Regina (5 page)

I went downstairs and found my parents eating
breakfast. Eggs, bacon and biscuits were on their plates. Yuck!
When did we eat bacon or biscuits for that matter? Our usual
breakfast consisted of bagels or croissants. Very seldom did we
have jelly with the croissants, mom and I were very insistent on
watching our figures. This was a crazy picture I was looking
at.

“Hey guys.” I said trying to be cheerful but
still quite puzzled. “What’s good this morning?”

“Your grandfather’s favorite breakfast.” Mom
said indicating the plates. “I figured I’d make his favorite since
today is going to be hard. We have to go to the funeral home and
plan mom’s service.”

I sat down. Surely she didn’t expect me to
eat this! But I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it when mom
is just about to make funeral arrangement for her mom! I grabbed a
biscuit and tried one. It was pretty damn yummy, especially when it
was warm with butter.

“Any problems last night?” Daddy whispered to
me. His large hand rested on my shoulder. Of course daddy wouldn’t
forget I was upset last night.

“No. I slept very well. That mattress must be
new. It’s comfortable.” I kept looking for a banana, oatmeal,
bagels, fruit or something other than grease! “Well, what else is
there?” I asked with a mouthful of biscuit, trying to sound if it
wasn’t a big deal.

“Nothing much sweetie. I have to go shopping.
Oh my, there is so much to do today, the shopping, funeral
planning, cleaning.” Mom’s eye’s almost exploded from the
thought.

“Lynda? Regina and I can do the shopping, get
the cleaning supplies, start cleaning the house and maybe make some
dinner. You deal with your dad and the arrangements. We got the
house.” He said with confidence

She looked at him with such love I thought
she would burst from it. Her hand stroked his face gently and she
kissed his lips.

“Thank you Jack, I would sincerely appreciate
it.” She whispered to him with her eyes closed.

I was more than a little embarrassed by their
mighty displays of affection. My cheeks flushed red and I turned my
head away to the window. The morning sun was pouring into the
little room outside. I couldn’t wait to see the rest of the place
today.

“I think I’ll be upstairs while you’re
finishing breakfast dad. I hope everything goes okay today, mom.” I
said going over to her to give her a hug. “I love you.”

The smell of her perfume filled my nostrils.
My mother, my sweet wonderful mother. As a child I remember putting
my head on her shoulder and smelling her sweet scent. I would put
my head on her breasts, curl up in her lap and feel safe. Though I
yearned to do this now, I gave her a big hug and walked away.

As I went up the stairs to go back to my
little room, I looked out the window on the stairs. It was the
first time I saw the backyard, though it was far from a typical
backyard, I was surprised by it. The cute little white fence that I
saw last night stretched to the back of the house, keeping a large
stone back patio protected. But the best part was the lake about a
hundred feet from the house. It was a good size lake with an island
in the middle. I stared in awe as the water lapped softly against
the muddy shore. The sun was brilliant and shining its rays on the
water giving it a bright sheen. Forgetting about my room, I turned
around and went back down the steps. How do I get to the back?

I was deciding to go out the front door when
I noticed a door to the right as I came back down the stairs. I
must’ve missed it last night, but it was easy to miss. The door
matched the dark paneling and it blended in with the walls.

Wanting desperately to step outside and check
the lake out, I couldn’t help hide my anger when dad called to
me.

“Regina? Ready??” He called from the
kitchen.

Gosh, he was ready fast! I grumbled and
turned away from the door. The hardwood floor creaked as I walked
on it to the kitchen. Dad was waiting for me with instructions how
to get to town and the stores. He was ready to get out there and
impress mom.

When we stepped outside, I looked to my left,
saw the lake and felt my smile widen. It was a little far from the
house but it was definitely there, sparkling in the sunshine. My
goodness it was hot! I hadn’t taken twenty steps to the car and my
blue Chanel blouse clung to my skin! If I sweat in this shirt and
stain it, I’m going to go ballistic! I made a mental note to get
some summer clothes for this heat when we were in town. Thank
goodness we won’t be here next summer! It’s definitely hotter here
than in the City.

Grandpa’s house was located 5 miles outside
of town, so it took a little while to get to the store. Lee is a
very rural town and many people live in the country, outside of
town. This was true for us. Grandpa lived on Country Road 230 or as
it is knows in small towns, CR 230. In order to get to town, we had
to connect with a couple of back roads to get to CR 266, the main
country road on this side of town, which would lead us straight to
the main highway. Highway 290 intersected with Highway 77 in Lee,
keeping the town alive financially.

My own little inferno was known as Lee,
Texas. Population under four-thousand people. It was located
between Austin and Houston with one main road, Highway 290 running
thru it. Little did I know at the time but beyond the Highway,
there were hundreds of little back roads zigzagging together. A
small portion of those roads surrounded Grandpa’s house, but the
town had some restaurants (mostly barbeque), a grocery store, post
office, public pool and park. The main road thru Lee was called
Main Street. The buildings that lined Main Street had massive charm
and lots of antique character. I felt as if I had fallen into
another time as daddy drove thru town. I saw a gourmet French
restaurant, a salon and a dress shop! I’ll admit the town was
small, but it was cute.

It took us over twenty minutes, but we were
finally at the local store to get our long list of supplies. Our
plan was to hit the store for food and supplies then lunch at one
of the local restaurants. We started with the big stuff like the
vacuum, mops and brooms, and then worked our way to the cleaners,
clothes and miscellaneous stuff. By the time we finished with the
food, we had over two carts full of items for Grandpa’s house.
There really wasn’t much of a selection here, but it would do for
now. After all, we were leaving soon.

When dad was looking at the frozen food
items, I noticed a beautiful girl about my age in the same aisle.
She was running her fingers thru her brown hair and concentrating
on whatever was inside the frozen display case. Her profile was
magnificent: a perfect tiny nose with matching chin and small but
plump lips. Her pink sweater was open, revealing her white t-shirt
underneath. I moved my eyes quickly, trying not to stare.

Neither Daddy nor I realized how hot it would
be when we stepped outside. Though we had been inside for an hour,
the sun was much higher. It baked our skin the moment we stepped
outside. The car was too hot after we got our stuff inside.

“Is it too early for ice cream?” Daddy said
with wide eyes. I giggled at him. “G? I don’t think we can leave
the cold stuff in the car. I’m sure the heat would spoil it.”

It was only ten in the morning but it was
eleven in New York, I was hungry. My stomach started rumbling as he
said this.

“Sure daddy. Let’s get something in a drive
thru, as long as they have ice cream.”

“Of course.”

Even though we didn’t have a nice lunch at
French restaurant, the drive thru was just as good. The Dairy Queen
was the only place open and they had ice cream. Score!

I had a good time with Daddy. While waiting
in the drive thru, we talked about our summer plans. Daddy wanted
to go into the other towns and explore. He said in Bastrop, we
could kayak down the Guadalupe River together. Little lakeside
restaurants were set up along the river with fresh fish and
seafood. I thought that sounded awesome. We got our hamburgers,
french fries and Blizzards and headed home. Daddy made a remark
about the massive amounts of burgers we have eaten lately.

On the way back, I paid more attention on how
to get to Grandpa’s house from the main road. The scenery seemed
very familiar, as if I’ve been here before. But how could that be?
I’ve never been here.

In the daytime, I could see the countryside
clearly. There was grass, cows and barns. That’s it. Miles and
miles of open pastures with little ponds and green grass.

There were some homes but most were on
concrete blocks. I took out my phone to snap some pictures. Jane
and Renee will laugh when they see this! The little homes had dirt
driveways with huge trucks parked in front. It looked so boring out
here!

Then it hit me! The road, the barbwire fence,
the trailer homes, and the way I felt on these roads. These were
the roads from my dreams! I was almost positive of it!

I put my ice cream down and started looking
behind us. If my dream was accurate, there should be a darker paved
road coming up on our right. I remember the road specifically from
my bus dream. Daddy was looking at me suspiciously.

“G? You ok?”

“Yes daddy. I was trying to remember how to
get home from the highway.” My lies came out so easily, I was
surprised at myself. I didn’t usually lie to my parents, I didn’t
have to. From what I could tell from my friends, my mom and daddy
were the easiest parents a kid could have. But something inside me
was telling me to lie about what I was seeing.

We passed the road from my dream and I
choked.

What the hell was going on here! Was I
dreaming now? Is this why I was on the road? My head began to spin
with theories. Why didn’t I notice this last night?

But I knew the answer, it was too dark and I
was too tired to notice.

Suddenly, I wanted to be out of the truck. I
needed to be alone with my journal and my thoughts. But I knew that
was out of the question, daddy was still looking at me with
concern. So, I compelled myself to relax and talk to daddy while
observing the area around me.

“Daddy? Have we been here before?”

“No. Why do you ask?”

“I think I had a dream about these
roads.”

“Really?” He nodded. “You know, my sociology
professor told an interesting theory about dreams. He said your
soul leaves your body while you’re asleep and the dreams you have
are the experiences it has while outside your body.”

“That’s a pretty cool theory.”

“I know. I thought the same.” He said with a
wink.

As soon as we unloaded everything and ate
lunch, I excused myself from daddy. Though I deeply wanted to start
on the house, I wanted to read my journal more.

I went upstairs and examined the entries
closely. When the dream included a road, I kept track of it by
highlighted it in yellow. Even though my journal was a little more
than halfway full, I had a lot of yellow sentences.

Daddy and I tackled the house together that
afternoon. We dusted, wiped, polished, swept, moped and basically
made the house shine by the time mom and Grandpa came home. With
the exception of the bedrooms, we had the place mom-ready. She was
impressed. Mom greeted daddy with a tender kiss and a hard hug. I
loved seeing that. I was standing in the doorway observing their
little display of affection. It was amazing that less than 24 hours
ago, I was disgusted with their newfound affection. Now, it made me
happy.

Grandpa was really cool and brought home a
surprise for me. I was actually getting along with Grandpa. We had
a lot in common and shared the same mind frame. Mom told him how
much I love to watch movies and bought a new TV for the house. It
was a flat screen and huge. Daddy and Grandpa mounted it to the
wall while mom and I made dinner. We danced together in the kitchen
while we blasted music. Mom was a terrible singer but tried anyway.
We laughed pretty hard at her attempts. Those troubling thoughts
seemed to melt away. Nothing happened that night. It was an awesome
night with my new family and it was the last.

Chapter Seven

Daddy took me out for a driving lesson in
Grandpa’s old Chevy truck the next morning. Mom took Grandpa to
town again for the day, again. Hearing the birds instead of the
city made me smile. I could definitely get use to this.

Everyone was silent when I came to breakfast.
I had the feeling they were talking about me but stopped once they
heard me bounce down the stairs. It felt a little weird when I
walked in on them. Their eyes were on the doorway, expecting me.
They looked like dolls posed purposefully at the table.

“Good morning, Regina.” Grandpa grumbled
roughly. I patted his shoulder softly as I walked by. Today they
were finalizing the funeral arrangements. Mom told me last night
the funeral would be in two days.

After they left, I asked daddy for a driving
lesson. He seemed irritated when I asked but nodded his head and
grabbed Grandpa’s keys. Daddy was darker today. His eyes sagged
with exhaustion and his hands seemed so tired, they stayed in his
pockets at all times. Maybe he didn’t sleep well. With Grandma
Lydia’s funeral approaching, everyone seems a little depressed.
Guilt flicked thru me like an electric shock.

We drove for a few miles, I wanted to explore
some of these roads to see if I recognized anymore of them. Daddy
stayed silent which was unusual because he always found problems
with the way I drove. Constantly, he was at me on how I could
improve my skills in driving and in life, but this was not the man
sitting beside me. The man that was beside me looked bored, as if
he would fall asleep at any moment.

I suggested lunch in town after an hour of
driving.

“Maybe we could check out a shop on the way,
to kill some time.” My feelings of guilt ran deep and I wanted to
desperately make it up to my father, to everyone.