Chance Encounters

Less than ideal

My body moved stiffly to stand up. The look in Frank’s eyes were serious as they darted around the tractor I was working on. My mind was racing as I stood up, it was only 4:30 in the afternoon what could possibly be happening? “Come on Kidd.” He mumbled as he started to walk away from me. I reluctantly followed his lead,blood running cold as I heard the ever familiar sound of an Olds pulling into the parking lot. Larry busted out of the passenger door jogging up to me and Mark wasn’t too far behind. “Frank,” I started forcing myself to breath and not panic. “Can you please explain what is going on.” Frank looked at Mark and Larry almost telepathically telling them to take me somewhere. “Skye, you are getting the rest of the day off,paid, don’t worry,the boys will take you.” I looked at Mark and Larry like we were about ready to be invaded by the USSR. “Will someone tell me what the hell is going on? It’s awfully strange that I am getting a day off and yanked off a project to boot.” Frank shook his head, “It’s my choice Kidd,I can tell you to take a day off.” I looked at the tractor I so desperately wanted to get back to working on. “Just come with us.” Larry said. His emerald eyes stung through me as I walked further back into the shop. “I don’t want to.” I said getting back underneath the tractor. “I’m fixing this electrical issue.” Frank mumbled something to Mark and Larry.

The next minute I was being carried coffin style out to Mark’s car. Mark had my head in his hands his ocean eyes stormy looking down at me. Frank and Larry had both of my legs. Looking back on it now, I shouldn’t have fought them,because my mouth was tapped and my arms were tied behind my back. The only expression I had was a scowl, I’ve grown soft especially around Mark and now my fight that I attempted to put up wasn’t good enough. “It’s for your own good Skye,you don’t want to hear about vietnam.” Larry said,getting the glare of a lifetime as they threw me into the backseat. Mark sat next to me letting Frank drive his car. I would have asked where we were going,but I didn’t think that now was a good time to be asking such questions. Not like I was able to anyway. Frank glanced back at Mark who was rubbing my back and pecking me on the cheek. “First stop is your mother’s house,we have to let her know too.” I wanted to kill Frank,hell everyone in this car.

Meeting my mother is always a poor plan,but now especially with the big secret everyone is keeping from me; it’s less than ideal. I tried to not overthink everything,and by god was this man keeping me calm,just his touch alone was what I craved. We pulled into the ever so familiar driveway. I sat up and with his gentle hands he untied me and let me rip the tape off my mouth. I kissed him on the lips and looked up front at Frank and Larry who were both out of the car. Frank knocked on the door and my mother answered. Mark and I weren’t too far behind. “Yes I’ve heard,you must be her boss?” She asked her bright grey eyes glaring at me and Mark. Frank nodded, “Yes I am, now please tell your daughter what happened.” My mother narrowed her eyes at Mark and I. “I suppose come on in and hear the news.”

I sat next to Mark on the floor while Frank and Larry took the two chairs. My mother calmly walked over to the radio and switched it on. “It’s been on a loop all day,I’m sure that it’ll play again.” She said. “In the meantime,why did you even think about hiring my child? She’s not useful for anything.” Frank looked at her agitated. “Actually she’s quite the mechanic, got plenty of talent,hence why she’s going to Ohio for school,on my dime may I add.” Mark squeezed my hand as I sighed inwardly. “Right,and then she’s going to bail on you after you send her to school?” Frank shook his head, “No,see she signed a contract saying that she has to work for me for three years after school then she’s free to stay or go as she pleases.” My mother shot daggers through me as everyone quieted down and listened to the radio.

This is Walter Cronkite coming into your homes on this Friday evening with an urgent update from vietnam. It is reported that a group of U.S. Marines and soldiers have been taken out near the city of Pleiku. It appears the north Vietnamese have countered our men and wiped out an entire platoon of men…

I tuned out the radio and heard the knock on the door. I was the closest to it so I answered. My jaw hit the floor when I seen a uniformed marine standing at the door with a jacket in his hand. “We are incredibly sorry for the news we are about to tell you…” he said as he handed me a camo uniform jacket with my father’s last name on it. Taking it I ran, Mark was right on my heels,but through the tears I managed to run and run is what I did. Mark finally caught up to me and when he did I collapsed in his arms in the middle of the street. I cried. A lot of tears came falling out of me and Mark just held me until I couldn’t shed another tear. “Baby… we need to go back.” I nodded,but didn’t stand. I just held the only thing left of my father. Mark picked me up bridal style in his arms and carried me back. My head buried in his chest listening to his heart beat as he walked.

My mother still didn’t speak to me as we came back. “Is she alright Mark?” Frank inquired. He sat me down in a chair. I looked at Frank,my eyes puffy from crying. “Yeah.” I managed to mumble. My mom looked at all of us like we were a gang of no good thieves. “Well I’ll call your grandparents and let them know what happened. In the meantime keep going to school and work. Just because someone passes doesn’t mean life stops.” Her cold words hit me like a brick through a window. “I’m aware.” I mumbled. Mark snapped back, “This is exactly why she left and doesn’t like you. I used to defend you and tell her that you weren’t bad,but now I see.” I looked at Mark, “Stop,it’s fine.” Larry stepped in, “No,it’s not fine quite the opposite. You need time to greave and accept what happened. You can’t just keep going to work like nothing happened. Let alone the prison called school.” Frank nodded, “She’s getting paid time off,in the meantime we are going to take our leave now. I hope you have a nice lonely life.” I half smiled at that, Frank certainly had a way with words and it almost made me laugh.

Piling into Mark’s car again Frank took off. “How about some music?” He threw in an Eric Clapton cassette tape, much better than my eight track player. The song Cocaine came on and in an attempt to cheer me up the boys started to sing along. “You guys are goofy.” I said with almost a smile. “Yeah well, I think I speak for everyone here,I don’t want you or anyone I care about to be sad.” Frank said. We drove back to the makeshift campground Mark and I had.

Larry was in a good mood compared to earlier the evening. I had my father’s jacket on as it was getting colder out. “Stay here guys, I’m going to do a liquor run, anything anyone want?” He asked. I answered, “Either Apple pie shine or the strongest whiskey and mtn dew.” Frank smiled, “Not a problem,I’m also going to my cousins house he has a present for us so try and not burn the building down.” I laughed, Mark put his arm around me, “No promises Frank.”

We started a fire while waiting for Frank to get back. We passed around a joint watching the flames. Frank soon returned holding a tray of cookies, some whiskey, and a mtn dew 2 liter bottle. “These are pretty potent edibles so only eat half.” It was too late as I shoved the entire thing into my mouth. “Oops.” I said in between bites. Mark and Larry laughed splitting one and frank split one in half leaving another half for later. We passed around the whiskey talking about the future, it felt nice to have my chosen family around. “So Mark,how do you feel about her going to Ohio next year?” Frank asked. Mark gleamed with pride, “I’ll follow her, it’s only 9-10 months for her to get AEST certified.” Larry smiled, “I’ll be going to University of Dayton for my studies so we’ll all be there.” Larry said taking a big swig out of the bottle. I ate the other half of Frank’s edible, “These are weak, I need more.” I said. Frank belly laughed, “Well Kidd,for one if you stopped smoking everyday you might not have a tolerance and two if you give it time to kick in it would.” I shrugged leaning into Mark who wrapped his arms around me kissing the top of my forehead. His ocean eyes glinting off of the glow of the fire. Beautiful as he was. I leaned into his ear while Frank and Larry were discussing different ways farm equipment should be engineered. “Thank you for being there for me Marky. It means the world to me.” He smiled and pulled me into his chest,kissing me until I was practically on top of him. “Is it kicking in now Kidd?” I started laughing. “Shut up Frank, you know damn well it’s hitting everyone here. You and Larry won’t shut up about how to make different tractor parts.” Larry smiled. “Yeah well you two look like you are getting pretty hot and heavy here.” We all laughed.

By the time the fire was dying down Frank left leaving only Larry and Mark with me. “Look guys,I’m serious,we are going to go to Ohio together. There’s gotta be millwright and mechanic jobs down there even if it’s only for a bit.” I looked at Larry,the poor guy was an amazing friend. “You sure you want to come down there with us? Nobody is going to force you to Larry if you have a better school up here for it…” I trailed off. Mark added, “Larry,I’m happy that you want to come with us and we look forward to it.” Larry nodded and that was my cue to stop talking. Larry crawled into the tent first leaving Mark and I alone to look at the stars above. I sighed and got lost in a train of thought. “Hey baby,you ok?” I shrugged. “It’s weird without him ya know,like the last time I seen him was when I was driving downstate. It sucks that he has to look at life from up there. I just wanted more time,just five more minutes.” Mark gripped around me, “Sweetheart,just because he’s gone doesn’t mean he isn’t right by your side.” I nodded letting the tears fall as they wanted to. “We should get to bed you are going to be hung over if we don’t.” I smiled and crawled into the tent with Mark behind me.