Throwaway People

Keyote Goes Goth

Green Acres, Camp: 7:02 PM

Patty came into the main room to find Jim sitting in the recliner. Staring at the ceiling. He looked over at Patty and smiled. "Feeling better."

"Been a lot worse." Patty said. "It's funny. I wanted a hit of crack so badly. Now I look back and think how stupid I was."

"Does the alcohol we had make a difference. Make you want it more." Jim asked.

"Some addicts are addicted to whatever poison is available. I have one poison I can't handle. It's crack." Patty sat on the arm of the recliner. Took Jim's hand. "With you and Key around it makes it easier. If it wasn't for you two I wouldn't be here. I'd be on the Lake Worth Corridor looking for a dealer to sell me some crack."

"Without you I'd still be a lonely, bitter old man." Jim pulled Patty into his lap.

They kissed while Keyote watched them from the hall. While they were still distracted Keyote went back into her room as quietly as she had come out. She heard Patty laugh. Followed by Jim's. Keyote went to her bedroom window. Opened it to the night. Laughter continued from the main room.

"Key, come in here a second." Patty called.

Keyote felt her heart leap to her chest. Why would they want her now? At this point they could only want one thing. Was she wrong about them? Did they bring her here for something more. It was like having someone slap you after promising they wouldn't. Patty called Keyote again.

"What do you want." Keyote said as she peeked out the door.

"We were thinking of playing a board game. You've played board games before, Life, Monopoly, Operation. You know." Patty said.

"Like the games on the top shelf of the closet." Keyote said. "I thought you two were going to -----you know."

"Actually, I don't know." Jim teased. "What did you think we were going to do?"

"Very funny." Keyote said.

"Come on, honey, lets go see what game we want to play." Patty said.

Keyote felt ashamed about what she was thinking about earlier. At the same time she wondered why they hadn't gone into the main bedroom and had sex. Wasn't that what a relationship was about. Having sex often and with one person. Keyote should have known they'd not want her that way. She wondered what was wrong with her, that she'd even think that.

"You okay, honey." Patty asked.

"Yeah." Keyote said. "I was just thinking."

"You know, you had that spaced out look, that Jim gets. Maybe he is rubbing off on you." Patty brushed by Keyote. Going into her room to get one of the games.

Keyote looked over at Jim in the main room. He had gone over to the kitchen table. He was pulling out the chips from the cabinets. He grabbed a liter bottle of soda from the refrigerator. Patty came out with a game called Clue.

Keyote wondered if this was what having a family was like.

Greenacres, Camp: November 26th 7:15

Keyote listened to the adults making plans for the day. They had finally decided to do something about the laundry downstairs. There had been some discussion that some of the clothes were older and might not hold up under modern laundry techniques.

"Why not use the machine I found." Keyote asked.

"I don't think so." Patty said. "Too much work. That's why we don't have those things anymore."

"Patty is right. We don't even know how to work that thing." Jim was counting the money from his pockets. Patty put money on the table as well.

"A total of sixteen dollars and thirty-six cents." Jim said.

"I guess we'll see where that gets us." Patty began to pick up the dishes.

Keyote had been allowed to cook the breakfast that consisted of frozen waffles put on a tray in the oven. She had made the coffee while Jim watched and instructed her. After that they got out the syrup, jelly, and butter.

Jim carted home ice from the store in his ice box after he sold the water. Loading it into the bottom of the ice box refrigerator. According to Jim they used to use one solid block of ice, but the crushed ice from the store worked just as well. As a result they could keep things like milk, butter, and their drinks cold.

Patty and Keyote went downstairs while Jim went to his room to get something. Once they were went into the workshop, they began to 'separate' the laundry. According to Patty the laundry had to be seperated into whites, colors, fragile, durable, and a few other categories. As they were doing this Keyote realized that even the three of them couldn't haul all of this laundry down the street to the laundry mat.

She mentioned it to Patty. "Actually it's just two of us. You can't go out, not yet."

"Oh, come on. Jose won't be looking for me in a laundry mat." Keyote said. "You need all the help you can get. Besides, I want to get out of here for a while."

Jim came in the room. He had two shopping carts with him. Keyote looked at them curiously. They would work to carry some to the laundry. If they hitched the rest over their shoulders. It could work out that they could get all of the laundry up the street to the laundry mat. They would still need Keyote's help.

Jim tossed Keyote a black baseball cap with a skull on it. "Can you give her a gothic look?" Jim looked at Patty. "I put some other clothes on Keyote's bed. Why don't you two go up and take a look while I try to pack this into these carts."

Keyote practically ran up stairs. On the her bed was a pair of black yoga pants, a black t-shirt with a gray dagger on it. It faced point down with a little pool of bright red blood below it. On the floor was a pair of stylish goth boots based on combat boots.

"Morbid, but it might keep people from seeing who you are." Patty said. "Some dark make-up with lots of black around the eyes, a dark red lipstick. What do you think about red nails?"

"What am I supposed to be the Queen of Death." Keyote asked. "Actually it might be pretty cool, like dressing up for Halloween."

"That's the spirit. Just try to act sullen and depressed." Patty said.

"That's easy, I'm fourteen after all."