Chapter 10: Scents of Home

Coming in the back door, I see that Luke is home. He’s awaiting pizza rolls on the rotating plate heating up in the microwave. “Hey, Big Bro! Good to see you. Mom said you were coming home today.”

I give him a hug and a pat on his back, “Good to see you too, Luke.” I can’t help but notice he’s started using men’s cologne, too much actually. He’ll figure out a little goes a long way in time, I don’t feel like making an issue about it right now.

He bats his fingers across my little goat-tee, “What the hell is this all about? Lose your shaver?”

“Ah, nothing, just trying it out...”

He offers the plate, “Want some?”

“Sure.”

Pizza rolls, Hot-Pockets, canned ravioli, Spaghetti-O’s, Pop-Tarts, aren’t these all such classic, first-thing-when-you-come-home-from-school, snack foods? We sit down at the table to gobble up the tasty, not to mention, totally unhealthy, stuffed pizza pillows. I ask, “So, how ya been? How’re things at school?”

“Doing good. School is school, still ruled by the jocks as always,” he shrugs. “Do you remember Justin Blaine?”

How could I forget, he was that asshole that worked as a cashier at Rite Aid, and the same one I used my foot to help into that cold pool at Veronica Palermo’s party last Spring. “Yeah, I remember him.”

“He works at the high school now as a grounds-keeper and maintenance guy. On his off-hours, he’s a volunteer assistant coach. I guess he loved Maplewood so much he couldn’t leave it.”

“Is he still a douche-bag?”

“Yup, pretty much,” Luke answers matter-of-factly.

“Is he still seeing that bitch, Jodie Marks?”

“I think so. I’ve seen her with him at the games I had Marching Band.”

“Everything good at Pizza Depot?”

“Same ol’, same old.”

“Albert still there?”

“Yeah. I guess he got busted for smoking pot on his break.”

“Really? Why am I not surprised?”

“Benny went looking for him and caught him out behind the dumpster.”

“What did Benny do about it?”

“Gave him a warning.”

I shake my head, “How many warnings can they give a fuck-up like that? I seriously don’t know how that jackass has lasted this long.”

“You really hate that guy, don’t you?”

“I don’t hate him ... let’s just say I never liked him.”

“Albert has always been cool with me,” Luke shrugs. “Anyhow, I finally paid off Mr. Laske at the hardware store for the broken door glass. Now, I can keep my whole paycheck for a change.”

“That’s great! I’m glad you came through on that. Did your friend, Austin, what’s-his-name, every pay up for his part of it?”

“He gave me $200, said it was all he had...” he rolls his eyes.

“Well ... I guess it’s better than nothing. Is my friend Jeff still working there? He told me took over Marc’s stock-boy position last August.”

“Yeah, I see him from time to time.”

“Hey, listen, Abby is coming over for dinner today, so no stupid shit, okay?”

“Aww ... come on, what fun is that?” Luke grins. “Oh, I forgot to tell you; I’ve been seeing Megan Walsh.”

“That red-head you’ve had the hots for since, what? 9th grade?”

“Yup,” he nods, “She came into the Pizza D with her friends one night and I asked if she wanted to hang out; been seeing her since.”

“Well, good for you.”

We hear the back door open, Mom is home. “Hey! There’s my college boy!” she gives me a super-tight hug.

“Uh ... Mom? I ... can’t ... breathe...”

Now it’s her turn to pull on my chin, “And what is this young man? Are you trying to grow a beard?”

“Nah ... Just been lazy about shaving.”

“Dad told me you and Abby had some car trouble on the way home?”

“Yeah, we had a coolant leak, but we’re able to limp home. We took her car to...” I pause, “To a repair garage on 6th Street.” I didn’t feel like getting into that whole Dick’s and Peter’s thing again, Mom probably wouldn’t appreciate the humor I find in it.

“Well, that’s good.”

We sit down and Mom fills me in on everything that has been going on. Uncle Frank and Aunt Marylyn are doing well. Frank just bought a brand-new Jeep Laredo, he sure loves his Jeeps. My grandparents, on Dad’s side, just came back from a cruise, they take one every couple of years.

The highlight of her stories is Aunt Betty, the one with the loud, annoying, cackling, laugh who loves her adult beverages. Mom told me she drank too much at their church’s Fall Festival a couple of weeks ago and made quite a spectacle out of herself. Uncle Glenn had to apologize to several of their friends. Aunt Betty has always been an interesting subject of gossip in our family for as long as I can remember. I think every family has their own version of an Aunt Betty who tends to get a little carried away from time to time.

Once Mom has me all caught up on the family news, Luke pops his head in from the family room, “Hey, Bro, wanna play on the X-Box?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Did you bring Star Wars – Battlefront home with you by any chance?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Cool. Ready for me to kick your ass?”

While Luke and I are fighting it out on some desert planet, littered with crashed Star-Destroyers, my phone bloops from a text. It’s Abby, “Hey Kyle, can you come get me early? My mom wants to meet you.”

“Sure.” I text back. “How about in a half-hour?”

“Perfect! Kiss, kiss!”

Abby lets me in the front door, her eyes look a little red like she’s been recently crying. “Is everything okay?” I ask.

“Yeah,” she sniffles and smiles, “Mom and I let our emotions get the best of us, that’s all.”

Mrs. Sampson comes into the room to greet me; her eyes look a little red too. I can immediately see who Abby inherited her features of a warm smile and beautiful blue eyes from. Offering her hand, “It’s so nice to finally meet you, Kyle.”

“And you too, Mrs. Sampson.”

“Here, come sit,” she motions to the living room.

As soon as I’m seated, Gandalf comes bounding into the room. He’s sure happy to see me back in his house. So excited, he once again, jams his nose deep into my crotch giving my balls one healthy mashing. “Ooof! Well, hello to you again...” I say, winching and grabbing his collar to pull him back. I wanted to say something like, easy on my delicates, but don’t think even delicately mentioning anything to do with my privates would go over too well with Abby’s mother.

“Abigail, please put Gandalf outside. I’m am so sorry about that, he can get a little over-rambunctious at times, especially with guests.”

Abby snickers, “He sure likes you, Kyle.”

“I guess so...” I say, still wincing. He sure likes certain parts of me too...

“Would you like anything? Water? Iced tea?” Abby asks as she takes Gandalf’s collar.

“Whatever you’re having is fine.”

“Then iced-tea it is,” she says, leading the dog to the back door in the kitchen.

Mrs. Sampson turns to me, “Abigail told me all about the horrible trouble you two had with the car on the way home. I’m so happy you were with her and she wasn’t stranded by herself.”

“Yeah, once we got the antifreeze, things went well.”

Abby comes back into the living room with a pitcher of iced tea, drinking glasses for all of us, and sets them on the coffee table.

“Did you know Abigail in high school, Kyle?”

Abby rolls her eyes, “It’s Abby, Mom, I go by Abby now.”

“I know, Dear,” she sighs, “But, you must understand, I’ve been calling you Abigail since you were born. You’ll have to give me time to get used to it.”

“I’ve only been going by Abby for the last 5-months now...” she mutters.

“Not necessarily. You couldn’t make your mind up if you liked Abby or Gail. One day it was Gail, then the next it was Abby, then Gail again. You had my head spinning trying to figure out what to call you. Your poor father finally gave up and decided to stick with Abigail.”

“Yes, Mrs. Sampson, I remember Abby from high school. She was in my Biology class last year.”

She looks down, “Some of her classmates weren’t always so nice to her in school.”

“Kyle was never one of them, Mom.”

“I know, dear. I just never understood why kids can be so mean to each other.”

“Yeah, there were a few I had a hard time with too,” I say.

Abby tilts her head, “You did?”

“Oh yeah, Dirk Larch beat the shit ... I mean crap out of me in the Boy’s Bathroom last year and then he vandalized my Jeep while I was at work.”

“You never told me about that, I only remember what you and Tiffany did that day-” she stops herself, realizing she shouldn’t go into any more details of what happened the day Tiffany broke up with Dirk.

“Like I said, I’ll never understand it,” Mrs. Sampson shakes her head, “But, enough about the past; what are you studying for at Northbrook, Kyle?”

“I’m a Psychology Major. I’m not sure what branch I would like to specialize in yet, most of my classes are introductory at this point.”

“Ah, the study of human behavior. That sounds very interesting.”

“Yeah, it’s something I’ve always liked.”

Mrs. Sampson looks at Abby and asks, “Should we tell him what we were talking about earlier?”

“It’s up to you, Mom.”

She pats Abby’s knee. “Kyle, I wanted to meet you before the party tomorrow, a little time with just us, to talk to you about something.”

“Okay.”

“Abigail ... Abby has never had a male friend before. At first, Mr. Sampson and I were apprehensive about the idea. We’ve always been very protective of our daughter, as I’m sure she’s probably told you.”

I nod.

“Over these last couple of months, every time Abby would call home, all she wanted to talk about is, ‘Kyle and I did this,’ and, ‘Kyle and I that, Kyle, Kyle, Kyle... ‘“

Abby blushes, “Yeah, I guess I did.”

“So much so, that we were wondering if she was putting any time aside for her studies. She always was a good student, but she never had a boy take interest in her before, so you can see why we were concerned.”

“It’s okay, my mother felt the same way, but that’s one thing you don’t need to worry about, Mrs. Sampson. Abby keeps us both on the straight-and-narrow with our schoolwork.”

“Well, you know us mothers, we tend to think alike. Anyhow, I talked to my brother Larry last week, he said you were out to visit him and Maureen a couple of times.”

“Yes, we were. I helped him fix some shingles on his barn roof a couple of weeks ago.”

“Well, let me tell you, he couldn’t say enough good things about you.” She pauses, “Like I said, at first, Mr. Sampson and I weren’t crazy about the idea of Abby spending so much time with a boy, but we’ve come to the realization that ... that our little girl is growing up. She’s living on her own, getting herself to classes ... and, making good friends like you.”

I smile and nod. Mrs. Sampson admits, “That’s why you saw some teary eyes when you came here. You know us women, letting our emotions get the best of us.”

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew Abby’s parents were strict with her growing up, but as I’m continually learning, parents can only try their best to steer their children in the right direction. Quite often, they have a difficult time with children transitioning to adults. Abby’s and mine both.

Mrs. Sampson asks me about my family, how I like living in the dorm, being away from home and my job at the grocery store. I learned she works in a doctor’s office. She checks in patients, prepares their files, weighs them, takes their blood pressure, and gets them ready for their appointment.

We talk for quite a while until Mrs. Sampson looks at her watch, “Oh, it’s almost 5:30, maybe you two should probably get going. You don’t want to keep your family waiting.”

As we stand up to leave, I ask, “Would you like to come meet my family and have dinner with us, Mrs. Sampson?”

Abby’s eyes light up, “Yes, come with us, Mom.”

“I wouldn’t want to impose...”

I pull my phone out and text Mom, “Do we have space for one more? I’d like you to meet Abby’s mom.”

My mom texts back, “Absolutely!”

Dad is home when we arrive at my house. He shakes my hand and pats my back, “Good to see you, Son.”

Mom gives Abby a hug, “It’s so nice to see you again, Abby.” Next, she introduces herself to Mrs. Sampson, “Hello, I’m Kyle’s mom, please call me Kim.”

“I’m Rita, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Dinner will be ready shortly. We’re glad you could join us, Rita.”

“Thank you for having me.”

“Hey Mom, Abby’s dad is a chef at Hansen’s Northwestern Bistro.”

“Oh, and we love that place and their crab legs, don’t we, Kyle.” Turning to Mrs. Sampson, “With you being married to a chef, I hope my pot-roast will okay?”

“If it’s half as good as it smells, it will be perfect.”

When it’s time to eat, we all take seats in the dining room. Have you ever noticed how the only time most people use the actual dining room is on holidays or when they have guests over? Normally we eat at the table in the kitchen. The dining room all too often becomes a collect-all for folded clothes waiting to be put away, Mom’s books, Dad’s briefcase, school papers, junk mail, and Luke’s trombone.

“Oh, where is Luke?” Mom asks.

“Luke!” Dad calls out. Nothing, no Luke. “He probably has those damn headphones on too loud again,” he mutters. Luke likes to play games online with his friends and he wears headphones so they can all talk to each other over Skype.

“LUKE!” Dad shouts again. Mrs. Sampson is startled; I don’t think she’s used to such loud hollering. For us, Mom or Dad shouting for us to come to dinner was just normal, day to day, growing up.

“Jerry! No need to shout, just go get him.”

Dad grumbles and starts to stand up as Luke appears and takes his seat next to me. Mom tells him, “Luke, you remember Kyle’s friend Abby, and this her mother, Mrs. Sampson.”

“Nice to meet you.”

We pass the serving dishes around and begin eating. “Wow, Mom! I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed home-cooking. The cafeteria isn’t bad, but this ... this is fantastic!” I shovel it in my mouth like I’m in the Army and only have two minutes to eat.

“Thank you, Kyle, but slow down! Try chewing your food and enjoying it.”

Dad speaks up, “You two did well getting home today with that antifreeze leak. Did you get Abby’s car in to be looked at?”

“Yeah, we took it to that garage on 6th Street.”

Mrs. Sampson adds, “Dick’s and Peter’s have always been straight with us.”

Luke coughs and almost spits out his food, “Excuse me, did you just say, ‘dicks and-’” he’s cut short as I jam my elbow into his side and paste a smile on my face like, nothing’s out of the ordinary here.

“Ow!” he whines, “What’d you do that for?”

Abby and Dad are trying not to smirk. “So...” I chime in, “If they don’t have her car fixed by tomorrow, Abby and I can take my Jeep back up to school.”

“Well, shit, that means I’ll have to take the bus to school again,” Luke complains.

“Luke! We have guests over,” Mom is quick to scold his language.

“You didn’t take it today,” I say.

“No, because I knew you were coming home and Megan was able to borrow her mom’s car.”

“You better not be doing anything stupid when you drive my Jeep.”

Luke makes a face and shoots me a dirty look.

“So, my little trick worked then?” Dad asks.

“What little trick?” Mom asks.

“Oh, Kyle needed just a little more fluid for the engine so I told him to try peeing in a bottle.” Mrs. Sampson’s eyebrows shoot up. I was really hoping to avoid that little detail of our adventure getting home in front of Abby’s mother.

“Wait, what?” Luke asks, “So, you were stranded on the side of the freeway, whipped it out, and pissed in a bottle?” Leave it to him to spell it out and add to the awkwardness.

“Well, yeah...” I sigh, “It’s not like I stood out in the middle of traffic making a great big show out of it.”

This talk about my, somewhat public, peeing in the presence of Abby causes Mrs. Sampson to look over at her. Abby’s face turns red, “He was on the far side of the car and I had my back turned, it’s not like I saw anything...” A small lie, but what else could she say?

Mom to the rescue, “Well, we’re just happy you both made it home safely. So, Rita, what interests do you have? Sewing? Crafts? Reading?”

After that, dinner went well. Dad, Abby, and I helped clean up. Mom and Mrs. Sampson seem to hit it off and find lots to talk about. They like some of the same authors and TV shows. Mom tells her about the side charity work she does and learns that Abby’s mom has done similar things.

While this was going on, Jeff texted, wanting to know if we want to meet up with him and Bethany at the Pizza Depot tonight. I text back that Abby and I will be there in an hour.

“Your family is very nice, Kyle. Thank you for having me for dinner, everything was wonderful.” Mrs. Sampson tells me on the way back to their house before Abby and I go out.

“You’re very welcome. I’m glad you could meet them.”

In the driveway, Mrs. Sampson gets out of the Jeep and tells Abby, “Have fun tonight, and don’t stay out too late, your father is looking forward to seeing you before he turns in for the night.”

“I will, Mom.”

“And, we’ll see you tomorrow, Kyle. Thank you again, for everything.”

On the way to the Pizza Depot, Abby says, “Well, that went well.”

“Yeah, it did.”

“I’m glad Mom wanted to join us. Normally, she can be pretty shy about meeting new people.”

“I wish my dad hadn’t brought up me peeing in the bottle.”

“I know,” she laughs, “That got my mom’s attention pretty fast.”

“Your back wasn’t exactly turned, ‘seeing nothing’, you know...” I joke.