Chapter 4: Familia

Luke woke early the next day, after a blissful dreamless sleep. He opened his eyes and did his morning routine of yawning and stretching, then gently eased his mother to the side as he got up and parted the curtains on their motel room window; the light was peaking above the trees now. He wondered at himself a moment, he had never been the lay-around lazy type, but he had never been one to get up before daybreak either; he chalked it up to just the strange shit he had gone through and let it go.

Getting his clothes on and slipping on his boots, he put his cap on and left his mother a note saying he was going for breakfast again, then slipped out the door.

It felt good to get in the car and just let loose a little as he went two exits down to a little wooden stand next to Pete’s Fireworks. Apparently, all motels know the best places for food because as soon he mentioned looking for breakfast, the old lady at the front desk said Pete’s. Pete, as it turns out, is a pyromaniac who sells fireworks during the summer.

His wife, on the other hand, sells biscuits every morning, year-round. And she was good at what she did; they tasted better than the last ones he had, and he didn’t think that was possible. After she had given him a sample he bought 6, all buttered with packs of strawberry jam. 3 bacon and 3 smoked sausages in TWO bags; no more of that shifty behavior from his mother this time! He stopped at Krispy Kreme for coffee and almost bought donuts as well but thought better of it; he just grabbed the large coffees and started on his way back.

With only light traffic, he wasn’t gone but for maybe a half hour, the sun was almost up when he finally walked back in with his haul, his mother, as expected, sitting up and typing away. She looked up as he walked in with the bags. She saw two then grinned.

“I knew you were a quick learner.” She giggled and held out her hands. He just laughed and handed her a coffee and one of the bags. He sat down at the little table in the room, unwrapped his little piece of golden brown heaven, and devoured it. He ate all 3 in less than 5 minutes and wished he had another, then rubbed his stomach and sipped his coffee as he watched his mother finish her last one.

“I don’t know why, but these biscuits are just ... better!” He chuckled.

She just gave him a knowing smile, popped the last of hers past her lips, and chewed.

“That’s one of the best parts of down south, the food” She giggled as she took another sip of coffee.

They sipped their coffee, his mother still typing away for a few minutes and Luke going into shave after his stomach settled; it didn’t take them long to get their stuff together, and they were back on the road shortly.

They made the Alabama state line by 11 and were off the interstate and taking the small county roads now, winding through the hills, going up one then down, as far as they could see was nothing but hills. Jeannie seemed to be a little nervous; he noticed she was fiddling with her purse as they got closer; she kept noticing things, like changes that she didn’t anticipate, looking back at things as they drove past.

Finally, the GPS led them to a dirt road they turned in and followed it. It was about another half-mile until they came to the end of the road, which had a single two-story old house at the end. It wasn’t a bad house or dilapidated as you would think; it was just old but had been maintained. She directed him to pull up alongside the big pickup; there were several cars in the drive, along with a barb-wire fence running alongside one of the fields to his left with some cows chewing hay lazily.

He took in the place in the space of a moment, it really did fit the picture he had in his mind of living down in the country, maybe not entirely, after all, it wasn’t made out of logs or had some big chimney belching smoke and horses tied to a hitching post, but it still fit the country setting he had in his mind. He knew they had relatives down here somewhere, but he had never met any of them, so this whole thing was new to him, and he didn’t have any idea how this was supposed to go.

Jeannie had gotten out and told him to come with her. She had put her jacket on and was walking around to his side as he got out and did the same, putting his jacket and cap back on. She led him over to the steps when the door opened, and a healthy, thick 30ish woman and a bearish bearded man walked out. Both broke out in smiles when they saw his mother. Luke, however, got curious glances.

“Jeannie!” The woman gushed as she rushed down the steps and hugged her neck tightly. His mother hugged her back, closing her eyes for a minute, then pulling back.

“Gina! I see you’re staying happy and healthy as always,” she said, looking her up and down and giggling.

At that, the man laughed, and Gina blushed bright red.

“Well, Hank can’t seem to figure out when enough is enough, it’s not my fault!” She laughed and rubbed her belly, looking back at her husband, clearly still in love with the bear.

“My fault my ass! As I recall you jumped me that entire weekend! I couldn’t even get away from you when I went to feed the cows!” He laughed causing her to blush harder.

“Oh? Gina that’s downright sinful!” Jeannie giggled and Luke stared at his mother for a moment, never hearing her talk with that accent before.

Jeannie gave herself a shake and then gestured at Luke.

“Hank, Gina, this is my son Luke.” She pulled him close, wrapping her arm around his waist and introducing him to them.

“Luke these are your cousins, 2^nd or 3^rd, I forget which.” She smiled and gave a small laugh.

Hank smiled and offered Luke his hand and shook it firmly; Gina came over and hugged his neck; she squeezed him tight, and then Luke felt her firm belly; that’s how his mother knew she was pregnant, he thought.

“So how was the trip down? Everything go ok?” Hank asked as they led them inside.

They sat down at the kitchen table with coffee being set down and cups poured and they chatted a little, catching up on people, events, and different things.

“You know Jeannie when you called me out of the blue last week, I about had a stroke! We hadn’t heard from you in so long, and then you suddenly called; it made me so happy to hear from you again!” Gina gushed.

Jeannie smiled at her. “I just got so caught up in my business and ... I had a lot on my plate; I’m sorry I haven’t been back,” She told her sincerely. Hank brushed it off.

“No apologies, hell, work takes over our lives sometimes; couple years ago, I was working 18-hour days, and Gina about had a fit before I finally realized I needed to cut back and spend more time at home. Money wasn’t tight but it was still nice to get way out in front!” He chuckled.

Gina just smiled at him.

“The big lug was spending more time at the cabinet factory than he was at home, he bought me, and the youngin’s some pretty things, but I told him I wanted his pretty butt home more instead; he got the message.” She giggled and smacked him in the belly. He just chuckled.

“So how long ya’ll staying for?” Hank asked, smiling.

At that, Jeannie sighed and cleared her throat.

“I’m not sure, Hank; like I told Gina on the phone, we had some trouble, and we just ... need some normal for a while, if that’s okay?” She looked up at them.

Gina and Hank looked at each other then back them both nodding.

“Jeannie, you and Luke are both welcome as long as you like, you know that.” She leaned over and hugged her neck again. Jeannie hugged her back and sniffled a little. Hank just looked down a moment.

“Jeannie, I know it’s, well ... something bad happened, and I won’t pry, but is it something that’s gonna follow ya?” He looked back up, a little anxious it appeared.

Jeannie shook her head.

“No, Hank, nothing bad like that; I’m just ... getting a divorce, and his people, they are ... not good people, I see that now.”

He looked a little thoughtful for a moment then said.

“Well jus’ the same, Divorces come in all types, some decent, some only half-civil, and some downright bad, can’t be too careful.”

Gina just nodded in agreement.

“Thanks, Hank, we won’t be careless.” Jeannie just nodded. He nodded in return.

“Anyway, I gotta go, s’posed to come in early and help get the trucks unloaded; I’ll see you tonight; save me some supper!” He said as he was walking up the stairs.

“Have I ever not?!” Gina called after him smiling. She got up and grabbed his lunchbox and set about making him sandwiches and tucking a small jar filled with pickled peppers inside. Jeannie noticed Luke watching and explained.

“That’s what’s called pepper sauce down here, baby, it’s basically hot pepper pickled in vinegar; think of it as the poor man’s hot sauce.” She smiled. Gina just nodded.

“I never got the taste for it myself but Hank love’s it, he grows a few good bushel a year and has me cann’em, I have to wear gloves though, if it gets in your eyes it’s bad!”

They made a bit more small talk until Hank came in and grabbed his lunch. He kissed his wife goodbye and promised to catch up later with Jeannie and Luke, and he took off for the factory.

They talked a bit more, catching up, and then Jeannie asked about her daughters.

“How are the triplets taking it?” She smiled and glanced down. Gina blushed and sighed.

“Not too well; Helen said she was happy for us, Farah thinks we’re too old to be having more, and Josie flat-out said we were too horny for our own good.” She laughed a little at that.

“What did they decide to study?” Jeannie asked sipping her coffee.

“That’s the strangest thing; we thought for sure that Helen would be taking Animal Husbandry cause she always helped with everything when it came to the farm, but it turns out she decided to go for a business degree instead. As for the other two, they both went for Computer Science; they certainly are smart ones; if anyone can learn it and make a living with it, they can.” She smiled, proud of her girls.

Luke just sipped his coffee; he was an outsider here; oh sure, he was technically family, but still, his mother had grown up here; he hadn’t; he was, for all intents and purposes, a Yankee.

Finally, Gina turned to him, smiling.

“So tell me, Luke. Do you have any girlfriends back home?” Luke just blinked at her a moment then smiled and shrugged.

“Nah not really, just a few friends, and only one of them is a girl and I rarely ever see her, so no one special”

His mother kind of gave him the side eye for a moment, perhaps warning him not to say too much of their troubles, at least he hoped so; he sure as hell wasn’t close to Cindy, he liked her, but there was no love there. Still, Jeannie seemed to want to reassure him as she squeezed his knee under the table.

“Well, just the same, there’s plenty of young ladies around the county that are looking for a husband,” Gina said causing Luke to start choking into his cup, coughing. Gina and his mother burst out laughing. He wiped his lips and gave them both a wry grin until they finally got themselves under control. Jeannie used her thumb to wipe the corner of his mouth like he had missed a spot.

“Don’t worry, baby; I’ll try to keep the girls from dragging you to the altar while we’re here.” She said smiling as she wiped his lip and then smoothed his hair back.

“I expect ya’ll wanna get unpacked and settled in, then I imagine Jeannie will want to show you our old stompin’ grounds here in Thebes. Come’on up and I’ll show ya to your rooms” She got up and motioned for us to follow.

She led us upstairs and showed Luke to the last room down the hall, right at the end, saying it was the guest room, she was putting Jeannie up in the Twins old room, which confused Luke a little, he heard his mother say they were triplets. Gina interpreted the look and explained.

“Farah and Josie were identical, Helen was an extra egg.” She stated.

“Oh” Was his only response. Then Gina and Jeannie walked out into the hallway while he looked around.

He walked around the room; they had modernized the inside of the house with nice, warm sheetrock walls and a drip ceiling; the bed was a tad girly for his taste, with light blue sheets and ruffly pillowcases. He sat on the bed and sunk up almost to his chest.

“What the fuck?!” He said shocked, then he heard laughter erupt in the hallway. He got up and marched out seeing his mother and Gina both holding their knees and laughing. This time, he just stared at them with his arms crossed, giving them a frank look, thinking they were pranking him intentionally. Jeannie wiped her eyes and said.

“I told Gina you had never slept on a real feather-bed mattress before and you reacted like almost everyone does.” Then she got the giggles again. Gina got herself under control and explained it was harmless and kind of an introduction to the farm. No offense intended.

Luke just rolled his eyes and shook his head at the crazy women then left to go get his bags.

They got their bags unloaded and set about unpacking. In Luke’s case there wasn’t that much, just his clothes and putting his laptop over on the desk, and hooking everything in. After that, he wandered down to his mother’s room; he helped her unpack a little, setting folded clothes on the bed in neat little stacks and setting her laptop up on the desk in the corner.

“So baby what do you think?” She asked as she put the last of her clothes away.

Luke shrugged; one place is as good as another; he just didn’t know why they had to travel across 5 states to take a break from the world.

“Hank and Gina seem nice, but um ... why did we come here? I mean, the South; we could have stayed with Jane for a while.”

Jeannie sighed and sat on the bed, she patted the spot beside her.

“Luke, I had to get away from there, and you had to get away from there; we both need to stay as far away from them as possible, at least for now. When someone does something like that, it can eat at you, day in and day out; if you can’t find a way to heal and deal with it, then it can destroy you. It can turn you into something dark and twisted ... it can kill you.” She looked at him with a sad expression.

Luke just sighed and nodded, not understanding exactly, but trusting her enough to agree.

“So what do we do now?”

Jeannie smiled and leaned her head against his.

“This is our vacation, baby, just you and me; we’re gonna teach you how to laugh and have fun again and hopefully ... wipe out all the garbage they tried to put into your head; I promise you, baby, I’ll do anything to get you well and happy.” She kissed him gently on the lips and then pulled back. She spoke again after a moment.

“That... woman... tried to turn you into something you are not; it was never supposed to be like that, not that dark, twisted abomination of... hers.” She almost spit the last word.

Then she reached up and stroked his face gently.

“When you’re ready, I’ll show you what should have been.”

She gently kissed his lips once more before pulling back and giving him one last smile before she went back in search of Gina.

He went back to his room and lay on his bed, he sunk down into the comfortable mattress and lay there, thinking. Did he like his mother as a woman? Of course. Would he sleep with her? At one point he would have said Hell NO! But now? After everything he had learned about the family, both good and bad, he just didn’t know, not yet. She obviously wanted him, badly, enough to try to get him drunk and claim it was just that they both had too much to drink, which if he was honest with himself it might have worked.

And he hadn’t done anything since that night, but it wasn’t like he was planning to become a monk; he just thought more of himself than that, and he thought more of his mother than that. Maybe he was naïve, maybe he was just too inexperienced, but if he is going to be with his mother, then it would mean something, a hell of a lot more than what those evil bitches had done to him when they used him as a fucking male sex doll.

He squeezed his eyes shut as he started shivering and shaking. Then, Dammnit stop thinking about it! It took a couple of minutes, but he finally managed to banish the feelings, the rage. He got his breathing under control and then went back downstairs.

When he got back down, he saw Gina picking stuff out of the freezer to thaw; curious, he wandered over to take a look.

“Hmmm, what is that? Beef?” Look at the big chunk of meat she had wrapped in clear plastic.

“Oh no, sweetie, this is venison, it’s deer meat.” She smiled and explained it was something she cooked on occasion when Hank had a good hunting season.

“Hank took 2 deer and got 3 turkeys this year, so it was a good season!” She smiled proudly, waving down into the freezer, showing off her husband’s hunting ability.

Luke had to admit, he was impressed, not that he would ever run around in the woods with guns ... He tamped down that nervous jitter for a moment as the memory echoed ’Get the guns!’ but he couldn’t help but admire someone for their ability to provide.

“So you’re cooking deer tonight?” He looked up at her, interested, he had never had venison before.

She smiled and nodded “Sure am! This will make a nice roast; the trick is to slow cook it; just place it in the crock pot along with a little water, seasoning, and veggies, and we’ll have a good meal!”

Jeannie had walked back in during the conversation.

“Luke had his first taste of true southern barbecue the other day; he looked like a little kid in there; he had sauce all over his face!” She laughed, causing Gina to giggle, and added her two cents.

“When it comes to barbecue, men never grow up; they stay boys till they die.” Luke just wanted to crawl under the table, shaking his head.

Jeannie grabbed his arm before he could wander off.

“Ok, Luke, Mr. Big Strong Man, your mother is going to show you around; Gina, did you want to come with us?” She looked over at her.

Gina waved her off.

“I would, but I got too much to do; I still gotta wash clothes, get the eggs, and I’ll have to feed the cows this evening, but you guys go ahead, enjoy yourselves; it sounds like you need a little time off.” She shooed them out while she started on getting her work done.

As they got in and headed for town, his mother seemed to be a bit more enthusiastic about going; she grabbed his knee and squeezed, giving him a big grin as the scenery rolled past, turning off the dirt road and onto the paved road.