Chapter 8

First, he remembered when he was young, maybe twelve, sitting in the passenger side seat of their family’s old Toyota corolla. His mom was driving him back home, late at night. It was a long drive. They had been to Toronto for some reason he didn’t remember, and they needed to get back so she could work the next day. The rain poured down hard, to the point all he could see, out through the windshield, were the distorted lights of the other cars. His mother pulled to the side of the road and waited for the rain to let up a bit. Perry felt so tired, his eyes forced themselves shut, and his mother sang to him. A song that, even then, was nostalgic. A song that must have been used to tuck him into bed back in the fog of early life.

Then he was fifteen. His dad threw him a beer and said, “Here, your first beer. Wanna watch an old movie with me?”

“Sure, dad,” he responded, catching the beer.

They sat on the couch and watched The Deer Hunter. Then every week it became a ritual on Tuesday nights. Perry got to a single can of beer, with his dad, and they’d watch one of his dad’s favourite classic movies like Pulp Fiction, Goodfellas, Deliverance, Glengarry Glen Ross, Apocalypse Now, and RoboCop (the original). It would quickly turn into Perry’s favourite time of the week since he could connect with his dad. Back then, Perry didn’t see much of his father. He seemed to always be at work.

Perry and his brother Mark worked at the same restaurant, he was seventeen, his brother nineteen. Perry in the dish pit, his brother out bussing tables. The steam and heat made Perry’s hair frizz up, make it look like he went Super-Saiyan.

His brother came by and dropped off a load of dishes. “Hey man, I gotta do another round, then I’ll come to help you,” Mark said, patting his little brother on the back.

The waitresses walked by, counting their tips, dressed in the ridiculous uniform they had to wear. It was a short skirt and a ridiculously tight t-shirt. He and his brother used to joke that the girls didn’t need a resume, they just needed to be hot, and hire after hire seemed to confirm that statement. “That’s only 350 for the night,” one of them said. “Slow night.”

Perry continued steadily working through the pile of dishes for minimum wage. Sweat beading down from his brow, his feet killing him.

Then his cellphone rang.

He was at the hospital. In a waiting room with his dad and brother. Grandparent there too. The doctor came out and said, “She’s had a stroke.” Dad cried, Perry cried.

They finally let him go in to see his mom. She was crying, but her eyes look up as if she doesn’t recognize the people right in front of her. She looks so afraid and, more than anything else, confused.

He remembered a month later, his drunk dad played his music too loudly. “Jesus, use some fucking headphones!” his brother screamed.

“Don’t you swear at me!” his father screamed back.

“Forget it, Mark. Let’s just go visit mom,” Perry said.

They left the house and took the bus to the rehab center.

They’re talked with their mom as she was tucked into her hospital bed. Her memory was slowly coming back. On occasion, she would have episodes of confusion, but they were getting few and far between. But their conversation was interrupted by the smell of feces.

Mark presses the call bell and the healthcare worker came in. “We’re gonna have to change her briefs, would you mind clearing the room for a few minutes.”

They waited outside the room as another healthcare worker went in to help.

Then he was at school. It was during class, but the lesson was over, they were all doing busy work. Tony, feeling particularly feisty that day turned to Perry and said, “Hey, I heard your mom is all retarded now.”

Perry threw his textbook straight as Tony’s face, but Tony deflected it with his arm. Perry’s fist came from the other side, making contact with Tony’s face. Tony went down and Perry followed right on top of him. One, two more hits to Tony’s head and then stomach. Perry grabbed a textbook off the floor and started pommelling him. The other students came and restrained Perry.

When they pulled him off, he remembers his arms shaking uncontrollably.