my face.

“That one!” Mr. Willy turned and looked at the album in question. He looked rather surprised at my choice.

“Are You Experienced? By the Jimi Hendrix Experience?” he asked.

“Yes sir,” I replied. “I will be here by Saturday to come and pick it up!” My old friend just gave me a whistle and a chuckle.

“You really do have old tastes!” he said.

“Thank you!” I cheered. We both laughed. Ashleen didn’t seem to be smiling. But, it was her choice to come with me today. So, she can’t complain.

Shortly after we visited Willy’s Records, Ashleen and I made a few more stops before we went to my house. I took her to the candy store, library, toy store, and even the post office. (I don’t know why I went there, it just seems like a good idea when I don’t really want to go home.) Ashleen looked bored the entire time. However just to be fair, I took her to the clothing store. She was really happy there. Ashleen is a huge girly girl. She’s into dolls, make-up, dresses, and all of those other things girls at our age really like. I, on the other hand, I didn’t really know how to describe myself back in ’91. All I knew was that I loved LP and vinyl records. After our trip, it was time to go home. I always hated that part. I knew that I was heading back into the storm called my parents. I just hated when Ashleen had to hear one of their arguments out loud.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked her as we walked along the dirt road to the woods. Ashleen didn’t even think about the answer.

“Sure!” she said. “I mean how bad can it really be?” I didn’t say anything at all. She had *no* idea! Too late to turn her away now. We took the longest way back to Firefly House. Naturally, Ashleen didn’t like this at all.

“How much longer?” she whined. “My feet hurt and my clothes are getting dirty!” I didn’t say anything, I just kept walking through the heavily vine-covered path. I just wanted to not make it home as long as possible. I knew we would end up at the Firefly House in the end. So why not stall the trip as long as I could?

As soon as we came to the front, we could hear my parents screaming from outside.

“You’re always looking at that slut, Mark!!!” Momma yelled at Daddy.

“Alice is always hitting on me! She’s the one who put her hands down my pants!” Daddy yelled.

“You lie!!!”

“Well, what about you?!? You’re the one whose always drooling over your best friend’s eighteen-year-son!”

“That’s none of your business, shit head!”

“Of course it is, I’M YOUR HUSBAND!!!”

“Ha! You don’t act like it!”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh-ho, you know perfectly well what I mean, you asshole!”

“Alice and I are only friends! The only reason that we are really close is because she doesn’t try to berate me every chance that she gets just like you do, you useless drunk slut!”

“You are a bigger drunk than I am, you douche bag!”

“Take that back right now!”

“Make me, if you’re man enough, you pussy!” Ashleen and I stood outside, wincing with red faces of embarrassment. I walked forward and knocked on the door. Suddenly, the fighting stopped and it all went quiet. It took about ten seconds for daddy to come and open the door for us. As usual, he looked rather tired. However, he began to smile when he saw Ashleen and I looking up at him.

“Faye-baby!” he cheered. “So good to see you again!” He hugged me tightly. I thought I was going to choke and gag from the strong smell of whiskey on him. He’s been drinking again; I can tell. But then, he paused.

“Sweetie, who is this with you?” I heard daddy ask.

“Huh?” I asked as I looked behind me to see Ashleen staring at us in discomfort. I suddenly remembered about her.

“Oh yeah,” I said. “Daddy, this is Ashleen Roberts. Ashleen, this is my daddy.” My “friend” waved at him.

“Hi,” she mumbled. My daddy let go of me and walked over to her.

“Welcome to the Firefly House!” he boomed/slurred. My daddy tried to hug her, but Ashleen backed away as fast as she could. She quickly held up her hands at him.

“No, pleased to meet you!” she said quickly. “You don’t have to hug me, really you don’t!” I gave her a nervous little laugh.

“I’m so sorry about that,” I said. “Daddy gets a little handsy at times.” Ashleen looked on at me nervously.

“Really now?” she asked. I nodded at her.

“Yeah…” I mumbled. Dinner wasn’t any better. We all have table dinners as the meal. (My parents never cook. They just don’t seem to have the time or the interest to do so.) Momma, Daddy, Ashleen, and I all sat around in uncomfortable silence. Only the clock ticking in the background provided the noise in the whole house. As I sat there with my fork in my hand, I wished that someone would say something. My wish came true—unfortunately.

“Please don’t mind the silence,” Daddy spoke up. “We don’t normally do this.” Momma snorted at him.

“That’s because you’re never really around, you idiot!” Daddy tried to stay nice the whole time.

“Dear, this is not the time for that. Faye has a friend over.”

“Ha! It’s never the time with you!” Daddy ignored her and turned to Ashleen.

“Faye never told us that she had any friends at school,” he said to her. My “friend” didn’t look so surprised.

“Really now?” she asked.

“Of course she wouldn’t,” Momma cut in. “Why would she want to talk about *any* of her friends to a loser drunk like him?” Daddy began to look really angry.

“One more word…” he muttered to her.

“Or what?” she asked. Daddy slammed down his fork.

“That’s it!” he yelled. “Get your ass in the kitchen!” Daddy grabbed Momma by the wrist and dragged her into the kitchen. They began fighting again. Ashleen and I sat there in red-faced silence. Ashleen put down her fork.

“I’m not hungry anymore…” she mumbled.

“Neither am I…” I replied. Ashleen and I went to bed without dinner just to get away from the fights.

	The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Manic Depression .mp3
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