In Need of Assistance? (TF2)

Sixty-Six: Two Joining to One

        I come down the stairs and walk into the kitchen as Darlene cooks. Smells swirl into my nostrils, and I can't make a solid guess as to what she's making. I'll just have to wait and see. "Darlene, I need to ask something."

"What is it?"

"Do you know where I can get a pair of goggles for Dell? You saw that he cracked his again, and I wanted to get him a new pair."

She laughs. "Yeah, I gotta pair. Gotta get rid of 'em. Belonged to his grandaddy, Fred's father." She talks and beckons me to follow her into the hallway. Salvador and Josie sit on the back porch with the beagles. He has two in his lap and one his arms, all of them deciding it's naptime at the moment. I wish I owned a Polaroid, it's very cute. We come up to a hallway closet, and as she pushes coats aside to get to a mound of boxes in the back. "Maybe you'll get to meet Fred sometime."

"Maybe,"' I suppose.

"Speakin' of meetin'," she grunts and pulls out a box to inspect it and sets it aside when she comes to find it doesn't have what she needs. "When do I meet your folks? Would be mighty rude of me to have my son tie the knot and they don't even know who's across the pond."

I don't know if I should tell her outright or sugarcoat it. I'm not comfortable talking about them, but I don't think she'd appreciate being told a lie, either. "We, uh," I take a deep breath and whisper as I rub the back of my neck, "we don't have parents."

She turns to me, hand on her chest and an apologetic look. "My goodness," she exasperates. "Bless your heart, I'm so sorry I asked."

"No, no, it's alright. You didn't know. It's alright Darlene, it's oka-- Oh, we're hugging now."

"Oh, we're just making ya all unwelcome-like, aren't we? I'm sorry, Mona."

"It's fine, I got used to it."

"No, no, no. Uh-uh, not in my house," she sternly opposes. Her hands are on my shoulders, and she has a scrunch in her nose. "If somethin' is bothering you, you let me know."

"Uhm... I will. But you're okay. I just- I just really want those goggles."

She recollects herself and continues to search, soon marking triumph. "Found 'em. A bit dusty, but I'm sure you'll clean 'em up real nice like."

I hold them in my hands, rubbing the gray covering off of the lenses. I smile. "Thank you, Darlene."

"No problem. I know you're gonna head up and help 'im, so have fun, be civil," she says as I walk off. I quietly step around the two on the porch and make my way to the honey barn, but I come to find it empty. There's a giant churn in the middle of the lot, and a table is off to my right when I walk in. Honey jars, full and empty, rest on the top with labels strewn about on the wood. Many curtains cover things like machinery and shelves, and I suppose it's to protect it from winter chill. I don't know what's in the other barn, and I don't want to stick my nose into places it shouldn't go.

It reeks of cedar and sucrose. A gentle cough peeps from above in the loft. "Dell?" I call. A chair moves across wood and heavy footsteps move to the other side. A hatch opens at the top of a ladder.

"Come on up, dear." I walk over to the metal ladder and climb up, grabbing onto his hand when he offers it to help me up. An attic. Or rather, a hayloft with no hay. It's homey with a couch, two workbenches, and Christmas lights spiraling up a support pillar. The floor creaks when I step, but someone has recently replaced the panels given that the wood above is a weather-tired brown. A chilly breeze blows in through the spaces in the walls and the opened shutter at the other side of the space. Engie pulls up a chair at the workbench. "Just making the stun glove right now, needed your help with fitting and assembling."